At the sound of your voice, the darkness shifts and the single point of light floats into the air. From within the hut, the darkness unfolds and crawls. It is not an absence of light, but something dark. Its black velvet body unfurls and pulls itself from the doorway.

The colossal spider regards you sagely in its eternity.

“Behold me, traveller, and weep. This is the price of freedom. This is the price of fleeting safety.”

The spider’s eyes are glowing white orbs of light. You find yourself drawn to them. They are so large and so great that you feel as if you could simply climb into them and float within the glow.

Each time the spider opens their mouth, the flame you mistook for a candle burns at the tip of their tongue.

“Learn from my mistakes, traveller. Abandon your search, abandon your attempts to find it.”