Although she only passed two goblins by the time she reached the massive chamber she'd fought Tuff in, the young alien could hear the echoing clanks of pickaxes against stone from deeper within the tunnels. The rest of their kind must've been hard at work, which gave her every opportunity to explore the empty reaches of the mines. The area was just as dimly lit as before, and she'd already grabbed her hard hat to help guide the way.

She just didn't know which way to go. There were so many pathways, from the coaster-like minecart tracks to the worn, rocky steps and ledges marking the various levels. It was as much of a maze as anything she'd come across thus far.

Hat Kid flinched at the sound of a bird's harsh cry, turning to scowl at the caged Dweller crow hanging to her right. She was pretty sure it was the same one she'd seen before, its feathers ruffled irritably as it continued to scream at her from behind the bars. It wasn't any happier when she walked over to the cage and plucked it off the wall, holding it at arm's length to keep the crow from trying to bite her.

Whatever natural hatred the crows had for her, she didn't like them either. However, it couldn't hurt to have a canary looking out for her while she explored—if it would stop screeching at her for long enough to call out any dangers that she stumbled across. Moving over to a nearby guardrail, she peered down into the depths of the cavern. There were a few torches strung along the walls, but beyond the first couple levels down, it was a descent into sheer darkness.

Taking a deep breath, she then carefully began to make her way down a crude ladder—her umbrella hooked along her elbow so she'd have a spared hand to grasp the rungs with. She tested her weight against it first, cringing as it groaned under her, but kept going. There was no point in turning back: This was one of the few places in the Horizon she hadn't thoroughly checked. The crow chirruped at her indignantly as it swung in her grasp.

"Oh hush," she grumbled, daring a glance down the unsteady path before her, "It's not like you were doing anything anyway."

It was a hard trek to manage. For one thing, the ladders were smaller than what she was used to: Goblin size. For another, she wasn't sure if all of them or the platforms she stepped across were structurally sound. Thirdly, the stupid bird made a point of jarring around in the cage to make a challenge out of keeping her balance. And last but not least were the shadows that quickly surrounded her on all sides. Hat Kid had to go slowly to ensure she wouldn't fall.

Sadly, caution couldn't account for bad luck. Soon enough, one weak rung snapped under her foot and she fell back; the sudden slip and the addition of the cage wildly flinging at her side pulled her grasp away from the ladder and dropped her into the abyss. Her umbrella flew away from her and, with a sharp gasp, she scrambled to catch it mid-air all while the crow screeched loudly in her ears.

The girl fumbled with the handle; the birdcage cradled against her chest. Not a moment too soon, her fingers found the button and with a rush of air as its spring released, the canopy shot open above her, acting as a makeshift parachute. It jerked her into an upright position as it caught her, and Hat Kid felt her arms cry out with strain with the bulk of the cage dragging her further down in her other hand. Nevertheless, she maintained a fierce grip on both, gritting her teeth stubbornly.

It couldn't hold up forever. The longer she descended, the more her umbrella steadily began to give and the faster she began to fall. She tried to direct herself back to one of the nearby ledges, but they were too far off and much of the winding tracks had ended several levels above her. All she could do was brace herself for a harsh landing.

It seemed to take forever and yet came all too sudden at the same time, finally hitting the dusty earth in a sideways roll with both the cage and her umbrella knocked out of her hands. Already dead, the Dweller crow was unscathed, but still furious as it hit the ground—tumbling inside the cage as it bounced along before coming to a stop. Meanwhile, Hat Kid kept still for a moment, frozen with shock.

She gave herself time to drawn in long, deep breaths and run a thorough check through her mind. Was she hurt? No; By some miracle, she didn't think so. Flat along the ground, she flexed her arms and legs to see if there was any pain. She hadn't seemed to have broken anything. She reached up at touched the round top of the hard hat as its light flickered shakily, grateful for its protection.

Slowly pushing herself up into a crouch, she raised her head to face the cave ceiling. Even though she knew it wasn't very bright on the levels above, compared to the darkness that surrounded her, it felt like she was staring into the heavens. Down here, she couldn't make out anything without the hard hat, and only then by a couple meters ahead of her. Hat Kid spotted her umbrella first, pushing herself the rest of the way up with a grunt and shuffling over to collect it, checking it for damage. She could hear the crow still screeching behind her, a chaotic wave of noise that quickly got on her nerves.

"We're ok! You can pipe down now," she scolded it, looking around the stone floor for the cage.

It wouldn't stop, shrieking endlessly to the point that she covered her ears in attempt to drown it out. It didn't feel soon enough when she eventually found the shape of the cage hunched on its side in the shadows. It was dented on one end, but otherwise fine. As she considered giving it a good shake and before she could pick it up though, she noticed that the crow's angry cries weren't levied at her, not this time. It had its back turned, facing the opposite direction.

Hat Kid raised her head up and the flickering light followed. It was hard to make out at first—it was too massive and, for a second, difficult to tell apart from the rock—but when she did recognize it, she felt a cold terror seep down her back. It was the bones of a giant, humanoid skeleton, exactly like the ones scattered and left to rot across Subcon Forest. These moved, quivering with a subtle rattling sound under the bird's cries. Before it could wake up, the child quickly grabbed the cage and darted back, urgently searching for some place to hide until she dove behind a mass of boulders and shut off her light. And then she waited, watching in silence until two more lights—the flames of its otherwise empty eyes—burst to life.

She didn't remember the spirit's name, only that it was one of the most dangerous. Born from the rage and anguish of lost souls, the negative energy that followed after their deaths manifested into the kind of monstrosity that lumbered before her. It was a mindless spirit, bent on the same devastation it had spawned from.

When she'd asked Snatcher about them—what they were and why there were so many—he'd told her that a number of them had manifested not long after Vanessa's storm, thriving in the heavy, miasmic atmosphere that fell after it. They attacked anything, including other spirits, the Dwellers, minions, and himself. He'd had to fight them off, and although the ruler of Subcon never told her about those battles, their still burning remains were enough evidence to show that they were fierce enemies to go up against. The ones that remained in Subcon were in a kind of stasis, broken and unmoving until the last of their fire burned out and they crumbled to dust.

"Count yourself lucky that they aren't still hulking around. You're just the sort of morsel they'd love to sink their teeth into," Snatcher had also told her with a sick grin, as if imagining it, "They have a bit of a grudge against the living, you see… Nothing would please them more than biting your little head off!"

As much as he loved to scare her, she didn't think he'd been joking. Despite all of his mean tricks, she could usually count on him to be brutally honest about the danger she was in, giving her an all too vivid and often unasked for description of her probable demise. That's how she knew she couldn't fight it. Even with her blue potions, even if she'd beaten Snatcher himself, if he'd had trouble against them then there was no telling how powerful they could be. Just one glance and she knew she was outmatched by its strength alone.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The goliath lifted himself off the ground and scanned over the area in search for her. Daring a glance over the rock, Hat Kid noted with some surprise that the spirit was only half there—in the most literal sense: It was as though someone had cleaved it in two, its lower half missing, let to drag the coil of its limp spine along the earth as it moved. Nevertheless, it still moved somewhat fast.

Her heart leapt in her throat as the crow gave another sudden, shrill cry and she panicked as the skeleton's fiery gaze fell her way. It made a lot more sense to her now why the goblins used the crows as their stand-in canaries, but this one's warning had come all too late. Instead, its loud screech was sounding an alarm for the monster. It dragged itself toward them, etching long gashes into the dirt with its hands.

There was no time to think. In a maddened scramble, she felt at the cage and tore the latch open, tossing it away from her, bird and all. As soon as it was able, the crow flew free from the confines of the bars and took to the air. It wove around the skeleton, narrowly missing a swing of its hand as the giant tried to catch it like an insect. The crow didn't even spare a glance, screeching all the way back up to the higher levels.

Meanwhile, Hat Kid crawled as fast as she could behind another boulder in the opposite direction she'd thrown the cage in. She pressed her back firmly against the rock, scared to breathe. The skeleton watched the crow fly off for a moment longer, then swung its gaze back down at the cage. It grabbed it with a loud thud, raking the metal toward it along the earth, then glanced down hard at it. After realizing it wasn't anymore than scrap, the monster chunked it over its shoulder with full disregard.

Hat Kid allowed herself a slow, quiet exhale. It really wasn't very bright… That was good. From what she could tell though, it got around mostly by sound—otherwise it would've already pieced together where to find her instead of focusing on the crow. She wondered if it would notice her light. Probably. Either way, she didn't really want to test it if she didn't have to.

It was impossible to tell how far the chasm stretched. Her only real option was to go up. There were some ledges nearby, but they were too far out of her reach, even with her double jump and if she were to use the boulders to launch herself higher into the air. The only option that left her with was to sneak out into the open and find something lower to climb from.

She had to go around the spirit.

The girl crawled once more, over to the wall farthest from the monstrosity, then steadily dragged herself up from behind. Back still pinned to the stone, she felt along it to quietly move, step after easy step, with a slow tread. All the while, she kept her eyes fastened on the skeleton. All was silent, save for the pounding of her heart that seemed to bleed into her ears all too noticeably.

She'd only just passed it by maybe two meters when she risked another glance up. That's when she noticed something glistening above her. She didn't have to recognize the shape anymore: She just knew it was a Time Piece. A curse slipped out mutely from under her breath and she shook her head in disbelief.

Well… if Vanessa hadn't stopped her from collecting one, then a lumbering pile of bones sure wasn't going to either!