Allan and the Sundered Veil
| "Allan and the Sundered Veil" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Alan Moore |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Horror/science fiction short story |
| Published in | The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume I |
| Publisher | Wildstorm/DC Comics |
| Media type | Comic |
| Publication date | 1999–2000 |
Allan and the Sundered Veil is a six-part story written in the style of a boy's periodical by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O'Neill, included at the back of each issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume I and collected at the back of that volume. It serves as a prequel to the comic.
Allan Quatermain, following his "death", returns to his friend, Lady Ragnall, to partake of the taduki drug she has (both are from the Allan Quatermain novels of H. Rider Haggard's—referenced as an author who has written about Quatermain). One point of interest is the fact that, though Quatermain only faked his death, he no longer has a shadow (at least during the first part of the "Sundered Veil"), as shown on the picture in which he is greeted by Lady Ragnall's servant (he seems to retrieve it when entering the Sphinx, though). Quatermain takes the drug and enters into a dream-world, encountering the equally lost John Carter (from Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom novels) and his grandnephew, Randolph Carter (from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos). Strange creatures begin to attack them but they are saved by the arrival of a pulsing electric machine piloted by a man known only as the Time Traveller (from H. G. Wells' The Time Machine).
They arrive at the Sphinx from The Time Machine, and the Time Traveller explains that they are there because creatures from beyond the universe are invading creation through a hole in space-time. They are attacked by albino creatures known as both Morlocks (from The Time Machine) and Mi-go (from the Cthulhu Mythos). Quatermain beats them off as the time machine takes off, but one clings on and damages the ship. Destabilized, the time machine is drawn towards a "chrono-crystal aleph" (from Jorge Luis Borges's "The Aleph") and the riders all see visions from their pasts and futures.
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