text; open discussion (threadjacking encouraged)

[promiselisting]

[ It'd kinda taken a backseat with everything else going on, but there's still something that's been bothering her a bit. She could just dismiss it as a kid making things up but... after everything she's experienced here, and back home, she's got a gut feeling there's more to it.

She can't search the internet like she used to but... well that doesn't mean crowdsourcing is off the table. ]

Hey, did anybody else run into a weird girl on their first day here? A little kid, blonde hair.

Also does anybody know what the name of this "linkshell" means? Kali Shashidhwaja. She mentioned that, along with telling me that "she" would try to hurt me if I ever lost it and was alone.

[ As a final note, she added the two pictures the girl had doodled, described as follows: " There was a crude drawing of a feminine figure with purple eyes standing over what appeared to be the corpses of a human and a moogle, looking a bit eerily similar to Futaba and her moogle even though the drawing was crude. " Along with "This time the figures looking like Futaba and her moogle were standing alive, and were surrounded by other figures. They faced toward the purple-eyed figure, who seemed to be fleeing."

And now, to see what information others might have... ]

Comments

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[acceptedlife]

[He's suddenly glad this is just text, because he... He knows the five depicted here.]

[...]

The four who sacrificed themselves...

[There's a long pause between that and the next text.]

These are depictions from the world I was on before we were saved from the Dream Width. If I had to guess, the four people with the crystals in their hands are meant to represent the four of our number who paid the ultimate price to see the "goddess's" plans fail.

[Another pause...]

Kalki- she wanted to destroy the concept of life and death altogether, and used the black crystals to become like a goddess in order to do it. We killed her, but what she was an aspect of demanded that four give their lives in order to stop the further destruction of other worlds. One of them- was a roommate of mine, and to see depictions of those events here...

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[spaceforged]

[...he hadn't expected this. It takes him a few minutes to process what he's been told. How to approach this? First of all,]

I'm sorry.

[He leaves it open for the person to take however they like before he continues.]

If this is too painful to discuss I won't trouble you with it. But if you can I have a few questions. You don't have to answer now. I'm willing to wait until you're ready.

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[acceptedlife]

I'm fine. They chose it willingly, and I'm not about to dishonor their choice now.

[Not that it doesn't hurt, but... if he stopped at every loss, he wouldn't have taken a single step forward in his life.]

Go ahead. Ask away.

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[spaceforged]

She called it a creation myth. And the linkshell name. Kali Shashidhwaja.

Does that sound familiar?

text; whoo boy INCOMING INFO DUMP

[acceptedlife]

...It does, yes.

[Give him a minute. This is a lot of information to type out.]

I mentioned earlier on another reply, but I'll repeat it here: in Crystallis, the world I came from before this... "Kali Shashidhwaja" was a term used for the Heroes of Light by the Ancients, and "Heroes of Light" being those who were summoned to the world used in the time I was called there. Along with people I came to know as friends and family.

As for the creation myth... What I'm about to share is long, and unfortunately incomplete. Some parts of what happened I can't fully remember, but I remember enough to answer these.

The Calamity of the Skies. That was the threat we were called from different worlds to stop. What the keepers of the cycle - some crystal tree thing (wasn't there on that mission, don't know the details other than those who went there shut it down permanently) and Chaos - wanted us to do was sacrifice ourselves and our worlds to renew the cycle of life and death. We said no and chose a third option.

We destroyed the mechanism that siphoned life from other worlds, and we killed Chaos. But when we did, Kalki showed up. She possessed one of the best of us after one of us got a lucky hit on her and killed her, and the rest of us fell into a sort of sleep for five years. I don't know all the details about that, but according to my master, she heard a woman's voice before she fell unconscious.

She'd nearly destroyed the planet by the time we woke up. Chose four champions from us called Archfiends, who we had to defeat in order to reach her. We did, and in the end, killed her and saved our comrade. But that wouldn't have stopped the Calamity. After thousands of years, all it and the souls and melodies contained within knew as an entity was destruction. So, four of our own stepped up to guide it into creating a world where they could all be reborn. Live the lives that were taken from them before their time.

... I wish my memory wasn't so messed up, but. There's one more thing.

The purple eyes. That was a common trait of those who were possessed by the Calamity, and those of the repressed versions of ourselves a lot of us called forth to face before the final confrontation. I'd know. I was one of them that did it.

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[spaceforged]

[That is a lot of information. It fills in some holes and as he reads over it a second time that nagging worry only gets worse.]

It's fine. You can't help how messed up your memories are. Thank you for telling me what you could. It's a great help.

So, this world is likely the one created? If that's the case...this goddess being mentioned by a moogle and by a girl. What do you think that means?

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[acceptedlife]

No problem. Saw enough of my fair share of people hoarding information from one another. Don't want that happening here when we'll likely need to work together.

I'm not sure. I may be familiar with how this world likely came to be, but I'm still just as new to what it actually is just like everyone else. It could be her again. She died before the others, but. It could be someone else entirely for all I know.

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[spaceforged]

So we know how it started, but the rest is going to be up to all of us to uncover. We'll know enough to watch for any signs of calamity or correlations.

Whatever reason we're here and why...I agree. We'll need to work together to push through.

I'll still check into how these legends are being told. I want to see what they think and it might give us a lead or two.

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[acceptedlife]

Right. The warning that girl gave the OP. Not sure what it all means, but I think it's safe to say part of it is "don't go it alone."

I'm curious about what they think happened, too.

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[spaceforged]

Her focus on this 'her' whether it's the past trouble or not, there is a she we need to watch for.

I'll keep everyone updated about what I find. Or what I don't find if nothing comes up.

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[acceptedlife]

Which eliminates about 50% of all known race populations.

Same here.

Name's Ira, by the way. Though I'm starting to think I should go by an old alias of mine to not get confused with a body of water.

[Especially considering he's based off a guy whose name means land.]

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[spaceforged]

Yes, but that's 50% less to worry about.

I'm Shiro. [His marker on this is way longer than that but he might shorten it later with Wimbledon's help.]

Up to you if you want to switch. I think at best they'll just notice there's a connection and ask.

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[acceptedlife]

Fair enough. Nice to meet you, Shiro.

[Hey man, his could have been worse. Like Ira's was before he replied the first time. He had to ask Moglina to help change it so it didn't still read as what he is and not who he is.]

Which will get annoying about the fifteenth time I have to explain it. Get enough of that just because I look a lot like my brother.

[A partial lie, but he isn't going to say he's a replica over public channels.]

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[jeido]

[Jade had been following most of the discussion in this post, but this--this thread catches his eye for more reasons than one, and after a few moments of silence, he decides to dive in.]

Pardon me, but would it be possible for you to name the four that sacrificed themselves?

[There's something he needs to confirm, for better or for worse.]

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[acceptedlife]

Sephiroth
Tear Grants
Sayaka Miki
Minato Arisato

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[jeido]

[Tear Grants.

Jade lets out a deep breath he didn't quite realize he was holding, unsure if he wanted this confirmation at all. As such, it is a while before Jade responds, even if he already had his follow-up question in mind, unsettled by this reveal.]

Thank you for the information. This might seem like a strange question, but do any of the places in this world remind you of them?

[It seems like a jump given just one place, but if it could happen to Tear's true name, then perhaps it might happen too for these other people that were mentioned.]

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[acceptedlife]

It isn't. Been wondering the same really since before that news bulletin about the incident at the Lake of Ira, so I looked at a map.

Sephiroth was a military leader both back in his homeworld and in Crystallis. Didn't speak to him much, but he always had this cold and standoffish presence off-duty. Don't know if that changed around people he knew or not.

I never really got to meet Tear outside of battle, she was one of our best healers and support. Particularly with her songs. That both guilds are within the kingdom to the south of here seems more than a coincidence.

Never met Sayaka, but Minato? He was my roommate for a while. Arito sounds exactly like a place he'd visit, if not stay.

[He'd elaborate more, but... It'd only been a month or so for him when he awoke on that ship, regardless of the month spent in the Rift- shit that's something else he should share. Later.]

The other towns and regions are also familiar. Like the lake I mentioned. It shares a name with me.

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[studdedcouncilprez]

[Since talking with Futaba, Makoto is also pouring over the responses, looking over information that she thinks is relevant. The info dump was exactly what she was looking for.]

First, I want to thank you for being forthcoming with your information.

That was very brave of you and you deserve to be commended for your earnestness.

The information was also very helpful, particularly about the events that happened in that previous world. The commonalities of those event and these are too similar not to be a coincidence.

In your opinion, do you believe that a remnant of the calamity had survived the reformation of that world and somehow managed to take root in this one?

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[acceptedlife]

Like I said to the other guy, I just don't want a repeat of what I witnessed before I was summoned to that previous world. Because I thought so, too. There's too many common threads that even if I wanted to stay silent on it, I couldn't.

[He'd argue it wasn't bravery, that it was a survival instinct that annoyingly got drilled into his thick skull, but that'd be wasting time.]

That's just it. If what she said was true, then the events that led to the end of the cycle in the other world would have used all of the calamity to make this one.

[studdedcouncilprez]

[She would argue back that bravery takes many forms. The courage to return to a painful point in time and to use that knowledge to inform others around him... That may be a discussion for another time, at any rate.]

Interesting.

If I am understanding this right, I can see two possibilities that could lead to this event.

Either a remnant of the Calamity that somehow survived and was transplanted into this world, or this is a person that knew of that history and is attempting to use the imagery to evoke a response.

That also raises two questions. If its the first scenario, then how did that remnant survive? And if its the second scenario, then how did they get such an accurate depiction of one affect by the calamity -- and for what purpose?

[acceptedlife]

Wish I knew. Though there are two elements in play on Crystallis that I forgot to mention earlier: reincarnation and melodies.

Anyone who died would be reborn in that world. Powerful souls, like Chaos, would regain their memories over time. We also learned that the melodies were the key, and it was those four Heroes' melodies the calamity needed to help reform it.

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[jeido]

[...Too much of this is more than coincidence, and he'd be a fool to turn a blind eye to it. And while Jade might be a little more doubtful about this information another time, the way everything eerily fits in is truly uncanny, and he doesn't see any reason for Ira to lie about the matter, more less write out such a far-fetched tale in an effort to mess around with everyone on what seems to be a rather serious post.]

I see. The words "Myste Aura" compose part of Tear's true name. She is indeed reliable when it comes to providing support, in addition to being an accomplished songstress. Similarly, "Tatlin" happens to be the surname of a reliable comrade of mine as well. [Did Ira know Anise too, perhaps?] The people at the Curti Center have also given me a rather interesting reception [Read as: bad puns among other things.] due to my surname.

[It's an indirect introduction of sorts--the best he can do for now. While he may be cagey about certain information, it seems worthwhile to be upfront on the matter given the circumstances, especially when Ira has revealed so much.]

That on its own, I'm willing to put up to coincidence given the nature of names and their frequency, but at this point, it's hard for me to believe this is all mere happenstance, especially when I account for everything you've said.

[After some consideration, he sends off a private message to Ira, seeing if this shot in the dark would pay off somehow.]

Please excuse the sudden message, but do you happen to know a Jade Curtiss?

[After Reno's rather interesting reaction, it seems rather prudent to check up on this angle, if anything.]

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[acceptedlife]

Anise, right? Never spoke to her personally, but ran across her a few times.

private text;

[acceptedlife]

[Oh. Oh.]

Yes. I knew one. Honestly, I'm not sure most of us would have made it out alive of some fights without his help. Myself included.

...I was a reckless idiot growing up.

private text;

[jeido]

Is that so... [Jade can't help but wonder a bit about that lattermost comment, but now isn't the time to ask about that.] Thank you for the confirmation. As you may have surmised, I'm unfortunately not the Jade you may have come to know. But I'm quite aware that some people know of another version of me, who I presume fought with Tear and Anise, among many others.