The Holder of Tomorrow

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, ask the attendant to visit "The Holder of Tomorrow". A look of utter confusion should befall the worker, and in a very clumsy manner, he will reach into a drawer and hand you a small, rusty golden key and point to a similarly rusty cabinet in the corner of the room. The key should fit perfectly, but the drawer itself will prove some resistance. In the very back there should be a flute, in perfect condition yet seemingly as old as time itself.

After having taken the flute, exit the building. To your surprise, you should find no establishments before you as you had before entering the building. Yet, you should find yourself amongst the highest of barren cliffs, gazing into the deep blue of the sky shadowing the never-ending desert before you. A gale will begin to pick up, wrenching up all of the roots from the ground beside you. Secure yourself or the mighty gale will sweep you up and throw you to your doom over the infinitely long cliffside, where you will come face with horrors no man should rest his mortal eyes upon.

You will find as time progresses, the gale only grows stronger. Maybe in a half hour it will subside, or maybe in five hours. No one knows what affects the length of the winds. But one fact is certain, the flute will only echo it's notes abroad the landscape before you if you play it when the gale is at it's climax. If done correctly, the notes will resonate throughout the canyon for leagues to go. The winds will lift you off of your feet no matter how much you try, and will soar you through the sky. Drifting upon a sheet of warm air, the deep blue scene before you will transcend to a starry black night, though complete in it's darkness, relaxing. Somewhere, beyond the stars, a figure will form, in it's white presence, illuminating the night, descending towards your haven.

"It's something, isn't it?" The glowing white man will say in your ear. Don't be fooled by his friendly nature, for that is what he wants to lead you to believe. Inside, he wishes only to deceive you so that he may strike you when you least expect it, consuming your soul and leaving your body as a husk for the rest of time to wander the nothingness of his realm. Instead, turn to his glowing face and ask him, "And what of Tomorrow?" His essence will slowly turn to a hideous black corpse, absent of all life and light, and like a lifeless puppet on strings, he will be drawn up to the heavens, up to the starry picture above you and will draw with them all of the possibilities of His return and catastrophes to the mortal world tomorrow. Be warned, for the pictures will give you vague clues of what the world may bring. Do not interpret these messages, for simply the knowledge of what does not exist will rend you insane. The winds carrying you will cease to exist, leaving you to plunge to the abyss beneath you. Before meeting your dark end, play the flute with all of the power you can muster forth from your dying lungs. As you approach the ground, the notes will echo and rebound, forming a gaping darkness beneath you. As you fall through the darkness, shut your eyes and do not breathe, for you now exist in the Dark Void.

As you fly through the nothingness which surrounds you and enshrouds your vision, the flute will begin to glow, and begin to illuminate the path ahead. As the light reaches near the end of the dark tunnel, the flute will be obliterated by the complete darkness, shards forever lost in the Void. As these crystal shards are lost in the consuming darkness, one small piece will return, tainted with the darkness which was brought upon it. Simply gazing at it will hypnotize you, for as deep as you stare into the nothingness it holds there seems to be something beyond you.

The infinitely dark shard of the Void is Object 408 of 538. Though you may try to gaze into it as hard as you can, the secrets of Tomorrow will never reveal themselves to you.