Daring Do's latest quest for a certain mystical relic had brought her to a swamp, simply reffered to by the locals as the Old Swamp. The name seemed to fit the place. Every tree was gnarled and dilapidated to the point that Daring felt she would be crushed by any one of them the moment she looked away. The foliage above was thick and dark, with only slivers of light able to dodge the leaves and paint the edges of tree trunks and rocks, silhouetting them against the nearly omnipresent shadows.
The entire scene was nearly as eerie as her visit to the Ghost Ruins of Neighrobi, where she had retrieved the Orb of Lies from Woe's Temple. If this task was in any way similar to Neighrobi, then she would be fine, Neighrobi wasn't even the most harrowing mission she'd experienced. Yes, this was a walk in the park, a very unnerving, dark, and chilling walk in the park.
Her hoof struck leather. Leather? She looked down at the journal beneath her hoof. Picking it up, she wandered over to one of the persistent slivers of light to read the contents. She flipped through the pages, which recounted the tale of a survivalist and his partner who had sought the challenge of enduring the swamps. Each entry took on a darker tone than the last, the handwriting growing ever more shaky until Daring flipped to the final entry.
"It follows you, but it isn't allowed to stare into your eyes, unless you stare into its eyes first. Oh, Celestia.... NEVER LOOK INTO ITS EYES!!!! She had such a pretty face... Now its gone... It wants you to turn your back, to look. It wants your face. Even if you can feel the breath on your back, DON-"
Daring was now highly concerned, but not even a paranormal being was going to stop her quest for relics. This relic was especially important. It was a stone that could turn into whatever the holder desired. If Ahuizotl got his hands on this, he could restore the broken ring, and if he found all of the others in the rubble of the temple, there was the slim chance that his dream of endless heat could be revived. Daring Do would not allow that.
As time went on, the entry became even more of a worry in the back of her head, the swamp was getting darker. Fewer slivers of light were victorious. It was now that Daring spotted the small stone hut. This hut was supposed to be the resting place of the Old Alchemist and his Dream Stone.
The trees rustled, and Daring stood erect with alarm. A warm breath on her neck sharply contrasted with the chills that went down her spine. This was just like the entry had stated. Daring felt that she was the wiser, and decided that if she kept her eyes closed, she wouldn't lose her face. So she squeezed her eyes as tightly shut as possible, and spun around. The breath stopped, and Daring swung at the air in front of her for good measure. Tentatively, she opened her eyes. Nothing but dark swamp stood before her.
"I knew it was nothing," Daring sighed as she turned back towards the hut. She wasn't looking at the hut though, she was staring straight into the eyes of a giant spider with the face of a frightened survivalist.