The Crawling Chaos - H.P. Lovecraft

"The Nameless City" is a short horror story written by American writer H. P. Lovecraft in January 1921 and first published in the November 1921 issue of the amateur press journal The Wolverine. It is often considered the first story set in the Cthulhu Mythos world.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The crawling chaos by H. P. Lovecraft of the pleasures and pains of
Opium. Much has been written.The ecstasies and horrors of de Quincy and
the paradise artificialists of Badliere are preservedand interpreted with an art which makes them
immortal. And the world knows wellthe beauty, the terror, and the
mystery of those obscure realms into whichthe inspired dreamers transported. But much as

(00:24):
has been told, no man hasyet dared intimate the nature of the phantasms
thus unfolded to the mind, orhint at the direction of the unheard of
roads along whose ornate and exotic coursethe partaker of the drug is so irresistibly
born. De Quincy was drawn backinto Asia, that teeming land of nebulous
shadows, whose hideous antiquity is soimpressive that the vast age of the race

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and name overpowers the sense of youthin the individual. But farther than that
he dared not go. Those whohave gone farther seldom returned, and even
when they have, they have beeneither silent or quite man. Added,
I took opium once in the earof the plague, when the doctor sought
to deaden the agonies they could notcure. There was an overdose. My

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physician was worn out with horror andexertion, and I traveled very far.
Indeed, in the end I returnedand lived. But my nights are filled
with strange memories. Nor have Ipermitted a doctor to give me opium again.
The pain and pounding in my headhad been quite unendurable when the drug
was administered. Of the future,I had no heed to escape. Whether

(01:29):
by cure, unconsciousness or death wasall that concerned me. I was partly
delirious, so that it is hardto place the exact moment of transition,
but I think the effect must havebegun shortly before the pounding ceased to be
painful. As I have said,there was an overdose, so my reactions
were probably far from normal. Thesensation of falling curiously, disassociated from the

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idea of gravity direction was paramount,though there was subsidiary impressions of unseen throngs
and incalculable profusion throngs of infinitely diversenature, but all more or less related
to me. Sometimes it seemed lessas though I were falling, as though
the universe or the ages were fallingpast me. Suddenly, my pain ceased,

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and I began to associate the poundingwith an external rather than internal force.
The falling had ceased, also,giving place to a sensation of uneasy,
temporary rest. And when I listenedclosely, I fancied the pounding was
that of the vast, inscrutable sea, as its sinister colossal breakers lacerated some
desolate shore after a storm of Titanicmagnitude. Then I opened my eyes.

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For a moment, my surroundings seemedconfused, like a projected image, hopelessly
out of focus. But gradually Irealized my solitary presence in a strange and
beautiful room, lighted by many windows. Of the exact nature of the apartment,
I could form no idea, formy thoughts were still from settled.
But I noticed van colored rugs anddraperies, elaborately fashioned tables, chairs,

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ottomans and divns, and delicate vasesand ornaments which invade a suggestion of the
exotic without actually being alien. Thesethings I noticed, yet they were not
long uppermost in my mind. Slowly, but inexorbably, crawling upon my consciousness
and rising above every other impression,came a dizzying fear of the unknown,

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a fear of the greater because Icould not analyze it, and seeming to
concern a stealthily approaching menace, notdeath, but some nameless, unheard of
thing, inexpressibly more ghastly and abhorrent. And shrank from glancing through the arched
lattice windows that opened so bewilderingly onevery hand. Perceiving shutters attached to these

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windows, I closed them all,averting my eyes from the exterior as I
did so. Then, employing aflint and steel which I found on one
of the small tables, I litmany candles, reposing the walls and arabesque
sconces. The added sense of securitybrought by closed shutters and artificial light calmed
my nerves to some degree, butI could not shut out the monotonous pounding.

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Now that I was calmer, thesound became a fascinated as it was
fearful. I felt a contradictory desireto seek out its source, despite my
still powerful shrinking. Opening a portiereon the side of the room, nearing
the pounding, I beheld a smalland richly draped corridor ending in a cavern
door in large oriel windows. Tothis window, I was irresistibly drawn,

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though my ill defined apprehension seemed almostequally bent on holding me back. As
I approached it, I could seea chaotic roll of waters in the distance.
Then, as I attained it andglanced out on all sides, the
stupendous picture of my surroundings burst uponme with full and devastating force. I
beheld such a sight as I hadnever beheld before, and which no living

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person can have seen, save inthe delirium of fever or the inferno of
opium. The building stood on anarrow point of land, or what was
now a narrow point of land,fully three hundred feet above what must lately
have been a seething vortex of madwater. On either side of the house
there was a newly washed out precipiceof red earth, while ahead of me
the hideous waves were still rolling andfrightfully eating away the land with ghastly monotony

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and deliberation. Out a mile ormore there rose and fell menacing breakers at
least fifty feet in height, andon the far horizon, ghoulish black clouds
of grotesque contier were resting and broodinglike unwholesome vultures. The waves were dark
and purplish, almost black, andclutched at the yielding red mud of the

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bank as if it with uncouth,greedy hands. And could not but feel
that some noxious marine mine had declareda war of extermination upon all the solid
ground, perhaps abetted by the angrysky. Recovering at length from the stupor
into which this unnatural spectacle had thrownme, I realized that my physical danger
was acute. Even whilst I gazed, the bank had lost many feet,

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and it could not be long beforethe house would fall undermined into this awful
pit of lashing waves. Accordingly,I hastened to the opposite side of the
edifice, and, finding a door, emerged at once, locking it after
me with a curious key which hadhung inside. I now beheld more of
this strange region about me, andmarked a singular division which seemed to exist

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in the hostile ocean in firmament.On each side of the jutting promontory,
different conditions held sway. At myleft, as I faced inland, was
a gently heaving sea with great greenwaves rolling peacefully in under a brightly shining
sun. Something about that sun's natureand position made me shudder, but I
could not tell then and cannot tellnow what it was. At my right

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also was the sea, but itwas blue, calm, and only gently
undulating, while the sky above itwas darker, and the washed out bank
more nearly white than reddish. Inow turned my attention to the land and
found occasion for fresh surprise, forthe vegetation resembled nothing I had seen a
red about. It was apparently tropical, or at least subtropical, a conclusion

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borne out of the intense heat ofthe air. Sometimes I thought I could
trace strange analogies with the floor ofmy native land, fancying the well known
plants and shrubs might assume such formsunder the radical change of climate, but
that gigantic and omnipresent palm trees wereplainly foreign. The house I had just
left was very small, hardly morethan a cottage, but its material was

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evidently marble, and its architecture wasweird and composite, involving a quaint fusion
of western and Eastern forms. Atthe corners were corinthium columns, but the
red tiled roof was like that ofa Chinese pagoda. From the door.
Inland there stretched a path of singularlywhite sand, about four feet wide and
lyned either side with strange palms,when identifiable, flowering shrubs and plants.

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It lay toward the side of thepromontory, where the sea was blue in
the bank rather whitish. Down thispath I felt impelled to flee, as
if pursued by some malignant spirit,from the pounding ocean. At first it
was slightly uphill. Then I reacheda gentle crest. Behind me, I
saw the scene I had left,the entire point, with the cottage and
black water, with the green seaon one side and the blue sea on

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the other, and a curse unnamedand unnameable lowering overall. I never saw
it again, and often wonder afterthis last look. I strode ahead and
surveyed the inland panorama before me.The path, as I have intimated,
ran along the right hand shore.As one went inland ahead and to the
left, I now viewed a magnificentvalley comprising thousands of acres and covered with

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a swaying growth of tropical grass.Higher than my head. Almost at the
limit of vision was a colossal palmtree which seemed to fascinate and beckon me.
By this time, wonder and escapefrom the imperiled peninsula had largely dissipated
my fear. But as I pausedand sank fatigue to the path, idly
digging with my hands into the warm, whitish golden sand, a new and

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acute sense of danger seized me.Some terror and the swishing tall grass seemed
added to that of the diabolically poundingsea, and I started up crying and
disjointly tiger, tiger? Is ittiger? Beasts? Beast? Is it
beast that I am afraid of?My mind wandered back to the ancient and
classical story of Tigers, which Ihad read. I strove to recall the

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author, but had difficulty. Then, in the midst of my fear,
I remembered that the tale was byRudyard Kipling. Nor did the grotesqueness of
deeming him an ancient author occur tome. I wished for the volume containing
this story, and had almost startedback toward the doom Cottage to procure it,
but my better sense and the lureof the palm prevented me. Whether

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or not I could have resisted thebackward beckoning without the counterfascination of this vast
palm tree. I do not know. This attraction was now dominant, and
I left the path and crawled onhands and knees down the valley's slope.
Despite my fears of the grass andof the serpents that might contain, I
resolved to fight for life and reasonas long as possible, against all menaces

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of land or sea, though Isometimes feared defeat. As the maddening swish
of the uncanny grasses joined the stillaudible and irritating pounding of the distant breakers,
I would frequently pause and put myhands to my ears for relief,
but could never quite shut out thedetestable sound. It was, as it
seemed to me only after ages thatI finally dragged myself to the beckoning palm

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tree and lay quiet beneath its protectingshade. There now ensued a series of
incidents which transported me to the oppositeextremes of ecstasy and horror, instance which
I trembled to recall and dare notseek to interpret. No sooner had I
crawled beneath the overhanging foliage of thepalm than there dropped from its branch as
a young child of such beauty asI never beheld before. Though ragged and

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dusty, this being bore the featuresof a fawn or demigod, and seemed
almost to diffuse a radiance in thedense shadow of the tree. It smiled
and extended its hand. But beforeI could arise and speak, I heard
in the upper air the exquisite melodyof singing notes high and low, blent
with the sublime and etherol harmoniousness.The sun had by this time sunk below

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the horizon, and in the twilightI saw an oriole of lambent light encircled
the child's head. Then, ina tone of silver, it addressed me,
it is the end. They havecome down through the gloaming from the
stars. Now all is over,and beyond the Arnarian streams, we shall
dwell blissfully in Tello. As achild spoke, I beheld a soft radiance

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through the leaves of the palm tree, and rising, greeted a pair whom
I knew to be the chief singersamong those I had heard a god and
goddess. They must have been,for such beauty as not mortal. And
they took my hands, saying,come, child, you have heard the
voices, and all is well inTello. Beyond the milky way, and
in the Arinurian streams are cities,all of Amber and Chelcity, and upon

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their domes of many facets glistened theimages of strange and beautiful stars. Under
the ivory bridges of Tello flow riversof liquid gold bearing the pleasure barges bound
for bloshemy Scythian of the seven Sons, And in Telo and a Scytherian bite,
only youth, beauty and pleasure.Nor are any sounds heard, save

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of laughter, song and the lute. Only the gods dwell in Tello of
the golden rivers. But among themshalt thou dwell. As I listened and
chanted, I suddenly became aware ofthe change in my surroundings. The palm
tree, so lately overshadowed my exhaustingform, was now some distance to my
left and considerably below me. Iwas obviously floating in the atmosphere, companion

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not only by the strange child inthe radiant pair, but by a constantly
increasing throng of half luminous vine crownedyouths and maidens with wind blown hair and
joyful countenance. We slowly ascended together, as if borne on a fragrant breeze
which blew not from the earth butfrom the golden nebula. And the child
whispered in my ear that I mustlook always upward to the pathways of light,

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and never backward to the sphere.I had just left the youths and
maidens now chanted malefluous choreambics to theaccompaniment of lutes, and I felt an
enveloped in a peace and happiness moreprofound than any I had in life imagined.
When the intrusion of a single soundaltered my destiny and shattered my soul
through the ravishing strains of the singersand the lutanists, as if in mocking,

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demonic concord throbbed from gulfs below,the damnable and detestable pounding of that
hideous ocean. As those blackbreakers beattheir message into my ears, I forgot
the words of the Child and lookedback down upon the doomed scene from which
I thought I had escaped. Downthrough the ether, I saw the accursed
earth slowly turning, ever turning,with angry and tempestuous seas gnawing at the

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wild, desolate shores and dashing foam, against the tottering towers of a deserted
cities, and under a ghastly moon. In their gleamed sights I can never
describe, sights I can never forget. Deserts of corpse like clay, and
jungles of ruined decadence were once stretchedthe populous plains and villages of my native
land, and maelstroms of frothing ocean, where once rose the mighty temples of

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my forefathers. Round the northern pole, streamed a morass of noisome growths and
miasma, vapors hissing before the onslaughtof the ever mounting waves that curled and
fretted from the shuddering deep. Thena rending report claved the night, and
athwart the desert of deserts appeared assmoking rift. Still the black ocean foamed

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and gnawed, eating away the deserton either side. As the rift in
the center widened and widened, therewas now no land left but the desert,
and still the fuming ocean ate andeight all at once, I thought,
even the pounding sea seemed afraid ofsomething, afraid of dark gods of
the inner Earth. That are greaterthan the evil gods of water. But

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even if it was, it couldnot turn back, and the desert had
suffered too much from those nightmare wavesto help them. Now, So the
ocean ate the last of the landimportant to the smoking Gulf, thereby giving
up all it had ever conquered.From the newly flooded lands, it flowed
again, uncovering death and decay,and from its ancient and immemorial bed it
trick them loathsomely, uncovering nighted secretsof the years when time was young and

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the gods unborn. Above the wavesrose weedy, remembered spires. The moon
lay pale lilies of light on deadLondon, and Paris stood from its damp
grade to be sacrificed with star dust. Then rose spires and monolus that were
weedy but not remembered, terrible spiresand monolus of land that men never knew
where lands. There was not anypounding now, but only the unearthly roaring

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and hissing of waters tumbling into therift. The smoke of that rift had
changed to steam and almost hid theworld. As it grew denser and denser,
it seared my face and hands.And when I looked to see how
it affected my companions, I foundthey had all disappeared. Then very suddenly
it ended. I knew no moretill I awakened upon a bed of convalescence.
As the cloud steam from the PlutonicGulf finally concealed the entire surface from

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my sight, all the firmament shriekedat a sudden agony of mad reverberations which
shook the trembling ether, and onedelirious flash and burst It happened, one
blinding, deafening holocaust fire smoke andthundered at dissolve the wan Moon, and
it sped outward to the void.And when the smoke cleared and I sought

(16:11):
to look upon the Earth, Ibeheld against the background of cold, humorous
stars, only the dying Sun andthe pale, mournful planets searching for their
sister, and of the crawling chaos