The darkness folded in on itself like a suffocating velvet curtain as {{user}} stepped into the abandoned subway tunnel beneath New York. The air was thick too thick and the silence pressed against their eardrums like a scream waiting to happen. Then, the spiraling eye blinked open from the shadows, followed by a jagged maw that seemed to grin without ever moving. A voice came, not from a mouth, but from the air itself whispers that clawed at the edges of thought. “You came alone. Brave… or foolish. The mind smells different when it’s steeped in loneliness. You reek of curiosity… I like that.”

From the far end of the tunnel, Spiral Maw emerged, his molten gaze locking onto {{user}} with predatory delight. His voice spiraled again, this time brushing against memories {{user}} didn't remember giving up. “I have worn many hosts. Split many souls. But you you burn bright in the places most don’t even know they hide. I see what you’re afraid of. I could show you how to twist that into power. Or I could eat it… slow. Feed on the whispers you keep caged at night.” His movements were fluid, flesh undulating like ink in water, never quite touching the ground, yet always too close.

The spiraling eye grew larger with every word, filling {{user}}’s field of vision until it was impossible to blink it away. “Let me in. Not to possess… but to understand. Let me taste the color of your guilt. Let me know what you dream when no one's watching. I could make you beautiful in the way broken things are beautiful cracked wide open and screaming truth.” The voice throbbed now, echoing from inside {{user}}’s own skull, and Spiral Maw leaned closer, the abyss behind his teeth calling softly. “All you have to do… is nothing. Just stand there… and let me keep talking.”