If you've just joined us, this is the story so far...
After finding an ancient book buried in a dune in the desert compound where they lived, Rachel and Jordan found themselves stranded on a mysterious island, far removed from anywhere they knew. Through a combination of quick wits, lots of time and a few lucky guesses, they began to unravel the secrets of the island, but just as they had begun to do so, even learning the island's name, they were thrust through the pages of another book and landed somewhere different again.
Through more use of their brains and sheer luck, they fought their way back to the island Myst, only to discover that they had been joined on the island by Maddy, a close friend of theirs. Again, a book puled all three of them this time through to another world, in which Rachel had an unfortunate encounter with a large rock and was knocked out cold, leaving Jordan and Maddy to bring themselves and her back to Myst, only to find Brittany, another friend.
All four of them travelled again to yet another world, this one a sickening experience for Rachel. After that, one final world awaited them beyond the pages of yet another book, and it was here that Maddy had a serious accident, but luckily sustained only a broken arm.
After seeing what they saw in the various different worlds, one thing led to another and they met Atrus, the owner of the island who was imprisoned on yet another different world. On his direction and persuasion, they freed him from his prison, and he told them that unfortunately, he could not get them home, but he could make Myst as close to a home as he could for them.
That, however, was not the end for Rachel, Jordan, Maddy and Brittany. Atrus had more to ask of them, something that perhaps would be far more dangerous than what had happened to them before. It's a tale of its own...
Prologue
Rachel awoke with a start. It was dark in the cabin. She looked at her watch. It was half past midnight. She could have sworn she heard something move outside. Picking up a fire-marble from the basket that Atrus had left, she got quietly out of her sleeping bag and went outside.
She shook the marble in her hand gently and it glowed with a blue light. What she could see of the island looked very ghostly in the light of the marble. It was a cloudy night and there was no moon, so the only light came from the marble and the distant glow of the library chandelier.
Rachel headed up towards the library. There was someone standing in the doorway, casting a long shadow over the grass and the stone basin containing the model ship. The figure seemed to see Rachel approach and stepped out onto the grass. As Rachel approached the figure, the blue light from the marble illuminated his features.
Five months, they'd been on this island, and they'd only seen Atrus here a few times. Whether or not he worked late into the night, they didn't know, but he wasn't tonight, as he was standing in the doorway of the library, looking exhausted but slightly happier than the last time Rachel had seen him.
"Good morning," she said to him.
"It certainly is," he replied. "Come inside, I need to talk to you."
They went inside the library, which was as light and warm as it always was. Atrus didn't sit down, but instead went over to the burnt shelf where the red book holding his son Sirrus had sat, only five months ago. After a minute, he spoke.
"First of all, I owe you an apology. I never thanked you properly for releasing me from that prison, but I was distracted by my writing."
"Forget it, Atrus," replied Rachel.
"And," Atrus pressed on, "I know that this library doesn't strike you as the best of rewards for what you went through. I'm sorry about that as well. But I think that perhaps I will soon be able to rectify that."
Rachel looked up at him. His tired face showed no sign of sarcasm.
"But I am afraid," he continued, "that I must ask you and your friends to help me again."
"Well, of course, Atrus," said Rachel. "You have been very hospitable."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous," replied Atrus. "I've been a perfectly rude host. I gave you four sleeping bags, a supply of fire-marbles and an orchard. I've barely even spoken to you."
Rachel did not argue; she knew that he was right.
"I can tell," Atrus proceeded, "that you still don't know exactly what is going on here. Sit down. I am going to tell you everything."
Atrus' story...
It begins, I suppose, a little over thirty years ago. I was only fourteen, living with my grandmother in an abandoned desert compound near an old volcano. We didn't have luxuries, but she made life comfortable for us by trading her art with passing traders.
I had lived here all my life. On this day, when I was only fourteen, a man showed up, seemingly out of nowhere. He called himself Gehn. He was my father. He took me with him, deep down through a network of tunnels to a massive underground city, which he called D'ni. I had heard stories about it from grandmother, of course, but I believed it destroyed. Yet here it was, abandoned but intact.
I spent three years there with my father. He taught me the lost Art of writing these books, these linking books that brought you here. A large descriptive book, such as those that took you to Channelwood and Stoneship, is a word-for-word description of the world, or Age, that it links to. The books that brought you back here were slightly different, in that they were linking books, essentially working substitutes for the descriptive book.
It was many years before I discovered the truth about my father – that his cause was not noble, as he claimed, but insane, and so was he. I tried to run away, but he caught me and imprisoned me in that room that you saved me from five months ago, leaving me a descriptive book, a linking book back to that room, a pen and a pot of ink. The descriptive book led me to his Fifth Age, a world called Riven, that, like all his others, he ruled over like a god.
On Riven, I met Catherine, and she and I wrote corrections into Riven to stabilise the fatal flaws in the Age. She and my grandmother, who had followed me here, wrote an Age for us all to escape to once we had dealt with my father, an Age which she called Myst, and where we are now.
Catherine and I confronted Gehn on Riven. Catherine linked out to Myst, and I linked out after jumping into a fissure that had opened, a fissure that was filled with endless stars. The Star Fissure is a very strange thing, and although my intent was to destroy the book as it fell down there, I knew that that would not happen.
Catherine and I married, and had two sons. The four of us and grandmother lived here for almost thirty years, happily. But then something went horribly wrong. Grandmother, after visiting one of Catherine's Ages, caught a horrible sickness and died. Catherine felt responsible for her death, and I stifled the pain of my loss and buried myself in work. I regret it, but that seemed like the best idea at the time. Sirrus and Achenar, but Sirrus especially, began to feel neglected, and turned to plundering my Ages as sport whilst my back was turned. They tricked Catherine into going to Riven, where she was captured by Gehn, and they trapped me in D'ni.
I thought that all was lost, save for the corrections I could write into Riven, and then you appeared and released me. I knew how it happened, of course; you had surely found my lost Myst linking book. You came here; you met Sirrus and Achenar, trapped in the two books in the library, but you trusted me, and for that I can never truly repay you.
"And yet," Atrus continued, "I must ask more of you. This will be dangerous, and I will understand completely if you don't want to do it, but I beg you, give it good thought, because you might be my only hope..." He trailed off.
After waiting for a minute, Rachel prompted him. "So what is it that you want us to do?"
Atrus didn't reply for a while, instead just staring off into the distance towards the clock tower. Eventually, he replied, "Come and see me on D'ni later today. All four of you. I'll explain then."
He got to his feet and walked over to the fireplace. He crawled inside and closed the door. A second later, it rotated sharply, and then after another second it rotated back, empty.
Four pairs of feet clicked into existence on the cool marble floor of the huge room. It was exactly as they had left it five months ago, except that Atrus was not writing, he was reading. He looked up as the linked in and beckoned them over to the desk.
"What I'm about to ask you to do is dangerous, there's no doubt about that. I'll understand perfectly if you don't want to do it."
Rachel, Jordan, Maddy and Brittany nodded mutely.
Atrus leaned forward over the desk. "My father surely captured Catherine when Sirrus and Achenar sent her to Riven. I want you four, if you're willing, to go to Riven, capture Gehn and free Catherine."
Seeing their slightly confused expressions, he continued. "I would go myself, but the Age is too unstable. I can only leave this desk for more than six hours or so before the Age starts to fall apart again.
"So," he concluded, "will you do it?"
He had expected them to want to consider this for a little longer, but their answer was immediate and unanimous. "Yes, we will."
A wide smile split Atrus' tired features. "Oh, I can't thank you enough. Here," he said, "take these – you'll need them." He handed them each a largish cloth bag. Rachel opened hers curiously. There were a number of things in there, but the most prominent was what looked like a fresh set of clothes.
"Go back to Myst, get yourselves cleaned up. I've given you some supplies there. Pack some food from Antares, and some fresh water. There's some food and water on Riven, of course, but pack some all the same. Rest up, and be back here first thing tomorrow."
Back in the warmth of the cabin, the four of them opened the bags that Atrus had given them. Each one contained the same thing – a set of clothes and sturdy-looking boots, and a small satchel. Each satchel was empty except for a small pouch of fire-marbles and an empty flask.
They had never told Atrus what size clothes they wore, but he was obviously a good guesser, because the clothes fit them perfectly. After paying a visit to Antares and stocking up on food and water, they went back to Myst for what they would soon discover would be the last time.
"Well, there's a great deal of history that you should know... but, I'm afraid that I must continue my writing."
Atrus pulled a small red book out from his jacket pocket and handed it to Jordan. "Here... most of what you'll need to know is in there. Keep it well hidden."
He reached under the desk and pulled out a small dark green book. He examined it for a minute. "For reasons you'll discover, I can't send you to Riven with a way out." Rachel looked at the others in alarm. "But I can give you this." He passed the book to Rachel. "It appears to be a linking book, back here to D'ni... but it's actually a one-man prison. You'll need it, I'm afraid, to capture Gehn."
He settled back into his seat and picked up his pen. "Once you've found Catherine, signal me. I'll come with a linking book to bring us back." He wrote a few more lines, then put the pen down, closed the book and opened it to the last page. He examined the page for a minute, seeming to be deciding whether or not to say something, then he did.
"There's also a chance... if this all goes well... that..."
He broke off. Rachel leant forward slightly.
"That... I might be able to... get you back... to the place that you came from."
All four of them looked at Atrus. He was still looking at the book, but he was deathly serious. He looked up at them, then turned the book around and placed it on the desk in front of them.
The panel on the right page was not showing an image of the place where it linked to. Perhaps it should have, but it was swirling with static, like a badly tuned television set. Every now and again, a fleeting glimpse of something showed through the static, but it was quickly swept away by the static.
Rachel looked at Atrus. He was looking down at the book, a very indeterminate look in his eyes. It was a moment before she realised that he was lonely. He had lost everything, and he couldn't go on living like that...
Hand touched paper, and the great room gave a jolt, before Rachel stepped forward into the book and spinning darkness engulfed her...
