Directly above me was a chandelier. The ceiling was domed and painted to resemble a blue and yellow sky. I didn't remember falling asleep, and yet here I was. The surface I was resting on was hard, smooth and cold. It was all strangely familiar.
The Myst Library.
But how? The last thing I remember, was I was in a cave, on an Age the Black Moiety were hiding in. And there was a dart...
I stood up and looked all around. Something was different. The two display shelves at the opposite ends of the room were bare. But three days ago their surface was still scorched when Atrus burned the Prison Books he trapped his sons in. Did he repair the damage?
I turned towards the back of the room. The main shelf was undamaged, filled with dozens of Books. Nothing was burned, and none of them appeared to have been damaged in any way. In its undamaged state I could make out words carved on the top edge of the shelves: Descriptive Books, Journals, Linking Books.
There was no way Atrus could have fixed this. As far as I knew he was still working on the Riven Book trying to keep the Age stable. Even if he did repair the damage, where would he have obtained these Books?
The covers of the Linking Books all said the same thing. The single word Myst was spelled out across the back spine. A reserve supply of Linking Books, in case of emergencies perhaps. The Descriptive Books had writing along their spines as well. Mechanical, Channelwood....
Wait. Why were these books back here instead of in their hiding places? And why weren't they damaged?
I reached out for the Mechanical Age Book to look it over. My hand passed through the book as though it wasn't even there. I pulled my hand back and stared at my fingers. What was going on? I reached out for the Book again but my hand never made contact with it.
"Hurry up," a voice behind me yelled. "She'll be back any minute."
I turned around, surprised to hear voices. Who else was here? I crept into the corner of the Library next to the painting of the bookshelf. A tall slender man walked into the Library. His outfit was of D'ni origin. He had dark hair combed back, a goatee, and dark brown eyes....
Sirrus.
But how? How did he escape the confines of the Red Prison Book? I leaned back against the shelf almost trembling. I knew what this man was capable of doing. He also knew of me, for I had nearly released him from his prison. Now I was the one who was trapped; trapped in the Library with him.
Sirrus walked closer to where I stood. He reached his hand out towards my body and I ducked. But instead of reaching out for me, his hand went towards the shelf and grabbed two Myst Linking Books. He tucked the Books into his shirt and walked towards the painting of the bookshelf.
"Wait," another voice yelled from outside. The large figure I had come to know as Achenar ran into the room, huffing. He appeared to have exerted himself running. His clothing was nearly identical to that of Sirrus' but it was more disheveled. Achenar's shirt wasn't tucked in and his trousers were dirty.
Sirrus' looked back at his brother and smiled. "Don't hurt yourself, dear brother," he said. He pressed his hand to the painting, and image contorted in a spiriling motion. The cement threshhold of the Library entrance lifted upwards, closing off the entrance. At the same time the bookshelves retracted, forming a staircase leading into a passage. Sirrus and Achenar walked up the steps and down the tunnel.
I watched them walk away in bewilderment. Why didn't they see me? How did they make it back to Myst Island. It was almost as if they were never captured in the first place.
I walked down the tunnel following them. I yelled out their names. They continued walking, giving no response that would suggest that they had heard me. It was as if my role in this was that of an observer. Acts were being played out solely for my benefit.
Sirrus and Achenar entered the elevator and I jumped in with them. From his pocket, Sirrus produced a tiny key and inserted it in the edge surrounding the blue square button. The metal door to the elevator closed and the tiny car began to descend.
I didn't know there was a lower level to the Library.
The car stopped and the door opened up. Sirrus and Achenar both walked out into a large circular room. Directly ahead of the room was an arched hallway. I followed them both as they walked down the hallway. There were doorways on the right and left sides of the hall leading to who knows where.
They both stopped at the end of the hallway where a single door stood. Sirrus paused for a moment, opened the door and walked in with Achenar followed behind.
The room was spacious with a large bed against the back wall. To the left was another room sepreated by an archway. The main room appeared to be someone's bedroom. It had a dresser against the right wall and a closet was in the corner. The smaller room appeared to be a study. Against the back wall was a bookshelf with several books stacked up in a somewhat disordered state. There was a large writing desk leaning against one wall with an oversized electrical lamp overhead. Next to the desk on the floor were several Books stacked in a pile.
Sirrus walked over into the study and searched the back shelf. Achenar kept watch by the door. "I don't see it," Sirrus said.
"I'm telling you I saw it on the shelf," Achenar said. He walked over to the desk and noticed three Books sitting on it. One larger Descriptive Book, and two smaller Linking Books. One Linking Book had a red cover, the other blue. "Hey," he said. "I think Father is working on some more Books."
"Keep an eye on the door, Achenar." Sirrus didn't bother to look down towards his brother.
"But look at this Sirrus," Achenar insisted.
Sirrus turned around and looked at the Descriptive Book. "I've never seen this before. Is it finished?"
Achenar flipped through the pages of the larger Book. "I think it's close, if not done already."
Sirrus paged through the Red and Blue Books casually. "Linking Books," he said. "They go back to the Library." He placed the Books back on the desk and turned back towards the shelf.
After some more searching Sirrus finally found the book he was looking for. "I've got it," he said. He blew dust from the cover and I recognised Gehn's crest underneath. It was the Age Five Book.
Suddenly they both heard a rumbling from down the hallway. "She's coming," Achenar said.
The elevator opened and Catherine walked out. Before she made her way down the hallway Sirrus and Achenar rushed out. "Mother," Sirrus yelled in excitement. "Something's happened to Father."
Catherine was startled by their sudden appearance. "What," she said in bewilderment. "What happened?"
"He accidentally Linked from one of his Books," Sirrus said holding up the Age Five Book. "It was the Book you told us never to touch."
A look of dread crossed Catherine's face. She took the Book in her hands and looked at the blurry gateway image. "But he said he would be in Everdunes until tomorrow," she said. "When did he get back?"
"This morning," Achenar said. "He said he wanted to get some work done."
Catherine looked at her two sons for a moment, almost as if she was skeptical of their story. She then turned towards the elevator. "Come with me," she said.
We all rode the elevator up toward the main level. She walked down the passageway with the Book clutched to her chest like it was an infant. "Sirrus," she said. "Get me a Linking Book. Achenar, go to the cabin and get me some matches."
Sirrus touched the second painting in the Library and the bookshelf lifted upwards, allowing Sirrus access to the Books, and Achenar access to the outside. Achenar ran out of the room towards the cabin down the hill. Sirrus walked towards the shelf where the Linking Books were. But instead of taking one of the Books that was already on the shelf, he took one of the Books that was inside his shirt.
A minute later Achenar reappeared desperately out of breath from the run. "Here are some matches Mother," he said.
Sirrus appeared behind her with the Linking Book. "What should we do while you are gone?"
"Do nothing," Catherine said. "I will be gone for no more than an hour. Do not follow me."
Catherine took the tiny Linking Book and tucked it inside her cloak. She then opened the large Age Five Book to its final page and took a deep breath. Almost trembling with fear she placed her hand on the descriptive window, and vanished.
The Book dropped to the floor with a resounding thud. Achenar looked at Sirrus. From behind his back Sirrus pulled out a ripped page. On the surface of the page I could make out the descritive window which was now reduced to a snowy static image. "She won't be coming back anytime soon," Sirrus said. His was soon overcome with giddiness and he began to laugh. Achenar laughed too, surprised at how easily they had deceived their own Mother.
"I almost can't believe it is going this easily," Achenar said.
Sirrus slowed down his laughing in order to catch his breath. "My dear brother," he said between giggles. "We've only started. We have the advantage, but there is still Father to deal with. He will be back tomorrow." He walked towards the main doorway. "I suggest we hide out in another Age until he gets back."
Sirrus left the Library and Achenar. Achenar turned towards the main shelf and looked over all of the Books. He continued staring at the Books for at least another minute, which I thought was odd. Then, from his back pocket he took out a matchebook. Inside were extra matches that he took when he fetched some for his Mother. He licked his lips as he stuck the match against the shelf and stared at the tiny burning flame. I watched in horror as I realised what was about to happen.
I yelled out to Achenar but he couldn't hear me. He placed the first match on top of one of the books in the shelf and it began to burn. The fire spread over to the next book and the next. Achenar laughed as the fire soon began to consume the first shelf. He lit more matches and placed them on the other shelves. I stood there mesmerized as one by one the books caught on fire.
"What are you doing?" Sirrus yelled. I turned around and watched him run into the room. He immediately ripped his cloak off and began to swat out the fire with it. Achenar jumped off to the side to avoid Sirrus. I watched as Sirrus wrapped the cloak around his hands and threw books onto the floor before they caught fire. Some Books were unharmed, others crumpled to pieces as Sirrus grabbed them.
After about two more minutes of this the fire was out. I had breathed none of the smoky air, nor had I felt the searing heat, and yet I was still affected by the destruction. Sirrus sat down at the pile of books and threw his cloak down. "You fool," he said. "We ruled those Ages."
"We needed more," Achenar sheepishly replied. "You and I both agreed that we wanted more Ages. But it's been over a year since Father Wrote any new ones." He gestured toward the blacked pile of books on the ground. "Now he needs to make more."
Sirrus though about this for a second and laughed. He then turned to Achenar with a fire in his eyes that would kill angels. "He would have made us more anyways," he yelled. "As long as we kept that Book hidden". He gestured towards the Age Five Book.
"Oh," Achenar simply said. He lowered his head as he began to understand the consequences of his mistake.
"We've lost some ground," Sirrus said. "But we can still recover."
Achenar looked down at the scattered mess of Books. "What wasn't destroyed?"
Sirrus began to sort through the books. "A few of Fathers journals weren't harmed. His codebook isn't badly damamged. The only Ages that weren't burned were Selentic, Mechanical, Channelwood, and Stoneship. And there are no more Linking Books for Myst."
"I liked those Ages," Achenar said.
"There were better Ages that didn't make it," Sirrus said. "Ages where we were treated like kings, or gods even."
"We ruled Mechanical and Channelwood," Achenar said. "Stoneship as well."
Sirrus sighed with resignation and lifted himself to his feet. It was clear that he didn't want to argue with his brother. "Help me clean this up."
They picked up the Books and placed them back on the shelf in a somewhat haphazard manor.
"Now what," Achenar said.
Sirrus took the Channelwood Age book in his hands. "Now, we disappear for awhile," he said. "Father will be back tomorrow, so we will hide out for at least two days." He gestured towards the remains of the Books. "Give him time to think about his situation," he said.
Sirrus opened the book towards the page with the gateway image. Before he linked he pointed towards the Age Five Book that sat on the floor. "Take the Book. We must hide it."
Achenar walked over to the Book and picked it up. He linked to Channelwood first and Sirrus followed. The Channelwood Age Book fell to the floor on top of the charred remains of other Books.
I sat down on the floor and waited. I felt incredibly tired for some reason. The lights in the room seemed to dim and I felt myself drift off to sleep....
The next day Atrus appeared in the Library. He wore a large backpack and a heavy jacket to protect himself from cold environments. He pulled a pair of goggles from his weathered face in order to see clearer. He looked at the main bookshelf for a second not knowing what exactly he was seeing.
When the reality of the image hit him he dropped his backpack and rushed towards the shelf. He pulled out a Book at random and opened it. The pages were burned from the outside leaving only tiny irregular shaped charred pages clinging to its binding. He put the Book back in the shelf and pulled out another. This Book was also damamged beyond repair.
"Catherine?" he called out. He waited for a second expecting a reply. He walked towards the painting of the bookshelf and touched it to open the passageway into the mountain. He took the elevator to the lower level and walked down the hallway into his bedroom. He called out Catherine's name again.
He then walked down the hall and peered into a room on the right. It was a bedroom smaller than the main one, but still comfortable nevertheless. "Sirrus?" he said. He looked around the room from the doorway but didn't see Sirrus anywhere. He walked across the hall to the another bedroom, identical to its counterpart. "Achenar?"
Atrus stood in the hallway thinking about his next move. He went back to his bedroom and took off his heavy coat. He searched the bedroom and the desk looking for something, a note from Catherine perhaps. Not finding any, he walked out of the bedroom and went back towards the elevator.
For the next two hours I followed Atrus as he searched Myst Island. He searched the clock, the tower, the dock, but didn't find any sign that Catherine, Sirrus, or Achenar were on the island. He took out his watch and looked at it. It was now the middle of the third period.
I had tried to communicate with him. I yelled, I tried to move things, or to stand in his path. But he never heard me, and he always walked right through my ghostly body. Despite the fact that I knew the outcome of all this, I wanted to make things easier for Atrus. To give him a chance to avoid events that would lead to drastic measures made by both Atrus and his sons.
Atrus walked back towards the Library and began to look through the bookshelf. He picked up every Descriptive Book he could find and inspected them. When he found a Book that wasn't damaged he placed it on a pile by his feet. When he was satisfied that every Book was checked, he took the pile and walked out.
I followed Atrus as he walked towards the well. He then walked to the pedestals with the pictographs and selected three: The maple leaf, the snake, and the bug. I remembered the sequence that I had used earlier to gain access to the Stoneship Age Book. In the distance I heard the giant ship lift upwards. Atrus walked over to the docks and then jumped onto the deck of the sailing vessil. He opened the door to a deck down below and descended a small set of stairs. When he was at the bottom he placed one of the Books on the seat of a chair and left it there. It was the Stoneship Age Book.
Atrus repeated the process for the three other Books making sure they were all well hidden. The Channelwood Age, The Mechanical Age, The Selentic Age. They were now hidden in their places of protection where they would remain for months until the day when I would arrive on Myst Island.
Atrus returned back to the dock and opened the passage leading down to the forechamber. He walked towards the imaging pool and kneeled down in front of it. He pulled out a small sphere from his pocket and attached it to the power button at the front of the imager. He walked back to the panel next to the staircase and entered in the number eight. The blue pool of water disappeared from the imager and was replaced with an image of the room itself.
A tiny beeping noise came from the imager and the sphere began to glow. Atrus stepped back a bit and looked directly at the sphere. His face was now centered in the imaging pool.
"Catherine my love," Atrus said. "I have to leave quickly. Something terrible has happened. It's hard for me to believe, but most of my Books have been destroyed."
His voice then took on a more cautious tone. "Catherine, I believe it's one of our sons." He paused for a second to thinking about what else to say. "I suspect Achenar, but I shouldn't leap to conclusions. I'll find him and Sirrus as well. I should have known better than to have left my library unchecked for so long.
"Well, I've removed the remaining undamaged Books from the library and placed them in their places of protetion. You shouldn't have to use the Books until I return, but if you've forgotten the access keys, remember the tower rotation. Oh, and don't worry Catherine, everything will be fine. Oh, and erase this message after you've viewed it, just to be safe."
As he removed the sphere from the imager mechanism, it returned to displaying a water pool. He put the sphere in his pocket and walked back up the steps towards the surface.
On his way back to the Library he dropped a note onto the ground next to the path to the observatory. I remembered the note from before, telling Catherine about the message he left in the forechamber.
Atrus walked back towards the Library. I followed him in and found Sirrus and Achenar waiting inside. Achenar was holding up the Riven Book.
"Looking for something, Father?" Sirrus asked.
Atrus stood at the entry of the library in shock. He felt relief to a degree, knowing that perhaps he would find out what exactly was going on. But he knew that whatever his sons were up to, it probably wasn't good.
"Sirrus, what's going on?" Atrus asked. "Where's your mother?"
Achenar held up the Riven Book. "She went away," he said. "but she never said when she would be coming back." Achenar laughed at the little joke he made.
Atrus face became white as a ghost. Riven was probably the one Book he feared above all else, and now Catherine was trapped there.
"Who burned the Books?" Atrus asked.
Achenar smiled, but Sirrus did the talking. "It was Achenar that destroyed the Books. But in retrospect, it wasn't all that stupid of an idea. Those Ages were growing tiresome. When it was too easy to get what we wanted, we realised that we needed more challenges."
Achenar giggled and pointed at Atrus. "You, Father," he said. "You will make more Ages for us."
"I don't make Ages, Achenar," Atrus corrected. "I've always tried to tell you that. And I won't Write anything for you or Sirrus."
Sirrus was enraged. His face started to get red with anger. "Then you will never see Mother again," he yelled. He grabbed the Age Five Book from Achenar and threw it down to the floor. "It'll just be you, me and dear brother on this stupid little island, for the rest of our lives."
The anger in Sirrus' face almost looked painful. Without showing any signs of weakness, he regained his composure and spoke in a normal tone. "Achenar," he said. "Make sure the Book is well hidden."
Achenar grumbled a bit, picked up the Book and walked over to the fireplace. He clearly didn't like being ordered around by his brother.
Achenar lowered the metal shield over the fireplace and entered in a code on the panel. The fireplace rotated a half circle. A few seconds later it rotated back in place, empty. Achenar must have used the D'ni Linking Book. Another minute went by before Achenar appeared back in the center of the library.
"Now then," Sirrus said to Atrus. "You will write new Ages for us."
"It will take some time," Atrus said. "I would be at least a month before I could get a stable Age designed, and then at least a week to Write the Book."
"Don't lie to me," Sirrus said. "We saw the new Book."
Atrus was taken back by this. "What do you know about it?"
"Nothing," Sirrus said. "But it looks like it's nearly done."
Atrus thougth about the situation for a few seconds, looking down at the wooden floor of the library. "Okay," he finally said. "I'll finish the Book."
Sirrus walked over to the bookshelf painting and touched it to reveal the passageway to the elevator. "Go then," he said. He spoke louder now to be heard over the sliding bookshelves. "Achenar and I will be down shortly."
Atrus made his way down to the elevator and I soon heard it descend to the lower level. Sirrus turned to face his brother. "Did you sabotage the Linking Book?"
"Yes," Achenar said. "I took the Linking Book you gave me and held it over a fire to destroy it. But before I left, I took this." He withdrew a page from his shirt pocket.
"Good," Sirrus said.
Achenar held up the page with both hands and was about to tear it when Sirrus yelled. "No wait."
"What?" Achenar asked.
"We may need it later," Sirrus said. "What happens if we trap Father on D'ni and then we have no way to get him back?"
"There are more Linking Books," Achenar said.
"No there aren't. We both destroyed all of them."
"Well, what do we do with it?"
Sirrus walked around the room. "Do you remember that little hiding spot Father made for us?"
"Oh yeah," Achenar said. "In the Marker Switch by the dock. He gave us that message on how to use it, and he told us how we could prevent someone from reading the message by ripping it in two and hiding each half."
Sirrus laughed. I wondered if he was thinking about a happier childhood memory at that moment. "Put the page in there. Nobody will find it."
Achenar disappeared out the library. I stood there and watched Sirrus as he looked around the library. I had never felt so much hatred or contempt for anyone before. Any sympathy I may have previously had for Atrus' sons was gone.
How did this come to be? How could two children raised in such a wonderous environment become so twisted and demented. If anything, I was jealous of them. I would have loved to have been able to live on Myst Island in my childhood. To have my parents take me to fascinating Ages. They had no idea what they were doing, or how fulfilling their lives really were.
Achenar returned and they both walked down the passageway to the elevator. From there they walked into Atrus' bedroom as if they owned the place. Sirrus jumped on the bed, while Achenar sat in an oversized chair in the corner.
"So how long will it take Father?" Sirrus asked. He reached into a nearby fruit bowl and took an apple.
Atrus had his back to us as he wrote at the desk. "If I'm not disturbed," he said. "I'll have this Age finished in a day."
Achenar could barely contain his delight. Sirrus maintained the confident, arrogant smirk that he had since I had first seen him.
"Cheer up Father," Sirrus said. "Once you give us this Age, we'll leave, and you'll have time to rescue Mother."
Atrus stopped writing, carefully choosing his words. "Rescuing her won't be that easy," he said. "You really have no idea where you sent her."
"No Father," Achenar said. "Because you told us we couldn't touch that Book." He made a whining child-like voice. "You always said, 'Don't use that Book' or 'Stay away from that village', or 'Return to Myst before nightfall'. You had a rule for everything."
Atrus was about to say something, but he didn't. He simply kept writing. I doubted if anything he said would have had any effect at this point.
The nightly quickly passed. Nobody said or did anything. Atrus continued writing while Sirrus and Achenar watched on. I still wasn't tired or hungry. I merely existed in this dreamlike recreation of history.
Finally Atrus stood up. Sirrus and Achenar looked up. They were all tired from being awake the entire night. "Are you done?" Achenar asked.
"Yes," he said. "They're finished." Atrus picked up the Book along with the Red and Blue Linking Books and walked towards the elevator without saying anything else. Sirrus looked at Achenar curiously wondering what Atrus was up to. They both got up from their perches and followed with me taking up the rear.
We all rode the elevator up to the Library and Atrus walked out to the very center of the room, stopped, and turned around to face his sons. He held up the Book. "This Book links to the Canyon Age." Atrus held open the Book to the Descriptive Window page for all of us to see.
The image moved quickly through a long series of canyons that seemed to stretch on forever. Finally it hovered at a stone circle that stood in the middle of the canyon. The thing I never liked about the images in the descriptive windows was they never conveyed scale very well. I couldn't tell how large the canyon was.
"Who wants to go first," Atrus asked.
"Don't be a fool Father," Achenar said. "You'll go first. How else will we know that the Age is safe."
Atrus was about to place his hand on the image when Sirrus grabbed his arm. "Wait, what about the Linking Book?"
"What?" Achenar asked.
"If he Links before us and he has the Linking Book back to Myst, he could destroy it before we get to it," Sirrus explained. "Then we would be trapped there."
They were both silent for a minute. They realized that their plan to force their father into creating Ages wouldn't be as easy as they predicted. How could they give Atrus the freedom to create new Ages, and still be under their control?
Finally Achenar spoke up. "What if he Linked to the new Age, but we had the Linking Book?"
"Yes," Sirrus said. "that would work." He turned back to Atrus. "Before you Link, give us the Linking Book."
Atrus removed the Red and Blue Books from his pack. "Here. I have a Linking Book for each of you."
Sirrus and Achenar took the Books from Atrus. The two sons opened up the Books and looked through them. They couldn't read the D'ni Art very well, but they knew enough to know that these books were indeed Linking Books.
Suddenly Atrus placed his hand on the image of the Canyon Age Book and vanished. The Book fell to the floor, hitting Sirrus' foot.
"No, " Sirrus said. But it was too late. Atrus was gone.
"What's the matter," Achenar said. "We wanted him to Link."
"Yes, but...." Sirrus said. "... We shouldn't have let him Link until WE were prepared to go along with him."
"But if he Linked," Achenar said. "Then the Age is safe."
"Maybe it is safe, maybe not," Sirrus said. "There could be traps or hostile environments we aren't ready for."
"But we have the Linking Books," Achenar said. "We'll be ready for it. Father wouldn't put his own life in our hands when he knows he has to rescure Mother."
"There's only one way to find out now," Sirrus said. He picked up the Book for the Canyon Age and Linked. After a few seconds Achenar followed Sirrus into the Book.
The room around me began to fade. My body tingled with the sensation I would normally feel when I linked to another Age, but I never even touched the Book.
I was standing in the middle of the stone circle. The stones were twelve feet high and arched inwards to protect whatever was inside the circle. The circle itself was in a tall narrow canyon with other canyans branching off in all directions like limbs from a tree. The wind was high and dustclouds were moving across the ground like ocean waves.
Now I was in the Canyon Age. Somehow my dream had taken me on the same Link Sirrus and Achenar had followed in their pursuit of Atrus.
The overhead sun wasn't as hot as I expected it to be in this desert climate. There was almost no humidity. I saw no apparant signs of water or plants. I had a hard time believing that this Age had any signs of inhabitants. Maybe the people lived elsewhere. In other parts of the canyons, or maybe even underground.
Sirrus and Achenar were only ten feet away from me. They both looked around wondering what happened.
"Where's Father?" Achenar asked. He had to raise his voice a bit to be heard over the wind.
"I don't know," Sirrus replied. "But he couldn't be too far behind."
They both left the shelter of the stone circle and walked along the canyon wall. They turned at a branch in the canyon wall and sat down underneath an overhang. "I don't see any people," Achenar said.
"Maybe they live elsewhere," Sirrus said. "There's probably hundreds of caves in these canyons. And somebody had to make that monument we Linked to."
"He trapped us here," Achenar said.
"He didn't trap us," Sirrus said. "He would be trapped here as well. Besides he gave each of us a Linking Book to take us back to the Library."
Achenar took out the Blue Book from his pocket. He turned to the gateway image and looked at the rotating chandelier. "I'm going back," he said.
"No," Sirrus said. "We have so much to do here. It will be just like old times."
"This place will still be here when I get back," Achenar said. "Besides, we will need some supplies if we are going to stay here, right?" Without waiting for an answer, he placed his hand on the Book and linked.
Sirrus muttered something under his breath that I couldn't make out. He opened his Red Book to the final page and placed his hand on the window. Sirrus disappeared as well.
The Red Book dropped to the ground next to the Blue one. I sat there watching them for a few minutes waiting for something to happen. Nothing. Sirrus and Achenar had been tricked into using the Books that became their own Prisons. I tried to reach out to the Books to touch them. Even here, my body was still a ghost, incapable of changing my environment.
After about five minutes, I spotted Atrus out of the corner of my eye. He was climbing down the side of the canyon opposite of where the Books were. He must have been watching the whole time. He had planned this whole thing from the start.
He took the two Books, placed them in his pack and walked back down the canyon to the stone circle. Instead of going inside the circle, he turned towards a small crevice in the canyon wall. Once inside the crevice, he reached into a crack high along the crevice wall and took out a Book. This was the real Linking Book. He opened it up and used it to Link to Myst.
I had followed Atrus this time. My body transported across space/time so that I was standing next to him again in the Myst Library. Atrus lifted himself up from the floor and shook some of the sand from his clothes.
Atrus took the two Books and placed each one on the display shelves in the Library. Then from each Book he ripped out six pages from random sections. One page from each Book was placed next to it. With the other pages in hand, Atrus left the Library.
I followed Atrus as he walked over to the ship. He found the Book he hid inside and used it to Link to the Stoneship Age. I didn't follow him this time, but after twenty minutes or so I saw Atrus walk out of the Library. He must have left a red page and blue page behind. He walked towards the well and de-activate the images on the pedestals. Once the lock was reset, the ship began to sink into the water.
For the rest of the day Atrus would re-appear and disappear. He traveled to the Mechanical Age, the Selentic Age, and finally the Channelwood Age. I stood by in the Library waiting for him to come back each time.
When he returned for good, he still had two pages left. He walked towards the fireplace and crouched down inside. He entered the combination from page 158 on the metal shield and the fireplace rotated a half circle. He placed the final two pages on the bottom shelf. He then looked at the Green Book.
No....
Atrus opened the Book to the final page, and Linked back to D'ni.
Again, I had followed Atrus. It would stand to reason that whatever had created this dream for me wanted me to follow Atrus at certain points in his journey. I would need to follow him if I was to learn the whole story.
It was darker and mustier. Atrus clearly never went here. Until now he never had a real reason to. A single fire marble lit the room. It was sitting on the makeshift desk next to the Age Five Book. He opened the Book and turned to look at the Descriptive Window. The image was blurry and distorted. Atrus lifted his hand towards the image but stopped just short of Linking.
He had never said a word after he had trapped Sirrus and Achenar in the Prison Books. The silence at this particular moment was getting to me. I didn't like intruding on his privacy, especially in his current emotional state.
He stepped away from the Book and rubbed his forehead with both hands. "Not yet," he said aloud. "I'm not ready."
He looked at the desk and noticed the Myst Linking Book. He opened the Book up and flipped the pages towards the Back. Unfortunately, the page that would have allowed him to Link was gone. Atrus flipped through the pages again, just to be sure. But it wasn't there. He found the gap where a tiny piece of the page was still stuck to the binding.
Atrus closed the Book and sat down on a pile of stones. He started at it for a long second. Tiny muscle twitches began to show on his face. Slowly, the self control Atrus had always maintained was slipping away from him.
"Why?" he said to himself. "Why?"
Suddenly he raised his hands in closed fists and in a display of anger I had never seen before, threw them down at the cover of the Riven Book. "Why!" he yelled. The pressure of the blow knocked down the tablet that served as the makeshift desk. The Riven Book, the Linking Book, everything tumbled down onto the floor. Stones fell all around Atrus and dust lifted up into the air from the impact.
Atrus slumped down onto the floor and tucked his head to his knees in the classic fetal position. His arms covered his face hiding the man from the rest of the world.
I knelt down beside Atrus. His breathing was very heavy and forceful. One half of Atrus fought for control while the other wanted to break down.
"Atrus," I said.
But before I could say anything else the room faded into blackness.
A flickering yellow ceiling was directly in front of me. Once again, I found myself lying on my back on a cold hard surface. Earlier my body felt fine. Now my body felt pain. The injury to my shoulder and the tiredness from my long days on Riven were catching up to me. As I regained consciousness I could feel my blood circulate through the very tips of my fingers. Rock. I was resting on a bed made of rock.
I lifted my head and looked around. I was in a tiny cave with a single candle flame casting light in all directions.
I realised now that I was awake. The experiences I just had on Myst Island were a dream, nothing more. The events could have happened as I remembered it, but they probably didn't. It was my mind's interpretation of history strung together from my past experiences on Myst and my encounters with Sirrus and Achenar.
I never asked Atrus how Sirrus and Achenar were trapped, or how they had tricked Catherine into using the Riven Book. I would probably never have to chance to now. Something told me that I had more important matters to worry about for the time being.