Excerpt 6 - Page 116 29/9/2006

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Excerpt 6 ­ page 116 (translated 29/09/06)

portal to the kitchen garden. follow the path to the stone sun dial and stand before it with the rhubarb to your left and the sweet peas to your right. the sun should be directly in front of you. if you now look behind you will see your shadow on the path, as it should be. wave to your shadow and the shadow will wave back. now twist the sun dial 180 degrees. the dial is heavy so please prepare yourself. nothing seemingly will have changed, of course ­ apart from your shadow, which is now on the path in front of you. wave to your shadow and your shadow will not wave back. it is now independent of you but will, however, act as your guide at this critical final stage. now take out the caretaker's photo of the red door and hold it up for the shadow to see. then say these words:

"speed the shade
across the glade
fast as blood
within the vein"

upon hearing these words your shadow will turn and run. the shadow, now unburdened by a human body, will be somewhat lighter on its toes than you will be, especially now that you are entering your 48th hour without sleep. however, do keep up or all will be lost. you are now being taken to the corridor with the red door.

we can give you no further information at this point as this, as you and countless others must know, is the path to the most closely guarded secret of the civilized age. there are some who believe that its revelation will signal the reversal of that age.

eventually, after a hard trek, you will be taken to an underground enclosure. take a minute here as you will be on the verge of total physical and mental collapse. assuming you actually made the journey. the enclosure is immensely hot so please do not rest for too long: falling asleep at this juncture would be disastrous. you will notice that you are in a circular chamber. eight tunnels have been carved into the rough stone walls. above the entrance to each tunnel will be a single etched rune. of all the contestants that have taken part in this tour, only the smallest fraction have made it into this chamber. consequently, the runes may be obscured by slime or moss. take the utmost care that you are entering the correct tunnel. pay no attention to the sounds emanating from the other tunnels ­ the unpleasant chattering should be less audible as you proceed. presently, you will come to a large oak door. it will be unlocked.

for those of you who choose incorrectly, we congratulate you on an outstanding achievement and we wish you a painless and swift exit from this contest and, indeed, from this life. all our hopes and prayers go with you.

for those of you who choose correctly, you should now be standing in the brightly lit corridor with the red door. concentrate on the rune and uncork the vial of spore. now