The Holder of Love

In any city, in any country, visit any mental institution or insane asylum. Before you get to the front desk, check to see if the person sitting there is of the opposite sex. If not, ease your mind, for the task at hand cannot be completed today. If they are, steel your mind in preparation for the coming trials. Walk over to the desk and tell the worker that you are here to see "The Holder of Love". If they look at you with an expression of pure tenderness and longing that only those with the deepest love in their hearts know, apologize profusely for bothering them, and back away slowly. If they accept your apology then never again attempt to seek that or any other Object at that facility. If they do not accept your apology, take solace in the fact that the hideous form that the worker takes on will only send fear into the depths of your soul for a moment before it eats you whole, and turns the fear into excruciating pain. If the worker gives you a look of utter hatred and disgust, one that makes you wish you had never been born simply so that you would never have to experience this, then you are safe, for now. The worker will continue to look at you like this as they slowly push their chair back and beckon you to follow them.

Make sure that your foot is always three feet away from the worker's foot as soon as it touches the ground. If you do not match their exact pace, their clothes will formlessly collapse, and a swarm of roaches the likes of which you have never seen will swarm out with the intent of eating from your brain. If you manage to keep the right distance then you will eventually come upon a door. The door will be blood-red, and although it may look like rust, the smell it emits will tell your gut otherwise as it threatens to empty itself from sheer revulsion. On the door will be many etchings of a heart. At the top of the door, they will take the form of a perfect Valentine's Day heart, however, the lower and lower you go the more demonic and macabre the images will get. The last image will depict a creature with the body of a goat, the legs of a man, and the head of a snake. The creature will be eating a heart while still beating in the chest of a woman. The woman will be weeping; you must count the number of tears that stain her face.

The worker will open the door for you and motion for you to head through. As soon as you enter the room, you should hear a sinister laugh and the door will swing shut. The sound of chains rattling will be heard, and you will also hear a large object being dragged in front of the door. Do not pay this any heed. If you do what is required of you, no door will bar you from returning to the earth. You will find yourself standing on a plane of very thin glass, so thin it would seem impossible for it to be holding up your weight. Do not fear, for the glass is made of your resolve, and will hold as long as your conviction in your quest holds. If you look up, all you will see is darkness. Be glad that the beings inhabiting that dark space above you favor the pitch-black, for to see them would burn their image into your mind forever, and leave you an empty husk for the rest of your days. If you look down, you will see the physical manifestation of love. Despite the fact that your mind will not be able to comprehend it, what you see will give you an inexplicable sense of pleasure. Do not get carried away. If you lose your focus then the glass will break, and you will spend centuries falling through the love, until you reach the other side: heart's pain. Should you find yourself there then your only hope will be to bite off your tongue. You will not be able to die, but perhaps the pain will take your mind off the unbearable fate that you will suffer should you find yourself immersed in heart's pain... Perhaps. If you manage to break your trance, stare straight and keep walking. No matter how long you felt you have been walking, or what you hear from the darkness above you, you MUST NOT stop putting one foot in front of the other. To stop is to reveal yourself to Them. They would swiftly come for you and usher into your life an unending age of pain and misery. Eventually, you will see a verdant meadow stretching out before a beautiful forest. Whatever you do, do not step onto the meadow. It is a trick. It will seem to be the only thing that you have ever REALLY wanted in life, you will feel an intense need to simply drop your quest and spend the rest of your time basking in the sunlight. Whatever you do, fight the urge, for it is a trick. The second you step onto the field it will reveal itself for what it really is, a blood-soaked wasteland littered with thousands of corpses, reeking of a hundred thousand years worth of decay. You will never be able to go back, and will be forced to spend eternity wandering the barren landscape looking for that which soaked it in blood, so that you might put an end to your vagrancy.

Walk parallel to the meadow, it does not matter if you go to the left or to the right. Eventually, you will come to a set of wooden stairs that lead up to a wooden walkway suspended high above the meadow. Climb it carefully, for those who are not worthy will not be supported, and those who are not worthy are those who show flagrant disregard for the graveness of their task. Follow this wooden walkway for what seems like hours, maybe even years. Eventually, you will find yourself in the forest. Despite how the forest looked from a distance, you will see it in its reality. Ogres run wild, fiendish beasts who physically resemble those things that haunt and tear at your soul, and cause you to bolt upright from sleep with beaded sweat all over your body. They will be hunting naked men, women, and children. The path will end in the middle of the forest, at the feasting grounds of the beasts. Wait there. No matter how strong the urge to help these people, you cannot, their souls have been damned by Them, and only They can grant them the release they desire at this point: death. After exactly 12 hours of waiting, you will hear a large thump. Do not turn around. You will hear a voice behind you, that does not sound like a human, but speaks like one. It will always speak your language, with perfect grammar.

"Who is foolish enough to seek what is here?" the thing will ask you. Do not respond. Seconds will elapse, but you must remain silent. The thing will repeat the question again, in an annoyed tone. Still, you must not answer. The thing will roar into your ear and send fear all the way through your entire being. Count three seconds before responding. If you are late or early, you will be torn to shreds by the hellion as it laughs and taunts you in languages no being from this universe has ever heard. If you answer in time, your response must be as such: "I seek what she (or he, you must answer with the opposite sex) holds dearest to her (his) heart." The creature will give no response, and will instead grip you by your leg like a vice. Do not struggle. The creature will hurl you into the air with strength you never thought was possible, and you will fly into the air. Close your eyes at the peak of your height. You should no longer feel as though you are falling.

When you open your eyes, you will be in a beautiful bed-chamber. The floors will be made of white marble, and the walls as well. Studded jewels will cover most of the walls. In the middle of the room will be an extravagant poster bed. The sheets will be made of white silk, and the bars will be made of embossed gold. On the bed will be a figure, draped in silk sheets. At this point, you will realize that the figure is the worker. The worker will stand up and walk toward you. As they approach, you will see a look in their eyes that is the opposite of the look they gave you earlier. It will be a tender look, a look of longing. If you have ever been in love, you will know that they are gazing lovingly at you. When they are inches from your face, they will ask you in a lilting tone, "Do you remember when we first met?" It is now that you must tell them the number of tears that the woman on the door was shedding. If you give the correct number, they will hold you tightly. They will squeeze you so hard you will vomit all over them. They will not relent. They will begin chanting into your ear. What they tell you will ache your soul. You will beg them to stop, but they will continue until they are finished. Every heartbreak in history, every time somebody felt a pain in their heart. Every mother who lost her son, every son forced to rape their mother by soldiers at gunpoint. Not only will they tell you these things, but they will implant their very feelings and memories into you. You will never forget, and while the feelings will pass, the memories will not. You will always remember how they felt and will have no control as to when these feelings might come back to haunt you. When they are done, they will release you, and ask you for one last kiss. They will then show you their true form. A body that should have been buried centuries ago. Their skin will be necrotic, what teeth they have left will be far beyond any yellow you have ever seen. Their eyes will be pearly white, and a stench will elude from them that would have you void your bowels had you not already done so. Despite the revulsion, you must kiss them, or you will take their place and lie in this bed-chamber until the next Seeker makes their way here. Give them this kiss and they will shriek like a banshee as their body turns to naught but ash. Sift through this ash and you will find a silver locket shaped like a heart.

You should now realize just how tired you really are. Your body will begin to feel weak and fatigued. Walk over to the bed and lie down. As soon as your head touches the pillow, you will drift off into a deep sleep. You will awake sitting on a nondescript pew in a church. You will find yourself in the middle of a wedding ceremony, where the priest has just wedded the two in holy matrimony. Look into your hand and you will see the locket.

The locket is Object 607 of 2538, whoever you give it to will love you until they die. Be careful who you give it to, and be wary of how often the heart changes. You have found one, make sure you keep it as far as you can from the others.