The concrete underneath Gianna and I is stern, solid stuff. It's also hard on our legs and unpleasant to walk on. We take our time and slowly explore the narrow hallway, and after walking for about fifteen minutes Gianna asks for a break. I oblige her and we sit down and face each other. I look at the wolf girl and opt to ask her something.

"So do you know where we are?" I ask. She shakes her head and I let out a light laugh.

"So I came across some journals written by other wanderers. I believe we're in a level called 'The Basement'." I explain, knowing precisely where we are already. I watch her listen to my words and then nod in acceptance of my lie.

"This level's main gimmick seems to be the temptation to find some way up there," I remark, pointing directly up. Gianna looks up, following my finger. "It seems that those catwalks allow people to speedily traverse the level. They are also positively covered in monsters." I explain.

I'm pointing at illuminated catwalks that dart across the air above the part of the level Gianna and I are on. The catwalks are brightly illuminated by lights that are put on their sides, and are bright enough that they could be likened to stars. I glance at them and thanks to my powerful senses I can see the outlines of various monsters, including flying ones, dashing around the catwalks. There seems to be next to no logic behind their movements, but they are frantic.

Gianna and I are quiet for a few moments, which turn to minutes, before I get up and walk over to the wolf-girl. When I reach her I take off my backpack and hand it to her. She gives me an annoyed look and I let out a quiet laugh even as I explain what I want to do.

"I want you to get on my back. I'm giving you my backpack so there is space for you." I explain, which causes her to noticeably brighten. She quickly puts on the backpack and then almost as fast as she donned the backpack she gets on my back. I let out a laugh and I get up quickly before I begin to walk again.

As I begin my journey with Gianna on my back I will one of my clones to spawn and then appear behind me. Gianna is focused on surveying the scene before us so she doesn't notice when my clone appears and takes off into the air above the hallway. I also summon one of my clones as backup for me, but have him stealthy phase into the wall closest to me, so that he can stay hidden just in case Gianna and I need an extra set of hands.

I transfer my consciousness to my clone heading towards the catwalk, allowing it to serve as my true body while it pilots the body that is giving Gianna a piggyback ride. As I float into the air I glance at the catwalks that dot the skies above the level. My understanding of the loud noises filling the air becomes more precise as I draw closer and closer to one of the platforms. I stop when I get about three-quarters of the way up because of something I see.

Now that I am some part of the way up towards the catwalk I can make out some of the monsters on the thing. I see some familiar foes like hounds, and creatures I was expecting, like female deathmoths, as well as wholly new things like brown balls that move of their own accords at tremendously high speeds; "Rollers" a type of entity found throughout the Liminal Archives.

I also see something deeply disturbing chasing after a hound. There is a silent creature that moves like a thin, speedy slug, with yellow, parchment-like skin and a face that it seemingly fashioned on its own by cutting into the part of its body that it uses as a head with a knife, cutting out thin slits for eyes and an eerie smile onto its face. I recognize it as something that absolutely should not exist here… It's a partygoer.

Partygoers are nightmarish entities and the most dangerous enemies of humanity in multiple Backrooms continuities. They also don't exist in either my book or to my knowledge in the continuity of the Liminal Archives, unless it represents some original, native expansion to the backrooms that has not been discovered by wanderers yet. The horrifyingly sadistic creatures are capable of turning humans into more of their kind through a painful process that is absolutely irreversible.

As I dart closer to the catwalk I see more creatures that should not be here. A pair of faceless, but otherwise human-seeming beings carrying stone spears dart across the catwalk, chased by several hounds. They are facelings, another type of common backrooms entity that is not documented by my book but are known to exist in multiple continuities.

Seeing the possibly impossible entities doesn't make me stop my approach, if anything I move faster because of it. Partygoers have no ranged attacks and are truly horrific threats to humanity but would almost certainly be incapable of doing me any harm due to my multitude of defenses, and facelings are human-like in morality and temperament, just as capable of being friends as being foes. I want to kill the partygoer and save the facelings.

I fly over the side of the railing where the partygoer is chasing after a hound, seemingly having intimidated it, and I don't hesitate. I launch a gestureless telekinetic assault on the monster that begins with me lifting it into the air above the catwalk.

The creature weighs relatively little and as I move it into the air it begins to screech. I glare at the beast and without any sort of gesture I motionlessly rip its arms off with my telekinesis. I then mildly exert myself and wrap a telekinetic fist around the creature's head. I grunt as I rip the thing's head off, violently ending its life and causing some of its blood to begin to drip onto the catwalk. I sense a new ability emerge within me: the power to summon generic, obedient partygoers, indicating that I've killed it since for me to unlock the ability to summonable minions of a certain type I have to kill or defeat one of their kind.

"What a terrifying power." I remark even as I turn to the hounds chasing after the facelings and raise a hand in their direction. I focus on the monsters and emit an invisible wave of force that explodes out of my hand and sails through the empty air between the canines and me. When the power hits the hounds they are violently hurled off of the narrow catwalk and sent hurtling towards the floor of the basement. The facelings do not stop running, and I hear the noises of monsters turning their attention towards me. I watch the facelings, even as my other body continues a tireless trek down the hallway.

A trio of female deathmoths, gigantic moths the size of decently large dogs, dart through the air towards me and spew acid in my direction. I do not bother gesturing in the direction of the globules of acid but I do telekinetically grab all three orbs and make them cease their movement. I feel the warmth of the acid, but it is not enough to harm me, thanks to my particularly sensitive version of telekinesis.

This stuns the deathmoths who stop in midair and hover not far from the orbs. I grin as they do this, and I begin to deftly manipulate the acid, turning the orbs from simple orbs into something else: weapons. I precisely grab specific chunks of acid and mold them into thin spears which I then lob at the monsters, aiming for their eyes and wings.

The acid strikes the monsters, causing them to hiss in pain and begins to deal critical damage to the gigantic insects. I continue to use the acid as a weapon and as the monsters begin to weaken, I strike their heads with the acid, aiming at their damaged eyes. When one of them dies I immediately reanimate it, and I summon generic versions of the creatures.

I point at the undead moth and I fire a green energy bullet at it. The bullet collides with the monster and causes it to begin to heal, its wings and eyes regenerating milliseconds after the bullet impacts the beast.

I use my telekinesis to slay the moths, instinctively reanimating them and firing off more restorative energy bullets their way while I turn my attention to the running facelings. I swiftly summon my final remaining clone, intending to use him as backup and as a protector for the facelings. He commands the death moths I've summoned and all of them fly to the air above the facelings as hounds and "Rollers" begin to close in on them.

My clone lifts the "Rollers", balls of only somewhat living skin that move around by rolling and are incredibly hostile to anything other than other rollers, into the air. I watch as the rollers, each of which is about a foot big, stop rotating. My clone then telekinetically crushes the balls, compressing them into orbs that are only an inch big, and I sense myself gaining the ability to summon rollers. The deathmoths that obey my clone begin to spew acid at the hounds chasing the facelings, and my clone turns the acid into the acidic equivalent of Magic Missiles, guiding them with strategic focus into the legs and faces of the canines. At the same time, I sense the clone turn his attention more fully to the facelings.

"You can do it!" The clone shouts, using a quirky perk we possess to forcefully conjure shields around the different facelings. The shields are thin, forcefield-like structures that will absorb damage and protect the facelings. The perk itself lets us, "us" being myself or my clones, utilize several techniques that bolster our allies, and the shield is just the one that is the handiest at the moment.

As my clone begins to escort the facelings I move onto the catwalk and I study my surroundings. I am not on an intersection so there are only two directions that non-flying foes can approach me from right ahead: head-on or behind me. Hounds are darting towards me, and I gesture in their direction, knocking them off the platform.

I smirk as the howling hounds abruptly begin to wail, and when they hit the floor beneath the catwalk their wails suddenly end. I try not to relish this, but I am currently actively protecting both specific facelings and humanity, and near-humans, more generally.

The next few minutes pass in a blur. Gianna and I make our way out of the hallway and find ourselves in one of the gigantic labyrinthian rooms that constitute the majority of the spaces I've encountered so far in the backrooms. My clone accompanies the facelings to a ladder that connects the surface with the catwalks and uses telepathy, a product of a perk, to urge them onto it. I murder countless monsters, all of which are simple beasts. I swap my consciousness with that of the clone protecting the facelings, and in doing so I find myself floating beside one of the creatures as it urgently descends the ladder.

It takes five minutes but the facelings both make it down the ladder safely and when they are on the ground floor of the basement I land next to them. They have smooth, featureless oval heads, lacking any hair, eyes, noses, eyes, or other such features, but clearly and deliberately study me. I also study them, even as my sight is drawn to a notification that appears in my mind's eye.

[Alert: Anomaly Detected

These creatures, along with the 'Partygoer' you encountered and defeated should not be here. They represent a break in reality, even more so than the backrooms themselves do. You would be doing this world a service if you protected them and helped investigate how they came to be here. You would also be rewarded for such efforts, particularly if you fought against hostile, alien entities such as 'Partygoers' whenever you encounter them.

For now, as a reward for stepping up and protecting kindly entities, accept this.

Special permissions: [Quest Mode] [Generic Worldwalker] activated. Initial tier unlocked.]

When I reach the bottom of the notification I read the name of the jump and I blink. It is not one I recognize. A split second later I hiss as I feel new powers spring to life within me. I gain an instinctual awareness of them, one innate and as familiar to me as though I've spent years studying them.

Most of what I have gained are not new powers, but rather new traits. This includes things like enhanced familiarity with my own powers, due to something dubbed "Prior Training", and things like "Traveler's Dedication" a perk that allows me to easily motivate myself. I do gain new direct powers, such as the ability to create mental maps and mark them to effortlessly recall points of interest. I also gain a handful of new items, such as a new pack which spontaneously manifests on my back and is already filled with a number of goodies.

I am also suddenly and painfully aware that this means that I am not being sent to instances of universes, toys that can be played with, but actual and real universes that fully exist. My benefactor, or benefactors, do not seem to know why entities that are not native to this canon are appearing, unless this is part of a deliberate plan on their part.

I turn and look at the facelings when the notification disappears. I reach into my pack and grab some food, handing it to them with a smile. I feel the effects of some of my new perks take hold within me, allowing me to detect their joy as they grab the food.

"Hey guys… Let's try to get you someplace safe, huh?" I ask, smiling at them as I feel "Quest Markers" shift. The perk, perfect for guiding me towards new destinations, creates a new glowing line for me to follow. I sense that it will guide me to a place where the facelings can be protected, which on this level probably means some sort of outpost for the UNCB or something to that effect. The facelings nod at me, having already been subjected to my perks, and when I turn in the direction of the glowing line the creatures dutifully follow after me. I am grateful for social perks, old and new alike, as I begin my secondary trip.

Eventually Gianna and I decide to settle down for the night. We retreat to the outpost, finding it after a brief walk, and find that it has taken on the basic aesthetics of this level, with a harsh concrete floor and ugly brick walls. We eat and I go to rest, only to have to make a decision regarding a perk named "Professional Expertise". This perk gives me a decade of experience in a profession, but I have to pick the profession. I elect to take the decade of experience and put it into that of a doctor specializing in wilderness medicine so I can more fully leverage my unusual healing abilities.

When the facelings and I settle for the night I make use of my abilities to do my best to safeguard the area we are in. I use "Always Cover", and a few other abilities to make it hard for enemy entities to reach us. When I'm done I don't bother explaining my abilities to the facelings knowing that my perks (including a new one I gained earlier today) will cause them to internally make up some explanation for my powers that doesn't terrify them. No matter which canon they come from, they are from a version of the backrooms home to much scarier stuff than a telekinetic who can manipulate the environment. We all quickly fall asleep.

The next few days proceed relatively peacefully. I alternate between piloting the body of mine that is with Gianna and the one accompanying the facelings, and I quickly get used to using both my new items and my new abilities. It takes us about a week of traveling before I finally achieve one of my goals: I reach the place "Quest Markers" has been sending the facelings and I: the edge of a settlement in the middle of one of the massive rooms that is a common sight throughout internal biomes in this bizarre space.

The facelings and I all look at the large settlement as we approach it. I place a hand on the shoulder of one of the facelings and activate a technique that puts a shield on it and its friend, even as we begin to get near a wall made of stone that marks the outer boundary of the settlement.

"Here we go…" I remark, worriedly.