Messengers from the Central Sun! An idea evolved itself, slowly. Was the Green Sun the abode of some
vast Intelligence? The thought was bewildering. Visions of the Unnameable
rose, vaguely. Had I, indeed, come upon the dwelling-place of the
Eternal? For a time, I repelled the thought, dumbly. It was too
stupendous. Yet.... Huge, vague thoughts had birth within me. I felt, suddenly, terribly
naked. And an awful Nearness, shook me. And Heaven ...! Was that an illusion? My thoughts came and went, erratically. The Sea of Sleep--and she! Heaven.... I came back, with a bound, to the present. Somewhere, out of
the void behind me, there rushed an immense, dark body--huge and silent. It was a dead star, hurling onward to the burying place of the stars. It
drove between me and the Central Suns--blotting them out from my vision,
and plunging me into an impenetrable night. An age, and I saw again the violet rays. A great while later--aeons it
must have been--a circular glow grew in the sky, ahead, and I saw the
edge of the receding star, show darkly against it. Thus, I knew that it
was nearing the Central Suns. Presently, I saw the bright ring of the
Green Sun, show plainly against the night The star had passed into the
shadow of the Dead Sun. After that, I just waited. The strange years
went slowly, and ever, I watched, intently. 'The thing I had expected, came at last--suddenly, awfully. A vast
flare of dazzling light. A streaming burst of white flame across the
dark void. For an indefinite while, it soared outward--a gigantic
mushroom of fire. It ceased to grow. Then, as time went by, it began to
sink backward, slowly. I saw, now, that it came from a huge, glowing
spot near the center of the Dark Sun. Mighty flames, still soared
outward from this. Yet, spite of its size, the grave of the star was no
more than the shining of Jupiter upon the face of an ocean, when
compared with the inconceivable mass of the Dead Sun. I may remark here, once more, that no words will ever convey to the
imagination, the enormous bulk of the two Central Suns. _XXII_

THE DARK NEBULA

Years melted into the past, centuries, aeons. The light of the
incandescent star, sank to a furious red. It was later, that I saw the dark nebula--at first, an impalpable
cloud, away to my right. It grew, steadily, to a clot of blackness in
the night. How long I watched, it is impossible to say; for time, as we
count it, was a thing of the past. It came closer, a shapeless
monstrosity of darkness--tremendous. It seemed to slip across the night,
sleepily--a very hell-fog. Slowly, it slid nearer, and passed into the
void, between me and the Central Suns. It was as though a curtain had
been drawn before my vision. A strange tremor of fear took me, and a
fresh sense of wonder. The green twilight that had reigned for so many millions of years, had
now given place to impenetrable gloom. Motionless, I peered about me. A
century fled, and it seemed to me that I detected occasional dull glows
of red, passing me at intervals. Earnestly, I gazed, and, presently, seemed to see circular masses, that
showed muddily red, within the clouded blackness. They appeared to be
growing out of the nebulous murk. Awhile, and they became plainer to my
accustomed vision. I could see them, now, with a fair amount of
distinctness--ruddy-tinged spheres, similar, in size, to the luminous
globes that I had seen, so long previously. They floated past me, continually. Gradually, a peculiar uneasiness
seized me. I became aware of a growing feeling of repugnance and dread. It was directed against those passing orbs, and seemed born of intuitive
knowledge, rather than of any real cause or reason. Some of the passing globes were brighter than others; and, it was from
one of these, that a face looked, suddenly. A face, human in its
outline; but so tortured with woe, that I stared, aghast. I had not
thought there was such sorrow, as I saw there. I was conscious of an
added sense of pain, on perceiving that the eyes, which glared so
wildly, were sightless. A while longer, I saw it; then it had passed on,
into the surrounding gloom. After this, I saw others--all wearing that
look of hopeless sorrow; and blind. A long time went by, and I became aware that I was nearer to the orbs,
than I had been. At this, I grew uneasy; though I was less in fear of
those strange globules, than I had been, before seeing their sorrowful
inhabitants; for sympathy had tempered my fear. Later, there was no doubt but that I was being carried closer to the
red spheres, and, presently, I floated among them. In awhile, I
perceived one bearing down upon me. I was helpless to move from its
path. In a minute, it seemed, it was upon me, and I was submerged in a
deep red mist. This cleared, and I stared, confusedly, across the
immense breadth of the Plain of Silence. It appeared just as I had first
seen it. I was moving forward, steadily, across its surface. Away ahead,
shone the vast, blood-red ring [15] that lit the place. All around, was
spread the extraordinary desolation of stillness, that had so impressed
me during my previous wanderings across its starkness. Presently, I saw, rising up into the ruddy gloom, the distant peaks of
the mighty amphitheatre of mountains, where, untold ages before, I had
been shown my first glimpse of the terrors that underlie many things;
and where, vast and silent, watched by a thousand mute gods, stands the
replica of this house of mysteries--this house that I had seen swallowed
up in that hell-fire, ere the earth had kissed the sun, and vanished
for ever. Though I could see the crests of the mountain-amphitheatre, yet it was
a great while before their lower portions became visible. Possibly, this
was due to the strange, ruddy haze, that seemed to cling to the surface
of the Plain. However, be this as it may, I saw them at last. In a still further space of time, I had come so close to the mountains,
that they appeared to overhang me. Presently, I saw the great rift, open
before me, and I drifted into it; without volition on my part. Later, I came out upon the breadth of the enormous arena. There, at an
apparent distance of some five miles, stood the House, huge, monstrous
and silent--lying in the very center of that stupendous amphitheatre. So
far as I could see, it had not altered in any way; but looked as though
it were only yesterday that I had seen it. Around, the grim, dark
mountains frowned down upon me from their lofty silences. Far to my right, away up among inaccessible peaks, loomed the enormous
bulk of the great Beast-god. Higher, I saw the hideous form of the dread
goddess, rising up through the red gloom, thousands of fathoms above
me. To the left, I made out the monstrous Eyeless-Thing, grey and
inscrutable. Further off, reclining on its lofty ledge, the livid
Ghoul-Shape showed--a splash of sinister color, among the dark
mountains. Slowly, I moved out across the great arena--floating.