Book of Sorrows

Ancient beyond comprehension, the Book of Sorrow is said to have predated the Precursors themselves. Its pages chronicle events that once was and what will be. Those who try to comprehend its secrets never returned the same, their minds pushed to the point of near insanity. However, this has not stopped scholars from exploring its dark secrets; it is even believed that those who wield the powers of the Aether are capable of reading the book without its dreaded side-effects. The Book of Sorrows currently resides within the deepest bowels of the Library of Terra, locked behind a golden gate guarded by the Empress's Chosen.

Overview
The exact history of the Book of Sorrows is unknown, but it was ultimately discovered by the forces of humanity during the Great Crusade. The Holy Mother recovered the ancient text from the Rakatans of the Alpha Centauri system. Why the Rakatans had the book remains a mystery. When the Holy Mother set her eyes upon the grimoire, she pointed at it and ordered her Chosen to seal the text in the deepest chambers of her great library—if the God Empress herself feared the contents of the book, then perhaps its contents was not meant to be read by the mortal eye. Its pages have long since calcified, producing a boney texture that ends at the last page of the book, where it ends with a blank piece of raven-black paper.

Summary
It is the role of the Chancellor of the Imperium Libraricus to decode the mysteries locked behind the runic language of the Book of Sorrows. As of Karl Franz's reign, the Libraricus have only decoded ten out of forty verses, scattered unevenly from chapter to chapter. Nevertheless, the contents of the book can be summarised into four segments: Lynn Asifah, chancellor of the Imperium Libraricus, has been instrumental in deciphering the mysteries of the Book of Sorrows. However, since she first opened the pages of the Book of Sorrows, she—
 * 1) Dawn—in the beginning, they Ruled.
 * 2) Time—cosmic forces, great and small, embark on a pilgrimage.
 * 3) Hubris—decadency is a plague whose tendrils corrupt even the purest of souls.
 * 4) Insight—why, what, how [does life persist in a dying galaxy]

++The Aether Cries++

—A TIME OF ENDING—

the wails of a hundred billion worlds consumed by flood

[...]

±let the galaxy burn±