The Holders

The Holder of Wisdom

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 Wisdom." The desk clerk will chuckle and guide you to an empty room. They will hand you a key and tell you to wait some time in the room until you hear a bell ring. When it rings, you have to lock the door through which you entered, wait until a second ring, and unlock it.

Once those instructions have been carried out, the door will open all by itself and reveal a long hallway, with every conceivable color painted onto the walls, ceiling and floor. Follow the hallway until you hear a little girl singing. Stop, close your eyes, and stay where you are until the girl finishes the song. If you fail to remain perfectly still, run. Run back to the door through which you came, as fast as you can. Jump through the window of the room where you waited earlier, and you might live. Should you be unable to reach the window in time, you will be dragged back into the hallway by something that is definitely not a little girl. You will be pulled by this horror until time itself ends, forever feeling the pain of every soul dragged to an early grave.

If, on the other hand, you manage to remain perfectly still until the song ceases, you will be free to either turn around and leave forever, or venture further into this realm. If you prefer the latter course of action, walk deeper into the hallway until you reach a human-shaped door. Open it with the same key that was given to you earlier, step inside, and close the door behind you. In the middle of the room, you will see a desk with a bright candle. Behind the desk is a man, whose face isn't visible behind the shine of the candle. Approach, but always keep the flame between you and the man's face, for if you witness what he looks like, your gaze will be fixed on his until your own hands have removed every inch of skin from your bones.

Stop when you are five steps away from the desk. The man will raise his hand and gesture you to come closer, but do not step any further than this. Close your eyes and ask him one question: "Who will bring them back together?"

You will hear the man rise from his chair and begin to pray in a language that you will not understand. After two minutes, you will hear a name. If you hear "Anubis", then you had best utter your own prayers in the short time you will have to do so... but if it is "Thor" you hear, then you may open your eyes. You will see the man's severed head lying on his desk, still speaking. After another three minutes, his prayer will cease, and he will tell you how you will die. He will describe every minute detail of your horrible death, and you will be unable to move or react while he explains your end. Lastly, he will describe the one who will steal your life away from you, and go into such detail as to why it is necessary that you yourself will question which would be worse: you being murdered, or you being allowed to continue to live.

Eventually, the head will finish its ghastly tale. It is object 9 of 538. It is up to you what you do with the knowledge of your death, for now, it is inevitable.