Holder of Eternal Life

Note: There is a picture of a flower in the original which I don't know how to copy.

In any city, in any country, go to any mental institution or halfway house in you can get yourself to. When you reach the front desk, ask to visit someone who calls himself "The Holder of Eternal Life." "If you say so," the employee will say. They will then make a big, contagious smile. Do NOT smile back. The employee will lead you to the end of an old and forgotten hallway of the building. They'll leave you at an ancient and unlocked door.

Open it and continue on down the simple and dimly lit hallway. After minutes, hours, or days, you will hit a turn and come across a corridor made ​​of gold and covered with vines. This corridor will give you a sense of joy so intense that it will start to hurt immensely. You 'll never want to leave this corridor. If you stay, your soul will be eternally consumed, forced to stay in this hallway till you go mad out of pure joy.

If you are strong, and resist the temptation to stay, keep going until you come across a grand golden room, where a man will be sitting on a golden throne. This man will seem to be neither old nor young, simple in both looks and attire. He will have no facial expression while looking at a colorful flower in his hand. Do NOT make a noise above your footsteps or attempt to confront him. You'll want to walk as quietly as possible. There is no rush here, walk as slow as you can if you must. Do not get closer than ten feet at the most. Look at his face. Once you do, the man will spontaneously look at you and then look for something, distant and not there. Do NOT look away from him, even as his simple eyes pierce your soul, looking for something deeper. If his penetrating gaze persists, damned your soul will be. Thoughts of torment and anguish will plague you till your sanity is far gone. If he stops gazing, and his facial expression changes to intrigue, ask him only this: "How do they find anything good?" Thousands of thoughts and images will flash in your head, both sad and happy. Thoughts of life and death, nature and artificial, creation and destruction, love and hate. Some of these thoughts and feelings will be familiar, and some will be alien to you. These thoughts will then pass on to the bittersweet melancholy of being immortal. You will know the pain this man feels, watching everyone he has ever known wither and die. Not being able to stop or end it, or to end himself. After those feelings pass, you will feel truly feel his pain. It will be so agonizing that you will beg for death. You merely have to cry at the man, and he will end your suffering quickly.

But if you are strong and hold out through the tempest of pain, the man will conjure up one last smile at you, and give you the colorful flower in his hand. His suffering has ended, and he will turn to dust. Sit in his chair and you will appear back outside the asylum, the flower in hand. You are now immortal, and the flower is the reminder. Only when another seeker passes the test, will you be relieved of your upcoming suffering.

The Colorful Flower is object 550, or object 12 of the lost 2000. "Death closes all, is living forever worth the price?"

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