The Holder of Remorse

Is this quest enough to sustain you? Is this accumulation of curses really worthwhile? Has everything progressed perfectly, with no loss or sorrow?

Not so, for me.

I once sought, as you do now. I know, more than any other could, the burden you bear, the enormity of the actions you have taken. And in the end, it was all for nothing. What has been will be again. What has been done will be done again.

You have asked other Holders questions. You have fought them in labyrinths of fire and stone, endless battlefields and pocket universes. Your weapons and allies have multiplied beyond number. But, in the end, whether you have the Blade or the Card, the Nectar or the Needles, you will face me alone.

All I offer you is a choice. The same choice that I was given. If you decide not to make it now, I won't stop you. Leave through the back door, and you'll find yourself back where you started. Return when you have strengthened your resolve.

You may take my Object, and continue your futile scrabbling at eternity. Rail against the inevitable. Crush those who come in your way - whether friend or foe, beloved or hated, none can or will be spared. Lose yourself in blind lust for power, like so many before. Damn the world for its own sake, until even the souls confined to the darkest pits of Tartarus weep for what it has become. Loose anarchy, and let it embrace the cosmos. Watch the stars burn out, and laugh as the last ones die, and all that is left is ashes.

And then you will reunite Them.

Or, if you have any regrets at all, if you have any remorse for what you have done, any shred of humanity remaining... I can return you to the beginning of your quest. Your hands will be clean of blood, and the atrocities you've committed will never have come to pass. As the next Holder, your only duty will be to reverse the damage caused by one other. A small price to erase a lifetime of pain. A trifling cost to protect the universe.

I'm no polygraph. The punishment for lying is the same as that of foolishness. You will have to live with the consequences of your choice.

By the time you need to find me, you'll know where and how. Any number of Objects may guide you. I have no reason to hide.

Object 519 of 538 is a ruby wheel. No matter how you try, it only turns clockwise.

Some things cannot be undone.