“As I set foot in this new realm beyond the dark halls, I was met with the sight of nothing but the muted cosmos over a tenebrous world, the feeble lantern in my hand failing to illuminate my environment just as it had in the area before.
The darkness was suffocating.
LEVEL 6.99
THREAT INDEX
Class Undetermined
Exit: 4/5
Very Hard To Exit
Environment: 3/5
Perilous Environment
Entities: ?/5
Undocumented Entities
Subclass: Abyssal
Extremely Low Visibility
The Umbral Light.
Being a sublevel of Level 6 and one of the most infamous levels of the Main Nine (in no small part due to its pervasive anomalous properties), Level 6.99 is one of the most mysterious levels to have been documented, with much about it still being unknown to this very day. Along with the remaining levels further past it, this place serves as a significant barrier to navigation and exploration past the Main Nine as a whole.
Entering the level, one will immediately be met with a seemingly endless expanse of what can be assumed to be the dead remnants of a conventional natural area, filled with forests of towering, dead, evergreens, fields of blackened grass left to decay, and massive expanses of shallow, stagnant water, all under the view of a surreal sky embellished with various stars and objects which cannot be properly identified. Dotted sparsely across this locale are randomly placed derelict structures of various shapes and sizes, including but not limited to stone paths with lit lamp posts, vacant skyscrapers, eerie suburban homes, empty highways, rotting log cabins, and many more, all seemingly having been abandoned for extended periods of time.
Strangely, Level 6.99 is affected by a mysterious visual anomaly; although light can be emitted and is visible, all matter within the level, whether native to it or not, will be unable to reflect said light. As a result of this, despite the skylight within the area, the entirety of the level proper is shrouded in complete darkness, with any light source brought into the level failing to illuminate one's surroundings. In addition to the perils posed by this abnormality, temperatures within the locale average at around -10°F/23.3°C, meaning that succumbing to hypothermia is an ever present risk within the Umbral Light.
Additionally, the significant lack of illumination, along with a lack of ambience within the level, tends to caused an increase in audiovisual hallucinations, so much so that it has become persistent throughout all accounts. Most hallucinations consist of loud clicking or banging, coupled with the distant sound of wind chimes. Most hallucinations within the level tend to only be audible in the far distance, out of reach to wanderers. Visual illusions, on the other hand, consist of solely distant lights, which often blink and contort in a haphazard manner.
There certainly is something within Level 6.99. It is known for a fact that the vast majority of wanderers who enter the Umbral Light never return, their bodies lost to the darkness.
Documentation collected by the Backroom Colonists have reported moving lights seen far off in the distance and strange noises heard, with photographic and audio evidence to prove that these are not merely instances of the level’s iconic hallucinations. Longterm inhabitants have confirmed the existence of lifeforms within the space, but the excessive darkness within the Umbral Light and the probable hostility of said beings makes properly identifying them a fool’s errand.
Despite the harsh conditions of this space, humanity finds a way even through perils such as this. Due to the lack of safe exits from the Umbral Light, various small communities have settled within its wilderness, often using one of the various pre-existing structures within the level or hiding within the Depths for shelter. Collecting wood from the dead trees within Level 6.99, these communities create fires within the level for both warmth and as a visual marker for their colony’s location, feeding on naturally occurring Backshrooms within the level and boiling the water from the shallow pseudo-oceans within the level for hydration.
Due to the relative isolation of most settlements within the space, human society and culture within the level is radically different from The Frontrooms or culture in the Backrooms. According to testimonies of those born and raised within Level 6.99, many religious groups within the level exist, convinced that the sky of the Umbral Light holds spiritual significance.
“Life within that place is ...different, to say the least. When you're growing up as a kid in there, you're almost always in this little isolated bubble of civilization in the sea of darkness, barely aware of anything outside of the Umbral Light. Hell, I didn't even know people had faces until I turned twelve.
But I digress. Anyways, me and the other kids would mostly spend our time playing around the medium-sized settlement the adults had built, could have sworn the outpost had a couple hundred living in it. They didn't let us get too far from home, though.
People tended to disappear around these parts, and we were better off paranoid than dead.
Entrances
- Main Entrance: Traveling upwards through a staircase in Level 6 will lead here.
- Alternatively, wandering far enough into the darkness of outdoor levels may lead one here, more commonplace in levels that are either extraordinarily dark or influenced by outside forces.
Exits
- Return back to where you came from. You don't belong here.