Keeper Of Eternity
Over the past millennium, science and medicine has advanced so far as to put miracles in the hands of men. Many of the diseases that were fatal merely five hundred years ago now have cures or at least treatments thanks to the brilliant minds of man. That being so, there’s still one fatal infirmity humanity has yet to overcome, and that’s mortality.
For those devoted enough, however, there is yet a way. Located just off the East Coast of North America somewhere is a shrine dating as far back as the earliest recorded civilizations. Lost to the ages now, there is but one path to this shrine, and it still sends its call, as if daring the hardiest of man to make that perilous voyage.
If you find yourself in Savannah, GA someday and think you’d like to play your hand at immortality, simply hop in your car and continue east out of town along E President Street and continue along it until it turns into Islands Expressway. If the forces deem you worthy, or if they’re simply in the mood to watch in amusement as you throw your life away, the sky will darken with rainclouds–even if it was clear and blue only moments before–and the forest about you will seem to glow. Keep your eyes peeled and you should see a turn-off into the woods a few minutes after this happens.
Now if you’re carrying a map you’ll probably notice this path is not indicated anywhere on it, but pay that no heed. Continue along the tight and densely overgrown path at a slow pace, for if you go off the road here, you’ll have no hope of ever finding your way out of this forest, and no tow-truck will ever find the turn-off to come retrieve you. Simply follow the path before you–for while there are many bends, there are no turn-offs from this one. The trees will only grow denser as you progress, until the limbs scrape like fingers along the top of your vehicle (you should probably note that it would be a very bad idea to undergo this journey in a convertible).
Eventually, after approximately forty-five minutes to an hour of driving, you should come to a dead end, where the trees tighten about you like a noose around a doomed man’s neck. If you have a GPS system in your car it will proclaim that you’re about fifteen miles into the Atlantic Ocean. Do not attempt to reverse at this point, for you’ll find that the path is no longer there. Check your watch, or your phone, or your car’s read-out for the time, for regardless of the time of day not a single ray of light will spill through these densely packed trees. If it is dark out, or if it will be dark out within the next few hours do not open your door, and do not turn off your headlights. You may turn off your car every so often to save gas, but you’ll want to crank it up again periodically to keep your battery from dying. If you let down your guard in this forest at night, you’re as good as dead.
If you were wise enough to start this trip early enough, and it’s still light out, you may exit the car at this point. You’ll notice the trees around you leaning in your direction, as if peering down at you curiously. In a loud assertive voice proclaim, “I am here to claim my fate, and none here shall stand in my way.”
You’ll hear a sound behind you. When you turn to look you’ll notice a small path that hadn’t been there before. Do not hesitate, do not question it, simply walk purposefully forward and start down the path before you’re trapped in that clearing indefinitely. The path may wind drastically, depending on which way you were facing when it was created, simply continue walking and do not look back, no matter how loud the rustling gets behind you.
You’ll soon find yourself ankle-deep in a swamp, and you may find the sound of frogs croaking a soothing change from the forest’s lively rustling. It would be most wise at this point to find the longest thickest branch you can, for the marshes of Georgia can hide the nastiest creatures in only a foot of water, so you’ll need to feel your way along like a blind man.
Only about 10 yards from the forest-line the land drops off into the ocean, and unless the forces are feeling particularly cruel you should be able to see the log poking up out of the water right away. If not, you’ll need to search, and it may take a while but once you’re near it there’s no mistaking it. Walk until you feel the ground break away beneath you, then get into the water. When you’re touching the log, you’ll want to take in the largest lungful of breath you can manage, then dive under and swim to the bottom as quickly as you can. It will be a long swim but do not turn around, even if you think you’re about to faint. Swim as fast as you can and keep going down, keeping a hand on the log until you come out the other side.
You’ll resurface in a pond in the middle of a dark forest much similar to the one you just exited, only just at the edge of the pond will be an ancient building of indeterminable origin. Go inside. Fires will be lit, marking your path to the shrine of the Keeper. A large statue, the likeness of the Keeper, will stand at the far wall and at his feet will be an empty bowl. Address the Keeper in a loud, confident voice, saying “I’ve come very far, and all I ask for is something to drink.”
His response will be a single, very personal question, and he will speak it directly into your mind, so listen carefully. When he has asked his question, do not take too long to answer, and answer only in the truth. BE VERY PRECISE WITH YOUR ANSWER. He will know if you’re trying to hide something. Once you have answered him completely, the bowl at his feet will fill with a strange liquid. This liquid will reflect the entire rainbow’s spectrum of colors, and it will bear no scent. You must drink this liquid, or you will never leave the forest alive. Depending on whether or not the Keeper liked your answer and deems you worthy, the liquid may be plain tap water, or a lethal poison. If it is the latter, you will only know once the symptoms begin to take hold. If it is the former, you will be free to leave.
The forest will part before you, showing you the exit, much like the years will part before you, leaving you alone to endure the eons. You will see your family and loved ones die, and you will see wars begin and end, but you will never die. You will see the sun explode and the earth burned to a cinder, but you will never die. You will know the true meaning of eternal life.
–
Credited to Chris Phoenix.
FUCKING AWESOME
ALSO 1ST
Playing off the “horrors of immortality” at the end? Those sorts of horrors are probably true.
I’m surprised it didn’t use the super harsh (and tiring, given the tens of them) “SCREW UP AT THIS POINT AND BE SUBJECT TO FATE WORSE THAN DEATH” language/formula the whole “Holders” series uses.
YES! Thank you, Phone. You made my day. :]]]]
Hrm…..ritual pastas have, over the course of the years, lost much of their once bold flavor. Every now and then, however, it is pleasing to taste something so reminiscent of the past world of creepypasta. However, you may wish to change the title of your story, so as to avoid confusion with the “Holders” series of pastas.
Overall, not a horrible meal. A pervasive, musky taste with a hint of reality spashed in. I would eat again – 6/10
What if you went all that way and you couldn’t swim..?
ah, it’s good to ave an actually decent holder thing for once.
Glad I’m not the only one who was reminded of a Holders story.
Still, as these things go, this one was actually pretty good.
Hah, It would REALLY suck if you had to live through the suns demise… One of the many reasons why I do not want to live forever. Very nice pasta.
Ahh, finally a new pasta. And the wait was worth it.
Would it keep you from growing old?
BUT WHO WAS LOG
Nice. I am an avid fan of the Holders series (the good ones, mind you) and this sounds like it could easily be converted into that format. However, I’m glad you didn’t.
7.5/10
What rolls down stairs
Alone or in pairs
Rolls over your neighbors dog
It’s great for a snack
It fits on your back
Its LOG LOG LOG
The ending makes it scary, I love it.
Very cool story. Creeped me out while I was reading it. I would have died in the water.
wats a georgian marsh doin in the middle of the atlantic
this was a really cool one!
i liked it (:
Okay, so the forest parts before you, you live forever, you see the sun blow up…
But do you ever find your huge SUV you left in the forest?
The suspense is killing me…
This is just some gay ass rip off of the Holders Series.
Ugh.
“for regardless of the time of day not a single ray of light will spill through these densely packed trees.”
“If you were wise enough to start this trip early enough, and it’s still light out, you may exit the car at this point.”
Am I missing something?
Umm…Is it just me, or did was this one not very good?
It was well-written, but not scary or interesting at all.
Fucking awsome pasta.
totally worth the wait
“”"“for regardless of the time of day not a single ray of light will spill through these densely packed trees.”
“If you were wise enough to start this trip early enough, and it’s still light out, you may exit the car at this point.”
Am I missing something?”"
Yeah WTF.
damn that was a tasty pasta :3
but who was holder?
I wonder why no one ever considers that maybe our solar system isn’t the entire universe? So what if our sun implodes? Couldn’t you just float onto someplace else? And with all the knowledge you’d be accruing, maybe you’ll figure out how to go faster than light and find some intelligent life to dick with and become their alien space god. Or something. And if you keep going ’til heat death, I’m sure one can figure out ways to stop it. If not, hey, you have googol years to entertain you until then, and you can sit there and contemplate your vast mental experiences when you’re floating about in the photons for the rest of the universe’s existence. Or maybe that’s not how the universe “ends”, or maybe you go to some other universe and do it all again.
i really, really liked the end.
Falling through space sounds fun!
It just seems like you paraphrased a story from the Holder’s Series.
you know at the end of the world when the sun explodes or what ever and the earth is reduced to cinders the immortals will walk the earth
It was in interesting idea, but the writing style bother me a little bit. It seems a bit choppy.
not creepy.
4/10
Yeah Victor, you’re missing something. You can still see the time. So regardless of how it looks outside, you can tell if it’s night by the time.
“Check your watch, or your phone, or your car’s read-out for the time”
“If you find yourself in Savannah, GA someday and think you’d like to play your hand at immortality…”
WAT.
Absolutely wonderful!
It’s like Holders, except that unlike Holders this story doesn’t suck. Very good.
Poorly written, unoriginal, boring pasta. I’d chalk this one up to a meth head’s rambling, but that would be insulting to meth heads.
A+ writing a ritual story without turning it into a holders story.
If you never die, what happens to you after the universe ends?
i was reading this on my ipod, and the text was big on my screen, and i scroll down and i see Savannah, GA
I LIVE IN SAVANNAH
I TOTALLY HAD A SPAZ.
btw this was good to me.
I thought Georgia opens up to the Sea of Mexico? Or is my geography wrong?
Well if it was dark I don`t understand how it would matter if it was dark because it is night time or because the trees block the sun.
Dark is dark.
THEN WHO WAS GPS?!
“You Are Now Fifteen Miles Offshore From Little Tybee Island. You May Now Inflate The Weighted Safety Rafts To Help Prevent Death By Excess Water Exposure.”
GPS WAS GLADOS!!!!!111cake
…Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.
@ Victor
Oh I get it, you don’t understand the relevance of it being too dangerous in the night when they say it’s dark anyway?
I have an answer to that too:
This pasta is fucking stupid.
Does that answer it nicely?
@Victor: the concept is based off other such literature in which nocturnal creatures who live in darkness in fear of the sun still sleep during the day, and hunt during the night. I’m glad people who have imaginations at least enjoyed it. :]]
Good story, perfect for a ritual pasta…and this is nothing like the holders. He isn’t collecting sacred objects, he isn’t going to a place found anywhere in the world, he isn’t having his soul eaten and intestines used as a jump rope for breathing at the wrong millisecond, etc.
If you think it’s just like the Holders, then the only ritual pastas you have ever read are the Holders and this one. Wipe the retard drool off your chin, click rituals at the top, and then see for yourself that they have nothing to do with each other, besides being the same genre.
Holders stories are almost always super shitty pasta and this is no exception. Go to [location] do [nonsensical thing] then tell the Holder [something entirely unrelated to the object of your quest] BUT FATES PRESERVE YOU IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS YOUR DOOM IS UNIMAGINABLE (so I will not even bother to describe it)
Also, if obtaining absolute immortality is as easy as drinking tapwater from some ridiculous ocean temple, shouldn’t the universe/Earth eventually/already be filled with hot immortal people for the protagonist to love after their worthless non-immortal family dies?
I don’t believe I’ve ever enjoyed a ritual pasta before. Very well done! I was actually genuinely creeped out for a moment, as there was a strange noise in my house I could not discern the origin of conveniently timed with the part where I should “never EVEREVEREVER look behind you, no matter how loud dem dar noises ‘er gettin.”
I liked it, well done. But still ritual pasta. Eww. 8/10
the only qualm i have with this is:
“for regardless of the time of day not a single ray of light will spill through these densely packed trees. If it is dark out, or if it will be dark out within the next few hours do not open your door, and do not turn off your headlights. You may turn off your car every so often to save gas, but you’ll want to crank it up again periodically to keep your battery from dying. If you let down your guard in this forest at night, you’re as good as dead.
If you were wise enough to start this trip early enough, and it’s still light out, you may exit the car at this point
”
so…if it’s really dark because of the trees, how could one tell if it’s light out? wouldn’t it be dark eitherway?
Wow I didn’t know that the earliest civilizations had running water. This pasta was pretty good, but the ordinary tap water thing threw me off a little. Lol, I guess even the governments of the ancient civilizations were fluoridating their people’s water supply.
That was pretty good. My only advice to the writer is the drop the word “tap” when describing the water. As much as I hate these nitpicky comments I see in the comments section of good pastas, that one detail sort of removed me from the story, and it’s fairly late in the story so it didn’t really have time to recover for me. But please, please, keep it up!
this was excellent :]
immortality sounds like fun lol
loved this one, very tasty….
This is getting a great response for such a shitty pasta.
it’s awesome because I live 45 minutes from the SAV.
GOING TO IMMORTALITY. BRB.
it’s awesome because I live 45 minutes from the SAV.
GOING TO IMMORTALITY. BRB.
I love good ritual pastas, this one didn’t disappoint.
WHAT THE FUCK IS A HOLDER STORY?
And now to find a blue police box, and a colourful scarf.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that regardless of whether it is visibly night or day to you, whatever is out in the surrounding area would still be a threat during the nighttime hours. If that makes sense. That is what I took from it anyway. Keep in mind that this is supposed to be in a ritualistic manner.
“Yeah Victor, you’re missing something. You can still see the time. So regardless of how it looks outside, you can tell if it’s night by the time.
“Check your watch, or your phone, or your car’s read-out for the time””
I was about to explain this, thanks You Hep Cats.
& @MrSkary LOLWUT
Build up was way too long for a banal pay-off. Not terrible, but in the end, who cares? I agree with most posters. Ritual Pastas need to go or at least become somewhat interesting.
The keeper has tap water? Did they have tap water in the earliest recorded civilizations?
I liked it. Creepy.
Very well done, sound like something I could actually try and the worst outcomes dont sound to unreal. =]
Hmm….it was okay.
BUT WHO WAS HOLDERS TITLE RIP-OFF??!!
Other thank that, pretty awesome.
this pasta was really good, LOL JK it sucked.
I’d get a a car boat and hermetically seal it and just take that through the whole thing.
Seaker’s question: “Did you really DRIVE here? Through WATER?”
My answer: “Hell yes!”
“23. If you like to plan ahead and have some money, buy your auntie and
uncle a house in Bel-Air. Nothing can harm you there no matter how
scared your mother is.” That is my motto now! xD
Confusing pasta is confusing. :/
most tl;dar ritual pasta evar
…So you become a Time Lord?