The Holder of Relief

In any city, in any country, go to any opera house or concert hall you can get yourself to. When you find the head custodian, ask to visit the one who calls herself "The Holder of Belief". The custodian will sigh in resignation, then lead you into the main performance hall.

The custodian will take you to the main stage, then leave. Wait until he is completely gone, then pull aside the curtain. If what you see is what one would expect to find behind a stage curtain, then you were not meant to complete this task, and the remainder of your life can be measured in minutes.

Instead, you might see a wall of marble, solid white except where scrawled in black. Approach the wall, and you will see that said scrawls are indeed thousands of personal signatures. At this point, you might notice the young woman off to the right, adding to the scratched names. She will be carving in a reproduction of your own signature, perfect to the last detail.

Watch the young woman in silence. When she is aware of your presence, she will turn around and look you in the eye. A white mist will obscure the bottom half of her face, but even what little you see is enough to determine that she possesses a certain mysterious beauty.

A disembodied, and somehow familiar, male voice will ask if you have seen the woman's beloved husband. Ignore the question and ask, "How great is their desire to reunite?"

If the woman's eyes narrow in response, then hopefully you have made peace with your enemies. Otherwise, the woman will produce a violin and proceed to play. The violin itself will not produce sound, but you will hear, in your mind, the sound of crashing waves against a beach. Focus all of your will on the woman's eyes, however, for to listen to the crashing waves is to have them resolve into a demonic chorus that will drive you to madness.

As you focus on the woman's eyes, you will feel within you what they feel. You will feel their demonic urge for reunification, and the strength of this feeling may very well tear your mind.

If you recover from the haze of their feeling, you will find the marble wall almost completely blank, with only your own signature remaining. The woman will thank you for understanding. Look down at your dominant hand to find that the bow from the woman's violin is there. Playing with it will produce the purest music thought possible, but only to your ears.

When you look up again, you will be standing outside the concert hall.

The violin bow is Object 183 of 2538. They believe only in their reunion, but what do you believe?