The House of the Worm (Gary Myers short story)

"The House of the Worm" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story by American author Gary Myers.
==Synopsis==
The story tells of a house resting in the five black pillars of a round hill in Vornai in the plain of Kaar called the House of the Worm. It is an abandoned house which at sunset comes alive as the windows open red like eyes. The narrator tells that it is older than any man remembers, possibly akin to the Great Ones of Kadath. The man who built the house, referred to as the Old Man of whom No One Likes To Speak, was the last to live in a banquet of the House and has since gone mad. When he first arrived at the house he had feared the legends of the pillar ring holding daemons and had thus decided to arrive at daylight and be gone by dusk, reminiscing the pillars shining light from the red star Betelgeuse. He spoke to none of the natives and went to his cottage, not seen for a week and a day. On the eve of the ninth day, the people locked themselves in their homes as an unseen entity creeped about the dark streets.
The narrator, having been told these events upon his arrival in the plain of Kaar, asks the last of three people who attended the last banquet of the House still alive. He recounts that it was the hundredth year of his residence at the House. The Old Man handed out invites after being isolated in the House for a century. Some had doubts, but 20 went with some ounce of regret as they were perturbed by the setting of Betelgeuse’s light on the pillars and the faint feeling of watching daemons. A gnome escorted them to a pentagonal table and met with the Old Man. They were disturbed by the symbol of the five-sided star everywhere. This ritual continued for many nights but few returned each time. Those who didn’t return were haunted by the Old Man’s tales of the Night-gaunts and how they drive people mad within the Peak of Throk, the appearance of Dholes, the worships to the goddess N'tse-Kaambl, the fall of the Serpent priests, and told of forbidden things in the Pnakotic Manuscripts while drawing the sign of Koth. Only the three men remained after these forbidden tales on the final night.
On the final night, the Old Man told stories of higher and older gods including Azathoth about how weaker gods were imprisoned in The Abyss and should return if Nodens should sleep and cease his watch. He stopped telling his story as he listened for something. From one of the cellars came ominous sounds and the visions of daemons and horrid flute-players. The three guests followed the Old Man into a hall of carvings depicting horrid monsters and stars. They went through following the fluting sounds and found in a well of light as the Old Man’s candlelight went out. As he looked within the well, the man claimed that this was the seal of the Elder Sign which imprisoned Azathoth’s children long ago as the Old Man, its guardian, was sucked inside never to be seen again.
==Publication History==
*"The House of the Worm" was first published in The Arkham Collector, Summer 1970, and was later included in the collection of Myers' own work, also titled The House of the Worm, in 1975. In 1987 it was translated into Italian.
Category:Gary Myers works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works