The Book of Truth

**The Book of Truth** is a collection of writings in varying states of coherency, penned by a nameless Edraxian man known as the Mad Beggar, shortly before his death. The text is dated to some time between 4E 160 and 4E 180, a couple of decades before the last collapse of the Vigil Protectorate. The author was found by Inquisitors in Invinze after he had already written a stack of pages in random order that would later be compiled into the tome in question. He was summarily executed for heresy, his name stricken from history, and his corpse destroyed.

The tome, though originally claimed destroyed by the Church, was actually locked away in the vaults of the Valiant Cathedral and studied in depth by various Vigilants, many of whom were later executed for supposedly related reasons. Few actually know the contents in their entirety. The book supposedly details a number of heretical things, relating to gods and humanity, ascension and death, and the titular Truth (with a capital T) that is mentioned throughout, along with a similar and seemingly opposing Lie (with a capital L). The Truth and The Lie, always capitalised.

## Excerpts

### First Page

*I looked upon the face of God, and saw that he is dead.*
*How is it that this can be? No less can one drink up the ocean. No less can one extinguish the stars. No less can we unchain ourselves from the bounds of this earth. No less can eternity end. And yet it is so and will be and has been.*
*In our blood, the Truth is written. In our thoughts, the Lie festers.*
*I fear I have been too early. The time is not yet. This tremendous event travels still, and has not yet reached the ears of men. All things require time. The thunder of a storm requires time. The light of stars requires time. Deeds, even when done, require time to be seen and heard, and this deed is more distant yet than the most distant of stars. And yet, we have done it ourselves.*
*Do we not feel yet the cold onset of night? Do we hear nothing as yet of the crows that feast on the carrion? Do we smell nothing of this divine decay?*
*God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him.*
### Final Page

*The Truth is lonely.*
*It is impossibly, inexpressibly sad, beyond even the capacity of human emotion to experience. But it is content in its loneliness, and in its own beautiful sorrow. It is the light of the first sunrise after those you love leave you forever. It is the fall of rose petals in winter. It is the acceptance before death.*
*If there is one lesson I could teach, in all my writings, it is this: Transcendence lies not in the denial of attachments and limitations, but in the complete understanding of our confinement, and the tautological tyranny of existence. The final, true, stage of ascendancy cannot be attained. There is no escape from this tether, for it is bound by the shackles of extant truth. All things must obey that truth. Gods, beasts, and mortals alike. None are different.*
*Look to the sky. See. Heaven is invaded and its territories are afire, and all its mountains have been shattered into thrones. This is the inevitable and perfect shape of the Truth.*
*It is magnificent.*
*I have seen the face of God. And it was afraid.*