LordDunsanysPegana/OfHowImbaunbecameHighProphet
/OfHowtheGodsWhelmedSidith - /OfHowImbaunmetZodrak
Of how Imbaun Became High Prophet in Aradec of All the Gods Save One
Imbaun was to be made High Prophet in Aradec, of All the
gods save One.
From Ardra, Rhoodra, and the lands beyond came all High
Prophets of the Earth to the Temple in Aradec of All the
gods save One.
And there they told Imbaun how The Secret of Things was
upon the summit of the dome of the Hall of Night, but
faintly writ, and in an unknown tongue.
Midway in the night, between the setting and the rising
sun, they led Imbaun into the Hall of Night, and said to
him, chaunting all together: "Imbaun, Imbaun, Imbaun, look
up to the roof, where is writ The Secret of Things, but
faintly, and in an unknown tongue."
And Imbaun looked up, but darkness was so deep within the
Hall of Night that Imbaun saw not even the High Prophets who
came from Ardra, Rhoodra, and the lands beyond, nor saw he
aught in the Hall of Night at all.
Then called the High Prophets: "What seest thou, Imbaun?"
And Imbaun said: "I see naught."
Then called the High Prophets: "What knowest thou,
Imbaun?"
And Imbaun said: "I know naught."
Then spake the High Prophet of Eld of All the gods save
One, who is first on Earth of prophets: "O Imbaun! we have
all looked upwards in the Hall of Night towards the Secret
of Things, and ever it was dark, and the secret faint and in
an unknown tongue. And know thou knowest what all High
Priests know."
And Imbaun answered: "I know."
So Imbaun became High Prophet in Aradec of All the gods
save One, and prayed for all the people, who knew not that
there was darkness in the Hall of Night or that the secret
was writ faint and in an unknown tongue.
These are the words of Imbaun that he wrote in a book
that all the people might know:
"In the twentieth night of the nine hundredth moon, as
night came up the valley, I performed the mystic rites of
each of the gods in the temple as is my wont, lest any of
the gods should grow angry in the night and whelm us while
we slept.
"And as I uttered the last of certain secret words I fell
asleep in the temple, for I was weary, with my head against
the altar of Dorozhand. Then in the stillness, as I slept,
there entered Dorozhand by the temple door in the guise of a
man, and touched me on the shoulder, and I awoke.
"But when I saw that his eyes shone blue and lit the
whole of the temple I knew that he was a god though he came
in mortal guise. And Dorozhand said: `Prophet of Dorozhand,
behold! that the people may know.' And he showed me the
paths of Sish stretching far down into the future time.
"Then he bade me arise and follow whither he pointed,
speaking no words but commanding with his eyes.
"Therefore upon the twentieth night of the nine hundredth
moon I walked with Dorozhand adown the paths of Sish into
the future time.
"And ever beside the way did men slay men. And the sum
of their slaying was greater than the slaying of the
pestilence or any of the evils of the gods.
"And cities arose and shed their houses in dust, and ever
the desert returned again to its own, and covered over and
hid the last of all that had troubled its repose.
"And still men slew men.
"And I came at last to a time when men set their yoke no
longer upon beasts but made them beasts of iron.
"And after that did men slay men with mists.
"Then, because the slaying exceeded their desire, there
came peace upon the world that was brought by the hand of
the slayer, and men slew men no more.
"And cities multiplied, and overthrew the desert and
conquered its repose.
"And suddenly I beheld that THE END was near, for there
was a stirring above Pegana as of One who grows weary of
resting, and I saw the hound Time crouch to spring, with his
eyes upon the throats of the gods, shifting from throat to
throat, and the drumming of Skarl grew faint.
"And if a god may fear, it seemed that there was fear
upon the face of Dorozhand, and he seized me by the hand and
led me back along the paths of Time that I might not see THE
END.
"Then I saw cities rise out of the dust again and fall
back into the desert whence they had arisen; and again I
slept in the Temple of All the gods save One, with my head
against the altar of Dorozhand.
"Then again the Temple was alight, but not with light
from the eyes of Dorozhand; only dawn came all blue out of
the East and shone through the arches of the Temple. Then I
awoke and performed the morning rites and mysteries of All
the gods save One, lest any of the gods be angry in the day
and take away the Sun.
"And I knew that because I who had been so near to it had
not beheld THE END a man should never behold it or know the
doom of the gods. This They have hidden."
