Holder of Vanity


 * Taken from The Holders.org. Read the original here.

In any city, in any country, go to any beat down hotel or roadside rest house you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, ask for the room number of someone who calls herself "The Holder of Vanity." The person behind the desk will whistle and hand you a card with a room number on one side and a key taped to the other.

When you start to go up the stairs, you should hear the moans and thrashing of passion surround you, but you must not pay attention to them, lest you suffer something that would horrify even the souls in the deepest pits of hell. If the moaning ever stops, knock on the nearest wall and whisper, "Everyone is doing it; don't stop on my account." If the moaning does not resume, pray that you suffer a quick death, though that is quite unlikely.

When you finally reach the room that you are searching for, knock four times and say, "I have come for you." A male voice will answer you. Reply in a loud voice "The woman is what I desire!" If the man does not respond, open the door to the right, throw the key in, and quickly head back to the front desk. If he tells you to come in, open the door with the key.

Instead of finding a man, you will find a woman chained to a crucifix, whose body is of a heavenly, enchanting beauty, but whose face is the most hideous that any mortal has ever seen. She will ask you if you have come to free her. Look at her straight in the face and do not answer her, or she will make you her slave for all eternity.

The thing you can safely do is ask her "What makes them vain?" The woman will laugh a very shrill laugh that will shake the very foundations of your mind. If you keep your sanity after that, the woman will slowly tell the you about the things that keep their beauty for themselves, and how their vanity will end up destroying the beauty they hold so dear.

When she finishes speaking, pick up the rose on the bed without breaking your gaze away from the woman. As soon as you grab the rose, quickly close your eyes as the room fills with an incomprehensible force. When you open your eyes, the rose will be dead and wilted, its thorns still embedded in your palm.

Its stem is Object 214 of 538. The beauty of the world will now crumble and show its true nature.