The Moon Pool

The Moon Pool is a fantasy novel by Abraham Merritt, first published in 1919. The first and second parts of the narrative were originally published separately, as "The Moon Pool" and "Conquest of the Moon Pool", respectively. It was followed in 1920 by a sequel, The Metal Monster.
==Synopsis==
Dr. Walter T. Goodwin, an eminent botanist, is studying the flora of Papua when he sees an old friend, Dr. David Throckmartin, who has just returned from the ruins of Nan-Matal in Ponape. Throckmartin is in a state of obvious shock, and at night, he shows Goodwin a luminous creature in the sky that seems to have been following him, with a mist-like body and seven lights, each of a different colour. Throckmartin identifies the creature as the Dweller in the Moon Pool, claiming that it took his wife and assistants, and removes his shirt to reveal an area of his skin where the being has touched him. The skin in that area has turned pearl-white, cold, insensible to touch, and impervious to being burned by a cigarette. He tells Goodwin that the Moon Pool is located under Nan-Matal, accessible through a passage that only opens when the moon light shines over it. He plans to go back to rescue his wife and the others, but before he can do so, Goodwin witnesses the Dweller abducting Throckmartin.
Goodwin embarks on a ship to Nan-Matal in hopes of rescuing his friend. On the way, he comes across a derelict vessel with a single occupant, a Norwegian sailor named Olaf Huldricksson, whose wife and daughter were also taken by the Dweller. Soon afterwards, they locate a wrecked hydro-airplane and rescue its pilot, Lt. Larry O'Keefe, an eccentric Irishman who believes in mythical creatures, only as long as they're from Ireland.
In Nan-Matal, Goodwin, Huldricksson and O'Keefe find the entrance to the underground world that Throckmartin had described, and come across a Russian scientist named Marakinoff, who attacks them at first, but later proposes to join forces with them in exploring the tunnels. At last, the four come to a subterranean nation called Muria, a beautiful land filled with marvelous technology, but inhabited by an oppressed population that lives in fear of its god, the Dweller, who regularly demands sacrifices and keeps its victims alive in a zombified state. Muria is ruled by a council presided by Yolara, the high-priestess of the Dweller, and a man named Lugur, identified as the Dweller's "voice". Beyond Muria there is another land, inhabited by a friendly race of female frog-like creatures called the Akka, and ruled by a trio of benevolent beings called the Silent Ones, whose handmaiden is a young woman named Lakla. O'Keefe finds himself in the middle of a love triangle with Yolara and Lakla, and humours the former to appease her, despite being deeply in love with the latter.
The Murians' technology includes disintegrator rays, anti-gravity carriages shaped like nautilus shells and powered by atomic energy, a type of anti-gravity bombs that send objects high into the sky, invisibility cloaks, wireless communication (not based on radio), and even something akin to virtual reality. Realizing the potential to conquer all the world's nations, Marakinoff allies himself with Lugur, while Yolara's infatuation with O'Keefe secures the latter's protection, as well as Goodwin's. A man named Rador, who first welcomed the heroes to Muria, becomes their close friend and ally, as he confides in them how much the people live in fear of Yolara, Lugur, and the Dweller. Their friendship is strengthened further after Goodwin saves Rador's life from an assassination attempt. Huldricksson, meanwhile, is less lucky, as Lugur selects him as one of the sacrifices to the Dweller, but after O'Keefe interferes with the ceremony and rescues him, Yolara reluctantly extends her protection to him as well.
Yolara chooses an unwilling O'Keefe to be her consort, but the ceremony is interrupted by the arrival of Lakla and her Akka warriors, who come to deliver a message from the Silent Ones, informing that they wish to meet with O'Keefe, Goodwin and Huldricksson. Yolara is furious and refuses to allow this, so Lakla delivers an ultimatum from the Silent Ones: release the strangers, abandon her plans of conquering the surface world, and abandon the worship of the Dweller. Yolara remains firm, believing that Lakla is bluffing and that the Silent Ones' power can't compare to the Dweller's. However, Goodwin, O'Keefe and Huldricksson make up their minds and decide to escape and join Lakla. Guided by Rador and pursued by an enraged Lugur and his men, they face the perilous fauna and flora of the underground world and manage to reach the country of the Akka. O'Keefe is shot by the pursuers, but Lakla takes him to the Silent Ones, who revive him.
Following an attempt on their lives by Yolara's assassins clad in invisible cloaks, the heroes realize that war is inevitable. On their side they have the Silent Ones and the brave Akka warriors, armed with blades and poison darts. On the enemy's side is Yolara's army, equipped with anti-gravity bombs and disintegrators, plus the army of zombified victims of the Dweller. The latter are in a state of living death, with none of their original personalities remaining, and tragically include Goodwin's friend Throckmartin and Huldricksson's wife, among thousands of others. To top it off, Marakinoff has been devising new armour and weapons for the Murians. The only hope for the heroes lies in the superior numbers of the Akka, and in the power of the Silent Ones.
Before the battle starts, Lakla reveals that the Silent Ones are the last individuals of an ancient species known as the Taithu, which originated deep inside the Earth, in the hollow space that was formed when the moon was ripped off the South Pacific. For several eras, the Taithu have lived in peace, and guided the development of the sapient Akka, who originated on the surface long before humanity. The Taithu had access to extraordinary technology, and the three Silent Ones eventually mastered the ability to create life itself, in the form of the Dweller. Unfortunately, their creation grew increasingly ambitious, and manipulated a faction of the Taithu, leading to a civil war for the first time in their history. At this point, mankind had already evolved on the surface and inhabited a continent called Muria, of which Nan-Matal was once part of. The Murians worshiped a pantheon of gods headed by the mighty Thanaroa, but the two gods closest to them were the sun and the moon. Initially equal in power, the sun kingdom and the moon kingdom became rival factions. Those of the Taithu who had allied themselves with the Dweller created the Moon Pool and made contact with mankind, allying themselves with the moon kingdom by convincing them that the Dweller was the moon god itself, and helping them exterminate the sun kingdom. At this point, most of the continent was sinking, and the underground nation was established, which was also named Muria. The rogue Taithu were punished by the others, but the three Silent Ones couldn't bring themselves to destroy the Dweller for the same reason that a parent can't bring themself to kill their own child: they created it and still loved it, even as they acknowledged it as a force of evil. Finally, when the Taithu left the interior world to a new land, the three Silent Ones were sentenced to remain behind, to live among the Akka and the few remaining descendants of the sun kingdom (such as Lakla), and to keep a watchful eye on their creation until they could finally bring themselves to kill it.
At last, Yolara's army and the Dweller's zombies invade the Silent Ones' country, engaging in brutal war against the Akka, who fight proudly and are protected by a luminous mist-like substance created by the Silent Ones. The Dweller itself is still afraid of its creators, and won't appear unless its forces are gaining the upper hand. As Lugur's army approaches, Goodwin, O'Keefe, Huldricksson and Rador join the fight. Huldricksson kills Lugur, but perishes from his wounds. Rador is also wounded, but survives. Confident, the Dweller finally shows up, accompanied by Yolara, who orders the Silent Ones to deliver Lakla and O'Keefe. The couple willingly complies, intent on sacrificing themselves to spare the others. On seeing this, the Silent Ones gather up strength and finally destroy the Dweller along with Yolara. Throckmartin and the other zombies fall dead peacefully, freed from the Dweller's domain, and the Murian army withdraws without a leader.
After the battle, Goodwin is separated from the others when Marakinoff ambushes him and tries to kill him, hurling both of them into a waterfall. Marakinoff dies, and Goodwin regains consciousness, only to find that the waterfall had somehow dragged him back to the surface world, emerging on a small Pacific island. After finding his way back to Nan-Matal, Goodwin discovers that the passage to the Moon Pool has been destroyed, and there's no way for him to ever rejoin O'Keefe, Lakla and Rador.
Category:Lovecraft's Inspirations (works)
Category:Abraham Merritt works
Category:Novels
Category:Mythos-Adjacent Works