The Holder Series

The Holder of Structure

Holder of Structure

In any city, in any country, find the foundation of a demolished building, and stand at its center. Slowly rotate counter-clockwise seven times. As you rotate, you must bring your arms above your head, and touch your hands together at the exact moment that you finish the seventh rotation.

If all goes well, you will find yourself facing west, having been transported in front of an incredibly tall building. If, however, you are facing any other direction, utter any blasphemes that you previously withheld from your God, as he has certainly abandoned you.

The structure will stretch farther into the sky than you can possibly imagine, and its front face will reach to the left and the right at least one mile. The building will appear to be made of steel, but closer inspection will reveal it to be constructed from a kind of stone. Its otherwise-uniform surface will be broken by massive windows that could easily be half a mile in both dimensions. They stretch upward as far as you can see.

A door -- a massive stone gateway as tall as a football stadium is long -- will slowly open, and a blinding light shall blaze out. It will look as if the sun itself is being held prisoner behind the impossible doorway. You may hear footsteps approaching where you stand, but you will not be able to see the figure against the light until she is seven feet away. Be sure to kneel as soon as you can see her silhouette; her punishments for disrespect have been known to be... somewhat extreme.

As she walks toward you, the ground beneath her feet will turn into the same stone that the tower seems to be built from. She will speak to you, talking of the most ambitious architectural endeavors in human history; stories that will make your mind consider things you previously thought to be impossible. The ideas you conceive now could destroy your mind, dragging it block by block into realms of fantasy and interminable speculation, if you don't have the strength of will to bring yourself back to reality.

After what seems like days of kneeling, she will mention the Tower. If you have not confronted the Holder of the Tower, you will feel a crushing blow to the back of your head. Your brains will be forced out the front of your face, and you'll feel every tear in your flesh, every fracture in your skull, and every ripped muscle and tendon.

If, on the other hand, you have obtained the knowledge of the Tower where they were separated, stand up immediately and spin around. A statue, one in the exact likeness of the woman who spoke of the Tower, will be there, its stone fists raised to bash your brains out of your skull. This is the true Holder of Structure. Stare into its eyes, and demand, in a voice that could shake the foundations of Heaven itself, "From what material were they originally created?"

As soon as the words leave your mouth, the statue will emit a scream that shatters the modern glass in the ancient stone monolith. Do not flinch, and do not cover your ears, lest every shard of diamond-hard glass home in on you and skewer you. When the scream ends, a final spear-shaped shard of glass will pierce the flesh-and-bone woman that stands behind you. She will die without a sound, standing up. The statue in front of you will crumble, her body turned to dust, except for a fist-sized dull red stone, cut with thousands of facets.

That false gem is Object 153 of 538. As it created them, so might it yet destroy them.