The Night Land

Much, I know, had been writ concerning this Odd, Vast Watcher; for it

had grown out of the blackness of the South Unknown Lands a million

years gone; and the steady growing nearness of it had been noted and set

out at length by the men they called Monstruwacans; so that it was

possible to search in our libraries, and learn of the very coming of

this Beast in the olden-time.

And, while I mind me, there were even then, and always, men named

Monstruwacans, whose duty it was to take heed of the great Forces, and

to watch the Monsters and the Beasts that beset the great Pyramid, and

measure and record, and have so full a knowledge of these same that, did

one but sway an head in the darkness, the same matter was set down with

particularness in the Records.

And, so to tell more about the South Watcher.A million years gone, as I

have told, came it out from the blackness of the South, and grew

steadily nearer through twenty thousand years; but so slow that in no

one year could a man perceive that it had moved.

Yet it had movement, and had come thus far upon its road to the Redoubt,

when the Glowing Dome rose out of the ground before it--growing slowly.

And this had stayed the way of the Monster; so that through an eternity

it had looked towards the Pyramid across the pale glare of the Dome, and

seeming to have no power to advance nearer.

And because of this, much had been writ to prove that there were other

forces than evil at work in the Night Lands, about the Last Redoubt. And

this I have always thought to be wisely said; and, indeed, there to be

no doubt to the matter, for there were many things in the time of which

I have knowledge, which seemed to make clear that, even as the Forces of

Darkness were loose upon the End of Man; so were there other Forces out

to do battle with the Terror; though in ways most strange and unthought

of by the human mind. And of this I shall have more to tell anon.

And here, before I go further with my telling, let me set out some of

that knowledge which yet remains so clear within my mind and heart. Of

the coming of these monstrosities and evil Forces, no man could say much

with verity; for the evil of it began before the Histories of the Great

Redoubt were shaped; aye, even before the sun had lost all power to

light; though, it must not be a thing of certainty, that even at this

far time the invisible, black heavens held no warmth for this world; but

of this I have no room to tell; and must pass on to that of which I have

a more certain knowledge.