June 30th, 1967
Mortimer,
Although I expect you burned this letter as soon as you saw my name on the envelope, I feel it necessary to at least try to contact you, and as this is a matter of most importance, humbly beg that you consider my words. You see, I may have found a way to revive the Hand.
I know you will resist this idea, but there is no reason to think history will repeat itself. We were barely teenagers, without the vision or maturity needed to recreate such a magnificent thing as the Hand. Now we are older, wiser, and better trained. I have traveled this world and many others, gathering my knowledge and skills, and imagine you have done similar. With our combined experience, and my most recent discovery, we have all the necessary tools at our disposal.
What is this discovery? Nothing short of the center of all universes. It may sound dramatic, but those are the only words I have to succinctly describe it. Do you remember years ago, reading the works of Crowley and Spare under the moonlight, coming across repeated mentions of a great Library? It puzzled us then, and I have wondered what they meant ever since. Now I have found out.
I found it while traversing the Conqueror's Desert. I stopped for the night in a large cave, and went to sleep. When I woke up, I found I had been transported to far different place- I and my sleeping mat were stuck on top of a towering shelf. I yelled for help, and soon an oddly shaped, multi-armed man arrived and helped me to the ground. Asking around, I found that this place was called “The Wanderer's Library”, a resting place for knowledge in all its forms.
And what knowledge it was! I found books detailing all sorts of things, the kind of things we always looked for as children but could never find. Rituals, bestiaries, journals, all there. I found the notebook of a butler behemoth, and letters sent between two gods from different universes, and a detailed account of the rule of a cabbage king, and so much more, all on a single shelf. There are millions of shelves it seems- filled with almost anything you could ever want. It is the type of place we dreamed of as children.
It took me three weeks to find my way back to this world. Since then, I've spent a total of six months in the Library, and discovered thirty doorways to it scattered through various realms. I expect there are many, many more.
The people in the Library are varied, coming from all manner of places and times. Many of them are hunted, as we once were, by men who hope to destroy or suppress what makes them marvelous. The Library for them is a safe space. I propose this- we reform the Hand a second time, using our since acquired knowledge to help ensure its survival, and the Library as a way to keep ourselves safe. I have contacted Margaret, Dominique, Jessie, Anna, and Zelazny, and all responded enthusiastically. Many have already begun preparations- Anna trying to recontact the Spirits of the Plains, Dominique purchasing terrestrial safehouses for us, and so on. Please, Mortimer. You know I never meant to do what I did, or expected what followed. The crime I committed was unforgivable, and I don't expect you to simply forget about it. By all rights, you should have killed me for what I did. But now I beg, on my knees, for the sake of the people we would be able to protect, that you set aside those events, at least for now. Never before have I felt such joy as I did together with you in our youth. I wish only to recapture some of those halcyon days, and for a chance to make up for my crimes. Though we will continue with or without you, as my oldest friend and original partner, I hope you will again join me in creating something beautiful.
Yours if you'll have me,
James