-I REALIZED AS I FELL INTO THE FISSURE THAT THE BOOK WOULD NOT BE DESTROYED AS I HAD INTENDED. IT CONTINUED TO FALL INTO THAT STARRY EXPANSE OF WHICH I HAD ONLY A FLEETING GLIMPSE. I HAVE TRIED TO SPECULATE WHERE IT MIGHT HAVE LANDED, BUT I MUST ADMIT THAT SUCH CONJECTURE IS FUTILE; STILL, QUESTIONS ABOUT WHOSE HANDS MIGHT ONE DAY HOLD MY MYST BOOK ARE UNSETTLING TO ME.
I KNOW MY APPREHENSIONS MAY NEVER BE ALLAYED, AND SO I CLOSE, REALIZING THAT PERHAPS, THE ENDING HAS NOT YET BEEN WRITTEN-
-ATRUS-
In Tokyo Japan in the Juuban ward is a shrine known as the Hikawa Jinga. This shrine is the home of Rei Hino, a practicing Miko and one of the Sailor Senshi, who protect the earth from evil. On a hot summer afternoon, the grounds of the Shrine looked like a crime scene, bodies EVERYWHERE.
Okay maybe not everywhere, mostly collected to shaded areas to get out of the sun, and only 5 bodies, belonging to 5 young women, all in their early 20's, two blondes sprawled on the floor, a brunette waving a hand fan in her face, a raven haired beauty in a shrine robes meditating, and a blue haired girl with her head in a book.
"Why did we come here again?" asked the blonde with her hair tied up in two ball shapes with long floor length braids. "Rei doesn't even have air conditioning."
"Yes I do." said the girl in the robes. "It's not my fault its broken."
"How is it that you aren't sweating?" the pig tailed girl asked. "It's hot!"
"Well it may have something to do with being the senshi of FIRE!" Rei said exasperated. "If you'd stop whining for two seconds Usagi you'd remember that."
"Oh right." said Usagi. She'd look up at the sky. "Maybe we should go to Mako-chan's house for air conditioning."
"Great idea." said the other blonde who wore her hair loose with a bow on her head. "But I can't move."
"Neither can I." said the brunette Makoto.
"Ami don't you have your driver's license?" Usagi asked. "We could get in your car and use the AC."
"First of all Usagi, that would be a waste of not only gas, but it would burn out the battery." She'd adjust her glasses and flipped a page. "Second, I walked here like I always do."
"Oh." said Usagi, she'd stare up in the sky blinked and her eyes widen almost comically as something hit right in the face. This moment was enough for everyone to forget what they were doing as they sat up and run over.
"Usagi! Are you okay?" asked the other blonde.
"I'm fine Minako chan." Usagi said, her eyes swirling as Ami picked up the offending object.
"It's a book." said Ami, turning it around. It was an old book, the cover grey with a black binding and minor gold trimmings. On the spine and the cover was just one word
"MYST" Ami said. She opened the book, flipping through the pages.
Makoto looked up in the air, shielding her eyes. "Where did it come from anyways? Last I check books usually don't fall from the sky."
"This author is quite detailed." Ami said as she flipped through the pages. "This book describes an island in the middle of an ocean down to the tiniest detail. Green grasslands, a Library, a planetarium, a forest with a giant tree."
"Sounds fun." said Minako as she peaked over Ami's shoulder. "If perhaps a little lonely. I mean out in the middle of the ocean? How would anyone get there?"
"It's a just a story book Minako." said Usagi. "It's not like this 'Myst' place is real."
"Still." said Ami. "The detail is so incredible, you can't help but feel it's real." she would flip the pages closed, but stop before she closed the cover, staring at the first page. "huh?" she rubbed her eyes, hoping they were playing tricks on her.
"Something wrong?" Rei asked.
"The picture on the front page." said Ami. "I thought I saw it move."
"Move?" Usagi poked her head in along with Makoto as Ami looked back down at the page. the picture was that of the island as described in the book. It was fairly large in size, with a forest on the southern end and several buildings to the north, further north on the west side was what looked like a rocket ship sitting on a platform off the coast, which was connected by two more similar platforms. A small dock sat on the eastern edge of the island by what looked like a sunken ship.
"I don't see anything moving."
"I'm sure I saw it move." said Ami. "Like a sweep across the island."
"Oh don't be silly Ami." Usagi said. "It's just a picture see?" She'd reach out, touching her hand to the image. "Nothing to worry abo-" Usagi's words cut off as she touched the picture, her whole body suddenly faded, turning like dust and being absorbed into the image. The girl's let out a scream of surprise as Ami dropped the book instictvely and they backed away from it.
"Oh my god did you see that?!" said Minako. "Usagi got sucked INTO the book."
"Could it be a trap?" said Makoto and she looked around. "A new enemy perhaps?"
Rei looked at the book, shaking her head. "I didn't sense any evil power coming from the book when it landed, though that doesn't mean it's dangerous."
"Not dangerous?" Minako said deadpan. "It SWALLOWED USAGI WHOLE! How is that not dangerous."
"Guys." said Ami. "Let's try and be reasonable here." She'd reach down, picking up the book and opening the page, looking at the image again. "A book so well written you'd think the place actually exists, with such tiny attention to detail that it could come alive. What if she's on the island?"
"On the island?" Makoto asked. "No way, its fictional."
"But she was drawn into the book." said Ami. "Through this image."
"She could be in trouble." said Rei.
"How could she get in trouble on an island in the middle of nowhere?" Minako asked.
"It's Usagi! She'll find a way." said Rei. "We should go after her."
"And how do you propose we get back?" Ami asked. "I highly doubt there will be a book on that island describing in detail Japan and its surroundings that we can use to get back.
"I'm sure we'll think of a way." said Minako. "But Usagi could be in trouble, we should go after her."
"Minako is right." said Makoto as she reached out her hand. "We can't abandon her." Makoto would touch the image, and like Usagi, her body would fade and scatter like dust as she was pulled into the book.
"Makoto!" Ami said surprised, but unable to stop her. "Rei, Minako we have to investigate this, we could be trapped on that island with no way out."
"Like Minako said." said Rei as she reached her hand out. "We'll figure out a way, we're sailor Senshi remember? Dangers like this is what we protect the earth from." Rei would touch the image, her body fading and scattering into it.
Ami looked at Minako. "And what if we can't find a way out huh? What then?"
"Ami-Chan, you are the last person I can think of who would be so negative." said Minako. "There is always a way isn't there? We just have to find it. Besides, don't you want to see the island?" she smiled reaching out her hand and touching the image, disappearing into the book.
Ami sat there, staring in disbelief. Her friends just casually let themselves be swallowed by the book. She rubbed her forehead and looked at it. "The Island of Myst." she said to herself. She flipped through the pages again, doing a quick scan of it. She stopped on the very last page, where there was a signature. She looked at it for a moment. "Atrus." She thought for a moment, is this the name of the author?
"Who are you Atrus? That you can write a book so detailed that the world you describe comes to life?" she flipped back to the front page, staring at the image. "And if we met, would you be able to send us home?" Reaching out her hand, she touched the image and disappeared into it, the book falling from her hands as she faded, landing on the floor of the shrine grounds, a calm wind blew, flipping the pages randomly.
For a while, it felt like she was in an endless darkness, falling through a void, before the darkness faded, and she could hear the sound of water and the smell of the sea in the air. Ami sat herself up, feeling hard wood beneath her and seeing she was on a small dock.
"I'm on the island." she said, staring in disbelief. She looked to her right at the sunken ship. "I'm...actually on the island."
"Ami!" she looked ahead seeing Makoto waving to her from the end of the dock.
"Mako chan!" Ami got up, brushing herself off and running along to the dock. "Your okay?"
"Yeah." she said. "But this place is amazing. It's also rather empty, it seems like we might be the only ones on the island."
"So it seems." said Ami. She looked around, and looked over at an object on the corner of the dock by the stairs. It stood on a triangle shaped stone slab and roughly box shape with a triangular top, primarily made of wood and metal. On the top of the box was a switch. "What's this?"
"Dunno." said Makoto. "But they seem to be all over the island, see?" Makoto pointed up, Ami followed her direction to see a high mountain with a stairway leading up to a platform with a large gear on the platform, to the left of the gear she can make out another switch. "There's one up there."
"I wonder what they are for?" Ami asked. She looked around. "Where are the others?"
"Further up the path, near those buildings." said Makoto. "There's also a cabin over in the woods, we can probably sleep there."
"I hope so." said Ami as they headed down the path. "I can't believe we're on this Island. Atrus must have been some genius writer to be able to actually bring this place to life."
"Atrus?" Makoto asked.
"There was a signature at the end of the book." said Ami. "It was signed "Atrus" and..." she blinked. "The book!"
"What about it?" asked Makoto.
"It's not on me." said Ami. "And now that I think about it. It's not on the dock."
"Do you think it's back at Rei's house?"
"Possibly." said Ami."
"Ami!" Ami and Makoto looked over seeing Usagi waving to them, Minako and Rei with her, they were in front of one of the two circular buildings that occupied the north end of the island."
"Usagi!" Ami ran over and hugged her. "Oh thank god your alright. Don't go and do that again okay?"
"Okay okay." said Usagi. "I'm sorry. But can you believe it? We're actually in the book!"
"It would seem so." said Ami looking around. "Though I wonder. Are we in the book?"
"What do you mean?" Minako asked. "We were all sucked into the book weren't we?"
"Yes." said Ami, adjusting her glasses. "But all the book does is describe in detail the Island of Myst, to the point it seems to actually exist."
"So your saying rather than being inside the book." said Rei. "The book transported us to Myst Island?"
"Yes." said Ami.
"Thats...a lot to take in." said Usagi rubbing her head."
"For you maybe." said Rei.
"Hey guys look at this." Minako was holding something in her hand, having spotted it down the path. "Looks like a letter."
"A letter?" Usagi asked. They all looked at it.
-Catherine
I've left for you a message
of utmost importance in
our fore-chamber beside
the dock. Enter the number
of Marker Switches on this
island into the imager
to retrieve the message
Yours
Atrus-
"Atrus." said Ami looking over the letter. "So he's real."
"I wonder who Catherine is." said Minako.
"Sister? Wife perhaps?" said Usagi. "But what do you suppose he means?"
"Fore-chamber by the docks." said Ami. "I didn't see anything that looked like a doorway when I appeared."
"Maybe it's hidden?" Minako asked.
"and the Marker Switches?" asked Rei.
"Hmm." Makoto turned her head and looked toward the building they were standing in front. Another of those switches was outside it. "I bet it's those things there, they are all over the Island."
"So we count them up is that it?" Usagi asked. "Sounds simple enough."
"But what do we do with the number?" asked Rei.
"Let's split up." said Ami. "We need the exact number of switches, plus we need to find out how to access the fore chamber."
"Usagi and I can count the switches." said Minako. "You can look for Atrus and Catherine's Fore-chamber."
" Alright." said Ami.
"I'll help out Ami." said Makoto. "What about you Rei?"
"I'll take a look around." said Rei. "There has to be something here that can point us in the right direction."
"Finding Atrus should be our priority." said Ami. "I believe he could help us go home."
They nodded and split off.
"Here's another one" said Usagi pointing out a switch but a brick building that extended a bit toward the north end of the island.
"I think that's all of them." said Minako. "The Docks, that giant gear, the one by the right hand building, the spaceship, the cabin, this one here, that courtyard with the pool, and the clock tower. So that makes 8."
"So we find the imager and put the number 8 into it." said Usagi. "And we'll get Atrus's message to Catherine."
"Right." said Minako. She looked around solemnly. "I wonder why Atrus created wrote about such a place. It seems so empty and quiet."
"He might have lived here, with his family." said Usagi as they walked back to the dirt path. "There is that cabin, and what appears to be a library."
"So what happened to everyone then?" asked Minako.
"I don't know." said Usagi. "That note was clearly left with the thought that Catherine would be returning."
"Maybe Atrus is in trouble?" Minako asked as she looked around.
"There is still the matter of us being stuck here." said Usagi. She sighed. "Mamoru and I had a date planned as well."
"I'm sure it will be fine." said Minako. "I bet if we can find Atrus, he can send us home, you'll see!"
"I hope so." said Usagi.
Rei was standing in the middle of the central building, the Library as it were and looked around. The outside was a square shaped building with Columns along the wall, the back of the library was against the tall mountain which had another building on top, though there seemed to be no way to reach it. The front had a triangle shaped Archway covering the front door with steps leading up to it. The Inside was made of wood and was a circular room with 7 walls, across from the entrance was a shelf with books, and Rei was staring at the shelf, crouched down and running her fingers over it.
"They're all burnt." she said to herself. She took one book out and flipped through it. It was burned and charred and the pages seem to flake, she carefully put the book back in and scanned over the rest. Most of the books were burned yes, but it looked like a few were still intact. She pulled one of the intact books out that were on the top shelf, a largish one with a green cover and flipped it open.
"This handwriting matches the note." said Rei. "Could this be one of Atrus's journals?"
"Rei!" Rei looked up, putting the book back in its place and standing up and heading for the exit, she stopped for a moment, looking to the side walls where lecterns were built onto the walls, upon the Lecterns were two books, one Red, and one Blue. With a single colored page next to each one. She pondered for a moment before stepping out.
"What is it?" Rei asked.
"We got all of them." said Usagi. "8 total."
"Did you find anything?" Minako asked.
"There's a shelf in the library." said Rei. "But all the books are burnt up."
"That's terrible." said Usagi.
"Do you think they could have been books like the one that brought us here?" Minako asked. "Books written with such detail that they can take you to another world."
"Possibly." said Rei. "I do believe I found a journal though. So whoever burnt the books didn't get them all."
"A journal?" asked Usagi.
"Yes." said Rei as they walked to the dock. "It looks like Atrus's journal, the handwriting matched the note." Reaching the edge of the wall, Usagi looked down at Ami and Makoto on the dock. Ami was checking the wall and Makoto seemed curious about the ship.
"Hey any luck?" Minako asked.
"I think so." said Ami. "There is a part of the wall here that looks like a doorway, so I'm trying to find a way to open it if possible. What about you?"
"There's 8 marker switches on the Island." said Usagi. "So that's the number we need to enter into the imager." The three of them walked around, taking the stairs down to the docks to join Makoto and Ami.
"I'm curious about this ship and why it sunk." said Makoto.
"You know in that courtyard there's a water basin in the center with a model of this ship." said Minako. "It's also submerged.
"I tried to take it out but it wouldn't budge." Usagi said.
"That library." said Rei. "It may have been ransacked. There is a shelf filled with burnt out books save for what looks like a few journals that weren't touched."
"Journals?" Ami stood up and looked at Rei.
Rei nodded. "Possibly Atrus's journals."
"They could have clues to what happened here." said Makoto.
"Then we'll read them over once we find the message." said Ami.
"Do you think the message is still there?" Minako asked.
"I don't know." said Ami. "But it seems like no one has been to this island in a long time, so it's possible." She scratched the back of her head and sighed. "There's obviously a door here but I don't see any buttons or anything."
"Maybe touch it?" said Minako. "I mean, when we touched the image in the Myst book we were transported."
Ami blinked, was it that simple? She reached her hand out to the door like part of the wall and pressed on it, there was a click and everyone watched as it slid open, revealing a path. Ami sweat dropped. "It was that simple?"
The five of them walked down the narrow hall, lit with small blue lamps built into the floor along the wall. They descended a short ladder and further on down a flight of stairs into an open circular room, the center of which sat a pool of water.
"So this is Atrus and Catherine's fore-chamber." said Rei looking around. The floor was decorated with a gold rug with alternating patterned squares. The lighter squares had a circular with a star burst like design in the center, and the darker squares had some sort of crest. A short wooden step extended around the perimeter of the chamber. The Water basin sat on a brown wooded Pentagon, and was about waist high and illuminated by lights on the five corners of the pentagon. On the front of the Basin on the bottom was a switch.
"So where is this Imager?" Usagi asked. "The only thing that's here is this pool."
"Looks a little weird if you ask me." said Makoto. She reached her hand into the pool and blinked. "Hey this water isn't real."
They looked into the water. Beneath it were 6 rods crisscrossing one another, and below that were several devices that looked like lamps.
"I think this is the imager." said Ami. "Set to project a pool of water."
"Wow, this is amazing." said Usagi.
"So where do we input the Mark Switch number?" Minako asked.
They all looked around, and something caught Rei's eye.
"Hey look over here on the wall." she said pointing to a square depression with a note attached to it. In the upper left corner a button.
-SETTINGS-DIMENSIONAL IMAGER
TOPOGRAPHICAL EXTRUSION TEST 40
MARKER SWITCH DIAGRAM 47
WATER-TURBULENT POOL 67-
"So these are some numbers you can enter to change what's displayed on the imager." said Ami. She looked at the button in the upper left corner and pushed it. The depression slid up like a panel revealing a mechanism behind it. "I found it!" The mechanism showed two numbers, set to 67 currently with arrow keys beneath each one to change the number. Wires came off the right side of the mechanism and disappeared down into the wall, and an orange button was visible below it.
"This is the control mechanism for the imager." said Ami. "So if we enter one of those numbers the image should change." As a test she typed in '47' the number for the 'Marker Switch Diagram' and hit the button. There was a beeping sound and the panel closed. "Anything?" She asked.
"No." said Usagi." The water just disappeared."
"Hmm." Ami looked at the Basin. "Oh, there the button on the Basin."
"I see it." said Makoto, she knelt down and pushed the button. The Imager hummed as the mechanism within started to glow, and they watched as a full, 3D image of the switch stands around Myst appeared.
"Oh! Wow!" said Usagi staring in disbelief. The girls all looked at it. "It's like a hologram or something."
"This is amazing." said Ami. "Whoever Atrus is, he certainly was very brilliant to have crafted something like this."
"Speaking of which." said Makoto. "We should see what that message is about."
"Right." said Ami. She walked over to the console, opening it up once again and set the imager to '08' and push the button. It beeped like before, followed by more high pitched beeps before the panel closed up. Ami turned. "Alright, its ready." The five stood around the imager. "Let's find out what's happened here."
They all nodded, and Ami activated the Imager.