The Holder of Treachery
Whenever you're at home, call up any courier company and ask to speak to "The Holder of Treachery." The person at the other end of the line will breathe a sigh of relief, ask for your name and address, and hang up. Before the next sunset, you will receive a large box from that company, addressed to you but with no sender listed. The box will have air holes, but you will not be able to see or hear anything inside.
Open the box, and know that no matter what you do, you will not be able to avoid cutting yourself on an edge -- nor will you be able to prevent a few drops of your blood from landing on the white cat inside. Your life will be linked to that of the cat; should it suffer, you will suffer. Should it die... you don't want to know what will happen to your soul if that cat dies. Should anything happen to you, however, the cat will merely laugh.
Your task is to keep that cat alive until midnight, one week after receiving the box. This will prove difficult, as the cat will try to end your life in every way it can, and it will happily endanger its own to do so. It is unnaturally cunning and will try everything it can think of to lure you into your own death. As the week passes, these traps and plots will become more ingenious and harder to thwart, and you will need all of your wits and strength if you are to even have a hope of survival. If you have faced the Holder of Honor, I pity you: you will not survive the week, and your death will be a mercy compared to what awaits you afterwards.
If, after a week has passed, you are still alive shortly before midnigh, the cat will enter a frenzied rage, launching itself at you and attacking you for the final time. The animal's harmless appearance belies its incredible strength and tenacity, and death at its claws will plunge your soul into torment for eternity. Defend yourself -- without harming the cat -- until midnight.
The cat will scream, "Why won't you die?" You must answer, "Because I am not a traitor." If you give the answer without fear or hesitation, the cat will cease its struggles, look you in the eye, and say, "Then you will learn." It will scratch your hands and flee, vanishing as it leaves your sight. Go straight to bed and sleep. When you wake, your hands will now bear claws.
Those claws are Object 159 of 538. They bring betrayal to all who oppose you.
YOU ARE READING
The Holder Series
HorrorIn any city, in any country, there's a mental institution or halfway house you can try any of these in. There were 2538 of these Objects, but 2000 were lost. The remaining 538 must never come together. Ever. WARNING: Some of these Holder stories...
