"Carcosa... Lake Hali in the Aldebaran star system... the dark sun had risen high in the sky..."
A low female voice echoed through the dark space. She raised her head to gaze at the stars, then sensed a vague response.
She thought that perhaps this Ancient One truly was different. She did not know where that summons came from; perhaps it had risen from within her own heart, just as before.
The Ancient One, dressed in robes, settled her thoughts and followed that dark cosmic voice until it reached the depths of her heart. Before the mist dispersed, she took a step into the deepest part of her spiritual world and arrived above a vast city.
Was this Carcosa?
The Ancient One stood at the edge of a floating island and looked down. The phantom of the enormous city below was both magnificent and possessed an abyssal terror. The countless spires jutting from the city resembled the ruins she had once seen on a planet in the Aldebaran star system.
Strange patterns emerged amid the surging mist. They possessed a Gothic beauty, yet were not entirely Gothic. The Ancient One sensed no darkness, sorrow, or contradiction in them—none of Gothic mysticism's core. There was only tranquility and peace.
As the mist gradually thickened, the Ancient One sensed something and turned around. She saw the black sun surrounded by countless clouds of mist. It hung silently in the sky without speaking, while those profound patterns and flowing particles had already given her every answer.
The Ancient One pressed her palms together in salute and said, "I know you will not respond, but as the Sorcerer Supreme, I must still thank you for warning Earth. Thank you, Ancient One. Humanity has taken action. The Old Ones will not return."
The black sun