"The Last Hieroglyph" by Clark Ashton Smith

1 year ago
12

The world itself, in the end, shall be turned to a round cipher.
-Old prophecy of Zothique

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The referenced destruction of Ummaos in the distant past is no doubt a reference to Namirrha in the story "The Dark Eidolon". Which you can find here on my channel!

mantic: relating to divination or prophecy

mobled: being wrapped or muffled in or as if in a hood

ossicle: a small piece of calcified material forming part of a skeleton

ossuary: a container or room in which the bones of dead people are placed

purl: flow with a swirling motion and babbling sound

inchoate: just begun and so not fully formed or developed; rudimentary

fagots: of course we mean here a bundle of sticks or twigs bound together as fuel. Calm down, youtube!

immure: enclose or confine (someone) against their will.

sough: a moaning, whistling, or rushing sound as made by the wind in the trees or the sea. There are two pronunciations for this word, the one I used here, and one that has the 'gh' take an 'f' sound, so 'suf'.

The picture used is an illustration by Jack Binder for this story as published in Weird Tales.

To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/111/the-last-hieroglyph

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