I sped off with my newly found Charger through the fields, weaving through machine sites and small settlements until I decided to make a quick stop at a shelter to collect my thoughts. Even though I have rested enough at Plainsong, there's something feeling terribly off about this whole case that I couldn't even bring myself to get to it without procrastinating. As I trotted closer to the shelter, I spotted a figure sitting by a rock on which a sign pointing to two opposite directions glowed in a hologram image only I could see for an obvious reason.

"You're getting close to the Haunted Ground, Outlander." I instantly halted to a stop the moment I heard the solemn voice coming from the figure. Through the dim lighting, I could see that the person who was talking to me was none other than a lone middle aged female Tenakth.

"What can you tell me about it?" I asked hoping that I wouldn't be met with the same nonsense I had received back at Plainsong. And so I have been given the info that perfectly matched with everything I have been through and heard.

"Do you believe in ghosts, Carja?"

"I don't know. Do you?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. The world is full of mysteries that are simply far beyond our reach and understanding. That doesn't mean they should be brushed off as mere folklore or scary bedtime stories. Some things don't need to be understood; but simply be accepted."

"Gotta agree to that. Who knows what else the world is hiding from us? Well, thanks for the warning." I excused myself before trotting the rest of the way to the shelter so I could sit for the moment and think. Ok, so everyone seems to think that this is the doing of spirits and ghosts. Ahmik was the only one who said it was the jinn but aren't the jinn ghosts as well? Assuming any of this was real, the… 'spirits' or 'jinn' or whatever ghostly stuff out there might have been possessing the Tenakth corpses I've seen this morning and somehow made the bodies move. They weren't brought back to life by any means – they were still pretty much dead. But some weird force is controlling those empty soul-less shells and make them cause trouble. But question is how did those Tenakth die in the first place? If they were ghosts, could they really kill a living human? If the horror videos I've seen of the Old Ones were any good reference, they weren't horribly deadly. Though they could hurt you through indirect means by pushing you, dragging you or throwing rocks and pebbles at yo – ugh, what the fuck am I thinking?

I shook my head in an attempt to shrug off all that craziness. I must have let all that talk about paranormal entities get to my head. No, it has to be a disease. Some kind of mystery illness is spreading in its own way but… no. That doesn't sound very reasonable as well. I had to remind myself that diseases are caused by bacteria and viruses. They won't do much to a dead body. I hate to admit it, but I'm beginning to feel that the notion about ghosts being the culprits is slightly more plausible than the disease theory if not downright believable. Diseases don't just reach you out of nowhere or make you giggle like a moron. But ghosts literally move through walls and reach you. My heart began to sink as I remembered that Tsulu was acting in the same way the possessed people I've seen from the videos do.

So is it true? Are ghosts actually real? Was all that the doing of paranormal beings?

The answer is simple: fucking no.

Let's be real. This is all too horror movie material to be true. I'm certain there is a pretty damn good reason for all the shitstorm I've been through this morning. A reason that's actually sensible and has nothing to do with all that paranormal bogus. As far as I'm concerned, the Haunted Ground is nothing more than a perfectly normal cauldron that isn't related to dead folk getting up and scaring people. As for the latter, I'll see what's really toying with the corpses. If it's not a disease then it's something else nobody has discovered yet. We can't just explain anything weird that it's the doing of the spirits or whatever bullshit the tribes believe in.

But one thing has been concerning me, what could that cauldron offer for me? I have already discovered all the machine types and have acquired their overrides. What else am I getting besides the ones I have comped through the entire Forbidden West for? It could be a new machine group that hasn't been discovered yet! And to further confirm that, Hephaestus is on its way to making new machines so I have to be prepared for that scenario. And besides Blastslings and Spikethrowers, another great way to prepare against a new machine is by getting its override especially beforehand. So without further ado, I mounted the Charger and set off to find the source of it all.

I knew I was getting close when the dark forest began to appear. How come I never noticed this place before? Just when I was getting confident I have explored every corner of the map, I still find new surprises here and there. I thought with a small smile how things would have been like if I had discovered this area beforehand and then everyone started warning me about it. I'd have been like 'oh I have been there before. Guess that Haunted Ground is not so haunted after all!' and they would respond with 'what the hell, Outsider?!' I snorted at the mental imagery as I got closer to the soon-to-be Unhaunted Ground. That's right. That place is not haunted but considering how people tend to believe whatever random stuff they come up with, they make it seem like it was this ghost infested cursed land that no one should set foot on. But I know better. I'm going to uncover this mystery and wipe out whatever bullshit people kept piling over it and end this madness once and fucking all.

I slowed down my pace the more trees appeared in my path until I slowed down to a walk and as I turned my head to look around, there was this unmissable creepy atmosphere that I couldn't just shake off. For starters, it was eerily quiet. No humans, machines or animals in sight. The trees looked ancient seeing from how their roots extend away from their trunks. Something told me that even if I were to visit this place during daytime, it would still be dark anyway. The top of the trees held massive branches whose thick leaves all formed together a natural roof above my head, blocking all existing moonlight, which reminded me of the canopy back at the Utaru camp which, in turn, reminded me of Maki and Tsulu who are…

Focus! I thought as I shook my head closing my eyes shut. Not about to get distracted now. Especially not in a place that holds such a dangerous aura about it. How is it dangerous exactly? I don't know. All I know is that I have never had such a bad feeling from something that wasn't a machine or a human which is yet another dreadful first timer for me. But I gotta keep going to uncover what the new threat is.

The only source of noise and light was my Charger's footsteps crushing the leaves beneath its metallic hooves as it walked down the path being illuminated by its lens. The fact that it was too dark and silent made me further believe how wrong this place feels and it was even more confirmed when some weird stuff started to happen. Starting with a subtle clang noise from behind followed by my machine suddenly turning in said direction with its eyes glaring an anxious orange. Did someone just toss a rock at my machine?

"Who's there?" I barked with which I was greeted by nothing but more silence. I even ushered my machine the way the rock had come from and even scanned with my Focus for any footprints or anyone in the vicinity but, goodness, I couldn't find anything. As if whoever threw the rock just up and vanished with no sound or trace and that was the especially unnerving part.

Ok, deep breath, Talanah. It was probably nothing. It could have fallen from a tree or whatever. That's what my internal thoughts tried to assure me with, but that didn't make the bad feeling any better. I didn't even know which direction the rock came from; whether it was from above or straight from behind. All I heard was the sound of it hitting my machine on its rump. Do I even want to know? Even if I wanted to, there's no way for me to find out so I decided that it's enough dwelling on it thus I turned around and kept on walking the way I was in staying alert for any more surprises. The situation with the rock was perfectly harmless but I'm more worried about how it happened - about the fact that the rock got suddenly thrown at me when there's nobody else around.

I exhaled another shaky breath from my nose as my wide eyes kept on anxiously exploring the dark surroundings barely illuminated by my machine's light. I almost reprimanded myself for not having come in the morning but then I remembered it wouldn't have made a difference anyway considering how every light source is blocked by the trees. It was even fullmoon tonight but you wouldn't tell from how this place feels like it's from another world which was not helping the case at all. Even worse when I started to notice the dangly items in my line of sight.

"Totems?" I commented with a raised eyebrow as I eyed the morbid items hanging from the trees like a group of people getting hanged. Some were wooden sticks hanging together through a string. Others were sheep skulls with ropes running through their sockets. There were also dolls made out of wood, straw or wicker. They were neatly handmade but by whose hands exactly? Is this some sort of magic mumbo jumbo going on here? But those suspicious subjects were the least of my worries for it wasn't long before I was greeted by another prank from yet another invisible source.

"Huh!" I gasped as I saw a small wooden stick get thrown across the path right in front of me. I instantly turned my Focus to look for any damn signs of life which, to my utmost dread and confusion, proved to be nonexistent as well. I looked at the back of my machine's neck to assess it for any reaction but it was remaining perfectly still seemingly unbothered by what I just saw. This time it didn't seem like it fell from a tree or thrown off by the small air currents here and there. The stick actually flew in an arc as if it was tossed by someone's hand. I gulped before nudging the Charger's belly with my heels to move it on. These objects simply were moving on their own and it wasn't long before it was proven right in front of me. I was busy looking the other direction while leading my mount around logs and rocks; it took me a while to notice. But I saw something from the corner of my eyes and when I looked, it was there for a second but it was more than enough for me to almost lose my mind.

Over there, under the blue glare of my machine's eye lens, was a dead fox that was floating in the air before it dropped down to the floor the moment I turned my head towards it. I remained stunned for a solid minute wondering if that really did happen. How long has it been stuck in the air for? And the fact that it has been flying by itself all this time from behind my back until I paid attention to it was all the more terrifying. As if whoever kept the fox afloat was waiting for me to notice. Though I'm beginning to suspect that this was not a matter of 'someone' but more like 'something'.

With another gulp, I carefully walked my machine over to where I saw the fox while tilting my head away from the hanging totems until I found the small carcass on the ground but it was pretty much alone. And even if there was someone who picked it up, they would have been very visible beneath my machine's light. No, the fox was definitely hoisted in the air by some unseen fuckery. And what's when second thoughts on this whole mystery discovery charade began to crawl their way into my head like override cords. It's getting more and more obvious that I might be biting off more than I could chew and maybe I'm setting myself up against some kind of force I simply have no chance against.

I stood there trying to decide what my next move should be. Should I keep going and see what has caused all that terror? Or should I turn back and just accept that some things are better off not fooling around with? This place has been sending me hints for the past half hour that it was not normal especially the last one that really did it for me. As if shoving a dead flying animal to my face was the ghost's fancy way of saying 'There, you thickheaded dummy! Look at this! Are you spooked yet?'

"Huufff." I exhaled through my mouth in a frustrated breath. Again with the ghost thing? Every time I push the ghost theory to the back of my mind, it keeps finding its way to the front seat again. But how can I help it when evidence keeps punching me in the gut one after another? At this point, I'd be stupid for trying to find logic anymore. I was seconds away from making a final decision until I saw it: there's someone over there!

"Hey!" I called out quickly running with my machine to where I thought I have finally found another living being besides me here, only to find nothing… that's weird. I could have sworn I saw them rounding that tree. What's weirder was how that person looked like. They had no discernable features even beneath the strong light of my Charger. Just a shadow of a person walking across the path silently right a few feet across from me. And they disappeared just as quickly as they appeared.

"What the hell was that?" I wondered out loud. I guess that should be an alarming reminder of the glyphs I've read earlier. If there's a cause for the Tenakth scouts' deaths then it's safe to say that I have found it. If the glyphs can serve as reliable source of info, those shadow people are the culprits. But it still doesn't explain how the corpses regained the ability to move nor what those shadow folk actually are. I can only assume the shadow people and the moving corpses are connected. And that's why I have to move on and see what that connection is which, considering the lack of clues, I knew was not going to be easy at all.

"Ok, you know what. Fuck it." I grumbled impatiently before deciding to ignore what I just saw and move on. Not gonna waste the next 10 minutes standing there like a moron being all like 'Who was that? Where did they go?!' yadda yadda. If I want to get this all over with, better not dwell on every little thing that happens here and ask questions that will never yield an instant answer. I trotted for a little while before – "Aha!" – switching to full gallop when I saw another shadow figure poking its head at me from behind a rock before vanishing once I arrived at its location which did not surprise me one bit. What surprised me however was –

Step. Step. Step. Step.

"Mmm?!" my eyes went wide in alert as I heard the sound of… footsteps? Does that mean I'm not alone after all?

Step. Step. Step. Step.

Even if that was true, could they be behind all the weird shit that kept happening since I got here? If so, then how did they manage to pull that off? How can they move objects without being seen or vanishing in thin air with no trace?

Step. Step. Step. Step.

I listened as if that's all my ears could focus on at the moment. The footsteps sounded like they're a fair distance from where I am. Who could that be?

"Hello?" I called out but was met with more footsteps. "Quit the fucking games and show your ass up already!"

Step. Step. Step. Step.

Ok, if that's how they wanna do it. I turned my Focus on but was shocked when I found nobody to analyze. But how? Those are definitely footsteps I'm hearing which means there's a person nearby yet I can't find anyone.

STEP! STEP! STEP! STEP!

"Wha-?" I quickly pulled my spear turning my machine in all directions in preparation to face who or whatever newcomer rapidly coming at me but I might as well be turning my spear against thin air. I moved my mount in a few more circles to be absolutely sure that I'm alone, or as alone as I wish to be, but the sound of footsteps have stopped. With another exhale through my nose, I turned my machine around and just cantered on. Something told me that if I stayed right where I was for longer than necessary, I could be leaving myself vulnerable. There's something definitely here in the forest with me and it's been fucking with me since I got here. Well, not gonna give it the satisfaction.

I have finally reached a clearing outside that crazy forest. On my way here, I was getting tossed at by rocks and branches but I pushed on knowing that if I stopped to check, I wouldn't find anything anyway and I'd just get a rock to my face. I even spotted a shadow watching me from afar but I just flipped it off and moved on. My eyes never left the damn thing until it got out of my line of sight and now I have finally reached my goal:

The cauldron.

The first thing I noticed was how the metal ground by the entrance was covered in vines and… blood. The latter of which made sense considering the small history I have learnt of it recently. I dismounted my Charger so I could explore around at a closer range switching on my Focus flashlight with which I swept the ground. Vines. Blood. Vines. More vines. Blood. A leg. Vin - wait, what?

I quickly made a double back on what I thought I saw and sure enough, there was someone's leg here, torn all the way starting from the thigh. And that's when my memory took me back to that one legless Tenakth who jumped me back at the outpost. So she must have been one of the victims during the expedition and that was the evidence she was ever here. I looked around for more organic remains but I didn't find much besides the blood. So I switched my attention back to my main goal, which was the entrance of the cauldron. I walked over to it almost giddily until I froze at a sight that made me want to run for the hills.

I was being stared at by a goat that was hiding behind a small thin tree which begged a teeny tiny question: where is the rest of its body? Only the head was visible from behind the lean trunk but there was no body to be seen. As if the head was just floating on its own. I cautiously crept closer not taking my eyes off of the bizarre scene and the closer I got, the weirder the animal looked under the Focus flashlight. It was a bighorn sheep but it had slightly different facials. The face was longer and the fur was stark black. The horns were bigger, sharper, and curved further away from the head. But the most horrid feature was the glaring red eyes that reminded me of an angry machine. No, no, that can't be a normal animal. It just can't be normal. Whatever that thing is, it's not a normal animal. I stared at whatever that thing is and it silently glared back. It almost seemed… demonic.

I carefully took a few more steps, moving slowly as if walking on thin ice (which is what I'm probably doing right now, metaphorically speaking) and when I became too close, the thing posing as a sheep silently retreated with its head back behind the tree and only then did I run the rest of the way there only to find nothing. I instinctively turned around the tree in a few circles to make sure that that thing was completely gone. As I did that, the morbid image just wouldn't leave my head. The sight of a red eyed animal staring at you from behind a tree with just the head visible can really stick to your head for a while. As I had noticed, it didn't even cast a shadow on the ground and when it retreated, I didn't hear any hoof steps. And to be frank? If it made just a little noise, a snort or anything, that would have made the situation slightly less unnerving. But the sheer silence of that thing was terrifying in and off itself.

I stood for a few more seconds to calm my nerves before I aimed my attention back at the cauldron. Not only was the entrance semi-blocked by vines but I discovered lots of dust when I forced them away. As if the cauldron hasn't seen any activity for years. As I took the first step in, literally everything inside me told me to look behind so I did. And over there, standing silently between the trees at the edge of the forest across the clearing, was the shadow person watching me from afar. I stood there looking at it from over my shoulder with wide wary eyes. I don't know how long we stood there in our little staring contest. As if each one dared the other to make a move. I was frozen in place not looking anywhere else but the mysterious figure a fair distance from me until the morbid scene vanished out of my sight when the vines dangled stiffly back to their previous position again blocking the outside view, finally making my first steps into the mystery cauldron.

After the brief encounter, I slowly walked in and almost slipped on the thick dust the floor is caked with. Better watch my footing. Considering my history with cauldrons, I may have to do lots of jumping and climbing around. And the situation wouldn't look so hot if I got a broken leg or a twisted ankle in a place like this.

But the more exploration I did, the more I realized just how different from the others this cauldron is. For starters, the structure is quite demolished. There is not a single device operating and the ventilation system is turned off but luckily, the vents were stuck on the outside leaving good hand holds for me to climb on. The dirt and vines were everywhere that I could barely see the metallic ground beneath them which kinda reminded me of that one jungle infested cauldron. But the main difference is that that one at least was bursting with life. The systems were operating and there were machines chasing after me. But where I am at, the previous categories were extremely lacking. There's no electricity or any source of energy so it was silent and pitch black in here.

I made my way across a wide area that may as well be mistaken for a grave for how dark and filthy it is. I ran the flashlight of my Focus around to look for any items I could pick and I was surprised to see the medical fungus growing in these places was dry and rotten. Well, there goes my hope of finding any healing items. In case I run into anything here, I'll have to be extra careful so I don't run out. As I made my way to the vents, I was keeping my eye out for any supply crates but there was nothing this place has to offer for me. As I put my hand on the first vent shutter, I jumped as I felt something hit me from behind and when I looked, it was a rock. Dammit. Here, too? I stared into the blackness ahead being vanquished by my green Focus light and even though I didn't find anything, it was a sign that I'm not alone in this garbage dump of a cauldron and it was proven even more by what I saw next.

"No way." I mumbled as I saw a dangling vine move on its own and quickly made my way up the vent. Once at the top, I turned around, crouched and started surveying the area below from what I hoped was a safer spot. Whatever was shaking that vine, it had better not be a good climber. And don't tell me it may have been the air current because first off, it's borderline suffocating in here. The entrance is mostly covered in thick ass plants and the ventilation system is off. Not to mention how the vines were moving in a violent shake as if someone was grabbing them to try and cut them off. I gulped with a shaky breath as I watched those vines getting toyed with by an invisible hand before they suddenly ceased to a stop. I took that as my cue to get up from my seated position and carry on exploring. I began to feel like I'm being dumb for insisting on going through with this even after all the warnings and signs getting thrown to my face like a Widemaw tossing a boulder at me. But I have to discover what those ghosts are. I want to know why all these things are happening. And if it's not for the sake of sating my seemingly dangerous curiosity then it's for the people wanting this mystery solved as badly as I do, and perhaps for the override I'm hoping to find here. But considering the state this place is in, is there even one? One way to find out, I guess.

And so I walked through the opening that, in your typical cauldron, would harbor the electronic shield. But it was broken and tiny pieces of dirty glass were all that remained around the frame. "Ugh…" I covered my nose cuz the corridor I was making my way across smelled as if a fox, a vulture, a boar and a crab all died together in the same pot. Dammit, why does it stink so bad in here? As far as I'm concerned, not a living creature steps foot inside the cauldrons. Except for me (duh) but man, was I wrong. My eyes couldn't have gone wider as I spotted the remains I found in the room at the end of the corridor. It was a large place with platforms and paths snaking up to a door at the far end. An entire wall is missing where a large electronic shield should have been. There was even a wrecked drone right next to a dead Redeye Watcher. Among all the mess were the corpses; humans and animals alike. They weren't much but the fact that there is any at all is what's arising further questions. What brought them here and what killed them? Judging from their number and condition, it seemed more like a mass murder than a natural cause. Wow, if the previous chamber looked like a grave then this one fits the description more.

"What the hell…" I weaved my way carefully around the semi decayed boar and the pile of fur that used to be a fox at some point. My flashlight swept over that skeletonized shell of a person and a mass of feathers with a long peak sticking out of them that most likely belonged to a pelican. There was even a bighorn sheep right next to a human corpse and I was instantly reminded of the ghost sheep I met next to the entrance. I approached the sheep and I had to suppress a whimper when I saw that it was still bleeding. This one is fresh. While the others have met their end long ago and their blood dried on the floor, this one particular corpse is practically still dripping with what little droplets it had left to offer from a deep slit to the throat further confirming my deduction that those guys can't have died naturally. And you can't imagine how surprised I was when I found out how true that was. The human body that's next to the sheep also has a similar slit in the throat and, to my horror, was holding a bloodied knife in his hand. As if he culled the sheep before doing the same to himself.

"!" I sharply turned to the direction of a sharp scratching noise and right that instant, my brain had gone haywire with lovely possibilities: Is something moving on its own again? Maybe there's a machine here, or one of those shadow people. Could be some weird creature I have never seen before. Or worse, one of the dead is starting to move around like the Tenakth from yesterday.

I moved my head around trying not to panic as I was desperate to find the source of the noise, expecting to find a terrifying view in my Focus's light but all I found were walls ruined by the mold and dust. Whatever that was, it can be anything but a machine. Those guys always make their presence known by their noises and lens flare. Furthermore, I fail to see what a machine would be doing in this junkyard.

I waited for a few more seconds to see if I'm gonna hear the sound of the scratching again but it was quiet and eerily so. I took off my headgear before wiping my forehead then put it back on again. After I'm through with this, a nice dip in a pool would be nice. I'm sweating arrows here and it's getting a bit harder to breathe. Better get out sooner than later and hope I don't get lightheaded.

I checked around for anything I could find useful so I took a look at the empty space previously containing the shield. There is a large crater separating me from the other side so I couldn't have made that jump over, and even if I made it to the other side somehow, there were nothing but junk and remains of cauldron machinery. I turned around and made my way up a sloppy path leading to the door. I was feeling wary as I crossed this area as this was where I heard the noise coming from. I stopped and took a look one last time to at least determine the source of what I just heard. When I found it pointless, I carried on.

The next chamber wasn't any better. There was a pit full of dead remains that were so deformed and decomposed; they could be seen as an unrecognizable mass of flesh and bones covering the bottom of the pit that I couldn't even tell human from animal. If I tried to think up a thousand reasons as to how these bodies got piled up here, the list wouldn't end so might as well get it over with. There were columns jutting out from the pit on which I could jump over to the other side. Out of habit, I made a quick survey to see if there's anything I can pick up. I spotted a supply box and when I went over to loot it, it was stuffed with mold. Even the medicinal mushroom next to it was dim and hard when I tapped it. So I just made my way over to the edge of the pit and – "Phew… man, this reeks." – I can safely promise that standing next to a pit full of rotten remains does not in the slightest smell like flowers and roses which was all the incentive I needed to not fall off. So I made the first jump easily maintaining my balance on top of the pole and before I jumped to the next one…

"What the f-" I felt something hard hitting me in the back and I whipped my head around but all I saw was the door I came from. I barely had time to look forward until I felt the same hard object hitting me in the feet this time as if whoever invisible prankster in here with me is trying to make me lose my balance and fall in the shit beneath me. Well, challenge accepted.

I nimbly hopped my way across the poles not neglecting to notice the mysterious objects getting thrown at me from all directions. Where they come from, what they are and who throws them, I had little idea but I knew it was no coincidence how they kept getting tossed at me right at the moment when I need to maintain balance the most. I almost got caught offguard when a bony appendage hit the pole right in front of me before I jumped over and missed my footing.

"!" I gasped as I lost my balance and fell off the pole. So that's what's been getting thrown at me? The body parts themselves? They must have been thrown at me from the organic garbage dumpster below but my immense desire to not fall amongst the disgusting remains beneath me was what made me hang on to the pole with my hands for dear sweet life. I felt the tip of my toes touch something hard and, feeling grossed out, quickly hoisted myself up on the pole again. I took a quick look around me before picking up the pace and hopped my way to the other side before another piece of those deceased remains actually does the trick and dump me face first in the rotting shit pit.

When I reached the final pole, however, I almost tumbled over again from the shock of finding that black head peeking at me from behind the door on the other side. Whoever was throwing the remains at me, I was staring at them.

"Hold it!" I barked as I quickly jumped off of the last pole and ran to the door the dark figure is hiding behind but it was gone by the time I reached it. "Heh. Typical." I grumbled. I guess the shadow figures are here too and they must one way or another be involved with crap getting tossed at me left and right. And I knew I'm going to be in for more of these later on so I'd better be careful or I might suffer a bruised eye. I steadily walked through the long corridor in wide yet slow steps as if mentally preparing myself for the worst. Lots of depressing scenarios keep playing in my head starting from getting lost, trapped, injured to outright killed somehow. I wonder what's going to happen to me here. Never have I felt this terrified inside a cauldron. If anything, they were actually one of my favourite places and this would be the first and only cauldron to give off such a horror vibe. It would have been at least less creepy if it had machines in it, any signs of life would be great even if they were going to maim me on sight but I'd take that over shadow figures treating me like a target to throw random objects at. I was pulled out of my happy thoughts when I finally reached the end of the corridor.

This time, I found myself in a wide chamber full of metal pieces leftover from whatever machinery that used to keep this place active. My footsteps made subtle crushing noises as I had to walk in a careful wide gait so I wouldn't step or trip on anything.

"Whoa!" I freaked out as a metallic arm got dragged in my direction almost tripping me over just when I thought about not tripping. As if who – sorry, whatever is doing this was reading my mind. I looked behind me again to check if that shadow reappeared again but it didn't. Gotta keep an eye out for those guys. One of them could pop off at any minute. I slowly made my way across to the other side of this messy room not taking my eyes off of my surroundings for a second. As if a single blink could cost me my guard and I'd find a shadow figure right at my face.

"Ah!" I jumped as something dropped from above right in front of my face. Oh, it was just a cord. Normally, I'm not spooked easily but I guess that goes to show how slightly unstable my nerves are. And even then, I would brush off such a simple jumpscare but this time, I questioned whether that was a coincidence or another dirty move from those entities. I have to find the core, quick.

Ok, where do I go from here? The only door was blocked by debris but at least the vents running up the wall should take me somewhere. Thing is, that the few bottom vent shutters were missing and the rest were too high up for me to reach. Maybe I should find something that could give me a boost. It wasn't long before I spotted the remains of a thickly grimy Shellwalker case and as I was about to walk over to it, my heart almost gave out on me at the sight greeting me from the end of the corridor I just passed through.

Standing menacingly at the far end was a shadow figure, as silent and featureless as they come. But that was not the part that concerned me the most. I gasped in alarm as the figure began moving. It was walking through the corridor right towards me!

"OH SHIT!" I hurried towards the Shellwalker case and tried moving it to the vents but the sonuvabitch was stuck in place from all the grim sticking its bottom to the ground. I knew I had little time before the shadow creature reached me and I'm not feeling excited at coming face-to-face with that thing. So I pulled out my pullcaster and shot the anchor to the attachment point on the case and, with all my might, I yanked the case towards me and as I was pulling, I spotted the shadow already halfway across the corridor. I pushed the case the rest of the way to the vents before hopping onto it and practically clawing my way up to the top. I turned around waiting for the shadow to reveal itself and I almost pissed in my armor when the thing showed up at the entrance I just came from earlier. It wasn't even walking. It was literally dragging itself over the ground as if it was gliding. With shaky breathes, I stared at that thing a few feet below me standing there silently. It wasn't even looking at me, or at least I thought it wasn't. That thing had no describable feature whatsoever; I couldn't see a face, arms or legs. Just a humanoid black matter.

They were like ghosts. Entities from another world. The glyph I read earlier at the Utaru's camp began haunting my memory at the sight of that freak. I suddenly had this crazy idea to just shoot that thing with an arrow and see what happens.

Harm yet cannot be harmed. I decided not to risk it. If that was true then picking a fight with those guys would be suicide. Who knows what the situation would be if I pissed them off.

They twisted my leg. I can't run anymore. I'm an easy kill. Lord knows what would happen if I got seriously hurt in this place. I'd be under their mercy for sure.

BEWARE OF THE SHADOW PEOPLE! Well, I'm looking at one of them.

I kept my wary eyes on the thing to see if it's going to move or whatever it is that it's going to do next. And all of a sudden, I flinched at the sight of it dissolving to the ground as if it was diving underwater and completely vanished, leaving me to be finally alone again – no, I'm not alone. Far from it. It may have disappeared from my sight but that doesn't mean I'll let my guard down. It could still be here with me for all I know. I decided I gotta move on to the next chamber in case that was true. When I turned around, I spotted an override node which, to my disappointment, was missing the distinct red light that would normally be replaced by the blow glow once I'm done with it. This one was broken and couldn't be overridden and just to make sure, I pulled out my spear and positioned its base where the override module is attached against the node but of course nothing happened. So I tried to force the door open with the spear but it didn't budge. I moved away with a stressed sigh. How do I get out then? I'm more than eager to leave this room because I can pretty much feel that thing's presence with me and I can't stick around too long. I moved along the wall carefully lest I bump into that thing again, yet hurriedly cuz I could feel the risk building up the longer I stayed here. Luckily, there was a crack in the wall I managed to squeeze through to the other side.

"Phew, made it." I felt relief at having gotten out of that dreaded chamber. There was a chance that thing would have showed up again had I stayed any longer. I don't think I could handle another encounter like this. The new area, if this was any normal cauldron, would have been beaming with life. There was a large pit in which massive metal arms stood stationary against the pitch blackness. The ventilation systems were motionless and there was even a busted drone on the far end. A mental imagery in my head displayed those arms moving around in repetitive organized patterns to transport a certain item from this spot to that spot while the vent shutters kept closing and opening in the background. But the scenery playing in my mind was replaced by the dull version I'm looking at where nothing is moving and it's completely dark in contrast to the much brighter vision I had for this cursed cauldron.

I'm beginning to think I shouldn't have much hope for getting that override after all. Even if I found the core, will it even be functional? And the fact that this place is infested with creepy entities meaning me harm is not helping. So what now? Did I make a mistake by coming here or is it going to be all worth the horror? One thing is for sure that I have made it this far and there was no turning back. All I can hope is that I don't regret the hell out of it. And, yup, you guessed it:

I did.