Chapter 3 - Manila Room

I know I should be filled with hope, anticipation, and joy once I found this door but the only thing I feel right now is stress, nervousness, and fear for what's ahead of this door.

After seeing that monster and the strange table, all I can think about is to be cautious and not treat anything lightly.

I opened the door slowly because I don't know what's inside of this door, who knows? it might be another one of those monsters.

What greeted my eyes was a medium sized square room but the fluorescent light's humming is quite loud in this room and the walls have a light beige-yellow color. There was but a small wooden table and 2 chairs on the center with some paper on top of it.

"Those papers seems to have something written in it, it doesn't hurt to check it out." I held the papers in front of me and began reading it.

[ Hello wanderer, If you have found this then that means you have entered what we call Level-0 or the tutorial level of the Backrooms. ]

"Backrooms? Level-0? What am I in? a game of some sort?" I continued reading.

[ I'll keep this short, the backrooms as we know it is a separate reality from the real world or as we call it, the front rooms. If you are one of the fortunate or unfortunate ones to stumble upon this place then you have been no-clipped out of reality, the term no-clip only exists in games, atleast for the people in the front rooms but here in the backrooms, no-clipping is an essential knowledge to survive and I'm going to explain it in details but you must know a few rules to survive in Level-0, and some ground rules that applies in every level of the backrooms.]

"I've never been a fan of games but I do know the term "No-clipping" because of that one game I played called Left 4 Dead."

[ Remember these rules wanderer and it may just keep your sanity going and your body in one piece.

For Level-0:

The room you are in right now is called the Manila Room and it serves as a rendezvous point for wanderers, if you are lucky you might be able to meet fellow wanderers but even if both you go outside the Manila Room together, the both of you will never exist in the same Level-0.

The reasons are unknown but Level-0 is one of the few levels where it's impossible to meet up with other wanderers such as yourself.

The reason why wanderers are able to meet in the Manila Room is not yet known to us but we suspect that it's because the enigmatic effect of Level-0 is not connected to the Manila Room in any way. You can rest your weary muscles in this room as this room has not been recorded to have any entities appearing inside of it although you might hear repetitive knocking around the room but stay calm because nothing is going to happen. ]

"Where are the rules?"

[ Now for the actual rules.

Rule 1: Stay calm and don't lose hope, sometimes it may seem impossible to escape from level-0 but trust me, you will find an escape eventually I repeat, it is not impossible to find the way out so you must continue forward and not lose hope.

Rule 2: Make a mental note of your surroundings once you arrive at any level in the backrooms to determine what level you are in.

Rule 3: You can escape any room of the backrooms but not the backrooms itself, so you must accept it as your new home.

Rule 4: The reason why rule 3 exist is because it is still unknown whether there is a way out of backrooms itself, although there are rumours of people escaping, none have been proven whatsoever. Some veteran explorers have tried going deeper into the backrooms in the hopes of returning to the surface but it only lead to more dangerous levels and none have returned. It is theorized that the backrooms has infinite levels but that hasn't been proven either or more like, no one has ventured deep enough to prove it.

Rule 5: Never look inside of windows, there will never be windows in the backrooms and if you do see one, resist the temptation of looking inside it because nothing good will come out of it, it may just spell the end of your journey explorer.]

"Hold on, this is too much information for my brain to handle. Okay so I'm currently at a separate reality called the backrooms and the backrooms is made out separate rooms called levels? and the most important thing is that.. I might never make it out alive.. No, I will find a way out of this damned place, they said it's unknown so it's basically saying it might be possible to escape!"

[ Now for the must crucial knowledge of all, No-Clipping. In order to No-Clip you must either find some specific spots which are enlisted below.

• Glitched out Objects - You can try falling through the object which is as we know, glitched out from reality. It may increase your chances of no clipping out of a level.

• Dark areas that seem oddly placed of out of place - These areas may be places where you can phase through easily but most of these areas don't necessarily mean you can phase through them, in other words it's quite rare.

• Doors - Although doors mean you don't need to no-clip but transmitted to another level but it's another way of escape but be wary of going inside, it may transport you in a not so human friendly level.

• Elevators - These are very direct but they only exist on specific levels of the backrooms which you will discover soon if you want to go to one of our main explorer settlements on Level 11.

In order to further your chances of No-clipping, you must empty your mind, lighten your body, imagine phasing or No-clipping through the place of interest and proceed to fall or enter any places of interest. If you're successful then you'll be transported to the next level or random level at will but at worse, you'll end up with a mild concussion or headache.

That's all I'm allowed to say Explorer, We are the M.E.G and we are here to help every explorer in need. We have a settlement in Level-1 which is always the next level in Level-0 once you no-clip, you can try finding one of our settlement there and you may stay there for as long as you want until you feel like you are ready to venture further into the backrooms.

Godspeed Explorer, and may you survive in one piece.

- Bob, Your friendly neighbourhood M.E.G personnel. ]

"Hah.. What did I do to deserve being in this god forsaken place? I don't even know how to process all these things at once, just the sheer amount of horrifying monsters, strange phenomena, and other horrifying things in this reality just makes me want to stay in this room forever."

'This was the first time in a while I felt like crying. I just couldn't accept what happened to me yet, and just thinking about the fact that I might meet one of those blood curdling monsters anytime in here makes it even more horrifying. I don't even know if I could survive long enough to find one of those place of interests, I might die from hunger or thirst before that or worse, one of those disgusting motherfuckers might just end my life.'

And just like that, I slowly drifted asleep...