And the earthquake did burst the world up, along a certain great curve
where it had weakness; and there fell into the yawning furnace of the
world, one of the great oceans; and immediately made of itself steam,
and so brake upwards again, and tore the earth mightily in its swift
uprising. And thereafter there was a mist and confusion and rain upon the world. And, indeed, all very seemly put; and not to be taken as a light tale. Then, in that ending of the book, there was one that did write, having
lived in a vast later age, when the Sun had come anigh to his dying, and
the upward earth was grown quiet and cold and not good to live upon. And
in that time the Mighty Chasm had been calmed by the weight of an
Eternity, so that it was now a most deep and wondrous Valley, that did
hold Seas and great Hills and Mountains; and in it were great forests of
kinds, and Lands that were good and healthful; and Places given over to
Fire, and to Steamings, and Sulphur Clouds; so that they held Poisons
that had ill for Man. And Great Beasts were there down in that far depth, that none might see
ever, save by a strong spy-glass. And such there were in the Early
World, and had now been bred in the Ending by those inward forces of
Nature which did make the Valley a place of Good Warmth; so that there
was, as it were, once more the Primal World born to give new birth unto
such olden Monsters, and to others, new and Peculiar to that Age and
Circumstance. And all this, indeed, did the book give also; but constrained and
difficult to take clearly to the heart, and not like to the wise plain
speech of the early tellings; so that I must even set it out here in
mine own speech. And it did seem to me, by my reading, that Man had come at one time to a
great softness of Heart and Spirit through many ages of over-ease. But
that the World did come to coldness and unfriendliness, by reason of the
Sun's slow ceasing. And there was presently, in naturalness, a Race upon the earth that were
hardy, and made to fight for their lives; and did perceive that the
Mighty Valley that cut the World in twain, was a place of Warmth and
Life; and so did make to adventure their bodies down that wondrous
Height; and were many Ages coming safe to the Bottom; but did find safe
places in the downward way where they built them Houses, and made to
live, and begot them children; and these grew up to that life of
constant and great climbings, and of hard workings upon The Road, which
was the One Intent of that People; so that the book did speak of them
always as The Road Makers. And thus did they make downwards through the long years and the ages;
and many generations did live and die, and saw not the reaching of the
Road down into that Great Vale that lay so monstrous deep in the World. But in the end they did come there with the Road; and they were very
Hardy; and they did fight with the Monsters and slay many; and they
built them many Cities, through great years in the Mighty Valley, and
did make the Road from City unto City along that Great Valley, even unto
the Bight of the Valley. And they found here a constant darkness and
Shadow; for that the Sun could not make a shining around that Great
Corner. Yet, even here they ceased not to make the Road; but took it
around, and a mighty way unto the North; passing it among strange Fires
and Pits that burned from out of the earth. But there was presently, such a power and horror of Monsters and Evil
Things in that Valley of Shadow, that the Road Makers were made to go
Backwards into the Red Light which did fill the Westward Valley, and
came from that low Sun. And they went back unto their Cities; and lived there mayhaps an hundred
thousand years; and grew wise and cunning in all matters; and their Wise
People did make dealings and had experiment with those Forces which are
Distasteful and Harmful unto Life; but they did this in Ignorance; for
all that they had much wisdom; thinking only to Experiment, that they
come to greater knowings. But they did open a way for those Forces; and
much harm and Pity did come thereby. And then had all People to have
Regret; yet too late. Now, presently, when an hundred thousand years had gone, or it may be a
greater space; there came slowly the utter twilight of the world, as the
sun to die the more; so that presently it gave but an utter gloomy
light. And there grew upon many of the Peoples of the Cities of the
Valley, a strangeness and a wildness; so that strange things were done,
that had been shameful to all in the Light. And there were wanderings,
and consortings with strange outward beings, and presently, many Cities
were attacked by monsters that did come from the West; and there was a
Pandemonium. Then was an Age of Sorrows and Fightings, and Hardenings of the Spirit
and of the Heart, for all that were of good Fibre; and this did breed a
Determined Generation; and there grew up into the World a Leader; and he
took all the sound Millions; and did make a mighty Battle upon all
Foulness and upon all that did harm and trouble them; and they drove
their Enemies down the Valley, and up the Valley, and did utterly
scatter and put them to flight. Then did that Man call all his Peoples together; and did make it plain
how that the Darkness grew upon the World, and that the Foul and
dreadful Powers abroad, were like to be more Horrid when a greater Gloom
came. And he put to them that they Build a Mighty Refuge; and the Peoples did
acclaim; and lo! there was built, presently, a Great House. But the
Great House was not Proper; and that Man did take all the Peoples to
Wander; and they came to the Bight; and there was built at last that
Great and Mighty Pyramid. Now this is the sense and telling of that book; and but late had I read
it; and talked somewhat of it with my dear friend, the Master
Monstruwacan; but not overmuch; for I had taken so sudden a mind to GO,
that all else had dropped from about me. Yet, to us it did seem clear
that there was no life in all the invisible upper world; and that,
surely, that Great Road whereon the Silent Ones did walk, must be that
same Road which the hardy Peoples of that age did make. And it did seem wise to the Master Monstruwacan, and unto me, that if
any should find the Lesser Redoubt, they must surely do so somewhere
within the mighty Valley; but whether The Road that led into the West,
where was the Place of the Ab-humans, should bring me to it, I had no
knowing; nor whether it might lie on the Northward way. And I, maybe, to
wander a thousand miles wrong; if, in truth, I were not into some
dreadful trouble before. And, indeed, no reason of value was there to give me hope that the
Lesser Pyramid lay either to the West, or where the Road went
North-ward, beyond the House of Silence. Yet I did so feel it to be
somewhere to the North, that I had made a determination to search that
way for a great distance, the first; and if I could not come upon aught,
then I should have sober thought that it did lie Westward.