d steeples crumbling against a
sickly sky.

I remember when Nyarlathotep came to my city--the great, the old, the
terrible city of unnumbered crimes. My friend had told me of him, and of
the impelling fascination and allurement of his revelations, and I
burned with eagerness to explore his uttermost mysteries. My friend said
they were horrible and impressive beyond my most fevered imaginings;
that what was thrown on a screen in the darkened room prophesied things
none but Nyarlathotep dare prophesy, and that in the sputter of his
sparks there was taken from men that which had never been taken before
yet which shewed only in the eyes. And I heard it hinted abroad that
those who knew Nyarlathotep looked on sights which others saw not.

It was in the hot autumn that I went through the night with the restless
crowds to see Nyarlathotep; through the stifling night and up the
endless stairs into the choking room. And shadowed on a screen, I saw
hooded forms amidst ruins, and yellow evil faces peering from behind
fallen monuments. And I saw the world battling against blackness;
against the waves of destruction from ultimate space; whirling,
churning; struggling around the dimming, cooling sun. Then the sparks
played amazingly around the heads of the spectators, and hair stood up
on end whilst shadows more grotesque than I can tell came out and
squatted on the heads. And when I, who was colder and more scientific
than the rest, mumbled a trembling protest about "imposture" and "static
electricity," Nyarlathotep drave us all out, down the dizzy stairs into
the damp, hot, deserted midnight streets. I screamed aloud that I was
_not_ afraid; that I never could be afraid; and others screamed with me
for solace. We sware to one another that the city _was_ exactly the
same, and still alive; and when the electric lights began to fade we
cursed the company over and over again, and laughed at the queer faces
we made.

I believe we felt something coming down from the greenish moon, for when
we began to depend on its light we drifted into curious involuntary
marching formations and seemed to know our destinations though we dared
not think of them. Once we looked at the pavement and found the blocks
loose and displaced by grass, with scarce a line of rusted metal to show
where the tramways had run. And again we saw a tram-car, lone,
windowless, dilapidated, and almost on its side. When we gazed around
the horizon, we could not find the t