It is written in the ancient legends... that high
amidst the moon-swathed peaks of the great
Mountain of Shadows, hides the aeon-weary
threshold of the Astral Gate... the portal from
our world, to beyond... It is said that one who
holds the key and knows the empyreal incantation
may stand within the ancient ring of stones atop
the mountain when the stars are correctly aligned,
and unlock the mystic gate, summoning its sidereal
sentinels, thereby attaining ultimate
enlightenment and wisdom unparalleled...

Part 1: THE INVOKING

(The Aspirant Reaches The Summit)

Keepers of the cosmic threshold, my ascent has
been fraught with terror, deathsteeped,
storm-hammered. (These grim mountains are strewn
with the bones of the ill-fortuned dead.) O'
Guardians of the Astral Gate, the spheres blaze at
last in trine... I hold the Key! (The trinity of
stars shall touch the circle of stones once
more...) The incantation of Xuk'ul is known to me,
the Orb of Summoning earned with bloodshed! (The
crystalline key to the Outer Realms and the arcane
rite to empower it are at last mine, Seized at
swordpoint from the citadel of the Black Templars.
Enlightenment awaits!)

Many years ago, the mystic Orb of Summoning was
seized by the mysterious Black Templars, a band of
sombre, plunder seeking knights from the kingdoms
to the east of the Great Sea. They wrested the
sorcerous gem from the ancient shrine of
Azaimedes, where it had lain hidden for countless
centuries, its true power and purpose known only
to the dour shamans who tended to the elder place
of worship. It is said that the tapestry of
slaughter woven that day was unparalleled in its
ferocity, and that the

Ka-kur-ra, I summon thee, Zul'tekh Azor Vol-thoth.
Mighty Xuk'ul arise, Kur'oc Gul-Kor, come forth.

I hold aloft the pulsing orb, astral spheres,
empower the mystic key. Ring of elder stones
entwined in prophecy, the Rite of Invocation
enthralls thine power. Replete from drinking deep
of darkness, black shapes dancing 'twixt the
stones, Lucent beams lancing forth from the
gleaming, cepheid stars, a creeping mist
ensorcells my tongue...

A great stillness binds the moon-cloaked
mountaintop in glooming shackles... (High above,
the myriad stars gleam bright against the night
sky, three more resplendently bedazzling than the
others, their sidereal auras engulfing the
Find more similar lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.com/rXjstones...) And the central stone of the ancient
ebon ring begins to pulsate with a darksome
energy... A thunderous maelstrom ablaze with
writhing celestially spawned power then rends the
stygian night... (A vast shimmering aperture, a
vortex of heliacal fire... the pathway to beyond
beckons!) The Astral Gate is open... The Guardians
have awakened...

XUK'UL: Impudent mortal! You dare summon us? If
'tis elucidation you seek, you shall have it!

Such searingly terrible stellar majesty... my
sanity is lashed like a vessel on a storm-wracked
sea. What price this invocation? Shall the singing
stars claim my very mind?

To countless worlds we travel, riding the endless
black seas 'twixt the stars... the ebon oceans of
infinity... flying through a thousand suns, then
watching their light fade, as if it were but a
flickering candleflame snuffed by the wind. As
beings of pure energy we become one with the
vastness, transcending the ethereal walls of time,
spanning at once this celestial eternity, and yet
existing as no more than a mote of dust within the
vista of its endlessness... Journeying beyond...

The threshold looms, (the star-way between
dimensions stretches before me...) The Gate To
That Which Lies Beyond yawns wide... Unspeakable
forces gibber and pulsate in the Outer Darkness...
Elder horrors dwell here, things which were
ancient and revelled in sublime galactic
malevolence when even Xuk'ul was naught but a
bloated cosmic maggot, writhing and suckling at
the breast of its amorphous mother...
They-Who-Lurk-And-Breed-In-Limbo... the squamous
sovereigns of the elder void!

Primal terror drags my essence screaming back from
the threshold. The ichor of pestilent tongues
clings to me, tendrils probing, the ire of fiends!

The ravening black worms of madness are devouring
the shredded remnants of sanity as I return to my
slumbering steel-clad body... but as the
dream-veil lifts, I feel my limbs transform, flesh
becoming cold stone... enshrouded by a dark mantle
of obsidian. And the laughter of the Guardians
echoes, carries upon the winds of this spectral
eve. Such is the price of enlightenment. And so, a
new brooding sentinel of stone joins the others on
the nighted mountain top... Standing silently in
the ancient circle of truth, standing... waiting,
Beneath the stars.

Lyrics: Byron Music: Jonny Maudling