The Holder Series 451-538

451. The Holder of Transformation

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 Transformation.”

The attendant ought to hand you a small square of canvas with a five-pointed star on it and direct you to a hallway. Head down the hallway and you will notice that the floor begins to slant downward, parting ways from the rest of the walls, ceiling, and windows, leading you down a dark, stone walkway and into a large, vaulted stone walkway lit by torchlight.

Check your square of canvas; if there is not now a circle around your star, turn back.

Proceed through the hallway, gazing into the alcoves if you wish – you’ll see sculptures of demons, grotesque products of taxidermy, arcane scrolls and books, and perhaps even an Object or two enshrined in the dim light. Nothing will stop you from looking, touching, or taking.

When you reach the end of the hallway, there will be a small wooden door in the face of the massive stone wall. It’s unlocked; enter in – just be sure that your canvas now has two circles around the star before you do. Entertain yourself with the items in this hallway while you wait.

In the room on the other side, there will be more torches and candles, making it slightly brighter – just bright enough to read, if you wish to, the books that lie open on the countless desks that fill this space. These books contain the secrets of the world as discovered by forgotten researchers through the ages, not all of whom were human. They could be written in almost any language; some are in The Language. One book, if you master its secrets, will enable you to understand any written text. This book is in The Language, though, so that will be no easy task, and you’ll have to find it first. Not every book is safe to glance at, either.

The books are of no great consequence, though; what you care about is the Holder, who will be somewhere toward the far side of the room. Be sure that your canvas square has the space between its circles completely filled in with some kind of symbols before you talk to him, though. If it’s not, you’re better off waiting until it is. Maybe read a book to kill time.

The Holder will ignore you unless you get in his way as he moves about the room – and if you do that, your quest is over. He’ll only acknowledge your presence if you ask him “How did _____ change?” You can ask about anyone at all, alive or dead, fictional or historical, popular or unknown, and the Holder will tell you of what they were and how they became what they are. He will tell you how even the most noble intentions stumble and fall to become truly abominable. You might be surprised just how many people transform into something so tarnished as time marches on, taking time only to polish their exterior while the inside grows more twisted and debased. Such is the reality of living in a tarnished world.

When you are ready for this part of your quest to end, ask “How did I change?”

Your Transformation is Object 451 of 538, and it began much longer ago than you would care to admit.

452. The Holder of Technology

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 Technology. The worker will smirk and ask you what you really want. You will have to ask him again; he will roll his eyes before leading you into a small office. He will shut the lights off and close you inside.

The only form of light should be of a computer in the back corner of the room. Should the lights turn on for any reason, turn your back to the computer, shut your eyes and say as quickly as you can, ‘I am here to learn. Nothing more.’ Keep your eyes shut until the lights turn back off. If they stay on keep your eyes shut and grope your way along the wall until you find the door. Once you’re safely outside, run. Do not stop, and do not go home that night. Stay at a friend’s house; should you make it through the night, consider yourself lucky.

If the lights turn back off, turn around and face the computer in the corner of the room. Sit down and never remove your eyes from the screen and do not speak. Should you do so, you will be faced with monstrosities that will haunt you for the rest of your life and most likely drive you mad.

A message will pop up on the screen that reads: ‘What is it you want?’ You will only get a response to typing the questions ‘How do I make them work?’ A video will begin and in horrifying detail show you the worst torture imaginable at the hands of hideously twisted machines. You may feel the need to gouge your eyes out and tear your ears away to end the horror. It is advisable that you do not.

When the video is complete (if you could watch it without going mad), you will see a flash drive inserted in the computer. Despite the unbelievable dread you will feel, take the flash drive and exit the room.

That flash drive is Object 452 of 538.

453. The Holder of Uniqueness

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, tell the receptionist you are here to visit “The Holder of Uniqueness”. Should the receptionist laugh, then you have failed, for someone has already come here and succeeded. Your only chance now to die painlessly is to kill yourself before anything else gets a chance. However, if the expression on the receptionist’s face becomes one of deep sorrow and misery, you mustn’t feel pity. Instead, you must laugh at her plight. She will look at you angrily and lead you to a hallway.

As you walk into the hallway, you will begin to feel the urge to see your guide’s face. Don’t ignore this urge; simply say, “I wear no mask, so remove yours!” If she keeps walking, pray to any god you think can save you; your death is coming soon by her hands.

If she stops, smiles, and asks you to close your eyes, do so. When you open them, your guide will be gone, and in her place there will be hundreds, if not thousands, of headless figures standing in the hallway, and they will conduct you towards your goal. As you continue your walk down the hall, you will begin to get flashes of the most horrifying aspects of the human world: corpses, torn apart; unimaginable sexual fetishes, people in the direst of circumstances. As you continue, your guides will begin to laugh, softly at first, but growing into a mad cacophony. To survive this, you must join in. If you can laugh in the face of horror, your guides will stop at a door. As you enter it, announce to them, “I knew you’d deliver; you always do.” They will bow slightly to you and return down the hallway.

In this room, you will see a pastiche of every life that’s been ruined out of spite, every good thing that has ended because of hatred. A man, dressed the same as your guide but wearing a white mask, will be sitting in the middle, chuckling softly. Ask him one question: “Why do they laugh?” He will begin to tell you their stories, and why they have no face. He will tell you how the world treated them, and that to escape, they laughed at it. And then, he will tell you how he gave them a face and a name, and how they conquered. After he finishes his story, say “I wish to join the legion.” He will ask you to write your name for him, and he’ll give you a slip of paper and a pen. When you’re done, he will take the paper and burn it, and the last thing you’ll hear before you pass out will be “Expect us.”

You will wake up in the middle of a large city. You are now part of the legion, and as proof, in your right hand will be the mask the man was wearing. On the inside is the inscription, “Operor non indulgeo. Operor non alieno.” While you are wearing it, neither you nor anybody else will be able to recall your name or anything else connected with your earthly identity.

The mask is number 453 of 538. If you wear it, not even He will know who you are.

454. The Holder of The Cipher

Enter a library in any country, in any town, and approach a librarian. Present to them any of the books that describe the Objects and ask if they know the meaning of its contents. If they recoil in horror, then you have found one who knows of the Holder of the Cipher. The Holder of the Cipher hides in the emptiest part of the library, behind stacks and stacks of unread books. Wander around, browsing, all the while searching for the dark, secluded corner you desire. The light will remain constant throughout until you encounter a child with a heavy book with a yellow cover. From this point on you follow the designed path, and cannot stray or turn back until you have finished what you started.

The child will pronounce himself as the Keeper of the Cipher. Ignore him and continue. Not long after, an identical child with a book bound in blue will approach you and declare himself the Guardian of the Cipher. Ignore him and move on. At this point the lights will dim and a third child, identical to the others save for the crimson book in his arms, shall state that he is the Patron of the Cipher. Stand still, and the other two will join you. The three children will form a triangle around you. The lights will flare brightly, but will not blind you. You must not acknowledge the children, but neither may you take your eyes off of the Patron.

When the light subsides, the Keeper will be an old man, the Patron will be a young man, and the Guardian will be a young woman. In the arms of the young woman is the child that once held the three books. The books themselves have come together into one white book. The voice of the child will enter your mind, seeking a question. The question can only be found in one of the volumes about the Objects. If satisfied, then it shall walk over to you, grasp your hand, and lead you out of its realm. If not, then the Keeper, Guardian, and Patron will also enter your mind and tear it apart from the inside as the world around you turns dark. Once this happens, you will join those protecting the child.

If the child leads you out, you shall soon find yourself outside the library you used to enter. Glowing a pure white, the child will fade, and the light will become a pair of glasses. Wear them, and see the truth of whatever is before your eyes.

The glasses are Object 454 of 538.

455. The Holder of the Second Shard

In any town, in any country…

Find yourself in a room which you alone are in, with a mirror large enough to show the entirety of your body.

Make sure all entrances are barricaded, quite tightly. You aren’t going to be using your body, but They can find it, and will. And that’s worse than anything the beasts of hell can do. And the only way to hold Them back is to do this as quickly as possible.

Stare into the mirror. Look into your own eyes, and say out loud “Matter is a lie. My essence is all there is.”, regardless of whether you adhere to that school of thought.

If your reflection does nothing, you must leave, QUICKLY. Exit the building you are in and flee as far from where you were as possible. Eventually you will feel the sense of safety cover your body once again. Find a different mirror, if you so desire, and try again.

If your reflection begins to shake, increasing each moment more and more, throw yourself into the mirror. Do this with great confidence. Those with doubt shall have their souls shattered along with the mirror.

If you pass through, take a quick glance back. You will see your body on the ground through the mirror and will notice that the doors of the room you barricaded are thumping. You know that They are trying to enter the room, and you have a limited amount of time.

How much time? Well, how well did you barricade the room?

Run down the corridor you are in. It is a hall of mirrors, each which reflect a different aspect of yourself. NEVER touch these or stare too long, lest you wish to be absorbed into them, forced to relive your worst moments over and over for all of eternity. Eventually the room will become wider, opening further and further.

You will eventually see the mirrors in the distance fading. As you continue, the mirrors will vanish and the tunnel will end.

Outside you shall find yourself in a room with two natures, mixed so carefully together you cannot discern where one starts and the other finishes. Heaven and Hell. Pay no attention to your surroundings; remember you have little time to spare.

Notice in the center of this “world” that there are many mirrors, once again. How many depends on the complexity of your character. Once again, each will represent a part, however small, of your personality.

Here is the test: Pick that which you feel represents you the greatest. Do not pride yourself; if you pick incorrectly you will find on the other side this Object’s Holder. And unlike many tests, this Holder wishes to remain hidden, and if you anger him… well, let us not cross that path.

Choose; if you believe you have found the door that best represents you, quickly enter it.

You will be in a black void for but a moment; but when the light returns you shall awake in front of the mirror which you entered, lying on the ground, holding a simple shard of glass. You may be unlucky enough to return just as They enter. Stab yourself with the shard to save yourself from Them, as you lack enough time to defend yourself. Death could only be a blessing in comparison. But if you awake and They have yet to enter, hold the shard against the door. They will know you have succeeded and retreat.

The shard is a simple piece of a glass; with the partial emblem of an hourglass upon it. You may feel it is worthless, and perhaps it is, alone. But for some reason, They fear it. Not always enough to protect you, but you never know. Keep it by your side for this very reason.

That Shard, The Second Shard, is Object 455 of 538.

456. The Holder of Discernment

Only a Seeker mean, crazy, or otherwise evil enough to be wearing the Sealer’s Sash is in any shape to even think of attempting to obtain the Torch of Truth.

This is one of the few Objects known to light the dark, inner corridors of the mind; it will never go out, no matter what it is doused or smothered with, for its flame was never meant to be used except by those who would use it well.

They weren’t kidding when They told us we were made in Their image. The first speck of light gave birth to all of us. They used this Torch to learn how to do good and evil. Not a single one of Them ever endured an ordeal worthy of Their existence without having to use this Torch.

The Torch’s flame continues to grow brighter at the rate it was growing when it was first imagined. This was done on purpose. Imagine the sun, and now make it a trillion times brighter. It continues to brighten at that speed, every instant, and it is lost to time how long ago that was. If you tried to look at it with your eyes, the flame would be so bright that it is invisible, but your mind would see it from within as such a bright flame that you would go blind if you weren’t psychically prepared for it.

Check behind you to make sure you’re not on fire. Now.

If you haven’t burned yourself to a crisp from within, head out to the desert. You will not have to go far; if you are wearing the Sealer’s Sash, it will begin to glow brightly.

Allow the Sash’s light to extend into infinity and rejoin with the light. Once this is done you will see a ripple in the space-time fabric in front of you; proceed through it.

The sky around you will be red, with fierce, black and grey clouds. Before you have a chance to take a look around, you will be face to face with a woman with glowing eyes surrounded by many creatures; some you will recognize and some you will not. If you look too long at any of these creatures, you will become one of them. You must maintain eye contact with the woman while you ask her, the instant you see her: “How could They tell?”

Her eyes will widen and she will be unable to stop herself as she uses her razor-sharp tongue to cleave a deep, thin cut right at the line between good and evil. If your ears do not catch fire and burn away while she speaks her tale, she will be impressed against her will and hand you a black crystal box. Everything will flash white for several seconds. Keep calm while this is happening; everything will reappear shortly.

You won’t know where you are when you appear. It may or may not be a safe area. The only common occurrence is that it will be dark.

The speck of light that you are, floating above the torch handle, is Object 456 of 538. It will shine on the darkness of falsehood.

457. Holder of Vengeance

To find the holder of Vengeance you must go to a place filled with both hatred and desire, where people have viewed themselves as innocents being punished.
Many places usually fit this description, even if they are not obvious at first glance: educational institutions, prisons, crypts and halfway houses are the most common, but often even basements of ordinary houses may be used.

At dusk, make sure you are in an underground part of the building, with artificially-lit halls. If you have found the right one, darkness should fall as the sun sinks below the horizon, even though it should have no effect on the area logically.

The area you are in shall become become pitch black. Wherever you were before, you will now find yourself facing a wall. There will be a hole in the wall, vaguely illuminated and big enough to fit anything you want to bring with you in, but so small that everything but yourself must be left behind when leaving. Climb through and you will come to a corridor made of what appears to be polished, shining, white marble. Touch nothing but the lit candle in a holder by you feet. Continue walking until you reach a room empty except for a man sitting at the table. From distance he resembles a skeleton, but as you get closer you notice he is humanoid, albeit faceless, dressed in a black robe made by leather. His skin completely white and no traces of age is seen on him. His one distinctive feature is his long ginger beard.

You must not say a word lest you disturb him. All you may do is hold up your hand, either the right one in a greeting or the left in farewell. This is your last chance to leave.

At this point, he will arise and beckon you to follow him down another hall, much like the one you had taken to find him. At this point, you will realize that the “marble” is in fact human bone, skulls to be precise. As you continue walking, you will begin to hear the agonized screams of the people whose skulls you pass. Do not dwell on them, or you will be subjected to their torture.
The man will lead you to the final room and wait. In here your candle will go out. You will be left in all-consuming darkness. If you say nothing you will have failed. If you say the wrong sentence you will have failed. The price of failure is unknown, save for your name being written in the man’s book. Instead, you must begin to list punishments.

As you speak, two glowing spots will appear each intense but neither blinding. Do not ponder them. You must speak of nothing but pure punishments for any wrongs, real or imaginary, done onto you. If you stop to breathe for one second you have failed. If you repeat yourself, you have failed.

If you manage to recite of 538 punishments, a hooded figure will appear in front of you, and ask a simple question: What is the number?

Raise your fist, indicating zero, then turn and run. The corridors will be shorter than you remember, but do not falter. Run out of the building and keep running. Do not slow down or enter any building until daylight. At dawn, look down and you will notice you are holding a mask with the same beard as that of your mysterious guide, but only in black.

The mask of vengeance is Object 457 of 538.

458. The Holder of the Dragon

In any mountain range, within any tundra, go to any cave that has a mouth big enough for a house to fit through. When you reach the entrance do not immediately step inside, instead ask for, with a respective tone, “The Holder of the Dragon.” If the mountain begins to shake enter before the snow can sweep you down the mountain. If nothing happens come back later.

Once you have entered safely, you will see the cave is littered with the bones of many seekers that failed this test. Your only light being the torches that line the wall of the cave, walk cautiously until you reach a large chamber with a pool of water in the center. Upon inspection you will see an egg in the middle of the pool, it will tempt you but do not venture into the pool or whatever the egg harbors will hatch and devour you.

Wait quietly, standing as still as you can until you hear a loud explosion that causes the cave to shake but do not move from where you stand. A large, beautiful, black dragon will enter from a tunnel on the other side of the chamber. Do not speak, allow the dragon analyze you. If it approves of you it will simply relax its muscles and sit by the pool. If it does not, it will open its mouth and blue fire will flow from its mouth. The fire will not burn your skin but you will believe it does and will run to the pool in a hopeless attempt to put it out, going mad as the creature in the eggs hatches to devour you alive.

After it sits ask while looking into its eyes “Are you the one that keeps the dragon?” The dragon will then morph into a handsome young man with jet black hair. He will proceed to answer your question with perfect detail, in an accent you do not recognize. Once he has finished speaking he will then ask you “Why do you look for her?” Do not answer, instead enter the pool and tap the egg. The egg will then light with blue fire and if you lose conscious then you have succeeded. If the fire continues to make you mad you will have failed the test and die in the chamber.

Once you regain conscious you will see a young, white lizard with wings protruding from its back. It will follow you until it can eat your hollow carcass.

This young dragon is object 458 of 538. Only your death will allow her to grow.

459. Holder of Shamanism

Go into any forest in the world that is far away from any signs of human life. While in this forest find a spot where the sunlight peeks through the trees. Look towards the light and speak ‘Why must we destroy something so beautiful?’ After speaking these words quickly close your eyes. For if you fail to do so you will be blinded and the limbs from the trees will reach down and consume you.Taking you to a hellish nightmare that you will relive over and over.

If you close your eyes in time the sun will pass judgment upon you. If you are worthy then the wind will blow carrying you to a field filled with flowers and surrounded by trees. Do not be distracted by the smell of the flowers or the beautiful colors. Instead look forwards into the shade created by the trees. While staring you will see a large Indian male walking from the shadows. In his hand will be a tomahawk. His body will be covered in various tattoos. Stare into his eyes and do not blink, blinking will cause his tomahawk to flee from his grasp and to your skull and your body will be no more. All that will be left of you is a cloven skull.

If you do not blink and sees favor in you he will move his left hand outwards to you, in it will be a crimson red, old, and beat up bandanna. Take it from his hand, hold it close to your heart, close your eyes, and look down to the ground. In front of you will be one of the flowers. Move the bandanna to the flower and speak ‘Replenish what is beautiful.’ After these words have left your lips the bandanna will turn into small white particles of light and will then fall on the flowers.A gust of wind will move through the area and you will wake up in your bed in a place you call home with the a new crimson red bandanna.

This is Object 459.

460. Holder of Excuses

Get married, have a family. Love your spouse, and they’ll love you. Have kids. Build a happy life for your children.

Now do that again. Cheat on your wife and start a secret family. Have more families if necessary. Let the tension build. Bring them all together, explain yourself, and, finally, kill all of them.

Now bathe in their blood, bask in the gore. Say, “I am the Holder of Excuses, I create myself.”

Thunder will shake the building, the foundation will crack, the walls will tumble. If you are alive, a thing not unlike a man will approach you, “You are not the Holder of Excuses! I am he, father of lies and creator of sin! I am not, was not and never will be!”

Another will appear saying, “The both of you have created me, the true Holder of Excuses, with your lies! All shall bow before me!”

Many will appear, each claiming to be the true Holder. They will be of all sizes, genders, forms and shapes. You must step forward and say, “People, calm down, there has clearly been a mix up! But I know how we will find the true Holder! You see, a Holder of Excuses must be a great liar! So you will each take turns lying and whoever I deem the best liar is the true Holder!”

The Holders will agree to this, for you will have great skill in making others listen to you because you have been the patriarch of many broods. If they don’t believe you, or if someone else steps forward, may god rest your soul.

Choose a secluded locale to test Them -and make sure you have a weapon. As each enters the area, kill them. You will have won the contest and rightly be given The Liar’s Note.

The Note will convince any literate mortal to trust you and believe you, unless they already know the nature of the note.

The Note is Object 460 of 538.

461. The Holder of Essence

In any city, in any country, go to any monastery or temple you can get yourself into. Inside, you should find a monk bent over and praying. Do not interrupt him, to do this is foolishness. When he stands up, ask him to see the Holder of Essence. He will blink several times, and slowly nod his head.

The monk will show you to a trap door near the altar at the center of the room. He will slowly open it, and move to the position in which you first witnessed him. Only when he has resumed his prayers should you begin to descend the ladder. Once your head is below the level of the floor, the trap door will shut itself. Inside, all is darkness. Carefully descend the ladder. Falling here would mean more than an interrupted journey. As you descend, you will feel the air around you become more and more damp. Terrifying specters of every manner will twist through the darkness and attempt to shake your grip from the ladder. Shrieking voices will engulf your senses.

The further you study these images, the more solid they will become. You will begin to recognize them. They are your memories. They are your voice. They are your past, present and future. As you near the bottom, you will realize. They are you. You are the hands attempting to tear your grip away from the ladder. The snarling faces are yours. Stop now, and do not look away from them. The phantoms will solidify, melding together into one, clutching the other side of the ladder.

Stare into the face of your Doppleganger and ask the question, “What is at the core of Their being?” It will stop attempting to tear you away. As soon as it does, let go yourself, and allow your body to fall. The ever-increasing dampness should culminate in a pool at the bottom of the ladder. Use the momentum generated by your fall to dive as deep as your lungs allow. To linger on the surface is to invite the guardian to join you there, where he will envelop you, bringing your two halves together, and canceling out your existence.

If you are able to dive far enough, your fingers will touch upon a glass jar resting in sand. Clutch this jar with all your strength. It will hold you underwater. Do not let go, do not open your mouth, do not swim up for air. Even as you lose consciousness, to lose your grip is to lose your life. When you awake, you will be back in the temple, and dripping with deep red blood. The jar you hold in your hands is clean.

That empty jar is object 461 of 538.

462. The Holder of Solipsism

So, you think you can get my Object? You don’t know anything of my pain. I know. I was in your place once.

The Objects have the power to create their own pocket dimensions. I don’t know why, I suppose it’s for us. The Holders. We can shape it to our will. The glass eye brought me here a long time ago and now I am charged with protecting it. It whispers to me sometimes. I’m all alone so often, and it tells me things. It tells me about what it knows. It tells me tales of ignorant people. It tells me it was born from the ignorance of the humans, of the Seekers. It tells me what they’ve done. I listen, because no one else is here.

Lately, they’ve been coming, though. Up above is a building. A building for people crazy people. These are the people closest to me. I feel comfortable here. But then they came looking for me. They asked to see me. Sometimes, they came into my world. They were looking for me. They were looking for my glass eye. But they didn’t get past my minions and my traps. Most of them died, but some of them got away. They got away, to tell others what they did wrong. Then, my minions would punish the one who let the Seekers in. He grew afraid of me. He wouldn’t let the Seekers in so easily again. But still they came.

They kept coming closer to me. Some of them even came into my room. Here I sit, in a room with a single chair, with mirrors on every surface, finding me holding my glass eye. Some of them screamed and killed themselves, others just fled from the room. I guess I don’t look human anymore. Some of them stayed to talk to me. I don’t know what they said. I just killed them on their feet. I know what they came for. And they’re not getting it.

Except for you. You came and you said something horrible. You said, “How can we understand Them?” You want to know how you can understand them? You, a human, an ignorant Seeker. You, who know nothing of the minds of others. I told you what you needed to hear. I told you of the ignorance you and your kind suffered from. I told you of all the horrible things your kind has done because of ignorance. Yet, still, you listened. I laid bare the truth of your ignorance to you, yet you still didn’t cow to me. The truth of the ignorance of humanity was not breaking you. Were you truly a human?

Perhaps the glass eye lied to me. Would you hear the same whispering voice that I heard? I held the eye out to you, and you took it. Without looking back, you turned and left me. I thought you might have been the one. The one who could hold the Object without hearing its lulling voice.

But, I’m beginning to miss that lulling voice. It was the only company I had, and now I’m just alone. You, Seeker, took my only company, no matter if you deserved it or not. Only now, I’m not bound here. The Object is gone. What is to keep me from leaving now? What is to keep me from coming after you?

You took my glass eye, Object 462 of 538.

463. The Holder of the Sparrow

I’ve always enjoyed the birds.

In the Northern United States, on a dark December night around eleven o’clock, walk down a residential street. The only lights you may see are those of the coming holiday, Christmas. They shine brightly and are gorgeously placed all over the homes that celebrate this wondrous holiday.

Their curiosity, knowledge, and strength inspires me.

Some of the lights may be colorful, others, plainly white, and some may stick with a theme, possibly semi-animatronic reindeer or inflatable Santa Clauses or wooden elves or freshly made snowmen. Choose a house of which to knock on. Hopefully only few people live there.

I’ve always envied the birds.

You must murder the inhabitants of the house at the given time you enter, save one. Do not harm the animals in the home. It matters not who is spared. Do nothing with the dead, but take the spared one outside into the cold. Embrace the feeling of warm blood mixed with the chilling breeze.

Their flight, agility, and protectiveness angers me.

Ask the survivor of your massacre, “Where are the birds?” He or she may be too shaken to answer. Kneel this person down in the snow. Walk away. Don’t heed to the cries behind you. This person may also try to hurt you. Take the abuse; you deserve it.

The birds, I’m sure, can outlive us all.

Walk to the end of the street and call out, “Holder, show yourself!”. The dark of the night will not even match the darkness you are now engulfed in. The cold is replaced with humid air. The noise you hear now is of the birds. Every single diverse type. Hopefully, you know quite a bit about them.

The birds are the only friends I have.

The lights will slowly turn on and you will see all in this massive room. You will see me in all my glory, a simple scarecrow. The fear I once struck in all birds alike, is now replaced with everlasting love for them. Approach me slowly; just don’t frighten the birds.

On one of my arms hangs the only caged bird throughout the whole room: a sparrow. That is the object you now seek. And believe me, many have succeeded in taking him from me. From the birds, though, that’s another story. They’d hate for their comrade to leave their eternal home.

If you do succeed in leaving with my sparrow, stay gone from the street where you committed the murder(s). The police are looking for you.

Good luck, Seeker; you’ve just made new enemies: the birds.

The caged sparrow is Object 463 of 538. The birds are angry and vow their revenge.

464. The Holder of Pareidolia

Find an abandoned building as large and as isolated from other people as possible. Memorize the poem “Antigonish” by Hughes Mearns. Walk in calmly and head to the darkest section. Do not use any light to guide your way.

Once there position yourself in the middle of the darkness and do not move. Gradually all noises will fade, and you will only hear your breath with an echo. After a minute or so, recite the poem as if to a large crowd; clearly and loudly. If done correctly you’ll meet a man who isn’t there.

He will stand there staring at you. Ask this and only this: “Can you hide when they come together?” He will then proceed to answer you by narrating all the stories of those who have hidden and been caught. If you’ve come to understand the truths he has spoken, smile at him and he should smile back slightly. Do not smile falsely, he will know, and you will become a man who isn’t there.

If all is well, he will approach you and take out his hand, shake his hand warmly and honestly as if greeting an old friend. If you do not shake his hand, or hesitate, or shake it impatiently he will seemingly walk away. However, the man will never, ever go away and you will find yourself seeing him everywhere.

If everything is all right, he will give his overcoat and disappear. Whoever wears that coat will be able to see things that aren’t there. The coat is insight into the hidden world. The hidden doors and hallways initially guarding the Holders are able to be seen, thereby giving you a slight warning of what lies ahead.

Bear in mind that you still need to take the usual steps to enter them. Beyond these passageways however, the coat is ineffective,because the things you will experience are really there. The weaker horrors you may face may be slightly confused and hesitant to fall upon you, though they can see you perfectly well. While wearing the coat, you will disappear from the detection of normal people. Only the insane will claim to sense you.

The Overcoat is Object 464 out of 538.

465. Holder of Obscurity

In any city, in any country, go to any martial arts class you can. It doesn’t matter the art they study, nor the age of the students. You may hope for a children’s class.

Watch the class from the doorway for a bit, acknowledging anyone who notices you, but saying nothing. Wait for a moment when all the students are seated, and approach the one who is furthest left, in the back of the group. Ask them if they have a rival who calls themself “The Holder of Obscurity.” If the student covers their face with their hands, you’ve done it right. If not, hope that all you get is a confused look, apologize, and leave, for this battle was not yours to fight.

Look around the room now. All the students will be covering their faces the same as the one you asked, and the teacher will be absent. You may notice the walls have changed, any decorations they once held are gone, the walls a bland off-white, and the door you came in is gone.

The students will now rise, their arms falling to their sides, and you will see they all look exactly the same. You might not even be sure if they’re male or female at this point. They will attack you, and you must defend yourself. If you can’t hold your own against an entire martial arts class, they will tear you apart, and rebuild you as a training dummy, to spend eternity feeling the pain of blow upon blow as others hone their skills on you.

You only need to defeat ONE of the students, the true Holder of Obscurity, with as fierce a strike as you can muster. However, it is unlikely that you will be able to tell which they are before you are overwhelmed. If you are unexpectedly good, you may wind up defeating a good portion of the students before finding the holder. As unlikely as this is, it will give you no added benefits, as the Holder does not care how many of his puppets you beat down.

Upon defeating the holder, the other students will stop where they are. At this point you may ask one and only one question. “What is their true form?” Ask anything else, and the battle will resume, for all of eternity, until you fall, and become a training dummy.

Ask the question, though, and the Holder will reach up and tear off his face. As he approaches you, you will realize you cannot move an inch. The holder will smother you with his own face, and as you struggle for breath, images will flood your mind, of what once was, what will be again. Images beyond description. You’ll pass out shortly thereafter from lack of oxygen. When you wake, you’ll find yourself sitting outside the school of martial arts you had moments ago entered. You’ll notice the feeling of his torn face against yours still persists. Upon reaching up, you’ll realize you are masked in a strange cloth, which you may remove.

Wearing this mask will make you unrecognizable to any mortal and any Holder. What you do with this will be up to you.

This mask is object 465 of 538.

466. The Holder of the Transition

I have just come back from our city’s fabled “haunted asylum,” and this is what I found. I copied it the best I could, but the paper was so old, crumbled and covered in dried bloodstains that this is all I could decipher.

— –ny city, in any country, go to any men— —itution or halfway house you can get yourself to
— speak to the One Who Rose-. you will be taken outside and — — be careful that you do not let any of their blood touch you—- —–

He introduced himself to me as “Nem, the Holder of the Transition,” but he may be using another name now—

—it is very important that you keep your eyes closed until he says “The color is Bl—”

—ack, then you may as well keep your eyes closed, because you don’t want to see what they’re doing to you. But if it is blue, then you can open your eyes—

— sapphire sculpture is 466 of 538 ——

467. Holder of Doubt

You don’t want to find me, Seeker.

Deny it as you will, but you’re just like all the rest. You act like you’re brave and strong, play the charade of the heartless hardass who’ll sacrifice everything ever created in order to reunite them. Yet I can see past this paper-thin facade of yours. Deep down, you want it all to end; if you could just stop everything now and resume your life as it once was, peaceful and oblivious to the dire machinations you’ve since witnessed with your own eyes, you’d do it in the blink of an eye. That’s what you already know.

What you should know is that it’s impossible to go back.

Sure, other Holders may try to convince you that they can erase your memories, can make you believe you’ve never even heard of the Objects or the Holders. Yet their “magic” (if it can so be called) is incomplete. You see, from the very moment you obtain your first Object, they become a part of you, as vital and inseparable as your heart or lungs. While those other Holders can indeed wipe your mind of thoughts of the Objects, they cannot remove that inexplicable something that enters your innermost core. Thus, despite your newfound amnesia, you’ll still be left with a sort of calling, and (you can rest assured of this) that calling will invariably lead you back to the Objects. Once you are in their grasp, you can never free yourself.

Now that we’ve established that, provided you’ve gained at least one Object up to this point, I will appear when you want to see me the least. There’s no knowing what I’ll look like (after all, I, like any other living creature, enjoy a little variety in my life), but you’ll know I’m around when your breath becomes shallow and your heartbeat slows down. You see, just merely being in my presence will cause your body to doubt its right to live.

Whether or not that right exists depends on you, Seeker, for I will be scanning you. I will search for any doubt you’ve ever felt throughout your lifetime, and if I find even the slightest sliver… well, let’s not go into too much detail; suffice it to say, your body won’t want to live anymore.

What I hold, a stone sculpture of a human heart, is Object 467 of 538.

468. The Holder of Synchronicity

Go to any mental institution that has been abandoned for at least fifty years at the exact moment that the Witching hour is at it’s mid-point. If you walk through the front doors and nothing happens, you are safe. However, you must never seek any of the other objects again or you will be cursed to fail instantly, and that’s the best thing that could happen since it means you will survive. If you walk through and the asylum appears as it did when it was still open and you see a staff operating the building, you have done it correctly.

You will notice that the people who work here are a sickly pale and that they seem to radiate light; everything in the hospital seems to be too bright and foggy to discern a definite shape. Ignore the atmosphere and do not remind the staff that they are damned. Instead, go to the front desk and ask for a patient who goes by the title of the “Holder of Synchronicity.” The receptionist will already be laughing before you finish your request, her face slowly warping into a hideous elongated mask of distorted flesh.

You will feel the ground under you suddenly shift very violently and you will fall to the floor. The staff and the patients standing in the hallway will watch you flash by as the entire floor seems to move you at a rapid speed towards a door at the end of an endless hallway. You will stop at the door and the hallway will suddenly be empty.

You may only look back once; if you look twice you will be left there an eternity as a patient in this minor outpost of hell. Open the door before you and step inside. In the soft padded cell you will notice a barefooted figure sitting in a straight-jacket in the far corner, making a sound that is hard to distinguish from crying and giggling. The figure will ask you what your name is; you must answer with the your full name including all first names, middle names, and maiden names that apply to you.

If you leave anything out, the hospital will return to being abandoned and you will find yourself trapped in the blackened basement with no way to get out, doomed to starve to death in the darkness.

If you answer correctly, the Holder will begin to talk to you in the form of a pleasant conversation. You will slowly begin to notice that everything The Holder says is somehow mocking you in some way. Eventually you will realize that the Holder is playing a game with you. When you realize this, the two of you will be standing on the top of the hospital and the Holder will tell you to hold your breath and jump. Many foolish Seekers die this way because they don’t realize that the Holder is merely asking them to jump in place.

If you jump in place the Holder will laugh heartily; you have pleased it. Now you may ask “How are they all tied together?”

The Holder will tell you the real secrets of time and the true sources of power in the universe. It is so simple that most cannot even begin to fathom them. Most go mad and leap to their deaths simply to avoid the mental strain of the horrible knowledge that they now possess. If you are weak of heart and mind, this will be your fate as well.

When it finishes talking it will hold out a harmonica. You must take it. When you do, you will be alone on the top of the building, holding a very old harmonica that is inscribed with several writings in a language that doesn’t look human.

This Harmonica is object 468 of 538, and if you play it things will start happening the way you want them to, but you will no longer be able to control your own desires.

469. The Holder of Revelry

This Holder cannot be found in any normal halfway house or mental institution. During the 1800s, after muckrakers uncovered a series of horrific abuses in certain asylums, many were forced to close down after the public learned of the horrors perpetrated within. With the rapid change that accompanies the passing of so many years, these abandoned buildings were forgotten in the mists of time by generations who had never had the misfortune of being trapped within their walls. But, not by those who yearned only for the thrill of the unending horrors that those dark and long-forgotten cells once held in store for them.

If you should ever come upon an abandoned building in your Seeking, look for its entrance if you dare. Should you find the words ‘I am Dionysus unbound, joy and terror one’ written upon it in red, your fate is sealed. You must open the door and enter, without fail. If you should walk away, you may not enter His domain, but He will make His way into your very soul. Every laugh, every moment of high spirits, every glow of contentment that you shall ever feel will bring with it unbearable, gnawing fear without bound, and the feeling of looming dread at the mere thought of happiness will walk hand-in-hand with the sickening rush of danger. You will either swing like a pendulum from the euphoria of endless peril to the crushing burden of merciless terror, or you will separate yourself from anything and everything you love so that your horror will never claim you again in the shadow of a life you now endure. Both are but paths to the certain madness that awaits you if you deny the Holder’s invitation.

Enter the asylum; you will know you are in the right place when you feel the oppressive humidity of hot, stagnant air weighing down upon you. A pale little girl in a pristine white dress will trot up to you, angelic features turned up in a broad smile, and shove a full black glass into your hands. Drink it all, no matter how much it burns, for if you fail to accept this gift the little one’s eyes will turn to a monstrous glare before she leans forward on tip-toe, jams her little fingers into your neck and tears out your throat, leaving you to wander as a forever thirsting shade. Once you are done, she will offer her hand. Take it. The little girl will lead you down a long corridor, past countless cells, all of them roaring with hysterical laughter as your gait begins to grow unsteady and your sight blurs from the drink overpowering your senses and your mind. Do not dare to look inside any of the cells, for in each is a patient horrifically mutilating themselves to their own riotous cackling. If you should so much as glance into their wild eyes, you will join with them in their maddening laughter as you watch your own two hands rend your flesh apart in your mindless stupor.

If you should manage to keep hold of your senses long enough you will eventually reach the far end of the corridor, where not even the dim light of this forsaken place shines, the hideous laughter fades, and all that can be heard is a distant whistling from afar. The little girl will release your hand, and you must begin to walk forth on your own without looking back. When you have ventured far enough down this hall, you will at last see a dim red light before you, and the whistling will grow ever louder til the walls seem to shudder from its thunderous volume. As you come under this light, a hoarse, breathless voice like that of a man who has been screaming for all time shall ask, ‘Who am I?’

Stop. Do not say ‘You are Dionysus,’ for you shall yearn for nothing more than the peace of nothingness as its hacking laughter resonates in your ears so long as you live. Say only ‘You are the Holder of Revelry.’ At this, step forward, and you will see Him in an opened cell lit by that same red light, bound against the ceiling by chains and manacles that cut deep into burnt flesh too dry to even bleed, empty eye sockets drawn fast as he looks down upon you, the stumps of his ears twitching at every sound you make, and no nose save for the cavity in his skull that whistles as he inhales quickly and unevenly. His face will be twisted into an expectant grin, almost trembling with anticipation. Ask ‘What are the joys of evil unbound?’

You will barely have finished your question before he licks his charred lips and begins to speak in that raspy voice that grates against your very soul, speak of the joys of all the twisted men in their endless and vile deeds, and as he speaks you will share their twisted satisfaction as it passes through your mind for but a moment. He will tell of how when the End is near all of the darkest desires of man will be let loose as humans become no more than beasts reigning their terror upon one another, until there is nothing but oblivion. His voice growing ever quicker and more exhilarated with the telling, the red light will flicker, buzz and then die as he speaks the last few words of the inevitable doom of all that walks the earth. Then, silence.

Step forward into the now lightless cell, and grope in the darkness against the floor. There will be the glass the little girl handed you before, the 469th object. It grows ever fuller with each of its kind you gather, to send its drinker into murderous ecstasy in celebration of the End that is soon to be.

470. The Holder of Carelessness

This man doesn’t even know he is a Holder, and I see no reason for him to perceive it that way, especially since he’ll just dismiss it as fantastical conjecture and mad raving. It’s rather ironic considering the meth mark on his arm that he once showed me. It could be anyone; someone you know, someone you don’t know, me, hell, it could even be you. He does have a name, but I would rather not reveal it here and now. Perhaps when it comes time for his reckoning will I reveal it, but knowing him, he’s probably sold the Object for meth money, given his general lack of care.

The cassette player I let him borrow wasn’t originally an Object; it was just a personal cassette player with auto-reverse. Whether he knows it or not (and indeed, whether he wants to accept it or not) through his stubborn carelessness, he has made a pact with the Object by refusing to return it. Seek it out if you wish, but since it represents carelessness, it will have those effects on you, and you’ll only make it worse for yourself, since it now wants to be reunited with the others.

The cassette that was last in the player seems to be an innocent bystander; it’s part of a taped training course that taught me how to protect myself from this kind of thing, since its effects on the spiritual realm within can be easily measured by those who can sense it.

I’ll admit, this was inspired by something of a mutual grudge. He used to be a good friend of mine until he became the Holder, pushing me and several of his real friends away in favor of his sex life, which is an aspect that I won’t get into, other than to say that it is most careless indeed, because he could have had a set of real friends and a wonderful boyfriend. He’s done this before, too, and it has always resulted in similar loss for him, but he’s too careless to see it that way.

It became clear to me that I was speaking to the meth and crack he sucked up instead of the person; they all end up like that, whether they believe it or not.

The cassette player is Object 470 of 538.

471. Holder of the Schism

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 the Schism”. A look of inward conflict, as though torn between decisions could cross the worker’s face. It won’t last long, blink and you’ll miss it. The worker will request that you back away a few steps as they approach. Reaching down to the floor where you were standing the worker will reveal a trapdoor that was not there before. The door will open, and you will feel yourself drawn to look deep within the blackness of the void below. If you look up you will notice the worker has vanished and the entire room will be bare. Do not let this unsettle you, and descend into the darkness below.

As you descend into the darkness you will notice that the darkness seems to lighten in an unnatural way. You will reach the bottom, a hard stone floor covered in small pebbles of debris and faint moisture. Gazing around you will notice there are no light sources. No bulbs, torches, nor candles. There will also be no windows, only high stone walls that reflect the texture of the floor. In the center of the cellar you will see an ancient stone pedestal with a knob resting on top. The ladder will no longer be there, either, but instead there will be a steel door embedded in the stone wall behind you. The door will have no distinguishable characteristics. Only a faint bronze tint from years of ware and a small hole where the knob should be. Should you turn around you will see across the cellar from you there is a matching door. Its traits are the same, completely plain and made of a type of steel with a small hole. The difference will be that this door will be tinted a faint blue instead.

When you lift the knob from the pedestal, you will be filled with a strange, overwhelming sensation telling you which door to choose. While you won’t have detailed knowledge of it, the knob has told your mind what is behind each door, and depending on your mood at the time will determine which door you feel you should enter. Choose one, place the knob into the hole, and enter. The door will disappear behind you, leaving you alone in a darkened hallway of stone. If you chose to enter neither door, and place the knob back to the pedestal, the ladder will reappear and you will be able to escape as if nothing had ever happened.

Assuming you have found yourself within the dark hall, proceed forward. You may not be able to see so much as your own hand in front of your face, but do not fear, for there will be nothing to concern yourself with in your path. Continue on, and you will eventually hear a strange buzzing noise in the distance. Soon after, the path will begin to glow the same as the cellar had, and you will find yourself in a clearing with seemingly no walls in sight, only darkness. In the center of this clearing you will see a cloaked figure. The buzzing will grow ever stronger as you approach him, and soon you will see that he is shrouded partially in flies. Little of him can be seen, but his hands and face shall be exposed to you. Your reaction once you look upon him will determine everything, although you will not know it yet. His face is partially mangled and decayed, not split down the middle but in horizontal strips across. The other half will be so normal that it is almost too perfect to seem real. His hands will reflect this as well, the right hand being decayed and dead while the other being pristine and healthy.

If you recoil in disgust, one path has been chosen. If you stand strong and unaffected, another has. Whichever it is, you will not know until you leave, and only the cloaked man will decide how he thinks you faired in this matter.

Ask him the question “What could split them?”, as it is all that he shall reply to. He will open his half-decayed mouth slowly, allowing a small cloud of dust to escape. He will begin to tell you a tale of conflict. One of old times of the hardest decisions you could ever know. He will speak of each of the most difficult decisions that have ever been made in this world or any other, and for each he shall tell you only what could have resulted from the decision not selected. Every one of these unchosen results will be of great resolve and promise, something which you could only imagine would be the greatest of results. You will be filled with a powerful woe for those many who chose the wrong path, and begin to reflect on your own back in the cellar. This is your one chance to change the fate of your path. If you doubt your decision, the path will remain the same. If you feel confident, it will change.

Once you have told yourself what you feel about your choice, your path will be set in eternity. The cloaked figure will be gone, the walls will have returned, and you will find yourself in the cellar once again. The ladder will have returned, and you may leave.

For the rest of your life nothing will ever again bother you, for your mind will be eternally haunted by only two things. What would have happened had you chosen the other door, and how did the path chosen for you effect your life?

This conflict is Object 471 of 538.

472. The Holder of the Last Dream

Return to wherever you live, or more appropriately, wherever you call home. Close all the blinds, windows, doors, as well as turn off all the lights, televisions, basically anything that could distract you. Go to your sleeping chamber, lay down, and drift into sleep. This will be a normal, predicable, and relaxing sleep. When you awake however, don’t get up, just stay laying down. Once again, lay there until you fall back to sleep. Since you are already rested, this may take a long time, but keep with it.

Repeat this cycle. Each time, it will take longer and longer for you to fall asleep, but since your body is not used to the situation, you will start to have choppy, grainy, and slightly disturbing dreams. They will fade in and out of your head, coming in distorted and twisted, and seem almost alien to you. It will be like an old VHS tape trying to tune itself, with mistakes and lines flying all over an image you just can’t make out.

Soon this static will consume all, and it will feel you no longer are observing this world, but rather, are a part of it. It will be a simple location, a school, a playground, or something similar. It will go in and out of focus, as if you truly trying to tune it to your mind. Explore this world, touch it, smell it, listen to it. Nothing will seem right, yet nothing on the surface seems wrong, yet a cold, sinking feeling will be in your stomach.

Eventually, you will be tapped on the shoulder. It would be in your best interest not to turn around. A hand will extend by your side, and in it will be two little glass tubes. One will be filled with red sand, and the other blue. These will be the only truly clear things in this world. Take them both, and quietly thank the figure. With that, the room will darken, and you will be awake in your room.

Arise from your bed, and walk to the nearest door, and open. Instead of what would be a closet, your living room, or what not, when you open it, you will walk into what seems like a new plane. It will feel as if you are floating in space, with stars, planets, nebulae, and other celestial objects surrounding you. Take it all in, for it truly will be a beautiful sight. As you look, one by one each one will dim, slowly. It may take hours, but soon the sky will be black except for a couple of faint glowing stars in the distance.

“What have you brought me?” A booming voice will call, with the remaining stars illuminating in rhythm with its words. The great volume will shake the sky, and those stars will scatter, as if falling off the walls of existence.

Reach out, and open your hand, and inside will be your sand tubes. Both will seem to float over your palm. Choose which one you want to part with, open it, and spread the sand all over the place. The dust will fly away, in patterns, glowing, as it covers the ends of the universe. Take the other one, and put it in your pocket. Everything will illuminate again, smile and bow, and thank the voice for its help. Walk over to the door, and enter back into your room.

Take the tube you didn’t give, and pour it all over your bed. Get in, and drift to sleep.

Now if you kept the red tube, you will dream some of the most brutal, and disturbing nightmares you have ever experienced. Time will flow like normal, and any pain or sadness you experience will be as real as you being awake. Just stay alive, that’s all that matters, for if you die in your dream, you never will awake.

The blue tube is just the opposite, you will have an unbelievable sleep, and dance forever with women, friends, anything you desire. Anything you could have ever wanted will be yours. It will be bliss like nothing you ever experienced.

Now, it seems like there is no reason not to take the blue tube, but realize whatever you take, the rest of mankind gets what you gave away, and they will experience it for the next year. Do you want to reward the planet, or torture them? Is it a gift or a punishment. Would you experience any guilt, as you walk down depressed and frightened streets as the night begins to fall? This is your choice, and yours alone. Remember, one night of bliss against hundreds of pain for mankind.

When you wake from this dream, get up, and fold up the sheet you spilled sand over. Whenever you cover yourself with this sheet from now on, you will stay awake and not fatigue. When wearing it, your body might ache, and your spirits could be low, but your eyes will not become weary.

This “cloak” is object 472 of 538. With it, you will never dream again, because you have been to the peak of the Sublime.

473. The Holder of the Bardo

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. Go to the front desk and ask to speak to the “Holder of the Bardo.” The worker will stare you down. Do not flinch. Everything around you will begin to vanish and fade into nothingness, including you. Do not be afraid; that will only make it worse.

If and when you come to, you will not be able to make sense of what you see. It will appear as if scores of bursts of light are appearing, one after another, some vanishing into themselves and others dimming down, as if to seem less threatening. You will see people accompanying these bursts. Do not interact with them, but feel free to look around; this realm is true reality, and its mind wants you to learn what it is. You will notice that the people who didn’t merge with the first forms of light are having “bubbles” formed around them comprised of images from their lives. Get close to one of these ones if you can, but be careful not to get caught in their “bubble,” because you will have to watch their lives flashing before their eyes, and it will slow you down, at the very least.

While you are accompanying the person on their journey, you will come across a group of deities who want nothing more than for their charge to have a safe and prosperous journey into death. Some people, still holding on to their quickly-fading fear, draw this phase out long enough to incur the annoyance of these ‘peaceful’ deities, often bringing out the raw rage and wrath of the Divine, as a way to send the message that the petty fear the person is feeling is nothing compared to what is really happening. The Holder is among these beings. Whether they are in their ‘peaceful’ or ‘wrathful’ state makes no difference, as long as you ask this question: “Can they truly be changed?”

In response, the Holder will stare you in the face with a cold, burning expression; this alone is enough to drive many Seekers to join their fellow dead just for the sake of never having to face that look again. The Holder will open its mouth and vomit. You will be splattered with the vomit. Allow its acidic bite to dissolve your “body,” but remain steadfast and fearless, because this is merely an illusion. Your awareness will remain.

Eventually, your mind will have expanded in size and scope to a point where you have a definite form once more, but you will not recognize yourself, nor will you have any sense of identity. Amnesia is not an accurate way to describe it; you will remember everything, but you will realize that you are, and have always been, an illusion. Nevertheless, you must keep your cool; the Object is calling. You will be behind the mental institution. There will be a wooden rocking cradle in front of you. Take it and go.

The cradle is Object 473 of 538. It is now up to you to decide whether or not the one who belongs in it should be born.

474. Holder of the Cleansed

Go to a lake, any lake will do. The only requirement is that its within at most a mile of another smaller lake. You must be at the lake by 6:33 PM. However, it must be dark at this time, so it probably works best in the winter months. Sit at its shores until it is exactly 6:59 PM, at which point you must bellow across the water, “I have come to see the Holder of the Cleansed!” Wait a minute and check your watch. Make sure it’s digital, or else you won’t notice the difference. If, after a minute it says 7:00, you should run, and do not look back and do not stop until daylight, or face unknown consequences.

However if your watch changes to 6:60, the water will start to ripple. It will keep rippling until your watch hits 6:66, when a swell will form in the middle of the lake. A booming voice will ring across the shores and ask “Are you without filth?” Do not answer yes, no matter how pure of heart you think you are. If you do so, the water will turn a shade of red, and rise quickly, swallowing you up. This water will not feel cold, but rather boiling hot. You will not drown, but forever be trapped in the burning pool.

Instead, tell it your biggest mistake or worst transgression. If it disagrees, you will face the same fate as if you lied, but if you’re successful, the voice will tell you that you’ll face “judgment”. The swell will grow bigger, and you should keep your eyes on it the whole time. The process might be fast or quite lengthy. Regardless, keep staring. Eventually it will break, and a tall figure will stand in the middle. His face will be covered with a scarf, and his eyes will be pale and veined, almost lifeless. He will raise his hand and signal you to approach. Step onto the water with no hesitation, for if you show any doubt, you will sink to the bottom for eternity. It will be as if solid, and keep walking until it motions for you to stop.

He’ll ask again, in a hissing voice “Are you without filth?” Do not answer this question, for you already have, but ask if he’s the “Holder of the Cleansed.” He will look you up and down with his ghostly eyes, and then hold out his hand. In it there will be a tiny seed no bigger than your fingernail. When you look down at it, and then back up, you will notice the figure has vanished. When you realize this, you will fall into the water. It will feel thick and be frigidly cold. Swim, and don’t stop until you reach the shore. It will feel like hours, and as if the shore is never moving closer. Keep going, and whatever you do, do not loosen your grip on the seed.

Once you reach the shore, you will be as if perfectly dry. Go straight to the other lake that’s nearby. Once you reach the shore, throw the seed into the water. Once again a swell will form. Don’t move your eyes from it.

Eventually out of the middle, a giant plant will rise. It will shoot many branches in all directions, from them giant fruits will grow in the shape of deformed, mutilated, and scarred people. They will have looks of agony and horror on their faces, many will be bloody or eyeless. The stench of death and rot will fill the air, and the plant will produce hissing and growling noises. Soon it will stop growing, and the lake will go calm and silent. One branch will eventually grow out to you on the shore. Hold out your hand, and it will drop a fruit into your hand. It will be red and with smudged black stripes. Right there you must eat this fruit. The taste will horrible and ash-like. Make sure you eat all of it before you leave, and leave nothing. No stem, no skin, no seeds, nothing.

Soon you will feel lightheaded, and collapse on the shore. In the morning you will awake at 6:59 AM, and all traces of the plant or even the figure will be gone. You will feel very sick, and soon vomit. Your vomit will be strangely black, but in it will be the pit from the fruit you ate. Carved into it at a microscopic level will be the words, “Squandered Second Chances Aren’t Forgotten.” From now on, all those that you have wronged in the past will forgive you of your mistakes. Cross them again, however, and you will face a fate even They dread the thought of.

The Pit is Object 474 of 538.

475. Holder of Coincidence

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 Coincidence”. You will actually be speaking to the Holder, who in this case, prefers a more ‘hands-on’ approach.

He will lead you to the back door of the complex, and simply leave. Do not open the door, for the last circle in hell shrinks to compare to what lies beyond it. Rather, knock four times to be granted entrance, and proceed. The door will close behind you, casting you into pitch black.

After a moment or two, you will hear running footsteps, human in pattern. Ask the darkness, “What role does Chance play in The Game?” The footsteps will pause, lights will come on, and you will see the Holder again, but in his true state. His face has only been described as the most horribly scarred and disfigured, and he will begin to move towards you in an inhuman rhythm, almost as if frames have been removed from your perspective. When he approaches you, do not EVEN THINK to let him smell the fear on you, and receive your answer.

The most horrific screech imaginable greets your ears now, and through it, you will realize how every action you’ve taken on this journey thus far has harmed your loved ones. Many kill themselves in that instant, going for the suicide-by-Holder approach, but if you can retain your mind, you can move on.

The Holder will move away from you, and glance skywards. If you follow his gaze, you will see thousands of cocoons attached to the walls around you. He will tell you that you have been tasked with finding the butterfly that is his Object. He also informs you that you have a 98% Chance of going mad first, like the Others. Ignore him and proceed. You will know that you have found it when you open the cocoon and the butterfly has been impaled with a sewing needle, yet it lives.

This Butterfly is Object 475 of 538.

476. The Holder of Comfort

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 the Comfort”. The worker will always respond with a warm smile and say, “Of course, right this way.” Follow the attendant to a door just within the hallway. He or she will open the door for you, and beckon you in.

Walk through the door and see an elderly woman sitting in the corner. She will respond to the question, “Why should I continue?” She will turn to you and say the most encouraging thing to you, something that will drive you to continue with the hardships of the quest you have chosen. You will sit on her bed, and listen with the utmost respect and admiration. The two of you can talk for as long as you like. Many a Seeker have spent weeks in that room, content with living in a temporary paradise, as many would be.

When you have finished your conversation, press the call button for the attendant. They will walk in with a platter, upon which rests a gun. The gun has one bullet, and you have three choices.

One, kill the woman for her Object, and continue the fight.

Two, kill yourself, or shoot the attendant. (Both end the same way…)

Or three, stay in the room forever, but know that the woman is not the same.

Look behind you and realize that the two of you weren’t alone. Many people holding the same gun stand in the background, unable to make the terrible choice.

Her Object is 476 of 538.

477. Holder of Forgotten Truths

In any city in any country, visit the library of your choice.

Upon entering, if the librarian at the front desk is a man, enter the fiction section and browse. After some time, you will find a short book, the title of which will be familiar, though you remember nothing about it. Take it out, and read it, and the feeling of familiarity will remain, but you will not remember what happens next. Upon finishing, leave the library, and seek another.

If, however, the librarian is a woman, approach and ask her for assistance. Tell her that you wish to find a book, but you have forgotten it.

When she prompts you for details, tell her that you remember the phrase ‘clear blue sky’, but not the context. If she prompts for more details, you have the wrong library. In this case, do not simply leave, give more, and contradictory details about the book, and wait until she tells you she cannot help you. Then sigh, and admit you may not be properly remembering the details, thank her for her assistance, and leave, to seek another library.

If you have the right library, however, the librarian will tell you she knows precisely which book you mean, and lead you into the library. She will take you to the stacks, then return to the front desk, with some final instructions.

Enter the stacks, and within, you will find a wizened old man, sitting before a large leather-bound book. He will nod at you, and ask you your name. You will find yourself unable to remember. Tell him so. He will suggest a name, and ask you if that was it. Simply repeat that you don’t remember. He will repeat this several times. Always repeat that you do not remember. Eventually, He will shrug, and simply take to calling you ‘my child’.

He will invite you to sit and chat, though He will never let you speak on your own, instead asking you questions.

You will know the answers to all of the questions, but will be unable to remember them. They will be connected to your quest so far – what city are you in, and what cities have you visited previously; the number of libraries visited; the number of librarians of each sex; the titles of any books read. You will grow frustrated as you know you should know the answers, but they fail to materialize. You will be tempted to lie, simply to avoid admitting you don’t know an answer, but resist the temptation, always answer truthfully. You have forgotten. There is no shame in this.

After He finishes the questioning, He will lean back in his chair, and open the book. He will give you the correct answer to each question, as well as describing your conduct in each library. If you have followed these instructions, He will then close the book, and hand it to you, without another word. He will seem, in fact, to have forgotten you are there. Take the book, and leave. The book, you will soon find, grants you the ability to remember anything anyone other than yourself has forgotten, at the cost of your own memories up to this moment.

If, however, you have failed to follow the instructions, He will levy a punishment against you for each failure.

If you failed to stop to read a book upon encountering a male librarian, He curses your lack of imagination, and sends you away. If this is your only failure, consider yourself lucky.

If you failed to deal with incorrect female librarians in a polite manner, He will curse your rudeness, and again send you away. Upon leaving the library, you will find you remember, unbidden, in complete detail, every slight against you, ranging from simple rudeness to crimes against your person. This will pass, only to be followed by remembering every slight you’ve ever committed against another person. This too will pass, and you will be able to continue on your way, until the cycle repeats the next day. And every day for the rest of your life.

If this is your only crime, you should still count yourself lucky, for the final punishment is still worse.

If you lie, and claim you remember the answer to any of the questions He asks, even if you give the correct answer, He will slam the book closed and call you a liar. When he sends you away, you will find you still cannot remember your name, or those of any person you know. Or the city from which you come. You will never be able to remember them, nor will you be able to build a new life, for the memories of any new name you take, any new people you meet, and new city you settle in, will slip away as surely as these.

So, I bid you, remember these instructions well.

The book is Object 477 of 538. It is heavy, and grows heavier each day.

478. The Holder of Academia

In any city, in any country, in late afternoon, go to the elementary school nearest your house. As you enter the front office, speak to the secretary. She should be preparing to leave. If she is not, leave and come back another day. If the time is right, ask to see “The Holder of Academia.” She will ask you if you are a relation, and you must respond, “No, I am a student.”

The secretary will give you a visitor’s pass. On this you must write, “Holder, Academia: Student.” She will then take you to a classroom, on the furthest end of the school, on the side of the school opposite the sun. She will open the door for you but she will not follow you in.

Inside there will be a young boy, aged 9, scribbling on a single piece of paper. An old, frayed navy blue bookbag will rest slumped next to his desk. It is one of only two desks in an otherwise empty room. On your desk is a small pocket knife.

Sit in the desk. The boy will continue to pour over his paper. After the sun has set completely, if you wait long enough, the boy will whisper to you without looking up: “I can’t figure out the answer to the last question. Do you know?”

Tell him that you are having trouble with the test as well, but that if he lets you hold his paper and see his answers, you’ll write the final answer down for him and give it back finished. Then he can go home.

The boy will nod and hand you his test. At the bottom of the paper is the question: “Would you spill blood for your quest?”

Open the pocket knife and cut your index finger, then write your answer in your blood. Then get up from the desk and leave the room, taking the test with you.

The boy cannot go home until he turns in his test.

The finished test is object 478 of 538. The innocent suffer because of your obsession.

479. The Holder of Eisoptrophobia

Go to any mirror, anywhere, it doesn’t matter. Be sure to bring along a sword. Not a pocketknife, not a dagger, not a halberd, especially not a gun, a sword. Stand just far enough back from the mirror to hold the sword straight out, with the tip touching the glass. In this position, look your reflection in the eyes and say with all the boldness you have, “I am not afraid anymore.” If your reflection is still, you’re lucky. You’ve been marked for death. It’ll find you somehow. Demons have their ways.

However, if your reflection replies with “I’ll be the judge of that.”, then your unholy quest as a seeker is destined to continue. At this point, you have two choices. You can either say to your reflection, “I must hone my skills.”, in which case it will bow to you and allow you to leave so that you can train to use the sword in your hand, or you can say “So be it.”

If you chose the second one, every light bulb illuminating the room will shatter, but the room in the mirror will still be the same. The lights in the mirror, however, will begin to dim. You must jump into the mirror before it goes completely dark, or your reflection will leap forward and slaughter you in the most painful way possible, banishing you to the darkest corners of hell. If you make it, the room will be dark save for a soft light emanating from the floor.

Music will begin to play, any track your reflection chooses to accentuate the coming battle, usually some foul piece of death metal so dark and foreboding that its rhythm alone may drive you mad. Hope that it’s a track you like, because you’ll need all the help you can get in this battle. Your reflection has had much more time to hone its skills than you have, being trapped in the same room since you were born. As quick as you can after the music starts, but no sooner, leap to your feet and prepare for the battle. Make no mistake, your reflection is more powerful and skilled than you could ever hope to be, but fight anyway. Fight with all your heart, put your very soul into every swing, and most of all, remember that if the light from the floor dims, your reflection is becoming stronger.

If your reflection defeats you, kneel and say that you are unworthy. If you are a compassionate person, your reflection will show you mercy and you will be back where you were when you first learned of the holders, having forgotten all about your quest, and all the items you gathered will be back where they were before you reached them. However, if you defeat your reflection, it will kneel, drop its sword and order you to finish it off. Do not obey it, for if you do, you will die with it. Instead, ask it one question and only one question. “As a seeker, what is my power over you?”

Your reflection will get up and grab its sword. Do not attack. If you stand perfectly still, it will thrust the sword into the ground and hug you. The hug will feel like the crawling and biting of a thousand insects, but do not pull away. It will then kiss your forehead and disappear, leaving you with a whisper of “Good luck, my liege.” You will then be back in the room with the mirror, and the lights will be back to normal.

If you look at your reflection, it will smile warmly at you, no matter what expression you wear, and if you give anybody’s reflection an order, they will obey. Reflections will also speak to you, becoming your closest friends. You will notice there is a tattoo on your forehead. It is different for every seeker, depending on their personality and how well their duel went.

That tattoo is object 479 of 538.

480. The Holder of Paranoia

In any city, in any country, go to any haunted house on a Friday, October the 13th. In there you will fall into the state of mind where primal fear takes over, fueled by a feeling of being watched, followed, or constantly having your potential assailant right over your shoulder. Do not mistake this for mere paranoia, for if that is your only thought then you will never know what hit you from behind.

When this seemingly irrational fear hits you, think of what you fear the most. Once you have this thought clearly envisioned in your mind and can feel it almost as if it were happening, turn around and swing as hard as you possibly can behind you. If you spin and are knocked to your haunches, remain there, because struggling will only make your fate worse. If, however, you hit something, turn around and observe closely the form that the creature you struck has taken. It will be somebody or something dear to you. It will ask why you have injured it, it will tell you to go on and leave it alone, but don’t. This is where the faint of heart need not apply, for when you smite this creature and kill it, the person or object whose form it has taken will hang in the balance from this point on. You should decide now if gaining the object is worth it.

When the creature dies, it will explode in a puff of fumes, leaving behind a horrible scent, but you must inhale it deeply, as deeply as you possibly can until you pass out. You will awaken behind the person that the demon took the form of. Your trial is to torture them through fear. You must frighten them beyond all understanding using the form and powers that the fumes you inhaled have given you, to the brink of driving them insane. If you did everything right, the person will pick up the nearest sharp object and drive it into their eyes. Do not be alarmed, as this can be undone with the object.

As they lay dying, pick up the object they drove into their eyes and it will turn into an elaborate dagger in your hands, a pulsating red gem set in the handle and an eye-shaped recess in the rather wide, long blade. This is where you must take care, for if you do this wrong, the person you hold dear is gone for good and the Holder will refuse to see you. You must slash the person’s chest with the dagger just deep enough to allow the eye to drip with blood, but do not drench it. A few seconds after this, the person will awaken, their wounds healed and all paranoid thoughts and feelings gone from them. Now close your eyes and stab the dagger behind you. If you connect with something, leave the dagger in and turn around. If not, it would be better not to open your eyes, for you and the one dear to you will know a fate worse than simple death. Once you’ve turned to face the Holder, he will smile wickedly in his true form, perhaps driving you to madness as he is the embodiment of all that makes people paranoid.

If you can stand it, look him in the eyes and ask him, “Why must they hide?” The Holder will tell you of every feat of stealth, good and bad, that was ever performed by any creature or soul, natural or otherwise. You’ll hear of everything from rapes, murders and robberies to surprise parties. Hope that you do not get distracted from the tale until its end, or the Holder will become displeased and leave you in your ghastly form for all eternity. If you make it through his story, he will nod and say to you, “Indeed, you have proven yourself worthy,” but do not believe him! Remain suspicious and as The Holder moves to draw the dagger from his body, take it first and embed it into one of his eyes! He will scream and curse you as you pull out the dagger with his eye on it. Fumes will come from that wound as well. You must inhale them deeply as you did before. You will again pass out, but you will awaken in your true form, next to the one who gouged out their eyes. You will see that they are fine, and that the dagger is in your hands.

When you awaken, you will be able to see every demon and monstrosity that would usually make you paranoid, so long as the dagger is with you…If you can turn around fast enough. When you slice yourself with the blade, it will rid you temporarily of all fear, but be careful…now that you’re being watched, you may just be scared into killing yourself.

The blood-ridden dagger is object 480 of 538.

481. Holder of The Universe

In any city, any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. At the front desk, ask for someone who calls himself the Holder of the Universe. The man at the desk will look at you as if you’re insane (which you may well be by now) and pretend that he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. After a few minutes of staring, he’ll start down a hallway. Follow him.

On the way down to the end of the hallway he will tell you about his patient. If he does, he’ll tell you that the man killed his whole family, 5 kids, his wife, and both of his dogs. He’ll tell you how the man first tied down the kids and his wife. Then he took the two dogs and cut both of their throats. He then ripped off all the skin of the dogs with his teeth. At this point the family was extremely scared and dumbfounded at what the man, the “Holder of the Universe,” had done. He then turned to them, covered in blood, and stared into his youngest daughter’s eyes. She was only four years old at the time. He untied her and then threw her to the ground and beat her to death. The rest of the family was found with repeated shotgun blasts to the face. They couldn’t even be recognized, he’ll tell you. At that point you should’ve reached the end of the hall.

“Well, here it is.” He’ll point at the heavy door and hand you a rusty key before walking away. Once you put the key in the hole, the door will open by itself. Inside, there is a plain room with an ordinary man sitting in a chair behind a table, with another chair on your side. Go ahead and take a seat. Greet the man, as he will probably greet you first. He is a friendly man, and smiles often.

If you’re curious, ask him anything you want, and he’ll answer it in the way anyone would. But if you ask him “Why did this happen?” His face will turn grim, and the lights will go out and back on quickly. When they’re back on, the walls will be covered in strange writings, some carved into the wall itself, and some written in blood. The man will now be an old man, blood dripping from his thin hands. He’ll stand up and throw the table across the room, shattering it on the wall. He will then knock you off your chair and scream your answer at you in a horrible language that you never learned, but somehow can understand. Once he is done, the lights will flicker. You will then be sitting back in your chair, everything looking as it did before. He will stand up and shake your hand. He will then hand you a shotgun shell, and he will tell you exactly where the rest went in horribly graphic detail. He will also tell you for whom his last one is for, although the mere knowledge of Him may be enough to drive you insane.

The last shotgun shell is object number 481 of 538.

482. The Holder of Enlightenment

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 if you can visit a man who calls himself the “Holder of Enlightenment.” If the worker opens the door behind him and beckons you follow him, do not follow. Each step taken in his wake will cast one memory from your mind, and you will die knowing nothing but fear and loneliness.

If, instead, the worker tells you to visit the Chaplain, ask for his keys and enter the hallway behind him to find the chapel. If a service is being held, come back the next day. If the chapel is closed, locate the chapel key and insert it into the door, but do not open it. Turn your back to the chapel and wait. Do not turn around. You will hear a child pleading to be let out, a rattling of the door handle, and the child’s frantic screams as he is being torn apart by some foul creature. If you turn around at any time, your will will fail you, and you shall be reduced to obey whatever the creature commands. When the child has screamed his last, count to five, and turn back around; there will be a red key on the keychain that had not been there before. Use it to open the chapel.

The room you step into will be altogether different from the one you saw through the window, if there was one: a high vaulted ceiling disappears into darkness, and all around: the cold, stone pillars of a basilica. It will be dimly lit, yet with no discernible source of light. There are no sounds save for a low hum; your footsteps will not echo, nor will your voice ring out. Yet, attempt no speech, else the breath will be drawn from your lungs, and your ribs crushed under the weight of the great stones. Walk forward through the pillars until you reach the final row. There will be a missing pillar; stand in its place and call out “I know what I seek.”

If a voice replies “You do not know,” run forward, beyond the pillars as quickly as you can, and hope that the stone floor fades into the grass of the park nearest your residence. If instead you hear footsteps echo from the gloom, stay where you are and look only directly ahead. A man wearing a Roman collar will appear and walk calmly toward you. His response to any utterance, save one, will be to sever your nerves one by one, reducing you to a paralyzed, drooling, mindless husk. The one exception is to ask, “How can it be undone?”

He will tell you of the true origins of religion, of the forces at work seeking to dominate and control human kind: of the nature of the link between brain, mind, and soul, and finally of the true purpose of the objects, and how that purpose might be wrought or corrupted. If in attaining this enlightenment your mind has not collapsed into insanity, the chaplain will crack his head on the pillar behind you, and hand you his brain.

The chaplain’s brain is object 482 of 538.

483. The Holder of the Code

In any city, in any country, anywhere in the world, take yourself to any halfway house or mental institution you can get yourself into. However for this holder, you may be better off taking yourself to the mental institution; if you cannot hold up to this holders trials it is exactly where you will end up. Once you reach the front desk look and see if the receptionist is typing on a computer, if not you may leave and safely live out the remainder of your days. If however the receptionist is typing something, ask to see someone who calls themselves “The Holder of the Code.” The receptionist will type faster and faster, until finally their fingers snap from the relentless typing and they will pass out.

Once the person behind the desk is out cold, walk around to the computer and look at the screen, despite their frantic typing you will only notice a 3-digit number on the screen, and a key underneath the keyboard. Take the key and find the room number that was printed on the computer screen. It may seem like a eternity before you actually find it, but you must press on, lest the Holder deem you unworthy.

As soon as you have found the room unlock it with the key you found at the front desk and step inside, oh and make sure you lock the door behind you because if the holder has deemed you unworthy then a terror more horrible than anything you can ever imagine will open the door and then proceed to chew upon you for all eternity. Lie down on the bed, and close your eyes. Wait exactly two minutes (count it in your head if you must) and as soon as those two minutes are up, you must scream at the top of your lungs “I wish to break the code!” If you have succeeded then when you open your eyes you will be in a dark, office-like area with only one small gleam of light emanating from a single computer screen. If the holder does not see you as fit, when you open your eyes you will have joined a legion of impaled corpses in a sea of rock spikes, forever forced to suffer the same death, over and over.

Walk to the one computer screen, and see a woman sitting down, typing frantically as did the person behind the desk when you first began (if you are a female it will be a male typing here.) You must ask them a single question and nothing more, and you must ask them “What is it that keeps them in check?” The person will stop typing and stand, a bright light will shine down upon them, revealing the most beautiful man or woman you have ever seen. They will try to seduce you, however you must persist and as they step closer you must say with all your conviction “I will not break the code which keeps me in check.”

If you have done correctly, the person will let out a ear-piercing scream which drives most seekers to insanity, and then slowly melt away onto the floor, leaving a pile of bones. Reach down and you will find the skull has a small hole in the back. Reach inside with two fingers and pull out the small memory card inside. You will notice that the “lock” switch on the side is set to “lock” slide it down and everything will go black, you will wake up, two hours after the time you began your quest in your home, on your bed with the memory card in hand.

The memory card you hold is object 483 of 538, do you dare see the information it holds within?

484. The Holder of the Eight

The Seven have been locked away, but dare you conquer the eighth and final Holder of this unholy pact which you have unwittingly exposed yourself to?

Yes, of course you do. You are a Seeker and your foolishness knows no bounds. Besides, now that the Seventh has told you his secret, it’s not easy to turn back. So may I relate to you, now, my tale. The Tale of The Holder of the Eight, and how to obtain my Object.

Your journey will be long, and your journey will be brutal. I have no mercy, an dno pity for beings such as yourself. You willingly subject yourself to this, do not expect me to feel sorry for you. You must remember one thing and one thing, only; Eight. Keep the number with you at all times, for it will dictate all that you do along the way, as it does me.

Enter any city, in any country of your choosing, but make sure that it was the eighth city founded there since the current generation of inhabitants took root. Do not get this number wrong. I cannot control the forces which are outside of my number, and which will devour your soul should you choose the wrong city.

Upon your arrival, it is imperative that you sleep in a motel or boarding house for eight nights before attempting to locate me. Do not remain in your chosen building during the day. It is best left unsaid what will happen to you, should you do this.

Each night you will be visited by a dream, a vision, one that is somewhere between hallucination and reality. The first night, the vision will be tame. I will join you as a humble roommate, and we may chat about whatever you wish. You can ask me anything, so long as it does not pertain to the number eight. I may lie to you, I may tell you the truth. You may know when I am lying, you may not.

The purpose of this excercise is simply so that you may become acquainted with me. Observe everything I do, Seeker, for I will not repeat myself in word or action. Should you fail to memorize everything I do, then no amount of screaming will stifle your pain. I will be uncharacteristically optimistic about my answers and my demeanor, and I should think you will be glad to see a Holder so cheerful. We are not often this way.

On the second and third nights, the dreams will not be so complacent to leave you sane. My pets will burst from every open space and tear you asunder, climbing through any window and smashing through any door to get to you. I am not at liberty to discuss why I wish this upon you, simply know that it is MY will that allows you to be here at all; be glad I don’t have worse done to you than this.

The next few nights will be worse, oh, so much worse. My fallen brothers, the numbers come before me, will wish their vengeance and I cannot control anything outside of my own number. Each will have his turn, some on the same nights as one another, some on different nights. Suffice to say that you may take no action to stop these dreams, and you may do nothing which will cause harm to my brothers’ spirits.

Unless, of course, you wish to die. Then, by all means, be my guest.

By the eighth night I know you will be fragile, and so I shall visit you again on that night. However, my demeanor will not be so charistmatic or friendly this time. I will arm you with the instruction on how to succeed at my next task, and I shall inform you upon wthat which you are about to face. Should you decline, I will slice your head from your shoulders and end your pathetic existence in the only act of ‘mercy’ I am aware of.

Accept, however, and I will lead you to an abandoned mental institution, eight blocks from where you took up residence. In the dark of night, you will see that this building has replaced some other establishment which perviously held this spot, and you will know that all inside of it at the time of it’s transformation are now dead, thanks to your willingness to accept such a challenge. Steel your heart this night, Seeker, for by the end of my challenge I hope to have ripped it from your chest and erected it on a stick. I loathe you, and all others like you.

From here on, my approach to this will not be nearly so hands-on. I shall not visit you, nor shall my brothers torment you. You need only enter the instituion and declare to empty air “I wish to speak with the Holder of the Eight.” Should you hear and see nothing in response, you have already failed. Lie down and die, now, Seeker, for it will be far better than what is to come.

If you are worthy, however, the room around you will shift and change. In it’s delapidated place will stand a building of pristine and eerie whiteness, a white not known to man by any stretch of the imagination. A solitary desk of relatively normal black wood shall stand out in the center of this room, with a creature behind it typing away as if thi sis normal.

You know all of those desk-workers you have so eagerly dispatched of, tricked, talked to, or otherwise sacrificed to your greedy desire for more Objects? This is his true self, the bein gbehind it all. Every soul that has ever been given to thi sbeast has remained within his torturous gut for all eternity. Pray he does not make you one of these souls.

He will rise without a word from you, and sit you into a chair you did not previously see before. Now, the interrogation has begun.

Should you survive the next eight months with your sanity in tact, I will be impressed. This monster will subject you to the most twisted conversation you have ever had in your life. He will accuse you of things, twist your words to get you to confess, then verbally reprimand you for what he has falsely accused you of. He will bend your mind, chew on your soul, and then spit it back out to you as if it is the most vile thing he has ever tasted. And once he has done this, you may believe him.

If, however, you possess the strength of mind and soul to overcome this, you will remember my number. Eight will solve all of the beast’s problems and puzzles, and each time he attacks you or rebukes you for some new crime, rebuttal with the Eight. It will be your salvation.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? But be wary, Seeker, for it will no tbe. The Eight is no ta magical toy for you to use, and I pray you understand what it is you are doing when you so eagerly throw my number in the beast’s face. Be clever with your answers, conceal the Eight beneath them, for if you do not the beast will find it, and will easily twist even that answer. I do not appreciate my number being so soullessly abused.

If your faith in yourself and the number Eight remain sat the end of the eight month conversation, the beast shall lead you to a corridor of white-walled rooms similar to the first, but completely bare inside. There will be eight, and if he leads you to the eighth, then you have been deemed worthy of the next portion of my challenge. Remember that the next eight days will be the last eight of your emotions and your faith, save in the Eight. Should you forget my number, you will fail.

For eight days you will be subjected to endless amounts of torture; mental, emotional, and physical. Beasts you cannot comprehend will rend your soul and your body alike into pieces, then reconstruct you for their own amusement. Each will bare the mask of my brother number’s, starting from one and ending with seven. Should you, at any time, forget that Eight is your only salvation and throw youself at the mercy of another number, I shall make you my play-thing for the rest of time.

On the ninth day, you will be freed. I do not know or control how this will happen, for it is outside of my number, but remember the Eight nonetheless. It will save you, I promise.

Now you enter the final stages of my task. You will be lead back to your original dwelling in this city, but a new occupant will have taken your place. This is another Seeker, come to claim my Object and my number in the time which has passed since you first accepted my calenge. Yes, it is true; it has only ben eight days and the rest of time that you spent learning aboutmy number was a lie. Steel your shock, and pose as the Holder of the Eight for this new Seeker.

Deceive him. Twist the Eight, bend it, turn it into whatever you’d like, but make him truly believe that what you have taught him about the Eight is true. For him to succeed is for you to fail. Remember, however, that he has been given the same instructions you have. Even after all the emotional and physical torment you have boen though, you must succesfully fool him into thinking you are the Holder. Just as I was optimistic towards you, remain optimistic towards this new Seeker. If he sees through this ruse, he will kill you.

When your conversation with the new Seeker is finished, kill him, by whatever means necessary. His soul will be delivered to the institution you have recently escaped from, and he will find himself tortured unimaginably for eternity. You now have his innocence on your conscience, but remain faithful to the Eight. The greater your understanding of it, the greater your understanding of the necessity of your actions, and the more at peace you shall be.

Sleep one final night in the hotel, and dream of whatever you’d like. I think you shall find your dreams are much more under your control than before, and pertain to one particular subject more, as well. When you awaken, there should be a cheap, plastic Eightball on the bed-rest beside you.

The Eightball is my gift to you for achieving what no other Seeker has achieved before. It does not have any special powers; it does not always give you the truth, or answer any question you wish of it. Nor does it conrol the minds of others. It is an ordinary Eightball, save being an Object, and it will serve as your only reminder of the Eight which you now possess such great understaning. My understanding of.

Use the Eight for whatever you’d like from now on. Bend psyches to your will, persuade anyone of anything, so long as it pertains to the number eight. The Eightball will remind you of what you have recently learned, for it is Object 484 of 538.

485. The Holder of the Nibelung

In any city, in any country, go to the nearest train station you can find. Proceed to move towards the information booth and ask the person there to instruct you on where to find a train that leads to the “Holder of the Nibelung.” Should he look at you in an awkward way or tell you that he does not know such place, leave immediately and never ask for that train again as you were never meant to even go near the place where the train will take you. If the person grows pale and mumbles a faint “follow me,” do so. You will be taken to a very distant part of the train station, which you never thought existed before in the place. You will be left alone near the train tracks to wait for the incoming train. Suddenly, you will see a train approaching, similar to any other common train you have seen before, but instead of a number or letter, a very strange mark will be branded on its cars. You must take the third car, and only the third car in the train as any other car will cause you multiple effects from schizophrenia to heat stroke which will eventually cause a painful death.

Once you enter the train, take a seat and the doors will shut tight behind you. You will feel a rush of cold air, colder than anything you have felt before as the train starts moving at a very fast pace and everything outside goes pitch black. In a seat close to yours you will soon notice a very strange person garbed in a black trench coat, wearing a black hat that obscures his facial features entirely even though the train is in fact well lit. Do not stare at the man for very long as this will enrage him, causing the freezing train car to turn red with heat to a point that any living thing inside will incinerate almost instantly. The train will abruptly stop once, but you must not stand up from your seat. Instead, the figure accompanying you will rise and proceed to head to the exit and take off his hat, revealing his face. He will ask you, “Are you one of those foolish enough to Seek?” You must then respond with all sincerity why you became a Seeker. He will exit the train and disappear into the darkness, cursing the Seekers for their foolishness. The train will then move again, this time the temperature dropping more by the second. The train will stop abruptly, and you must immediately leave the train.

You will end up in a hall that resembles that of a castle. As you walk further to the end of the room, you will notice various ice columns adorning your way, each containing a single person maimed in the most grotesque and horrifying ways ever, their suffering frozen in place for what seems like an eternity.

At the very end of the room there will be a large, circular pedestal surrounded by thirteen colossal statues, each wielding a sword pinned against the ground. In front of the pedestal will be a very large bearded man who has remained stoic ever since you noticed him, apparently not impressed or surprised by your visit. Anything you utter at this point will come out as a wail of irrational pain that you will feel, with no apparent cause. The only words capable of exiting your mouth in this place are those which you must ask the bearded Holder, “What will become of me once they are together?” The Holder will then open his mouth, but no sound will come out. Your mind will fill with images of yourself in your future, and all the suffering and pain you will feel once they come together will come to you at once. The pain itself may cause you to want to scream your lungs out, but your wails will just cause the pain to worsen. Once the ordeal is complete, the man will shift from his position, leading to the pedestal, which contains a very large sword in its center. Draw it from its place and examine the ancient runes that cover the blade, exactly 2537 black marks. If the thirteen statues draw their swords from their place and point them at you, the best option right now is suicide. If you let the statues get you before this, they will obliterate you in the most horrid and painful way conceivable and you will be frozen on an ice column, feeling the pain of being maimed constantly added with the constant suffering of not having any oxygen for all eternity.

If however, the statues raise their swords high over their heads, the sword is yours to keep. This sword is the legendary Balmung. For every Object you already posses, one of the black runes will light up as a bright green light. The temperature will begin to rise and the ice columns will melt. All the maimed figures will be angered at you as you did that which they could not do and made them end up in eternal suffering. They will all charge at you and start devouring you. You can fend them off with your newly acquired sword if you like, but they will eventually out turn you and you will be knocked out by them.

You will open your eyes again and you will appear in the place you call home with the Balmung at your side.

The Balmung is object 485 of 538. As the amount of Objects you possess increases, the sword will become stronger, and so will your skills with weaponry. Beware, as giving the sword too much power will cause the inexperienced Seeker to drive it against themselves.

486. The Holder of Self-Loathing

In order to complete this trial, you will need to bring a gun with you. Make sure that it is new, and loaded with just one bullet.

In any city, in any country, go to any funeral home you can get yourself into. Once there, open a casket that is not being viewed by anyone. If it is empty, They know what you are doing, and you will join the dearly departed. However, do know that your death will be quick, and well respected; a fate many seekers would take. If it is inhabited by a cadaver, quietly demand to see the holder of Self-Loathing.

The body should get up from its eternal slumber, walk away from you, and promptly disappear. Step in to the coffin, lie down, close your eyes, and close it. If the holder deems you worthy, you will be taken from the coffin, and led into a dark room, labeled, ’employees only.’ If no one comes, the coffin will lock and you will slowly asphyxiate.

The person guiding you into the room will disappear once you enter the dark room. The room will emanate a feeling of utter depression. The walls are bleak, and although you can see, everything seems dead, the only ornament in the room, a mirror, will show you killing yourself; try not to look at it. This is your last chance to escape, if you wish to leave, yell at the top of your lungs, ‘I hold dear to life!’ If they believe you, you will fall unconscious, and wake up in your room, the day before your quest began, completely oblivious to the objects. You have been given a fresh start at life, use it well. If, however, you decide to say, ‘I do not fear hopelessness,’ your true love will manifest his or herself in front of you.

Your true love will tell you a story about all the wonderful things that happened today. It may be the most wonderful story you have ever heard during your quest for the objects; you will feel happy to be where you are. You cannot let these feelings betray you. If you allow them to continue, the holder will deem you unworthy of the objects. Your true love will rip you apart with his or her bare hands. It will be a most painful death.

Without any emotion, you must convince your love to kill his or herself. You must tell them how horrible life is, that they are worthless and stupid. You must tell your love how much pleasure his or her death would bring you. You must believe every word you say, for the holder will not tolerate anything else. You will hate yourself, a hate beyond comprehension. But for your sake, do not show it. Eventually, no matter how optimistic your love was before, he or she will accept death. They will show no emotion, as you have drained all of it out of him or her. Your beloved will then ask for something to use to kill his or herself. Produce the gun, and hand it over. You must watch carefully as the one you loved takes his or her life in front of you. The sight of it will be burned into your memory for all eternity.
The holder will appear, applauding you. He will appear as a very thin man, about 10 years older than you, no matter how old you are. He has grey hair, no matter his age, he will be wearing no shirt, and his trousers are torn. If you are female, the same will hold true, except that the holder will be female and wearing a slightly torn shirt. After all, even holders have manners. This is you in ten years. You must ask, ‘Why do They hate Their existence?’

The holder will explain, in detail, why everyone throughout history has ever suffered depression. He will tell you what they did to deserve such a state, or what happened to them. He will tell you how they lived, and how they died. You will feel an impossible urge to end your life like they did, and the holder will gladly give you whatever you need. Whatever you do, don’t give in. If you do, your suffering will not end, you will take the holder’s place until someone else chooses your fate.

Once the tale is finished, the holder will hand you the gun your beloved used to end his or her life. It will be covered in his or her blood, and it will be loaded with one bullet, made of his or her bone. You will fall unconscious and wake up in a hotel closest to where you call home. You have a room on the house, you deserve it, after all.

The bullet is object 486 of 538.

487. The Holder of Acceptance

In any city, in any country, go to a private doctor’s office. Walk up to the receptionist and ask her if there is an appointment for the Holder of Acceptance. If she says there isn’t or doesn’t understand what you are talking about, leave and try again the next day. If she turns around and starts muttering to herself, sit down in a chair and wait. Do not bother to listen to the muttering, for it consists of the thoughts of the mad and would make no sense to your ears.

After some time, it could be seconds or it could be hours, the receptionist will call for the Holder. You will see an elderly woman dressed in black that you didn’t notice before stand and walk towards the back. Follow her, and do not look at anyone’s face unless you wish to fall into madness as you bear witness to every atrocity ever committed by humans in their eyes.

As you follow the elderly lady, she will open a door and walk inside. After she closes that door, open the door across the hall. You should see a room with green tiled walls and an operating table. If the table is empty, you are safe for now. But if you see a body laying there, turn away and walk slowly out of the office without showing fear. If you stay, run, or show your anxiety in any way you will be ripped to pieces by the person you found laying there.

Lay down on the table and you will see the elderly woman enter the room from the door you came in from. As she restrains you to the table, ask her, “What is the consequence of denial?” She will then tell you of every time someone’s denial of fact led to consequences in the past, present, and future. Then she will ask, “Are you ready to accept your role as a Seeker?” Tell her no, and you will awaken to the moment before you learned of the Holders with no memory of any events related to them. Tell her yes, and she will proceed to cut open your stomach. Despite any pain you may feel, do not scream or you will be subject to this pain for all eternity.

The woman will reach into your body and pull out a contract with your signature on it. After handing it to you, she will disappear and you will find yourself in front of that doctor’s office, one hand on the door and the contract in the other. Never enter this office again.

This contract is Object 487 of 538.

488. The Holder of Grief

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. When entering, there should be an old couple arguing in front of the receptionist’s counter. If there is no one in front of the desk, leave, you may return a week later to check again. When and if they do show up, walk up to the old man of the couple and present him a mirror, any kind will do. He will then show the mirror to his wife, who will then laugh inhumanly loud, and walk off. The man will walk off as well, but not before handing you a small piece of paper. Wait until the couple drives off, and then turn to the receptionist.

Read off the numbers on the piece of paper to the receptionist, and place the paper inside your pocket. She will stare at you for a few moments, confused, and write them down. Afterwards, ask to see the ‘Holder of Grief’. The woman will suddenly look as if she has known you would arrive for some time, and will summon an elderly woman to guide you. If it so happens that the guide does not fit this description, IMMEDIATELY run outside of the building, back to your current place of residence. Break all of the mirrors you own and wait three days before exiting. If you do not, Hell itself will seem to be a blessing compared to what you will endure.

If however the guide fits the description, follow her outside the institution and into a nearby dilapidated building. Enter and wait for the old woman to bow and exit before continuing. Slowly locate and enter the nearest staircase, then walk up towards the ninth story and open the door there. If it is locked, well, take comfort in knowing your death shall be quick. Enter and walk down the corridor which will gradually be filled with an overpowering mildew-like smell. Yell out ‘You don’t need to suffer like this!’ and the smell shall gradually fade. If it does not, the smell will become so strong that it will cause you to fall into an eternal slumber.

If you manage to stop the stench, continue walking until you reach the end of the corridor, and open the office door. What you are about to experience may drive you, as it has many others, to kill yourself.

Pictures surrounding the small desk in the middle of the room depict every sad and depressing point of your life, amplified to an extreme degree. All of the terrible feelings you have felt will ravage your very being. Despite this mental onslaught, you must resist the urge to commit suicide. Walk over to the desk and sit down as fast as you can, and ask in a stern voice: ‘Why must they continue to hurt?’

The figure will gracefully wave his hand in the air, causing the pictures and feelings to fade away. What is left is a simple executive’s office overlooking a vast wasteland. Still looking away from you, the figure will ask in a deep voice for a drink. Walk over to the small cedar chest to the right of you and open it; there should be two bottles inside. Be sure to check the contents, if it has the same mildew smell as before, DO NOT take this bottle. Take the other one instead, and quietly place it on the desk.

The figure will turn around, revealing a very tired and sad looking man. He will speak of all his mistakes and follies, which drove him to destroy everything that had any value to him. Be sure to sympathize with him, although you must be EXTREMELY careful on how you word your comments; the slightest hint of mockery will cause him to kill you in the most brutal way possible. When he is finished, he will smile and fade away into dust. Grab the bottle on the desk and leave the office.

You will suddenly appear in a graveyard, in front of a large tombstone. Upon examining the tombstone, you will discover that it is the same grave of the man you just listened to. Pay your respects and leave at once.

Go back to the same mental institution or halfway house you started from, where you will find the old couple bickering once again. They will quiet upon seeing you, and the wife will hand you a small bottle; the same bottle you took out of the office.

This bottle is object 488 of 538.

489. The Holder of the Blazon

Seekers have been subject to trials and feats most people would find ghastly and quite macabre. Yet the Seekers soon shed this doubt early on, and learn to live with their decision to take the path traveled only by the most courageous. However the life of a Seeker is impersonal, and some can try with varying amounts of success to separate their quest from the rest of their relations. However many have ended their journey once they meet the Holder of the Blazon, even after they finish seeking for Him.

Go to the house of a relative. Any relative will do, but make sure it is one that you have a connection with, one that you are fairly close to. Make sure they aren’t one you live with, such as a parent, one that is apart of the family through marriage, not blood related, nor one you are only distantly familiar with. If you choose the wrong individual, you’ll end up looking foolish when you ask them to “Bring you to the Holder of the Blazon.” However your aunt, grandfather, uncle, cousin, or whoever you choose, looking at you strange and laughing at your odd request will be a fate you’d soon have begged for.

However if they don’t change facial expressions, and stare into your eyes for a long time, then you know you have done right. They will keep staring for what seems like eternity, and no one really is sure how much time passes. Do not break eye contact, for they are in the process of great growth and change. To do so would lead to unknown consequences and the safety of you or your loved one cannot be guaranteed.

Eventually they will blink, and when their eyes open, the iris of their eye will have changed from the brown, blue, green, or whatever it normally is, to a cold steely black, with the pupil barely visible. They will speak, in a monotone and almost robotic manner, giving you a date and a time. This date may be later that day, week, month, or much farther down. Regardless, you must memorize it. Until then, do not, under any circumstance or emergency, come across this relative. If someone mysteriously calls and says they are ill and you must be there immediately ignore it, if there is a family get together they might attend, you should not. Even if your relative calls your phone personally asking to see you, do not go. If you break this rule, your relative will not be there to greet you, but rather the tangible embodiment of Hell itself will, waiting to whisk you away to its gates.

When the day arrives, go to their house. Go alone, and without anything except the clothes on your back and any other Object you have acquired. Even if you have a lot, bring no bag and no box, as only your hands and pockets may help you with them. Don’t even bring a car, you have to take a cab or alternate source of transportation. When you arrive, your relative will be awaiting in front of their house in a black robe, and standing next to an old car. I’m sure I don’t need to mention the results of being even a second late. You may speak to your relative, greet them, and even hug them. However you will get no response out of them, and they will stand by the car until you get in.

Once you are both in, immediately turn on the radio. Go to FM, and go to station 48.9. Although most radios don’t have this frequency, this car certainly does. Drive down any road, and any direction, it matters not. Once you leave, do not talk to your passenger, do not touch them, and most of all, never, ever, make eye contact with them. From the speakers will play your favorite song, giving you a positive feeling. As you drive though, it will repeat over and over and every note will cut into your head like a sharp nail.

Keep driving, and soon the road will become more rural. No matter how well you know the road, before you notice, you will be in the middle of nowhere. Your song will slowly become more and more garbled and warped, until it sounds as if demonic voices are blasting throughout the car. You’ll never run out of gas, and you’ll be driving for what feels like days. The car will go a random speed, no matter how hard you press the pedal. One second you’ll go unbearably slow, and the next dangerously fast. All you must do is keep control of the vehicle. There will be no houses, no other cars, no landscape of any kind, except dirt and the hot sun will beat down upon you, as it will forever be at high noon. If you smell a rotting, almost death like scent, do not be alarmed, this is normal, and to be expected.

When the music is pushing you upon the brink of madness, the sun beating down, burning your skin, and the stench of death unbearable. Your relative will, in the same monotone voice, ask you to stop. Put the car in park, and get out, once again, not looking at them. Turn your back to the car, and your relative will put a blindfold over your eyes. Their cold hand will lead you to their shoulder, and you will walk. Follow them for a relatively short distance, when the blindfold will be removed.

When your eyes adjust, you will be a strange world unlike the dirt path you were once on. You will be standing on a sea of fine light blue sand, and the hot sun will be replaced by a silver crescent moon, which the sole source of light. It will freezing, which a wind howling across the dunes. You now make look at their face.

What was once a face with features similar to yours will now be a corpse-like monstrosity. Open sores, cuts, and dead skin will cover their body. Their eyes will be shrunken, almost forced shut by throbbing oozing tumors. Every time they breathe, a labored and dry dusty sound will be produced. Circling above will be giant black crow-like birds, who will land on their shoulders. They will gnaw, peck, and chew away at the rotting body. You will easily see their pain and suffering, and for the first time since the beginning of the journey for the Holder, you’ll see the warm eyes of your relative instead of a stranger. Check your pocket, and you will see a knife, no bigger than one you find at the dinner table will have appeared.

Take them out of their misery. Do it fast, as every second for them feels like a million lifetimes in Hell. Slice them across the throat. No blood will drip, and they will fall limp to the ground. You too will collapse, and fall into a deep sleep.

When you awaken, you will be dressed in a fine suit in a funeral home. As you approach the casket, you will see your relative resting peacefully. A gentle yet awkward smile will be on their face, with a faint, almost invisible light pink scar across the neck. People will take no notice of you, ignoring you as if you aren’t there. You may pay your respects, as your relative has been returned to you.

Finally near the end of the funeral. A man will approach you, and ask you to come with him. Follow him to an old dusty office. He will tell you the story of your relative’s life. He’ll surprise you by saying you were their favorite, and they left you something special. He’ll hand you what appears to be a shield with a coat of arms on the front; a silver moon above a desert of blue sand. He’ll and lead you to the door. Before you leave, he’ll turn you around and wink, and when his eye opens, it will be all black, with almost no pupil. Turn around again, and there will be no one there.

Your family members no longer are apart of you and no longer are you apart of them. You might as well be a stranger. Even if you live with your parents, they’ll take no notice of you, and they won’t question this strange person living amongst them. Your last name is now “Holder,” as it has become more than your purpose, it has become your identity.

The Coat of Arms is Object 489 of 538. Inscribed on the back: “Never Forget Where You Came From, Even If It Forgets You.”

490. Holder of Love

In any city, in any country, go to any hospital and ask to visit the “Holder of Love”, and prepare yourself to be destroyed completely and utterly.

None have returned from their quest for this Object, or if they have, they are no longer truly “living”. They are husks, gone from their bodies completely and
utterly, leaving mad messages strewn across the walls of their new home, their ruined bodies sickening to behold.

The things that I call “survivors” no longer have the will to live, and yet no longer have strength enough to end their lives. They have descended to a place of nightmares and horror, a place of hate and despair. A place where their desires become torments and their despair becomes home. This place is filled with denizens more horrid and unimaginable than the Objects themselves, beasts and monstrous beyond words which will rent you apart in a thousand ways before they end your life. This is the place this Holder calls home, the worst Holder; the worst in all the Hells.

They have set forth on the path of an Object; a dark “protection” both divine and demonic. It may steel you from the horrors of your quest, and you may believe it spells your salvation, but know what I know: that you are damned if you Seek this, damned beyond any of the Holders you have heard of or shall hear of.

But, if you believe you can strive forward and defeat the trials and horrors this fell Guardian has to offer then I hope you finally taste the rewards of your quest, for you are greater than the greatest and a God among the insects of Holders.

The dark reward you Seek is Object 490 out of 538.

491. The Holder of Exodus

[The following note was found beside what appeared to be the victim of an extremely messy suicide.]

My name is Christopher Holm, but you might know me better as ‘Investigator C.’

That was my handle. I found a very specific sort of thing for a very specific sort of person. I was very good at it. And it paid very well.

I never touched the Objects myself, of course. Too damn dangerous and horrifying. There was a lot of wealth to be gained from the people who were crazy or self-loathing enough to Seek them, and I was happy to take that from them without going into their realms personally. This arrangement worked very well for me.

Until one day, I decided to go for it.

I had a full set of info, and it was very easy. Almost nothing left to chance, very little personal pain involved. So I did it. I got my first Object. But after that, I was hooked. I couldn’t bring myself to stop. I built myself a small collection, but it wasn’t until much later that I realized the cost. I had lost so much in such a short time, and my only ‘gains’ were these goddamn things. I wanted out, and I thought I knew how to do it.

So I went to the bus station. I bought a ticket to ‘anywhere, just get me there before it all comes to an end.’ I got on a normal-looking bus with normal-looking people and not a single person would look at me. So far, so good.

Then I waited. Days passed. People were starving, begging to be let off the bus, but the driver refused them, and I counted each refusal. Four hundred and ninety one, no more, no less. That’s when I loaded the Bullet into my gun, and shot him in the head. The door opened as if on cue, and I made sure I was the first one out. But I had to pluck the Bullet from his skull, first. It wasn’t mandatory. But I just couldn’t bring myself to let it go.

Everyone followed me as I led them through a seemingly endless wasteland. My path took us in circles, and many died on the way or questioned my leadership, but I said nothing. I had the Map. I knew the way. And I knew what They would do if I stepped off the invisible path.

Soon, we arrived at the sea. A ship was waiting, its captain calling me. ‘No,’ I said. He offered again, and again I said, ‘no.’ The others piled on, and the captain came down to meet me. I asked him, ‘What can free Them?’

And he told me the truth, too. It wasn’t an eternity-long laundry list of things people have done. It was a short, simple answer, one that I knew in what was left of my heart to be true but didn’t want to hear. Then he took my right hand, shook it, and sailed off into wherever the hell they went.

Then I was back home. I had what I wanted. My hand, where he shook it, was wreathed in blue fire. The Fire of Exodus. Touch anybody with it, living or dead, and they will be sent away to a place free of all of this. Of the End itself. It was supposed to be my salvation, but what they don’t tell you is, you can’t use it on yourself. And worse, almost anybody who knows what is wants a piece of that escape. Like Them. They want Exodus. And They want it bad.

I know what’s going to happen to me if I take the coward’s way out. The Holders have told me in no small detail. Christ, they do love to share, don’t they? No imaginations. But I can’t stand it. They’ve been hunting me with such ferocity ever since my hand started burning.

Fucking Object 491 of 538. I hope the next guy knows how to use it better than I did.

492. The Holder of Observation

In any city, in any country, take a seat anywhere that you can watch the public pass. You don’t necessarily have to sit; you don’t even have to stay in one place or do this in one sitting. Just carefully keep vigil over the swarms of people you come accross. Eventually, you will come to notice that one out of maybe every two hundred people will be… different, for lack of a better word. You will not know how to describe this sensation, but if you are at all serious with your quest, you will learn to feel the difference.

When you are ready, approach one of these oddities. If this is the first Object you seek, you may have to ask this person to take you to the Holder of Observation. If you have taken at least one Object prior to this, however, this demand is unnecessary, as the person will already know what you desire. This person will lead you away; this is your last chance to turn back.

Once you are in an isolated area safe from witnesses, this person will glare at you intensely, and you will feel as though you are being pushed away from the person by an unseen force, but you must stand your ground. You will be in utmost agony as each atom is ripped from your body, the force of the glare eroding you away, but you must resist, or all will be for naught. Eventually, you will have completely disintegrated, what was once your body now just a group of isolated particles scattered around.Yet you will still be able to see.

You will be able to see everything in the universe; no side of any object is out of your range of sight. With your newfound omnipresence, seek out a peculiar clock tower suspended somewhere – anywhere – in the universe. The human mind was not built to be able to see everything at once, so it will take time to sort out one scene from the next, but you must hurry. You will have just one earth hour to lay your vision upon this Holder, or you will remain trapped in your present state, never again to enjoy the benefits of a physical body. Be wary, though, for you may accidentally see something your mind cannot handle; though your human incapability for true omnipresence will prevent you from instantly focusing upon these objects, it won’t protect you from losing your sanity, which is all that you have left at this point.

Once you find it, focus in on the clock tower. Somewhere within its walls is a door marked by an eye. The rooms and hallways of this clock tower are constantly changing, so you must act quickly. As soon as you locate the door, shift your gaze into the room beyond, or it will instantly transport itself to a different part of the clock tower. If, at the time you enter, you have already used up more than three quarters of your alloted hour (hope you’ve been keeping track of the time), give up now. You will need around fifteen minutes to interact with the Holder.

Behind the eye-marked door should be what appears to be a humanoid creature garbed in a black cowl. Look only at this entity from behind, as its face is one of the many things that can break your mind. The entity should feel your gaze and speak to you in your native tongue. It would do you good to pay attention, as this Holder is both wise and benevolent, a combination that you will rarely come accross in your quest for the Objects. He will share with you everything that his billions of eyes have seen on every known planet with intelligent life in 14 dimensions, his memory dating back eighty-six billion earth years. There is no way that your mind can comprehend all of this, and the cloaked figure will know, choosing to stop when you have heard enough.

If your hour has not been fully expended by this point, your vision will snap back to the alley in which you had disintigrated, and your physical body will reform within it. Once you are again material and you regain control of your limbs, you will notice that a badge which you have never seen before is pinned to the article of clothing closest to your heart (if you are not wearing any clothing – in which case, how did you even start your journey without being arrested for indecent exposure? – you will find this badge pinned through your skin over your heart). On the badge is a simple marking shaped like an eye.

You are now allied with one out of every two hundred people (as well as one out of every 200 members of every dominant extraterrestrial species, should you ever come to meet them). They cannot carry out your tasks, but they can provide you with almost any information that you desire.

This badge is Object 492 of 538.

493. The Holders of the Psyche

In any city, in any country, go to any theater you can get yourself to, whether it be a theater for plays, cinema, or concerts. At the front desk, ask to watch either the Holder of the Id or the Holder of the Superego. Commit to one and never, ever seek the other, for meeting both even centuries apart shall lock your mind in an eternal civil war.

The receptionist will give you a ticket. Walk away from the theater in any direction until you see a man, garbed in deep green, standng in a narrow alley with a door on each side. Hand to him the ticket and he will offer to unlock one of the doors. Touch the doorknob of one and only one of the doors. If a wave of irrational hatred spreads through your body, the door will take you to the Holder of the Id. If instead, your are overcome with unbearable fear, the door will take you to the Holder of the Superego. Ask the man to unlock the door that leads to the Holder you requested. If you do otherwise, the opposite Holder will emerge and rob you of your ability to think, leaving your body and soul complete but mindless for the rest of your miserable existance.

Having chosen the proper door, step through the threshhold and the man will close the door behind you. The room should be an empty theater with an elevated stage. Take a seat so that the play may begin. Once the marionettes descend onto the stage, do not shift your eyes from the performance or the puppeteer will take offense. If that should happen, plead his forgiveness and beg him to continue. If he does not accept your apologies, your hollowed body shall be added to his collection of hand puppets. The marionette actors reinact every important decision you have made in your life. As you watch, always be confident that you had made the right choice. If you should, for a second, regret or take back one of the decisions, the actors will infinitely repeat that scene. You will be unable to leave, let alone look away, for all eternity.

After the play ends and the puppeteer leaves, remain seated. Within a few minutes, a figure should step out on stage. If you had called upon the Holder of the Id, a giant, nude, muscular man with an enormous, erect phallus and bloodied fists should emerge from stage left. If you had called upon the Holder of the Superego, a petite woman in an extravagant robe and veil covering every square inch of skin should gracefully step in from stage right. To whomever appears, shout the following question: “Is the power worth the consequence?”

The figure will not speak, but only stare. Do not break eye contact, or your power to think shall be lost to the figure. As you stare, you will slowly come to realize the answer to your own question. When you have the full answer, the figure will leave the stage from the side that he or she entered. Reach under your seat and pick up the coin beneath it, then quickly exit the theater. The coin is identical regardless of the Holder that appeared.

This coin is number 493 of 538.

494. The Holders of Brotherhood

In any city, In any country, go to the nearest orphanage you can get yourself to. When you arrive, ask the nun or social worker at the desk to speak to the “Holders of Brotherhood”. She will smile and comment “I see more of your kind these days” with a tinge of remorse in her voice.

As she leads you through the building, the children will flock to you. Under no circumstances though, should you make eye contact with any of the orphans. None of these orphans are real children, but rather the soulless husks of failed Seekers that were unable to pass the difficult test ahead of you. She will walk you back into the depths of the orphanage to a room that looks older than time itself and hand you a key.

This is your last chance to change your mind and flee, though you will most likely still lose your sanity from the children’s stares as they haunt your dreams for years to come. Should you, however, choose to continue, you will find yourself in a empty and unremarkable room. The room is spartan, having only one bed with rough sheets, a sink, and a toilet. Sitting quietly on the bed will be a pair of conjoined twins that will greet you warmly with smiles and waves. The remarkable thing you will immediately notice about these twins almost is their color. One is as black as the night sky, void of any color whatsoever, and the other bright as any fresh snow.
These Holders have been joined since the last time the Objects were brought together, but you must convince one of them that the other plots against them.
Should you succeed in this this task however, the brother you have convinced will choke the other to death.

As he does this you must ask him one question:

If the light brother is dying, you must ask him: “Will I be Their savior?”
He will tell you over the course of an eternity, a list of all the sins committed by Seekers searching for the Objects, and by the Objects themselves.

If the dark brother is dying, you must ask him: “Will They be my salvation?”
and he will answer you. Though what he will say I have not been able to glean from any amount of research.

After the brother is dead, the living one will remove a ring from his brothers finger and give it to you and thank you for saving his life. Do not protest, simply leave the room and go about your day, no matter how many years may have passed.

Each ring is Object 494 of 538. One will bring great joy, the other eternal sorrow. Choose wisely.

495. The Holder Of Pleasure

In any city, in any country, go to any public school past the hours of its normal operation. Should you be greeted by anyone at all, you should leave, for that person will know your intentions and be filled with an innermost desire to kill–and your death shall be one of unprecedented gore. Should no one know of your arrival, approach the most secluded door you can find. Approach it and knock, wait approximately one minute, and say “I seek only pleasure… No more.” At this moment an unerring silence will fall upon you.

Should you hear any vocal sound, whether from man or beast, state your name and your reasons for seeking the Holder. If your statement is sincere, you will be allowed to progress. If you hear any other sound, you should begin to run as fast as you can back from whence you came. You will know by dawn’s light if you have escaped or not. You will be allowed to live your life within the realms of normalcy; however, you will lose all memory of any Holder or Object. Should you come across another Seeker or Object, you will go insane at the most base level. Simple mention of your former quest will bring forth horrible sufference as well as a guilty pleasure.

The phrase uttered will be of importance, memorize it and hold it dear. If you were to forget the word, eternity in Hell would be a blessing for you. At this time the door will transform, you will feel a sudden urge to gaze at it. To submit to this desire would reveal a small part of your soul to you; your greatest flaw.

Enter the door, and walk forward until you feel a sense of despair. For some it may take minutes and others days. Upon truly feeling despair, an end to the maddening monotony of this bland hallway will appear. Going through this portal will reverse the feelings of pain and pleasure. You will find yourself in a room full of the various instruments of torture from history. In the middle of this display of terror, you will find your true love. This person will act as if you have never met.

You must threaten to torture your companion with the object you believe will inflict the most “pleasure” upon them. As they beg for their life, you must make good on your threat. At the climax of their pain, gaze deeply into the eye that corresponds to your dominant hand and utter the phrase you should have memorized earlier.

By whatever means necessary, remove the eye from your present victim. Stare at the disembodied organ. You will see the pain and revulsion of all of history’s atrocities committed in the name of pleasure. Should you remain sane, you will now find yourself back at the school. Exit the building as quickly as possible, but do not allow anyone else to gaze upon the object in your hand. If they see it, they will desire to have it at the expense of your life.

This eye is object 495 of 538. When they are united, you will bask in the suffering of those around you. You will find thrill and exhilaration in the pain He brings. However, your death will come from the hands of your true love.

496. The Holder of the Sought

Seeker, you have been searching for some time now. You have been in mental hospitals, laboratories, ancient libraries, ruins, different dimensions, and everything in between. All the while you have been searching, but more importantly, you have been doing as your name implies: Seeking.

Yet your presence hasn’t always been welcomed, and often, your arrival is met with downright hostility. However you keep seeking, keep striving, going. Farther and farther you go, it becomes an obsession, a curse, and each Object brings you closer and closer to the eventual end of your seeking.

However you yourself are never sought. You’re never desired, called upon, or approached. The world sometimes feels cold, as you are the one always finding others, and sometimes, it feels as if you don’t exist until you initiate it. Yet you will soon find out that you are more than just a Seeker. You are apart of a giant cosmic game, a player in a plan that you may never understand. This Object will not become available until you have been seeking for a while. How long? I cannot say. However, you will know when it does. Be prepared though, you won’t come across The Holder of the Sought on your terms.

You will randomly, and without warning, awake in a mental hospital or halfway house in some city in some country. Look around the desolate room, and realize it is decrepit. Rust is splattered across the room, trailed and dotted as if blood from a murder scene. Filth is everywhere, and covers your dirty turned-orange mattress which rests on your ancient spring bed. Bars cover the window leading to an overgrown court yard, which sits under a perpetually yellow sky. There is a steel door, with no knob or handle from your side, and the only mark is a little flap that slides you food twice daily by an unknown source. Night never falls, and the only noise you hear is the wind blowing in through the window, often carrying a weak dusty, and almost decaying scent.

It is enough to make someone go mad. Stay strong though, keep with it. Days will turn to weeks and to months, and perhaps years. You will start to think you truly are mad, and question your sanity. Don’t succumb to these feelings, for if you do, you will belong there, and never leave. Yet if you hold through one day it will pay off…

You will awaken to a knock at the door. As your eyes adjust, it will open to a nurse with a strange tall man. Although you see him clearly, it will be odd, as his features will seem blurred, and almost dreamlike. The more you stare at him, the less will be revealed. The nurse will leave, and in a slow, almost robotic manner, he will ask “Are you The Holder of the Sought?”

If you are the answer yes, he will grab your arm, and tie a blue ribbon upon your wrist. You are now The Holder of the Found, yet no one will ever seek you, and the Object will drive you mad. Yet if you answer no, he’ll ask other questions. He’ll ask about the Objects you’ve acquired, the places you’ve been, and monsters you fought. Keep answering, and with as much detail as you can, until he says, in the usual monotone, to “stop.” He will then grab your arm, and tie a red ribbon upon it, and leave.

Days will pass, and soon you will be back to your usual routine. Try not to go mad again. One day however, you will hear another knock. This time a man with a black surgeon’s mask will enter in scrubs, and signal you to follow him. Do not instigate conversation, don’t make eye contact, just walk besides him. As you walk down the hallway, you will see barred prison cells. Inside you’ll see the familiar faces some of the Holders you came across. Some will be joyous and wink at you, some will ignore you. Others will reach out through the bars and attack you. Keep your cool, and just keep walking, and try to survive.

Soon you will come to a room, which he’ll lead you in. Inside will be what seems to be an operating room. There will be old dusty books, various surgical tools, and stains on the floor from blood, urine, and feces. Pictures of medical experiments and grotesque mutilations cover the walls. Somehow though, what should be disgusting to you, feels quite homely, almost like the room you grew up in. It is almost as if this is where you belonged all along.

Eventually the door will open again, and the man from weeks earlier will come in, escorting a series of six men around your age. Some will be short, tall, or average with different hair, eye, and skin tones. It will be what seems like a good cross section of the population.

Motion for the first to come up to you. Ask him three questions that you have been asked through your great journey. Ask about his life, his family, his quest for the Objects. Anything. Whatever he answers will be wrong, and the man from earlier you turn to you, and ask “What will be his fate?” You have two choices to give. You can tell him to run, and never look back. If so, the man being questioned will flee, and never bother you again. You could also request for him to be tortured for his ignorance, and he’ll be escorted to another room, from which you will hear the screams of his suffering.

After that, the next will come, and follow the same system, as will the next three. Each time you’ll have the options of torture or freedom. You can choose for everyone to have the same fate, or mix it up. The choice is yours.

When the last comes up, follow suit and ask him the questions. However, he will give you answers pertaining your life. He’ll know anything, your pet names, parent’s hometowns, Objects you have possessed. Anything at all you ask, he’ll know about you. After all this, take the ribbon off your arm, and hand it to him. As it comes off, and great burn will shoot through your hand, and become visible as a deep scar on your wrist where it rested moments ago. As he takes it, a great burden will be lifted, and you’ll feel free of what seems like a curse. He shall thank you, and exit out the door.

The strange man will then approach you, and his face will finally come into focus. He’ll smile at you, and look strangely familiar, but you cannot put your finger on it. He will then exit through the torture door, and the screams from earlier will resume.

Of the first five men that approached you, beware. Three are normal people like you are, where two are beings from worlds unknown. For every real person you sent to be tortured, his eventual release will leave him bitter, and prepared for revenge. He will forever hunt you down, and eventually HE WILL FIND YOU, and you must kill him to escape. For every other- world being you let run, they will mock your ignorance. They too shall forever seek you, yet they’ll take a more demonic and monstrous form this time, and no matter how many times you fight them off, they will keep appearing until your complete your grand quest. These might be during the most inopportune times, such as in the middle of approaching a Holder, or during a time when you must be quiet and still. If a human is freed, he will be grateful, and perhaps may come across you again at a later time, and be of assistance to you. Each demon you send to be tortured will consider you their equal, and never bother you again. When you question them though, they all will appear human. Only through non-physical clues such as body composure and mannerisms may their identity show itself. Still, it is very hard to tell.

The man with the ribbon will cross your path again down the road. When? It cannot be said, but when you do, you’ll know, for it will signal the start your search for the Holder of the Found.

Your burn is Object 496 of 538.

497. The Holder of the Internet

In any city, in any country, go into any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself into. That’s the formula. That’s how they always start right? That’s why its an entertaining, creepy story. It’s frightening, but only if you instigate it.

My friends and I were out at the mall. Game stores, book stores, clothing stores. We decided to duck into Spencer’s Gifts, even though I was kinda hungry. We made our way to the back where they keep all the sexy things, just for giggles.

While we were browsing, I noticed this person hovering in my peripheral vision. I say person because to this day, I still do not know whether it was male or female. Despite this hovering creep, my friends minded their own business, almost as if they didn’t even notice the new presence.

A ghostly white hand passed in front of my eyes, holding an elegant business card. It was printed in a near-black tone of red on a white card with gold trim. The script was elegant. On the front it said, “Entrusted to your care. Give it only to the one who passes. He will want it.”

And on the back it said in the same script, “I want to be with the others.”

I should have noticed it then. My hunger disappeared and my muscles relaxed. When I looked up from the card I found myself in a cylindrical room, with a chair in the center. As I stepped further in, the walls illuminated with images. A keyboard ascended in front of the chair. The internet. The walls were filled with screens from the internet. One screen dominated them all.

The rules. What I could and could not do. How to determine someone worthy. When I could leave and who was allowed to see me. The question I was going to be asked. I fell to the floor; half laughing, half crying. It couldn’t be real. The Holders, they were just stories. And even if they were, you have to seek them out. No. Not this one. This one seeks you out. And I am its… I am its… I…

I typed the question into the console, then pressed enter: “Why are new ones made when the old ones are brought together?” The answer felt like someone drove their fist into my chest.

Save me from this, please. I don’t want to be a Holder. None of us do. It’s maddening. I’ll tell you everything I can, just get me out of here, please!

In any city, in any country… It feels so wrong, writing this from this side.
Go to any enclosed mall you can get yourself into. If one of your friends ever asks “Do you forgive?”, you know the answer, don’t you Anon?

That room is object 497 of 538, the Nexus.

498. The Holder of the Seen

In any city, in any country, go to any movie theater you can get yourself into. Before you even attempt to try this Holder, you must have retrieved the Object from the Holder of the Lens first. Otherwise, you will only be able to enjoy the movie and the endless pain that this Holder can bring.

Once you enter the theater, look around for any movie that you wish to see. It shouldn’t matter, however the gorier the movie is, the more likely the Holder will be there. Once you find one you may enjoy, buy the ticket and enter. Make sure you will enjoy it, for this may be the only thing you can take enjoyment from in the visit.

Enter the movie room. Once you so, IMMEDIATELY stop, and put on the Glasses. There should be one person in the theater that you cannot see when you put the glasses on. And when you take them off, he will reappear, in the same position you first saw him in. If not, than have no fear. Nothing will happen, and you can enjoy the movie in peace.

Once you find the disappearing man in the theater, find a seat next to him. Watch the movie, and if possible, make light conversation with people sitting next to you, but not to the man.

After a while of watching the movie, which could take some time, the man will say one of two things, deciding your fate. If he says “I don’t know why I paid for this,” than you must tell him “Because you thought it would be worth it. As did I.” Pray that he takes condolence in your statement, for then your death will be swift and merciful. If not, than you are beyond hope.

However, if he says to you “Pay close attention to this part.” You must watch the screen. Pay attention to everythiing that is shown. Eventually, you will realize that yoiu are seeing things never meant to be filmed. Demons of an inexplicable nature will begin to slaughter everyone on the screen. And things of a worse nature will appear, things never meant to be birthed by beast or man. At odd intervals, the man will laugh. Laugh along with him, if you wish. You may be laughing out of insanity by now. If not, than the man will turn to you and say “Well, what did you think?”

You must respond to this in only one way: “I could tell you, but you know what I think. What of you?” The man will chuckle to himself, then nod. He will let you ask one question, as the other Holders have. Refuse. This is only his trick, and his true desires, unlike most holders, is to help you see past the rest of the lies. He will give you another chance. Refuse again. He will laugh to himself, and then congradulate you on a good job. Only now may you ask the question “How can they be hidden while He sees?”

He will stop, and in a depressed tone, will tell you. He will tell you of every defence for every Item, why these defenses were built, who they killed, and how. Do no motion in the direction of the man besides a general nod of understanding. You may very well go insane, or worse, attempt to attack the man. However, if you manage to sit through the ordeal, you will be asked to leave by a member of the theater’s staff. The man will excuse himself and leave, and you will be urged to as well. However, don’t go just yet, but instead take the glasses again and look into the seat that the man was sitting in. You will see a small cloth, suitable for cleaning glasses. pick it up, and leave.

This cloth is Object 498 of 538. Use it on the Glasses to see the things that hold them together.

499. The Holder of the Motive

Through your travels, you have done many things both honorable and dishonorable. You have killed in the name of Honor, but also killed in the name of Cowardice. You have ignored those for whom you feel sympathy, yet you did your part to kill the ones that are cruel. You have used the greatest love you share to gain an Object, yet mutilated that same person to gain another. I realize that as you had approached the other Holders, you have made few decisions of your own – otherwise, you would be dead, insane, or sufferring eternal torture at this point. Many times, you have even suppressed your innermost feelings and emotions to gain an empathetic Holder’s approval. Everything you have done up to this point was shaped by the will by beings of greater powers, not by your own will.

Let me change that.

Seek me out however you wish. It does not matter where you ask, nor does it matter who you ask or for whom you ask. If you carry the Badge of the Observers, your best chance would be to ask your allies for my position, as nothing escapes their Master’s eyes. Once you find me, I have no physical test to put you through. I have no reason to care about the limits of your strength, your athleticism, your endurance, or your resolve. Feel free to look around as much as you want. I will be sure to remove from my chamber anything that could potentially drive you insane at first glance. I wish to know something about you, something buried deep in the recesses of your soul, and I need you to be alive and sane to tell me. All I ask is this: What is your motive for collecting the Objects?

To reunite them, to protect them, to destroy them – I do not care for those answers. That much I will already know; you are not the only one who can access the Great Observer’s memories. I want an answer that cannot be easily observed, one that you probably do not yet know yourself. You have heard the tales from other Holders. These stories have moved you, given you a larger perspective of the true nature and true power of the Objects. After hearing these, your motive has undobutedly changed from what it was at the start of your quest.

As you contemplate your motive, you will notice that there are people in the room that were not there previously. Your best friend, your lover, your mother, your father… Everybody you have ever come to know and love. They already know of your quest. Many of them will likely beg you to stop. Some of them might be in deep shock from learning of what atrocities you have performed. But along with me, all of them eagerly await your answer. Just as I do – perhaps even more than I do – they wish to know why you have chosen your path.

Do you wish to avenge those whose purity have been defiled? Do you intend to use the Objects’ power to conquer the unbearable solitude of death? Maybe at this point, your quest is nothing more than a mindless obsession. I do not judge. No answer shall be deemed incorrect or unworthy as long as you firmly believe it to be your true motive. You may not leave my chamber until I have your motive, however, and I will know if you are lying. If you cannot figure out why you seek the Objects, or if you are too ashamed to bring yourself to say it in front of your loved ones, then you may be stuck with me for a long while.

Once you have found your true motive, recite it to me with confidence. If I am convinced, then your trial is over. Your loved ones will each offer you a parting message as they disappear. You will not see them again until your quest is over, but worry not, for they are safe with me. When the last one has vanished, you may take whichever item you desire from my chamber and leave. It matters not what item you take. I will not miss it.

This item is the 499th of 538 Objects.

500. The Holder Of Birth

In any city, in any country, go to any nursery you can get yourself into. Go to the dead center of the room and get on your knees, and bow your head with your eyes closed. If you are indeed kneeling in the true center of the room, nobody will disturb you. If you are not, your only choice is to hope She is feeling merciful and does not consume your entire being for eternity. Granted you are not dead after a few seconds, you will begin to hear things. Ever so slowly raising in volume, you will begin to identify the sounds as screams of both women and babies. Do not open your eyes, lest every trace of humanity leave your body in horrific agony; while you will live, you will be in no shape to tell your tale. To this day no one knows exactly what is it you will see.

If you manage to contain your eyes, the screams will continue, for what will seem an eternity. The exact time you will be kneeling was determined at the moment of your birth, but worry not, seconds of the screaming will feel like eons. Suddenly, the sounds will stop. At this moment you can open your eyes. You will find yourself in a nursery not unlike the one you where some time ago. However, the color has mostly left the walls and the floor, the celling is covered in a lake of blood that will mockingly not fall. Its every occupant, also, has been replaced by atrocities-humans, no less- that would disgust even the hardest of stomachs. You must not show any sign of dislike or fear, or you will be trapped there until you bring about your own death.

You will see the vastness of this room you are in. If you are lucky you will find your way to the correct cradle. If you do not find it you will wander and eventually die of hunger. In it is a little girl, of about 4, with very long hair of the darkest brown human eyes will ever set eyes upon. She will appear to be miles away, as if in a brightly lit well, but make no mistake, She is at a touching distance and a few souls have made the mistake of reaching out to judge her distance from them. At first She appears to be holding in Her arms raw chunks of flesh, but you will see it turns out to be the most deformed abomination to damn the face of this plane. Again, make any sign of disgust at Her little brother and you will live eons regretting it. You must stare deep into her eyes and ask “How were they chosen?”.

Her mouth will move but will make no sound. You will understand all She communicates, and She communicates every last detail of every single Seeker. Every soul, every person that failed every test, their Birth and their Death. You must not, no matter what, divert your glance from Her eyes, or She will remain silent and you will be stuck in that wretched place for all eternity.

There is, however, another path, for She knows the origin of The Lost Ones as well. You will be able to tell, as well, that She knows. Do not, ever, ask her that.

Once She stops, you will be standing outside the hospital you entered. In your arms will be a small child wrapped in a blanket. It will already be dead, and there is nothing you can do for it. It is, however, Her final test. Take the child in any single direction of your choosing, and keep walking. The whole time you must be humming softly, nothing loud enough to wake a child, nothing soft enough to pass unheard. Eventually, the child will disappear, leaving only the Blanket in its wake. The Blanket has no determined size- it changes to the user’s will- and will keep anyone covered in it warm even through the coldest blizzard or the most scorching heat. It will soften any blow to the sensation of a little scratch

The Blanket is object 500 of 538.

501. The Holder of Floccinaucinihilipilification

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. Walk up to the receptionist’s counter and tap on it five times. They should look up and say to you, “Who’re you here for?” Reply only with, “Never mind. It’s inconsequential.” Walk out the door.

If you’ve done everything correctly, the door will open not back to the street, but to a wasteland unlike any you have ever seen. Vast obsidian monoliths protrude from the barren, ash-covered ground. They will jut out at strange angles, and their cold blackness will contrast almost painfully with the brilliantly white sky. This land will look as if it stretches on forever, quite simply, because it does. Do not attempt to comprehend it, as you will need your wits about you for the trial ahead. It would be prudent to have brought the White King’s Sword with you, as well as the Crystal of Shadows. Be wary as you traverse this alien desert, for soon you will feel as if you are being watched. When you do get this sensation, hold the Crystal of Shadows aloft and shout, “Prove to me my worthlessness!” At this point, the Crystal should glow brightly, and all the colors of the landscape will reverse. The sky will be black. The ground and pillars will be white. And then, you will see them. Legions of charred, blackened skeletons will surround you. They will leer at you with empty eye sockets, and hiss in such a way that many Seekers have reported becoming weak-kneed at the sound. It would advisable that you hold your stance, for they will charge ten seconds after you first lay eyes on them. You must fight your hardest against this horde of undead monsters, failed Seekers all. They are all armed with swords and shields, but you will be able to slice them apart with relative ease. However, their numbers are nigh infinite. You will not prevail. You must fight to your very last breath, until you completely collapse. If you have not reached your absolute limit before you fall, the skeletal legionnaires will tear the flesh from your bones and make you one of them. However, if you succeed, one of the warriors will impale you on its sword. Impale it on yours, and everything save you and the skeleton will shatter as if the entire world were a giant piece of glass.

You must hold on to your life, for dying now on the end of this fleshless entity’s sword would be a pitiful way to meet your end. Before you succumb to death, ask it the question, “Why is existence worthless?” In a voice that cannot be described in any language of this world or any other, it will explain. In agonizing detail, it will explain why and how you are worthless to the world, and how your actions and very existence will have no impact whatsoever on the universe. It will continue on, to explain why the Objects themselves are really worthless, how insignificant and futile their creation was, and how little impact their coming together will have on the whole of existence itself. On universes beyond this one, on the creators of those universes, on their universes. In a similar fashion, it will show you the utter worthlessness of Him, of the Seekers, of the Creators of the Objects, and everything you can imagine. It will render its explanation in such a way that you will feel its words echo in your mind, and what it says will be irrefutable fact. You will be infused utterly with a constant sense of futility, and nothing, not even the Objects, will be worth anything to you anymore. When the skeleton finishes, you will black out.

You should awaken in the bed of the place you call home, with the Crystal and Sword still on your person. In addition, you will find in your dominant hand the hand of the skeleton that killed you. From this point forward, you will never perceive meaning in anything. However, if your life should end by your own hand, you will become a part of the skeleton legion.

The skeleton’s hand is Object 501 of 538.

502. The Holder of Uncertainty

Hahaha!

Tick tock tick tock…
Click clock click clock…

Ding! Ding!

You want it? I bet you do, I bet you do… It’s just too bad that you won’t be getting it. Never, never. They gave it to me, and I’m keeping it.

It’s mine. It’s always been mine, and it won’t stop being mine. Don’t you get it? You’ll never take it from me. I’m not telling you how! Mine, mine, all mine forever!

And that means you’re stuck! No clue where to go, who to ask when you need to see me, or what to do when you see me. You can’t do it without someone spelling it all out for you, can you? Heck, if you saw me, I bet you wouldn’t even know it!

You’ve lost. All the time you spent was worthless, because now you’re blind, and there’s nothing that can help you. Wanna try anyways? It’s kinda like playing chess with no pieces! Or any clue how the other pieces are moving…

I’m coming to find you. I know who you are, you and your pathetic Seeker friends. Don’t bother trying to find me before I find you. You can try running away if you want, but it won’t help. Well, I mean, in the long run it wouldn’t. Actually, you could just hide out in another realm, if you understand what I mean.

But I don’t suggest it.

Besides, it’s not like you know what I want. I’ve already got what I want! You don’t, though. It’s the funniest part of all this; you’ll never get what you want.

What you want is object 502 of 538.

503. Holder of Humanity

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. Go to the front desk, and ask the worker to see the ‘Holder of Humanity’. They will either laugh or cry. If laughter, the worker is a false one and thy doom is at hand. If tears, repeat the question. The lights will go out and you will be enshrouded in darkness. Pray they return.

If they do, you will find yourself in front of a large mirror. Observe yourself in front of the mirror. At first it will seem normal, but as you look closer the mirror will show eyes glowing from the darkness peering at you from behind. Do not look away from the mirror or they will surely devour your soul. The mirror will continue to show you scenes; of terror, of joy, of sorrow, happening behind you. Remain steadfast and continue looking at the mirror. Finally, the image of you will begin to distort, your face will melt and reform. Your eyes will burst and hordes of cockroaches and spiders will erupt forth from your sockets. Rats will claw out of your chest, and blood will spew from your ears. These horrors will continue to occur to your mirror image, but you must remain strong, for to grow fearful now, will make these terrible things only the beginning.

When your image mouths ‘let me die’, shatter the glass and walk through the door behind. Inside the room will be a man in a hooded robe behind a table. Ask ‘Why have they forsaken us?’ If he decides to acknowledge your presence he will lay some gloves on the table and describe the story of a man. Of his purest love, of a terrible betrayal, of the corruption of his soul, and of the unspeakable acts of which he has committed. This story will stir up too many emotions inside of you and cause you to lose consciousness. When you come to, you will be home. Next to you will be the person closest to your heart, strangled to death, with a look of shock and confusion on their face. On your hands are the gloves.

Those gloves are object 503 of 538.

504. The Holder of Radiation

In any city, in any country, go to any cancer center you can get yourself to. Go to the front desk and ask to speak to the “Holder of Radiation.” If the worker grimaces and asks, “Are you sure you want to meet with her?” you have two options; if you answer ‘no,’ then you are free to leave, but for your sake, you ought to never seek a Holder again, because they can now sense your electromagnetic field, and you will be hunted down the instant you ask for another Holder. If you answer ‘yes,’ then the worker will escort you personally to a room marked “Authorized Personnel Only,” then return to the front desk.

Close your eyes very tight; if you were to keep your eyes open, the instant the worker opened the door, you would have gone completely blind from the bright light that permeates the room. Through your closed eyelids, you will notice the light. When you walk into the room, you will feel a tingle all over your body, consisting of powerful radioactive waves. Don’t linger too long, but quickly grope your way forward until you come to another door at the back of the room.

This room will be completely dark, in total contrast to the light of the previous room. You will also notice the tingle is no longer there. Do not worry about being able to see anything. Instead, ask the darkness, “How do they sense each other’s presence?”

If the room starts to turn red, close your eyes and run the other way; do not worry about knocking anything over in the previous light room, but flee as far as you can from the building. The red demons will seek you out and brutalize you beyond anything you have ever known if you stay too long. However, if the room turns blue, you will be able to make out the source of the glow; a beautiful young woman, holding a small cube in her hands the size of a child’s letter block. She will tell you about how they react to each other, and what it means when they meet their kin. Pay close attention, because she includes the secret of protecting oneself from gamma radiation, which is something you’ll desperately need in the weeks to come, and it consists of much more than just wearing a lead vest.

Finally, she will hand over her glowing cube and fade into the darkness. I advise you to have something to wrap the cube in, because touching it with your bare hands is a very bad idea due to the powerful gamma radiation it is constantly giving off.

The cube is object 504 of 538. Handle it with great care.

505. The Holder of Disease

Poor Seeker. You carry the worst, most damnable disease of them all; the ever-burning desire to reunite Them.

Do you believe in magic, my child?
Do you seek a cure for your illness?

Unfortunately, I can provide for you neither of these things. However, should you prove deserving, I can give you the next best thing.

When you know for certain that you are ready, go to the nearest hospital and tell the receptionist that you seek “the Final Cure”. The receptionist should nod and motion for you to follow them. They will lead you to a set of chained double doors that none but the two of you seem able to see. They will unlock the chains. If at this point your heart falters, know now that this is the last chance you have to turn back with no penalty. Feel no shame in doing so, as I have no punishment in store should you realize you’re not ready for my challenge. Come back once you’ve gained the necessary resolve to proceed.

Should you decide to proceed, know now that as soon as you cross the doors’ threshold, you will instantly be infected with a powerful, incurable plague. What this plague is able to do to you depends on the actions you are about to take.

I have no long, convoluted halls filled with demons for you to trudge through. Indeed, all you’ll find beyond those doors is an ordinary hospital room, empty save for a table with ten tiny glass vials resting upon it. Each vial will be filled with a clear liquid, but while they all look the same, they have very different effects when ingested.

Three of these vials are filled with a lethal poison that will kill you within minutes. Consider this the most merciful of the wrong choices you can make, as it will save you from suffering the devastating effects of the plague.

Another three vials are filled with ordinary water. With this choice, you effectively get the same results as if you’d simply walked away after entering the room; in about a day’s time, the plague will take full effect, striking you with the most severe illness you’ve ever suffered through. You will vomit blood for hours on end. You will hardly have the strength to lift a finger. You will hallucinate the most disturbing scenes imaginable as the disease starts to attack your brain. At this point, all you can do is wait for the plague to finally take your life, though how long that will take I cannot say.

Three of the remaining four vials have a diluted healing potion in them. This potion will reduce the strength of the plague inside you but will not remove it. Despite sounding benign, this is actually the worst choice you could make. Because the plague will always be inside you, you will suffer the most excruciating pain imaginable for the rest of your days. The potion will see to it that all manmade wounds are healed within seconds, making suicide impossible. All you can do is wait to die from natural causes, suffering every day while you do so.

The final vial, however, contains the Object you seek: the aforementioned potion in its full strength. Not only will a single drop of this potion eradicate any trace of the plague in your body, it will also cure any physical affliction you may be suffering at the time. From this point on, the potion is yours; just be sure to use it sparingly, as the vial only holds a few drops, and I’d hate for it to run out on you when you need it most.

Choose carefully, Seeker; the minute you touch a vial, the other nine will vanish on the spot, making second guesses worthless. Once you make a choice, you’re stuck with it. However, don’t think I’m leaving this all up to chance; indeed, while it will be a blind choice for an ordinary person, the perceptive Seeker will be able to spot the subtle difference that separates the Object from the impostors. Will you?

The healing potion is Object 505 of 538.

506. The Holder of Redemption

For this particular item can only be attained in a place of worship – an abandoned church. The more decrepit the building the better. You must never attempt this on holy grounds that are still in use. Upon arriving, you must knock door and ask for “The Sentry.” When you do this, for 12 minutes it will appear as if your efforts were fruitless. Then something peculiar will happen: An elderly man with golden eyes will open the door for you.

When you meet him, his gaunt frame and inhuman eyes may unnerve you. Resist the temptation to flee, for doing so can only attract unwanted attention from that which he watches over. Instead, engage him in conversation. When he utters the words “I believe we are nearing the end,” ask to visit someone who calls himself “The Holder of Redemption.” The Sentry will look at you with some confusion, but then smile as if realizing what you are talking about. He will ask you to follow him, but not before offering you a chance to leave.

If you do not take this offer, he will guide you down a featureless white hallway. It will be intensely bright, almost blindingly so as you continue down it. One you reach the end of it, he will open a door and usher you inside. Do not attempt to get him to come in with you. Even if he wanted to, his duties far outweigh any modicum of comfort or security he might provide for you.

Inside will be a miniscule room with a door to the left and a door to the right. In front of you will be a skeleton, propped up hastily. It will bear two rings on its’ fingers, one silver and one gold. For now, go to the right door, and pass through. There you will see a man who has committed acts so repugnant, so unimaginably depraved that they defy explanation. He is beyond comprehension at this point, let alone any ‘salvation’ that men of the cloth might offer.

You must grab him and drag him back through the door, ignoring his pleas to stop. When you pull him through, the skeleton will rise and stab this abominable excuse for a man with his right hand. His body will rot for eternity among the stygian bowels that lay before you. Do not look upon him, no matter how much your curiosity might compel you to. His fate does not concern you.

Now you must go to the left door. There you will find a little girl who has been traumatized in the most unimaginable ways, and slain for good measure by the wretch you have tossed into the abyss. You must pick up her fragile corpse and carry it back through the door. Upon doing this, the skeleton will approach you. It will raise its left hand, and with that you will see the girl restored to life.

Now you must ask her a question. The majority will elicit only a giggle, except for one last question: “How can they be redeemed?” Suddenly, the skeleton will come before you and begin to lash out at your body savagely. You must endure and not cry out, or else you will surely die. Should you wait long enough, the skeleton will cease delivering its punishing blows and will be reduced to mere dust.

The little girl will then go to the fresh pile of grime upon the floor and pick from it the two rings. Should you examine them, you will notice that one has an eye while the other bears a cross. She will hand them to you and guide you out of the door. You must leave at once, for should you linger you will be forced to act as another guardian of the pit.

The rings are often referred to as Sin and Hope, or Object 506 out of 538.

507. The Holder of You

You have journeyed far, Seeker. You have Sought in hospitals, schools, alternate dimensions. You have mastered and been mastered. You have mutilated and been mutilated. You have seen and been seen.

Now you must find the Holder of You.

Before seeking me it would be more than advisable to have the lens and the polishing cloth that comes with them. Without these, your quest for me will be most…perilous.

The only place you can find me is in the wintery wasteland of northern Russia. Once there, you must find any old structure dating from the Cold War period (concrete walls preferable). Once you find this structure, lean in close to it and whisper, “In Soviet Russia, the object seeks you.”

As soon as the last words leave your mouth, you will hear a rustling in the snow behind you. Whatever you do, do not turn to look at what is rustling, as it is a thing that cannot be known. It is of infinite wisdom, and to look upon it would let you know all of its knowledge, which would destroy your human brain in an instant.

At this point, if you have the lens and the polishing cloth that comes with them, count yourself lucky, as your task will be made easier, though more testing to say the least. Regardless of whether or not you have the lens, ask out loud, “What am I?” If you get no answer, run and don’t look back. To look back would be a more damnable fate than that of looking upon infinite wisdom.

However, if you hear the answer, “You,” you may turn around (and put on the lens, if applicable) and see a reflection of you standing in the snow.

If you are not wearing the lens, then the reflection will speak of every regret in your life and you will leave unharmed, but empty handed until you can return with the lens and cloth. If you have the lens, polish them with the cloth.

Suddenly you will see every defining moment in you life, be it good or bad, terrifying or joyous, played out before your eyes. These will not be things you expect, but you must betray no emotion except confidence.

Then there will be a vision of you standing in the snow looking at yourself looking at you standing in the snow looking at yourself looking at you and so on into infinity.

When this happens you must say, “There is nothing I can change.”

The vision will dissolve and you will see a small mirror sitting in the snow. Looking into this you will see the Holder of You.

You are object 507 of 538.

508. Holder of Gum

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 “The Holder of Gum.” The holder will smack her lips loudly and run away. Follow her no matter what: if you lose track of her, all hope for you is lost. After what feels like countless hours of chasing after her, she will stop at the entrance of a cave. She will point at you, chuckle grimly, and disappear.
The cave will be completely dark and silent. Making any sudden sound at the wrong time would be an unfortunate and regretful mistake. You suddenly will notice lumious sprites in the cave getting brighter and brighter as you make your way down towards the heart of the cave, soon you will be blinded by their brilliance. Have in mind that as long as the sprites are on you are safe, but if the sprites become too dim then you are doomed and have no choice to quickly shout out, “No! You mustn’t! I want to go on!” while backing away. If the sprites don’t illuminate, sprint for the entrance you came in through. Hopefully you can remember where the entrance is, and hopefully the…ogres don’t kill you if they do your damned to eternal damnation in hell no matter how pure you are.

If the spites come back on, continue walking down the cave. At the end of the cave you will see a fireplace; the holder will be by fire and welcome you to sit down. She then stares at you deeply with swampy wretched eyes and you notice that her entire body is lubricating itself with a slimy substance. The holder disappears and a repugnant, horrific creature with its inside on the outside approaches you and will lunge at you if it touches you, even if it happens quickly you will be paralyzed. The creature will then slowly torture you by slowly taking out your organs and making you chew on them, somehow keeping you alive and making you suffer and ask for mercy. Before the creature touches you say “What can I do to reassemble them?”

If said correctly, the creature will slowly seep into the flames and melt away, and it will murmur one of two simple words. If “tragedy” is the word you hear, then consider yourself doomed, for the chances of your death will increase tenfold with every new Object that you attain- but you will be allowed to leave. If “worthy” is what you hear, consider yourself honored, for you are now the new Holder, and as soon as the words leave the creature’s mouth you will feel your body slowly dissolving into a pile of mush….

You are object 508 of 538- the curse that sticks the objects together in its gooey embrace.

509. The Holder of Waste

In any country, go to any deserted lake you can get yourself to. When you reach the water’s edge, reach for a nearby clot of mud, hold it to your mouth, then ask to speak to “The Holder of Waste.”
Do not put the mud back into the lake. A ripple will form at the very center of the lake, and mass amounts of bubbles will appear throughout the lake. The beasts have been awoken. Keep your eyes to the rippling while out of the water.

Do not close your eyes.

An atrocious odor will suddenly begin to ravage your nose and eyes. Do not blink. Do not shield your face. Begin to swim to the very center of the lake towards the ripple. The water will be murky and polluted, its contents impenetrable by your gaze. Float on your stomach with your face beneath the lake’s surface, eyes wide. Release the following words from your lips: “Can the taint be cleansed?”

A force will begin to drag you under as you swallow copious amounts of the nasty water. The lingering stench from before will all but scorch your senses, but somehow, you will realize that you can breath under the surface of this lake. The water is dark and muddy and it’s taste on your lips is all but pleasant. You will begin to recognize a specific odor: rotting flesh and human excrement, like the kind clinging to the corpses that have suddenly surrounded you.

Do not close your eyes.

Their numbers are many, as if expelled from a machine fueled by toxin. Their mouths will spew intestine, and their eye sockets will spill bile. Bloodied organic tissue will slowly leak from the backs of their skulls.

Do not close your eyes.

You will be pulled to the lake’s bed, where a lone cadaver will sift through the sediment. The ability to breath under the lake’s surface has gone, and the corpse’s eyes will meet yours. It will hand you a tin can, rusty, yet still gleaming from the metal it is made of. It seems impossible to open.

Kick hard to reach the surface and remove yourself from the water. They want their object back. Out of the lake, you are safe. You shall never return.

The tin can is object 509 of 538.

510. The Holder of Alliances

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institute or halfway house you can get yourself to. When inside, go to the person at the counter and ask him to see the one who calls himself “The Holder of Alliances”. The first time you ask, he will smirk and go into the door behind him. Do NOT follow him, do NOT leave. Remain in your position until he returns. When he does, he will have in his hand a small piece of paper. Take it from him and he will then lead you to a door you did not see originally. He will open it, lead you in, pat you on the back and wish luck upon your unfortunate soul.

After the man closes the door, start down the hallway. It will be very dark and only the light from the door ahead of you will slightly illuminate the hall. It will seem only a few yards away, but will take EXACTLY an hour of constant walking. If you stop, even for an instant, wish that they will give you a quick, painless death. When you reach the door, walk inside to reveal a vast room with brilliant light surrounding you. A feeling of peace will overcome you, then the room will go black and you must feel your way through the room until you feel a doorknob. DO NOT TURN THE KNOB! It will unleash the beasts held within. Instead, knock exactly four times. If tow knocks are returned, knock three more times. Then, the door will open and you will see a man standing surrounded by the corpses of people you will seem to know.

Slowly, he will walk towards you. If he runs towards you, turn and run the other way, for you are not the one for this particular item. If you are lucky enough for him to walk to you, look only at his legs until he puts his hand on your shoulder. Then your body will force you to look into his eyes. You will receive visions of all of the wars that have happened and that will ever happen. If your heart and sanity can live through this hell, you will then ask him, “Do they cause war?”

He will then tell you stories of the wars of before the world was now. He then will tell you something in a strange tongue that you will understand, but not know the full meaning. He will then lead you to a door. Inside will be a pedestal with a treaty and a quill. Sign the treaty and take it, and roll it up. Walk through the door you enter from and you will find your self in the mental institute you started this journey in. Go home, and never, ever open the treaty.

This is Object 510 of 538. With it, you will know other seekers, but they will also know of you.

511. The Holder of Farewell

In any city, in any country, go to any airport terminal you can get yourself to. When you reach the ticket counter, ask to visit someone who calls himself “The Holder of Farewell.” Everyone nearby will immediately fall silent and turn to stare at you, their faces soft and sad. The person behind the counter will choke back tears, then print out a plane ticket and hand it to you reluctantly. The moment the ticket is in your hand, everyone else in the airport will fade away, vanishing before your eyes. While alone here, always keep the ticket within arm’s reach. If you do not, you too will vanish, never to reappear.

At this point, begin wandering through the now empty airport. Your wandering may last for only a few days, but most likely it will go on for years. When you get hungry or thirsty, you can steal food and drink from the airport’s many vacant stores. No one is present to stop you. If you try to leave the airport, you will discover that the world outside has been replaced by a neverending barren parking lot, completely without vehicles or people.

Assuming the crushing loneliness does not cause you to destroy yourself by purposely walking away from the ticket, eventually you will encounter a strange man who is slowly waving at a wall. He will react to nothing save for a single question: “How do I say good-bye?” The man will respond simply by waving faster. Hold the plane ticket in one hand and imitate the man’s wave with your other. The wall will then crumble, and beyond it you will see every human who has ever lived, huddled together in an otherwise empty void. All of them will be aging at a frighteningly rapid pace. Continue waving good-bye as everyone you know, and billions you don’t, grows old and dies in front of you. Should you stop waving for even a second, you will be sucked into the void and die alongside them.

If you somehow manage to wave nonstop, without once flinching or tiring, until every human has disintegrated into nothingness, both the man and the airport will fade away. You will now be standing in your bedroom, and except for the plane ticket in your hand, the world will be just as it was before you entered the airport. It will feel good to relax in your cozy home following your exhausting journey, but after what you experienced, for the rest of your life you will be uncomfortably aware of how fleeting that cozy home truly is.

The plane ticket is Object 511 of 538. It is non-refundable.

512. The Holder of Comparisons

In any city with a large university or college, attend a public lecture. The type of lecture is irrelevant, but lectures on more advanced subjects (such as quantum mechanics or nuclear physics) are more likely to lead one to the Holder. Listen to the lecture in its entirety; when it ends, while the rest of the audience is departing, approach the professor who was giving the lecture. When you have their attention, you must say to them, “Fascinating discussion, but may I see your comparison data?” If the professor lets out a deep breath, like you’ve asked an extremely piercing question, they will ask you to follow them. They will lead you towards their office or regular classroom. You are still free to go at any point during this walk, or even to make small talk, for the professor has no reason to harm you.

At the office, the professor will open a small door and gesture you to enter. Inside will be nothing more than an empty faculty office, but enter anyway. As you do, he will start to follow you in, but turn and say to the professor, “No thank you, I will speak to the Holder of Comparisons alone.” They will insist on joining you, but you must stand firm and demand to go alone. When they finally relent, turn around. The office will be replaced by a dark staircase leading down. This is your last chance to escape unharmed. If you hear loud machinery from below, immediately leave the door and tell the professor, “I did not realize they were busy,” and run. With luck, you will not have disturbed the Holder’s study. If, on the other hand, there is silence, it is safe to proceed.

Descend the stairs until you come to a long hallway. By all accounts, this will appear to be an ordinary college hallway, with postings for journals and projects on the walls, but do not pause to read them if you value your sanity. In this hallway, there are only two doors. One is always locked; do not attempt to force your way in lest you disturb the Holder. Inside the other sits a hunched, distracted figure, making manic calculations on arcane mathematical devices. Open the door, but do not enter until he acknowledges your presence. When he does, you must say with a complete casual air, “I am here to help with the Comparison, professor.” Saying this will fill the man with delight, and he will immediately abandon his work to lead you across the hall, talking enthusiastically about his research the whole time. While his talk is filled with intense detail, you are not to pay attention to it, for in the next room your mind will need utter clarity and focus.

Beyond the locked door is a massive and deeply horrifying machine, so complex that there is no sure way to even describe what might operate it. The researcher will hurry you to a wall, which is covered, wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling, with gauges and meters to take hundreds of thousands of measurements. He will be jabbering away at this point, but you should be paying attention to this wall, for when the Holder says, “Right, then, shall we?” the trial will begin. Turning from you, he will begin operating the machine, occasionally calling out for a reading from you. At first, the machine will simply be loud, and you will have plenty of time to find the reading the Holder asks for and report it back to him. However, as minutes turn into hours, and hours to days, you will have mere seconds to find each bit of data he calls for. All the while, the machine’s volume will rise, from a mere mechanical rattle to the screams and wails of suffering souls, which will reach a volume that makes hearing the Holder a near-impossible feat. In addition, as you stare into the dials and displays, faces will emerge from between them, shouting at you. Sometimes they will offer advice; other times they will wail at their own errors in calculation. At any time you should fall behind, or give a wrong reading, the machine will come to a sudden stop and the Holder will place a hand on your back. With an almost-kindly tone, he will say, “Oh, well, mistakes happen on first days,” before pushing you into the wall, where your face will join the others in a maddening lament of imperfection.

This pursuit of data will take days, but eventually the machine will slowly wind down and the Holder will beckon you over. With a pleasant beam, he will present you with a stack of papers far thicker than even the heaviest of dissertations, instructing you to run it down for copies. Accept the papers and leave by the means you came. The report itself categorizes and analyzes every pain of every being’s life, comparing them with such detail as to drive most who read it insane with the urge to compare every aspect of every little thing. The final section of the document, however, contains a mire of statistics, comparing the Universe’s current condition to the time when They were reunited.

The report is Object 512 of 538. You know He is researching. Now you must find out why.

513. The Holder of the Watchers

[Found written in blood in an abandoned house.]
“There is no Holder of the Watchers, and Object 513 is nothing. But now They will find you, as they find all who read the message. For when you know of Object 513, it knows of you. It watches you. It finds you. And there is nowhere to run.”
[The message terminates with a bloody handprint that appeared to have slid down the wall and through the ground.]

514. The Holder of Pride

In any city, in a developed country, go to any homeless shelter you can get yourself to. Stride in arrogantly, and to the first staff member you find, demand to see the Holder of Pride. The staff member will smile shyly, before offering you a bed for the night. Thrice refuse his offers, and choose a bed of your own to retire to. From this point forward you have ten minutes to fall asleep or the staff member will return to pluck out your eyes and deposit you on the street for your arrogance.

If you should fall asleep succesfully, you will wake up precisely seven minutes later. The first thing you should notice is that there are no signs of life in the shelter anymore, save for a strange wet garbled sound coming from across the hall, and a heavenly chorus singing praises from some distance away. The stonework and architecture also look heavily dilapidated.

From this point on if the garbled sound stops before you reach the source, pause for a moment and say in a clear, authoritiative tone, “They will be mine. I deserve them. None other shall claim them.” If there is a muffled cackling followed, fear not, you are safe for now. If however there is no sound, your only hope of escape is to return to the bed from which you awoke and tear out your own eyes. Failure to do this will result in the emaciated corpses of all the homeless ones to have lived awaken in the macabre shelter, and begin to tear your flesh off strip by strip so they may have a meal, all the while taunting the foolish one who roused them with barbs strong enough to shatter the strongest psyche. If you pull the strength of will to take your own sight you will be returned to the natural world, forever relying upon the charity of others in lieu of your lost vision.

For the lucky ones, the sound will lead you down a series of corridors that end in a baroque looking door. Performing any other actions other than laid out here will result in the door becoming animate and devouring the person in front of it to be absorbed into the building’s walls, forever a tortured observer in the surreal sub-existence that it is. Knock twice, and wait for any sound from the other side to stop, be it cackling or garbling. You will hear an elderly voice tell you to go away. Ignore it, and knock again three more times. The voice will threaten you with bodily harm. Cough twice, and open the door forcefully, swinging it in a wide arc. If enough force is put into opening the door, it will knock away an old man who will begin whimpering in pain. Ignore his pain, but take not your eyes off the old man, for he will gladly forego his agony to return it on you a thousand times worse.

The old man will ask of you your purpose here. Thrice refuse to answer him, and in return ask him precisely, “You are the Holder of Pride, am I correct?” in an imperious tone of voice. Should this tone lack sincerity, the old man will start cackling again, and you will feel numbness accelerate through your body. Looking down at this point will only cause your sanity to shatter instantly, instead of over a long period while you are confined to a void of nothingness, floating as an insubstantial ghost for the remainder of your natural lifespan.

If the man’s face instead become welcoming, he will offer you a piece of unspecified meat. To accept is folly, as those who do are returned to the world with an insatiable hunger for the flesh of man. If you again thrice refuse his offer, he will scream at you, demanding to know why. At this point you must say. “You do not deserve it, you no longer hold what you claim to hold.” Saying this will cause panic to grip the man, and his body will begin melting. His skin will drip off, followed by his muscles, sinew and bone, until he is nothing more than a puddle of malformed matter on the floor.

At this point you are required to reach into the puddle, do not worry about it’s depth, and do not think about it too much, for it may drive a lesser man to ruin and grasp for a piece of material. You will pull out a bracelet. If it is black, whatever god you worship is no longer on your side, and you begin to share a similar fate to the holder. If it is as white as the driven snow, you may put on the bracelet return to the real world, awakening safely in the bed you demanded, bracelet secure on your wrist.

This bracelet is object 514 of 538. The wearer of it believes he can do no wrong.

515. The Holder of Heaven

In any city, in any country, go to any hospital you can get yourself to. At the front desk, ask a nurse to visit room no. 515. She will pick up a phone, dial a number, and talk to a friend or family member, chatting about who-knows-what. Do not interrupt her, or your journey ends here. Ask again for a visitation to room no. 515. She will acknowledge your presence, but will say that visiting hours are over, no matter what time it is, and escort you to an elevator. She will press a button and you will end up on the fifth floor.

“I can go no further; good luck to you, friend,” the nurse will say as the elevator doors close. You can still turn back, all it takes is the push of a button, but to continue forward is what you must do: your journey is coming to a close. You will soon find yourself at room no. 515 if you continued. Open the door slowly, as to not make any sound. If there is a man visiting the patient in room 515, your death will be swift and painless at the claws of foul demons and spirits that breathed their last in this hospital, if he knows of your presence. If there is a woman, your death will be imminent after leaving the hospital, and you cannot enter the room if she is alerted. She will haunt you forever because she has your scent. If they are not alerted, but still present, leave the hospital and never return. If there is no visitor, feel free to enter.

The patient in the hospital bed will be someone you know, or, at least you think so. Do not speak their name or approach them, the beast can fool many and can kill easily. Instead, look towards the massive window until you see your reflection and the room goes dark. However, if the room stays lit, you will see the beast rise in its true form, either taking your life or allowing you to jump from the fifth story. When the room goes dark, you may turn around whenever you like. The bed and beast are now gone.

Walk forward and you should see a glowing figure in the distance. Run as fast as you can to this entity, for menacing beasts will be hot on your trail. The growling and snarling will become loud and unbearable, but you must continue moving, to be caught would be a horrible fate. As you near the figure, the beasts will leave you be.

The entity is the most beautiful of all creatures ever fathomed. Do not look away, because in an instant, it will transform into a massive, nasty being, ready to disembowel and devour you immediately. This Holder, presumed to be an angel, is mute and will not respond to any question asked or flood your mind with horrid stories of the past or future. Instead, it will pluck two feathers from either of it’s massive wings and it is up to you which you choose.

The wrong feather will rot in your hands, as will the angel, turning its bright eyes ruby red and its glowing skin brown with decay. You will not die, but you will return to the entrance of the hospital. Entering once more will guarantee a spot for you in Hell. The other feather will retain its brilliance throughout your life and the angel will send you to the place you call home.

The angel’s feather is Object 515 of 538. With it, light will never leave your soul, and neither will the shadows it casts.

516. The Holder of Disaster

In any city, in any country, go to any church or place of worship you can get yourself to. As you enter, make absolutely certain you are alone, it is vitally important. Look for a Reverand, Imam etc at the front of the building. As you make your way towards them, stretch your arms out to either side of yourself, close your eyes and tilt your head downwards. After taking thirteen steps, open your eyes and place your arms back beside yourself. If the person you were making for is still stood there, their arms clasped and looking you directly in the eye with a deathly stare, tell them you wish to see the Holder of Disaster. They will place an arm around you, chuckling lightly. If a church, you will be lead to the belfry, if a mosque, you will go to the Call to Prayer tower. If, for example, you are in a church, you will be lead up the spiral staircase, but as you go, you will pass no bell, you will go on for what seems like miles until you come to a balcony, upon which is a door.

Your accomplice will open the door, before beating a hasty retreat. As you peer through, should you see only darkness, turn and run as fast as you can, for should you see what comes out of the darkness, if you look for more than a second, will cause the universe to destroy itself in a paradoxical explosion, merely due to the fact that a human being has seen the horrors contained within.

However, should you see what appears to be a corridor within a castle, step forwards. Suits of armour stand motionlessly around you, holding huge lanterns, casting a haunting glow throughout the corridor. They may seem to move, but do NOT look back. Instead, keep going. You will eventually come to a throne, upon which will be an extremely thin, bearded man with empty eye sockets. In the place of his eye sockets will be pools of blood, which look as if they should be pouring from the holes they are held within. He will gently begin to tap the arm of his throne. After the fifth tap, he will stop, and the flames that lit the corridor will cease to burn. At this point, get on your hands and knees, look straight to the floor and shout at the top of your voice only these words: “What happens when they die?” After this, stand to your feet. Placed on the floor below you will be a goblet, in which will be some shimering water. You will be overcome with thirst, but do not drink it, no matter how tempted you are. Instead, stare at the water. Before you, as if you are watching it on a television screen, will be played, as if recorded, every horrific tragedy in history, everything from the death of the Dinosaurs, to Mount Vesuvius, to the RMS Titanic’s sinking, to present day battles in the Middle East. Everything will be in excruciating detail, and you will see the fate of every person involved. Some people tear out their eyes in sheer agony, some are scarred for life, and some go completely and utterly insane. Whatever your outcome, you must continue to watch the events take place before you, or else you will face the unimaginable pain that follows if you do not. After this is over, the water will completely vanish from view, leaving only the goblet. Suddenly, you will feel as if you have been dropped from a great height, and you will be sat in the place of worship once more, with only the goblet for company.

This goblet is Object 516 of 538. With this you will have unlimited knowledge of human emotion.

517. Holder of Pandemonium

In any city, in any country, go to a retirement home with the lowest number of residence in it. Go up to the front desk, and ask to see a man by the name of ‘Mister Factions’. The clerk will ask you to take a seat, do so, but make sure you sit next to a few elderly people. Make conversation with them, eventually, one will come and sit down next to you and ask you to come with him. Do so, and make conversation while you do, no need to be impolite. On the way past, you will meet the clerk again, she will be drenched in blood, coming from her eyes. She will be clawing at them, begging for mercy. The man will stop and look at her in pity. It isn’t important if you try and console the her, for their pain and frantic mind will block out all outside happenings, and any sort of physical interaction will result in her brutal and violent attack.

Follow the old man until he comes to his room, you will notice it’s the only room in the hallway with a lock. The lock will be undone. The next step is very important, before the man opens the door, shut your eyes and hold them tight, lest you too wish to claw out your eyes.. He will take your hand and lead you into his room, wait until you hear him say ‘What are your eyes closed for?’ in which case you may open them. You will be in his room, which is somehow significantly bigger than the building should allow.

In the room there will be a bed, a rocking chair and a stool with a pillow on it. Lay on the bed. The stool is uncomfortable and the rocking chair belongs to the old man. You must converse with him. Start about whatever you wish, but the topics will always seem to lead you to the Objects and Holders. A vibe will wash over you, seemingly originating from the man. It will be the feeling that you know whatever he is saying is true, and that you have no reason to hold back. Due to the feeling, you will understand everything he is saying, and if you begin to be confused, take the time to ask him to clarify. If you do this, he will stop talking and ask to be excused.

Whether or not you finish your long conversation or he stops when you get confused, eventually he will ask to excuse himself and you will remain in his room, laying or sitting on the bed. Within moments the clerk will appear, bloody in the doorway, and with her eyeless sockets she will glare at you. The longer you do not move, the longer she will stare. However you must move eventually, and she will attack you. She will be brandishing any weapon she can find.

You must fight this woman, and no matter how many times you try and kill her, she will get back up. Until you finally kill her for what seems like the hundredth time, your knuckles will be bloody, your body will be broken, and you will be exhausted. This time she will just lie there, and the man will come back, when he does, he will kindly tell you that you were not the man he was looking for, and he will implore you to leave before he gets aggravated with you for the mess you made.

Begin to leave, but before you do, take the woman’s body outside the room, the old man will close the door and you will hear him muttering to himself. Pay no attention, his role is at an end.

The woman however, is the Holder of Pandemonium. She will get up again, turn to you, and attempt, yet again, to murder you, this time however, before she has the chance to kill you, say to her: ‘Why must they be Balanced?’

Her attack will discontinue, and she will sit next to you on the floor and begin to sob. This time hug her, hold her, kiss her and make her feel as loved as possible. Until finally she has the willpower to answer your question. She will give you the answer to your question.
Then she will reach into her shirt and produce a small replica of her torn eye.

Keeping the model on your person will make you feel only acceptance, and understand all that is said to you.

This clay statue is Object 517 of 538.

518. The Holder of Religion

In any city, in any country, go to any religious sanctuary you can get yourself to. Upon entering the religious sanctity of the building find a disciple of the said religious sanctuary. When you do ask him to speak with the man who calls himself the ‘Holder of Religion.’ After frustrating confusion and several pleas to see the holder the disciple will open his eyes wide with instant knowledge of what you seek and fall at your feet weeping as if you were God sent. He will lead you to a door in the back of the sanctuary while muttering prayers in your favor to whichever god he may be pleading his case to. When you reach the door he will open it for you and usher you in but will refuse to go further.

As you enter the room you will see that the room exist outside of the laws of physic and logic as the ceiling seems to rise forever but numerically has three floors. Directly across the rectangular floor will be a staircase. When you step on the marble floor six syllables of chanting will ensue. It is important that you listen closely not to the music but to the foreign words of the chant for your life well-being may depend on it. After you reach the staircase the chanting will stop and when you reach the top the disciple who led you there will appear and ask you to repeat the chant of the room. If you repeat the words correctly he will allow you to pass, but if you chant a wrong syllable beware. For if you do the room will melt into an unholy darkness that causes loneliness and fear forever and you will be forever engulfed in this dark abyss always fearing for you life.

When you repeat it correctly the disciple will dissipate and you will step foot onto another chanting level of the sanctuary. As you listen and walk around the edges of the room to the other side of the room which contains another staircase. You will see paintings on the walls, paintings of every war that has broken out over religion and every misuse of their sanctity. Once again you will have to reach the top of the stairs and repeat the six syllable chant to the disciple and once more on the next level.

When you reach the third level of the sanctuary you will see that the marble floor is covered with blasphemous writings and a six syllable chanting will once again ensue as you take your first step. When you do see these writings bow your head and repeat the chant of the room with full faith in its protection and holiness for if you don’t you will sink through the marble floor like quicksand and be enveloped in the paranoid ridden, lonely darkness. If you make it across the marble floor of poisonous thoughts the disciple will ask you to repeat the three six syllable chants in a row without hesitation. If you do he will dissipate and allow you through the door, but if you fail you will not be sucked into a dark oblivion of paranoia. However, that fate may be much better than the foul demons that the blasphemous papers will give birth to.

Upon opening the door a light will shine, you will feel your heart race and with your heavy breathing will start the chant of the three six syllable chants in foreign languages. No matter how loud the chant may be do not cover your ears for if you do the muffled chants will trigger suicidal tendencies. When you reach the center of the room the Holder of Religion will hold out his hand in demand of silence. In this brief moment you have to opportunity to ask him the one question to which he will respond ‘Which god allowed them to be made?’ He will answer you in glorious detail of a fallen god who was loved by his people that was violently cast out of his own glory. Wait for the Holder of Religion to finish and when he does he will give you one of two things. If he gives you a leather bound book you will be blessed with wisdom and if he gives you a rosemary you will be blessed with protection.

The object he so chooses to give you will be object 518.

519. The Holder of Remorse

Is this quest enough to sustain you? Is this accumulation of curses really worthwhile? Has everything progressed perfectly, with no loss or sorrow?

Not so, for me.

I once sought, as you do now. I know, more than any other could, the burden you bear, the enormity of the actions you have taken. And in the end, it was all for nothing. What has been will be again. What has been done will be done again.

You have questioned other Holders. You have fought them in labyrinths of fire and stone and whatnot, endless battlefields and pocket universes. Your weapons and allies have multiplied beyond number. But, in the end, whether you have the Blade or the Card, the Nectar or the Needles, you will face me alone.

All I offer you is a choice. The same choice I was given. If you decide not to make it now, I won’t stop you. Leave through the back door, and you’ll find yourself back where you started. Return when you have strengthened your resolve.

You may take my Object, and continue your futile scrabbling at eternity. Rail against the inevitable. Crush those who come in your way, whether friend or foe, beloved or hated, none can or will be spared. Lose yourself in blind lust for power, like so many before. Damn the world for its own sake, until even the souls confined to the darkest pits of Tartarus weep for what it has become. Let loose evil, and let it embrace the cosmos. Watch the stars die out, and laugh as the last ones wither, and all that is left is ashes.

And then you will reunite Them.

Or, if you have any regrets at all, if you have any remorse for what you have done, any shred of humanity remaining. I can make you the next Holder. Your hands will be clean of death, and the atrocities you’ve committed will never have come to pass. As the next Holder, your only duty will be to reverse the damage caused by the Seeker. A small price to erase a lifetime of pain. A trifling cost to save everything.

I’m no polygraph. The punishment for lying is the same as that of foolishness. You will have to live with the consequences of your choice.

By the time you need to find me, you’ll know where and how. Any number of Objects may guide you. I have no reason to hide.

Object 519 of 538 is a ruby wheel. No matter how anything may try, it only turns clockwise. Some things cannot be undone. What you do with the Object cannot be taken back.

520. The Holder Of Conformity

In any city in any country go to the nearest school and ask the receptionist to see the Faceless Ones. A look of surprise should play across her face, and she will get up to escort you personally.

As she leads you down the hallways the doors on either side will begin to grow more and more shabby and ill kept. A red glow, subtle at first, but growing more and more intense with every step will begin to permeate the world around you. If you should be stupid enough to look into the windows of any of the classrooms along the way your eyes will pop out from your head, your hair will be set ablaze, and your skin will melt off your bones.

Continue to follow the secretary to the end of the hallway. Here she will open a single door, and step inside. Follow her in. Inside there will be a classroom filled with students. Each and every one will be plagued with some horrible deformity on their faces. Noses misplaced, teeth missing, eyes dangling from sockets, skin that writhes like worms dwell beneath it, all of these horrors will confront you and more. But the most auspicious person in the bunch will not be the students, it will be the teacher. The teacher will have no eyes, no nose, no mouth, just a blank face. And before your very eyes the skin will begin to slough off, only to be replaced by a new sheet of raw skin, again and again.

The teacher will talk, though you have no idea how. He will tell of every lesson learned by man, of every experience that should have taught humans a lesson. He will then talk of how humans never learn, how they continue to follow each other much like sheep. His voice will rise to a horrible crescendo, at this point you should cover your ears and scream that you are different, for if you don’t your ear drums will rupture, your brain boil, and your face horribly deform. Only then will you join the students sitting in the classroom for eternity. However, if you are vocal in your protestations, and the teacher is disrupted, he will reach into his desk and hand you a mask with no markings. Take this mask and leave the classroom immediately.

As you leave you will see that all of the children’s faces have molted, and two dozen sheets of skin now lay on the floor. They will turn once more to watch you leave, all of them staring at you without eyes, without faces, and without pity. Your last sight before you exit will be of one final desk, your desk, should you ever have the stupidity to return.

The mask with no markings is object 520 of 538. May it help you blend in where you should not be seen.

521. The Holder of the Debt

To gain this object, you must have gained the Coin from the The Holder of Trade. And you must have been the one to gain said Object, for only you can fathom the debt that is owed.

In any city, in any country, go to any swap-shop or small business where trade is the main form of currency. When you enter, ask the store owner if you can see “The Holder of the Debt,” while offering him a large cash bribe (about $1000 should do, but it’s good to have a little more just in case). The owner will look at the cash bribe, and should reply “This is nowhere near enough.” Should the man say “This is enough. Follow me,” then do, if you wish. Your life will only be measured in moments, and will end in one of the most painful way.

When he says the former, present the Coin to him. He will look it over, ,then nod, and walk out of the store. Do not follow him, for only Hell’s minions wait on the outside. The owner will walk back inside with an old lady, looking for a certain item. The owner will tell you to look in the back room for it. There may not have been a back room on the establishment, but if you go through any of the doors inside the building, you will arrive there.

Once you enter the room, let your eyes ajust to the new darkness. It is also important not to move, for the Void is still making the floor you stand upon, and to move would cause you to forever hurtle through the Void, suffering all that there is to see in it. You should see a dark room, filled with boxes save for an area around a small wodden table. A lone figure dressed in black will sit on one side of the table; You must take the chair on the other. If there is no chair, then you should just sit on the ground. The Holder wants you to feel comfortable in his domain.

He shall ask you if you have “it.” Tell him that you do, and reach into your pocket. You will find a small package in your pocket. Take it out and give it to him. He will greedily open it, and you will discover it is the Coin. Before he can put it in his pocket, thus losing it forever, you must ask him, with as much temper in your voice as you dare to muster, “And How will this fulfill Their debt?!”

He will glare at you, greed easily showing in his eyes, and tell you one sentence: “It won’t. But it will fulfill yours.” At this point, stand, open the nearest box, and pray you can kill the man with the item inside. Do not worry, he shall not put up a fight, but the only way to kill him is to remove his head, and you only have one chance. The wound you will inflict will begin to pour out the currency your home country, starting with the largest amount, and the flow will steadily get larger as the worth gets smaller. As this happens, the body will shudder in a most horrendous way, as it tries to regain it’s lost head. Once the head is in the body’s hands, it will begin to tell you of every debt that was ignored, not paid off, and all-over removed. It will tell of every single occurance where the person needing to recieve the money went to get it by force, and every excruciating detail of what they did to the person. Then, in horrifying detail, it will tell you of Their debt; when it started, how it has grown, but never of the person the debt is owed to. Most people go insane at the knowledge of Their debts, but if you can survive, the body will eventually disappear under the wealth.

At this point, the owner will wonder what happened to his “paycheck.” It will not take him long to get to the room, so before he does, you must retrieve the Coin. Once you get the Object, turn to the owner, who should just be entering the room. He will comment on the mass amounts of wealth, and you must only say “This was his debt. Take what you wish, for it shall turn into yours.”

Take any of the bills, and leave the building. The bill you have is Object 521 of 538. This bill will gain you anything that is for sale in any store if you have no money, if you show it to the cashier, but at the cost of people you love the most.

522. The Holder Incognito

In any city, any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself into. Bring with you a cheap, full face mask from a craft store. Go up to the front desk and ask to speak with “the one who hides their faces”. If the clerk asks what you’re talking about, just leave. Come back another day.

If, however, they reach under the desk and press the security buzzer, put on your mask. Security guards will storm in, rushing this way and that. They will be looking for you. They will arrest you, take you away to a holding cell, and leave you to rot there. Your only hope will be the Holder himself. If you catch his interest, you may feel a shadow rush past you. You will now be under the protection of the Holder. Look closely, he will be there. Dressed as a security guard, and wearing the same mask as you. He will be the only one who can see you. After staring at you for a second, he will step out through a nearby door. Follow him, he’s fast.

After he has lead you through the complex, you will end up in a large room lit by only one dim candle. He is there, behind the candle, wearing a cloak. Don’t take your eyes off him. If you do, he will become someone else, someone dear to you. That person will have a waking dream. That may not seem like much, but that dream will be of everything that follows. His thoughts will become theirs. His memories, theirs. When you see them again, they will be driven mad. Stark raving mad. And they’ll know it’s your fault.

Step up to the candle. He will pass his hand through the flame. Do the same. The light will flicker up, smoke will wisp through the air. It will form into images of people doing every evil thing. He will remove his cloak and drape it around your shoulders. It flows as if it were made of the lightest fabric, but it will feel as if it were thirty pounds. It is weighted by the deceptions of the Holder. Then he will speak.

“Today you are bound. Bound to serve them. Bound to hide them. Bound as one of them. Hear them speak. Listen to the world. Allow them to be gathered only when it is time.”

Ask him “How are they being hidden now?”

He will remove his mask, and smile, and tell you his answer. Leave. Don’t stay around to see him return to his original life. You won’t like what you see. Take off your mask as soon as you enter the sunlight. Any time you don it there after, say the name of any other Holder. You will hear their thoughts. You will gain their countenance. You will know their secrets. It is your job to use that mask to keep them hidden from the world at large.

That mask is Object 522 out of 538, the Mask of the Greatest Lies. Beware: Mankind was not meant to delve into the minds of twisted beings.

523. Holder of Quintessence

In any city, in any country, make your way to a nightclub. It must be between the hours of 11:00 pm and 1:00 am, local time. Inform the bouncer outside that you have an appointment with someone called the Holder of Quintessence. Should he smirk and make a mark on his clipboard, then I suggest you head inside and get as hammered as possible. Your life will be over within forty-five minutes, and alcohol will help dull the pain.

However, should he stare at you as if you just asked him something moronic, thank him and make your way back home. When you open your front door, you will notice that every aspect of your home, while still recognizable, will be quite different. Your walls may have changed to an awful color, while the TV might show only depictions of brutal murder. Your lights may glow with the color of blood, and do not be surprised if your pets begin having an intelligible conversation with you. Shut and lock your door behind you and sit in your favorite spot in the house. Precisely one hour from when you locked your door, you will hear a loud knock coming from it.

Do not move. Do not acknowledge that you even noticed it in any way.

Also, don’t look behind you at any point. Just don’t.

Your guest will let himself in. At this point, know that the Holder has judged you worthy, however don’t look at him. Not yet. If, instead, no one enters your house, then you will live out the rest of your days in this alien world. The environment outside has changed drastically, as well, and no one here likes you. You are the reason for their torture.

Once the Holder makes himself comfortable, it is safe to gaze upon him. His appearance cannot be defined using words, and for the sake of my own sanity, I will not attempt to describe him. He will sit about, not paying you any mind, and flip through the channels on your TV, eat unidentifiable food from your refrigerator, and may well murder your pet. After he has amused himself, he will lean back and make a noise akin to an elderly man clearing phlegm from his throat. Now is the time to ask: “What is He?”

If he still doesn’t acknowledge you, then I suggest you attack him then and there. A hellish demise by his hands is far preferable to what would await you after he got bored and left. However, should he turn to face you, he will, in excruciating detail tell you everything about Him; his fears, his desires, his powers and his needs.

It is likely that the first word uttered by his alien tongue will shatter your fragile sanity, but endure. He will not stop talking until you finally succumb to madness and lay, a gibbering mass, on the floor. If the Holder is pleased by how long you lasted, then he will, in the most excruciating way possible, cleave open your skull and remove your brain. Don’t worry. In your state, that will be the least of your worries.

You will awaken at exactly 2:00 AM, one day after you went to the night club, remembering nothing of the description of Him, but recalling with unnatural clarity every other aspect of your journey. You will be lying under your bed (I hope for your sake that your bed doesn’t actually touch the floor, else the cops will be scratching their heads about this one).

Your thoughts will be whirling and it won’t take you long to realize that you have an entirely new thought process; complex riddles and insolvable puzzles are as simple as the product of two and two. No concept can boggle you, and your now-alien brain will understand with absolute clarity any horror you should encounter. It is suggested that the first thing you do with your new found intellect is find a way to get a steady supply of human brains, as it is the only substance that can now nourish you. If you have already visited the Holder of The Worm, then you will starve to death before the week is out.

Your brain is object number 523 of 538. It alone is capable of guiding you through the process of assembling them.

524. The Holder of Power

In any city, in any country, go to any courthouse you can get yourself to. At the desk should be a plump woman wearing speckled glasses. If she is not there, return another day. If she is there, inform her that you have an appointment to meet with the Holder of Power. If she blinks and then opens her mouth as if to say something, you have come to the right place at the right time. If she does not, instantly tell her that you were mistaken and exit the building. Forever.

If she does blink, she will hand you a business card. It is black, with blood red lettering. You must find the room with the same number that appears on the front of the card. Knock three times with your LEFT hand, then twice with your right. The door will open, revealing an office empty except for a desk and a single armchair.

When you enter, you will instantly be bound by a force unseen to you. Do not fight this, or it will crush your body until all of your bones are broken. The door will close behind you, and the lights will go out. When this happens, close your eyes and count to 137. No more, no less. Open your eyes.

The room will have changed. If it has not, you must immediately apologize and bow your head, keeping your eyes open. Your ties should be released, and you will be allowed to exit the room. If you are not released, you will be lost to time forever.

If the room has changed, you will notice only one thing: The only light is that coming from one of the drawers behind the desk. You will be moved by the same force that has you tied, and it will move you behind the desk. The drawer will begin to open, and a man will appear in the chair to your left.

When he appears, your bonds will be removed. The man will make a noise that you have never heard before. In response to this noise, you must ask one question, and one question only. “What is their true power?”

If the man does not instantly kill you, he will gesture to the drawer. Take the object inside it. It is a large box. Inside the box are three items in a line. You must not take the two next to the center item. They will provide you with the most intense pain you will ever feel, and will not stop. IF you touch one of them, you will become the man in the chair.

The object you must take is a 9-volt battery. When it is inserted into any electrical device (it will fit, regardless of the battery type needed) it will grant the user of the device with the ability to bind any person indefinitely, at least until it is willed for them to be released. Take note, though, that great mental strength is needed to operate any device the battery powers. Overuse it, and your mind will begin to crack under the pressure, figuratively and literally.

The battery is object 524 of 538.

525. The Holder Of Burning Winds

At any abandoned warehouse (even near ports), go inside. You should see at least one person still staying there. If it is an old man, you’re on the right track. If you encounter a man any younger, run. Do not attempt to speak, just run, and return the next day to try again. If you see the old man, ask permission from him to see the “Holder Of Burning Winds” or the “Pride Of The Hot Sand”. Should he lightly tip his hat or move his scarf, you’re lucky, but if he gets angry and shouts at you to scram, leave at once.

If the first event happens, he will then walk towards a back door you won’t notice to be there at all. If he deems you worthy, you’ll wind up on a darker warehouse. If not, just pray for a quick death, no matter how unlikely. If you wind up in the darker warehouse, the old man will close the door behind you. Let him do it, and as soon as you put your attention to the center, you’ll see a small pile of sand.

Do not touch it, just approach it. Once you’re in front of it, whisper as fast as you can this sentence, “Why does the wind bear His anger?” The small sand pile will then form a face, with a small voice, and in complete and full detail tell you about all the atrocities done in the past and the ones that will be done in the future. Should you manage to hold your sanity, once it’s speech ends, close your eyes. Once you open them again, you will notice that the small pile is gone, and a young Asian-looking man will be sitting on a bar suspended by strong cables with a katana with a broken handle in his hand, sheathed.

He will then toss it to you, smiling, then jump down, land unharmed, brush himself off, and trot away until he passes through the wall. Should you try to follow him, he will re-appear in front of you and poke your forehead playfully. No one knows what will happen if you follow him a third time. Pick up the katana, run home. Stop for nothing. No one can follow you. Should you encounter the young man on the way home, simply nod to him while running. Should you pass out before reaching your home, the katana will turn against you. If you manage to get home, keep it hidden in the closet or next to it’s fellow blades.

Once inside, sleep. Should you wield this in front of another Holder or any Holder’s minions, the young man will appear and help you through even in the bleakest of situations, wielding another katana, but his is black. Don’t rely on him too often, though, or he’ll slash you down himself.

This is object 525.

526. The Holder of the Fetters

In any city, in any country, go to any construction site. Find any of the workers and ask them to see the foreman, saying, “I wish to break the chains”. They may shrug, or they may give you a funny look, or tell you to get lost, or direct you to the foreman’s trailer. If they do, move on and ask someone else. You may speak to a thousand workers or just one, but eventually one will respond with a smile and a left fist raised in solidarity. They will say, “I’ll take you to the foreman,” call you brother or sister, and walk off toward the center of the construction site. Follow them and don’t dawdle.

As you walk into the construction site, the unfinished work, wood, concrete, steel, aluminum or glass, will stretch on and on, impossibly, and you’ll find yourselves navigating a maze of unfinished construction. The materials of the site will gave way to brick and stone, marble and clay, tangled chicken wire and broken rebar, and the worker will begin running faster, racing through the corridors of the maze. As you follow, your legs will feel heavier and heavier, as if mired in mud, at first, and then as if dragging a ball and chain. You must, however, keep up, even if your legs become so heavy as to be useless. Do not lose sight of the worker. Do not drift off into the myriad side corridors. There are worse things in this labyrinth than minotaurs, and though you may get lost, they will always be able to find you.

After what seems like forever, the maze will suddenly and without warning give way to an open gravel pit, perhaps a mile across. Whether you are running, walking, or dragging yourself along on bleeding fingertips, the worker will smile at you again, and say “the foreman’s down there,” before turning and walking back into the maze. If you do not wish to go on, stand up straight and walk back into the maze, as well. You’ll never return, but your fate in the maze may be kinder than than what will happen to you if you face the Holder without resolve.

If you can steel yourself to go on, stand up and walk down into the gravel pit. The larger rocks and dirt mounds each have a set of shackles attached, some to ancient skeletons, some to men, some to women, some to children. The living victims will all beg you to release them from their torment, poor devils. Even though they bake in the sun, and die by inches, parched and starving, jagged rocks stabbing into their desiccated flesh, you must not listen to them, for even the smallest and youngest will repay your kindness most horribly, and your eventual death will come as a relief.

Keep walking, and don’t stumble or trip or you’ll be the next in chains. In the center of the gravel pit, on a giant stone slab, you’ll find a body, ancient, desiccated, mummified by the dry winds, chained down on its back, ancient shackles around its ankles, wrists, and neck. Walk up to it, and say, “Shift change, time to clock out.” Say nothing else, make no sound. Wait.

A minute or an hour or an eternity might pass, but the shackles will open and the ancient corpse will sit up, climb down from the slab, and gesture at the shackles. Don’t hesitate, don’t say anything and don’t try to run. Climb on to the slab, fit the ankle cuffs and the neck shackle to yourself, and the corpse will fit the wrist shackles to you. You’ll be bound to the slab, just as the corpse was. Close your eyes. If you came with resolve and with purpose, you’ll open your eyes and find yourself lying in the construction yard, a broken shackle attached to your left wrist.

If your heart falters, however… If you were weak and insincere in your promise to break the chains, if you stumbled in the gravel pit or didn’t hold on to your purpose, or gasped or wept at the pain of those chained to the rocks, you’ll never leave. You will be the next Holder, and you will stay, waiting in vain for a Seeker with the strength you lacked.

The strength I lacked.

The shackle is object 526 of 538.

527. The Holder of Transgression

Before attempting to locate and confront the Holder of Transgression it is vital that you have acquired the Eye and the Handcuffs. Your life is forfeit should you neglect to bring these Objects with you. Although not required, having the Coin will make the discovery of the Holder’s location a less burdening task.

The Holder of Transgression can be found amongst any group of wild animals that are held against their will, in groups of six or more. For this reason, it is best to make your way to any zoo you happen to find.

If you are fortunate enough to have the Coin in your possession, locate the lions and request to speak to the elder lioness. When s approaches you simply say “I am the Seeker. I demand the location of the Holder of Transgression.” Do not be forceful with your words for lions are proud creatures and she may simply turn away and not respond. If she accepts your request, the lioness will open her mouth in a great piercing roar. Your ears may begin to bleed but do not attempt to cover them for within her roar, she will tell you the species in which the Holder of Transgression inhabits. Locate this animal and continue your task.

If you do not have the Coin, you are left to simply wander the about the animals until you find a group of six of the same species, huddled together in a circle, all facing inward. They do not always keep this circle and it is difficult to know when the circle will form. Once you have located the correct animal, continue your task.

Approach the circle of animals and using the Eye look directly in the center of the circle. You will see a seventh animal, quite larger than the others, sleeping. That animal is the Holder of Transgression. Once you have identified the Holder, take the handcuffs in hand and hold them in front of you. The Handcuffs will begin to heat up in your hands and it will feel as you are holding hot coals. Do not release the Handcuffs, despite the smell of burning flesh and the sight of your hands in flames. The Handcuffs will keep the Holder at bay and is the only Object that can keep you alive.

The Holder will sense the handcuffs and awaken from its slumber. It will be angry and anxious to kill you for bringing this Object before him. As the Holder of Transgression writhes in his prison, growling and salivating at the sight of Seeker flesh, keep the handcuffs in front of you and ask him this one question: “How does One defy the Law?”

The Holder of Transgression’s growling and gnashing will turn to crying and whimpering as it cowers and remembers the day it violated the Law. Soon lacerations will begin appearing on its flesh and burning flames will pour from the Holder’s body instead of blood. He will eventually be consumed in the flames and reduced to ash.

Remain silent and standing, still holding the handcuffs before you until the circle of animals break, for when this happens, a great wind will extinguish the flames on your hands and carry the ash of the Holder of Transgression to you and it will bind itself to the handcuffs, coating them in a fine white ash. Your hands will remain scarred by the Handcuffs, but you will no longer feel pain. The Ashes of the Holder of Transgression is Object 527 of 538. The binding of two will seal another.

528. Holder of Wrath

In any city, in an country, go to any insane asylum you can get yourself to. Take care that it is NOT a rehabilitative mental institution or halfway house. Walk up to the front desk, declare your name, ask to see “The Holder Of Wrath.” The receptionist will pick up the phone, dial a number, and say “They’re here.” A few more seconds will pass and she will direct you to a flight of stairs leading down. You may descend as far as you like; every floor leads to the same place.

When you enter the doorway leading to the floor of your choice, you will see only a single light, at the very end of a long hallway. Walk towards the light, but whatever you do, do not walk to the end of the hallway. Feel along the walls until you reach the third door on the left. Do not enter any other room, as you will not leave should you do so. Once you reach the third door on the left, enter and hold both your arms outstretched, palms forwards. The one person who angers you the most will appear before you. You must embrace them in a loving hug and whisper into their ear “I feel nothing but peace.” Or if you don’t in five minutes the person will disappear and you will be trapped there forever. At this point, they will hand you a small vial of blood.

The blood in the vial is object 528 of 538. Use it when they find you.