To: All Heroes of Light

[hiddentruth]

[ This letter comes in a black envelope. ]

Fellow Heroes of Light.

In the aftermath of our battle with Palitutu, questions have arisen as to how we will face the Emperor. Some amongst us are following what lead we have on the Calamity, others are trying save what can be saved or find what clues those before left for us. However, Garland's defeat will mean nothing if the Calamity is allowed to devour all worlds.

We have been told countless time victory is impossible, yet evidently this hasn't deterred us-- If anything all attempts to discourage us have only served to renforce our convictions, our belief in an eventual victory. And whilst I do share this belief, time is running short.

But nothing is set in stone. Thus my question: what are your plans to deal with the Calamity?

— Parasraya Purana

Comments

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Doctor,

The plan to divert the broken parts of the Calamity through the Soul Divider of this world is a good one. Essentially, if the Calamity is seeking wholeness, Jade's plan can get it to reabsorb those broken pieces of itself.

I am still planning on finishing the Rift Manipulator, a way in to the Interdimensional Rift. The entity behind the Calamity can be reasoned with, it has become curious about us before, there's the existence of the Avatars.

But. Now there might be more than one thing inside the Rift. Either that, or the nature of the being is something that we are having trouble comprehending. What we encountered after Palitutu is nothing like what we encountered when we were all drawn there through a shared partial psychic transference event last year. Is Shakyamuni the entirety of the Calamity? Does she have more than once face?

Does it matter? I have to try to communicate before I let anyone just destroy it.

If you were looking for where to help, Jade could use it the most, my path is set for the next little while. Or perhaps Sephiroth. In order to get to the Soul Divider, we'll need to get back to the Crystal Life Tree, and the lady who was heading up those trips is no longer with us.

-Jack Harkness

[hiddentruth]

Dear Jack;

Whilst I wish for Jade's plan to come to fruition, it has one fatal flaw. The Calamity has been described to us as a god-like entity made of countless dead worlds. I doubt Crystallis could accommodate such an entity. In simple terms, it would be alike to fitting an elephant into a mousehole.

I do, however, share in your belief the Calamity doesn't have to be destroyed. There has to be an alternative. I simply hope all the others will be open to those alternatives rather than let their primal instincts and misplaced ethics blind them.

— Parasraya Purana

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Doctor,

Previously, I would have agreed with you. However, a few Heroes brought back knowledge from my timeline. Knowledge that is specifically designed to be able to handle amounts of energy that should be too much. There's a race from my world, the Time Lords. Scientific geniuses that largely didn't share their contributions with anyone else. Luckily, I know the one exception, kind of the black sheep of the Time Lord family. I'd give the plan better odds now.

The Calamity, it's a life form, unlike anything even I've ever heard of before. But I also worry because spending so much time in isolation might also have driven such a life form mad.

Speaking of finding an alternative, though. I also did want to speak to you about something. What we saw in the portal. "Dr. Sumati." Normally I'd go to Chiaki or Kidd about this, and they were there, too, but

I already know what they'd say.

-Jack

[hiddentruth]

Dear Jack;

I wish I could share in your optimism. Whilst I do not see the possibility of success in your idea, I wish you all the best in accomplishing.

And ah yes, Sumati. She reminded me greatly of someone I once knew. Based on your collective reaction, it is safe to assume she held a special significance to you?

— Parasraya Purana

[theendiswherewestartfrom]

Doctor,

She did. Or, I thought she did. Did you ever meet the Lady Kalki? One of our adversaries, on the surface of it, but also someone that has given us more reliable information than anyone else. One of the Avatars of the Calamity. Supposedly, she is dead, but I can't believe that.

Dr. Sumati presented a problem. You see, Kalki is a doppelganger, a reincarnation of a former Hero who was brought into this world's Cycle of Souls when they failed to stop the Calamity. Is Dr. Sumati that original Hero? Was that her world that we saw? Does it even matter, though? It has crossed my mind that the Hero, let's suppose it was Dr. Sumati, was one of the Heroes who tried to bargain with the Calamity last cycle, and who led to the creation of the Black Crystals, like we saw Palitutu using. If I were to ask Chiaki, we'd get hung up on that detail, and wonder whether or not her world was supposed to be destroyed? Maybe it doesn't matter at all.

But we created her. We met her, when we were thrown back in time, to Aqures Tosf. It was her, and she was merely a doppelganger, a worker at the lab. Then. She fell into the Crystal of Fire. I have no idea what happened to her between then and when she re-emerged as an Avatar. But it was us.

It was my fault.

I tried too hard to stop the destruction of Aqures Tosf, thought I could solve it like I always did, and it scared her. People try to tell me that it would have always happened that way, the way the Time Vortex works here, there is no affecting the timestream. I can't believe that. I know that time works differently. It was my fault.

And then, she was gone. We returned to the present, and she wasn't here. I couldn't ask why she had sent us to the past in the first place. I couldn't apologize. I saw such despair in her, when we met her. Did I cause that? I know better than to take responsibility for her actions. Those are on her head alone. But for causing her pain? That I wish I could apologize for.

-Jack