English Translation
Man, a mere speck of dust in the cosmic tapestry, struggles to find meaning in the face of his own mortality within the cold, uncaring void of existence. The inevitability of death, the eternal darkness which devours all, renders our ephemeral lives insignificant, a fleeting moment in the infinite expanse of time. Yet, within the confines of our fragile, mortal shells, we strive to transcend the abyss, to unearth a semblance of immortality, be it through love, art, power or war. But in the end, we all succumb to the great emptiness that awaits us, for death is the ultimate truth, the inescapable shadow that lurks behind every breath.
Such was the plight of Nephren-Ka, the black pharaoh, who once ruled the land of Egypt with an iron fist, his heart consumed by the dread of his own mortality. As the years of his reign flowed like sand through the hourglass, Nephren-Ka found himself increasingly tormented by the specter of death, its cruel laughter echoing through the chambers of his soul. And so, in his desperation, he sought to defy the natural order, to rip asunder the veil that separates the living from the dead, and grasp the forbidden fruit of eternal life. In the gloom of his throne room, where shadows danced to the melody of dread, Nephren-Ka cast his gaze upon the scrolls and tomes of ancient wisdom, his mind teetering on the brink of madness as he delved into the forbidden realms of the occult. The whispers of forgotten gods and the cryptic incantations of unhallowed rites filled the air, a discord of blasphemy that threatened to rend the very fabric of his sanity.
As the relentless march of time bore down upon Nephren-Ka, he found that despite his most fervent efforts, the secret to overcoming death remained shrouded in mystery, forever out of his reach. Despair gnawed at the black pharaoh’s heart, threatening to consume him whole. Yet in the darkest recesses of his despair, a sinister glimmer of hope emerged, born from the most blasphemous tome in his collection, the volume that cannot be. Within its malevolent pages, Nephren-Ka discovered the unhallowed formula of Khepsut, a dark incantation whispered by the very demons of the abyss.
Oh, hapless reader, heed these words with caution, for the knowledge you now possess is a curse, a vile poison that seeps into the very marrow of your soul. Armed with the incantation of Khepsut, Nephren-Ka believed that he could, if not cheat death, then at least circumvent it. The sinister formula promised that one of his descendants, many generations hence, would not only bear his visage, but also inherit his essence. And though the black pharaoh could not exert control over this heir, he could, with the aid of the incantation, guide his descendant’s path, drawing him inexorably towards the buried secrets of Nephren-Ka. To ensure his soul would be preserved for this fateful day, Nephren-Ka delved into the arcane arts of mummification, developing an unholy method that would entrap his spirit within his lifeless husk. With meticulous care, the black pharaoh placed clues and instructions throughout his tomb, a macabre trail that would beckon his descendant to reawaken the dormant spirit of Nephren-Ka and to invite it into his own body.
In the cold embrace of his tomb, the Place of the blind apes where Nephren-Ka binds up the threads of truth, his body lay still, swathed in the darkness that had once consumed his very essence. The dark priests, ever loyal to their unholy master, performed the accursed rites with chilling precision, ensuring the black pharaoh’s soul would be trapped within his desiccated corpse. As commanded, the lifeless form of Nephren-Ka was sealed within a sarcophagus, the inky blackness of the tomb swallowing him whole. And there, in the eternal night of the tomb, Nephren-Ka’s soul languished, imprisoned within the decaying vessel that had once been his body. The passage of time wore on, its inexorable march grinding away the millennia, as the black pharaoh’s spirit waited, impotent, for the day of its resurrection.
Oh, reader, can you grasp the depths of madness that awaited the once-mighty ruler in that stygian prison? Can you fathom the torments that assailed his soul as the eons passed? Can you hear the wails of anguish, the screams of despair that filled the airless void, the laments of a once-great king now trapped in the inescapable purgatory of his own making? The dark curse of immortality, that which Nephren-Ka had so desperately sought, now proved to be his eternal damnation. His spirit, bound to the rotting remains of his mortal shell, was subjected to the ravages of time, its sanity fraying at the edges, slowly unraveling as the centuries stretched on. The black tomb became a crucible of madness, the very walls seeming to shudder with the echoes of the black pharaoh’s tortured cries.
In the shadows of history, precisely three-hundred and thirty-three years later, a child was born unto Egypt—a prince who bore the visage of Nephren-Ka, a reflection of the black pharaoh’s darkness. This scion, a vessel for Nephren-Ka’s ancient purpose, found himself inexorably drawn to the arcane arts, like a moth to the flame. As he delved into the forbidden tomes, his heart quickened at the discovery of his ancestor’s secrets, the black pharaoh’s legacy beckoning to him from beyond the veil of time. The descendant followed the trail of clues, deciphering the twisted path laid out by Nephren-Ka, understanding the dark task that awaited him.
But, oh reader, this progeny was not so easily beguiled. He had peered into the abyss of Nephren-Ka’s library, gleaning the hidden knowledge that lurked within its shadows. He knew the price of the ritual, the terrible sacrifice that would be demanded. To invite the soul of Nephren-Ka into his own body was to surrender his very essence, to forfeit his own immortal soul. Instead, the descendant, cunning and wise beyond his years, turned to another, darker ritual. This incantation, more sinister and terrible than any that had come before, offered the desiccated corpse of Nephren-Ka, along with its imprisoned soul, to the dread god Nyarlathotep for all eternity. And so, the black pharaoh’s fate was sealed, his soul forever ensnared by the malignant whims of the Crawling Chaos. Nephren-Ka, once a ruler of men, now a plaything for the capricious and cruel Nyarlathotep, whose laughter echoes through the void as he torments the damned spirit for his own twisted amusement. Oh, reader, heed well this tale of hubris and damnation, for the abyss yawns wide, and the darkness ever beckons.
Alas, Nephren-Ka’s descendant, who had so cleverly evaded the grasp of the black pharaoh, found himself ensnared by a darker fate. For the rewards he sought from the dread god Nyarlathotep were not to be. The laughter of the Crawling Chaos reverberated through the void, and the only boon granted to the mortal who had dared to defy fate was the cruel gift of madness. As the years passed, the descendant’s mind spiraled deeper and deeper into the abyss, the tenebrous tendrils of insanity taking root within him. The world around him warped and twisted, his sanity torn asunder by the relentless onslaught of visions and voices. Then, one fateful day, he vanished, swallowed by the darkness that had consumed his soul. For months, the desperate priests searched, guided by the whispers of unseen forces and the echoes of their own dread.
In the end, they found him in the cold, forgotten tomb of Nephren-Ka, his lifeless body sprawled across the ancient floor, the dark pool of his blood long since dried. His throat had been slit with an obsidian blade, the same instrument of death still clutched in his iron grip. It seemed as if, in the throes of his madness, he had sought solace in the eternal embrace of death, finally succumbing to the inexorable pull of the void. And so, the cruel laughter of Nyarlathotep echoed once more through the halls of the damned, a macabre testament to the folly of mortals who dared to toy with the dark powers of the cosmos.
Latin Original
Homo, qui merum est particulum pulveris in cosmico textu, luctatur ut sensum inveniat in vultu propriae mortalitatis intra frigidum, inexorabile vacuum existentiae. Mors ineluctabilis, aeterna tenebra quae omnia devorat, nostras vidas effugientes insignificantes reddit, momento fugiente in immenso tempore. Verum, intra limites fragilium, mortalium testarum nostrorum, contendimus ut abyssum transcendamus, ut similitudinem immortalitatis effodiamus, sive per amorem, artem, potestatem aut bellum. Sed in fine, omnes succumbimus magno vacuo quod nos manet, nam mors est ultima veritas, ineluctabilis umbra quae post omnem spiritum latitat.
Talis fuit casus Nephren-Ka, nigri pharaonis, qui olim Aegypti terram ferrea manu regebat, cor eius mortis propriae metu voratum. Anni regni eius ut arena per clepsydram defluebant, Nephren-Ka se magis magisque ab umbra mortis cruciatum invenit, risu eius crudeli per animae suae penetralia resonante. Itaque, desperatione ductus, ordinem naturalem eludere conatus est, velum quod vivos a mortuis separat scindere et fructum vitae aeternae interdictum capere. In tenebris aulae suae regiae, ubi umbrae ad cantum terroris saliebant, Nephren-Ka in volumina et rotulos sapientiae antiquae intuebatur, mens eius in limine insaniae pendens dum in occultas regiones nefandae scientiae se immergebat. Susurri deorum oblititotarum et incantationes cripticae rituum innominabilium aerem implebant, discordia blasphemiae quae ipsius sanitatis texturam lacerare minabatur.
Cum tempus inexorabile Nephren-Ka premeret, invenit se, licet conatibus ardentissimis, secretum mortem superandum mysterio involutum manere, semper extra suum captum. Desperatio cor nigri pharaonis corrodebat, minans ut eum totum consumeret. Sed in profundis angustiis desperationis eius, spes sinistra ex blasphemo volumine collectaneorum eius, volumine quod non esse debet, nata est. In malivolentibus paginis eius, Nephren-Ka formulam innominabilem Khepsut invenit, incantationem tenebrosam ab ipsis daemonibus abyssi susurratam.
Heu, lector infelix, his verbis cum cautela pare, nam scientia quam nunc possides maledictio est, venenum foedum quod in ipsam animae tuae medullam se infundit. Incantatione Khepsut instructus, Nephren-Ka speravit se, si non mortem fallere, saltem illam circumire posse. Formula sinistra promittebat unum ex eius progenie, multis post generationibus, non solum eius vultum gesturum sed etiam eius essentiam hereditaturum. Et quamvis niger pharaoh potestatem super hunc heredem exercere non posset, tamen incantationis ope, heredis iter dirigere poterat, eum invincibiliter ad sepulta secreta Nephren-Ka trahens. Ut anima sua ad diem fatalem conservaretur, Nephren-Ka in artem arcanam mumificationis se demisit, methodum impiam confingens quae spiritum eius in exuvias vitae captum teneret. Cum cura sollicita, niger pharaoh per sepulcrum suum indicia et instructiones posuit, macabrum iter quod heredem ad resuscitandum spiritum dormientem Nephren-Ka invitandumque in corpus suum alliceret.
In frigido amplexu sepulcri sui, Locus simiarum caecorum ubi Nephren-Ka fila veritatis nectit, corpus eius immobile iacebat, tenebris involutum quae olim essentiam ipsius consumpserant. Sacerdotes tenebrosi, semper infidelibus suis magistris nefariis, ritus execratos cum terribili accurateitate exsequuntur, animam pharaonis nigri intra corpus exsiccatae includendam curantes. Ut imperatum erat, forma inanimata Nephren-Ka in sarcophago clausa est, atrae tenebrae sepulcri eum totum devorantes. Et ibi, in nocte aeterna sepulcri, anima Nephren-Ka languebat, in tabe putrefacta quae olim corpus eius fuerat inclusa. Temporis cursum transibat, eius incessabilis progressus saecula triturans, dum anima nigri pharaonis inpotens resurrectionis suae diem exspectabat.
Heu, lector, num comprehendere potes profunditates insaniae quae olim potentissimum regem in tenebroso carcere manebant? Num tormenta quae animam eius affligebant dum aevi pertransibant concipere potes? Num ululatus angustiae, clamores desperationis quae vacuum sine aere complebant, lamenta regis olim magni nunc in purgatorium ineluctabile sui ipsius facinoris inclusi audire potes? Maledictio tenebrarum immortalitatis, quam Nephren-Ka tam avide quaesierat, nunc damnatio aeterna eius fuit. Spiritus eius, ad reliquias mortalis testae suae putridas alligatus, temporis exustionibus subditus erat, sanitas eius ad margines dissipata, lente dissoluta dum saecula porrigebantur. Atrum sepulcrum crucibulum insaniae factum est, parietes ipsi videntur cum repercussionibus clamorum cruciatuum nigri pharaonis horrere.
In historiae umbris, post trecentos triginta tres annos, natus est in Aegypto puer, princeps qui Nephren-Ka vultum gerit, reflexio tenebrarum nigri pharaonis. Hic scion, vas propositi antiqui Nephren-Ka, arcanis artibus invincibiliter attrahitur, ut papilio ad flammam. Dum in nefandis voluminibus se immergebat, cor eius ad secretorum maiorum suorum inventione accelerebat, hereditas nigri pharaonis eum e tempore abducto invitans. Heres indiciorum seriem sequebatur, a Nephren-Ka tortuosum iter dispositum decodificans, tenebrosam munitionem sibi impositam intelligens.
Sed, heu lector, iste progenies non tam facile decipi poterat. In abyssum bibliothecae Nephren-Ka prospexerat, latentes scientias in umbris eius perspiciens. Rituum pretium noverat, terribile sacrificium quod postularetur. Animam Nephren-Ka in corpus suum invitare erat suam ipsius essentiam dedere, suam animam immortalem perdere. Potius, heres, callidus et ultra annos suos sapiens, ad alium, tenebrosiorem ritum se vertit. Haec incantatio, sinistrior et terribilior quam ullae quae antecesserant, cadaver exsiccum Nephren-Ka cum anima captiva in ea, deo horribili Nyarlathotep aeternitati offerret. Ita, nigri pharaonis sors confirmata est, anima eius perpetuo insidiis malitiae chaos reptantis implicata. Nephren-Ka, olim hominum rex, nunc ludibrium Nyarlathotep, qui capriciosus et crudelis est, cuius risus per vacuum resonat dum perverso oblectamento spiritum damnatum cruciat. Heu, lector, bene istam fabulam superbiam et damnationem nota, nam abyssus patet, tenebrae semper alliciunt.
Vae, Nephren-Ka heres, qui tam ingeniose nigri pharaonis potestatem effugerat, ipse in tenebrosiorem sortem implicatus est. Nam praemia quae ab horribili deo Nyarlathotep quaesivit, non fuerunt. Risus chaos reptantis per vacuum repercussus est, et unica donatio mortali qui fata deridere ausus est, donum crudelis insaniae fuit. Dum anni transibant, mens heredis in abyssum altius altiusque devoluta est, radices tenebrosae insaniae in eo inserentes. Mundus circa eum contorquebatur et distorquebatur, sanitas eius a visionibus et vocibus implacabilibus discerpta. Tum, fato die, evanuit, a tenebris quae animam eius devoraverant absorptus. Per menses, sacerdotes desperati quaerebant, a susurris invisibilium virium et suis metus repercussionibus ducti.
Demum, in frigido, obliquo sepulcro Nephren-Ka eum invenerunt, corpus exanime super vetustum pavimentum extentum, sanguinis macula atrata iam siccata. Guttur eius cum lamina obsidiana praecisum erat, idem mortis instrumentum adhuc in pugno ferreo constrictum. Visum est ut, in furore insaniae suae, mortis amplexum aeternum quaesiverit, tandem in vacuum ineluctabile trahens.
