"The Pyramid of the Black Pharaoh" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by Canadian author Troy Young, it is the third story in Book 2 of the Nyarlathotep Cycle.
Synopsis[]
Investigator Malcolm Mayweather is seconded to an international team comprised of agents from counterpart organisations to the Department of Extraordinary Phenomena. Their mission: to investigate a newly-discovered pyramid which predates all others and has been established to have connections to the Outer God Nyarlathotep.
As the group explore the interior, it quickly becomes apparent that the pyramid is in fact a techno-arcane device designed to send a signal to Nyarlathotep's "father" Azathoth. As the party begins to dwindle - due to both the effects of madness and the pyramid's guardians - the signal is sent. Only Mayweather and the Egyptian representative manage to escape with their lives.
The story concludes with Adele Kramer, a former agent whose consciousness has been stripped from her body, beginning to rebuild her mind in the face of cosmic horror.
Characters[]
- Malcolm Mayweather, a former firefighter turned paranormal field agent.
- Rana El Masry, a psychoanalyst for the Egyptian analogue of Mayweather's department.
- Russ Atwood, a former journalist with the American analogue.
- Werner Beck, an antiquarian with the German analogue.
- Noa Gabbai, a counter-terrorist agent for the Israeli analogue.
- Shiro Takedi, a cult infiltrator with the Japanese analogue.
- Guillermo Vega, a former surveyor with the Chilean analogue.
- Harjit Singh, director of the Canadian department.
- Nyarlathotep/The Black Pharaoh, an Outer God with a cruel sense of humour.
Publication History[]
"The Pyramid of the Black Pharaoh" was published in the collection The Other: Encounters with the Cthulhu Mythos Book 2 in 2020.