The Holder of Birth

In any city, in any country, go to any nursery you can get yourself to. Go to the dead center of the room, get on your knees, and bow your head with your eyes closed. If you are indeed kneeling in the true center of the room, nobody will disturb you. If you are not, your only choice is to hope she is feeling merciful and does not consume your entire being for eternity. Granted you are not dead after a few seconds, you will begin to hear things. Ever so slowly raising in volume, you will begin to identify the sounds as screams of both women and babies. Do not open your eyes, lest every trace of humanity leave your body in horrific agony; while you will live, you will be in no shape to tell your tale. To this day no one knows exactly what it is you will see.

If you manage to contain your eyes, the screams will continue, for what will seem an eternity. The exact time you will be kneeling was determined at the moment of your birth, but worry not, seconds of the screaming will feel like eons. Suddenly, the sounds will stop. At this moment you can open your eyes. You will find yourself in a nursery not unlike the one you were in some time ago. However, the color has mostly left the walls and the floor, the ceiling is covered in a lake of blood that will mockingly not fall. Its every occupant, also, has been replaced by atrocities - humans, no less - that would disgust even the hardest of stomachs. You must now show any sign of dislike or fear, or you will be trapped there until you bring about your own death.

You will see the vastness of this room you are in. If you are lucky, you will find your way to the correct cradle. If you do not find it, you will wander and eventually die of hunger. In it is a little girl, of about 4, with very long hair of the darkest brown human eyes will ever set upon. She will appear to be miles away, as if in a brightly-lit well, but make no mistake. She is at a touching distance and a few souls have made the mistake of reaching out to judge her distance from them. At first, she appears to be holding in her arms raw chunks of flesh, but you will see it turns out to be the most deformed abomination to damn the face of this place. Again, make any sign of disgust at her little brother and you will live eons regretting it. You must stare deep into her eyes and ask, "How were they chosen?"

Her mouth will move but will make no sound. You will understand all she communicates, and she communicates every last detail of every single Seeker. Every soul, every person that failed every test, their birth, and their death. You must not, no matter what, divert your glance from her eyes, or she will remain silent and you will be stuck in that wretched place for all eternity.

There is, however, another path, for she knows the origin of The Lost Ones as well. You will be able to tell, as well, that she knows. Do not, ever, ask her that.

Once she stops, you will be standing outside the hospital you entered. In your arms will be a small child wrapped in a blanket. It will already be dead, and there is nothing you can do for it. It is, however, her final test. Take the child in any single direction of your choosing, and keep walking. The whole time you must be humming softly, nothing loud enough to wake a child, nothing soft enough to pass unheard. Eventually, the child will disappear, leaving only the blanket in its wake. The blanket has no determined size - it changes to the user's will - and will keep anyone covered in it warm even through the coldest blizzard or the most scorching heat. It will soften any blow to the sensation of a little scratch.

The blanket is Object 500 of 2538. Even the mightiest demon spawned from a helpless infant.