Holder of Light

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, close your eyes and ask to visit someone who calls himself "The Holder of Light.” You will be guided to a single door leading to a long, winding hallway. You will be told to open your eyes. The hallway will be pitch black, narrow enough only for you to feel the walls and move yourself forward.

If, at any moment along the way, the hall is suddenly bathed in light, shut your eyes immediately and quickly make your way back to the door you came in through. If your eyes stay open for more than a second, what you see will force you to instinctively tear them out.

If the lights stay off long enough for you to navigate the entire corridor, you will reach another door. If you can see any light escaping from the crack beneath the door, flee immediately, for what you seek is not there. If no light can be seen under the door, carefully turn the handle and enter.

The room beyond will be completely dark aside from a single, dimly-lit candle in the center. What little light it issues will reveal the outline of a cloaked figure huddled over it. The man underneath the cloak will seem to remain perfectly still. There is only one question that the man will respond to: “What can protect us from Them?” Say anything else and the man will tear out your eyes and devour your soul; you will then be forced to take his place under the cloak for the rest of eternity.

If you ask the above question, a piercing scream will ring out from the candle and a series of lights will illuminate the room, revealing images of the most horrifying thoughts, fantasies and memories from all consciousness throughout history. Most people cannot handle this event; they will either go insane or die instantly. However, if you should somehow manage to survive the ordeal, the cloaked man will rise slowly and put his hands to your head. You will be forced to gaze upon his face. He looks like a young man, but his eyes are merely empty sockets. At this point you must not look away, lest you be stranded in this room, forever forgotten in time. He will then open your hand and place a small, round object into your right hand. From this point on you will feel no pain (unless you are in the process of obtaining another Object, for the pain you feel then is nowhere close to normal), but the horrifying images you witnessed in that room will be burned into your memory for all eternity.

The eye you hold in your hand is Object 5 of 538. The awakening has begun; they must not be brought together.