"The Tomb-Spawn" by Clark Ashton Smith

levin: lightning

architrave: a main beam resting across the tops of columns, specifically the lower third entablature

clepsydra: a water clock

burnoose: a long cloak of coarse woollen fabric with a pointed hood, often white in colour, traditionally worn by Arab and Berber men in North Africa

elephantine apparently has numerous accepted pronunciations. Ugh. Well, mine is one of them, so if you would pronounce it differently, that's ok, we're both right!

The picture used is of Palmyra, Syria - the ruins of an ancient desert city. Unfortunately no Weird Tales illustration for this one, and while there is a particularly good illustration of Nioth Korghai on Deviant Art by KingOvRats, he didn't grant any usage rights for it. But it's worth looking up, it's still a great piece even so.

To follow along: http://www.eldritchdark.com/writings/short-stories/220/the-tomb-spawn

Another story from Smith of cosmic horror. Well, it would be more of a cosmic horror if the final boss didn't off himself, and was still out there somewhere waiting for fresh victims. Ah well, it was horrifying at least up to that moment.