The Holder of the Ouroboros

The Holder of the Ouroboros

In any city, in any state, go to any Art Gallery after sunset. Approach any attendant and state in a clear and firm voice that you are here to see the Holder of the Ouroboros. The attendant should give a sly smirk and a nod before leading you down a hallway. If the attendant does not smile or nod, quickly turn on your heels and leave, lest you suffer a messy and painful death as you are consumed from the inside out by thousands of tiny snakes.

As you are lead down this hallway, you will notice the strange paintings that line both sides of the wall. Do not dwell on these and do not look too closely at them. If you do, you will become transfixed by the scenes before you. You will start to notice the snakes, hidden within the swirls of paint making up the wild landscapes. And once you have noticed them, you will never stop seeing them. You will spend the rest of your days tormented and in mental anguish, deafened by the hissing of millions of serpents.

Once you reach the end of the hallway, the attendant will open a solid black door for you. Enter this door and remain still until you hear the click of the door being shut behind you. For a moment you will be in complete darkness, the hiss of steam radiators fill the air. The lights will suddenly blink on and you will find yourself in a circular room. A stair-like pattern will be painted on the floor, spiraling down into the center of the room. Begin walking along this path, do not stray from it. If you step off the pattern, you will find yourself falling down, down, down, into the darkness. This fall will be broken eventually by the pit of slithering serpents that you will crash down into. Your death will be long and painful as the snakes slowly consume you from the feet up.

If you manage to remain focused and stay firmly on the path, you will suddenly find yourself walking down a spiral staircase. The hissing will have become very hushed, as if coming from a great distance. As you descend into the darkness, the hissing will grow louder, rising to a deafening volume. You must not show any pain as the sound grows louder and louder. Do not cover your ears and do not flinch. If you do, your ears will start to bleed and the blood will never stop flowing. You will spend the rest of your days, bleeding, driven to the depths of madness by the sounds of hissing.

If you are strong, eventually, you will reach the bottom of the stairs. The hissing will stop and you will see an older man sitting on a chair, silhouetted in a spotlight. He will be dressed from head to foot in snakeskin leather and he will have yellow serpent-like eyes. You must not look into his eyes. If you do, he will hold you spellbound and unable to move or scream as he swallows you whole. Wait quietly until the man stands up. He will walk up to you and stop within arms length and begin to tell you a story. The contents of the story are unimportant. All you need to remember is the first word of the story. The story will continue for hours, maybe days and you must listen for that first word. When the teller says that word again, that is the end of the story and you must stop his story with a stamp of your foot. The story will be mundane and dull at first but will slowly grown more and more interesting. The secrets of eternity will be told to you in excruciating detail. The teller may even reveal their true purpose, and their destiny. But you cannot forget to stop him when the story is finished. If you do not stop him, the story will grow in insidious detail. Secret will lead onto secret without end, for at each end, a beginning lies. You will spend eternity listening to every horrible detail, unable to escape. Or the teller will grow hungry during his telling and decide to consume you to satiate his hunger.

Be sure you stop him at the correct word. If have cut the story short, the teller will grow furious at being interrupted. His eyes will flash red and he will lunge forward to bite you. He will inject his foul venom into your body and you will die in agony as your blood boils until it bursts through your skin. For you have cut his story short and he must cut something of yours short as well. . .your life.

If you have stopped him correctly, he will lay down on the floor and contort himself, and begin to swallow himself whole. You must watch this act in full, no matter how terrible the sight of his form twisting and contorting impossibly is. Or how awful the sounds of cracking bones and snapping sinew is. If you turn away or show any signs of disgust, you too will fall to the floor and die in an attempt to consume yourself.

Once the man before you is finished, you will be able to safely approach what is left of him. Reach into the pocket of his jacket, it will be the only one you can reach, and take what you find inside. Keep your hand closed until you have fully removed the object. Once you have done so, you will find yourself back in the gallery. Open your hand, inside you will find a silver ring, depicting a snake swallowing its own tail.

This Ring is object 888 of 2538, you now know the beginning and the end of the story. And why the story must be eternal, why they should never come together.