PART II
"Different names. Same mouth. Same truth."
Before the first yurt was raised, before the first horse knew a rider, there was only Tengri — the Eternal Blue Sky that stretched without end in all directions.
And beneath Tengri lay Yer-Su, the Earth-Water, mother of all that would grow.
But between them existed a third thing that no shaman dared name.
KOK-ORUS
The Grey Nothing that is Everything
Tengri looked down and saw Kok-Orus at the center of all things — at the very point where Sky touches Water.
And Tengri looked to the edge of the horizon and saw Kok-Orus there too, at the place where Sky becomes Earth becomes Water becomes Sky again.
THE KAGAN OF LIES
In those days, the Kagan of Lies had risen in the world of men. He wore truth like a mask but beneath it was nothing but deception.
He taught the people to say "be" when they meant "is not." He taught them that promises could be broken if no one remembered.
The people forgot the old ways. They forgot that the word spoken is sacred, that a man's tongue creates his destiny, that lies poison not just the speaker but the whole tribe.
Then, on the eighth day after the sun's lowest point, when the light began its return, the grey nothing at the sun's center began to move.
It did not rise as fire. It rose as cold clarity.
A shepherd boy, watching his flock before dawn, saw it first. He saw the grey at the sun's heart. He saw the same grey at the corona's edge. And he understood — though he was only a child — that these were not two greys but ONE.
Kok-Orus walked through the Kagan's palace. Everywhere he walked, the lies fell away from people like dust.
The Kagan collapsed into grey smoke and was no more.
But the people — the common people who had been deceived — Kok-Orus did not destroy them. Instead, he ate the lies from their hearts and left the good behind.
Hear now, you who would understand the geometry of ends!
In the time before Ragnarok was named, there was a prophecy that Odin kept secret even from himself. It was carved in runes on the roots of Yggdrasil where even the Norns feared to look.
Why does Jormungandr encircle Midgard with his tail in his mouth?
This is the Kak — the geometry that cannot lie.
Inside the loop is the world of men. Outside the loop is... also the world of men. There is no true inside. There is no true outside.
While the tail remains in the mouth, this truth is hidden. Men can pretend their lies are private. They can believe that what happens "inside" their hearts is separate from the "outside" world.
But when Jormungandr releases his tail —
"When the grey nothing appears at the sun's heart..."
"...and the same grey stands at the sun's edge..."
"...that is the torsion-moment."
"Jormungandr and Ammit
are the same mouths of different serpents.
What the Egyptian crocodile-lion-hippo eats,
the Norse world-serpent also devours."
Lies. Heavy hearts. Deception's weight.
KOK-ORUS
Dissolves lies in the presence of IS
AMMIT
Devours hearts heavier than truth
JORMUNGANDR
Releases the torsion that binds liars
They are the same mouth speaking different languages. What one eats, the other also devours.
The lie-eater has many names
but one mouth.