HYMN TO THE KEEPER OF THE

YELLOW SIGN
by ALLEN MACKEY

NOTE: This is a part of one of the next volumes of YELLOW

Fragments, and be aware that all thirteen volumes will together be
known as The Imperial Grimoire of Zukala-Koth. [Or some such.]

The editor found the document before you in a torn and battered
notebook; it had been put up in a research-filled box that I had to
store at a friend's house long ago and had forgotten. It turned out
that my friend had also not remembered about the box, and didn't
care if it was there with his boxes in the garage for twenty years. So
good! The hand-written notes were scrawled by my hand, to be sure,
but I had less than absolutely no recollection of it at all. Apparently
this was written around 1998 or early 1999. It remains my ONLY box
of personal papers from that time; so I am very thankful to Tom
Bearfox for keeping it for me. Unfortunately, no original story
manuscripts from that era were recovered. But I did find this gem
about an obscure figure from the Necronomicon and Carcosa Mythos,
namely one Axn-Xcamr, who is said by Alhazred to be "the Keeper of
the Yellow Sign."

So if you want to use the wild and untamed magicks of the Yellow
Sign, you had better clear it with Axn-Xcamr first! He may be
respectfully approached, bow down on one knee for a moment, and
then say:
O Fearless Axn-Xcamr!

Bearer of the Yellow Sign!

O Axn-Xcamr! The Thrice-Jeweled!

Thou Djinn! Thou Dark Majesty!
Come forth in your force, that [NAME] may
Behold the Power of Axn-Xcamr!
The scorching pestilence writhes
In the bellies of his victims, all those who
Had swallowed his Come. He waits
No longer, the Wand of Power in his hand
To generate the levels of Dark Force needed
To Rend the Veils between here and there.
Take this, for it is your Legacy.
O Axn-Xcamr, come forth and empower
This humble servant of the Yellow King!
O Axn-Xcamr! I now invoke you, O Keeper of the Yellow Sign!
By the Black Stars of Yrmid and Yggmum, COME FORTH!
O Messenger of the King's Will, for all of time!
Hear the call as I howl the words in their seasons, on the hilltops
and within the ancient stone circles.
Keep your promises, and I will keep mine.
Ai! Ai! Hyak-c-s'Syt-frr! Ai, Ai, go'mos nna D'luh-La!
Remember the glimmering veils of night!
Ai! Ai! H'hrmmk fhtagn Maluma, d'st Maluma!

COMMENT: In one version of this rite, in The Book of YNG:

Apocrypha, stated that Axn-Xcamr had once been the favored
student of the priest, Naotalba, and detailed an account of accidental
death and guilt, along with a misguided sense of tributory stature by
turning the newly-deceased shade of Axn-Xcamr forevermore into the
Keeper of the Yellow Sign, burdened for eternity by the dire
responsibility of that most potent and mutable eldritch symbol. "If
this is honor, FORGET it!'' Axn-Xcamr had once complained loud
enough for me to hear.
Forget not the antique ways of the first kingdoms of the stars. Look
to outside for the Answers to the universes. Carefully contrived, he
tried to make it seem like he knew what he was doing. Down-
trodden, dejected. In the end he simply went home.
Editor, Allen Mackey