Knowledge will Set us Free

Knowledge will set us Free
There was a time, back in 1931 I do believe, when many people figured me to be…well normal. Course back then I hadn’t begun to know what I do now. Sometimes I wish I didn’t know what I know now…but it is too late to wish…too late. You look at me now with your faces twisted with concern and sadness and anger, as if I am ignorant of what is going to happen. Let me tell you now dear sister that my life is not going to end tonight.
Listen to me, while there is still time left in the day…close the curtains, but do not turn off the lamp, there can never be darkness all around…it keeps them away. What you ask? I will tell you…you do recall the summer of 1945, when I traveled across the sea to Egypt? Good, it is there dear sister where we will start my story.
As you know, in 1945 I was finally being allowed by the science Department at Miskatonic University to go on an exploration trip to Egypt. You had heard of the new findings in the Deepening caverns of the underground tunnels below the Pyramids and Sphinx, large unknown figures, hieroglyphics that no one has ever seen before. The depiction of the supposed Sun-god Ra, it was later that I would figure out that Ra was really Yog-Soggoth.
Anyway…the sail ride over to Africa was one that was full of empty boringness. Long hours filled with chess and listening to the ship’s crew complain about the sounds of the boilers and turbines. There was however, one man onboard who seemed a little more interested in what I was studying than what was happening on the chess board. This man never did tell me his name, he was a charcoal black of a man, and his wicked snaggle tooth smile is still so vivid in my mind.
“Yer headin’ ta da catacombs eh?”  His voice was cool, yet unmistaken ably eerie.  When I told him how he knew what I was doing he just let out a cackle. “Yer bidness is da same as mine.” He laughed and asked me to follow him into the ships cabins. Once inside, he brought me into a room that seemed to be more of an animal housing than that of a persons living area, of course around that time Blacks weren’t really treated that great. “Have ya heard of da Cursed book?” he asked me calmly, as he tossed papers and boxes across the floor. I tried to get a grasp on what he was talk about. The man turned around, bearing his snaggled tooth smile and holding what appeared to be a book of some sort. I eyed the book and he carefully handed it over to me. It weighed some eight pounds. The binding…I shiver thinking about it, incased in mortal flesh and inked with blood. Hairs were used along with steel to bind this blasphemes book together. The pages were old and weathered, they smelled sort of like coffee beans while they are being crushed, and a mixture of old blood. The man who handed it to me mentioned it was called the Necronomicon. This really surprised me, I had known of the existence of this book, Miskatonic University had a copy of it under lock and key in the Library. Many times had I tried to get the book signed out, and every time I was denied access. 
My mind was exploding with Curiosity, I thanked the man and quickly left the room, I hurried to my room, a first class cabin of sorts. I quickly moved away everything on my desk except a notebook and pen. Placing the Necronomicon down on the desk I took a long look at the cursed book. This was the first time I had ever seen it outside a glass case…It was so different from the copy that the university had, it wasn’t a neat little black book with a silver title…no, it was a skin covered horrific masterpiece.  I peeled back the cover of the book, a musky smell poured from the pages. I was taken back for a moment from the unknown symbols and glyphs that covered the first page. As I eased myself into my chair I pulled a pen from the desk and instantly began to write down notes. The note book is in the top of the cabinet next to me if you dare to look sister. This book, it was truly amazing, written by a Mad man, but he must have seen so much in the short span of his life, and how he was able to remain sane enough to write what he learned I shall never know! Incantations and spells filled every page, along with a first hand account of what this man, this Abdul Alhazred had seen, what he never wished to see, and yet he felt so compelled to warn the world that he wrote it all down.
I can’t begin to describe what was in that book.  The magnitude of knowledge that came crashing into my brain was far too much, I felt as if my mind would explode! I don’t know how long I was up studying; when I was awoken we had reached Africa! I thought it must have been some sort of a prank, when I received the book it was only day one of our three day trip! Had I really been up that long, had time eluded me long enough to cause my mind to shut off? I fear I may never know the truth of this matter.
The air in Africa is vastly different than that of Arkham. There was a stench of filth about the small port town we had docked in. I had opted to take a camel ride to Egypt rather than follow down the Nile on a canoe boat. The camel ride was very enjoyable; the trip was filled with constant chatter from local children who were trying to sell trinkets to our caravan…Filthy things they were, caked with dirt on their faces, I had to force a smile when they came my way. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on us like a child attacking ants with a magnifying glass. The sand whipped by as wind picked up, causing a cloud of brown and red shades to flow past us. As we reached our destination of the Egyptian Pyramids, I had one thought on my mind, to continue my studying of the Necronomicon.
        The vast knowledge that pours from the pages of the Necronomicon is amazing, things that we couldn’t begin to describe to schoolchildren. From what Abdul was describing in the book, the location of this hidden city that once belonged to the “Old Ones”, It had to be there…somewhere in Egypt. The book tells of a hidden city that is covered by sand. There are only two places I could think of this place to be, either there in Egypt of in the Arabian Desert, however the details of a slightly Cyclopean city hidden beneath towering shapes had me running down my options to just Egypt. The shapes I thought had to be the pyramids.
My sleep was very troubled…the dreams I had were so…frightening. Dreams of shapes and figures that are indescribable, those weren’t even the worst of it! The voices that filled my head…dear god the voices! They spoke to me, told me things I couldn’t understand, their language, it was like nothing I have ever heard on the earth! I was awoken from my slumber, drenched in a cold sweat. I looked through the candlelight at my study; there the book lay open as I left it. A sense of fear gripped me as I quickly threw my blanket over the book. I didn’t want to take the chance that it was affecting my dreams.
The morning came against my wishes for more sleep, those dreams, and those nightmares kept me up at longer than I had wished. Regardless of how I felt, I arose from my warm bed and then commenced to shower and change out of my pervious clothing. Today was the day in which I would finally be allowed to travel into the catacombs. I was warned about the possible threats of death that could occur here. Since the advancing forces of the Nazi party were rapidly closing in on Egypt I was determined to get as much done as quickly as I could.