Chapter 22: 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.