I trod down a silvered staircase,
Where candles lit the path,
To the very gates of slumber,
And an e'er blazing hearth,
The gate stood wide afore me,
The ways revealed there,
I chose the road which lead to,
The precipice of nightmare
Through midnight mounts I wandered,
A grim fiend-haunted scene,
In twilight hours I wondered,
On the darker side of dream,
'Til at long last I came to,
A balustrade cliff,
And espied that fallen Eden,
From nightmares precipice
A thousand ebon towers,
Soar above that sable den,
A black sorcerous eye glowers,
Over shadowed street and then,
Into my very soul it looked,
And layed a binding spell,
That banished thoughts of turning back,
And marched me into hell
Across that basalt causeway,
I trod and gazed in awe,
And certain sights I lit on,
That sane eyes never saw,
I saw that cities women,
Who dark seduction wove,
On crimson blood they feasted,
Which to their climax strove
In squalor I saw them sitting,
'Til bloody rapture came,
And for nightmarish pleasure,
Spilled blood in eros' name,
Red and white there mixed together,
Upon impious floor,
And there was no distinction,
'Twix torturer and whore
Through that vile keep I travelled,
Where no sun ever shone,
That inverted Celephais,
That paradise undone,
Til I came before the tower,
Where the old necromancer dwells,
And was greeted by a pealing,
Of thrice-damned infernal bells
Up the tower strove I onwards,
Its call was in my soul,
To the very peak of madness,
To death's own throne I stole,
An ancient lord enthroned there,
In ethereal panoply,
And with a wondrous glare,
He brought some light to me
Of the land around I heard some,
And of the cities past,
And the creatures that did rule it,
That I was to be the last,
I was born to rule here,
If only I could see,
That veiled King in Yellow,
Who exists eternally
Though his hiding place was hidden,
I swore for it to seek,
I went to the black archive,
Sought tomes of evil reek,
I read of the spells to call it
The one who could show,
Though it drained me of my sanity,
I simply had to know
Part 2
The guardian of the ways,
Told me then to find,
The whore-priestess enthroned,
To whose gates all streets wind,
And seek from her the powers,
For only she has seen,
That vile King in Yellow,
That has ever entropy been
So I started forth and onwards,
Past towers and minarets,
Whose staring eyes beheld me,
And promised vile threat,
And so through those streets I wove,
Seeing evil at every turn,
Women, Children, Men and beasts,
In that stygian city burn,
There were many miles still to walk,
Through that shadowed maze,
Through endless shadowed courtyards,
Blackest madness met my gaze,
And through a long nights journey,
I came bereft of light,
To the unimagined portal,
Wherein a Succubus takes flight
To that Succubus' playground,
Of torture, lust and death,
And madness everlasting,
And I drew in a breath,
Of fetor like a corpses,
Mixed with the scent of pain,
And mingled with the pleasure,
Of those who love in vain
This is a place of cruelty,
Where the priestess holds her court,
Of flawed and vile lusting,
A maze with danger fraught,
And all at once around me,
There came the maids of hell,
Who put me at submission,
And dragged me to a cell
And there I layed to rot for days,
Until at last, bereft of hope,
I came to the court of the whore-priestess,
Bound thence with lash and rope,
Her most beautiful visage,
Marred with unholy lust,
Filled me with longing despair,
And turned all decency to dust
And so I danced a merry round,
With pleasure unabaiting,
For years and years I could be found,
With dozens fornicating,
And from that vile place did flee,
That purposeful and needed path,
That was my wyrd to walk along,
And view the aftermath
Part 3
But the priestess’ reign was ending,
The time was soon at hand,
When a new and fouler power,
Would rule o’er the land,
And as the palace fell,
To ruin as it must,
I remembered my own destiny,
Which was long veiled by lust
At the midnight hour,
I stole into her crypts,
And sought the infernal library,
To read the damnéd script,
That brought forth the madness,
Incarnate in my brain,
That killed all thoughts of reason,
In an avalanche of pain
I read out the incantations,
And lost all sanity,
From within the angles,
I called it forth to me,
Its form was most fantastic,
Its name was death to quoth,
Its angles were inhuman,
This spawn of Yog-Sothoth
And the visions that it showed me,
Infinity in front and behind,
Showed me unnumbered horrors,
That I did not wish to find,
From the throne of Azathoth,
To the Dread plateau of Leng,
To dead Cthulhu’s dreaming,
And Shub-Niggurath’s den
An ancient evil spoke there,
And sent me forth to find,
The city of Carcosa,
In hidden recess of my mind,
For their he dwells enthroned,
That lord of deaths decay,
Of decadence and corruption,
He who’s name is death to say
And so I went into deep trance,
A dream with in a dream,
Thus did the nightmare deepen,
Close to madness did it seem,
As I sought out the tower,
That held him in his throne,
The veiled King in Yellow,
To whom my fate was known.
Though dire was the seeking,
And vile was the road,
And sanity could not survive,
The paths on which I strode,
More terrible still before me,
Was the veiled one,
Whose name is thrice-accursed,
And forsaken by the sun
So I found myself trembling,
Before an evil force,
Older than the earth,
Who has seen aeons run their course
And his otherworldly voice,
Spoke unhallowed words to me,
And by his dire insight,
Told me of things to be
Human-spawn upon the path,
To transcendent glory,
Know that you will only be,
The next chapter of the story,
Though you will be nightmare’s king,
The honour will be fleeting,
If in you there seems to be,
A human heart still beating
You must forsake humanity,
Or else forsake the throne,
For no mere mortal reigns there,
In the city of black stone,
So I offer you this choice now,
To forever leave thy kin,
And you know the answer,
If you wish to be king
The paths diverged before me,
The mirror shattered forth,
Its shards brought up illusions,
Of the fortress in the North,
Its frowning corpse-crowned walls,
Its blackest iron gate,
Its warriors of pure hatred,
And the room that held my fate.
Beneath Kadath it mouldered,
That damned forsaken fane,
But there my fate did lie it seemed,
Wether for good or bane
And from the trance awoken,
I followed the dream with haste,
To find the shadow-fortress,
‘Neath Kadath in the cold waste
Long leagues of endless struggle,
Along a road as dark as pitch,
Through a surreality,
The mad ravings of a witch,
Fast paths through hills a-burning,
With the evil eldritch fires,
Of the warring dreamlands,
That convulsed with desires
These desires rampant in it,
I realise now were mine,
For this was my own dreamscape,
Where my subconscious doth dine,
And it was born in torment,
Of an unsound mind,
No wonder only darkness,
I could with in it find.
And through the burning land,
I came to mountains high,
Who cast their impious fingers,
To a lightning-shattered sky,
A thousand stairs ascended,
And then a thousand more,
Into the stars ascending,
Beyond this earthly shore,
On and on they rose high,
Across the mighty wastes,
That stretch between the stars,
And thus I strode in haste
And at last I saw my goal,
The black fortress of my dream,
Wherein my power dwelled,
The endgame of this scheme.
Part 5
And so I stood before the walls,
Of this corpse-crowned fane,
And its guardians beheld me,
From where the stars had lain,
Its great dark gate swung open,
And from its highest keep,
There blazed a mighty fire,
That caused my heart to leap
I entered through the portal,
And in the courtyard I beheld,
The timeless star-spawned warriors,
Whom are older than the world,
So I ascended the greatest tower,
That stretched beyond all time,
Which held a thousand images,
Both batrachian and sublime
Further on I wandered,
Beyond space and time and dream,
Until I came to realise,
I was beyond the stream,
That separates the waking world,
The dreaming and beyond,
Saw that I was close to passing,
A tear in realities bond
I paused before a mural dark,
Captivated by its scene,
Of daemons and of chaos,
Coupled in ways obscene,
And the more I stared,
The less it came to seem,
Abhorrent to my mind,
Rather an enviable dream
At the peak of this infernal stair,
The was a mighty oaken door,
Bound tight with lock and ward,
From the ceiling to the floor,
It began to slowly open,
Enticing with its call,
To step beyond the gateway,
To leave behind this hall
I turned to look behind me,
At all the things gone past,
I beheld all angles them,
From beyond the stars so vast,
Space and time not flowing,
But stagnant, and a whole,
That could be bent to a will,
With sufficient control,
I saw time from all angles,
What was, is, will be and might,
The other paths of fate,
That my other selves gave light,
I saw the throne of Azathoth,
At the universes heart,
I saw the stars as living,
And time before they did start
I lived a thousand lives,
Saw where souls come to die,
And in a burning instant,
Was revealed to my mind’s eye,
The nature of reality,
That it is not a river flowing,
And to transcend mortality
Requires you’re unknowing
Finally I turned about and strode,
On through this final door,
But nothing that I had seen or read,
Could prepare me for what I saw
A room of starlight and void-chill,
That was beyond all space,
Nyarlathotep stood there,
With nightmare’s mask upon his face
On a plinth before him,
Stood enthroned in translucent glass
The crown of the black city,
The key to powers vast
But It was unreachable,
Within it’s crystal tomb,
But then I realised something,
Which truly sealed my doom.
If I was to wear the crown,
I had to transcend my flesh,
And bend the walls around me,
Ushering in aeons fresh,
From the right angles in time,
The block was never showing,
And I could reach and don the crown,
Because of my unknowing…
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