Short Fiction · Chapter
Sadastor explained
The demon Charnadis tells a lamia the tale of his visit to the dying planet Sadastor, where he found the siren Lyspial weeping in a dwindling pool—the last remnant of her former ocean.
What happens
The demon Charnadis tells a lamia the tale of his visit to the dying planet Sadastor, where he found the siren Lyspial weeping in a dwindling pool—the last remnant of her former ocean. Despite his offer to carry her to a newer world, she explains that she was born of that world's waters and must perish with them. Charnadis leaves her to her fate, finding solace only later in the embrace of a vampire on a young world, and offers the story to console the lamia in her own romantic woes.
Themes in this chapter
Loss and Mortality
The siren Lyspial faces inevitable death as her ocean pool dwindles, mourning the loss of her seas, her victims, and her entire world.
Cosmic Horror and Estrangement
The planet Sadastor is described as a forgotten, dying world under a waning sun, an abomination and token of doom, emphasizing the vast, indifferent cosmos.
Isolation and Desolation
Lyspial is utterly alone in the accursed solitude of a deep valley on a desolate world, with only the dwindling pool as her companion.
Characters to notice
- Nycea
The lamia to whom the tale is told; she is vexed by her beauty becoming an evil legend and has had no lover for almost a fortnight.
Key passages
“Pause and remain, I pray, and tell me who thou art, who comest thus to the accursed solitude wherein I die.”
Please stop and stay, and tell me who you are, coming to this cursed loneliness where I am dying.
Lyspial's plea to Charnadis as he discovers her in the pool.
“Alas! the dead captains, the beautiful dead sailors that were borne by the ebbing tide to my couches of amber seaweed, in my caverns underneath a cedared promontory!”
Oh, the dead captains and beautiful sailors that the receding tide brought to my beds of amber seaweed in my caves beneath a cedar-covered headland!
Lyspial mourns the sailors she once lured to their deaths, now lost forever.