THE DESTROYER - PART 3
FROM THE SCROLL OF ADEPHA
The Doomshape, called the Destroyer, in Egypt, was seen in all the lands whereabouts. In colour it was bright
and fiery, in appearance changing and unstable. It twisted about itself like a coil, like water bubbling into a pool
from an underground supply, and all men agree it was a most fearsome sight. It was not a great comet or a
loosened star, being more like a fiery body of flame.
Its movements on high were slow, below it swirled in the manner of smoke and it remained close to the sun
whose face it hid. There was a bloody redness about it, which changed as it passed along its course. It caused
death and destruction in its rising and setting. It swept the Earth with grey cinder rain and caused many plagues,
hunger and other evils. It bit the skin of men and beast until they became mottled with sores.
The Earth was troubled and shook, the hills and mountains moved and rocked. The dark smoke-filled Heavens bowed over Earth and a great howl came to the ears of men, borne to them upon the wings of the wind. It was
the cry of the Dark Lord, the Master of Dread. Thick clouds of fiery smoke passed before him and there was an
awful hail of hot stones and coals of fire. The Doomshape thundered sharply in the Heavens and shot out bright
lightings. The channels of water were turned back unto themselves when the land tilted, and great trees were
tossed about and snapped like twigs. Then a voice like ten thousand trumpets was heard over the wilderness, and
before its burning breath the flames parted. The whole of the land moved and mountains melted. The sky itself
roared like ten thousand lions in agony, and bright arrows of blood sped back and forth across its face. Earth
swelled up like bread upon the hearth.
This was the aspect of the Doomshape called the Destroyer, when it appeared in days long gone by, in olden
times. It is thus described in the old records, few of which remain. It is said that when it appears in the Heavens
above. Earth splits open from the heat, like a nut roasted before the fire. Then flames shoot up through the
surface and leap about like fiery fiends upon black blood. The moisture inside the land is all dried up, the
pastures and cultivated places are consumed in flames and they and all trees become white ashes. The Doomshape is like a circling ball of flame which scatters small fiery offspring in its train. It covers about a fifth
part of the sky and sends writhing snakelike fingers down to Earth. Before it the sky appears fiightened, and it
breaks up and scatters away. Midday is no brighter than night. It spawns a host of terrible things. These are
things said of the Destroyer in the old records, read them with a solemn heart, knowing that the Doomshape has
its appointed time and will return. It would be foolish to let them go unheeded. Now men say, "Such things are
not destined for our days". May the Great God above grant that this be so. But come, the day surely will, and in
accordance with his nature man will be unprepared.