The Black Sky

The Black Sky goes by a hundred names. To begin with, we list them, in order of their relevance, in order of their power; when the Black Sky can hide from us, during the morning of Oros we can call to it with its Great Names, the first ten names, the Great Names. During the great night, the night of Aura, we can call to it with the last ninety names, names that were written in the Dream of Mariacallow. The Great Names were the first on her tongue, the tongue that spoke in the Dream and informed the mind of Genevieve, the tongue that spoke out the Plans of Mariacallow to the mind and the hand of Genevieve. And before Genevieve had built the lights of Oros and Aura, before there was day and night, there was the Black Sky, the First Night, the Long Night of Beginnings, the Open Sky, the Primal Sky, the Genesis Sky, the Void, the Starless Night, the Night Before Nights, the Secret Night. And those were the Great Names for the Black Sky; firstly "Black Sky," but "Black Sky" is not the proper name, but it is the Common name, and the name that Mariacallow herself would name it. She would say it, over and over again, in the Dream and she would know it, if she would speak it, as The Black Sky. It is the tongue of Mariacallow that breathes out the first ten names, the Great Names: The Black Sky, The First Night, The Long Night Of Beginnings, The Open Sky, The Primal Sky, The Genesis Sky, The Void, The Starless Night, The Night Before Nights, The Secret Night. These are the names by which you can call the Black Sky during the daylight, during the morning of Oros. You will call it, try to call it, and you must say each of the Great Names, in order, to call down the spirit of it. The spirit of it, the blackness of it, is not that of a man or a woman, but of space. It is darkness and space and it breathes and it thinks like a man or a woman. In the night time, in the night of Aura, there is an ease in the Black Sky, but it does not respond to the Great Names; it will ignore them in the darkness of Aura's dim light. And so to call it, you must call it by the Lesser Names; the Ninety Names. They are, in order, 11. Ira, 12. Iras, 13. Ita, 14. Itas, 15. Irasita, 16. Irasitas, 17. The Bell, 18. Oroauranox, 19. Noroauranox, 20. Belistas, 21. The Silence, 22. The Silencis, 23. The Silent Bell, 24. Hora, 25. Horanox, 26. Belis, 27. Iranox, 28. Expis, 29. Maria's Worry, 30. Maria's Dread, 31. Maria's Canvas, 32. The Heavy, 33. The Silent Scream, 34. The Colorless, 35. The Expanse, 36. Isora, 37. Isoras, 38. Isorata, 39. Isoratas, 40. Goldenleaven, 41. The Ebon, 42. The Waste, 43. The Beginnings, 44. The Chapter, 45. Cora, 46. Coras, 47. Corali, 48. Coralis, 49. Sitro, 50. Sitros, 51. The X, 52. The Loop, 53. The Empty, 54. The Great Empty, 55. The First Empty, 56. Orosnox, 57. Auranox, 58. Orosnoxaura, 59. The Shrill, 60. The Dreamscape, 61. The Dreaming, 62. The Dreamt, 63. The Dreamer's Panel, 64. The Dreamer's Canvas, 65. Nothing, 66. Notori, 67. Nortis, 68. Nortoris, 69. The Dreamer's End, 70. The Dreamer's Begin, 71. The Grand Begin, 72. The Grand March Empty, 73. The Grand March Beyond, 74. The Beyond, 75. The Black Elsewhere, 76. The Black Elsewhen, 77. The Black, 78. The Great Elsewhere's Beginning, 79. The Great Elsewhere's End, 80. The Great Elsewhere's Closet, 81. The Great Elsewhere's Stop, 82. Irifis, 83. Irifist, 84. The Unspoke, 85. The Silent Carol, 86. The Elsedark, 87. The Elseblack, 88. The Drift, 89. All In All.