After the body of the Seeker has been washed according to the astrological covenants and his body has been wrapped with the linen codex that has been inscribed with his desire, then he is to be presented to the Moon on three successive nights.

Care must be taken to hide the Seeker from the Sun as the pure light will blacken the wrappings. If the Moon does not show her face on three successive days, the Seeker must abandon his quest as the text will not be fully shadowed upon the palimpsest of his flesh.

When the Moon sets on the third night, the Seeker is to be taken to the mirror chamber where his death mask will be set. The ceremonial pouring of the mask must be completed by dawn for it is the First Light that seals the mask, and it is the Last Shadow that holds the doorway open for the Seeker to begin his journey.

Those who travel through the Red Wood to the House must be both covered and masked. The tattooed epistle of their intent and the reflective purity of their resolution proclaim their worthiness to the Broken-Jawed Ones who haunt the forest. It is the fate of the unworthy that they are devoured by those who have lost their tongue.

In the mirror chamber, the Seeker is suspended over a pool of purified water and his head is cradled by the Hand. Liquid silver is poured over his face until the palm of the Hand is full, and then the Seeker is lowered into the pool so that the death mask may be fused to his skull.

All is bent by the confusion of perception, and the Mask is the purified reflection of the inchoate curvature of the Seeker's Path. The mirror of his face will confound the Shadow at the Threshold; the mirror will retain a flicker of the Last Light, and this reflection (again and again) will show him the way through the maze of the Red Wood.

All becomes none outside the linear prison of time, and the face of the Mask is the inscribed course of the Seeker's Path. When he reaches the House, the Seeker will be received and his Mask will be read.

The Keeper of the House will lay ink upon the Seeker, highlighting the lines of his history that will, forever after, be the Word by which the Seeker will be known. Thus Named (thus enumerated), the Seeker will pass through the many trials of the House until he reaches . . .

yes, but what of the key? what of the final door?

. . . until he meets . . .