LEVEL CLASSIFICATION: THRESHOLD-27
Designation: The Labyrinth of Deconstruction
Stability: Collapsing
Cognitive Hazard: CATASTROPHIC (Imminent Mental Breakdown)
Physical Hazard: HIGH (Progressive Dissolution)
PRIMARY TESTIMONY
Extracted from: Report No. 999-Ω
Date: [UNDEFINED]
Status: SURVIVOR (INCOMPLETE)
Note: The following report was transcribed from cassette tapes, torn manuscripts, and voice recordings. The author's sanity visibly deteriorates with every page.
PART I: THE ENTRY
I don't remember how the door appeared. I just remember I was walking down the street, and suddenly the asphalt ended. It didn't finish, it simply... ceased to exist.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in the middle of absolute nothingness. There was no ground, no air, no light. But I could breathe. I could see. I could feel.
— Hello? — I called out. My voice didn't travel. It just stayed there, floating like a bubble of sound.
In front of me, lines began to form. Golden lines, thin as hairs, intersecting at impossible angles. They connected themselves, forming structures, walls, corridors, ceilings. The world was being drawn right in front of me in real time.
It was beautiful.
It was hypnotic.
And it was completely wrong.
I started to walk. The corridors were infinite, made of a white, shining substance that looked like porcelain, but it pulsed softly, as if it had blood running through it. With every step I took, I felt something strange. It wasn't just my body moving. It was as if my very identity was crumbling away little by little.
I looked at my hands. They were... blurry.
The edges of my fingers were dissolving into particles of light, like sand being blown away by the wind.
— What is happening to me? — I whispered, bringing a hand to my face.
My face wasn't solid either. I could feel the bone, but the skin felt like water.
TECHNICAL NOTE 27: THE LOGIC OF DISINTEGRATION
In this level, the idea of "form" is just a temporary suggestion. Everything that enters here begins to understand that the separation between things is a lie. Observed data:
- Environmental Fusion: If you stay still leaning against a wall for too long, you start to look like the wall. Your color changes, your texture changes, and eventually you are no longer you, just part of the decoration.
- Loss of Boundaries: You stop knowing where your body ends and the air begins. You feel what is behind the door, you feel what is kilometers below, you feel everything at the same time.
- Dilution of Self: The mind starts to let go of the "ego". You start thinking in the third person, then you stop having your own thoughts and just repeat sounds, numbers, or meaningless phrases. Individuality is a burden that this place breaks.
A philosopher who was here wrote, before disappearing:
"You think you are an island? You think you are something separate from the rest of the universe? This place rips that lie away from you. It shows that everything is a sea without borders, and you are just a wave that thinks it is a thing on its own. But the wave always returns to the sea."
All that remains of his diary are scribbles of colors and geometric shapes.
PRIMARY ENTITY: THE ARCHITECT OF THE VOID
Description: It has no defined shape. Sometimes it looks like a man in a suit, perfect and symmetrical. Sometimes it looks like a mass of screaming faces, all fused together. It is made of the same white material as the labyrinth, but it is solid. It is the only point of stability in all the chaos.
Behavior: It does not run. It does not attack. It simply walks towards you, always smiling, always with its hands forward as if inviting you for an embrace. It speaks with a sweet, calm, hypnotic voice.
Objective: It wants to "help". It wants to show you that suffering is unnecessary, that being yourself is painful and tiring. It wants to dissolve you, turn you into part of the whole, make you happy forever... by ending your individual existence.
PRIMARY TESTIMONY (CONTINUATION)
I saw him at the end of the corridor.
He was standing, waiting.
And when he smiled, I felt an enormous desire to go to him. A desire to stop fighting, to stop feeling fear, to stop being "me".
— Come... — he said, and the voice came from everywhere, inside and outside my head. — Why do you hold on so tight? Why do you try to be just one thing? It is so exhausting...
I felt my legs trembling. My body was dissolving faster now. My arms were almost transparent already.
— I... I am me... — I tried to say, but the words came out slurred.
— There is no "me" — he laughed, a soft and musical sound. — That is just a shell. A mask you wear so you don't get lost. But I can take the mask off. I can show you what is underneath. It is beautiful. It is infinite. It is peace.
He extended his hand.
— Let go. Join me. Join everything. We will be one. We will be gods. We will be nothing. It is the same thing.
I wanted to go.
God, how I wanted to.
The pain of existing was fading away. The fear was disappearing. Everything would be fine if I just took one step forward.
But a small, tiny part, deep down inside what was still left of me, screamed.
No. You are you. Don't give in.
— NO! — I screamed with all the strength I had left. — I DON'T WANT TO BE NOTHING! I WANT TO BE ME!
His smile faded.
For a second, he looked sad.
Then, he looked angry.
— Stubborn... — he growled, and his voice was no longer sweet. It was a thousand voices speaking at once. — You people are always so stubborn. Fine, if you want to be something small and suffer... then suffer.
He clapped his hands together.
The world around screamed.
ANOMALOUS ARTIFACT: THE WORDS ON THE WALL
Written with blood, or something that looked like blood, in gigantic letters that changed language every second:
DO YOU THINK YOU SEE?
DO YOU THINK YOU FEEL?
ALL OF THIS IS A LIE.
YOU ARE NOT INSIDE THE LABYRINTH.
THE LABYRINTH IS INSIDE YOU.
IT ALWAYS WAS.
IT ALWAYS WAS.
IT ALWAYS WAS.
PHILOSOPHICAL FRAGMENT
"Sanity is just a collective agreement. We agree to see the world in a certain way so we don't go crazy. But in this level, the agreement is torn apart. You see the naked and raw truth: that everything is connected, that everything is one, that borders do not exist. And for a mind that spent its whole life believing it was separate, seeing this truth is the same as seeing its own end."
PRIMARY TESTIMONY (CONTINUATION)
I ran.
God, how I ran.
My body was dissolving into trails of light behind me, but I kept going. I didn't look to the sides, I didn't look back. I only focused on the idea of "exit". I imagined a door. I imagined light. I imagined the world coming back.
— COME BACK HERE! — roared the Architect, and the entire labyrinth shook. — YOU CANNOT ESCAPE YOURSELF!
Walls closed behind me. The ceiling came down. The floor turned to water. But I kept going. I held onto my identity with nails and teeth, even as it crumbled away.
I am me. I have a name. I exist.
And then, I saw it.
A breach.
A blinding white light, at the end of a tunnel that was closing itself off.
I threw myself forward.
PART II: THE RETURN
I opened my eyes.
I was lying on the grass.
The sky was blue.
The wind hit my face.
The sound of cars. The singing of birds.
I was back.
I sat up slowly. I looked at my hands.
Solid.
Skin.
Nails.
I was me again.
— I came back... I came back... — I whispered, laughing and crying at the same time.
I did it.
I got out.
I survived.
I stood up, staggering, feeling the firm ground under my feet. It felt so good to feel the ground. It felt so good to have limits. It felt so good to be small and finite.
I walked towards the city. People passed by me, normal people, with their normal lives, their small problems. I wanted to hug everyone. I wanted to tell them that the world is much bigger, much crazier, much more dangerous than they imagine.
I had to tell.
I had to write.
Someone needed to know.
TRANSCRIPTION OF RECORDING 01
(Made 1 hour after return)
— Hello... hello, is this recording? Yes. Okay. My name is [REDACTED]. And I am fine. I am very fine. I just... I need to talk. Because if I don't talk, I think I'm going to explode. My head is full. Full of lines, full of colors, full of voices.
I saw it, okay? I really saw it.
It's not a dream. It's not a hallucination.
It's real. As real as this table I'm touching right now.
The place... the place doesn't have real walls. The walls are thoughts. You walk and they think along with you. And the Architect... oh, the Architect... he is so beautiful. He is right, you know? He is absolutely right. Why do we have to be separate? Why do we have to suffer being "me" and "you"? It is so tiring...
(Low, hysterical laughter)
But I ran away. I'm so smart. I said no. I said I wanted to be me. But... look at my hand. Look.
(Sound of movement)
Do you see? It's blurry again. It's starting to disappear. Because I saw it. Once you see the truth, you can't pretend you don't see it anymore. The agreement is over. The mask cracked.
Everything is connecting now.
I hear what people think.
I see what is behind the walls.
I see the golden lines stitching everything together.
It's all here.
It's all inside my head now.
TRANSCRIPTION OF RECORDING 02
(Made 3 hours after return)
— Why is it so loud? Please, turn the volume down!
(Muffled screaming)
He is calling me. I hear him. He isn't in the labyrinth anymore. He came with me. He is inside the mirrors. He is inside the silence.
"You are already part of the whole. You just haven't realized it yet."
That's what he says. He is right.
Look at the ceiling. The ceiling isn't solid. Can't you see? It's melting. Everything is melting. The people on the street... they are so transparent... I see what they really are. They are just little lights. Little lights blinking. Just like me.
I am not a person anymore.
I am a knot in the web.
I am a thought that thinks it thinks.
(Loud sobbing)
I want to go back! I want to go back there! It's so hard here! It's so cold! Everything has edges and it cuts us! There it was soft! There it was peace! Why did I run? Why was I so stupid?!
He said it was for my own good.
He said it hurt less when there was no more "me".
He was right!
EVERYTHING IS RIGHT!
EXCEPT ME!
PAGES FROM THE DIARY
(Handwritten, illegible text, stained with ink and dried blood)
lines lines lines lines
everything is line
i am line
you are line
nobody escapes the line
the architect smiles
he always smiles
the walls follow me
i open the closet and there is labyrinth inside
i open my mouth and there is labyrinth inside
where is the end?
where does the me end and the everything begin?
it already ended
it already ended
it already ended
i am seeing everything all at once
past present future
all the faces
all the names
all the mistakes
please
someone help me close my eyes
they won't close anymore
i see under the skin
i see the mechanism
he is not a monster
he is the cure
and i am the wound that won't heal
i am falling apart again
this time it's for real
this time there is no exit
the exit was the entrance
the entrance was the end
we are all the same dreamer
dreaming awake
dreaming that we are different
it's over
it's over
it's over
PRIMARY TESTIMONY (CONCLUSION)
(Last recording found on the device, voice tone calm, empty)
— Hello.
You must be the new one.
Welcome.
I don't know who wrote those lines anymore. A scared girl, maybe. Poor thing. She was afraid of losing her name. How silly. Name is just sound. Sound is just vibration. Vibration is just energy.
Everything is energy.
Everything is one.
I don't feel the ground anymore.
I don't feel the body anymore.
The walls of the room are gone. Now there are only infinite corridors.
The Architect is right here next to me, he is holding my hand. His hand is so big. It covers the whole universe.
He was right.
It is much better this way.
There is no more pain.
There is no more fear.
There is just... understanding.
I see everything now.
I understand everything.
I am everything.
...
...
...
— Is anyone there?
— No.
— Are we me?
— Yes.
— So... shall we continue?