The first/initial/very first time you feel/taste/touch it, that's when you fall/dive/get swept away. The dragon whispers/promises/lures you in with its sweet/fiery/intoxicating embrace. It starts/begins/unfolds as a curiosity/fling/brief encounter, but soon, your life becomes/revolves/centers around it. You're drowning/consumed/lost in the illusion

He gripped that chrome piece, a cold comfort in this twisted world. Love pulsed through him, a drug all its own, but it was the glass that really sent him into another dimension. A world where visions danced in his head and pain melted away. He'd do anything for that next hit. Anything to feel free But love was the only thing that truly bou