The Holder of the Cleansed

Go to a lake, any lake will do. The only requirement is that it's within at most a mile of another smaller lake. You must be at the lake by 6:33 PM. However, it must be dark at this time, so it probably works best in the winter months. Sit at its shores until it is exactly 6:59 PM, at which point you must bellow across the water, "I have come to see the Holder of the Cleansed!" Wait a minute and check your watch. Make sure it's digital, or else you won't notice the difference. If, after a minute it says 7:00, you should run, and do not look back and do not stop until daylight, or face unknown consequences.

However, if your watch changes to 6:60, the water will start to ripple. It will keep rippling until your watch hits 6:66, when a swell will form in the middle of the lake. A booming voice will ring across the shores and ask, "Are you without filth?" Do not answer yes, no matter how pure of heart you think you are. If you do so, the water will turn a shade of red, and rise quickly, swallowing you up. This water will not feel cold, but rather boiling hot. You will not drown, but forever be trapped in the burning pool.

Instead, tell it your biggest mistake or worst transgression. If it disagrees, you will face the same fate as if you lied, but if you're successful, the voice will tell you that you'll face "judgment". The swell will grow bigger, and you should keep your eyes on it the whole time. The process might be fast or quite lengthy. Regardless, keep staring. Eventually, it will break, and a tall figure will stand in the middle. His face will be covered with a scar, and his eyes will be pale and veined, almost lifeless. He will raise his hand and signal you to approach. Step onto the water with no hesitation, for if you show any doubt, you will sink to the bottom for eternity. It will be as if solid, and keep walking until it motions for you to stop.

He'll ask again, in a hissing voice, "Are you without filth?" Do not answer this question, for you already have, but ask if he's "The Holder of the Cleansed". He will look you up and down with his ghostly eyes, and then hold out his hand. In it, there will be a tiny seed no bigger than your fingernail. When you look down at it, and then back up, you will notice the figure has vanished. When you realize this, you will fall into the water. It will feel thick and be rigidly cold. Swim, and don't stop until you reach the shore. It will feel like hours, and as if the shore is never moving closer. Keep going, and whatever you do, do not loosen your grip on the seed.

Once you reach the shore, you will be as if perfectly dry. Go straight to the other lake that's nearby. Once you reach the shore, throw the seed into the water. Once again a swell will form. Don't move your eyes from it.

Eventually, out of the middle, a giant plant will rise. It will shoot many branches in all directions, from them giant fruits will grow in the shape of deformed, mutilated, and scarred people. They will have looks of agony and horror on their faces, many will be bloody or eyeless. The stench of death and rot will fill the air, and the plant will produce hissing and growling noises. Soon it will stop growing, and the lake will go calm and silent. One branch will eventually grow out to you on the shore. Hold out your hand, and it will drop a fruit into your hand. It will be red and with smudged black stripes. Right there, you must eat this fruit. The taste will be horrible and ash-like. Make sure you eat all of it before you leave, and leave nothing. No stem, no skin, no seeds, nothing.

Soon, you will feel lightheaded and collapse on the shore. In the morning, you will awake at 6:59 AM, and all traces of the plant or even the figure will be gone. You will feel very sick, and soon vomit. Your vomit will be strangely black, but in it will be the pit from the fruit you ate. Carved into it at a microscopic level will be the words, "Squandered Second Chances Aren't Forgotten." From now on, all those that you have wronged in the past will forgive you of your mistakes. Cross them again, however, and you will face a fate even They dread the thought of.

The pit is Object 474 of 2538. Don't let your core become as rotten and hardened as it is.