{UNDER REWRITE} Ragnarök: Hatred In Another Reality

Ch 9: Level !. Exhaustion...

I run. And I run fast. Tables, chairs, and a bunch of other medical equipment getting in my way. I don't even dodge around them, I just bash through them.

"Shit. I thought this level was a myth!" Kyle yells.

"It definitely is not!" The Voice answers, but to no response. A feeling of dread washes over me. Not because of the blaring alarms, or the bright flashing red lights that illuminated the level in rhythmic bursts, but because of the fear that echoed in the Voice's voice. It seems so powerful and holds so much control over this place, only for those thoughts to be shattered by the realization that the Backrooms is in itself a living, self-aware, and conscious being. The feeling only gets worse the more my mind lingers on it. I shake it out of my thoughts the best I can as I carry on my seemingly endless rush to the end of this godforsaken hallway. The sounds of entities shrieking reverberates behind me.

"There they are!" Kyle says, completely unsurprised. "I was wondering when they where gonna show up." Whose them? I look behind me but see nothing but a blood red hallway. "Your too far away to see them, Slayer." He tells me. "But, if your wondering what's down there. It's a horde of entities. And when I say horde, I mean horde! At least a couple hundred!" I stop running and come to a stop.

"Great Slayer! What are you doing! Run!" It's just a horde of entities... that's it? "Yes, but...! Maybe it will not happen... I can not be sure..." The fear in it's voice morphs into a mix of doubt and worry. "It is just a horde of entities... perhaps it will hold for long enough..." It muttered to itself. I did not like what it was talking about, but I had an abysmal feeling it was about me. "I will attempt to hold it for as much longer as I can muster, but my power is slipping." It lets out a long, drawn out sigh. "You know what to do, Great Slayer." Yes. Yes, I do.

I turn around and begin running the opposite direction. Straight towards this supposed entity horde. The words spoken by the Voice pull at my thoughts. What did it mean? What is it trying to hold? But I didn't have much time to think about it as I approach the horde. It takes a while to reach them because of how fast I was running to the exit, but I did make it. In this swarm of hideous abominations are entities I have never seen before, I see confusion in their faces and body language of the monsters. I guess they weren't expecting me to turn around. Some are made of the darkness itself. Seemingly holding up their sharp, white, wide toothy grins and piercing white eyes with the shadows that make up their crocked bodies.

Others are dog-like in nature, running on all fours but having Human-like appearances. Their skinny frames providing little support for their bodies, but still being able to run. Large brown and black spiders scurry across the floor beneath my feet, and on the ceilings above. Others I don't even see fully to be able to describe as they are hurtled back by the others. I pull out the Prototype, pump it up to the max, and unload a flurry of rounds into the screaming wall of entities clawing through each other to get their round with me. The first layer is turned too steaming piles of mush as the second layer is pushed through them by the hundreds pilling up behind them, burning them severally.

I raise the weapon to allow the Fire Salt crystal enough arch to be able to reach them. Pulling the trigger a loud thump can be heard mixing into the cacophony of screams of agony and rage, which is then completely drowned out by the deafening explosion of sound, light, heat, and fire that violently ruptures and escapes from the Crystal.

The sounds of screams and screeches return as the explosion dissipates until disappearing from my ears. I continue to fight with varying amounts of firepower until one entity — one of the smiling ones — pounces on me and throws me against one of the many steel doors that fill the hallway. It begins slamming it's invisible claws into me, relentlessly pounding me into the door.

As it continues its assault, my mind begins to race; why am I moving so sloppily? I noticed the moment I entered this wretched reality: my movements are slower, my attacks have less power, even my reaction speed is drastically slowed. Fighting the Thing on Level 7 should have been fairly easy, but I could barely get through those membranes...

I began to feel something awfully abysmal in every joint, muscle, and tendon in my body. Not pain, but something similar... something that made my arms fell ten times as heavy. I wanted to lay down and rest. Then it hit me...

Fatigue... I was tired.

"Oh no..." The Voice said. "I was hoping it would last a bit longer..." It was mumbling to itself and sounded lost. I wanted to know what the problem was, but I was still lost in my own thoughts, too. "Just hang on for a little while longer, Great Slayer!" It said frantically. "I will get you out of there as fast as I can!"

The same feeling I had felt after Davoth's life-sphere exploded was hitting me like a Freight Train. But, I'll worry about that later. Right now, I am fighting, and I was getting hit again and again.

As the entity continued its assault I could hear the door begin to wane. I throw an exhausted punch at it's pearly whites causing many of them to shatter upon impact. It roars in painful rage and throws one final swipe which sends me right through the already damaged door into a void of dark silence. The hundreds of entities following close behind like a biological wave of pain.

I fall endlessly through the empty abyss that surrounded me as the entities pour out of the newly created exit. Colour returns to my eyes as I enter a familiar level. The concrete halls of Level 1 fill my vision as about at least ten or more entities no-clip out of the ceiling above me, falling to the concrete floor as I did.

"Shit!" Kyle flips on the radio to warn the Base. "Alert! An entity swarm has entered Level 1! I repeat, an entity swarm has entered Level 1!" I slowly rise from the floor, my legs wobbling as I do. I rip off a Skin Stealers arm and stab it back into its chest. But, as I sloppily rush towards one that looks like a clown made of flesh, I begin to no-clip again. This time ending up in a level I've never seen before.

I fall from the night sky into a suburban neighbourhood, the streets full of entities. Giant floating human eye-balls hover over the entities like guardian angels. Before I could even lift my heavy chest off the concrete I begin to no-clip once more.

"Come on, come on!" The Voice still muttering to itself. I land on the hard wood floor of a museum. "Yes!" The Voice shouts. "Get up, Great Slayer! Posthaste!" I try with all my might and remaining strength to lift myself from the floor, and what I see completely baffles me. Before me sits a massive bright yellow jewel much larger than a car, shaped like a stereotypical diamond. But, what confused me even more were the ten giant glowing blue chains that stretched out from the walls in a circle around it, holding it on a pedestal in centre of the room. "Great Slayer!" The Voice spoke to me once more, but this time it did not speak to me in my mind, it spoke to me out loud. It's voice originating from the jewel in front of me. "Break the chains before it is too late, please!"

Desperation followed its every word. I stumbled towards them, exhaustedly. Wrapping my fingers around the closest chain I pull and tug with all my might. The Voice (or Jewel), and Kyle both cheering me on. I could feel my mind begin to slip, so with every pinch of strength and undying will I pull with all I could muster. Before my eyes closed as my mind fell into unconsciousness, I witnessed the chain go slack as my ears were filled with the sound of white hot metal snapping under pressure. I did it...

I broke the chain...