Holder of Forsaken Reality

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, ask the receptionist if they are able to comprehend the reality. The receptionist should look at you with a shocked expression, and back away very quickly. They will press themselves against the wall opposite to the counter, shaking in fear. You will be unable to move as the wall cracks, splinters, and finally shatters. The receptionist will fall through, screaming. Once you feel you are ready, make your way to the opening.

At the precipice, you will see that the space beyond the wall is a massive drop. At the bottom will wait monstrosities the likes of which plague your imagination when you sleep, the kinds that you do not even remember because carrying them in your mind would reduce you to a gibbering wreck. The horrifying screams of these creatures will make you want to tear out your eardrums, to excise your very nerves, but you must fight to retain control of yourself. Your task is simple, yet nigh-insurmountable for many: You must step off the edge. However, you must completely block from your senses these terrors that wait for you. Close your eyes, cover your ears, do whatever you have to do to keep yourself from thinking about them. If you are successful, you will not fall, but your feet will strike solid ground. Now, still blocking the beasts from your mind, you must walk. If you falter in your utter belief of the monsters’ nonexistence for even a moment, you will plummet downward, and they will have their way with you. Once you have walked what could be miles, you will feel a piece of paper being pushed into your hand. It is at this point that you will be safe. At least, more so than you were, so long as you do not look at the paper.

You will find yourself in a dank room. You will be unable to make out any surroundings, as the only light source is on the ceiling. It will be a torch, but inverted. The wooden part will be stuck into the ceiling, with the flame burning at the end of it. That is, the flame will be burning down toward you, away from the torch itself. Know now that this is not any sort of magic, nor is it illusion; it is actually scientifically possible for fire to burn downward. How this is possible has been lost to all, and it is one of the two secrets that only the Holder knows. However, as you stand there, you will begin to realize how it is possible. At this point, you must fight with all your strength against this revelation. You must once again block your mind from the realization of how fire can burn downward. This is forbidden knowledge, and if you were to learn it, you would become the next Holder, depraved and waiting for the next unfortunate soul to pass the secret down to before your painful demise.

You must fight these thoughts for an indeterminate amount of time until the torch goes out. At that point, you must call out into the darkness, “Why are They denied?” As you stand, you will be assaulted by visions of people who denied reality in order to escape it. Every rejection of the truth from simple ignorance to denial to extreme schizophrenia will be laid open, laid painfully bare for you to see. It will be far, far worse than it sounds, for you will also realize what could have happened had they not ignored the truth. Eventually, when you can no longer tell whether or not you are conscious, you will awaken on the floor of the mental institution. In your hand will be the piece of paper, which you may now look at.

Written on this piece of paper is the second of the Holder’s secrets: it is a number. This number is special, however, for a number of reasons: First, because it is a regular counting number that was never included in the actual number system used today. However, it is obvious that this number is an incredibly important part, as important as any counting number, and you will realize that its existence renders practically all mathematical algorithms used today useless. Second, this number can only be written on one surface at a time. If it is written on two, the surface that it was written on less recently will be destroyed in a seemingly random chain of events. Third, thoughts of this number will never leave your mind. You will be endlessly thinking of this number, dismantling and reassembling modern mathematics in an effort to correct what you now know is a gigantic mistake. If you are not able to keep your thoughts from this number, you will eventually descend into madness, forever seeking the truth and never finding it.

Whatever surface the number is written on is Object 140 of 538. Their Reunion is far more than a reality.