Eleven goddesses lording over the same number of domains dwell within the items Gustavo has just seized. The goddesses wield power, though it is currently greatly diminished compared to them at their zenith, over eleven different domains: the four classical elements, beasts, darkness, death, light, time, chaos, and order, as well as minor domains conceptually connected to the primary domains under their influence.
Over the eons in which they have been imprisoned the goddesses have grown closer and closer, and what was once merely a mutual desire to attain vengeance has blossomed into a sincere and wholesome sisterhood between all eleven deities, even those who represent opposing domains. All eleven deities have even expressed a desire to remain together once they flee this universe!
The eleven goddesses are hard at work. They are busily transforming and refining the body and soul of their savior, the mischievous and oftentimes roguish young hero named Gustavo. They are the figures responsible for young Gustavo’s transformation.
The moment of the young hero’s transformation is much earlier than he assumes it must be when he first glimpses himself, and thus his new form, through Lopez’s eyes. The very instant that the gaggle of goddesses surrounded the young jumper they began to morph and refine his body, even though he wrongly assumes that his transformation must have begun when he shut his eyes minutes ago.
The power of the goddesses, while severely depleted compared to their power at the very height of their influence, is still great enough for them to transform the figure who saved them so long as they work together. Each of them took charge of a different aspect of refining their unusual and unofficial champion and they got to work the instant that they attuned themselves to him.
Jumpers are naturally capable of storing and producing all manner of esoteric energies. These energies can range from the corruption Gustavo naturally produces to the potent and divine power even evil gods exude in tremendous qualities.
What none of the goddesses would have expected is the ways that their attempt to transform their savior, to refine him and make him something akin to what they are, intersects with his unusual nature even among his fellow jumpers as well as how it touches them and how they are being changed due to their exposure to him.
Gustavo’s soul is a strange thing, a crystalline silhouette of concentrated ego and superego that radiates power and identity as well as the unusual energies Gustavo naturally generates. Each of the goddesses has touched his soul and thus has felt the comforting kiss of the faintest traces of the sickly corruption Gustavo exudes. In turn they allowed miniscule amounts of their divinity to embed themselves in their hero.
The seductive corruption of their hero, a force that is fully and wholly subservient to Gustavo as well as truly alive, has embedded fragments of itself in the hearts of each of the goddesses. At the same time eleven shards of divinity have pierced different portions of Gustavo’s heart and soul and are attuning the being to the esoteric energies that are normally invisible to non-divines.
The goddesses, for reasons that are beyond their immediate and conscious awareness, are feeling fragments of their long-lost powers beginning to return to them. They can very faintly sense echoes of their shattered connections to their domains beginning to slowly reestablish themselves, but they know that such recovery will take a long time so long as they aren’t worshiped...
Even unknowingly empowered by Gustavo’s corruption, which is a holistic balm and steroid for the soul, they will need the eldritch energies produced by pious mortals if they wish to fully recover and regain their lost power. That said, by combining the powerful effects of the faint amounts of the corruption currently rooting itself in their hearts with the power of devoted worship who knows how much stronger they could become?
Gustavo is also left changed by their efforts, as the goddesses have worked hard to refine his soul. Not only is he supernaturally handsome, his body touched and blessed by the goddesses he has saved, but eleven shards of divinity corresponding to eleven different domains being abruptly embedded in him has allowed him to skyrocket in power.
The figure himself is only aware of some of the changes he has begun to undergo, but deep within him events are occurring that will matter in the hours and days to come. Corruption is touching the miniscule fragments of divinity that have been deliberately placed inside of the creature and tremendously empowering the shards, allowing them to pour more divine energy into the being they have been stuck inside of then they ought to be able too.
The touch of the goddesses has awakened more of the creature’s startling potential, and that is evident with as little as a look at him. The creature, once a merely handsome being, has moved closer to becoming an archetypical embodiment of masculinity. He is visibly taller than before, his previously visible muscles have been both practically and physically enhanced, and he radiates a casual but persistent aura of calm confidence.
In a sense, it’s almost as though he’s received a quest reward, other than the ones he was promised by the system. That is a bit funny since a notification fills his mind’s eye as he mentally adjusts to his new reality, one pertaining to quests and other system-based things.
[Alert: System Update In Progress And Other News
You have triumphed over both a native, difficult challenge, repelling the horde who intended to assault and destroy nearby settlements, and an artificial, equally difficult, challenge, overcoming the guardian-level [Entity] known as [The Keymaster]. While neither of these challenges were impossible, overcoming either showed considerable skill and overcoming both was an even greater showcase of might.
As a reward for your powerful victory your [System] is currently updating. When it is finished updating, the moment you finish reading this notification, it will be fully operational, and thus you will have powerful features at your disposal. These features are accompanied by a slew of new perks related to ‘Roles’ in ‘Parties’ and other ‘Video Game Tropes’.
All in all, you are now attaining a considerable boost to your power, coupled with the fact that the [Goddesses] who are trapped in your equipment have also boosted your might to thank you for saving them.
Even better, none of this accounts for the native boost to your power you attain each time you escape one level of the infinite, labyrinthian hellscape you are trapped in. That said, the single greatest boost in power you are attaining because of your actions here is to your [Generic Lewd Overlord] powers.
Your [Familiar] is attuned to the omniverse and capable of explaining any of this you desire to learn about in greater detail, but as a consequence of your actions here you will attain access to [Perks], [Items], from both [Brute Force] and [Proselytizing Zealot] and as a reward for tackling [The Keymaster] and surviving when you enter the next level you’re going to you will be joined by all of the [Companions] you ought to have, two for each of the [Origins] you’ve acquired to date from [Generic Lewd Overlord].
This strange [Setting] appears to possess a native connection to your soul, due likely to your internal nature. It is not the only [Setting] from which you draw power. There is another [Setting] which is heavily attuned to your control-seeking soul.
The goddesses, in their efforts to reward you, have inadvertently allowed the true depths of the power of the [Setting] from which your curious kinesthetic ability hails to shine through. Those [Perks] are unusual, but they are now also active within you. The setting is named [Mind Control University].]
The alert almost makes my eyes widen in pleasant surprise, but I manage to keep it together. As the notification vanishes from my field of view I can keenly sense some of the changes which take place within me. The various icons which liter the edges of my field of view become much more solid in color, and I can sense my familiarity with my powers increase dramatically, even powers I didn’t know that I possessed or only just acquired because of my victory over the Keymaster.
I can see numerical abstractions of many things, from my “Hit”, “Stamina”, and “Magic” points, to stuff like my “Strength”, “Intelligence”, “Wisdom”, “Dexterity”, “Charisma”, and “Constitution”. I can even see subtitles down near the bottom of my mind’s eye!
I know things like my own “Alignment” which is currently categorized as “Lawful, Controlling, Neutral” on a three-part sliding scale. The three axis’s I have access to are “Good/Evil”, “Lawful/Chaotic” and “Controlling/Permissive” and in the middle of all three scales is the word “Neutral”. It’s a bit amusing to see something dub me “Controlling”, but it’s not wrong.
It’s a bit hurtful to see it dub me “Neutral”, given how hard I have worked to keep people safe but I guess my desire for control helps undermine some of that goodwill… That said, apparently I get buffs for powers that relate to my alignments, and I can now see the alignments of other people as well!
The changes I have undergone are intense and affect every aspect of me. This causes me to let out a hearty laugh, which makes my companions stop and turn to look at me curiously.
“Is everything alright?” Anna, one of the people who didn’t join my hivemind asks as I approach her. I smile and nod at her, excitedly.
“Oh Anna… Everything is a lot better than alright. I’m just excited about our victory. We saved this level!” I exclaim, brightly. My internal self-awareness probably isn’t perfect, but it’s tremendously enhanced compared to before, and I possess far greater self-awareness than I possessed even minutes ago.
I walk up until I am next to my allies and when I reach them, I study what they are doing. They are, in every case, either looking at me or taking stock of the goods they now possess. As I study them, I sense something curious happen…
My mind begins to fill with rather dark knowledge. Some of this knowledge is internal, based on and around myself, such as a sudden explosion of knowledge pertaining to “Experience and Training Boosts”, while other bits of mysterious knowledge now filling corners of my mind is centered around the people I am traveling with.
When I glance at Anna I can hear dark whispers telling me different ways to bring her under my influence, several of which revolve around powers that were previously unknown to me. These dark whispers aren’t tempting to me, but what they do actually do is make me interested in the potency of the new powers I possess as they primarily center around those powers.
This is a manifestation of a predatory power known as “Path to Control”. It’s a dark ability that allows me to gleam information about people and use that information to plot. It’s most powerful when it comes to helping me formulate strategies that end with people or other sapient beings serving me.
The strangest changes occurring to me at the moment relate to my desire for control. I have “Master” perks, as well as a curious set of “Neutral” perks, “General” perks, and perks and items belonging to six different “Paths”. The “Path” perks and items that I possess refer to methods of mind control, and are “Hypnotism”, “Chemistry”, “Technology”, “Chi”, “Psionics”, and “Magic” and in each case I have three items and four perks that culminate in a potent capstone-boosted perk.
My ability to be aware of my range of motion was a product of a “Chi” perk that I didn’t know the name of until now. It is named “Master of Territory” and is considerably boosted now that I have other perks that allow me to make use of my chi in various ways. Nonetheless, while I wonder about whether or not I’ll get a chance to use it soon I glance at the portal on the other end of the room.
The portal shows me a cramped tunnel and just looking at it makes me want to sigh. That’ll be level number three… I study it for a few moments before turning to face my companions.
“Alright guys… I think I’ve got to get going.” I explain, mysteriously. This causes everyone to stop whatever they are doing and turn to look at me with shocked and annoyed looks on their faces.
“Gustavo, what are you talking about? We owe you a debt, you’ve got to stay here until we can pay you back somehow. Not only did you save our home, but you also helped us find the Vault!” Marco tells me, looking at me like I’m a child he is in the process of chiding. I chuckle and shake my head.
“I don’t want to be repaid. I did the right thing because it was the right thing to do. I saved the level because it was morally correct, not out of any expectation that I’d be rewarded.” I explain. This is, of course, partially a lie. I knew I’d receive payment for my work, and in fact I actually kind of did even before I began the quest since when I accepted it I received a whole perk tree, complete with items.
“Plus, the truth is that I’m on a journey deeper into The Backrooms. I don’t want to go back to the settlement. Doing so would mean that I’d need to come all the way back here.” I tell them, speaking more truthfully this time. We can all see the distant portal leading to the “Sub-Basement”, the next level. It is in the distance, but it’s not so far that it’d take even them any more than a few minutes to reach the thing.
“Gustavo, what do you mean you’re heading deeper?” Asks Anna, looking at me curiously. I turn to her and smile.
“I mean exactly what I say Anna. I am a healer and an adventurer. I might be an entity, but I still want to help people. This is not the only level where people encounter people, and so it’s not the only level where I can find people. I want to wander the entirety of The Backrooms.” I explain, again mixing truth and lies.
I watch my words wash over her. As they do I can see the effects of various perks mixing and interacting with each other, ones as simple as “Making Friends Without Influencing People” which is just a popularity booster, to ones as complex as “Mental Gravity”, which encourages people to agree with me, like me, and help me, while discouraging them to do the opposite with simple pavlovian conditioning.
People who like me, help me, and agree with me, experience short and sweet sensations like pleasure and joy while interacting with me, while people who don’t experience decidedly less positive sensations. These perks, unsurprisingly, hail from “Mind Control University”. “Making Friends Without Influencing People” just makes me more likeable even without actual mind control techniques, simply boosting my charisma and making me naturally likeable.
My enhanced senses, some of which have been further refined by perks I have only just acquired, allow me to study Anna’s micro expressions and I can almost literally see the gears turning in her mind as she tries to come up with a compelling counter argument. For a few moments she attempts to assemble something cogent, but I can see her losing a battle inside of herself before she gives up and looks at me sadly.
“I… I feel like it’s not right to not reward you. It feels like we took advantage of your kindness and good nature, especially given the events that took place.” She explains, and I allow myself to look sad for a moment as I walk over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
“You did not take advantage of me or my ‘Good Nature’. We went on an adventure together, and I also benefited from our time together. I am much stronger than I was before, and I have endured an encounter with another unique entity. I have gained just as much as you have.” I tell her, speaking more honestly this time than I have before.
“That said, I am going to say goodbye here. I will be freeing you,” I say, turning to look at my companions who I added to my hivemind and then doing as I said I would. To free them I simply will them out of the hivemind, doing so with the other humans I added to the mental structure as well, and I visibly shudder as I feel a bit of energy drain out of me. “And then I will be going.” I say, even as I sense my alignment changing ever so slightly.
Freeing the people in my hivemind is a snap decision, but it’s also not a hard one. If I actually care that I was dubbed “Neutral” by the system, I have the ability to change that. I just need to be good, and part of that means making sacrifices and doing things because it is right to do so. Weakening myself but granting people their freedom is an example of that.
I feign as though I am still feeling in tiptop shape and I say farewell to my friends before I begin to walk towards the portal. As I do I hear the sadness in the voices of those who I had added to my hivemind, but I ignore their protests and elect to make my way towards my next destination.
I only walk for a few hundred feet before I find myself unable to move. I am completely paralyzed and so is everyone around me, as my enhanced senses don’t pick up a thing. I can’t even use my own powers, one of which is the ability to freeze time, a perk known as “Pause Function”, and a component of my “System” which has only just awoken within me. I try to use it but find that it’s nonresponsive. Several moments pass before I, while still frozen, hear a voice that seems to whisper directly into my mind.
“Do you think you’re hot shit?” The voice asks, malice dripping from every word it utters. It has a juvenile vocabulary, but doesn’t sound juvenile at all. The voice is old, and it sounds both tired and hateful.
“I just… I’ve come to the conclusion that you must think that you’re hot shit. It honestly pisses me off.” The voice tells me, immaturity oozing from every word it telepathically utters.
“I couldn’t believe it when the omniverse first intervened on your behalf... But now that you’ve gone and freed my prisoners I can’t sit by and do nothing in response to that. I’m more than a little bit tired of losing to you.” The mysterious voice explains, quite cryptically.
“But that puts me in a bind because I can’t just kill you outright… So, I’ve got to be a little more creative than that. Thankfully, I AM creative. After all, I INVENTED the Backrooms and that… Well, that was a stroke of genius.” The stranger tells me, before beginning to laugh at his own joke.
Truthfully, this guy sounds a bit like an asshole. But by revealing that he invented this place he also reveals his identity. Somehow, the Universal Consciousness that brought me to the Backrooms is manifesting near me and speaking, threateningly, to me.
It is… beyond weird to be listening to the primeval voice of the universe itself, and I suspect that if not for perks I possess I might well be going insane right now. Thankfully, my perks protect me and so I can just hear the universe itself, or rather the closest thing it has to a mind and a will, speaking to me with ease.
“So I can’t just kill you outright, but you still need to be punished. I’ve come up with an idea that lets me punish you without murdering you. You see, you won’t be going to the Sub-Basement. You’ll be going somewhere a bit more interesting than some weird little underground complex. You’re going to visit the place I put my most medieval and European mythology-centric ideas. Have fun in the Middenground, you dick.” The voice tells me.
It's kind of funny to hear a being as big as a universe call me a “Dick”, there’s something so weird about it that it’s hard not to hear something like that and not smile at it. The very same voice then vanishes, or at least falls silent, even as my surroundings begin to blur.
I don’t sense time unfreezing around me, and so I am not shocked when two prominent notifications fill my mind’s eye. I read them back-to-back, curiosity and excitement filling me as I become more and more aware of where I’m fated to go next.
[Alert: Changes Detected
The [Universal Consciousness] that has been opposed to you since before you were first dropped off in the Backrooms has changed your surroundings. You are going to [The Middenground], a type of [Liminal Space System] which is very decidedly still a part of the grander Backrooms, but is also run by its own rules as part of a closed off set of experiments and places connected by a basic theme.
Each [Liminal Space System] houses a different set of areas than the baseline Backrooms. The [Middenground] is a unique space because it only houses one [World Space] as opposed to each “Level” being its own [World Space] like in the baseline Backrooms.
This is a radically different sort of [Setting] compared to the baseline Backrooms levels you were just in. The biggest and most immediate difference between this [Setting] and the normal Backrooms that is relevant for you is that in this setting, two big pairs of continents in the same [World Space], all of your [Items] work. This enormous, world-shaking difference means you won’t be starting off by yourself in this new place!
All of your [Companions] will be placed in places close to you when you finish being integrated into the [Setting]. These [Companions], in the cases when you met them already, possess both memories of their time in the baseline Backrooms and have backstories that make logical sense that will allow them to serve you and to have identities native to the setting.
New [Companions] will serve you and have a logical backstory but will not know about other realities. They will know, vaguely, about the world outside of the Backrooms, but they won’t know about concepts like the [Universal Consciousness] you are fighting.
When you have finished reading the pair of notifications in front of you time will begin to resume and you will be transported to [The Middenground].]
[Alert: Religion and Divinity Introduced
The goddesses you rescued from the clutches of your grand foe are… well, goddesses. They are conceptually powerful, or at least conceptually tough, queens of ‘Domains’, spheres of influence tied to different parts of life, such as darkness, chaos, animals, order, and water.
Goddesses and gods are empowered by the esoteric energies created by sapient beings who worship them. Even the weakest divinities gain power when praised and served by sapient creatures. This is why so many deities either build faiths devoted to them, themselves or permit religions centered around them to develop naturally over time.
The eleven goddesses who you rescued paid you back by donating a portion of themselves and affixing it to you. These eleven shards of godhood have begun the slow process of becoming one fully divine core but they cannot progress without something important: worshippers. This is also relevant to your newfound allies, the primordial goddesses.
Part of the reason for the changes that have occurred to you is that the goddesses worked to remake you, to make you better, based on their knowledge of jumpers. They succeeded, but due to their massively weakened states they could not remake you as completely as they wished. In doing so they were exposed to your corruption, which has begun the delicate work of repairing them, but at your current level of strength cannot do much alone.
Both you and the goddesses will grow in power as you gain worshipers. This is due to you possessing a tiny spark of divinity within yourself as a result of the efforts by the goddesses to remake you. This spark will grow a touch when you finish transitioning to [The Middenground], but only a little bit.
It can grow further still by being fed the energies generated by worshipers. All of this is mixing with one of your new [Origins], [Proselytizing Zealot].
Perks, items, and the nature of your companions from [Proselytizing Zealot] will be influenced by the domains of the goddesses, and by your own powers and desire for control. As you gain power and worshipers you will gain the ability to earn domains of your own, which you will eventually be able to manipulate on a conceptual level, and gain powers related to your domains.
As part of your backstory for the new [World Space] you’re entering, a young but decently widespread, faith will be created and loaded into the setting. It will be centered around the goddesses and yourself. It will have a smaller, compared to other local faiths, but powerfully pious following. Your [Proselytizing Zealot] followers will be a part of the faith, and the [Companions] it offers you: its high priestess and three angels, who worship you and the goddesses.
The goddesses who tried to remake you can exert control over two domains each. Each one has major control over one domain, such as earth, and lesser control over another domain, such as life.]
As I finish reading the second notification the two things wink out of view. At the very same time I am shocked to feel a sudden and dramatic drop in temperature, even before whatever surrounds me begins to become more visible than just a weird blurry outline.
Currently what I can “see” is a blurry outline of a white landscape. I can’t yet make out specific details of my surroundings, but I can see distant objects that are so blurry that they might be mountains or they might be gigantic creatures. I can also see a sudden absence of any meaningful blurring some distance ahead of me which I guess might be representative of a drop of some sort.
I wait for what must be, from my perspective at least, a few minutes before the blurring begins to recede. Objects begin to come into full view, uncensored by any blur, and I am a bit unsurprised to see that I am standing on the edge of a path on a mountain in the middle of a landscape filled with distant mountains.
New notifications, many of them, fill the corners of my mind’s eye as the new perks and items I was promised earlier become mine. Many of the notifications relate to how some of my new powers intersect with each other, such as giving me explanations for things like my “Ki System”, a powerful ability given to me by “System” which allows me to use a ki-based equivalent to spells.
Several of the notifications relate to changes that have occurred because of the transition out of the baseline Backrooms and into this weird world space. One prominent example of that is the fact that all of my items work here, even items that are not singular possessions but are instead businesses or organizations that have become mine through whatever esoteric mechanisms the omniverse uses to create my items. This represents a dramatic shift, as far as my resources go, and even with cursory knowledge of the items that are now active in the world I know that I have far more power at my disposal than I did even hours ago.
As reality becomes uncensored, the blurring that previously blocked my vision fading away, I can make out my surroundings. I am standing on a loosely paved road on the side of one of many mountains and snow is gently falling around me.
To my left is the body of the mountain I am standing on, and I can see the entrance to a cave that is filled with flickering torches and off in the distance, perhaps as much as a mile into the cave, is a lone woman that visibly brightens when she sees me. Her ability to see me at all is very impressive…
To my right is a mountainous drop-off, and by looking down as far as I can I can see faintly see a blanket of fog covering what must be the mountain’s valley. The sun is beginning to set and even as I begin to turn back to face the woman my hivemind is suddenly filled with curious and shocked thoughts.
“Whoa, what the heck?” Asks Rebecca, who is not next to me. I can still hear her thoughts though, and I can also hear the thoughts of Marcus and Rachel. I cannot sense anyone else in the hivemind though, but I haven’t lost any of the power that the entities being in the hivemind brought me.
“We’re in a new setting. A new… ‘World Space’. Welcome to the Middenground.” I explain, using a hivemind-wide “Channel” that allows me to project my thoughts to those I have corrupted even a little bit. My companions ask me questions, and I notice that none of my new companions are part of the hivemind yet, which ordinarily wouldn’t surprise me but it is a bit odd since two of my new companions are tethered to the “Corruptive Dominance” origin.
I take a beat to answer the questions of my allies, even as I begin to feel my mind expanding just a touch as two important things begin to happen at the same time. The first thing that begins to happen is that a perk named “General Knowledge” begins to manifest. I feel my mind filling with knowledge related to the “Half-Tamed Wilds”, which is the formal name the locals have given to the Middenground.
The second thing that is beginning to occur is that I sense the terrifying, almost pandemic-like potency of my “Corruptive Dominance” perks and items taking root in the setting. Among other things this means that my hivemind begins to fill with a tiny number of new voices, particularly those of the “Employees” who work for any of the businesses created by the “A Cultured Insurgency” item.
This specific item was one of many items in my possession that did not work in the baseline Backrooms but does work here. It is a handy thing that makes it easier for me to spread my corruption by creating businesses that are themselves run by cultists who worship me as a divinity of corruption and who seek to corrupt their customers.
As an item it is empowered by “Afarkaup Avarkostir”, which triples the sheer number of businesses it creates that are owned by cultists devoted to me and that itself represents a dramatic leap insofar as its ability to effectively corrupt people go. All of my items are tripled in quantity by “Afarkaup Avarkostir”, which is far more powerful now that my items aren’t limited to things like a goblin that serves me or some backpack filled with almond water.
I internally muse about the potency of “Afarkaup Avarkostir” for so long that the woman who spotted me earlier has time to reach me and when she calls out to me I turn to look at her curiously. I am stunned by what I see.
The woman in front of me is Hispanic. She is, in fact, the first Hispanic person I’ve seen since I arrived in the Backrooms. She has the same almost honey-like complexion that many Hispanic people have, particularly people who are both Hispanic and from the Caribbean, like Puerto Ricans. There’s something… wonderful about finding someone like me in the Backrooms, even if I had to travel here, to a weird new part of the place, to find them.
She is stunningly beautiful with large brown eyes and a radiant smile, as well as the curvy body of a femme fatale or an adult film star. She is dressed in the light armor of a barbarian or some other melee fighter that doesn’t use heavy armor. The look in her eyes, as she gazes up at me, is one of pure adoration, and I wonder why she’s looking at me that way until I use “Observe” on her.
The ability causes a textbox to fill my mind’s eye that is filled with information about her. I learn things like her name, which is a distinctly Hispanic name: “Lucia Garcia”, her “Level” which is the same as mine: 1, and the fact that she is my newly recruited “Personal Champion”. My “Personal Champion” is a companion, specifically it is one of the companions I possess due to the “Brute Force” origin.
“Hey there master! I can’t believe you came out here. I already told you, little things like this can be left to me. My inventory has some prey in it. Let’s get back to the inn so we can make some food! I’m sure the others are hungry as well.” She says, confidently.
I can hear a light accent in her words but it’s not an accent that I am familiar with. That’s not surprising though, this is, for all intents and purposes at least, a whole other planet I am on. I eventually nod at her and she laughs brightly before walking past me and beginning to lead me in the direction we came.
Annoyingly, it’s only as we begin to head to the inn she mentioned that details that are relevant to my life here, in the Middenground, begin to fill my mind. One of these details is the memory detailing “My” first encounter with Lucia “years” ago. This backstory business is weird. I have all these new memories which are both distinctly mine and not at all my own but are instead weird facets of having a backstory ready to go from the very beginning of one’s integration into a new setting.
Lucia and I walk for no more than ten minutes before we begin to see distant houses a few miles away from the road we are standing on. The houses are built on the side of the mountain, as well as just inside a mountainous cave like the one Lucia was just in. As we walk I internally begin to grapple with the curious reality of my new circumstances. That said, it doesn’t get me down. I’ll leave the Backrooms someday, I don’t need to rush headlong into danger over my head.
