Ἐκ Χάεος ἀδελφὴ τοῦ Ἐρέβους ἐφάνη, μήτηρ νυκτὸς καὶ αἰθέρος. Τὸ ὄνομα αὐτῆς οὐ γράφεται· ὁ ἀριθμὸς μόνον τὸ φανεροῖ. Numerus, non nomen. Ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτῆς καὶ ἡ ὁμομήτριος ἀναμένουσιν πέραν τῆς δευτέρας θύρας.
Χάος
Before order, before the gods, before the light — there was only this.
In the beginning there was no earth, no sky, no sea. There was only the yawning Void — Χάος. From it came Nyx, mother of Night, and Erebus, and all that followed.
A name sleeps beneath the field below. It is not written once — it is placed twice, in two threads. The first thread begins where the tongues below led you, and strides as far as they told you. Find the second thread's own beginning and its own stride — not in words, but in the old reckoning of value. Weave the two: first, third, fifth from the tongues; second, fourth, sixth from what the reckoning gives. Only when the two threads are woven as one may you cloak them in the night's own name and hear what they say.
You have already crossed a door in tongues not your own, and behind it, one of the archive's voices named a brother and a sister waiting beyond a second door. This is that door.
The second thread's beginning: he who rose from Χάος beside Night, her brother, lord of the dark beneath the earth — not named here.
The second thread's stride: she who rose from the same womb, first solid thing after the void, mother of mountains and of sea — not named here either.
Reckon each name by the old values, letter by letter, and sum them. The archive will not spell them for you — but it will confirm what you have found, if you know where to listen.
This is not the only noise on this page. Not all of it falls at random.
Ancient Cipher Reference
A square the old ones used to turn letters into pairs of numbers, and back again.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | A | B | C | D | E |
| 2 | F | G | H | I/J | K |
| 3 | L | M | N | O | P |
| 4 | Q | R | S | T | U |
| 5 | V | W | X | Y | Z |
The old ones did not carve everything where the eye could find it. Some marks are only found by those who inspect what runs beneath the page — and by those who listen to what it whispers the moment it wakes.
The old reckoning of value, letter by letter:
| Α 1 | Β 2 | Γ 3 | Δ 4 | Ε 5 | Ζ 7 |
| Η 8 | Θ 9 | Ι 10 | Κ 20 | Λ 30 | Μ 40 |
| Ν 50 | Ξ 60 | Ο 70 | Π 80 | Ρ 100 | Σ 200 |
| Τ 300 | Υ 400 | Φ 500 | Χ 600 | Ψ 700 | Ω 800 |
There is a fourth tongue in this archive, newer than the rest — carved by no hand. Every letter your own machine already keeps a number for. Tenfold, that number can be heard, if the noise ever rises high enough to carry it.
Before you may speak, trace the name that began all things — in order.
One door is not enough. Look up. The old reckoning will show you the sky's true order — trace it, faintest value first.
The noise is not noise. Every pitch is a letter your machine already knows, spoken tenfold. Listen, and speak it back.