From beyond the entryway I heard thunder, and a strong wind. I looked up and noticed that a storm was brewing on Myst Island. I picked myself up from the floor and tried to figure out what to do next.
In my two back pockets I held the pages needed by Sirrus and Achenar from the Channelwood Age. I wasn't sure if I had wanted to give them the pages just yet. I had too many questions that needed answering, and I still wasn't sure who was supposed to be imprisoned.
Which brother was guilty of destroying the library? It was hard for me to say. Both of the brothers seemed to have their bad side. This is going to be difficult to sort out.
So far my theory was that since Atrus had allowed his two sons to travel to the various worlds unsupervised, they both had become a little out of control. They became so far out of control that one of them destroyed the library.
In all but one of the worlds I had reached from Myst, I encountered two rooms, designed for residence, each of which seemed very opposite of each other.
The Stoneship Age. Two underground bedrooms. One was an elegant hideaway, the other was a twisted private lair.
The Mechanical Age. Two throne rooms. One was literally fit for a king of wealth and power, the other fit for a cruel sadistic tyrant.
The Channelwood Age. Two bedrooms. One bedroom for a man of wealth and inhibition, the other a sinister torture chamber.
The Selentic Age. None.
There were no quarters in the Selentic Age. Why? How did the Selentic Age differ from the others.
I went back to the journals and quickly ran through the pages. In each age Atrus had created, he continued building, and inventing. Instead of letting each Age go along on its natural course, he intervened and added technology to each age, for the benefit of the inhabitants or him....
The inhabitants.
The Selentic Age had no inhabitants. None whatsoever. When Atrus came to the Selentic Age, he found it void of life, and yet continued to build in order to learn more for himself.
The two sets of quarters only existed on worlds with living beings on them. So, perhaps it means that Sirrus and Achenar preferred Ages in which there were people around.
I had partial evidence to conclude that Sirrus and Achenar had been rulers of the Mechanical Age. What if they ruled all the inhabited Ages?
I suppose for Sirrus and Achenar such a feat would not be all that difficult. They were the sons of Atrus, the man who created those Ages. How difficult would it be for them to use their family heritage to control the inhabitants? To manipulate these people into doing their bidding?
I remember the note written from Achenar to Sirrus. Sirrus had taxed the inhabitants heavily, using the wealth for his own desires. He bathed himself in shallow riches at the expense of the natural inhabitants.
And Achenar. Achenar had indeed left behind a trail of a twisted mentality. Torture chambers, bodies buried in chests, strange experiments with chemicals. His sadistic imagination was satisfied by harming or killing the inhabitants of the Ages.
Both of them had the motive to destroy the library. Figuring out which one was guilty would require more information.
I still had the dagger with me from the Channelwood Age. I felt a little more safer with some form of defense. Since Sirrus appeared to be smaller than Achenar, I would add the page to Sirrus' book first. But if he was guilty, how was I going to get him back inside.
I opened up the book and added the page. Sirrus smiled at me, and every bone in my body felt cold. He still had that evil sophisticated look to himself. (It must be the goatee). I half expected him to reach up and do something horrific, but he didn't.
Sirrus stayed in the book. He must still need more pages. "Thank you," Sirrus said. "Now there is one final page for you to get for me...."
"But," I said. "How can I be sure--"
Sirrus interruped me. "Be sure about what? Be sure you are letting the right one go? You know what sort of twisted mind Achenar is. My brother conquered the Ages of Myst Island, murdering and plundering everything in his path. He destroyed the library, destroying with it hundreds of Ages. How could you even consider releasing him from his prison?"
"Where is the final page?" I asked
"In the fireplace."
I looked over into the fireplace and looked around the inside walls. On one wall was a button, but nothing else.
Sirrus yelled out to me from the confines of the book. "You must close the fireplace and enter a pattern onto the door. The pattern is found in the strange book in the bookcase."
I vaguely remembered the book Sirrus was talking about. Each page was numbered (roughly 300 of them), and each page contained a wierd pattern of squares on a grid.
"Enter pattern 158 into the fireplace," Sirrus said. "Bring me the final red page. Leave the blue page where it is!"
"Oh," Sirrus added. "You will also see a green book. Do not touch it. The book is a trap, it will imprison you like these books have imprisoned me and my brother. It would be wise if you avoid it at all costs."
I went back to the book and looked at Sirrus. "If you release me," he said, "you will be greatly rewarded." No. I didn't want to release Sirrus yet. There was still a great deal of doubt in my mind.
Well, now I knew what to do to get the final page. Should I consult with Achenar? Sirrus did mention that there was another blue page out there, so I knew that Achenar couldn't escape with just the page I had on me.
I opened the blue book and gave Achenar the blue page. Achenar appeared very pleased, like a destructive child that was given a hammer for his birthday. I went through the same song and dance that I did with Sirrus and Achenar had played the part just like I imagined. Only of course Sirrus conquered the worlds, and burned the library. Sirrus' greed had plundered the lands, that sort of thing. Achenar tried to warn his father but Sirrus had gotten to Atrus first. Atrus banned both of them into the red and blue books until Atrus could find the answers himself.
Achenar also said that Sirrus had killed Atrus. My heart skipped a beat when I heard this. I knew there was the possibility that both Atrus and Catherine could be dead, but to have my fears brought to life was an entirely different thing. If Achenar was telling the truth then I was dependant upon him for getting home.
Achenar also mentioned the fireplace, like Sirrus did. I was to enter the pattern on page 158 into the fireplace door. I still wasn't exactly sure how to do that, but I'd figure it out once I actually made it to the fireplace.
I walked back to the bookcase and found the book with the patterns. I opened it up and flipped through the pages when a slip of paper had fallen out from the book. It was the note that I found in the Stoneship Age. Half of it, to be exact.
I remembered that I still had the other half of the note with me, so I decided to put them together and see what the whole thing would have said.
Marker Switch Vault Access
Island of Myst
The vault is located in very plain view on
the Island of Myst, and access can be
achieved very easily if the simple
instructions are followed. First, locate
each of the Marker Switches on the island.
Turn every one of these switches to the
"on" position. Then go to the dock and
as a final step, turn the Marker Switch
there to the "off" position.
Strange. I wonder what the vault held? Another puzzle for me to figure out, and perhaps it'd give me more clues as to which brother was guilty.
I braved the dark night and hurried outside. The wooden beams were wet from the rain so I had to run with caution. I went down the concrete embankment to the dock where my adventure on this island had first begun. The wind here was much stronger and the waves were crashing over the dock itself.
I clung onto the marker switch podium and flipped the switch on top. Suddenly, an access panel on the front of the switch opened, and a white piece of paper was revealed. The vault was in the marker switch itself! I grabbed the paper and rushed back towards the library. Strange. With the cold wind all around me, the page itself seemed warm to the touch.
The page was a little damp but nonetheless undamaged. It was a thin white piece of paper jagged along one edge suggesting it was ripped out of a book. I tried to read it, but the text on the page itself was very cryptic, similar to the red and blue pages. Whatever this information was, it was important. Sirrus had deliberately hidden this information.
And so did Achenar. The first half of the note was in one of Achenar's quarters, the second half was in one of Sirrus' quarters.
Remember my dear brother, take only one page.
Achenar and Sirrus were collaborating!
I grabbed the book of patterns and rushed into the fireplace. I pushed the button on the inside and a solid steel door closed down on the entrance. There were bars on the door giving the fireplace the look of a tiny prison cell.
Underneath the bars the surface was bare and smooth. I reached to touch the surface, when a section of the door became indented. A square indentation, to be exact. This must be where I enter in the pattern.
I flipped the book to page 158 and mapped out the pattern onto the door of the fireplace. I then pushed the red button again, and suddenly the fireplace revolved around, knocking me onto my butt.
The fireplace did a complete 180 degree turn and the door opened, revealing a brick wall with recessed shelves. On the bottom shelf were the red and blue pages, and on the shelf above was a green book.
If I was right about this, then the green book should be the right move to make. If I'm wrong, and Sirrus and Achenar were telling the truth, then I would be trapped like them.
I only had three choices. How long should I mull around about it. Sirrus and Achenar were the only two people I've met so far. Catherine and Atrus were missing at best. But then again, I really doubt that either Achenar or Sirrus would have the power to bring me back home.
I opened the green book. A man appeared on the crisp white pages. He looked older, with gray streaks in his black hair and beard. It was Atrus. I remembered his image as it appeared in the imager in the forechamber. He was busy writing in a book of some sort. He looked up at me as if he never expected to see anyone. "Who the devil are you?"
I was about to reach towards Atrus, but he held his arm up. "No, wait. Don't come here to D'ni. Not yet. I am trapped here, and there is a page I need. It's a white page."
I looked down at the white page I held in my hands. I held it up towards him so he could see it.
"Yes, that's it," Atrus said. "That's the one I need."
Clutching the white page in my hand, I reached towards Atrus.....