Sadastor

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Sadastor is a short, strange-fantasy story by Clark Ashton Smith, first published in July 1930 in Weird Tales. The tale is told in two layers. In ancient Egypt, a lamia sits by the Nile, gloomy because she can’t find a lover. A demon named Charnadis, who is with her, tells her another story to brighten her mood. Charnadis once flew through space and found a distant, grey desert planet called Sadastor, circling a dying sun. He discovers the last ocean there—a tiny green pool. A voice speaks from it: Lyspial, the last Siren of Sadastor. She remembers when the seas covered the world and she could prey on sailors. Charnadis offers to take her to another world, but Lyspial explains she is born from Sadastor’s seas and must perish with them. The story ends with Charnadis reminding the lamia that Lyspial’s fate is far worse than her own trouble.