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A Brightness from Afar is a book in the Alone in the Dark series, appearing as a clue in Alone in the Dark (1992) and a lagniappe in Alone in the Dark (2024).
Alone in the Dark (1992)[]
The book, named in-game as "Diary of a Journey", can be found on the nightstand in the guest bedroom next to the Chalchiuhtlicue statuette. It is a transcription of Lord Alistair Boleskine's diary on his trip to New England: he tells how he met some natives, judging them degenerate and disturbing, and was persuaded by a child to witness a wonderful prodigy: he was in fact taken to a clearing in the forest from where he could see the Milky Way and all its celestial bodies with miraculous clarity. Lord Boleskine then promises to return that same evening to see Halley's Comet, concluding by reporting the fear of having had a hallucination as well as referring to a particular cross in the forest probably linked to that incredible phenomenon.
Alone in the Dark (2024)[]
A Brightness from Afar reappears as a collectable lagniappe as a part of the Vagabonds set. Ruth Tallant can be seen reading the book in the Library (in Emily's story) or the Mezzanine (in Edward's story). The book can be collected when the player returns to the respective place where they met with Ruth. Juan Luis Jorge is also seen reading the book under the tree in the Convent of Taroella.
Transcript[]
A Brightness From Afar
by Lord Bolskine
An account of his celebrated
voyage to New England
1884
Aleister Publications.
Cambridge.
Following a splendid journey, the
sunny harbour came into sight. The
locals were much impressed with one’s
arrival in their midst. One had time to
sketch several of them and notice signs of
degeneracy. Some children showed one
their queer hands that would inspire uneasiness.
Upon the promise of a few coins, a child
had undertaken to reveal to one a most
“prodigious phenomenon” of a natural
order. One admits to being skeptical as
to the prodigiousness of the marvel,
whatever it may be; indeed, one suspects
it to be little more than an evening stroll
to some charming wooden hut situated in
the forest hereabouts. One will
nonetheless go, for it is always well to
submit to such local enthusiasms.
One admits to being somewhat
flabbergasted! The Milky Way shone
like the fires of the Apocalypse from
the inky celestial vault. Certain distant
stars, normally invisible to the naked
eye, were clearly visible, glittering
indeed with a strange intensity. The
heavy clouds that had settled above the
village had no hold over that place.
It would be pointless to offer here the
names of the constellations one perceived
in utter clarity; apart from the
interminable length of such a list, one
might conceivably risk being charged
with exaggeration!
The cross cast its shadow on the ground.
The sea, in the distance, was dead
calm. Tonight one will return to that
spot and draw those stars. Tomorrow
night, one will at last see Halley’s
comet in all its brilliance. The
youngster will carry torches. Despite
one’s developed sense of direction, honed
by years of travel, one feels incapable of
finding one’s way through the dark
forest unaided.
The drawings will, one is convinced,
set light to the souls of men!
Such a moon! One lost count of the
craters, so sharply was their definition.
Loath as one is to seem excessive in
one’s appraisal, one cannot but feel that
the forest clearing is indeed a place
outside the common laws of time and
space. Surely it is not an hallucination!
How strange to consider that idle
conversation, some research in the
British Museum and a voyage to this
backward village should culminate in so
astounding a discovery. It may be that
others have noticed the extraordinary
nature of that place; how else may one
explain the presence of that cross?
Trivia[]
- The book is a reference to The Shadow of the Comet, another game based on the Cthulhu Mythos by Infogrames.
- Aleister Publications is named after the English occultist, novelist and painter Aleister Crowley.