CHAPTER 22: THE DARK NEBULA

"The years dissolved into the past; centuries and millennia followed. The light of the incandescent star waned, bleeding into a furious, bruised red.

"Later, I beheld the dark nebula. At first, it appeared as an impalpable cloud to my right. It grew progressively until it became a clot of gloom against the night. It is impossible to say how long I stood contemplating it, for time—as we compute it—was a thing of the past. The shapeless, tremendous monstrosity of darkness drew near. It seemed to advance through the night, slumberous, like a veritable hell-mist. Slowly it approached, drifting into the void between the Central Suns and myself. It was as if a curtain had been drawn before me. A shuddering dread seized my entire being, intertwined with a new sense of wonder.

"The green twilight that had reigned for so many millions of years now gave way to an impenetrable blackness. Motionless, I peered into the void. A century passed, and I thought I discerned an occasional red flash crossing before me at intervals.

"I watched intently, and then I seemed to distinguish circular masses of a turbid red within the black murk. They appeared to sprout from the thick gloom. Some time passed, and as my sight grew accustomed to the dark, I saw them with greater clarity. Now I could distinguish them quite clearly: they were reddish spheres, similar in size to the luminous globes I had seen so very long ago. They drifted past me in a continuous procession. Gradually, a strange unease began to master me. I was conscious of a growing loathing and fear. It was born of those wandering orbs—an instinctive impression rather than any reasoned cause.

"Some of the globes were brighter than others; and suddenly, in one of these, a face appeared. It was a face of human features, but so tortured by pain that the sight of it left me horrified. Never had I conceived that such affliction could exist until I saw it. And yet, I felt a new pang of sorrow upon realizing that the orbs, which glowed so tremendously, were blind. I followed it with my eyes a moment longer; then it passed, losing itself in the enveloping dark. Others followed… all bearing that same expression of blind, desperate agony.

"A vast span of time elapsed, and I became aware that I was now closer to the orbs. This increased my disquiet; yet I felt less fear of these strange globules than I had before seeing their afflicted inhabitants, for compassion now tempered my dread.

"Later, there was no doubt: I was being drawn toward the red spheres. After a time, I found myself floating among them. I saw one heading directly for me. I strove in vain to move out of its path. A minute later, as it seemed, it rushed upon me, and I was plunged into a thick red mist. As it cleared, I looked out in confusion over the immense Plain of Silence. It appeared just as I had seen it the first time. I realized I was drifting continually above its surface. Ahead of me, far in the distance, shone the immense red ring that illuminated the entire region. Everywhere stretched that extraordinary desolation of stillness which had so impressed me during my previous wanderings through this vast desert.

"Now I saw, rising in the reddish gloom, the distant peaks of the towering amphitheater of mountains where, countless millennia before, I had my first vision of the terrors that lie beneath all things; and where, immense and silent, watched by a thousand mute gods, stands the replica of this house of mysteries—this house which I have seen sink into hellfire before the Earth kissed the sun and vanished forever.

"Though I could see the crest of the mountainous amphitheater, a long time passed before the lower reaches became visible. Perhaps this was due to the strange reddish haze that seemed to cling to the surface of the Plain. Whatever the cause, I saw it at last.

"Subsequently, I drew so near to the mountains that they seemed to hang over me. I discovered the great rift opening before me and slid toward it against my will.

"Later, I emerged into the expanse of the enormous arena. There, some five miles distant, stood the House—immense, gigantic, silent—at the very heart of this prodigious amphitheater. As far as I could tell, it had undergone no change; it felt as though I had only ceased to look upon it yesterday. The grim, dark mountains around me frowned from their haughty silence.

"To my right, among the inaccessible peaks, the enormous silhouette of the great Ass-god loomed. Higher up, I saw the hideous form of the terrible goddess rising in the red darkness, thousands of fathoms above me. To my left, I discovered the monstrous Eye-less Entity, inscrutable and grey. Beyond, stretched upon its high ledge, appeared the livid form of the Ghoul: a stain of sinister hue among the dark mountains.

"Slowly, I drifted into the immensity of the arena. As I advanced, I distinguished the shadowy forms of many other Horrors that populated those supreme heights.

"Gradually I approached the House, and my thoughts reeled back into the abyss of centuries. I remembered the fearsome Specter of the Place. A brief space of time passed, and I felt myself impelled directly toward the enormous bulk of that silent edifice.

"In the midst of this, I became aware—in a detached manner—of a growing sense of numbness, which shielded me from the fear I might otherwise have felt upon approaching the ghastly Building. I looked upon it calmly, so to speak, like a man witnessing a disaster through the haze of his tobacco smoke.

"In a short time, I had come so close to the House that I could distinguish many of its details. The more I looked, the more I was confirmed in my old impressions of its complete likeness to this other strange house. Save for its immense proportions, I found no difference at all.

"Suddenly, as I watched, a tremendous sense of wonder overcame me. I had reached the opposite side, where the outer door of my study is located. There, lying right in the middle of the threshold, was a gigantic stepping-stone, identical—save in its size and color—to the one that had fallen during my struggle with the creatures of the Pit.

"I floated closer, and my astonishment grew as I observed that the door was partially torn from its hinges, in exactly the same manner that my study door had been forced during the assaults of the Swine-creatures. The sight triggered a torrent of thoughts, and I began to glimpse, however vaguely, that the attack on this house might hold a deeper significance than I had hitherto imagined. I recalled how long ago, in the old earthly days, I had half-suspected that, in some inexplicable way, the house in which I lived was in rapport—to use a coined expression—with this other tremendous construction, so remote in the midst of this incomparable Plain.

"Now, however, I began to understand dimly what my suspicion meant. I began to realize, with a clarity more than human, that in some extraordinary way, the attack I had repulsed was linked to an attack upon this strange building.

"With a singular inconsistency, my thoughts suddenly abandoned this matter to focus, marvelling, on the strange material from which the House was built. It was—as I have mentioned before—of a dark green color. However, now that I had come close enough, I saw that it fluctuated from time to time, albeit slightly—brightening and dimming like the vapors of phosphorus when rubbed upon the hand in the dark.

"Then my attention shifted as I reached the main entrance. Here, for the first time, I felt afraid; for, suddenly, the enormous doors swung wide, and I drifted between them, unable to help myself. As soon as I crossed the threshold, the doors moved again, silently, leaving me enclosed in the gloomy precinct.

"For a while, I seemed to float motionless, suspended in the darkness. Then I became aware that I was moving again; I could not say where. Suddenly, far below me, I seemed to perceive a murmur like the laughter of swine. It died away, and the silence that followed seemed charged with horror. Then a door opened somewhere ahead of me; a white, diffuse, misty light filtered through it, and I drifted slowly toward it, entering a strangely familiar room. Suddenly, a disconcerting, tremendous shriek rang out, deafening me. A spectacle of blurred and flaming visions rose before me. My senses were stunned for the space of an eternal instant. Then I recovered my sight. The misty, dizzying sensation passed, and I could see clearly…

…"

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