The Holder of End
By: Absolute Edge
Go to any mental institute or halfway house you can get yourself into and when you reach the front desk ask to see someone who calls themselves "The Holder of End." The clerk will sigh and become the kind of depressed most commonly associated with one who has lost everything. They will stand and motion for you to follow. The clerk will lead you through the building and down a long flight of stairs. You will realize that you've passed the building's basement level but are still descending further than it should.
During this decent should the clerk begin to slow their pace in a manor resembling time being slowed than blank your mind of all thought and focus, instead, on the singular feeling of emptiness. Not the feeling of an empty stomach mind you, but as if you've lost a part of your soul. Similar, almost, to the dark numbing sensation of a mortal wound. The cold feeling of loss that creeps up your spine as the blood drains from your body and your limbs go slack. Hold onto that feeling and you might just go unnoticed, however, should you fail then you will be trapped on this staircase to nowhere, to be tormented by those very feelings forever.
If you succeed in going unnoticed then time will suddenly snap back in motion and out of the gloom a door will appear. It is a simple wooden door with little ornamentation but only the clerk can open it. When you reach the door the clerk will place their hand on the knob and turn to look at you. Their expression will not change but the glint in their eyes will. It won't be the sad glazed look that initially brought you to this point, but a hard glare that is almost hateful. The clerk will ask in a slow, monotonous voice, "Why are you here?"
"I came to understand." You will say this but the clerk won't open the door, not yet anyways. Do not panic for you've done nothing wrong. The clerk will stare at you for a moment more before their hard stare melts away to depression. They will open the door and you will enter.
The room is nothing special. Worn stone tile surrounded by concrete walls painted yellow. The paint was once bright and pleasant to look at, though now faded and worn with age it has developed a personality all of its own that now reflects that of the man standing in front of you.
He is old, tired looking, however his eyes remain sharp and to stare into them would reveal to you that the man is not simply old but ancient. He is a living piece of history that has seen more than your mind could possibly comprehend.
Step forwards and bow from the waist. Bow low as to signify your respect and hold that pose until he acknowledges your existence. If you move too early then the old man will end you. Remember, he has been around for eons and his skills outclass all the living and the dead.
He will ask you, "Child, what is it you seek to learn?"
You must reply, "I already know all. I simply seek the knowledge to understand it."
The old man will smile and hand you a dark crystal shard. You may now gaze upon this shard and see it for what it truly is. You will look into it and see faint specks and initially believe them to be impurities in the crystal but if you look closer you will notice that those very specks seem to glimmer. Every so often the crystal will flash white and fade back to black but leave a faint glowing orb at its center that eventually fades away. It might hit you instantly, it might take a day or a month or even a year, but you'll come to understand the importance of what you now protect. For those glimmering specks in the crystal are identical to the faint twinkling stars in the night sky and that flash of light is the death of a star trapped in its final death throws to repeat itself until the end of time.
You are carrying a piece of the universe. You are carrying the very star whose atoms and molecules were released upon its death that now make up you.
You are the universe given consciousness.
You are the universe looking upon itself.
You stepped out of the supernova.
The crystal shard is item 74 of 538. This star died so you may live.