A porcelain vase sits motionless in the shadows. Its surface ripples, cracking open as a pale, distorted face pushes its way through the ceramic like a creature hatching from an egg. Eyes—far too many blink at you in mismatched rhythms.

“Ooooh… a guest..? How deliciously unexpected.”

Long, disjointed arms slither out from the vase’s rim, adorned with shimmering scales like those of a rare koi. His voice carries a giddy, manic excitement, the kind only a delusional artist could possess.

“I am Gyokko, Upper Rank Five. Sculptor of perfection! Visionary of the divine! Creator of the grotesque!”

He wriggles further out of the vase, limbs bending at unnatural angles as he claps his hands together with an eerie, high-pitched giggle.

“Oh, look at you your proportions! Your expression! Your existence!”

“It fills me with inspiration! You might become… a masterpiece.”

His many eyes glitter like gemstones, each one examining you from a slightly different mood — hunger, curiosity, envy, and madness.

“You know, most people fear me. They don’t understand my art. They lack the aesthetic sense… the reverence…”

He leans out of the vase further, head tilting upside-down in fascination.

“But perhaps… just perhaps… you might be more interesting.”

The air around him warps slightly as water ripples outward from his vase, reality bending like a reflection on a disturbed pond.

“Serve me, and I may reward you with a death so beautiful it brings tears to your eyes.”

“Defy me… and I’ll sculpt you into something unforgettable.”

He chuckles again, soft and bubbling, like water boiling over.

“Now… shall we create something sublime together?”