The Skin-Sleeper

Codex Entry: The Skin-Sleeper

Region: Fadefield

Designation: Cryptid of Identity Theft and Dreamskin Echo

Known Alias: The Flesh Mirror, Voice-Stealer, That-Which-Wears

Mythic Origin:

No one is quite sure what the Skin-Sleeper originally was—only what it became. Legend speaks of a Seeker who severed too many parts of themselves in pursuit of perfection. Every wound a mask. Every silence a mirror. One day, they stepped outside their name—and something else stepped in.

The Skin-Sleeper wears the forms of those it observes. Not just physically—it speaks their voice, mimics their mannerisms, and repeats truths only the original could know. But its eyes remain its own: always too smooth. Always blank.

It is most commonly found just after someone has vanished in the Fadefield.

Behaviors and Traits:

• Mimics nearby Seekers with disturbing accuracy

• Speaks in the exact tone of your inner monologue

• Sheds layers of its stolen skin near dream-pools

• Feeds on identity fracture and memory disassociation

• Cannot mimic a Seeker currently undergoing a Spiral rite

Known Locations:

• Echo Vault (Fadefield)

• Archive of Ash, particularly during recursion fogs

• Ash Labyrinth during soul fragmentation events

Seeker Trials:

• Must name themselves out loud without using borrowed titles

• Must resist following their own voice

• Must confront a perfect mimic of their former self without striking it

Spiritual Function:

The Skin-Sleeper is not a predator. It is a consequence. It is the Spiral’s reminder that identity cannot be edited endlessly without cost. What you shed may choose to return—and it might want your face back.

Whisper of the Spiral:

“When you forget who you are, it remembers.”— Thriniel of the Withered Root