Level -13

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Level -13, also known as “The Never-Ending River,” is the 13th negative level of the Backrooms.
==Description==
The level is divided into 2 sections: The River, and The Forest.
===The River===
The River resembles a regular, winding river of an unknown length, with gravel beaches. The liquid in it seems to be different to each person who sees it—one said it was Almond Water, while two others independently tested the liquid in the River, and both said it was a different substance. One Wanderer even claimed it was made out of lava. Regardless of the material, all liquid in the river is at exactly 70ºF (21ºC). The depth of the River also seems to vary for each person who swims in it. One said it was just ankle-deep, while another with a SCUBA suit on stated it was over 1,000 feet in depth.
Fortunately, the anomalous properties of the water and the River itself disappear when the water is removed from the River, or when the River is viewed through a camera. When tested, it was determined to be regular water. In addition, an experiment has revealed the River to be ten feet deep. However, unlike a river in the Frontrooms, the River is a rectangular channel, with stone brick walls extending ten feet straight down from the River’s shores to a flat river bottom.
Logs, usually birch, are often found floating in the river, along with seaweed and fish skeletons. Strangely, being on a log floating in the River will give a Wanderer near-perfect Wi-Fi reception, and will even allow them to connect to the Frontrooms (although while doing this, the Wi-Fi reception drops dramatically). Also, rare “Wave Events” have been recorded to occur at random intervals, in which a ten-foot wave will come racing down the River with no warning.
===The Forest===
Level -13 seems to consist of two separate regions, the Forest and the River, each with its strange features. When a Wanderer first enters, they will find themselves on the shore of the River, with the Forest surrounding them.
When seen from the River, the Forest appears to be a regular forest made up of pine trees, although deciduous trees such as maples can be seen sometimes between the pines. However, this is deceptive, and the Forest is not normal at all.
Upon entering the Forest, one loses sight of the River and the clearing it lies in after traveling about twenty feet; as the Forest is a seemingly infinite non-Euclidean space, this makes it nearly impossible to exit. When viewed from within the Forest, the trees appear to be infinitely tall, with trunks ranging from impossibly thin to ten feet in diameter. Almost all appear to be pine trees, although some are “different” in some fundamental way.
It is also believed that the Forest is a temporal anomaly due to the experience of one wanderer who escaped it. Upon being interviewed after he escaped in 2001, he claimed to have been born in 1931, which is likely to be true based on his attire. However, he appears to be around 30 years old. More research is needed.
==Entities==
*The Entity of Level -13: An entity exclusive to this level. Like most information about the River, what she looks like varies between each person who sees him: some say she’s a megalodon, others say she’s a giant squid. However, all agree that it is female (though how they know this is unknown. Every Wanderer who enters this level seems to be immediately wary of a “woman” who “lurks in the deep”.) She is extremely aggressive, with reports of her attacking logs which move unusually down the river, humans, and Swounds.
*Swounds: A variant of Hounds, these creatures have fins on their legs and their back. Their fangs appear to be made out of a hard substance, and they have no gills, despite appearing to stay below water for almost their whole life. They are still capable of transmitting the Hound Virus.
==Colonies and outposts==
===M.E.G SU-13===
Special Unit -13 (SU-13) of the M.E.G. was established with the mission of finding a stable exit from Level -13 on September 2, 2013, FD, and is led by M.E.G. Explorer Johnathan Plest. According to the testimony of Wanderers who escaped the level, the unit has taken over the old Negative Outpost Nu (a base near the entrance point) and currently has about 16 members. The unit has a list with over 50 hypothetical exits, which was constructed through extensive M.E.G. interviews with Wanderers who claim to have escaped.
===The Dolphins===
A group rumored to exist about two miles upstream along the River from the entrance point, the existence of the Dolphins was confirmed by an escaped Wanderer interviewed by the M.E.G. in 2015. The group consists of four members claiming to be former professional swimmers, who will teach Wanderers to swim (the group believes that this is the only way to escape this level). How they manage to protect themselves against the Entity of Level -13 is unknown. A messenger has been dispatched to M.E.G. SU-13 with orders to investigate the group.
==Entrances and Exits==
===Entrances===
*Submerging yourself for 10+ seconds in a Level 11 river has a 75% chance of bringing you into the River.
*Noclipping through a river in Level 9 will bring you to the shore of the River. However, this entrance has only been used once, as the river used was located over 100 miles from the spawn point in Level 9.
* Any openings in the roof or walls in Level 13 may bring you to this level.
*Noclipping through a wet wall in the entrance room in Level 7 is rumored to have a chance to bring you here. The M.E.G. is currently researching this entrance, which is rumored to occur at random.
===Exits ===
No stable exits have yet to be found by the M.E.G, or by any group found on this level. However, some Wanderers who left have reportedly used the following exits, which are being researched:
*Swimming one mile upstream in the River, which will lead to Level 7.
Several other rumored exits have been investigated and found to be unstable, no longer work, or just be hoaxes made by pranksters: 
*Walking through the Forest for one straight day, which will lead to Level 10.
==Discovery==
The first hint of this level’s existence came to the M.E.G.’s attention in 1958 when explorer Johnathan S. Wagner III handed in what appeared to be an M.E.G. file on this level. Curiously, it was recorded as having been written in 2061 AD. The level it referred to was mentioned in the document as “Level -A13”, but that was scratched out in pencil and the string “48656c70204d65” was written over it and underneath it (the string, written in hexadecimal, has since been decoded to read “Help Me”).
Initially, the file was thought to be a clever joke, but an exploration team recruited by Wagner himself discovered it later that year, and it was named “Level -13.” This raised speculation that the “Wagner File” was legitimate.
However, more evidence complicated whether it was a hoax or real. Wagner couldn’t recall where he found it and seemed to have forgotten all about it after going missing for three days a week after the level was discovered. In addition, the writing closely matched that of another M.E.G. explorer, , who went missing seven days before the file was “discovered.” The file itself, which was transported to the Frontrooms in 1959 to solve the mystery once and for all, was the subject of an investigation that concluded it was created in 1956.
However, more evidence has recently emerged which suggests the Wagner File is real. In 2022, an M.E.G. official, who was later determined to not know about the Wagner File, suggested listing levels under a new system. Negative levels 1-100 would be filed under Cluster -A, with Level -1 as Level -A1. This would make Level -13 Level -A13, the name for it in the file. In addition, the font used in the file was determined to have been created in 2002. More evidence is needed.
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Category:Negative Levels
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