The Holder of Gluttony

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 something that calls itself "The Holder of Gluttony". If the person's face becomes twisted by a look of utter nausea, you will then be taken to a set of doors labeled "Mess Hall".

If you are foolish enough to pass through these doors, you will find yourself in an old corridor of pitted and broken stone. Tiny beams of light filtering through the many cracks in the mortar will be the only source of illumination available, leaving you nearly blind. The walls will be covered in frescos and paintings, but it is imperative that you not look upon them - for although they are masterfully rendered, they depict acts so depraved that they will almost certainly drive you mad. Continue down the path until you come to another door. Upon the door will be carved a face with a gaping maw.

Peer inside the door's mouth and you shall be assaulted by images of cannibalism and death. If you should view a sense of yourself being consumed, run. Run far away and do not stop until you collapse from exhaustion. If you wake in the morning and cannot hear, then thank the powers above that deafness was your only punishment. If you retain your hearing, then prepare yourself for you will be consumed by a never-ending hunger for all things forbidden, with no way to avoid acting on your desires.

If you see the laughing face of a man long-dead, walk forward and push upon the door with all your might, opening it inward to reveal a small circular room lit by torches spaced evenly along the wall. In the center of the room, there will be an impossibly obese man. His arms and legs will be submerged, invisible through the many layers of fat that hang from his frame and his body will be stained with the remains of his previous repast. From the top of his great stomach to the bottom of his navel is a tremendous gash, held shut by a row of poorly done stitches. He will eye you hungrily for a moment and this will be your only chance to save yourself by asking, "What keeps them inert?" If you do not ask quickly enough, he will devour you and you will spend the rest of eternity lost in agony as you travel through his endless digestive tract. If you are quick enough, he will answer your question with a tale of perversion and evil, and finally a resignation to eternal sleep.

At the end of the story, he will begin to convulse as the stitching on his gut falls apart and his stomach opens up releasing a torrent of gore which will hurl you against the wall, knocking you unconscious. When you awaken, you'll find yourself on the sidewalk outside of the institution you entered, clutching a small vial of thick red liquid.

That vial, and the blood within, are Object 369 of 2538. They must never come together, lest the world fall into slow decay.