The Holder of Fluctuation

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, stop. Tell the receptionist that you wish to see "The Holder of Fluctuation". A look of concern will flash across their face, followed by one of understanding. They will stand up, moving to your side of the counter. Grabbing your shoulder, they will lead you back outside. No, no, no. You will see only the briefest of flashes as the knife arcs at your throat before you die, Seeker.

As you contemplate what it told you, the crystal behemoth will groan, cracks blossoming across it, until everything save for its head shatters completely. Approach it, and you will see that encased inside the solid crystal is an ancient chronometer. You must find some way to remove it.

The hall will open into a vast antechamber, the columns made of the purest crystal you have ever seen. As you enter, a wind will pick up, and the columns will begin to crack. So great will the wind be that the columns will shatter, the shards along with you being picked up in a violent storm. You will most likely be injured, smashed into walls and lacerated by crystal. Do your best to not sustain any serious wounds. As you watch, the crystals will begin to reflect you at various stages of your life. Some will be of when you were a child, and some of you far in the future. Some will show you as you are now, and some will show you mangled and mutilated. Others will show you in the present wearing different clothing, or missing limbs or eyes. These are all the possible turns your life could take or could have taken. Every possible permutation for your existence will be displayed before your eyes.

The chronometer is Object 697 of 2538. He took it! He took it He took it He took it He took it He took it He took it He took it He took it He took it He took it He took it He took it He took it Time has fractured and broken; Their determination has not. Break, break, break, break, damn you! Damn you!

When you have seen all you can bear, shout into the tempest, "Does time enslave Them?" Your ears will be assaulted by a horrifying sound, screeching and whispering and grating and hissing combined into a cacophony of madness. The winds will abruptly die down, hurling you into the wall. I will not be so lenient with you, interloper. I shall see to it that the crystals rend your flesh and bone asunder until only red dust remains as a testament to what you were. As you lay gasping, the shards of crystal will begin to move. Small pieces will skitter across the ground, and those embedded in your flesh will painfully tear themselves free to join with the others. Gradually, they will form together into a humanoid creature, a behemoth many times your size. You will be crushed and annihilated where you stand In a haunting and ancient-sounding voice, it will answer your question with a simple "yes" or "no". It will take the full rest of your life for you to fully understand the maddening, and horrifying implications of what it tells you.

The receptionist will lead you down a dark hallway, pitch black save for a light at the end of it. An irrational fear will creep over you, although you will not know why. As you walk, strike up a conversation with the receptionist. Ask them about their job, their life, and tell them about yours. You will find that they are quite friendly. They will have many of the same interests as you, and will be open-minded when they do not. Try to take advantage of this in order to distract you from peculiarities that happen within the hall. Distract yourself from the fact that the light at the end moves. At one moment, it will appear just in front of you, and at another, you will be back at the beginning of the hall. Your conversation will become erratic as well, subjects changing randomly and without any logical progression. Try to ignore this, for you will want your wits about you. Die Die Die Die!

The chronometer you will hold is far from ordinary. For those who hold it, time becomes nonlinear. You may wake up one morning to find that hundreds of years have passed, and, then, minutes later, be born again. You will experience your own death, before going back to the middle of your life. You will experience your life out of order, and repeatedly, for eternity. this is your fate. It always will be. It always has been.

He took it he took it he took it

GIVE IT BACK