This anonymously written book is printed in a thin, black octavo with a bile-colored sign embossed on its cover. The symbol is offensive to all who see it, regardless of race or culture. It has abnormally sharp edges and juts and curves in so disturbing a manner that it can scarcely be described, sickening any who gaze upon it for long. The first page indicates in plain lettering that it is titled “The Nazakranoth”, but the majority of the book is written in the same, unsettling hieroglyphs on the cover. It is difficult even to attempt to translate these words without weeping, as the edges of each letter sting the eyes unrelentingly.
A few passages are written in the common tongue, and they read as follows:
- Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.
- Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
- Blessed are they who surrender their possessions to the appeasement of the gods.
- Blessed are they who reign in dreaming, waiting to be reborn.
The remainder is illegible to only the most learned scholars, a palpable sense of evil stirring within its yellowed pages. However, there are multiple slips of parchment inserted into the book, acting as dividers. In these segments are detailed notes pertaining to certain sections of the Nazakranoth, as transcribed by Augustus Armitage, Head Librarian of Valanice.
The sixth and final divider reads:
“Religious proselytizing dominates what little left I have bothered to translate. Continuing seems fruitless, as reading and re-reading this accursed tome has left me with strange visions and awful headaches that seem to subside only once I remove myself from its presence for an extended period. Perhaps I will pick this back up at a later time, but for now I cannot say these writings are little more than the frenzied scrawl of a madman. It reads like a fever dream and I grow tired of devoting myself to its insanity.”