The Metro

“The Metro” is the name given to a long subway station with sentient metro cars that can travel to any level at will.

Description
The Metro, as a level, resembles a typical underground subway station one would find in a populous city. The Metro’s floor is made of grey bricks with two tracks on the sides of the path. Stairs occasionally appear throughout the area, but are always barricaded or walled off. The paths are well lit by long, thin fluorescent lights, along with various lit-up signs in an unknown language.

The Metro was originally considered an entity that was first discovered in Level 7, specifically, a sentient train that could pass through solid matter. After further studies were conducted, it was discovered that you could control where The Metro travelled to by expressing interest in traveling to a certain location while inside. This brought up the debate of it possibly being an entity, which it was later reclassified into. After even further studies, a “train station” of sorts was discovered that seems to be “home base” for The Metro, so to speak. It was reclassified again into its current form, which is a level with a group of sentient train cars collectively known as “The Metro”.

The discovery of the level mostly confirmed the theory of multiple cars existing, each resembling each other heavily with tweaked details. For example, the cars can have different colored stripes, lights, seats, stickers, etc. Other things such as graffiti, flags from real-life countries, ads in various languages — some unknown — and dialects, and other things of the sort have been documented. It’s currently unknown exactly how many cars exist, as two working cars have never been seen at the same time, but at lest 5 different kinds have been documented.

On each side of the station’s path is a set of tracks where the cars travel. The left side is typically empty, save for when the working cars make a stop there before continuing their trips. The right side is taken up by a dormant train car which seems to stretch endlessly down the entire level. A large amount of the locomotives have been turned into bases for humans, some of which are used as trading outposts or motels, while others are dangerous and hostile towards unwelcome guests.

The Metro, while acting as a bridge of sorts between levels, additionally acts as a safe haven for wanderers, some even considering the level as their permanent living space. Due to the lack of any hostile entities or environmental conditions, The Metro is considered habitable. The Metro is considered a great place to trade with or interact with other wanderers, similar to that of places such as Level 6.1.

How long the subway station is exactly is unknown, however it is presumed that is ranges at least 100 miles long. As previously mentioned, the main portion of the level — the area where the metro cars stop — is the main hub of activity among wanderers. It is considered a trading hotspot, mingling among wanderers, and residence, other than 6.1. No dangers exist here or anywhere else in the level. Even if one is to fall on the tracks, the wanderer will not be harmed due to its previously mentioned ability to phase through matter.

Entities
The only entity here is the Metro car itself.

The Metro has only ever displayed a neutral sentience, not being hostile towards wanderers nor directly helpful, other than taking destination requests from its passengers. It is unknown if provoking the Metro to hostility is possible due to the lack of documentation. Passengers of The Metro have described the car moving so fast that it’s near impossible to exit your seat and study the details. The Metro’s speeds have been documented to range anywhere between 60 mph (96 kph) all the way to Mach 3. Despite this, wanderers have never reported symptoms of whiplash, dislocated bones or muscles, or any injuries for that matter despite the unnatural speed of the cars.

Entrances and Exits
The only way to enter this level is by boarding The Metro car upon its unannounced arrival. This is very difficult to do due to the unpredictable nature of the Metro when it isn’t being controlled via travel requests. Exiting is only possible by boarding the train during its stop.

But everyone knows that when the lights go out, the darkness pours in.