There at the end of time all was night, where all the universe was a great empty tomb and nothing stirred. And I stood upon a dead sea bottom and looked up to where Gleeth had once graced the skies; old Gleeth, long sundered now and drifted down to Earth as dust. And I turned my saddened eyes down again to gaze upon a gaunt, solitary spire of rock that rose and twisted and towered up from the bottom of the dusty ocean.
And because curiosity was ever the curse of sorcerers, it came to me to wonder why, since this was the END, time itself continued to exist. And it further came to me that time existed only because space, time’s brother, had not quite ended, life was not quite extinct. With this thought, as if born of the thought itself, there came a mighty rumbling and the ground trembled and shook. All the world shuddered and the dead sea bottom split open in many places, creating chasms from which there at once rose up the awful spawn of Cthulhu!
And lo!—I knew now that indeed Cthulhu was immortal, for in Earth’s final death spasm He was reborn! The great twisted spire of rock—all that was left of Arlyeh, Cthulhu’s house—shattered and fell in ruins, laying open to my staggering gaze His sepulchre. And shortly thereafter, preceded by a nameless stench, He squeezed Himself out from the awful tomb into the gloom of the dead universe.
Then, when they saw Cthulhu, all of them that were risen up from their immemorial prisons rushed and flopped and floundered to His feet, making obeisance to Him. And He blinked great evil octopus eyes and gazed all about in wonderment, for His final sleep had endured for aeon upon aeon, and he had not known that the universe was now totally dead and time itself at an end.
And Cthulhu’s anger was great! He cast His mind out into the void and gazed upon cinders that had been stars; He looked for light and warmth in the farthest corners of the universe and found only darkness and decay; He searched for life in the great seas of space and found only the tombs at time’s end. And His anger waxed awesome!
Then He threw back His tentacled head and bellowed out the Name of Azathoth in a voice that sent all of the lesser Beings at His feet scurrying back to their chasm sepulchres, and lo!…nothing happened! The sands of time were run out, and even the greatest Magicks had lost their potency.
And so Cthulhu raged and stormed and blasphemed as only He might until, at the height of His anger, suddenly He knew me!
Dreaming as I was and far, far removed from my own age, nevertheless He sensed me and in an instant turned upon me, face tentacles writhing and reaching out for my dreaming spirit. And then, to my eternal damnation, before I fled shrieking back down the corridors of time to leap awake drenched in a chill perspiration in my secret vault, I gazed deep into the demon eyes of Cthulhu.
• • •
Now it is dawn and I am almost done with the writing of this, and soon I will lay down my rune-book and set myself certain tasks for the days ahead. First I will see to it that the crystal dome of my workshop tower is covered with black lacquer, for I fear I can no longer bear to look out upon the stars… Where once they twinkled afar in chill but friendly fashion, now I know that they leer down in celestial horror as they move inexorably toward Cthulhu’s next awakening. For surely He will rise up many times before that final
awakening at the very END.
Aye, and if I had thought to escape the Lord of Arlyeh when I fled from him in my dream, then I was mistaken. Cthulhu was, He is, and He will always be; and I know now that this is the essence of that great mystery which so long perplexed me. For Cthulhu is a Master of Dreams, and now He knows me. And He will follow me through my slumbers all the days of my life, and evermore I shall hear His call…Even unto THE END.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Dedication
Foreword
The Caller of The Black
Haggopian
Cement Surroundings
The House of Cthulhu
The Night Sea-Maid Went Down
Name and Number
Recognition
Curse of the Golden Guardians
Aunt Hester
The Kiss of Bugg-Shash
De Marigny’s Clock
Mylakhrion the Immortal
The Sister City
What Dark God?
The Statement of Henry Worthy
Dagon’s Bell
The Thing from the Blasted Heath
Dylath-Leen
The Mirror of Nitocris
The Second Wish
The Hymn
Synchronicity or Something
The Black Recalled
The Sorcerer’s Dream
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
Dedication
Foreword
The Caller of The Black
Haggopian
Cement Surroundings
The House of Cthulhu
The Night Sea-Maid Went Down
Name and Number
Recognition
Curse of the Golden Guardians
Aunt Hester
The Kiss of Bugg-Shash
De Marigny’s Clock
Mylakhrion the Immortal
The Sister City
What Dark God?
The Statement of Henry Worthy
Dagon’s Bell
The Thing from the Blasted Heath
Dylath-Leen
The Mirror of Nitocris
The Second Wish
The Hymn
Synchronicity or Something
The Black Recalled
The Sorcerer’s Dream