The Holder of the Adversary

In any city, in any country, venture across the highways and lonely roads until you reach the city's bottom rung. Walk among the ones society has cast away, beggars and poor picked raw by the demands of those better off. Should you come across a scruffy man under a large oak tree holding a bottle of liquor in a paper bag, his shirt sweat-stained and his pants muddied, do not be afraid to ask him if he knows of the one who calls itself "The Holder of the Adversary".

More than likely, he will smile knowingly at you, like an old friend with whom you've just shared an inside joke. Do not be alarmed; the man knows of the one you search for. The less fortunate of us often know things we will never dream of. He will guide you to a manhole and casually slide the metal lid off with one grimy boot. Tossing you a small flashlight which flickers precariously, he will urge you down into the darkness.

Once inside the putrid womb of the sewage system, you will come to realize that it bears no unpleasant scent - no scent whatsoever, in fact. But, turning on the flashlight and gazing at your surroundings, you will notice you are in a round room. On all the walls will hang partially decomposed bodies, their owners forever suspended in a state of half-awareness, feeling all the pain and horror of a body withering and rotting around them. Corpses litter the floors, and you may notice that one nearly touches you. Do not shrink back. To show cowardice would invite no creature or entity that you would do well to know.

Once you have observed your surroundings, the smell will arrive. It will be the most awful thing you could imagine: human and animal excrement, sulfur, rotting bodies, burning flesh. You will want to claw your nose from your face, and the watering of your eyes will nearly blind you.

But do not cower, do not run, and resist the urge to vomit. You will find a thought in your head, unbidden: "We are the remains of the ones who could not face the Adversary." There is no source of this whisper, though it may curl around you as if carried by the stench itself. Suddenly, the bodies will rupture and burst, one by one, releasing more of the horrible stench and bathing you in rotted bodily fluids and slimy chunks of human refuse.

The corpses then will sink to the floor, and what rises from the slurry is a creature of pure beauty. Man, woman, or something else entirely - it depends on you yourself. It will not be possible to shake your gaze from this gorgeous, naked human until you realize the creature is an idealized caricature of you. Confident, heart-achingly gorgeous, smiling a gentle, patient smile, It will be everything you yourself could ever desire to become.

You will be overcome by a sudden jealousy, a total anger, a need to annihilate this perfect you. Do not give in, no matter how strong the temptation. If you do, you are doomed to the Adversary's wrath - the eternal torment of the Damned you have witnessed prior. There is only one question you must ask the exquisite creature: "What could they destroy?"

The Holder of the Adversary will laugh at you melodically, condescendingly, and will explain to you as though you are a small, stupid child exactly the answer to your question. It will spare you no details, even the most horrific. Though horrifying, the story will be interesting and calming to listen to, and you will find yourself absorbed in a childlike fascination with The Holder. You may liken its story to one told to you by a loved one or a guide when you were a child, and you will know that you now have the key to defeating the Adversary - that which the Damned could not acquire.

At the end of the story, The Holder will ask, smiling pleasantly, "What will you do now, my child?" If it asks you anything else, or tells you something different, your fate is sealed, and when you eventually emerge from the sewer, the ragged people you have encountered will descend upon you like ravenous animals, and tear you apart with tooth and nail, feeding on your body. There is no escape, only the knowledge that it will happen.

Regardless of your fate, The Holder will place an Object in your palm and close your hand around it. "You mustn't open your hand until you are free of this place," it will say, as a fitting good-bye.

Now you must turn and leave, and do not look back. Once you escape the sewer, and if you are lucky, you may open your fingers. What you will find there is a green plastic army man toy.

That toy is Object 14 of 538. It understands how to defeat your greatest foe, and must never be allowed to join the rest.

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438
439
440
441
442
443
444
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485
486
487
488
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538