Lanterns

We are accidents,
waiting,
waiting to happen.
Entity 77: "Lanterns"=
Description
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Entity 77, otherwise known as Lanterns, is a theoretical collective of enigmatic entities found across the Backrooms, especially in dark, urban, or suburban levels, such as Level 9 or Level 11.
It is unknown whether these entities are real, or merely hallucinations, as they only manifest themselves to their chosen target. Still, their effects have been widely known in the Backrooms, with records dating back hundreds of years, from wanderers during the Han dynasty with some theorized appearances going back as far as the late Zhou dynasty.
These entities are usually reported to resemble a traditional Chinese lantern, attaching themselves to any solid wall, or hanging themselves from wires. Many lantern entities have also been spotted floating toward the sky, sometimes hundreds flying all at once on certain rare occasions. These lanterns emit a bright glow with various colors, including red, orange, yellow, white, or even blue. The lanterns during this period remain indistinguishable from lanterns typically found in the environment.
Wanderers are naturally drawn to these entities. Upon approach, several more Lanterns will manifest, creating a pathway of light, eventually leading to any tight path found in the level. During this process, the victims usually become apathetic, and abnormally quiet. Even though many appear incredibly nervous or scared, with many even visibly trembling or shaking as they follow, they are still compelled to continue on the path. Once the wanderer enters the assigned pathway, it is essentially impossible to track the affected wanderer, as any walls or foliage present quickly shift anomalously to close off the passage.
Once the selected path mysteriously reopens, the person will be completely missing, with no trace of any remains or belongings carried. It is still being determined what happens to whoever follows the light of these lanterns. Hypotheses brought up are usually scattered and vague, as the lack of evidence makes it next to impossible to determine the course of events.
In the end, the most one can do to avoid these entities is to simply avoid them as much as possible. There have been no recorded instances of survivors of Entity 77, as most disappear completely. It is still unclear as to what these things are, whether or not they are physical beings or merely a widespread psychological phenomenon in the Backrooms.
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What are we but dust?
【🌖🔮】
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Since the effects of Entity 77 only exhibit themselves to one wanderer, it is quite hard to figure out when exactly the aliment begins. 
↳ Proceed
Light the way!
【🏮🎆】
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Like a train on tracks, the wanderer does not seem to have a choice on this path.
↳ Proceed
Open the gate!
【💫🥀】
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Like an unchanging statue in a different world. Almost incorporeal.
↳ Proceed
Crumble to ash!
【🏮🔥】
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?
Like a train on tracks. Unable to derail. Speeding ever faster until the rails stop.
...
..we are standing at the edge.
Come a little closer..
hey!
oh! you’re back!
yeah! sorry i was out on a little mission! i kinda got a little lost though..
what were you even doing lmfao we got all the rations sorted out alr
zhou?
um 
umm uhh uhm umm uhhh
zawg tf were u doing
oh right 
the uhh
tf was it called
alphraia or some shit uh
alpriha
WHAT DID YOU NAME It
alphara,,?
yeah i just mapped it out a little bit better
why did you even name these regions bro 
complicated ass names
it makes me feel cool 💔
ofc thats why
Documented cases of Entity 77 are usually sparse and speculative, due to its mysterious and generally unpredictable nature. Although hundreds of potential instances do resurface yearly, symptoms of the affliction are usually vague and unclear, and many around those supposedly affected usually are not aware of the effects until far too late.
yknow i have literally never seen you this productive before
whats been going on
i just kind of
felt like it yknow
ok,,,,,
um
like why
i have enough shit to eat alr
its for you
im tired
im gonna go sleep
gn
It’s paralyzing sometimes, you know? It’s just like we’re wasting time doing absolutely nothing for no reason. Why do we have to keep going when you and I both know that we’re still at the bottom of the trench? It’s repetitive and it’s driving me crazy. There just has to be a better way.
- Z
sorry
A memoir
23 Hours
13/5/20XX 8:55pm
Zhou ███ sits idly by a streetlight in an unidentified level, outside his current place of residence. Staring out into the alien cityscape, he sat and sat, waiting patiently for something in the distance. Unable to stand, he kept on looking and looking until all the orange lights and brutalist buildings merged into a mass of endless brown-gray and black blobs. His arms and legs turned to massive pools of glitchy static as he looked on. Closing his eyes for once, he saw the colors swirling and waving, into spirals upon spirals of chaotic patterns.
The static kept growing and growing until it crept up into his lungs and then his heart and then up into his head. When he opened his eyes, the big blocks of blurred buildings started fading, fading into grey, as the static got louder and louder. He detaches himself from the scenery, his body growing ever numb, yet fuzzy and cold at the same time. 
14/5/20XX 2:00am
He found himself in his room suddenly, not realizing how. Like an ice cube on a counter, ripped from where it belonged, he melted and oozed onto the floor, seeping into the cracks of the tile and under the door. He could feel the freezing concrete flow into his veins, getting ever colder until he couldn’t feel himself. He shut his eyes again, and this time, he was floating in a great endless expanse.
The stars twinkled and blinked, and a large sun irradiated his skin. He desperately looked around and around, unable to breathe, his heart pumping as hard as it could. From the corner of his eyes, he saw a singular dot. A blue dot.
..home.
He opened his eyes.
14/5/20XX 2:13am
He slept, albeit looking distressed. His pillows are slightly damp.
14/5/20XX 7:03am
He had been sitting in place for about an hour. All of his limbs felt like big blocks of iron, like if large metal shackles were fused to every arm and leg and every part of his body. Too tired to step out, too tired to even lift his face slightly. Once again, he looked down, and closed his eyes. This time, he saw a light. Orange in hue, it danced and jingled in the wind. As he stepped towards the singular light, it grew darker and darker. A fog surrounded his vision, drowning out the chattering of people and the sounds of car horns, until they faded into a low rumbling ambience. 
He reached out his hand, attempting to touch the lantern, but was immediately taken aback, retracting the hand. Hundreds, if not thousands of warm lanterns lit themselves, like a great blanket suspended in the air. They each disappeared, one by one, as he slowly reopened his eyes.
14/5/20XX 7:30pm
He looked onwards over the level, over the horizon. A row of lights gleamed over it, a bright rim shining ever so slightly just out of view. He wished and wished, yet the light never came to him, always staying agonizingly out of reach. He wondered if that day would ever come.
He dropped a little sheet of paper on the ground beside him. He reached into his pocket.
And he loaded the gun.
only in dreams
Heartbeats.
Heartbeats.
Against my chest.
It feels like I’m going to faint, I…
Am I going into cardiac arrest?
My heart is beating so loud at this point I can’t really hear anything else other than thumping and this headache-inducing ring in my head. My peripherals have turned to static.
And fade out.
Fade out again.
…
I’ve come undone.
?
..
...
i love you
Somewhere we will meet..
Spirit lanterns are guides.
They are neither malicious nor benevolent entities, as they only light the path for one to follow. 
When it is time, light will guide the way.
When you and I go, we will return.
They’ll fly out and out, into the sky, carrying us into whatever lies beyond.
A slow descent into nothing.
Fading into the endless fog, the endless nowhere.
Unknowing of what lies ahead. If there is anything left for us ahead.
We will remain in light.
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Category:Entities