Backrooms Decrypted: Altered Topography (Level 16)

It has a CLASS UNDETERMINED rating for survival difficulty. It has UNKNOWN INFORMATION, MYSTERIOUS PROPERTIES, and UNDOCUMENTED ENTITIES. Level 16 currently has an arctic climate similar to that of everyday reality. The ice surrounding the area has a luminous, highly reflective surface that is one obvious difference. Level 16 also has a day-night cycle that takes about 13 hours to complete. This Level has temperatures that range from 10°C (50°F) to 6°C (43°F) depending on the time of day. Although there are few entities in this Level, they can be seen. It has been reported that there are numerous Light Guides in this area. These entities are extremely uncommon and are never discovered in groups, so this observation is strange. Further understanding of this phenomenon is unlikely because the Level will soon change its topography. 🔥🎃😨💀

• Explorer, welcome back. Here we are, prepared and eager to embark on yet another journey into the vast obscurity of the backrooms. Being the only living person wandering endless, claustrophobic hallways filled with the long-dead makes it easy to imagine that you are important, I suppose. Let's try something a little different today. There are no claustrophobic man-made structures, constricting tunnels, shadowy suburbs, or enormous but strangely anonymous cities. Let's go back to nature instead. Welcome to Level 16, Explorer. It's been a little while since you've touched any grass, don't you think? Aim to take advantage of any opportunity to breathe fresh air.
• You have accidentally entered another foreign and strange location. Well, it's not completely alien; it's just different from what you've seen so far. You've seen enough David Attenborough documentaries about the Amazon rainforest to be able to see the luxuriant bounty of biodiversity that is spread out all around you. The tall, old trees, whose branches and leaves form a thick canopy above, are punctured by spears of morning light that fall upon you like the many dense, green vibes dangling from above. The air is covered in mist. Under you, the undergrowth are thick and fertile, which begs the question of how it can be so humid and still have that recognizable early morning chill.
• Dead foliage, extensive root systems, and clay-like, wet, brown mud are all present. Its absence of insects and tiny lizards or snakes that dart and slither about makes that the only thing that stands out as unusual. The Backrooms, after all, has its own distinct flora and fauna. Though nothing will ever be exactly the same, things may seem similar to the world you have always known. That still requires some getting used to, even after seventeen levels. After all, no matter how accustomed you grow to this environment, you will never truly be a local. Nonetheless, you continue your journey. She considered grabbing a vine and swinging across while shouting like Tarzan as she watched a nearby flowing river and a large willow tree dipping its branches into the water.
• There is no point in holding onto something as trivial as shame in this world when no one will see you here, right? It suddenly occurs to you how much of your previous life was influenced by worrying about the thoughts and opinions of people you never respected or even particularly liked as you chase after and attempt to catch some falling leaves like an overexcited child. What a funny way to live, Explorer! How many years have you wasted trying to impress people whose ideas you detest? Funny, indeed. The first indication of something man-made in this otherwise pristine natural world appears soon after you come across something interesting. A huge, broad tree has something sticking out of the lower trunk that is metallic.
• As you get closer, you assume that it might be a hatchet or a machete that was abandoned by a previous wanderer who had been cutting through the nearby branches and vines. But as you get closer, you realize that, oddly enough, this isn't the case. An ice axe, the kind of tool one might use to aid in climbing a mountain, is the man-made object jutting out of the tree. Then you realize that a brief but frantic message was carved into the tree's bark using this incredibly strange tool. Warning: Everything is about to change, reads the message, which is both foreboding and ambiguous. You've played enough video games to know that you are definitely supposed to take the ice axe.
• Even though you are certain that you will need it eventually, if not on this level then on another, you do not yet know what you will need it for. Every item you find in the backrooms seems to have a purpose of its own. After passing the ice axe through one of your belt loops, you continue walking while wondering what it all means. An icy breeze stops you in your tracks. You start to get a chill all of a sudden. What an oddity! Why would you be shivering in the middle of a dense, muggy rainforest? A minute ago, you had the sensation that the effort of moving was starting to make you sweat. Your teeth are chattering as you try to hold on to the remaining warmth by wrapping your arms around your shoulders.
• Around you, the ominous prophecy carved into that tree, it starts to materialize at that precise moment. Trees disappear into the earth. Thank goodness the message worked exactly as it was supposed to, making you nervous and alert. Knowing that if you hadn't done so, the branches would have crushed you, you avoid the branches as they are dragged into the ground. The swirling, white snow drifts that sting your skin take the place of the mist that was hanging in the air. The jungle disappears when you blink. You are in the middle of a colossal, merciless tundra of ice that extends for miles in the direction of icy mountains with sheer cliffs.
• Everything has altered, just as predicted by the warning. Now that you're in the Arctic, you no longer have the impression that you're in the Amazon, and the cold is palpable in every part of your body. You continue to move. To keep at least some of the heat inside of you, you must move. If not, you will inevitably blend into this frozen wasteland. A slack-jawed Explorercicle, looking like a primitive, dead troglodyte, stared endlessly out of the ice. But hey, don't feel bad, Explorer; at least you can serve as a fun little landmark for whoever comes after you if that does happen.
• Here at Backrooms Explained, we strive to always be optimistic. You feel a deep sense of regret that you didn't bring a thicker coat, or at the very least those nice mittens you bought last year but hadn't gotten around to using, as you move over an icy hill, rubbing your arms and shivering so hard you can feel your bones rattling deep inside. However, while you are currently unable to purchase a coat, you are able to purchase a plan, which may be able to save your life.