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⚠️ Content Warnings ⤴
Info
Original concept and article written by Reddit user u/Nerdykiddo4844. Rewritten by Praetor3005 and
Nikuchan .
Big thanks to Abdallah Amr for the fading block css!
Thanks to Spectre48 and
Sky3 for the generel thoughts as well!
Both music tracks have been made by the awesome music composer Dapper Husky. Make sure to check his youtube channel! He made a lot of great OSTs for the Backrooms.
Glossary:
- Huvvat - Post-corruption Lost name for the Hive
- Mundus - Lost name for the Blue Channel, and everything within it
- Nihil - Lost name for the Grave
- Paradeos - Pre-corruption Lost name for the Hive
Chapter 4 - Move On
Olivia couldn’t figure out how long she'd been running. The endless crawling of the Queen behind her was the only sound piercing the atmosphere, creating a constant dread for the botanist to overcome.
All around her, the Hive tried to ambush her. Bone shards were appearing from nowhere, attempting to make her trip. Acid projections tried to take her off guard. Each time, however, her unnatural reflexes saved her from falling down, keeping the chase going.
The corridor was pernicious, acting as an extension of its Hive Mind. Olivia could feel the being all around her. Yet, its reach was limited, as if the only part of the level able to catch her was its moving vessel.
Despite how fast Olivia was going, her wound weighed her down, letting the queen get closer by every minute. Soon, fighting would become the only option.
Do you really think you can lose me inside my own realm?
Every muscle, every bone— I can bend it to my will. All you can do is surrender your soul back to me, or die trying.
You're just one other human out of the many who have to die for the cause. Once I am whole again, the great work will continue until there is no god left.
My children will avenge me and everyone I loved.
Focused on the speech, Olivia suddenly got tossed at a wall by a sharp smack, leaving her breathless for a moment. She coughed, the pain finally getting up to her. With no way to get back on the surface and find Justin, hope was slowly fading away.
Suddenly, a warm sensation grew from inside the botanist, as a familiar soft voice echoed from within her mind.
You must focus Olivia… Do not fear. As powerful as the one once called Zephyr may be, your mind and will are stronger. Your peace of mind and care for the future will be your sword and shield.
"My… my goddess…" Olivia spoke internally, hearing the queen getting closer. "How can I do this?" She whispered, barely moving away from an incoming claw. "I can't let her eradicate everything… But she's everywhere."
Zephyr is a stubborn beast, but her endless grief is obfuscating her mind. Remember her speech; her regrets will buy you time. Dig through her mind, Olivia. Use your connection as a weapon… Use her grief against her.
A loud screeching noise suddenly made Olivia exit her thought. Lifting her head up, she finally glanced over the monstrous being that was now in front of her.
The Hive Queen, the one who used to be "Zephyr", was a mockery of nature, a gross fusion between a human corpse and a spider, almost thrice her size. Her face was twisted in a twisted grin, with eyes and horns growing in nonsensical spots. Her skin was rotten, sometimes absent, revealing sharp grey bones below. Her rigged toga covered the rest of her upper body, acting as a twisted reminder of who she once was.
Immediately, the Queen started attacking, rushing on the botanist. Olivia rolled away, dodging one of Zephyr’s many legs. Then another.
Back at a reasonable distance from the Queen, Olivia closed her eyes. She started to concentrate, trying to focus on the mental bond she shared with the beast. The reborn agent recalled her own grief all too well, a feeling that encompassed Zephyr as a whole. If her own memories could torment her back then, so could the beast’s own demons.
Zephyr seemed to notice the intrusion. Groaning, she slightly backed away, both surprised and bothered by the attempt.
I can feel you crawling inside me, wretched half.
Stop looking into my mind!
There is nothing for you to see other than what I've shown you…
“Oh, is that so?” She spat defiantly, focusing on the link to the Hive Mind within her.
Children crying, the dying body of an elderly man, a beloved man who could never be with her. The traitor once again. all swirling in her mind, reminding her just who she used to be.
With a mental blow, Olivia projected these unwanted memories into the Queen's mind.
Mom… We're scared, Mom! Where are you?! Please help us!
No… No. Agnes, Cyrrus, My babies! My babies!
My beautiful baby girl… You're all your mother, you know that? Our little Zephyr wind…
Father… Stop it! Cease this futile rebellion!
Dearest sister… It hurts. I just wanted to help…
I- I-…
The Hive began to shake again, as if the memories awoke a primeval traumatism buried deep below its rotten flesh. The Hive Queen roared in utter rage, personifying the mental state of the wider level.
Slowly, her brood started to come out of both exits of the wider cavern, answering the call of their unholy mother.
Despite getting slowly corned, despite the situation worsening on the physical side of the Hive, the botanist kept the mental bond open, as resolute as ever.
My warrior. I am eternally loyal to you. I love you… I'll love you for eternity, even if it'll tear me apart. I hope one day, I can become yours… even with what I've done.
…
Then silence ensued, brutally stunning the cavern. The Queen suddenly grew quiet, the room shrouded in darkness. Something about this particular man seems to have hit her deeply.
Why did you force me to suffer like this?
Why leave me with this unbearable guilt? Eternal life… just for revenge. You died to curse me, shackling me within this wretched, immortal body.
Are you satisfied?
It was the only way to destroy them!
It's all your fault.
MAKE IT STOP!”
Rage and anguish fused into an inhuman cry. Zephyr's already monstrous face further twisted, her eyes injecting themselves with blood as her oversized mouth twisted further into a rageful rictus.
TWO CAN PLAY THIS GAME, WRETCHED HALF!
Suddenly, Olivia stopped moving, tetanized, flashes of old memories starting to flow in her mind. Tournesol’s last words. Her unborn child crying. Her parents searching for her, distressed.
They told her to give up. They told her she was a failure. That she couldn’t save the people she cared about.
Olivia shook her head, pushing forward. The wound of Tournesol's death, the loss of her baby… the death of all her loved ones… Despite the pain, despite the guilt, accepting these events was what led her to come back. It was what made her achieve inner peace, focusing on what she had left, on the future she could have.
She managed to climb out of her grief. She vanquished the deepest parts of her mindscape. She fought against the grief of her past already, and she would not let Zephyr reopen these wounds.
She wouldn't make the same tragic choices the Hive Queen made.
She thought of Kat and what she went through. She thought about Justin and his eternal hope. The glimmer of hope. For those who will come, she must fight for the future.
She thought of her will to protect people, to make the Backrooms a better place. She thought about the breakthrough she made alongside Supervisor Cotyledon, and the discoveries she made herself. The explorations she took to save the people who couldn't defend themselves.
She thought of the victories of the past, focusing on the good she managed to create and replicate.
The pain wouldn’t bring her down anymore. All of it merely pushed her forward to open Zephyr’s final wound. There was a bigger, grimmer wound in the Queen's heart. That man, that Kushim, the one behind all her pain, all her failures. The only thing she never moved away from. The man Zephyr desperately wished to be loved by, as his pupil and daughter, when she'd already lost everything at the fall of Hoofstad.
Zephyr…
I'm disappointed in you.
You're deplorable.
You were so focused on my approval that you lost yourself in the end.
You will never defeat those you seek to destroy, because they are united and fight for love.
Foolish woman. When will you learn to stop clinging to the past?
It was all because of you.
You will never find peace, because I won't let you.
NO! NOOO! NOOOOO!
The Hive Queen let out a final roar, so loud that it pierced through the entire Hive. Olivia staggered for an instant before grabbing onto the wall as the floor started shaking. Memories of an era long gone were tearing their minds apart. A plan for glory, for the freedom of all humanity, The Iron Fist’s final solution given by Zephyr’s own hands.
All of it for nothing, her own grief barring her from creating the better world she wished for.
. . .
As he climbed down the oversized spine, Justin heard sounds of battle echoing from far away in the tunnel down below. Immediately, the overseer started to run within the flesh cavern, fearing Olivia was getting cornered.
Yet what would he, the weaponless overseer, do to overthrow whatever was waiting at the end of the tunnel? Olivia had always been the fighter of the duo. To be fair, Olivia was the fighter of every operative team she had been a part of. She was no ordinary botanist.
And she was no ordinary reborn corpse either.
The tunnel quickly widened, opening to reveal what looked like a medium-sized cavern. Going through the threshold, Justin witnessed a heavily wounded Olivia, with a huge spider-like body on the floor. The monstrous amalgam was slowly merging into the ground, moving down until there was nothing left but the now familiar flesh composing the floor and walls all around.
The overseer quickly ran towards the botanist. “Olivia!” he shouted, both concerned about her safety and relieved the beast was slain, whatever it was. “Are you okay? I’ll get you to Hollow Nest as soon as I can— I’ll take you on my should-”
Olivia groaned as Justin lifted her up. She looked at her heavy burn marks that were slowly resorbing. “I feel… Fine. Numb, tired, but I’m fine.” She glanced the the empty crater near the trio. “I didn't kill her, she only retreated far away. She'll have time to reflect on her own… Until she decides to come back.”
“We need to get you to a base as soon as possible.” Justin retorted, more concerned for her safety than eager to understand the context.
“I… I think I’m regenerating. Just like the Hive. I’m fine.” She added, pointing at the location where the Queen phased through the flesh.
Justin started to shake. "I'm… I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have come here nor done whatever I did. I'm sorry about your new body. I just—"
“It’s fine. I… I forgive you. About everything, past and present.” Olivia interrupted him off. “I need to move on from this just as much as you need to move on as well. I don’t know what year it is, but… I assume things didn’t get any easier in the group.”
Justin didn’t respond, his thoughts drifting back to his earlier worries.
“You know that we're going to need to talk about a bunch of things when we’re home, right?” She whispered as she stood up before walking alongside the overseer.
“I know. But we’ll do it together, okay?” He simply responded, his cheerful side coming back for the first time in months.
Olivia smiled in return. “Together... That will be nice.”
. . .
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