Been reading this over and over trying to make sense of it, it has the potential to be a very big deal but I'm not sure. I'll go over what's pretty certain. [quote]I SEE YOU!!! You’ve been here before. Haven’t you. It’s like my cousin said, elsewhere: I know who you are.[/quote] Not sure what to make of this, the "I SEE YOU!" implies they feel accomplished at finally finding whoever they are speaking to, going on the full caps and exclamation marks. I'm not sure what to make of the cousin comment, I can't think of many who could be speaking in this card who would have a cousin, though I doubt it refers to a literal cousin. [quote]You stand here now and now and now many times and here I am awonder, all awonder, how you manage it. How do you step forward. How do you step back. Do you step ACROSS is there a world of worlds, a web, and you a spider upon it. Are you searching for that one thread you need? Is that thread named victory? [/quote] This lends credit to the idea of multiple timelines, it also suggests that the one found is the exo stranger, as we know her to be very elusive as well as jumping between timelines searching for the right one, where black heart is destroyed. Could rapsutin be talking to the exo stranger? [quote]You’re not one of THEM [long dead, alive again, their bodies grafted to powers they and I do not understand] [/quote] This clearly refers to guardians, although the italic text is curious. Is it someone else talking or simply an explanation? It fits with the stranger, as she could be mistaken for a guardian. [quote]and not one of IT [the flower eater, the queen of final shapes, that which also inhabits its petitioners] [/quote] The darkness. Interesting note is the name "Flower eater", which references when Rasputin saw it devour the garden and suggests Rasputin is the one talking in italics. [quote]and you’re certainly not MINE although once you must have been [I bear an old name. It cannot be killed. Not even here.][/quote] This is interesting, it clearly suggests that the one talking is linked to the one found in some way, though certainly not a direct, significant manner or the two would know eachother better. The italic text again references Rasputin and implies it is him talking in it. What is "not even here" though? [quote]So whose are you, little platform. What purpose do you serve? Will you listen to me? I ruled an age of steel and fire. My rules were clean. Now upon my return I see cults with rites of time. I see machines who worship in places outside the world. I see the dead alive and there is nothing more stubborn than a corpse. The morality of obedience is more pernicious than any government. For the latter makes use of violence, but the former — the corruption of the will.[/quote] Little platform works for the stranger, but also for Rasputin, though not as well. "I ruled an age" and "My rules were clean", these imply the one talking controlled the golden age. We know Rasputin pretty much ran the golden age but is it likely he was a sort of ruler or saw himself as such? It kind of makes sense that the one talking would be the traveller based on this. "Cults with rites of time" A bit rushed so I'm gonna leave this one up for debate atm. "Machine who worship" The vex. "The dead alive." Again, guardians. "There is nothing more stubborn than a corpse." If it is the traveller speaking this implies that creating the guardians was not its intention upon its death, in which case why did it release the ghosts? Ran out of time so I'll have to end it here for the moment, be back later.