The Return of Rhan-Tegoth

"The Return of Rhan-Tegoth" is a Cthulhu Mythos short story by Laurence J. Cornford, first published in the April 1998 edition of online fanzine Nightscapes. As its title suggests, it is a sequel to H. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Horror in the Museum", featuring the monstrous Rhan-Tegoth.
==Synopsis==
British artist Daniel Sykes is invited by his colleague Philip Goodwin to see his recently acquired "masterpiece": a 15 ft. tall wax sculpture of a monster chewing on the corpse of a horribly mutilated man. The piece is called "The Sacrifice to Rhan-Tegoth", by George Rogers. Goodwin reveals that it was briefly exhibited in a London museum in the 1920s, but removed due to public outcry. During the war, all the museum's sculptures were stored in a warehouse, but with the destruction of the museum and the death of the owners, the pieces ended up being auctioned.
Sykes is both impressed and repulsed by the piece. At night, he dreams of a mountainous landscape and a dark city. The scenery changes and Sykes dreams of being a white bear-like creature with multiple legs and a single horn, hunting humans in the ice plains along with others of his kind. Finally, he dreams of a submerged stone city and being a bladder-like aquatic creature known as a Pirrak. He sees Rhan-Tegoth sitting on a throne, and the Pirrak present themselves to it. Those judged worthy by Rhan-Tegoth would be infused with some of its "godly matter" while the rest would be devoured.
On the next day, Sykes returns to Goodwin's studio, which the latter has filled with several paintings of Rhan-Tegoth. Goodwin, to Sykes' surprise, has experienced the same dreams. He reveals that Rhan-Tegoth is not a wax sculpture, but a living creature in a state of suspended animation, which can send telepathic messages in dreams. By offering small animals to it, Goodwin claims to be nurturing it back to full strength, at which point he believes Rhan-Tegoth will be instrumental in orchestrating the return of the old gods, and reward those who have served him. When Sykes sees the dead animals on a tray, he assumes that Goodwin is insane and tries to take the tray from him, but is knocked out by Goodwin in the ensuing fight.
When Sykes resumes consciousness, he finds that Rhan-Tegoth is gone, and notices a stream of water mixed with some blood coming from under the washroom door. Standing close to the door, Sykes hears the sounds of someone inside, who he assumes to be Goodwin, although the latter doesn't answer him. Trying to find something to break the door open, Sykes stumbles upon an object that he soon recognizes as Goodwin's body, reduced to an almost empty skin. The washroom door bursts open, revealing Rhan-Tegoth. Sykes tries to defend himself with a fire extinguisher, but it has no effect on the creature. The monster grabs Sykes and leaves the warehouse to dive into a nearby river, on its way back to the sea.
== Publication History ==
* Nightscapes April 1998
* Cthulhu Codex Lammas 1998
Category:Expanded Mythos Works
Category:Laurence J. Cornford works