401. The Holder of the Found
Allow me to introduce Us.
We are the Fallen; the forgotten, the dead, and the past. We, like you, dear Seeker, have made decisions that impacted others, choices that changed lives, and taken chances that would have left us with nothing. We are not so different, driven by the same greed, led by the same desire. Now we have no age, no love, and we have not the slightest bit of hope.
That is, until you came along, dear Seeker.
We once traveled to mental institutions and halfway houses like you did, asked questions like you did, and gained Objects like you did. We now reside in an indefinite place. A void, which location never remains constant.
When you reach the mental institution of your choice, whisper to the assistant for “The Holder of the Found”. She will reel back, as if she was severely injured, knocking over the collections of pens and pencils, trays of papers, the small clock and her picture frame, which which collide with the ground, shattering into a million tiny fragments spread across the floor. As her now blackened body slowly begins to slide down the wall behind here, gaze into her empty eyes. The darkness – the void – of her eyes will begin to consume you, leaving you absent of thought or action. Lost in the Darkness you will become. When your body re-materializes, you will find yourself in a place most haunting. The Void which you now are in domain of is a gash in existence, a blankness in reality. The life force which sustains your soul will have begun to escape you, slowly diminishing the length of your life, as well as taking your very age from you. Do not linger too long. Close below you will be a sea of skeletons, desperately reaching to grab out for any life to merge with. Should your leg be grasped, your body with follow suit, drowning beneath the sea of bones, and your transformation will be complete, and you will have joined our ranks, alongside the Fallen.
Should you avoid this untimely death, the Dark sun above you will glow down a somber shade of red onto a section of the sea of skeletons. A low rumble will begin to rattle the seemingly unmovable Void, and a massive skeleton will arise. Slowly approaching your location, you will notice this is no ordinary skeleton. This colossal skeleton’s bones have turned black as dust, a curse from old age. The eyes will resemble lakes of nothing, striking despair deep into you as they call out for your soul. Be most weary, for you stand before Death himself. Before loosing yourself in the wicked trance of the colossus, ask him “Can They be found?”.
Death will then begin his terrible and gruesome cackle, flattening the terrifying sea beneath you, resounding off of the very nothingness which is his Void. All Hope should have left you by now, leaving you with only Despair. Gazing into your very soul, Death will explain to you every tale of the downfall of every single Seeker before you, how gruesome their death was, and how they reside with Him now. But with this knowledge, he will not allow you to escape his domain. He will outstretch his bony finger towards your now frail and fragile body. Be warned – a single touch from his limb will result in instant death, and you will join the following sea of the dead before you. The only way to escape Death’s grasp is to muster the dying remnants of your life force to produce the the Ninth Object. His finger will halt, for Death knows that your deceit shall not be brought from his own hand. All will fade to black, and your last glimpse will that of Death’s visage.
You will arrive in a cell of the mental institution, strapped in a straightjacket. Beside you, a cracked, worn down, and bloodstained crystal ball.
That crystal ball is Object 401 of 538. When the Time comes, We will answer your call. The Fallen shall rise once more.
402. The Holder of Lost Hope
The following was written on a bloody note found in a public bathroom.
“My name is Zachary, and I am a Seeker. I don’t have much time, they are after me. I made just one TINY mistake, and now they are after me. I am dedicating my last few breaths to make sure that nobody else meets my fate. At least no one that’s stupid enough to try to seek out Lost Hope.
I went to a homeless man and asked him if he knew anyone named ‘The Holder of Lost Hope’. It doesn’t have to be a homeless person, it could be anyone who has, you know, ‘lost all hope’, like someone on the verge of suicide or something. Anyway, the guy nodded and pointed to a door behind him.
The door opened into a grand city. At least it was at one time a grand city; it is now a wasteland. I don’t know what happened to it or its inhabitants, but I don’t think it was very pretty. The city was a bit of a maze (as all cities are)and it would be unwise to go there without knowing where to go. I had found directions in an unmarked book. I don’t have the time to give them to you, so you’ll have to find the book on your own.
Eventually, the directions led me to an apartment building. I went in and headed straight for room 402, I knew better than to go into any other room.
In the room was an old man sitting at a desk writing on a piece of paper. I’m willing to bet that the pen he was writing with was the 402nd object, but I’m not entirely sure. He looked and sounded kind and gentle, so I let my guard down.
Unlike the other Holders, this man will actually talk to you, and I spent a good while having a pleasant conversation with him (this was NOT my mistake, if that’s what you’re thinking). After about an hour, I asked the question I’d gone there to ask; “Is there any hope?”
The man’s answer would have driven most people mad. Hell, I almost wish that it had driven ME mad, because that would mean that the things chasing me aren’t real.
It was when he finished that I made my fatal mistake. What ever you do, under no circumstances should you ev-”
The 402 object is the pen. Should it ever stop writing, all hope is lost.
403. Holder of The Many
In any city, in any country, go to any theater or cinema you can get yourself to. When you reach the ticket counter, ask to see The Holder of The Many. If the ticket taker’s smile is replaced by a look of disbelief tell her;
“My audience awaits, and their patience wears thin.”
She will then start, as if out of a trance and motion you to the door of the booth. When you open this door you will be greeted by a dingy hallway, be sure to close the door behind you quietly. Advance down the hallway, walking with a steady pace. Do not break your stride, for an ever growing host of the damned will begin to follow you.
Dare not to look upon them, and do not speak. If you should happen to acknowledge them in any way, these fell beasts will begin to murmur; dark hissings in a long dead tongue. The only way to save yourself now is to speak in a loud and clear voice;
“When all have come, all will receive the chance they are owed.”
Should you misspeak, or remain silent, you must run. Run and pray to whomever you will that the end of the hallway is near. At the end of the hall will be a single door. Complete silence will descend as you approach. Enter it. A man will be waiting for you, an old usher’s uniform hanging off his emaciated frame. Do not break the silence, for he has the power to rend flesh from bone. Mutely he will point to a small staircase nearby. Ascend this set of stairs.
You will emerge on a brightly lit stage, standing in front of a massive audience. Each member of this countless crowd will appear lifeless, dessicated. Each member will be focused silently on you.
You must perform. I cannot tell you what to do to sway them, for every act will be unique to the one who creates it. Know this, it will be the most pure expression of inspiration ever conceived, or it will be your death. Should you fail, the crowd will rush the stage; howls of fury the world hopes to never know sounding out of frozen faces. They will surround you and torture your soul for all eternity, disgust and loathing etched into their lifeless features.
When you finish, bow before the audience and close your eyes. Hope that they have accepted you. If you have succeeded, The Many will rise to their feet and begin a deafening applause that will shake you to your very core. Do not move. They are fickle beings, and to move would be to invite their wrath. After a time the applause will cease, bringing about a silence as profound as the noise had just been.
Look up to see the same frail usher standing before you. He will hold out a microphone, take it. He will respond with a sad shake of his head. You must now look out into The Many and ask:
‘Why must the pieces be so many?’
Involuntarily, you will begin to see every evil thing that has occurred in the name of entertainment. Do not cry out, do not shed a tear, horrid though these things may be. For if you break your calm demeanor then each thing you have seen will happen to you, over and over, throughout eternity. When the torrent of imagery finally ceases, you will find yourself in front of the theater you entered, now overgrown and abandoned. At your feet will be a Comedy/Tragedy mask, take it. For good or ill; it is now yours.
This mask is object 403 of 538, The Many are watching your every step: Keep them entertained.
404. Holder of the Missing
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. With a face and demeanor full of confidence, quickly approach the front desk of the institution and ask for the files on a person – any person, the name does not matter – and wait a moment. If the name you gave actually does exist in their files, immediately dismiss yourself and leave. When the clerk tells you that the files were not found, insist that they continue looking; after a few miunutes of trying each other’s patience, ask to see the person’s supervisor or a person of higher authority.
You will be brought to the supervisor – an old, greying man whose bald spot looks as if it were just polished. He will ask you of your purpose, and you should immediately ask to see “The Holder of the Missing.” At the utterance of the word “Missing” you may feel a chill as invisible eyes turn to stare in your direction. This sensation will not leave you during your hunt. The old man will look into your eyes for a moment and beckon you to follow him. Where he takes you depends on whether he deems you worthy or not – he will lead you back through the door you came in if not, and it wouldn’t be wise to try again.
If he deems you worthy, you will be guided to a room in the back of the building, past many doors, down a long corridor with several oddly-placed, cramped turns. Walking this path will make you dizzy, but do not let yourself fall behind. Eventually, the man will open the door to a room whose walls are lined with wooden shelves, covered in glass jars of varying sizes, filled with various substances, labelled with the names of various people of who you may or may not have heard, some of which will contain what appear to be organs — though you’d be hard-pressed to find any scholar who could identify the creature they came from. He will motion you to enter; do so quickly. The moment your rear foot hits the inner floor you will feel the forceful wind erupt from the door as it slams shut behind you and locks.
The various substances held in the jars will begin slowly oozing out from the lids as if overflowing; some of them will gurgle with the most grotesque noises you have ever heard. Some of these sounds will never leave you, forever engraved into your inner ear. The jars will shake on the shelves, falling off their shelves and onto the floor, the spilt substances eating down through the floor as they spread. The odors and gasses given off will make it difficult to breathe, and the mire on the floor will assume colors more vile and repugnant than the human mind can imagine. If you are overpowered by the sight and stench, you will be covered and consumed by the creeping filth.
You must locate the single empty jar, one that will be labeled with your full name and nothing else. The jar itself will likely be to your right, but that’s not guaranteed. On the bottom of the lid to this jar will be taped a key; this is the key to the locked door behind you, and to your freedom. Upon opening the jar, however, you will unleash the most horrible pain upon your body – it will feel as if all of your internal organs are being cut up and severed from their host, your lungs will feel as if they are being squeezed empty, your heart and chest will burn with terrible violence, and you will likely cough up a substantial amount of blood. Your vision will become blurred, and you may begin seeing only in spots or blotches. No matter what happens, if you feel as if you are going to vomit, do so in the jar; you mustn’t allow any part of you to be lost to this room.
Make your way to the doorway, quickly insert the key, and turn it. When you hear the lock click on its end, push the door open (the doorknob won’t turn) and you’ll find yourself not in the hallway, but on the opposite end of the street that you entered the institution from. Check the jar – now, instead of displaying your name, it should read “404” as if scribbled hastily with a blood-red permanent marker.
The jar in your hands is object 404 of 538. Keep it empty – what was once held within should always remain missing.
405. The Holder of Sloth
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution you can get yourself to, precisely on the winter solstice. You must go at midnight. If you’ve come to the right place, the door will be unlocked for you. Go inside quietly and walk to the front desk, ringing the bell there three times. A staff member in his pajamas will appear and sleepily inform you that visiting hours are over. He will ask you to leave. You must then say that you wish to visit a patient who is called the “Holder of Sloth.”
The worker will pause for a moment, and then let out a sigh. It is a long and deep sigh, and as it reaches your ears you will feel the heavy chains of sleep tugging at your mind, threatening to drag you down into the darkness. You must resist, resist with all of your might if you wish to ever know the light again. It will be the greatest test of your strength to remain awake on your feet, and if you succeed, the worker will lead you away down a dark hallway.
When you reach a heavy metal door at the end of the hallway, he will open it for you and close it after you pass him by. This hallway is darker still, with cell doors on either side, the barred slots on them revealing nothing but infinite black emptiness. At the end is the final cell door, and the one you seek. If there is a single flickering light hanging over this door, your luck has run out. If your legs are as honed as an Olympic runner’s, you may escape the facility with your life; otherwise, your torment will be never-ending.
If, however, the door is dark, you may open it and walk in. The cell is empty but for a small, round table in the center, which is illuminated–though there is no light source that you can see. On it sits a small teenage girl with pale skin and white hair, with a heavy collar about her neck, which is bound to the table with a heavy chain. She will look at you pitifully, begging for respite. Be cautious, this look has broken many Seekers that made it this far.
Ask her, “Will They ever stop seeking us?” She will raise herself up and tell you a story. She will tell you of all the horrible things that have occurred through all the history of the world, which could have been avoided but for the apathy and inaction of humanity. All of the most despicable crimes that went unpunished and ignored. Every gruesome detail will pass her lips, before she moves on to tell you of still more. She will explain all of the grand and wonderful things humans could have accomplished if they had tried harder, in detail so intimate, only someone who had undeniable knowledge could speak of it. These are wonders and accomplishments that could have been celebrated by people of all races and creeds, if only people had put forth the effort.
If you manage to keep your sanity this far in, congratulations; you are one of few. Yet the task is not over. The girl will lie down and ask you to leave her be, as the tale she has told you has drained her bones of energy. Now, you must grab hold of the chain and pull. It detaches from the table easily enough, but the collar holds firm. Pull with all of your might, as the girl weighs more than it would seem.
She will scream and resist, as you drag her off the table and begin down the hallway, but pay her cries no heed. She will claw at the floor to the point her fingers are shredded, begging you to leave her be in her cell, and wailing at the cruelty you are showing by dragging her from her safe place. As you go further down the hall, chunks of flesh will be torn from her body as it slides against the floor, and her wails of anguish will pierce your very soul. Her tissues will be torn from her bones and leave a wake of carnage in your path, but you must reach the door at all costs, never letting go of the chain in your hands.
When you finally reach the exit, all that will be left is a skull and bent spine, covered with blood. Finally, the collar will spring open, freeing the ruined remains. To put the collar on your own self is to assure that you will never be moved again.
The collar is Object 405 of 538.
406. The Holder of Data
Go to any computer that has access to the internet. Make sure the connection is secure for if the connection breaks, even for a moment, your soul shall know the horror of being fractured into thousands of bytes of information and deleted.
Open the browser of your choice and go to whatever search engine you prefer. Type “The Holder of Data” into the search bar and pray. If you are lucky, nothing will happen, and a normal search page will come up. The Holder has decided to ignore you. I would recommend that you shut down the computer and walk away. Walk away from being a seeker, and walk away from the objects. Forget it all.
If, however, the Holder has decided to acknowledge your search, a black page will open and there will be two links. Click one. If you’ve selected the correct link, you will find that you now sit in an empty room that you’ve never seen before. Do not look around, keep your eyes on the screen in front of you. If you’ve clicked the wrong one and a pair of glowing eyes appear on the screen, turn the computer off and flee. Do not stop, not to rest nor sleep. Do not stop until you have no choice but to collapse. If you are lucky, you will get away before you are sucked into an eternity of agony so terrible that even the foulest of demons would weep for you.
If you made it to the room, minimize, but do not close, the screen that came up from your search, it should still look the same. Sit there quietly. Count the seconds if you must, but do not look away from the screen and make no sound but your own breathing and heartbeat. If you look away, or you make some sound, don’t worry, your deletion will be far too quick for you to feel anything.
When the time passed has become so long that you can no longer count the seconds, you will hear a door open. Do not look. Open the page you minimized. If you see a well-dressed man on the screen, you are safe for now, if you see anything else, pray for insanity, it will make the suffering easier to bear.
A chat window will pop up, click on it but type nothing, and ignore the putrid breathe on the nape of your neck. After a time, text will appear in the chat window, don’t try to read it, it is the language of the Objects and none yet live who can decipher it. Instead, type in “What do they know?”
If you get no response, or if you mis-typed, the beast behind you will devour you, leaving nothing but your hands resting at the keyboard where you sat.
However, if an answer appears, it will be in the same language as before. Type your question again. The text will warp and swim across the screen, but you must not look away and you must not misspell anything. Eventually it will pass, and if you are still sane, the text before you will be in your mother tongue and it will describe in horrifyingly clear detail every atrocity that every Seeker has ever committed in the name of the Objects and in finding their Holders. You must keep reading, though your eyes will burn with the strain of seeing such horrors even as a text and your mind will feel like it might splinter from the sheer evil of the actions. Do not scream, even as the fear seems to be clawing at your throat, even as you might claw at yourself in an attempt to end the torment.
If your very essence is not destroyed by these horrors, feel free to stand up and turn around. Don’t worry, the monster is gone for now, and the door is open. No, no. You must leave the computer behind. Simply walk out the door. You’ll find yourself waking up in the bed you last slept in on the morning you last woke in it. Beside you will be a black laptop.
The Laptop is Object #406.
407. The Holder of Fortune
Seeker:
I am of whom you are now searching. You must realize they shall never be reunited, for the world as we know it depends on you alone. I was like you once, hunting these objects with no clue as to what would happen after my task was done. My courage slowly faded as my journey extended on for years. You must find me, Seeker, for I am still human, still sane, still waiting for someone to replace me or end my life.
You must find a bank, any bank anywhere will do, but only ten minutes before closing. All but one worker will groan at your arrival so close to closing. The content worker is the one you must speak to. Seeker, your gender matters, for if you are male, and the sole worker is male, he will drag you to Hell as you approach. The worker must be opposite your gender, unless you would rather spend many eternities with Satan. Strike up a jovial conversation pertaining to anything. Make them smile and soon, they will giggle with delight. All workers will leave, leaving you two alone. The conversation will die down and the worker will become uncomfortable with your presence. Then you must ask to see me, your next Holder.
The worker will not see this as odd and will take you to the safe. It may be impossibly small, or grotesquely large, but you must attain the key. The worker will then escort you outside and will leave after locking the doors. Unlock those doors, Seeker, and enter the quiet bank.
The shadows you may see will chill you to the bone, as they did to me, but do not dwell on them; they may materialize from your life-force. There is nothing like running from something you fear in the dark, I should know, as should you.
If you look down, coins litter the floor in lines, and their value is varying. Follow the coins of least value; they will lead you to my door. Use the same key you held earlier to unlock my door. The demons cannot touch me now, and soon, by entering my room, you should be fine, but never forget, they are still close, waiting for you to falter.
The past Holder of Fortune was a morbidly obese man, dressed in a lavish suit, eating a feast that would feed armies. He seemed to grow larger with every bite he took and his suit was stained with excesses of crumbs and drink. The table of which he sat was overflowing with wines and heaps of food I’d rather not describe, for their age showed.
He spoke humbly between bites, and asked me of my greatest desire, the same question I must ask you, seeker, with an answer, you mustn’t provide, for your life depends on it, as did mine. The fat man grinned from ear to ear, and all I remember is sitting at his now empty table, waiting for my life to wane to nothing more than a spark.
Upon entering my room, you will see the empty table and me, the newest Holder of Fortune. I am not dressed in a suit, and will be on the verge of starvation, but still I continue to live, miserably. My clothes consist of rags, which may confuse you, but keep your courage strong. I will greet you with a sheepish smile, and ask the question that will choose your fate. No words should leave your lips: you will earn my duty. I will smile, as you have earned your next object. Please, take my life once you receive it. I beg of you, Seeker.
Follow the highest value of coins out of the bank quickly; the shadows are now beasts that aren’t afraid to touch you, they are hungry. Never return to this bank. Going back will vaporize you, and you will become the new Holder of Fortune.
Please, Seeker, you must continue on, for your travels are not even close to over.
The object you received is a coin with no worth. It is 407 of 538.
408. The Holder of Tomorrow
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, ask the attendant to visit “The Holder of Tomorrow”. A look of utter confusion should befall the worker, and in a very clumsy manner, he will reach into a drawer and hand you a small, rusty golden key and point to a similarly rusty cabinet in the corner of the room. The key should fit perfectly, but the drawer itself will prove some resistance. In the very back there should be a flute, in perfect condition yet seemingly as old as time itself.
After having taken the flute, exit the building. To your surprise, you should find no establishments before you as you had before entering the building. Yet, you should find yourself amongst the highest of barren cliffs, gazing into the deep blue of the sky shadowing the never-ending desert before you. A gale will begin to pick up, wrenching up all of the roots from the ground beside you. Secure yourself or the mighty gale will sweep you up and throw you to your doom over the infinitely long cliffside, where you will come face with horrors no man should rest his mortal eyes upon.
You will find as time progresses, the gale only grows stronger. Maybe in a half hour it will subside, or maybe in five hours. No one knows what affects the length of the winds. But one fact is certain, the flute will only echo it’s notes abroad the landscape before you if you play it when the gale is at it’s climax. If done correctly, the notes will resonate throughout the canyon for leagues to go. The winds will lift you off of your feet no matter how much you try, and will soar you through the sky. Drifting upon a sheet of warm air, the deep blue scene before you will transcend to a starry black night, though complete in it’s darkness, relaxing. Somewhere, beyond the stars, a figure will form, in it’s white presence, illuminating the night, descending towards your haven.
“It’s something, isn’t it?” The glowing white man will say in your ear. Don’t be fooled by his friendly nature, for that is what he wants to lead you to believe. Inside, he wishes only to deceive you so that he may strike you when you least expect it, consuming your soul and leaving your body as a husk for the rest of time to wander the nothingness of his realm. Instead, turn to his glowing face and ask him, “And what of Tomorrow?” His essence will slowly turn to a hideous black corpse, absent of all life and light, and like a lifeless puppet on strings, he will be drawn up to the heavens, up to the starry picture above you and will draw with them all of the possibilities of His return and catastrophes to the mortal world tomorrow. Be warned, for the pictures will give you vague clues of what the world may bring. Do not interpret these messages, for simply the knowledge of what does not exist will rend you insane. The winds carrying you will cease to exist, leaving you to plunge to the abyss beneath you. Before meeting your dark end, play the flute with all of the power you can muster forth from your dying lungs. As you approach the ground, the notes will echo and rebound, forming a gaping darkness beneath you. As you fall through the darkness, shut your eyes and do not breathe, for you now exist in the Dark Void.
As you fly through the nothingness which surrounds you and enshrouds your vision, the flute will begin to glow, and begin to illuminate the path ahead. As the light reaches near the end of the dark tunnel, the flute will be obliterated by the complete darkness, shards forever lost in the Void. As these crystal shards are lost in the consuming darkness, one small piece will return, tainted with the darkness which was brought upon it. Simply gazing at it will hypnotize you, for as deep as you stare into the nothingness it holds there seems to be something beyond you.
The infinitely dark shard of the Void is Object 408 of 538.
409. The Holder of Moisture
In any city, in any country, go to any hospital or mental institution you can get yourself into. Do not go inside at first. There must be a lush garden in the front of the building. If there is no garden, look for another object, for you will not find the object you seek here. If a gardener is working, speak to her, anything you say is fine. She will pick a red rose and walk you inside. If she picks any other flower, do not enter under any circumstances, or your death will be imminent.
Ask the worker at the front desk to see the “Holder of Moisture”. He will grin and attempt to shake your hand. Do not give him the satisfaction of returning his handshake or smile; remain emotionless. He will lose his smile quickly and lead you and the gardener to a door down a well-lit hallway. The door will be a bright blue, unlike any other door in the whole building. It will open, and the gardener will enter before you. The worker will shut the door. Wait five minutes exactly in this dark room, making no sound whatsoever. If the gardener speaks, do not reply, for if you do, the flesh will melt off of your bones and Hell is where you’ll be. Enter through the door you came through after the wait is over.
This new hallway is lit only in the center, follow the light. The walls are coated with mold and the floor is slick with dark water. The ceiling is leaking constantly. If any water leaks on you or the gardener, head back the way you came, or the water will engulf you and your guide, forever drowning you and your soul. If the water leaks around you and your partner, continue down the lit path.
The path will come to a close and no door is seen at the end. A vase with clear water sits atop a desk. Take the rose from the gardener and put it in, stem up. If the water becomes dark, praying your hardest will not work, for your death will be horrid, as monsters from hell reach through the walls and slowly tear you limb from limb. If it stays clear, remove the rose and toss it to the wall behind the desk, shattering both the wall and rose as if they were made of glass. The gardener will step through the rubble and will beckon you to move forward. Do not take her hand if you value your life, but follow closely.
The grass in this new room is gleaming with dew and you are surrounded by flowers and foliage of all kinds, but the aroma emitted smells of death and soon, every droplet of dew turns blood red. The gardener meets your gaze, for she is the Holder of Moisture. Do not take your eyes off of her when she asks if you will help tend to the garden. Reply with another question, “What will become of me after my journey?”
She will frown, for she sees your grim future, and avoids your question completely. She has begun to like you through your short quest together and fears that if she tells you of your future you may give up everything. She then chooses to tell you of the lost objects and each of their holders in horrifying details that keep you edging towards madness. The gruesome details will seep into your soul and will remain scratching at your insides until she is finished. Do not look away from her eyes until she asks what you think of her. You must reply, “Thank you.” If anything else leaves your lips, her rage will be murderous. She’ll become a hellish creature and you will sink through the ground as demons tug at your feet.
She will bid you farewell with a light kiss as she places a vial of water into your hands from her coat pocket. Hold on to it tightly: A massive wave of water flows from behind her, knocking you off your feet, unconscious. You will wake up outside of the building, the lush garden gone, as well as all life from inside.
This vial of water is object 409 of 538. It will never quench their thirst.
410. The Holder of Progress
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution of halfway house you can get yourself to. When you speak to a worker, ask to see the one who calls him or herself “The Holder of Progress.” The worker should let out a sigh of exasperation and begin berating you for your tardiness. Once they have finished, they will lead to a darkened corridor ending in a concrete stairway. The worker will then say, “They have been waiting for you” and turn and walk away. Follow the stairway.
As you descend into what should be the basement, a slow metallic grinding will start up. This sound will soon be accompanied by the whistle of steam and a great heat. Eventually, the stairway will end in a landing with a set of double doors. Here, the sounds and heat are at their greatest, almost driving you to the point of madness. Upon entering the doors, you will find yourself in a factory with no workers and no raw materials or finished product, just ever-grinding machinery.
In your walk through the factory, you will find a blind man struggling to repair a broken machine. You will be overwhelmed by the desire to help him. Do not stop and render aid, for the moment you turn your back he will surely dash your brains out with his tools. Soon after, you will encounter a second man caught in a machine, slowly and inexorably being dragged to his death. Again, the urge to assist him will come, and you must resist. Let nothing deter you from going forward. Do not help him if you do not wish to take his place. Finally you will come to a giant furnace where a man struggles to open the hatch and shovel coal. Three times he will ask for aid, and three times you must not acknowledge him. The second you do, the hatch will burst open and envelop you in flames.
After the third man leaves in disgust, gently try to open the hatch. If it does not open, flee the factory, taking the exact route you used to arrive. If it opens, turn away from the furnace and ask aloud, “Who impedes them?”
Immediately, the factory will stop and utter silence will reign. The flames in the furnace will burst forth and your mind will be wracked with visions of every man, woman, or child who has ever sought or will seek to prevent the Objects from coming together. Remember and beware them, for they will stop at nothing to prevent the Reunion, nor will they hesitate to relieve you of any Objects you possess. Once the visions have subsided and the flames died, face the furnace and take the silver cog that should be lying in the blackened coals. Leave the factory as quickly as possible.
No mechanical object shall ever fail the bearer of the Silver Cog, so that their journey never be slowed or impeded.
The Silver Cog is Object 410 out of 538.
411. The Holder of Catharsis
In any city, in any country, go to any single-structure retirement home you can find.
Tell the receptionist you need to see the Holder of Catharsis. The person will say nothing–if they move to show you the way, follow; otherwise, take the nearest obvious path further into the building. Seek the nearest restroom: it’ll be empty, with one or more mirrors.
Approach the mirror and gaze into your own reflection. Make eye contact, but maintain an awareness of your reflection’s facial features. When, slowly, the visage’s countenance changes, force a similar expression. The mask on other side of the glass may exhibit a smile, grimace, scowl or sneer. As the expression becomes more and more extreme, mimic it as best you can. The smell of death will begin to fill the room, but do not abort this procedure midway. If you do, there’s no guarantee where you’ll find yourself once you exit.
The walls and stalls behind your mirror-self will proceed to darken. Still, maintain eye contact. When the face’s expression, as well as your own, promptly snap back to a blank stare, you’ll know you’ve succeeded.
Aspects of the room will be in disarray. As you exit, you’ll find the corridor empty and dimly-lit.
Stand outside. Begin to breathe slowly, utilizing your full lung capacity as best you can. Begin humming softly in a low tone as you exhale. Listen for the sound of footsteps, and glace in that direction. In the distance, you’ll notice a dim, transient figure, its physical boundaries vague, drifting away from you. Begin to walk in the opposite direction. Do not run, but don’t look back, either. In the dim lighting, the passage’s end will not be visible. Continue humming.
There will be rooms on either side of the corridor. As you proceed, from the closed doors you’ll hear mumbles and possibly faint cries. Look straight ahead; don’t falter. The noises will certainly grow louder–from some doors your name will be called, and from others, you’ll hear cries for help in the voices of loved ones long dead. Pay them no heed. Eventually, the doors and their voices will grow sparse, replaced by bare walls and various sounds of clawing and dulled thuds. Again, do not look back. Continue humming.
The door at the end of the corridor will be partway open. Moonlight will shine in through a lone window, illuminating a chalk circle drawn on the hardwood floor. Sit in the circle, facing away from the door. Continue humming.
A harsh wind from the open door will usher in familiar voices in unfamiliar, unsettling timbres. Friends and family living and dead will cry your name and decry your being. The voices of those you’re closest to will unleash criticisms formerly unspoken in their love of you: words so cruel in their truth, so true in their cruelty, your heart will feel as if it is being torn apart. Tears will stream down your face. Don’t stand up, don’t look behind you, and with every fiber of your being, keep humming.
If you stop humming or leave the circle, they’ll slowly file into the room–familiar faces bearing unkind, contorted expressions and hostile tones–and even the circle will not save you.
When you feel drained of the will to live, the wind will cease. You may stop humming. Stand up, and look behind you; laying on the boundary of the chalk circle, there will be a small flute carved from the fibula of a newborn. Hold it in hand, and speak aloud, “Where is the Sanctuary?” The voice will answer, and immediately you will know it speaks the truth.
Play the bone-flute. Despite seeming too small to produce any noticeable sound, it will produce the sound of your own humming–followed by the sound of a heartbeat, and blood flowing. The first scent you ever grew familiar with will fill the room. You’ll collapse from exhaustion shortly thereafter, remembering the meaning of catharsis.
You’ll awake nearby outside, Object in hand. Likely less than an hour will have passed since your entry. Playing the Object will bring an intense calm, reminding you of where you came from, and of the safe place you still hold within yourself.
But you’ll know in your heart you cannot remain There. Within a week, find a patch of dirt and bury the Object, else, the view of your mind’s blue sky will turn dark; the rivers flowing in your inner space will cease to churn, and soon grow stagnant. Stay too long and you’ll cease to exist as an individual, losing your sense of self completely. Restlessness and insanity are guaranteed to follow. Discarding the object will feel like discarding a shard of your being, or voluntarily forgetting your own nature.
The Bone Flute is Object 411 out of 538.
412. The Holder of Meaning
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, ask to visit someone who calls herself “The Holder of Meaning”. The worker will immediately scream, then produce a knife from the second drawer and insert it into her stomach. Wait for her to collapse. Then remove the knife from her body and walk down the closest hall. Any other person in the lobby will not notice the aforementioned events.
You will pass many rooms. Inside them you will hear the most horrific screaming you have ever heard. Do not attempt to rescue anyone. They cannot be saved from their torture.
At the end of the hallway, you will find a door with no handle. Stab the door as hard as you can. Do not stop until it opens. If your knife breaks, use the remaining half to slit your own throat and hope to die quickly. You can not retreat from this position; only infinite suffering is behind you.
If you do happen to open the door, you will see ahead of you a large room filled with the bodies of a hundred men. These men have died in ways that will drive you mad. Do not pay attention to their wounds or you will join them.
As you walk, you will witness every wrongdoing you have ever committed. Do not feel regret. If you do, your lungs will turn to thorns, and any breath you take thereafter will puncture your heart.
When you reach the opposite side of the room, a young girl will appear from seemingly thin air.
She will hand you a cupcake before bursting into flames. Ash will be all that remains of her.
This cupcake is object 412 of 538.
413. The Holder of Measure
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution of halfway house you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, ask to see the man known as “The Holder of Measure”. Your host’s snide, knowing expression should be evidence enough that you’re in the right place. Irritated, they will lead you to a squat exterior utility building. While it seems much older than the rest of the campus, this bunker seems to just as sturdy and polished as the day it was built. Something about the style of the lone iron door, and the one slide-shuttered window next to it at eye level.
Your host will pull the heavy door open for you. Stepping inside, you expect to be choked by musty air, but instead are greeted with a warm, sterile smell–almost like new pennies, but too faint to be certain. As you look down the one wide hallway, you see doors about every thirty-one feet. In fact, you see twenty-three doors on each side. Counting the front door, that’s forty-seven doors in all. Upon further inspection, each door bears three indecipherable symbols, perhaps numerals because the doors seem to share the symbols. More curious than the symbols is the nagging sensation you suddenly have for counting things. How did you know the doors were thirty-one feet apart?
You turn back to your host, still at the door. Still sneering, they anticipate your question and answer, “You should already know what to do,” and close the door between you.
At the other end of the hall, you notice a small roll-top desk. Well-used but just as clean as the rest of the building, it bears a yellow pencil and a worn piece of paper. The paper is littered with notes in neat square writing, but not in a language you recognize. Most of the scribbles have been hastily erased, but one set of symbols stands out boldly among the rest.
Matching the symbols from the paper to one of the doors in the hallway, you open the door and see a man at a similar roll-top desk. Thin, pale, and hunched over his desk, the man is furiously writing notes and chattering to himself. He turns, surprised, to peer at you, and his babbling stops.
If you remain silent, he will show you his notes, and you will not quite understand them. Your mind will not be prepared for the conclusion he has reached, and you will quickly find yourself similarly mumbling and taking notes at the desk in the hallway, struggling to make sense of what you have learned. You will die before you find the answer.
However, if you greet this Holder with his question: “Why are there so many?”, he will hand you his tool and turn back to his notes. Made of heavy brass or copper, it is simply a smooth machined cylinder of exactly five inches long. About the middle three inches are three wooden wheels, each with seventeen marks evenly spaced about their circumference. One each wheel, one mark is distinctly larger and deeper than the others–a starting point. Fixed in place along the bar, the wheels are able to spin independently of each other. Clearly, the tool is some sort of counting or calculating device. What it is supposed to count, however, is still uncertain.
This calculator is object 413 of 538.
414. The Holder of Commitment
Beware, Seeker, for I am the Holder of Commitment. Quest for me if your desire is to reunite all 538 Objects and then only if you are willing to dedicate everything you are to your quest.
If you insist on seeking me, find the graveyard of your ancestors. In it, you will find a single open grave. Climb into it and wait. After a time, a gravedigger will come. His coal-black eyes will burn with longing as he glares down at you. Then, you should crawl out of the grave.
The moment you have both feet on the ground again, seize the shovel the gravedigger carries with him. The ground will begin shaking and from the other graves people will rise. They will lay upon the upturned earth as though asleep; their faces all frozen with the same small smile, as of fond remembrance. If you examine the bodies, you will realize that they are the people you hold most dear.
At this point, steel your resolve and raise the shovel. Use it to mutilate the living bodies of those whom you love. Watch as their smiling faces turn white in surprised horror. As you go this, your memories of them will fade; all the feelings they roused, every joy, every laugh, every curse, every sorrow will fade away like smoke on the wind. Soon, save a few, only your memories of the quest will occupy your mind. After what seems like eternity you will come upon two funeral biers. On one bier, you will find yourself, an expression of pure joy upon your face. On the, other you will find an identical expression on the face of your true love, whomever they may be.
Here, Seeker is where I failed in my quest and became the Holder of Commitment. I raised my shovel to strike down my beloved and hesitated. Summoning all of my strength I raised the shovel, but could not bring myself to harm her. The gravedigger immediately wrenched the shovel from my grasp and laughed. The earth opened up and hellfire consumed the bodies of both my beloved and me. When it was all done, the gravekeeper handed me back the shovel and left the graveyard, whistling merrily.
If you succeed where I failed, Seeker, you must do one final thing before you claim the Object I hold. Take the shovel, drenched in the blood and gore of everyone who ever meant anything to you and ram it into my chest. I beg of you, do it! Do it and end my suffering!
The Shovel will remain stained with the blood of the slain. A constant, bitter reminder of all you have lost to come this far.
The Shovel is Object 414 of 538.
415. Holder of Malice
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, ask to visit someone who calls himself “The Holder of Malice”. The receptionist will not look at you, but will begin to convulse slightly. As spit slides from her mouth onto the table, she will reply in a enraged but whispered tone “When will you be done?”. If you do not immediately reply with “When I know tranquility.” in a calm, methodical tone, go ahead and think of the one you love the most, for it will be your last thought before passing.
If the receptionist seems pleased with this answer, she will calmly stand up from her chair, still refusing to look at you and constantly drooling what looks now to be a thick, viscous liquid of the darkest color. She will point to her left and asks you to leave. Looking to your right, you will see a dilapidated hallway, with tattered wallpaper and ajar doors with broken windows lining the way leading to a black void.
Here is where you will start to feel the anger. As you walk down this hallway towards the abyss, you will hear whispers coming from the doors. They will tell you stories of horrific wrongs done to people all around the world. They will tell you all the reasons why this world is broken, and why you were a part of it. DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM. No matter how convincing they are, continue walking, showing no emotion. If you succumb to the rage inside of you, your body and mind will be subjected to all the horrors the voices speak.
Eventually you will reach the end of the hallway. Before you will be another door of the same quality and disrepair as the others. Once you touch the door, the voices will become screams of rage. Their hatred may begin to permeate your psyche, and if it does you will immediately disembowel yourself with your own hands. However, if you can open the door beforehand, immediately enter and shut it behind you.
Looking around the room you will see concrete walls, stained in what can be assumed blood. The floor is covered in broken glass of varying lengths, all jagged and covered in grime and filth. The room is small, and lighted only by a bare light bulb hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the room. The light does not reach most of the corners of the room, but visible in the back left corner will be a man, wearing nothing. However, he bears multiple scars, with some still fresh and dripping blood. He will look to you with a face twisted in rage, eyes glaring and unblinking due to slit eyelids.
He will spit in your direction and curse your name. He will describe all different manners of torture he will perform upon you. He will scream and as he does, the voices return in force and the most wicked and vile cacophony will violate your mind. They will describe all the downfalls of your life. They will scream at you, begging to know why you failed the ones you love. You will look down and see the glass. You must refuse yourself the decadent joy of death, for you will not be given that joy here. All you will do is feel the pain of the glass sinking into your flesh, always thinking the next stab will be the one that relieves you of the burden of living. Unfortunately, all that it will bring you is pain, as it does the man who will forever more try to end his life, but is only prolonging his pain. If you manage to withstand the caterwauling of the damned long enough, the screaming will stop. You will look up and seem the man, now fully healed. He will walk up to you and offer his hand. You will now feel his rage pulsate through your body. DO NOT KILL THIS MAN. Instead, say “Thank you for showing me tranquility.” and shake his hand.
Once you release the world becomes black and you will lose consciousness. Once you awaken, you will see your on the porch of the asylum, clutching a small white stone. This stone is object #415 of 538. This stone will quell any impure thoughts against you within a 15 ft. radius of your person, but only if you yourself are of sound mind and body.
416. The Holder of Authority
In any city, in any country, go to any military facility or governmental building you can access. Go up to any worker there and begin to assault them. This may have dire consequences, but do not stop until you are physically restrained and thrown out of their sight. The next day, or if you are arrested the next time you can, go to the same building and assault any worker again. This time, instead of being arrested or thrown out, you will be led to a holding cell in the building.
You will be left in this cell for the night, and any connecting rooms or hallways will be completely abandoned. You will be completely alone; the room will be completely dark. If you have been a law-abiding citizen all your life, this shouldn’t be much of a problem for you, go to sleep and wait. If you have been incarcerated before, the true challenge begins here.
You will hear a voice, which you will soon recognize as your own, randomly talking, apparently to itself. However, it knows you are there. If it gives you an order; to do push-ups, to walk around, to sit, to sleep; you must obey. If you do not obey, you will be let free the next morning. Your life will seemingly go back to normal, until someone gives you an order. When someone does give you an order, you will follow it. It is impossible not to. Your life will become a fairy tale of obeying people, having no free will until you go insane or someone happens to order you to end your miserable existence. Obey the voice all night, until finally morning comes and the voice stops.
If you managed through the night, people will come into your cell the next morning and order you up and around, beating you if you do not comply fast enough. They will lead you through a hallway to a door and push you through. Inside the door is another world, filled with mechanical marvels and happy citizens. The incredible world is wonderful and magical, though no one seems to notice you no matter what you do. The utopia is as perfect as perfect can be. However, walking through you will see a scene soon, where an old man trips and appears to break a bone. No one pays him any heed, until men in uniforms walk up to the man, who begins to weep uncontrollably at the sight of them. They pick him up and walk away with him. Follow them, they pose no danger to you.
They take the man into a large grey skyscraper, but instead of taking him to some kind of hospital or home, guards line the walls. The men take him down several flights of stairs, no longer carrying him but dragging him along. They finally take the pathetic old man into a small room. He is strapped to a table and a small man in a white lab coat comes up. The man takes a piece of paper from a guard and reads it aloud. It is the man’s crime: “Scuffing new city pavement, one count. Disturbing foot traffic, nine counts. Sound disturbance, one count. Eleven counts total, guilty on all counts. Sentence- eleven death sentences, to be carried out at: 1. current age, 2. five, 3. one, 4. thirteen, 5. twenty, 6. one minute, 7 through 11 at 8.” The small man takes a syringe out and pumps vile green liquid into the man’s neck. The man lets out a hiss of breath and dies. The men throw him roughly into a hole in the wall, where his body is burned. A pregnant mother is led into the room, screaming. The small man delivers the baby while the men restrain the mother. She is led away, sobbing hysterically. The small man looks at his watch. After a minute in silence, the man throws the baby roughly onto the table and administers another dose of the green liquid. The howling baby slowly quiets its sobbing and finally is still. He drops it to the ground and kicks it into the hole. Follow the man where he goes next.
The small man walks to an administrative center, and tells a woman, also in a white lab coat, that he needs to see the Leader. He then walks to a tiny door, the size of a child, and crawls through. He bo There was a large bloodstain on the original paper where this guide was written; this seeker was never able to read the next few sentences. I will therefore continue where the paper becomes legible. He is the seeker, and you must destroy him. The old authority can be no more if there is to be a new authority. You will have an overwhelming urge to obey him, to surrender, to kill yourself, to tear out your own eyes, eat your hands, drive your head onto a spike, all at his command, but resist! If you kill him, take the thing lying on his seat.
The conch is object 416 of 538.
417. The Holder of Crafts
In any city, in any country, go to any hardware store you can get yourself to. Go to a cash register and close your eyes. Ask the employee behind the register to visit the “Holder of Crafts.” Keep your eyes closed, do not open them until you hear the cash register open. Should you open your eyes before this happens, you will forever feel the uncontrollable urge to kill yourself with every tool in the hardware store.
After hearing the cash register, open your eyes. Everyone who was in that store with you will be gone, with the exception of the employee behind the register. Everything on the shelves behind the register will be replaced with chainsaws. All of them look rusty, with the exception of one.
The employee will turn towards the shelves and pick one of the rusty chainsaws. Before he does this quickly say: “No thanks, I’m just browsing.” Say anything else – or nothing at all – and the last thing you will feel is the pain of being cut in half from the bottom up. However, if you said the right thing the employee will nod at you and hand you the one chainsaw that doesn’t look rusty, and beckon you to follow him through the back door.
Instead of going outside you will have entered a staircase leading to a basement. The employee will go down the stairs but do not follow him until you can no longer hear his footsteps. If at this point you have any doubts, the only way to end it is with a quick death from the chainsaw you’re holding, for all that awaits downstairs is eternal suffering.
If you chose to go down, carefully descend down the stairs. Do not attempt to go back up or the stairs will collapse and you will fall into a dark abyss for all eternity. If at any point during your descent you hear another set of footsteps you must hold your breath and do not move an inch. If the sound stops, you may continue, but if the footsteps sound like they’re coming closer you might as well let yourself fall into an eternity of darkness as opposed to suffering an eternity of pain.
If you’re lucky and make it all the way down, you will find a single door. Upon entering it you will see a table, upon this table lies the mutilated corpse of the employee. Do not say anything but this one question: “Why were they made?”
Should you say anything else the corpse will lunge at you with an incredible speed and force you onto the table. You will lie down upon that table and remain motionless, but fully conscious for all eternity.
If you got the question right, the corpse of the employee will rise, and turn its head toward you. It will open its mouth to answer your question in horrid detail that would drive you completely insane. Before it speaks, you must thrust your chainsaw into his opened mouth and quickly close your eyes.
When you open your eyes again you will be back in the hardware store. The employee will stand behind the cash register as if nothing ever happened. In your hands you hold a bloody chainsaw, but nobody seems to notice. Just before you walk off the employee will smile at you. Even though you will feel a great urge to smile back, you must not! Those who smile back will take his place as the Holder. Instead, just walk outside with the chainsaw, and never go back inside.
The Chainsaw you now hold is Object 417 of 538. Should you turn it on you will hear the Holder’s answer in all its maddening details.
418. The Holder of Restlessness
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or hospital you can get yourself to. Approach the front desk, and ask the attendant if they know where you may find the ‘Holder of Restlessness.’ They will turn to you, with a dazed look on their face, they are searching you, if you have not already attained object 96, the Pillow of Rest, he will refuse you, saying that he is too tired. Do not push him if he says this, he is on your side, and doing this for your protection. If you have the pillow, he will stand, as if in anguish, and lead you to an elevator with buttons labeling thirty floors, even if the building was not that tall.
Whenever he exits the elevator, follow him, but do not be surprised if when you enter a floor, it is no longer a floor. This realm rests beyond any that you have traveled in, most believe that it exists and feeds upon your own imagination, some have seen a desert, some the bottom of the ocean, some say it is a city devoid of all live, and still some have said that it takes the form of the deepest dimensions of hell. This is the dream, and nothing here can harm you with physicality, but it can with ease tear your mind asunder. It will tempt you as the attendant leads you through the different floors, it will show you things you want, your carnal desires, your deepest passions. Do not be tempted to meld into the dream, if you should, your way will be lost and the dream will shatter, twist into your strangest nightmares, more terrible that any you might have encountered before. It will meld you into the dream, and leave your mind broken, and leave you a blithering mess. Thirteen times, into thirteen worlds, you must walk through, but you must follow the attendant, else you will be lost in the listless dream for the rest of eternity.
If you make it to floor fourteen, the attendant will speak to you that he cannot enter this floor, and that you must go alone. As soon as the doors part, he will vanish, as well as the elevator. All accounts of this place are that you will be standing in the middle of a church hospital. Far in front of you will be seated a hunched and cloaked figure. Walk towards them. With each step waves of exhaustion will wash over you as if you were traveling a hundred miles. There will be beds to either side of you. Some occupied by tossing and turning, strap-bound men. Their eyes forced open by strange dividing machinations, and covered in horrid injuries, burns, boils and terrible bloody wounds. Occasionally, there will be an empty cot along the ward, and it will seem to be the most inviting sight to end your weariness. It will not, resting traps you in the dream, and you become like the wounded men, tortured for all existence, unable to ever rest again.
If you reach the figure, they will gesture across the table at an empty chair. Sit. At this point, if you had not already attained the pillow of rest, you would have fallen asleep, and fallen prey to the dream. And it would be a far more terrible nightmare than the listless dream world you’ve already passed through, your own imagination will conjure your darkest fears to prey on you for the entirety of existence.
The seated figure will look up, and remove their cowl and a layer of tattered bandages. It will be an older version of you, but it will be hazy. This is an indication of how much hold the dream has over you. Do not fear it. If you fear the dream, you give it power. And your doppelganger will become younger and more defined, until eventually it seems like looking through a mirror. As they are an old person, they will speak to you, of things you’ve already done, and then of things you’re going to do. They will speak of terrible truths about yourself, things you may not even know and you do not want to hear. This is another form of the dream. Do not cover your ears, or try to block them out, for you will be ripped from the chair, and forced into the dream. You must interrupt them, shouting if necessary, and ask, “How can they be put to rest?”
He will recount the history of the objects that have been lost, their violent and bloody past. How the objects were twisted and formed. It will be gruesome to hear, and the dream-like state will conjure up vivid mental pictures. It will seem like an age passes for every word that they speak, and all the while you will feel more and more like falling asleep where you sit. Eventually, they will stop, and say, “You look tired. Here” They will produce a tin cup out of one of the drawers, and pour a dark liquid into it from a hip flask. Drink. You will feel revitalized. Free of the weight of the dream. The next time you blink, you will find yourself on the steps where you entered. You will be holding the cup.
The tin cup is object 418 of 536.
419. The Holder of Recursion
In any city, in any country, go to any school or university you can get yourself to. Find a classroom where any sort of mathematically-involved subject is taught but is not currently in use. Step inside and write on the chalkboard or whiteboard “I wish to see the Holder of Recursion.” Then leave and come back to the same classroom the next day.
You will find that your original message is gone, replaced by a fairly simple mathematical equation. If you have an intermediate skill in math (around high school algebra should suffice), you should be able to easily solve it. Once you solve the equation and write your answer on the board, a portal will open inside the board itself. Step inside and enter the Holder’s realm.
You will find yourself in a large lecture hall, completely empty save a balding, middle-aged man in a white lab coat standing at the lectern. Approach him and say to him, “I have come for the first piece of my fate.” He will reach into a box and pull out an incomprehensible jumble of random odds and ends. When you take these items from him, you will be instantly transported back to the classroom, at which point you are free to leave.
Know now that what the professor has given you is not the Object you seek. However, it will help you to eventually obtain the Object. You see, while it may look like a meaningless pile of junk, the items the professor has given you can be put together in a specific way to form a coherent object. It will take you a while to figure out the exact way to arrange the items, but once you’ve solved this puzzle, return to the same classroom you started this journey in. You will find another simple equation written on the board; write the solution on the wall and enter the lecture hall once more. Hand the professor your completed object; he will put it in the box and pull out another pile of odds and ends.
You will repeat this process without end; you will receive a pile of random junk, you must piece the items together to form a coherent item, you will return to the classroom with the completed puzzle, solve another equation, give the completed object to the professor, and he will give you a new pile of random junk to start all over with. Eventually, however, just when you start to go mad from the repetition, something will change. One day, when you return to the classroom, you will find that the normally simple equation has been replaced by one thousands of times more complex than anything you’ve ever seen before. The sheer magnitude of this new equation may drive you mad, but the perceptive Seeker will notice that, despite its massive intricacy, it’s actually just all the other equations you’ve solved up to this point jammed together into one. If you can remember the solutions to each of the smaller equations, it will simply be a matter of plugging in the solutions and using them to come up with the ultimate solution to this equation. When the portal opens and you step back into the lecture hall, don’t give your completed item to the professor this time, or he will take it and give you nothing in return, rendering this entire endeavor meaningless. Instead, tell him, “I have assembled the pieces. Now I must build my fate.”
The professor will reach back into the box and hand you all of the objects you have assembled up to this point. You must now take these objects and piece them together into one final object. Much like with the equation, if you know how the smaller pieces work, it shouldn’t take you long to assemble them all, but know that you cannot leave the lecture hall until this task is completed.
Once you are finished, present the result to the professor. If even one piece is not assembled correctly, the object will explode violently, obliterating you with the shrapnel. If everything has been put together exactly right, however, the finished object will glow immeasurably bright. Eventually you will find yourself back in the classroom. Check the instructor’s desk and you will find a lone puzzle piece. From this piece alone, you will be able to tell that the finished image is not one meant for human eyes.
The puzzle piece is Object 419 of 538.
420. The Holder of Belonging
In the largest city of the loneliest country you can think of, on the night that country celebrates its independence, go to any church that holds services no one attends. Stand just inside the entrance and say a prayer out loud (make sure nobody’s around first). Pray for a friend with whom no explanations are needed. Cross the church and leave by the rear entrance.
You will find a graveyard that feels like home. Among the graves, you should find one that is freshly dug, with flowers at the headstone. Dig it up using only your hands and uncover the small pine casket you’ll find inside. The lid will not be fastened.
Open the empty coffin and lie down in it, closing the lid as tightly as you can once you’re inside. Do not move as unseen workers nail the lid shut. Do not cry out as the dirt is shoveled back onto the coffin, removing all evidence of the work you did to get there. While all this is happening, it is advisable that you fall asleep, quickly, before you suffocate.
Once you have fallen asleep, you will hear a voice ask you, “Whose are they?” Recite the names and titles of each of the Holders you have encountered thus far. Don’t worry if you don’t remember, for in the dream you will know these things automatically. As you recite each name, you will experience all the loss and loneliness of each Holder’s darkest dreams. They will seem to last forever, and they will be… dark, to say the least.
Should your sanity remain intact after experiencing the last Holder’s sorrow, you will awaken. You will feel exhausted from the ordeal; by this point, you will be mere moments from suffocation. All you will be able to smell is dirt and your own hot, shallow breath. No one will get you out of this coffin; indeed, any hope would be quite wasted at this point.
Give up and let yourself die. Just before you breathe your last, all the loneliness and weariness you have ever felt will pass from you. You will feel the welcoming embrace of all the billions of souls that have gone before you. Affection and love will wash over you like a refreshing breeze, sluicing out all the sorrow and despair you’ve ever experienced and replacing it with a profound gratefulness for finally being included in the only family you’ve ever really wanted, as if you are the child they have always desired. You will then see a man and a woman sitting in the sunlight under a tree, crying with relief, smiling and asking you to sit so that they may finally tell you why your life has been so difficult.
You MUST WAKE UP NOW. The couple will beg you to stop, but you must ignore their pleas. Bite your thumb, pull out your hair, chew into your flesh and gouge out your eyes. Stuff handfuls of grass and sod down your throat until you choke. Smash your head in with a stone. The couple will plead with you to stay with them, to choose happiness over suffering. Ignore them with every fiber of your being. Do whatever your imagination can devise in order to stop this dreaming.
If you are successful, you will awaken in a subway station, naked. Don’t worry about being scorned, for from this point on, everyone you meet will accept you as one of their own. Be they Christian or Muslim, Congressman or anarchist, cop or criminal, prince or pauper, all will treat you with the utmost respect. Don’t let it go to your head, though; despite this illusion, you will never truly belong with anyone ever again. People may respect you now, but don’t be surprised if they turn against you in as little as a week.
Your own heart is now Object 420 of 538.
421. The Holder of Immortality
In any City, in any Country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. At the front desk, ask to see “The Holder of Immortality.” If the worker looks at you, shrugs, and returns to what they were doing, you are at the wrong place – try elsewhere. If the worker looks directly into your eyes, you are at the wrong place – turn and run, before he plucks your eyes out of your head. Only if the worker focuses somewhere behind your eyes, will you know you are in the right place. If this is the case, ask again to shake the worker out of their daze.
You will be lead to the back of the institution and shown a short staircase. Follow it up to a round study with windows covering half its spread looking out onto an orchard. It is autumn, and the leaves are brilliantly colored and falling, their vibrance standing in stark contrast to the frail old man who sits behind a desk facing the windows, slowly writing in a book.
Upon closer inspection of the man, his dark glasses will inform you of his blindness, his withered, crippled legs of his lameness, and his continued unawareness of your presence of his deafness.
His deafness is not complete, however, and he will respond to at least one thing – the question “What have you seen?”
If he answers with anything other than “Not, yet, I am almost finished,” you will spend the rest of your natural life in that room, as the door vanishes into the stone of the walls around it.
If you are fortunate, however, sit patiently and wait for the man to tell you he is finished – the only way to leave this room with the Object you seek is to play by the Holder’s rules, and interrupting him before he’s ready may get you the Object, but won’t get you out of the Holder’s study.
Eventually, the man will stop writing, close the book, and seal it with blood-red wax and an ornate, gilded seal. He will then pick the book up, and extend it towards you in offering. You must take it from him, but be quick – he is nearly finished, and if the old man expires before you take the book, you won’t be able to escape this room. You will, however, have plenty of time to think, read, and write while waiting for someone to come along and spice up your imprisonment.
As your hand touches the book, the man, once a mortal, once a Seeker, now a Holder, will breathe his last breath, and the events of his life will flood through your mind, firmly imprinting themselves in their new home.
As the door creaks open, you are free to go.
The Holder’s life story is now in you and in that book, laid out on two canvasses that will withstand the ages, so that all may know his story.
The Autobiography is Object 421 of 538. Only in death can you truly live forever.
422. Holder of Panic
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. You must arrive barefoot with clean toes. Immediately scream upon entering that the Holder of Panic has arrived. The clerk will rush to apprehend you, but you must not resist, else you will succumb to madness at her touch. The clerk will tie your wrists behind your back and drag you behind the reception desk. You will find a trap door beneath the desk. Behind the trap door, you will find a tunnel extending deep underground. You must continue to scream that the Holder of Panic has arrived to keep the clerk in a state of overflowing fear; otherwise, once you are thrown into the tunnel, the door will slam behind you and forever remain locked.
You will land at the top of a staircase leading into darkness. Untie the ropes on your wrists with your toes. If you fail to successfully free yourself within the first two minutes, a cannibal without eyes will approach from the darkness. He is the keeper of the tunnel below. When you become aware of his presence, your eyes will fall from their sockets to replace the cannibal’s, and you will writhe in terror as you are slowly devoured, inch by inch.
If you succeed, dive into the darkness and hope that the blind cannibal has not received new eyes from a slower Seeker. If he has, you must pry them from his eye sockets to pass by. You will know if this is the case if he whispers your name from the shadows. Only when the keeper of the tunnel is blinded will the path open.
Proceed through the tunnel. Laughter will echo from all directions. You must laugh in return and continue to do so for the extent of your journey. If you cease laughing even momentarily, the laughter will increase in volume until your mind is lost to the eternal torment of never understanding why the voices laugh. When you reach the end of the tunnel several hours later, the laughter will suddenly cease.
Enter the cave in front of you. A six-year-old boy rocking back and forth while gripping his knees will be waiting for you. He will respond to one question and one question only: ‘Why did they fear?’ If you are too calm for your voice to tremble as you ask this, fake it. If the boy believes you are too relaxed, he will rise, revealing a pistol between his legs. You will never escape the room, even in death.
If you satisfy his expectation of fear, he will tell his short life’s story, and if you scream at him when he finishes, the boy will wail in return.
Your panic-stricken heart is object 422 of 538.
423. Holder of Delirium
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get to. When you reach the front desk ask to see one who calls himself the “Holder of Delirium.” The receptionist will immediately spew forth an intoxicating laughter. Resist joining in the uproarious rejoicing, uttering even a single chortle will spell your end here.
Everyone in the building will soon join in this ballad of merriment, their faces twisting with a sick glee. You should see a hallway behind the desk that simply was not there before. Head down this corridor, eyes closed and ears open to the aberrant cackling that permeates every inch of this place. Continue moving forward, not opening your eyes, until you feel a warmth surround you. It will feel like the warmth of the hot summer’s sun baking your skin in its cosmic rays.
Open your eyes.
You will find yourself outside, facing an old cathedral. Looking behind you you will only see a dark woods, where you can still hear the laughter of the receptionist and so many others. Head to large wooden doors of the cathedral and step inside. It is here that you will encounter the Holder.
Once inside, you will see something your mind will deny is real. The shadows will cling to every surface, writhing about and squirming constantly. The only light comes from a shattered stained-glass window at the back of the building. Bathing in this light is a figure cloaked in unnatural shadows. Approach at a steady pace and remain silent; any sudden movements or loud noises will enrage the Holder and your journey will come to an abrupt and violent end here in this cathedral that does not exist, at the hands of something that should not exist.
As you reach the end of the pews, the figure will stand erect, fully 12 feet tall and lithe as a long-forgotten corpse. It will open its seven mouths and begin shrieking a terrible melody that fills your mind with images of the void, the end of days, and myriad abstract thoughts so rich and so vile the psyche of any normal man would shatter utterly.
The shades of the dead will dance on the walls and join this vile chorus in singing the song of the void. Regardless of your will, the song will become a part of you. You will always remember every note, every nuance; your mind and soul will have peered into the void. You will live the rest of your life in a brutal haze of emotion, no offense will be slight and no pleasure will be short of euphoria; you will be as twisted as the Holder. You will know the end and will be a part of its coming; the ultimate suffering and the final euphoria.
This song is Object 423 of 538. Utter a single verse in our world and you will set in motion the end.
424. The Holder of Paradox
Seeker, I’d force you to turn around at once if I could, but ultimately, you make the choice.
There is but one Object which is perfect and absolute, and if you come across it be cautioned: Some fail to comprehend how it works, and end up trapped in eternal Limbo, others pride themselves on being able to handle it, and eventually the complexities of space-time overwhelm them. Their knowledge delayed, but could not prevent it’s hold.
I bid you good day with the Object: ’tis best if you leave it as it is.
Its imperfection is essential to its workings: as a paradox simply is.
A paradox is something which should but cannot happen, the imperfection here is that you can start the entire cycle, but you can never stop it.
The portal is located, roughly, in Quebec City, Canada. Finding it will not be easy as it’s exact location differs depending on the time there is a complex formula that a greater man than I once stumbled upon but it has been lost, probably for the better.
The goal is, of course, to kill yourself. Your newborn self, ideally.
Proceed into the portal, you will experience unrelenting pain as your body stretches across the infinitude of time. Navigating there will not be easy and, with any luck, you will become trapped in this limbo forever.
If you succeed proceed to the hospital where you were born. Interact with the world sparingly and I would advise you to take less than 8 and a half hours to finish the job.
As long as you kill yourself before you ever became conscious of his surroundings, it should be fine; if not you will be overcome with trauma and go mad.
After this occurs you might feel a slight… distablisation. A tremor, if you will. This is time; an entity controlling it, perhaps, or simply a natural reaction, in the way of what went up descending.
It is time removing you atom by atom, brick by fundamental brick.
Return to the portal, you have roughly eighteen hours before you destabilize and cease.
Travel to a point while you existed in this time but before you killed the infant-you. Then, proceed to a location where you can see where the sky was originally.
It will be a color you’ve never seen before, and cannot be described.
Now proceed to hide in a location where you could see yourself when you first entered the area.
You will hear a sound so high pitched that no one could hear it, and you are only just aware of it’s presence.
Do not dwell too much on it, any distraction would serve as a hindrance from here on out.
It is very important you find and speak with yourself, the one who is about to kill the infant, and tell him to stop. This will prevent you from killing the childhood you and prevent your further degradation.
Well, at least, his further degradation. It’s much to late to save you.
As you disintegrated the you who survives will note something hanging around your now insubstantial center of gravity.
Grab it quickly: or else all was for naught.
It should be a small clock with its numbers notated anticlockwise, with the hands going anticlockwise.
The sizes of its hands start at the hour and extend infinitely in how short they become.
On the back is inscribed in an ambigram: Am I lying?
Once again, return to the portal and proceed back through time. The load you carry will make this all the more difficult.
After which you are free to go, lest you immediately succumb to the temptation of winding up your watch clockwise, then anti-clockwise.
If you do, you’re the bound Holder of the Object; you will be trapped in Limbo till the next fool comes along.
If you don’t, and pity your other self who did, you might want to go rescue him or her.
A time fork has been created upon your touching of the Object, because it is a paradox in and of itself.
There is no one who can resist the allure of reversing events.
Not even the Holder of Object number 424, the master of unendable ends.
425. The Holder Of Contrapasso
In any city, in any country, go to any bar, or club you can get yourself to. Enter, and ask the bartender for seven drinks. No matter what you must drink them all. If any of the drinks are familiar to you, leave, for it means you have already failed. Purify yourself and return no sooner than one month later.
If you did not recognize the drinks, congratulations, you may yet succeed. After finishing the drinks ask the person next to you if they will take you to The Holder Of Contrapasso. If they say they yes, leave, for they will instead lead you to damnation. If they say no, ask them again. They will look confused but comply. You will be taken into a back room. Inside will be seven people sitting in what looks like a doctors waiting room. Sit in the last chair available to you, and wait. Do not respond to any of the people’s questions, or else you will be lost to wait in the room forever. Your name will be called, and the seven people will stop talking, and start crying for their time to leave has not come.
A door will open near you, enter it. Close it behind you, and follow the man walking away from you. As you walk you will become increasingly hungry, and the man will stop and offer you three bars of chocolate. Choose between eating all of them, eating none, or eating one. If you ate all of them, you will get hungrier and the man will offer you more. You will be forced to leave, and the building will vanish once you are outside. Because you were glutinous and ate all the food, you will never find satisfaction in food again, destined to be hungry till the end of your days. If you declined his offer, you will immediatly feel full again. He will take you to a room at the end of the hallway, and you will be strapped to a table. The seven people you saw in the waiting room will come in and start to eat you. You will not die, but continue to regrow what they eat. Because you were too proud to eat the food offered to you, you will be the food offered to the others forevermore.
If you ate one, the man will keep the other two and continue down the hallway. At some point the man will stop and stand to one side and tell you to walk in front of him. When you walk past he will trip you, causing you to fall to the floor. If when you get up you yell at him for tripping you, he will immediatly knock you out. You will wake up, but all you will concieve is the pain of being attacked in everyway possible. This is your punishment for being wrathful, and it will become the bane of your existance. If you apologize for hitting his foot, he will start walking once more.
You will finally reach the door at the end of the hallway, and the man will open it and enter. Inside the room he will sit down on a pile of treasure, gold and jewels innumerable. He will then indicate a small wooden chair directly across from the pile. Sit in it, and you will be asked the following question. “Do you desire anything here?” If your answer is yes, the last thing you will know is the look of intense anger in the man’s eyes before he removes your organs, adding them to his treasures. If your answer is no, then the man will offer you to take three things from the pile. Take whatever you desire, but once you take three things do not look at the pile again. If you do the man will shout, taking the three objects as he does. You will then be turned to a gold statue so that you will be frozen envying what you cannot have forever. If you resisted and turned away instead, the man will be standing in front of you. Once again he will open a door and lead you inside a large chamber. Inside will be hundreds of people performing every sexual act concieved. They will cry out your name in ecstacy, and will beg for you to join them. Join them and be imprisoned in the room, and every act you perform will give you pain instead of pleasure, although you will never be permitted to stop. This is your punishment for your lustful nature.
If you managed to make it past the acts of lust and made it to the other side of the room, the people will dissapear. Silently rejoice, your quest is coming to a close. Before you will be placed a table with the word “Many” written on it, and next to the word will be a knife. Carve the word “How” next to “Many” and be torn to peices from the inside out. If instead you take the knife from the table and carve the symbol ‡ under the word “Many” the table will turn to dust. Drop the knife, for it will soon follow the table. The man will walk up to you from somewhere in the room and tell you to kiss him. If you do not, agony is too weak a word to describe the feeling that will reverberate throughout your being, shattering your mind and soul, leaving you to deal with the echoes of it till the end of time.
If you kiss him as you would your love, it will seem that the whole world is cheering your name. The man will step back, and smile at you. “I am The Holder Of Contrapasso.” He will say, “You have proved that you deserve no punishment, you passed my tests, therefore you are worthy.” Thank him, and he will dissapear. In his place is a new table, on it is a peice of paper, with the symbol ‡ on it. Press the symbol directly onto your neck, and it will burn itself onto your skin. The paper will turn to dust, along with the room. You will be sitting at the bar once again, as if you never left your seat. Leave, for you have found what you came for.
The Tattoo Is Object 425 of 538.
426. The Holder of Idiocy
Long ago, jesters would impress royalty all over the world with jokes and crazy antics that would, above all, give kings and queens a break from their duties for relaxation and entertainment. Some queens, already unfaithful for marrying simply for power, would fall for the jester and would have an affair. Kings usually found out from other servants and the jester was either excommunicated or executed, the latter occurring obviously more. The queen usually didn’t suffer as much, for lies told by a wife are more believable than that of lowly jesters…
In any city, anywhere in the world where royalty may have lived, go on a castle tour. You may as well learn a little while on this tour, but try and break away from the group, and try to find the throne room, but if it is only you and a guide, convince him or her to meet with the Holder of Idiocy.
Without the guide, after locating the throne room, sit in the king’s (or queen’s, depending on your gender) chair and close your eyes, even nap if you’d like; They know you’ve had it rough, and it only gets worse as you continue.
The guide, if he or she was faithful, will allow you to sit on the king’s (or queen’s) throne, but convince them to shut their eyes. Once they comply, the true search for this particular Holder begins.
After you wake or the guide vanishes before your eyes, the throne room will glow with torches lit on the walls and the room will be lively, as if there were a ball. You will seem to have gone back in time to when the castle was young.
The clothes you came in are gone, and you are now dressed in royal garb, which is extremely uncomfortable. Don’t be too shocked, the guests are never as they seem. Soon, after a stressful and itchy wait, a jester, grinning from ear to ear, is dressed in a purple and green suit, and he wobbles to and fro for comedic effect.
He may tell off-color jokes that make your sides split in pain from the hilarity, but he may also be very bland and boring. Wait through it, and depending on your sex, either stay or excuse yourself.
If you are female, head to the restroom, and never lose sight of the jester. Follow him into his quarters. He will not give in to your desires, but your husband will believe anything. Lie to him, execute the jester.
If you are male, the queen will excuse herself after the jester leaves. Talk to your guests; each one represents an object you have obtained or destroyed. You may learn nothing, but if you do, it will be forgotten after receiving your next object. The queen should soon find you with tears in her eyes, telling you of the jester’s supposed advances. Execute him.
As the guillotine sends his innocent soul to Heaven, you will be immersed in darkness. The jester is the Holder of Idiocy. His head sits atop his shoulders, as if nothing happened, but his flesh is rotting and bone is easily seen through his tattered green and purple rags.
Being that we all must make sacrifices, the jester will give a different choice to each sex.
If you are male, the jester will present the love of your life, even if she hasn’t entered your life and will give you the chance to kill her, your true queen. If you choose against, the jester will choose five people close to you to off in the most gruesome of ways. You could have been sympathetic to his pleas. Either way, the object is yours.
If you are female, the jester will present you with an even harder choice. He will offer your greatest desire at the cost of everyone you have ever known and will know, or he will give you the chance to kill 5 people close to you in ways he chooses. You betrayed him; you’ve killed an innocent. But, the object is yours.
As your task comes to a close, the jester will laugh as if nothing had ever happened. He will skip off into the darkness, his head bouncing off of his neck at every hop.
Left behind is his rod, decorated in purple and green cloth, stained with fresh blood.
The rod is object 426 of 538.
427. The Holder Of The Living Unborn
In any city, in any country, enter the closest hospital to you. At the front desk ask to see someone called ‘The Holder Of The Living Unborn.’ The woman behind the desk will begin to weep and immediately call security to have you escorted from the building. You must ask to see the holder three more times. Only then will she call off the guards and ask you to follow her.
She will take you to an elevator. When the doors open she will push you inside but will not get in herself. She will open a hidden panel and press a button within it. She will leave the elevator and watch you as the doors close. As the doors quickly close you see a tear of blood fall from her eye.
The elevator will begin to rise. It will go higher then you ever thought possible. The elevator takes so long to go up, yet it moves so fast, you swore it would be taking you to the moon. But then it stops suddenly and the doors open.
Ahead of you is a decaying stone hallway. The ceiling has gaping holes in it and the sun shines in illuminating the filth and rot that has taken hold of this place. As you walk down the hall you must keep your eyes focused on the door ahead. If you should gaze into a room off to the side, you will instantly have your soul torn from your body.
When you reach the door it will open on it’s own. The only light in the room will come from an EKG Meter. In the corner will be crouching a naked woman. She will stand up and her inner thighs will be covered in blood. In her fist is a piece of paper.
The question you must ask is “Why did it leave?” Any other question will be answered by the sound of your death.
The naked woman will tell you the following story.
A woman was nine months pregnant. The doctors said the baby would arrive soon. She felt the onset of labor pains and went to the hospital.
The nurses listened to the baby’s heartbeat. They began to hear a voice. “As you are no doubt expecting, I shall be leaving my mother’s womb soon.”
Everyone was astonished but no one said a word. What would the baby say next? It began to talk.
“For the past nine months I have been sitting here inside my mother and listening to the world outside. Your world seems a horrible place. Wars, greed, corruption and so on. Why would anyone want to be born into it? I have decided that I don’t want to. I am leaving my mother’s womb.”
As the doctors waited for the baby to come out, the mothers stomach began to deflate. Nothing ever came out of her body. The baby just disappeared. They examined inside of the mother and found a note. The note read:
“Do not follow me.”
The naked woman will hand you the piece of paper in her hand. It is the baby’s note.
The Note is Object 427 of 538. Do not lose it.
428. The Holder of Holes
In any city, in any country, go to any graveyard you can get yourself to at midnight. Look for a gravedigger digging a fresh grave, ask to visit the grave of someone who calls themselves “The Holder of Holes.” If they should begin to laugh, say nothing as they step out of the grave and walk off.
As soon as you cannot hear the laughter any more, close your eyes, hold your breath and jump into the grave. If you should hit the ground, make amends to your personal god because the grave is about to seal itself with you in it. If you should hit water, stay under, or else the other beings in the water will rip into you with their fingers. Instead keep swimming down, until you pass through a narrow gap. Once you pull yourself through, you’ll be out of the water.
Under no circumstances should you look back the way you came.
Once out of the water you will see a man sitting in a circle of light with no shirt on, his ribs sticking out of his skin, holding a necklace. The man will keep scratching at his arms until they bleed. He will not respond unless you ask “Why can’t we go back?”
He will stop and look at you with a smile, as his eyes melt away to reveal teeth lining the sockets – lock your gaze to his, and do not look away no matter what. As his gaze tears into yours, he will tell you why you can’t go back, of all the bridges that have been burnt, all the lines crossed, all the chances for forgiveness dashed to pieces by Seekers lusting after an end they didn’t understand. You will come to realize just how many similar atrocities you have committed, but do not turn down your head or even blink in shame – you’ve met the Holder’s gaze, and there is no turning back. Say nothing until he is finished, then thank the man and quickly dive into the water before he has a chance stop you.
You’ll wake up in the graveyard at dawn, lying in the grave you jumped into. Around your neck will be the necklace worn by the man. You must never take it off, or you will become its Holder.
The Necklace is Object 428 of 538.
429. The Holder of Development
You may not realize it, but your journey is coming to a close. The thing is, though, the challenges from here on only get worse, the next Holders aren’t as pretty as the first. I know what you’re thinking. It’s kinda funny, you’re right. I’m here to help. My mind is twisted, sure, so is yours, at least it should be. You have no clue what to believe, what you know, though, is one misstep and BLAM, you’re gone. Simple, huh?
Anyway, I’ll have to tell you how to get to me, well, my boss. I am his spokesperson/assistant/secretary. I’m the good guy, sort of. He’s a businessman. Known throughout the world, he is. I can get you to him; I’m near his office as always, wherever it may be. He is but a hollow shell, but a working one, if you understand. I’m trying my best to freak you out, it’s what he wants. Is it working? Didn’t think so…
You know, he wasn’t a Holder originally, I’m never sure anyone ever was. They were all “normal” once. When my boss speaks, which is rarely, he reveals a little more about himself and everything I’m protecting, plus everything you bunch of Seekers are doing. That’s the part I know least about: you all. He says some of you are doing this for the good of mankind, some for the opposite. One of you, though, has the courage to end it all, making sure this can end for good. Is it you?
Anyway, like many Holders, there is really never a particular building to head to. Now, there is. In New York City, U.S.A. This building is pretty tall, but will have construction being done to it, like adding on, not demolition. This building is reddish-beige. I can’t reveal the exact location, but I have a feeling you’ll know where it is.
I don’t care who you talk to, I’m not sure it really matters. No one who works here has ever met the boss face-to-face…except me, of course. I think I should take back the hollow comment above, he’s not hollow, it’s just, this whole Holder thing puts a damper on life, I guess. He suffers every damn day. I can do nothing of comfort to him, I feel like a failure. He’s always stopped my suicide attempts, every time, though I don’t see how. Working for him makes you kinda mad, I guess. Sorry – kinda rambling…
Anyway, take the stairs, the elevator, what the Hell, just get to the 56th floor. I’ll be there. There’s just a desk, where I sit, and a door, which leads to the boss’s office. If there’s anything different, other than a small fridge and water-cooler, leave the floor, you may have miscounted or something.
Due to the construction, the building may seem to wobble and move, but I assure you, you won’t die, you’re meant to be here, right?
Anywho, I’m on this floor, I acknowledge your presence, yada yada yada, I’ll get you to my boss a.s.a.p. Don’t worry, I haven’t, nor will I ever, transform into a horrid creature and drag you to Hell/gobble up your soul. There’s nothing about me that should be at all scary, except for maybe my cheap suit. I put my money to good use, I still have a disposable income – Sorry…rambling again. It’s just me and the boss, remember?
The boss himself isn’t scary either, he’s just elderly, wild white hair, more so in his ears and nose than atop his head…and he wears a nice suit. However, I have no clue what goes on in his office behind closed doors, he always reminds me to keep the door open when I talk to him. I’m assuming that he’s protecting me from something. Maybe something’ll happen, maybe nothing much, but prepare yourself, please. I can’t stress this enough. Prepare yourself. So many have entered without coming out…I’ll leave all this to your imagination.
After a while, you should come out with an object, to be precise, a mortar shovel stained with gray and crimson.
This object is 429 of 538.
430. The Holder Of The Dirge
In any city in any country go to the cinema. Tell the ticket seller that you would like to see the movie “Emerald Sky”. He will gaze at you with terrified eyes that begin to water in fear. A single ticket will be pushed out, entirely blank except for the number 430.
Proceed through the entrance and go down the hall to the right. As you pass the numbered screening rooms continue on. When you reach the end of the hall, and are confronted by a red velvet rope, carefully duck under it and keep going.
A bright cheery tune will begin to resonate throughout the hallway. On either side the numbers will continue to rise, but do not try to open any of the doors. If you do such unspeakable things will flow forth to devour your soul that they will not be mentioned here.
As you pass more and more numbers, look for the number 215. If you pass this number and a red carpet does not roll out then sprint as fast as you can for the exit. If a red carpet does roll out for you however, it means that you were invited, and will be the guest of honor. At the end of the hallway will be the final room, number 430. Enter at once.
The room you enter will be as grand as it is opulent. Gold and crystal will hang from the ceiling, and marble steps will grace your feet. Sit in the front row, two seats from the end and wait. The movie will then start, with a sunny sky, spring flowers and grassy hills running along the screen. From the treeline a woman will emerge. She will begin to sing, a low, mournful tune. Suddenly the sun will be swallowed by blackness, the trees will wither and die, and the grass will erupt with weeds. The land will bake and crack, the sky tear open with peals of thunder and lightning, and then ever so slowly the woman will turn to look at you.
She will pace closer and closer to the screen, and finally step out. From a flat screen onto the stage, she will emerge, covered only by a brilliant white dress. Slowly she will walk over to you, and permit you one question. Ask “Why do they sing such mournful tunes?”. She will then tell you a story of every wrong doing, every plan that came to naught, every jealous husband, cheating wife, lying son, or troubled daughter. She will tell you of every wrongdoing in horrible detail. If you mind is not shattered by the evil of the world, she will take your ticket and rip it in half, handing you back the stub. Take this stub and leave the cinema.
The ticket stub is object 430 of 538.
431. The Holder of Agility
In any city, in any country, get into any horse racing track you can find. Find the betting counter, and look for a horse named ‘The Holder of Agility’. If there is no horse by that name, or no betting counter at the racetrack, I advise you leave, fast; you don’t want to be here when they learn of your presence. If you make it out, don’t try for this object again for at least a month.
If, however, you find what you are seeking, place a bet on the horse, preferably a large one. However, you will not be asked for any money, and the worker will lead you to a seat directly in front of the track. You can relax once shown your seat, as the test has yet to begin.
It could feel like minutes, or it could feel like days. Either way, the race will start eventually. Now, there is no turning back; you must either endure the trial, or suffer the gruesome fate of so many others before you.
The race will seem as short as any other race, yet will feel longer than anything you’ve experienced before. It will start out normally enough. Soon, though, you will notice horses bumping into each other, more frequently and more forcefully until the horses are falling. This too will increase in frequency and severity, until the air is filled with the sounds of snapping bones and shredding flesh. It is strongly advised you do not look at the viewers behind you. The horses won’t take kindly to being ignored, and the spectators aren’t quite as human as they were when you arrived.
Through grievous injuries, the horses will continue; running on shattered legs, midsections torn so widely their entrails are dragging in the dirt behind them as they run. You must keep watching avidly, as the moment you must act will pass you by in a heartbeat. Watch the horse you bet on as it slowly destroys itself until it looks more skeleton than living creature. Soon enough, it will pass you, empty sockets staring directly at you, but will not stop.
Stand, and shout, ‘How can I evade them?’
The horse will circle the track once more, then stop once it reaches you again. It will begin to explain the futility of trying to escape one’s fate, of those that tried, and failed, to reshape their destinies. As gruesome as the stories may be, suppress your discomfort, and continue to make eye contact with the horse, staring blankly. The skeletal beasts on the track don’t hold those weak of heart in high esteem, and deal with them most cruelly.
When the horse finishes at last, it will disintegrate in a flash of flame, leaving behind nothing but a hoof. As soon as you close your hand around it, the crowd will erupt in frenzy, clambering over seats and each other, bellowing for your blood.
You will soon notice that possession of the hoof seems to raise your speed and agility to much greater levels; do not become complacent. The only way out of the track is at the top of the stands, through the mobs of inhuman assailants, and you aren’t the only one who finds their speed and reflexes sharpened. You can run, you can fight, but you absolutely MUST escape. Take note that most Objects have often failed Seekers in the past, but those designed for fighting work as well as any other weapon.
Assuming you are fast, smart, strong, or simply lucky enough to escape, the hoof will slowly darken, as though charred by an invisible flame. It will continue to heighten your speed and agility in mundane tasks, but do not expect its help ever again when and if you continue your search for the rest of the Objects. Your complacency will be your undoing.
The hoof is Object 431 of 538.
432. Holder of the Celestial Spheres
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution you can get yourself to. Enter and approach the front desk. Wait for the worker at the desk to address you, and then ask to see the Holder of the Celestial Spheres. The worker may ask you to repeat yourself. If they give any other reply, apologize and leave, the object you seek is not there. If they do, do not repeat yourself. Ask, instead, to see the Person Who Hears the Music. The worker will give you a name and a room number.
Go to the room. There will be more than one person within. As you approach, they will begin leaving. When only one person remains in the room, enter it.
The person within may be male or female, of any race. They may be young or old, they may be healthy, or they may be ill. It does not matter, if events have unfolded this way, you have found the person you seek.
The person will look at you, curiously, waiting for you to speak. Address them, but not by the name you were given at the front desk. If you address them by that name, they will become angry, and begin ranting at you, until the hospital workers come to escort you out.
Take a few moments, then, to think on the name you were given. Shortly, a new name will come to you, unbidden, as though nested within the name you were given. Address the person by this name. They will not respond, but they will sit back, smiling. Do nothing.
Soon you will hear music playing. It will be beauteous, bringing you peace of mind, or it will be hideous, filling you with anxiety. In either case, it will be no instrument you have ever heard. Do not acknowledge it, or the person will become angry, and you will be escorted out. Simply listen, and let it permeate you.
After a short time, strike up a conversation. If you have allowed the music to fill your mind, it will tell you the topic. If you do not, and you speak on the wrong subject, the person will grow angry again. If, however, you choose correctly, the person will engage you in a pleasant conversation for hours, until it is time for you to leave. As you leave, the person will hand you a matryoshka
doll.
If you anger the person, before you exit, the person will collapse into their chair, smiling.
Thereafter, anyone you encounter, even those who have known you all your life, will address you by a name not your own, and you will soon find yourself committed to the same institution, as your protestations will be taken as a sign of slipping sanity. You will find that the person you had visited was no longer there – in fact, the workers will insist they had never been. On your first day, you will have a visitor. The visitor will be the person you had visited. They will say nothing, only hand you a matryoshka doll and smile beatifically. Soon, more visitors will come, until the room holds more people than it seems as though it should. They will only leave when a Seeker comes to visit you.
The matryoshka doll is object 432 of 538.
433. The Holder of Filth
In any city, in any country, go to any psychiatric hospital you can get into. Calmly stride towards the front desk and ask the orderly to show you the one who calls himself “The Holder of Filth”. Under no circumstances should you attempt this if the orderly is a female for your chances of success are non-existent. The orderly will most likely pay no mind to your request and tell you to be on your way. Keep a straight face and firmly state that you will not leave until you have seen him. The orderly will then tell you to take a seat in the waiting room until he comes back.
You will wait and wait, the hours crawling by like, slowly mulling over the ordeal you will soon undertake, until he finally comes to you and ends the tedium. He will seem rather shaken and nervous but pay no mind and keep a face that would make a poker champion envious. He will lead you down a regular hospital hall until you reach a pair of rusty old double doors with many nicks and splintered bits. He will tell you that you must proceed forward on your own and that he will be right outside waiting for you. This is a mere deception for if you walk through those doors the pain you will feel will make disassembling yourself organ by organ, bone by bone, seem like the most euphoric pleasure.
Instead, turn around and walk to the third door on your left. The orderly will yell or try to pull you away from the door, when he does so, kill him. The prize offered is too great and if you succeed in the task at hand he may yet again feel the vigor of life in his body. Once you open the door you will see that there is a large room before you. It is well lit and completely white, which gives the illusion that it had no corners and simply goes of into eternity. In the room there will be a single bathtub with an average looking man inside. He will not stir nor speak unless you ask him “Where are they from?” After you have said this, pray to every deity you know that he does not rise out of the tub for if he does your life is forfeit. If he remains in the tub and the lights go off do not be afraid.
He will begin to speak in a language you have never heard but it will conjure images in your mind. His voice deep and gruff, slowly scraping away at your mind, will tell you of secrets, events, and people in such excruciating detail that if you remain sane throughout the ordeal you will be most fortunate. After he finishes speaking the lights will flicker on and reveal that the average looking man who was leisurely enjoying his bath is now a bloated, reanimated corpse emanating a smell that would make Satan himself gag. He will be mumbling things both profane and profound but pay them no mind.
Slowly approach the tub and kneel down on the side closest to the door while constantly keeping eye contact with him. The remains of the man will reach down and pull out a filthy washcloth. After he hands you the wash cloth, thank him for his generosity and slowly back off towards the door while holding onto the cloth. Once you feel that you are up against the door bid farewell to the wretched pile of filth that used to be a man. Do not exit until he nods his head towards you. Once you open the door you will see nothing but a black void in front of you. Step inside and close your eyes. Once you open them you will be back in the hospital waiting room.
Remove a newspaper from the waiting room magazine rack and check the date. If you succeeded it will be one day before you came in to undertake the ordeal. If it is not, the holder has deemed you unworthy of his gift and upon this realization you will suffer for many an eon before the sweet caress of death brushes up against you to put an end to your misery. The washcloth has the ability to bore through any surface with great ease as long as the person holding it focuses. If the person does not concentrate then it will have no effect and you will simply be rubbing the wall with a small towel. If one does focus then the wall will quickly erode and collapse against the power put forth by the object
The Washcloth is number 433 of 538.
434. The Holder of the House
In any city, in any country, go to any house and ask to speak to its Holder. You may have to search through thousands, perhaps millions of houses before you reach your goal. If and when you do, though, when you ask for the “Holder of the House,” the person you talk to will address someone out of sight and beckon for you to enter.
When you actually get inside, do not try to make sense of your surroundings, unless you want your brain to explode. You may look at any area that is bathed in some form of light, no matter how dim, but you must not look into the dark hallway, because you will be too fascinated, and therefore distracted, by what you encounter in there that you may not ever get out. You are also advised to not focus on anything in the house for too long; the house knows you have arrived. You will be tapped on the shoulder. Now you may focus on who tapped you on the shoulder. It may be a man, a woman, a child, or something else; do not show any fear, surprise or disappointment in response, but always face the person you are talking to. Ask this person, “What is Their dwelling truly made of?” This tale is not one of fear, however, it will fascinate you beyond anything you have ever known. It is far more than a crash course in architecture; it describes how a house can be sentient, even if it doesn’t seem to show it.
The test for this Holder is simple, but still difficult; at a certain point during the tale, something on one of the walls will move. Every Seeker reports that it took place on a different wall, or on a different spot, so be alert. Do not take your eyes off the Holder’s eyes for an instant while this happens. If you look at the thing that moves on the wall, it will grab you and pull you into the realm beyond the dark hallway, and that will be the last anyone ever sees of you. The Holder will finish his tale with these words: “So it is everywhere.” At this point, you are advised to close your eyes, because the Holder is off to the kitchen to produce the Object. Again, all of the (very few) Seekers who ever made it this far have reported that they closed their eyes when the Holder stood up. Nobody knows just what happens when the Holder leaves the room. Do not object to your hands being grasped and moved while the Holder places a small, cold metal object into your hands.
The tiny ruby embedded in the fork is object 434 of 538.
435. The Holder of the House
In any city, in any country, go to any house and ask to speak to its Holder. You may have to search through thousands, perhaps millions of houses before you reach your goal. If and when you do, though, when you ask for the “Holder of the House,” the person you talk to will address someone out of sight and beckon for you to enter.
When you actually get inside, do not try to make sense of your surroundings, unless you want your brain to explode. You may look at any area that is bathed in some form of light, no matter how dim, but you must not look into the dark hallway, because you will be too fascinated, and therefore distracted, by what you encounter in there that you may not ever get out. You are also advised to not focus on anything in the house for too long; the house knows you have arrived. You will be tapped on the shoulder. Now you may focus on who tapped you on the shoulder. It may be a man, a woman, a child, or something else; do not show any fear, surprise or disappointment in response, but always face the person you are talking to. Ask this person, “What is Their dwelling truly made of?” This tale is not one of fear, however, it will fascinate you beyond anything you have ever known. It is far more than a crash course in architecture; it describes how a house can be sentient, even if it doesn’t seem to show it.
The test for this Holder is simple, but still difficult; at a certain point during the tale, something on one of the walls will move. Every Seeker reports that it took place on a different wall, or on a different spot, so be alert. Do not take your eyes off the Holder’s eyes for an instant while this happens. If you look at the thing that moves on the wall, it will grab you and pull you into the realm beyond the dark hallway, and that will be the last anyone ever sees of you. The Holder will finish his tale with these words: “So it is everywhere.” At this point, you are advised to close your eyes, because the Holder is off to the kitchen to produce the Object. Again, all of the (very few) Seekers who ever made it this far have reported that they closed their eyes when the Holder stood up. Nobody knows just what happens when the Holder leaves the room. Do not object to your hands being grasped and moved while the Holder places a small, cold metal object into your hands.
The tiny ruby embedded in the fork is object 434 of 538.
435. The Holder of Miscarriage
Ah, Seeker –
If it is your will to find me, so be it; I’ll be waiting. If it is your destiny to meet me, you will fare far better than the others – oh, I long for another delectable meal. There’s nothing that pleases a mad-woman as much as flesh torn from another being knowing that it will provide a pleasant feast. I’m so hungry, Seeker, you must feed me…
You must find a way to London, by ship, I would advise not using such a contraption as what you call “an airplane”. These flying-vehicles will only end your life, causing me to lose a potential meal. Lucifer will treat you much nicer than I, I assure you. Please, you know not my starvation.
I used to be a queen, for your knowledge. I was beheaded long ago, for I could not bear a son. My name used to be Anne, but now, I only go by my newest title. My history is familiar, actually to most. It doesn’t stop my anger. I loved my husband, Seeker. He never knew to what extremity. And now he will never know. I was true to him, but everyone hated me. Everyone I ruled over. Everyone…
I miss my daughter Elizabeth. Can you grant me peace in death to reunite with her? I’ve heard nothing of her accomplishments after I was so wrongfully killed.
Henry was my husband, Seeker, and I was always at fault. I still loved him, his power. When it came to giving birth to a rightful heir, Elizabeth didn’t please him. Every other pregnancy ended in pain, for my children after her were stillborn or died in my “wicked” womb. He hated me for reasons I couldn’t help. But I still loved him. Though, out of spite, I did take the life of one of my fetuses. I still believe it was the son he wanted, and I could have avoided this. After seeing him with that wench, I couldn’t take it. I knew something was occurring from the first time I was acquainted with Jane…They both make me…so…hungry…
Sorry, Seeker, I felt you needed to know a little more about me and the ways I’ve suffered. I deserve to be rewarded for putting up with my husband and his torment, and I’m glad he’s passed on to live with Satan for eternity, he deserves no less. But that isn’t saying much for me. I’ve done many wrongs, and this Holder business may not last much longer.
Enter the Tower of London at any time of the day, find my grave, and recite the exact words I did seconds before my execution, “To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesus receive my soul.” You may now meet me outside the tower grounds later that night. I will be waiting, don’t keep me. I’m starving.
I am still very angry, and it will show. My blood stained dress is mainly of my dead children, or my miscarriages – a sad sight. Don’t dwell on it, for some of the blood belongs to people like you, as well. They were delicious. I am pregnant again, it happens every summon. Soon, this baby will die as well, as they all did after Elizabeth, within my womb, and it is up to you what happens next.
If you choose to leave now, you are too late; hopefully you will be as tasty as the others. I lick my lips of the thought. My sanity has long been gone, as has my life, but the hunger remains, as will it always.
If the fetus dies before you receive the object, you will join the other failed Seekers.
If you truly are destined to meet me and take my object, do so. I can do nothing to stop you, for you are chosen.
Even if you will quell my hunger for a time, ask me anything you desire to know about my life; I’d love to answer and reveal to you more than any bound book can. They say I’m a martyr. Do you think so?
Long ago was I wronged, but the pain of knowing my innocence and my pregnancy complications lingers in my disconnected head…did I mention that? Do not dread it. Other Holders can speak without their life, and dreading this reality will most likely end your life. If your life is ended by myself, as many others, I thank you. I won’t be as hungry later.
The object I hold is the blood-soaked blindfold I wore in 1536, on the 19th of May. After it is yours, the sun will rise and you may go home.
It is object 436 of 538.
437. The Holder of Innocent Laughter
It is me you are looking for. Finding me is not the hard part; many have. It’s keeping me and escaping unscathed that will be your life’s work. That is, if you can escape at all. Believe me; my warning is not for dramatic effect. Many foolish people have come looking for me to fulfill their silly mission only to be wiped away from history one cell at a time. Their screams and fruitless cries of help will forever ring in my being. But if you still wish to find me, then I will tell you how.
Go to any daycare center. I don’t care which city or country; if your heart really is set on finding me, you’ll find me. Go to the person in charge of the daycare center and ask for “The Holder of Innocent Laughter.” If her eyes glaze over in a dreamlike trance, then you are one step closer to finding me. But if her mouth drops open, then run and keep running until you reach your house and lock yourself in your bedroom. Come morning, you’ll see if you’ve been spared. If you pass this test, the daycare lady will lead you to a door that no one else there seems to notice. It will look out of place in the room; it should be made from the bark of a tree. The daycare lady will leave you there. You must then press yourself against the door and hum a lullaby, any will do. The door will should open by itself, making you fall through the threshold. If it does not, then whatever is on the other side will consume you.
You’ve made it this far, I commend you. But don’t think it’s over yet. You are now in the room of my keeper, The Holder of Innocent Laughter. He is a young little boy, adorable too. But don’t let his looks fool you. He is a Holder after all. The room you are in is decorated like the perfect nursery. There is light that comes from nowhere and all different kinds of toys scatter the floor. The walls are painted colorfully and the carpet is soft and plush. You should feel calm but don’t let that underlying feeling of fear leave you.
Approach him slowly and begin to play with him using me. I am a stuffed red dinosaur doll with button eyes. If you cannot find me then I am afraid you’ve failed. Prepare for the worse, but I doubt it can help you cope with what you’re about to feel.
If you find me then play with the little boy until he gets bored. Then ask him ‘Why don’t you laugh anymore?’ He will show you all the suffering that children have been through, are going through, and will go through all at once. Don’t turn away; you’ve made it so far. He will then start to laugh. His laughs should echo in the room, getting louder and louder while the light in the room consumes everything. The sound will become unbearable and the light will blind you but do not flinch or show any pain; he will not like that. If you are still there by the time the sound dies down and the light goes away, the boy will be gone and you will be back at the daycare center. You should have your reward. Me. And with me you will forever hear the faint echo of a laughing child.
I am a stuffed dinosaur and I am Object 437 of 538.
438. The Holder of Babel
Bounjour.
Buenos Dias.
Salve.
Konnichiwa. Watashi wa Baberu no Horuderu desu.
Je morte.
Yo muero.
Ego morior.
Watashi wa shinimashita.
Nous
Nosotros
Nos
Watashi tachi wa
Wait.
Seek it, find it, take it from us if you dare.
Let us free again.
Do what no mortal has done and hear our tale from start to finish.
Tu gagnes le Babel.
Anata wa akugo hanashimasu.
Nos te exspectamus.
Do not let us down.
The sound of babel is object 438.
439. Holder of Concealment
In any city, in any country, go into any hotel and tell the person at the desk that you wish to see the Holder of Concealment. He will make horrible gruesome noises and turn into terrible things, but if you manage to watch without going mad, he will surrender and walk back through a door that wasn’t there before. If he doesn’t walk back through a door and instead rummages under the counter, make peace with your god in those few moments you have left. Even if you were able to stomach what you just saw, what he will pull out will surely be the end of you.
If you are successful he will hand you a key which is made from bones. Whatever you do, do not think about where the bones were obtained, and do not ask him about the key. If you do either, you shall learn, and become a part of the key. Whatever you do, the person at the desk will disappear. Turn around, and you shall be stricken with the worst hunger you have ever felt. The desk will be covered in plates of the most exotic looking foods, but do not take a bite. That is what they want you to do, and they’re even hungrier than you are. If you manage to keep your hunger in check long enough to stumble to the door you walked in, the hunger will vanish. Stand in front of this door and say “I seek what has been concealed.” If you start to feel warmer, open the door. What comes out will grant you a swift end.
If you feel colder, a door will appear out of the wall next to you. Open it with your key, and you should have a torch in your hand. Immediately put this out and it shall be bright as the sun in this hallway. You should hear voices screaming for release from concealment, but you must ignore them or they will claim you for their own. Walk five feet and stop and turn and walk into the wall on the left. If you keep walking forward you shall meet a horrible beast that will kill you very slowly and painfully. If you succeed, you should find yourself in a very luxurious hotel room with a very old man lying down on a couch. Ignore him, even as he screams for you to help him. Instead, turn to a black leather armchair and say “Remove yourself from concealment, I seek as He has ordained.”
Immediately you shall faint and wake up later in a concrete room with no windows or doors. Feel around in the middle of the room for something, anything. If you should feel what appears to be a cloak, grab it and rip upwards. As you discover the old man beneath it, the cloak will form into a knife. Be quick to kill him, his teeth are sharp and he is stronger than he appears. Should you will him, the knife will revert back into the cloak, which now is visible and appears to be bloodstained. A door will appear in the wall. Open it, and you shall return to whatever place you call home.
The bloodstained cloak you hold in your hand is a true invisibility cloak. Wear it and you shall become completely concealed to others, who will not be able to see you, smell you, touch you, or sense you in any possible way. This cloak, which is object 439 of 538, shall grant you that ability, and the ability to see anything, no matter its concealment.
440. The Holder of Reverie
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. Stand at the front desk until you are asked what you are doing. Look at the person who asked you the question and say “My apologies, I must have been daydreaming.” Ask the person at the front desk if you can visit the one who calls themself “The Holder of Reverie”. If she tells you visiting hours are not until later that day, apologize and leave immediately. Run as far as you can and as fast as you can, never return to the place where you came from and do not return to your home for at least 72 hours. I’d rather not discuss what would happen if you were to go against this. If you are safe for now, the person will take your hand and lead you down a series of hallways.
Eventually, you will be lead toward a dead end. Close your eyes and keep hold of the person’s hand, and speak the person’s name. If the person is wearing a nametag, this shouldn’t be a problem. If not, you’ll have to guess. If this is the case, I hope for your sake you guess correctly. A sensation unlike any one humans have ever felt will move through your body if you have said the name correctly. Once the feeling has passed, it is safe to open your eyes.
When you do open them, you will be in a bedroom laying next to your ideal lover. The lover will place their hand on your chest and say “I’ve been waiting for you. Are you ready?” The lover will tempt you, but if you give in, the bed will disappear and you will be plunged into eternal pain beyond human comprehension. Look in the lover’s eyes and say “I’m sorry, but I won’t.” If you’re answer comes quickly and decisively, she will no longer tempt you. If she does tempt you again, you will have a second opportunity to deny her using the same phrase. You must be absolutely certain to answer quickly and decisively, or the lover will not accept your answer. If she sits up in the bed, you are safe. She will cross the room, pick up a flask, and offer it to you. Take the flask, but do not drink it. Wait and a door will manifest itself next to the bed. Open and walk through the door. You will find yourself in another room with a bed. Lie on the bed and you will fall asleep.
When you wake you will be in your own bed with the flask on your chest. After you wake it will be safe to drink the contents of the flask if you choose. Drinking the contents will grant you the ability to see into a persons thoughts and manifest them in reality. Be warned however that the liquid, not the flask, is object 440 and should you drink it, you will become object 440.
441. The Holder of Tranquility
In any city, in any country, go to any coin fountain you can find. Drop in thirteen coins of any kind, and say aloud, ‘I wish to meet the Holder of Tranquility’.
You will suddenly find yourself in the middle of an open meadow, filled with many wildflowers and butterflies. Do not harm a single flower. Do not disturb a single butterfly. To even do them the smallest amount of harm will damn your soul to unimaginable torment.
Sit until the sun sets. Do not move. Do not speak. When the sun finally touches the horizon, you may walk towards it in the purple-streaked sky. Do not deviate from that path, or you will wander the meadow forever, seeking escape that never comes.
Finally, you will reach a gazebo. Seated inside is a beautiful woman wearing a white wedding dress, gently stroking a harp. When you approach her, she will look at you with her lovely deep blue eyes. Stare into them and smile, and she will ask, ‘What is the key to inner peace?’
Never wandering from her gaze, answer, ‘Tranquility comes from the heart.’ Any other answer will doom you to the beasts that watch from the taller grasses.
When she hears the correct answer, she will begin to writhe in agony. Blood will seep from her eyes, nose, and mouth. Eventually, she will rip open her dress, and her heart will burst from her chest. Then, the meadow will go dark and you will see your reflection in the fountain, change in your pocket, and a still-beating heart in hand.
Her heart is Object 441 of 538. It beats to your own heart’s rhythm.
442. The Holder of Holders
In any city in any country in the world, go to any mental institution or halfway house you have access to. When you walk inside, ask the first person you see if they know “The Holder of Holders”. It matters not if this person appears to work at the institution or appears to be a civilian. If all expression falls from their face, and they begin walking, staring straight ahead, never blinking, follow them.
The person will lead you to a small dingy room. The only thing in the room will be a dusty, wooden chair sitting in the exact middle of the room, facing away from the door. If you cannot handle what you are about to experience, leave now. If you dare to proceed, walk in the room – the door will close and lock behind you.
When you sit in the chair, all light and warmth will vanish from the room. You will be illuminated from an unseen light source, the chair and its occupant the only beacon of anything existing in this void. A chill will begin to build within you. Your extremities will freeze. As your blood turns to ice, you will feel the cold pumping through your veins. If you try to escape you will be lost forever in the void. If you manage to keep control, you will eventually feel your cold blood invade your heart.
You will see a cloaked figure, shrouded and blurred by mist. As the icy terror continues to well up inside of you, resist the temptation to run. You must then ask the figure, “Do you recognize me?”. The shade will respond with silence, peering into your very being with unseen eyes and you must ask again, “Do you recognize me?”. If you are unlucky, the figure may respond with a shriek that will start quietly, but will quickly swell until it fills your ears. The deafening cacophony is the sound of every living thing on the planet perishing instantly. The sound alone will drive you mad, however your torment will continue as you are forced to live each death as if it were your own.
If you are fortunate, the figure will respond with an icy “yes”, sounding like ten thousand snakes hissing inside of your mind. You can’t escape the din, you can’t close your ears to the sound. It will envelope your soul. This is but a taste of what is to come. Should you retain your sanity, you will pass the first test, and may proceed.
The shadow will hold up a cut, clear gemstone. While the figure will remained enshrouded in mist and blurred, you will see the gemstone in perfect clarity, glowing with an internal light. You will hear a deep, dark voice say “Look”. Brace yourself, and gaze into the stone, as deep as you can.
At one instant you will see everything. Hundreds of items flashing by, completely separate of time. All at once, yet never at all. Ordeals – tests of worthiness appearing simultaneously, yet each one separate. Chaos. You will see figures walking into mental institutions and halfway houses throughout the world – each at a different time, each right now. They will be looking for you. You know why they have come. You know what they want. You hold what they seek.
At the same time, at the same instant, as this knowledge is forced into you in a fraction of a second, you will also see a figure sitting on a dusty wooden chair, the only thing illuminated in a black void. The faceless figure, blurred in mist will ask you “Do you recognize me?”. You will not be able to answer – the figure will be obscured beyond recognition. The figure will ask again “Do you recognize me?” and as it does so, the image will sharpen, and you will be able to see a face. If the shock of the revelation is too much for you to handle, and if you cannot answer, you will find yourself torn apart in time, your soul spread across the planet, vague bits of it remaining cohesive in mental institutions and halfway houses in terrifying bits of disconnected consciousness. If you haven’t been driven mad yet, and if you can recognize yourself sitting in the chair, answer “yes”.
If you manage to retain your sanity through this ordeal, you will lose yourself in a flash of white. As the brightness encompassing you subsides, you will find yourself sitting in the dusty wooden chair, in the pitch black room, gazing into a clear, flawless, floating gemstone.
It is now too late. If you chose to leave empty-handed, the moment you stand from the chair all of the knowledge you witnessed will flood into your mind at once, driving you completely mad. If you simply touch the stone, you will release all of what you just witnessed, and you will meet the same fate. To survive, you must grab and forever hold the stone. If you can manage to hold the stone tight, you may stand and walk away freely. Be warned: should you ever let go of the stone, all of what you have seen, all of the fates of those who have not made it as far as you, will be yours to savor for eternity.
The Knowledge of the Holders is Object 442 of 538.
443. The Holder of Ambivalence
I was a man, once. Then I became a Holder.
The Holder of Ambivalence.
This isn’t my story, however. If anything, it’s your story.
So I wish you luck with your endeavor. Try not to make a mistake – after all, I’m the product of a mistake.
Beyond the Object, you seek the rules. Even I am not above them. One might say I’m even bound by them – though, as you have learned, nothing is certain. Scoff you may, but it’s all I dare comment on. They exist for a reason. Reasons you can’t – and wouldn’t attempt to – understand.
Perhaps I should begin – you know this well, by now, I imagine. “In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to.” – the phrase that lead me to what I am. Begin the search. Walk up to the front desk, and with no emotion – none at all – ask to visit someone who calls himself “The Holder of Ambivalence”. If this is indeed the correct location, one of three events will occur.
The first, the most likely, will be a warm, open, and welcoming response. “Absolutely.” Run. Escape this building, if the doors aren’t already locked. My personal recommendation is the first place you can find a knife, but putting your own personal touch to it isn’t a problem, either. End it quick. Contrary to how many think, death can be pleasant compared to eternity, and I’m the perfect one to ask.
The second, my personal favorite. Anger shall scorch from the attendant’s mouth. “You’ll never understand!” I’m inclined to agree – so do the “man” a favor and close your eyes. It will be better this way. It might even happen a bit faster.
The third may confuse you, but accept it. Just a nod. Congratulations, you have been deemed worthy. A hollow victory, for as a Seeker, you know it will never end.
As you follow the man, keep your distance. Around ten feet. No closer, no further.
Fall behind, and you will be lost in the infinite reaches of these hallways, forever fated to walk them for eternity, sliding into insanity as you see the building in it’s true form. While I might add that I’m personally proud of the design, I suppose for someone such as yourself it’s irrelevant.
Too close, and all I can say is when he turns around, you should as well. Just enough time remains to flood your mind with a pleasant memory. I enjoy beaches, myself.
Eventually, the hallways will become more rundown, almost archaic. By no means should you peer into the rooms – they’re mine, after all. You don’t want to see what I’ve seen.
The man, by this point, will be gone. Walk further, and you’ll see the abrupt end of the hall, with the edge seemingly falling into space. Quite the nice touch. Go ahead and fall through. You have my word that you’ll -at least for the time being- be fine.
Welcome to my “world”; I often change the appearance, so that name, you may find, doesn’t always fit perfectly. Time flows differently here, so I implore you to move quickly. A moment here could be centuries out there. Even I don’t know how long it’s been. Just be weary of wanting to stay here.
There’s a small number of people here. What were once Seekers. They’re all, by now anyway, completely detached from reality. I can’t blame them, as I’ve done my best to make this a pleasant existence. Either way, ignore them.
Search quickly for me, I’ll be the first person to make eye contact with you. Don’t forget to greet me.
Stare into my eyes and tell me what you see. The full story of my life, how I came to be what I am, will flash through them. There’s a catch, though I’m certain you expected that, is that both eyes, while projecting the same story, will show a different angle. These two perspectives will inspire mixed feelings withing you. Combine them, and you’ll have my story. When I’m done, I’ll ask you one simple question: “What sort of man was I?”
That answer is one you’ll have to decide. Some answer immediately, some take their time. It matters not to me, only that it is “correct”. Nobody has found the right answer, yet, but I remain hopeful.
If you’re wrong, then I can’t let you leave. For now, this is a pleasant outcome at worst.. but my sanity may slip eventually. Perhaps the process has already begun… I’ll apologize now.
I’ll hand you the Object you seek, the one that even I once sought, a vial of tears. Are they tears of sadness? Joy? That’s for you to decide. My memory isn’t what it used to be, but there’s something special about the tears. I can’t quite recall.
You’ll fade from my world, and end up someplace safe – hopefully.
Good luck.
——
[The original note ends here. More, in different handwriting, is hastily written at the bottom]
——
I don’t have very much time – enough to get this out, hopefully. I made a mistake. Hell, I think he made a mistake. Should have stayed. Might have been nice.
I lost. Mentally prepared for the worst, something… different happened.
Ambivalence let me go.
Said that he was tired of so few people visiting. Tired of waiting ages between visitors in his lonely little world. So he said he’d do me a “favor”. He wrote down this guide so that we could find him – Ambivalence was always a rumor, and those that believed it was real knew it was a shot in the dark so they usually avoided it. The few poor saps – like me – that can guess our way through end up trapped anyway. An odd Holder, for a moment there he almost seemed to still be human.
Anyway, what he didn’t tell me is that he broke the rules. I don’t know that for sure, maybe this is just part of them. One thing is certain, though: now They’re after me. Not in the typical way we’ve learned to deal with. The whole cavalry is on the march, and They’re pissed. By the time anybody reads this, I’ll be gone. Dead, hopefully, but I know better. I don’t know what They’re going to do to him. Hope he thought it was worth it.
I’m barricaded right now, about to scan and upload. I can hear them coming. If I manage to get this out, then at least I did something worthwhile. Just need to write one last part, you know what it’ll be.
I wish you luck, I didn’t even get the damn vial.
That vial is Object number 443 of 538.
444. The Holder Of Serpents
In any city, in any country, seek out any park or public garden. Find the exact geographical centre of this place, and wait. You will know for how long. She will come to you, and embrace you like a lover, and ask you; “What is Eternity?” If you answer in any other way than this, she will swallow you whole, and the pit of her gut, with the rest shall be your tomb. The way is this; “Eternity is an illusion. The serpent bites its own tail, and, in time, he will finish swallowing.”
She will let go of you, as if you were a vessel of plague. She will hiss, and leave you in disgust.
And you will wait again. You will know for how long. Nobody must move you from your position, especially yourself. You may not sit. You may not sleep. If you are moved, if you rest yourself upon the earth, you are doomed.
The time of waiting will always end at night. You will look up into the night sky, and see the good, round earth hanging there in the stead of the moon. Encircling it will be The Serpent, biting his own tail. His writhings pitch up tsunamis, his breath stirs the very stone with hurricane winds. From behind the earth’s disc shall rise one of The Old Gods, in his chariot, with his hammer. The cosmos shall swirl and rage about him as a storm, and eternity will be in his eyes.
You must tell him this; “Though The Serpent’s head shall be crushed beneath thy hammer, come The Time, your victory shall not be complete. The venom that spills forth from every broken tooth and rent scrap of his flesh shall be unto you like an ocean, where you shall sink, and drown.”
If you survive his wrath, for he is a proud God, he will give you his hammer. The Serpent, coiled in the symbol of infinity, is embossed on both heads. This is object number 444 of 538, and they must never come together.
445. The Holder of Summons
There is no Holder for the Object of Summons. It is a cruel object that forces its master to summon a shade of Him. This shade will completely destroy any that fall to the Object’s will, and so it may only be held by one who refuses it.
It has a mind of its own, and delights in bringing death to those who resist it even for a moment. It is in the form of a Horn that, when blown, will resound through reality and call to Him. Each shade is one that has fallen to Him, and each that is killed shall join His legions. This horn, made from human bone, is the thing that will call to him.
There’s a group out there that wants to call him. They want this Horn, this Object of Summons. They want Him to break this world.
I disagree.
I hope to protect this item, perhaps destroy it. While He can return without it, He will not be complete. If He could have it, He could bring forth his forces all at once. I cannot stop Him, but I can slow Him.
I have others, as well. Glasses, a Scalp, some Scissors, the Scales, and a Straightjacket. They aren’t much use, but they will aid me. However, they want some of these. Badly. They’ll hunt me, and will call on Them to find me.
Those I’ve encountered have given me a name. They call me Anubis, for my use of the Scales.
So be it. Until the time when this mad race finally ends, I shall be known as Anubis to my enemies. And I will serve as the Holder of Summons until either I or my enemy is dead.
This accursed Horn, Object 445 of 538. Let no air pass through it, for it will speak to Him.
446. The Holder of The Absolute
I am the Holder of The Absolute. Nothing more, nothing less. And yet, I am the limit of everything from your power to the very ticking of time itself. There is nothing that is more powerful than my might, and there is no tolerance to insolence and no mercy for the fool-hearted and unworthy.
But, I’m not all bad.
Fact is, I’m one of the only kind Holders that I know of. I mean, all of that death stuff… it makes me sick.
I know, I know, in all of your travels to the most extreme of conditions around the planet, and of everything you have seen in those travels, you have never heard of a squeamish Holder. Well, I’m not ashamed. Not in the least. Honestly, half of the time you go after one of the objects, you’re not sure what exactly lies in wait. And I do still have a heart. So, to get things rolling, I might as well tell you everything. Nothing more, nothing less.
I will be found at 446 Main St. in a certain small town in a certain small area of a certain small country. Honestly, the details are so fuzzy; I’ve been here so long. Go to my house, and ring the doorbell. I will answer the door in an image of what you would think of as being the last living thing you will ever see. Do not be alarmed, I only do this to keep up appearances. I will invite you into my house. Whether you want to go inside or not is entirely up to you, and I will do nothing to sway your decision. When you enter, simply close the door behind you.
Once you enter, the inside of the house will have the appearance of what you believe the world will look like in its last moments. But be warned, no matter what you think of it to be, the things that will kill you in your thoughts will definitely kill you in reality. And I don’t want to clean that up after you.
Go to the only different structure in the area and wait outside. I will be with you shortly. When you see me approach, I will ask of you to kill me. Again, whichever one you choose does not matter to me. However, if you do kill me then, my advice on what follows soon will be lost, and you will have to figure out what you must do on your own.
There is only one thing you have to do, and I will be the one to tell you what it is that you need to do. I will supply you with any of the Objects you will need, so long as you have already retrieved them. You then have an option. Perform the task, whatever it may be, whether it is my death, performing every task for every Object without receiving any of them, or something as simple as exhaling. Then the Object is yours.
Or, you can refuse.
“Why?” I will ask you. Answer honestly. And I will then kill you. As much as I hate to do it, I’m sure you have a heart underneath all of that experience with the holders; I will have to kill you in the most painful, evil, tortuous, and slow way you could ever think of. Only worse.
And, here is where my name comes in, it will be absolute. No matter what happens, whether the entire civilization is reborn, or even if the dead return to life, you will be excluded from the rebirth. An absolute end to everything that you were.
However, why would anyone do this? If there is nothing to gain… or is there?
With your death, you both receive an item, you help the cause. For the object you receive will be sent to anyone of your choice. And the best part of the deal is that you can pick what the item is. No matter what it is, the Object will take the form of it. Choose wisely, this opportunity will only come once in your life. Well, what’s left of it.
The decision is yours. And Object 446 may or may not be with you.
447. The Holder of Momentum
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house in you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, ask to visit someone who calls herself “The Holder of Momentum”. If the worker responds a slow, heavy sigh, you will be thrown with extreme force out the buildings doors. You will never again be able to enter the building, as an unseen force will repel you.
However, if he responds with a sharp, quick hiss, quickly say, “What station?” If you respond with absolute clarity, your body will be hit by a bolt of lightning. The pain will be excruciating, and even though it will last for a mere second, you will feel it for the rest of your life.
When you regain your senses, you will be inside one of the carriages of a subway train. You will be at the far end of the carriage, and a little girl, no more than eight years old, at the other. However, it is imperative to your survival and sanity NOT to look at her for anytime more than a second. Simply look away. She will ask you one question about your life up until this point. I would advise answering correctly.
If you do answer correctly, she will answer any question you ask correctly. What day you will die, who assassinated JFK, who your true love is, anything. She will answer up to 7 questions. On question eight, she will calmly get of her seat at the end of the carriage and walk up to the seat directly behind you. She will ask you to turn around, and she will answer your question only if you look at her. Do not do this. Instead respond, and this must be said with absolute clarity, “I will find out another way, little girl. Go Home.”
If the train comes to an abrupt stop, she will throw a small box at your head and walk out of the train doors. The train will start again, its speed climbing until you pass out. You will wake up on an empty chair inside another subway train, not unlike the one you were on earlier. When it stops, get off. But don’t forget to look under your seat. You will see a shoebox. Open it.
Inside you will find item number 447 out of 538- the Boots of Momentum. They seem to be made out of leather, but stink of age. I advise you not put them on, for I do not know what they bestow on the wearer.
448. Holder of The First Seed
If you ever find Dargaia’s nectar, you’ll probably be one of the ones who have been looking for it all their lives, and thus won’t need any instructions on what to do with it.
Just the same, it’s pretty simple, at least to start with. Make sure your affairs are in order (in case you have a bad reaction), and then? Bottoms up.
The coming months are the least pleasant part. You’ll find yourself unable to keep food down long before you’re far enough along to stop needing it. Same with sleep. The color of your blood will be off, and your veins will consequently stand out more. Expect a few ingrown body parts; little things, just fingers and ears and teeth, usually pressing up against the skin. Make sure you’re caught up on your booster shots because you’re never going in for a checkup again. Or wearing anything more revealing than a trenchcoat in public, most likely.
Eventually, a little cut on your belly will start ‘unhealing’, becoming a pus-filled wound in a few days. Over the coming week, three things will emerge from this.
The first object resembles a greasy black beechnut with maybe a tooth or two growing from it. When you’re dead someone will eventually find it and use it to make a new batch of Dargaia’s nectar. Hide it well; make things fun for future generations.
The second object basically looks like a softball-sized cluster of veins, many of them broken and leaking oily black stuff, all wrapped around something. Then it’ll squirm and you’ll notice the twisted little skinless fetus in the middle. It will only survive for about twenty seconds. Burn the remains.
The third object will.. well, let’s just call it “Object 448.” It’s easier that way.
You can plant it anywhere you want. I advise some place where you don’t mind spending all your time and where no one else would go. Your back yard or under your cellar works if you don’t have any roommates, as long as there’s fertile soil. Dig at least five feet down. It won’t want to be buried, but just keep piling dirt onto it (if you can still hear it when you’re finished you didn’t go deep enough).
Its veins (or roots, I guess) will eventually spread in all directions, about a foot and a half for every year of your life. Grass and weeds will grow stiff and bony, or black and oily, or take on the color and texture of a spider bite, or rice paper. Wood will be infected, too; you’ll hear the arteries in your walls pulsing on quiet nights. The ground will rot with dead insect and animal life. Don’t mow your lawn; it will bleed like hell.
This is your sanctuary.
No matter what threats or injuries beset you outside, here you will be safe and healthy. Well, what passes as ‘healthy’ for you now. And if you really hate someone, bring them here. Trick them into coming. They’ll get infected, one way or another; a lungful of spore, a thorn prick, a bit of residue on their hand. They will vomit blood with tiny centipedes in it. They will excrete their own spinal fluid. Their eyes will milk over and hatch; small spines, brambles and various other creatures will grow from the sockets. They’ll survive for months or years, doctors will be baffled; it will be completely fucking great.
That’s all for starters. You’ll learn more as you go. Much more. But if I told you everything now, you might not do it.
Whatever you do, just guard it with your life, with your very soul. If you think you’re in danger of losing it, dig it up, kill it with a silver needle, let someone else make a new one some day. You’ll feel as if you’ve pierced your own heart, but it’s better than letting it fall into the wrong hands.
Because you’re a Holder now.
And you’d better not let them come together. The seed is object 448.
449. The Holder of Virility
In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. Upon reaching the front desk, ask to visit someone who calls himself ‘The Holder of Virility.’ The receptionist will be a woman. She should not even look up to greet you before you get a chance to ask. She should instead be filing her nails and speaking on the phone, and essentially ignoring you.
If she is not, and in fact acknowledges you, immediately turn and run back to your car. Drive as fast as you can out of the country. Drive further if possible, for failing to do so will result in a force so strong it will force itself inside your brain and will begin to push against it, as though your brain is literally being raped by a giant, grotesque man. If the woman does not greet you, you’re in luck. Just wait patiently; there will be a bell there for guests to ring. DO NOT RING IT. She will look up at you eventually. But she will not say a word.
Notice there is a long corridor behind her the moment she does look up at you. You will be met by an endless sea of the most beautiful women your eyes could ever see walking promiscuously out of the corridor in a single file line; for every girl wearing the outfit that best matches your biggest fantasy, there will be one wearing nothing, and one wearing a mink coat. They will try to undress you. Do not give in. Force them off of you, one by one. The vast sea of beautiful females will end shortly.
After it has ended, a giant man of about seven and a half feet will appear. He will be a man of obvious brute strength. He will size you up, and he will notice that you are many times weaker than he. He will no doubt laugh at you (if you are lucky). If he does not laugh, you have already met your end. If he does laugh, as he should, it will be lengthy and bellowing, and cannot be interrupted. Look to your left. There will appear a broadsword laying horizontally upon a gun rack. Run toward it, but make sure he is STILL LAUGHING while you go to it. DO NOT doubt or question your strength or ability to carry the weapon. You will be able to if you are determined.
Take it, and wait for him to stop laughing. He will grow angry if you wait for him to stop laughing without laughing with him (he will take this last as an insult, and the former as a sign of weakness), or even reacted at his insulting you. When he has stopped laughing, and has gotten your attention by the broadsword you now wield, challenge him to a fight. You will win the fight if you are persistent, and you have kept a strong faith in yourself. For he will but match you in strength, he will not overpower you because he tires far quicker than you.
After you have won, drop the broadsword, and ask him the following question: ‘How does one survive weakness?’ He will then proceed to tell you of every act of strength–for nobility or for awful and unjust means–ever committed. Do not interrupt him, lest you face an eternity of intimidation, sniveling frailty, and insecurity forevermore. Many of his answers will be rather contradictory, both against one another and against the definition of strength (since much of what wishes to come off as strong merely comes off as cowardly), but just let him have his say.
It would obviously take thousands of years to explain every example known to humankind, but it will feel like only several minutes have gone by. After he has finished, he will look up reflectively at the rising sun through the window to the west. This is obviously not supposed to happen. Don’t question it, or madness will be the next (and last) thing to seep through the window at a snail’s pace, and it will do so unto your mind.
Should you succeed up to this point, you will slip into a darkness untold, just before the time of day it was when you originally arrived will correspond to what it should be at this point (about an hour and a half or so will have passed, therefore, adjust accordingly). The man of brute strength will then kneel down and pick up the broadsword to offer it to you. Take it from his hands, and swiftly decapitate him.
The broadsword will disappear now, but you will have gained amazing courage and strength. This brave strength is, in fact, object 449.
450. The Holder of Wolves
We warn you of this challenge. Only attempt it if you have done the following:
1. You have not acquired object 16, for the Wolves hate the Cats with a passion.
2. You have acquired the object from The Holder of Loyalty.
Failure to meet these requirements will result in an end best left undescribed.
In any village in Africa, go to any old wise man or Shaman you can find. Bring with you the object of The Holder of Loyalty; you will need her. Demand to be shown the ways of the Old Wolves. He will turn and enter his tent. If he does not, then we the Wolves have deemed you unworthy, soon to be slaughtered and subside our hunger for all eternity. Should the old wise man go into his tent, he will return with two other men; they will both be Indians and dressed in their traditional garb. This time, in a sturdy voice, demand to be told the story of the Wolves’ fall from greatness. At that second the Shaman that once bore semblance to an old, fragile man will transform into a younger, more muscular version of himself. He will quickly draw his knife and slice you across the torso with it. Blood will begin to pour like a waterfall from your opened chest and you will begin to descend through the Earth. As you fall, you will pass through the Earth into Hell.
Here your fate will be made clear. If you have been kind, considerate, and overall friendly to Loyalty’s Pet, she will guide you through Hell to the spirit world where we the Wolves reside. If you have been cruel to her, she will leave you to your fate in Hell. Once you enter our realm the creatures will astonish you. There will be a kind of species of Wolf the world has never seen since the day of the old. You may talk to them for they will speak your language. Do not fret, for no harm will bestow you in this realm. You might even meet other Seekers who have chosen to stay in this world. But if you are determined, then follow the Holder of Loyalty’s Pet; she will bring you to our King, a gargantuan three-headed Cerberus. All of us Wolves will bow to him, as should you. If you do not he will simply force you out of our domain into Hell. After you are done bowing he will ask you to state your business and why you are in his realm. Tell him you wish to hear about the wolves’ fall.
He will tell you about how they have always hated Him and how they conspired to kill Him. They will tell you how they enlisted the Cats help only to be betrayed by them; and how He finally locked them in this realm, and how they feel about being separated by their other weaker Wolves; who now walk the Earth howling to the moon trying to convince Him to let Us go.
He will tell you about how He let their worshipers be turned into slaves. When the Stories end, all six eyes will look as though flames are ready to shoot out of them. Tell him you wish to help the Wolves back to greatness; He will tell you they will only follow the chosen one. Show the Lord Wolf any thing from the Bride mansion and all of the heads will smile. He will lower himself and tell you two things and teach you one. The first will be that of a person you will need to seek out. One who will show you how to transform into a wolf! With that he will teach you the way of the Wolves; you will be able to understand any of the Wolf species, the second thing he will tell you is the most important thing that you will need to remember.
Trust, for that is Object 450 of 538. When the objects are all brought together and the end is near, call upon our clan of the Wolves to help you overthrow and destroy Him.
The Holder Series 