Object 114

The Holder of Reincarnation

In any city, in any country, go to any Hindu shrine or Buddhist temple you can get yourself to. When you arrive, ask the high priest or chief monk to see someone who calls himself "The Holder of Reincarnation". If they tell you that there is nobody there by that name, leave post-haste; it is best left unsaid what happens if you linger too long. If you make it out successfully, never return to any Buddhist temple or Hindu shrine until someone close to you dies; after their funeral, you may try again. You may have to do this multiple times.

If they instead say, "Indeed, it is so easy to understand, yet so impossible to destroy," you are fortunate enough to have located the Holder. The priest or monk should then lead you deep into the shrine or temple. Eventually, you'll reach a hallway that seems... well, let's just use the phrase "out of place". On the left wall, you'll see people dying the most gruesome of deaths. Coinciding with their deaths, you'll see the foulest creatures you've yet seen spawning on the right wall. This is where the minions of every Holder are generated; they are the reincarnations of the foulest, damned men who have ever walked the earth. Take care not to focus your attention on any one creature, for they don't like to be seen in their "incomplete" state and will test their newfound powers on you without hesitation.

As you progress down the hall, the people on the left will become eviler and the creatures on the right more revolting and hideous. Eventually, their power will feel overbearing, and you'll lose all desire to continue. Despite this, you must press onward, for you don't want these beasts to sense your weakness.

Should you successfully reach the end, you'll find yourself standing in front of a door that seems to be made of parts of every living creature ever formed on earth. The priest or monk will move to open the door; make sure, above all else, that you open the door first. Should he open the door, the Holder will mistake him for the Seeker and will nail you, a mere intruder, to the wall with the damned men. If this happens, then hope you enjoy your new life as a Holder's minion. Should you open the door first, the monk or priest who accompanied you will suffer this fate in your stead.

Enter the room beyond; the door will shut behind you, silencing the wails of the condemned men and the howls of the newly-formed monsters. You will find yourself in a round chamber; on the stone walls is a series of moving lights that spiral upward into infinity; don't follow the lights with your gaze, lest you be driven mad by the infinitude of it all. Standing in the center of the room is a being that is half-man. The other half is something so vile and horrendous that to gaze directly at it would mean an eternal life as an inconsolable, broken wretch. Wait patiently in this room with the creature; don't say anything or do anything save breathing, or the being will disappear, the floor will drop beneath you, and you'll fall downward forever, witnessing every death and concurrent birth in the world all the while.

Suddenly, without warning, the being will lunge at you as if to attack. The only means of sparing yourself a fate best left unspoken is to ask, at this precise moment, "Can any of Them be permanently destroyed?" The being should then halt in its tracks, then tell you of mankind's futile efforts to break the wheel of samsara, that everlasting spiral of death and rebirth. He will provide solid evidence that the Buddha, the only human said to have ever escaped the cycle, was a fraud (you will then remember that he was the last of the condemned souls dying to form the Holders' new legions). Suddenly you will realize that the spiraling lights around you are the physical manifestation of samsara. All this knowledge is too much for the average mind to comprehend; indeed, you may find yourself in a sudden "blank" state, your brain now unable to perform any tasks outside of maintaining your vitals (and even that will soon end). If your mind is above ordinary, however, break off one of the man's claws (if indeed that is what they can be called) and use it to slash a gaping hole into the chain of samsara.

Upon doing this, the Holder will cease to exist (for the cycle that reincarnation depends on is now no more), and he will leave behind a platinum swastika charm on a golden chain. Upon taking it, you'll find yourself outside any Hindu shrine or Buddhist temple save the one you started your journey in (though you should notice that it's in ruins). Good luck finding your way home.

That swastika charm is Object 114 of 2538. Departed souls still need a place to go, you know.