Cantor

I’m gonna preface this post by saying this:

Do not look for Cantor’s Road. I don’t care how curious you are. Just don’t f**king do it.

But if you’re too much of an idiot not to try anyway, at least be smart enough not to do it without adequate preparation.

Alright, first thing’s first. What the hell is Cantor’s Road? The answer is: I don’t know. No one does. There are theories, but no one really knows, and for the sake of this post, it doesn’t really matter. For all intents and purposes, it’s basically just a very long road that’s somehow separate from reality. And if you travel down it long enough, you’ll reach an Attraction. And if you pass that Attraction, you’ll find another one around the same distance away.

Attractions are usually buildings, but not always. They’re often large, and they’ll generally look pretty normal from the outside. It’ll be like you’re just traveling down this long, two-lane road in the middle of nowhere for hours, and then suddenly, there’s an elementary school in front of you, or a hotel, or a theater. And you have two options: you either turn around and go back the way you came, or you go inside and hope you make it out.

The first thing you need to understand is that at the end of the day, each attraction only has one objective: to trap you. Sometimes that means literally imprisoning you; sometimes it means messing with your head ’til you no longer want to leave. Sometimes, it just means f**king killing you. It will use whatever means it has at its disposal to achieve this goal.

The second thing to know is that most attractions aren’t empty. It’s technically possible to run into other humans at an attraction, but the vast, vast majority of the “people” you encounter will not be human. They’re called locals, and they’re as much a part of the attraction as the roof or walls. You should not trust them under any f**king circumstances.

Third, not all attractions are created equal in terms of risk. Some of them are actually relatively safe, as long as you exercise some common sense—but that’s the exception, not the rule. Most attractions are at least moderately dangerous. Some of them are extremely dangerous—like, the kinda danger where you’re pretty much screwed unless you know the rules before going in. And then some of them are legitimately so dangerous you’d have to be suicidal to even attempt them… or impressively stupid.

But this brings me to the fourth, and probably most crucial thing you need to know:

You cannot opt out of your first attraction. It doesn’t matter what it is; you cannot go home until you clear it. This goes for every new trip.

I REPEAT: YOU CANNOT OPT OUT OF YOUR FIRST ATTRACTION. IT DOESN’T MATTER WHAT IT IS; YOU CANNOT GO HOME UNTIL YOU CLEAR IT. THIS GOES FOR EVERY NEW TRIP.

Which attraction you’ll get first (or next) isn’t entirely random, but it is outside your control. You get what you get. That said, there’s usually a somewhat logical progression in terms of risk level. Your first is almost always gonna be on the easy-to-moderately dangerous side, but it’s not a guarantee. One time, I got a high-risk first. It’s rare, but it happens. Never heard of anyone getting a DNA first, but that’s kind of a given—survivorship bias, I guess. We can’t know how common it is, because no one would survive to report it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

As you may have gathered, attractions fall into four risk categories: low, moderate, high, and “do not attempt,” or just DNA.

Here’s a list. Bolded attractions are ones I’ve personally cleared, regular means I’ve seen them in person, but chose not to go in, and italics means I know they exist, but I’ve never actually seen them.

Low-Risk

These are places where the threat level is close to non-existent, save for maybe a few specific instances.

• The Hotel
• The Bar
• The Laundromat

Moderate-Risk

Most places fall into this category. These tend to become more dangerous the longer you stay there, but not always. They have rules, but they’re either easy to pick up on, or the first offense is forgiven. You’re likely to experience some form of physical aggression if you make a scene or stay for too long, but you can avoid it if you’re smart.

• The Cinema
• The School
• The Antique Shop
• The Pool Hall
• The Amusement Park
• The Zoo
• The Library
• The Parking Garage
• The Power Plant
• The Strip Club
• The Airport
• The Construction Site
• The Aquarium
• The Gym
• The Car Wash
• The Coal Mine
• The Military Compound
• The Bowling Alley
• The Spa
• The Post Office
• The Restaurant
• The Slaughterhouse
• The Animal Shelter
• The Morgue
• The Blood Bank
• The Supermarket
• The Skating Rink
• The Courthouse

High-Risk

These are places with specific rules and/or serious consequences for first offenses, locals that are immediately aggressive, locals who are particularly dangerous, or any combination of the aforementioned features.

• The Concert Hall
• The Subway Tunnels
• The Sewer
• The Theater
• The Hospital
• The Ski Resort
• The Bank
• The Landfill
• The Fire Station
• The Planetarium
• The Wax Museum
• The Nursery

DO NOT ATTEMPT

If you’re unlucky enough to end up here, just turn back. I don’t care how confident you are. You almost certainly will not make it out, and if you do, you’ll wish you hadn’t. If you take nothing else away from this post, let it be this.

• The Casino
• The Circus
• The Arcade

There might be others, but these are the ones that are currently known. The low-risks are kinda unique, in that they’re the only ones you’re likely to go through multiple times. They’re also the only ones you’ll actually remember in any degree of detail. Everything moderate and above kinda feels like a dream afterwards. It all slips away before you know it’s happening, and anything you do remember usually doesn’t make much sense.

Anyway.

Don’t do this. I don’t care if you believe me or not. If you do, then you should know it’s stupid. If you don’t, then you should still know it’s stupid, for the exact same reason you probably think it’s stupid to f**k around with ouija boards and demon summoning rituals. Because sure, you might not believe in it—but is that really a risk you wanna take? If you’re right, nothing changes. If you’re wrong, you die.

That said, I know nothing I say is gonna convince everyone. So, assuming you’re gonna do it anyway, here’s some general advice: if it’s your first trip, don’t attempt anything above moderate. In fact, don’t even attempt a moderate if you don’t have to. If you’re lucky and you happen to get a low-risk attraction first, just clear that one and come straight back. You don’t need to bother driving to the next attraction; low-risks are always isolated—you will never get two of them in a row.

If you get a moderate first, it’s not ideal, but it’s common. My first attraction was moderate. That’s the case for most people, I think. But people still die in moderates. God help you if you wind up getting a high-risk as your first, because that’s the only way you’re getting out of that s**t alive. If your first is a DNA—congratulations, you’ve won the s**ttiest lottery. The universe hates you and god is p**sing on your grave.

But anyway, I’ll post more detailed notes about specific attractions in a bit. My inbox is open for questions, but no promises about answering them.

Until next time.

Skor.png @XenoDelirium