Cut to Atrus, who's on D'ni, writing. Atrus is the same, here, as he is at the end of the game 'Myst'.

He looks up, when he sees Seo's ship appearing, he assumes that it's someone who's found his island of Myst and who is now coming to rescue him. He's a little surprised that it's a vessel, not a person, and wonders how this craft could have linked through.

Seo and Dave stumble out of Oliver, coughing from the smoke that's emerged in the console room.

They only just have time to determine that they're in a ruin and register Atrus' presence. They need somewhere to hide and Atrus needs someone to enter Riven — so Atrus offers the book (reluctantly, warning them of the danger), on the condition that they save his wife, Catherine. They agree and are about to escape, when the Word Lords show up.

The Word Lords in their CORDISes appear all over the place, and are all armed. They immediately notice the Riven linking book, and zap it with a contraption that seals the pages of the book so it won't open.

Atrus is astounded that they can do this.

The Word Lords then arrest Seo and Dave — "For the crime of being matter beings in a word-filled universe."

Seo protests, telling them that they don't want to hurt or manipulate this universe, and only got here by accident!

The Word Lords don't seem to care. "It's not about what you have or haven't done," they say. "It's the potential. You two might exert untold powers over this universe. Therefore, we have to act on it."

"But you can't destroy us for what we might do!" Dave insists.

Atrus steps in, here, to defend them. "He's right. You can't."

The Word Lords look at Atrus, strangely.

"These two have done nothing wrong," Atrus explains. "In fact… they've offered to help me find my wife and rescue her from an unstable Age. You, on the other hand, have sealed my Riven linking book. That Age is unstable, and by sealing it, you've sentenced untold numbers of people to death!"

The Word Lords do hesitate, now.

They are intrigued by Atrus, whom they immediately recognize as D'ni, and they are also intrigued by Riven. They clearly know all about D'ni culture and all about Atrus, himself.

"What were you doing with that book?" they ask. "Is this some D'ni trick?"

Atrus, still a little perplexed about why they're finding him so interesting, tries to explain. He tells the Word Lords about his plan to send a stranger into Riven to defeat Ghen and retrieve Atrus' wife, Catherine. In the meantime, Atrus himself will remain outside of the book, and write into it. Stabilizing the Age.

"Stabilize Riven?" say the Word Lords. "An age fundamentally unstable — and you can delay its death?"

The Word Lords are now extremely interested.

They put down their weapons, and welcome Atrus in friendship. "Our technology is far more sophisticated than yours," they say, "and our techniques are far more advanced than any the D'ni have ever come up with. We'll gladly put it all at your disposal — to help you evacuate Riven, save your wife, and defeat your evil father." They clap him on the back, leading him to their CORDISes. "But first, of course, you must do something for us."

Atrus stops.

"I can't delay this to run an errand for you!" Atrus insists. "I can't abandon Riven. Don't you see? Without my help, Riven will be collapse in just months!"

"And the entire universe will fall apart in a little over a week," the Word Lords say. "Riven can wait."

Seo and Dave perk up their ears at this. The universe is in trouble? Atrus is surprised, as well, although he has noticed a lot of things going wrong, around him.

Atrus starts to come with him, but when he hears the Word Lord general command his troops to, "Destroy the matter creatures and prepare for departure," Atrus refuses, again.

"I'll come with you," Atrus says, "if you spare those two."

The Word Lords think this through. Then allow it. "Very well. But you, Atrus, will watch them every day. You'll judge of whether or not the matter creatures intend us harm. And if you judge them to be causing the destruction of our reality… they'll be put to death on your orders."

Seo is wary of the Word Lords' sudden change of heart, and suspects there's something deeper behind it.

Seo requests that they bring her ship along, when they leave — since the ship is translating the world so that she and Dave can see it. She's even more wary when the Word Lords agree, cheerfully, to comply with her request.

…nagebsdrowehterehwgninnigebyrevehtotthgiryrotsehtpudnapudnapudepsevaD…

…and back and back…

An excerpt from Atrus' journal:

I left D'ni in a strange capsule, and arrived on a world more intricate and incredible than any I'd seen before. I'd call it an 'Age', but the word feels too… limited, here.

The buildings loom so large that words can't even encompass their grandiosity. The doors whisper the words of the universe as you pass. Even the echo of my footsteps are like the blots of ink on a page, here, and I am more in-touch with my Art than ever before.

Was this what D'ni was like, before it fell?

A place so humming with words and power, that one cannot help but want to write Ages?

When I arrived, the Word Lords explained to me that they were the masters of this universe, and that their homeworld contained links to all Ages. Even the ones that hadn't been written, yet.

I was surprised to discover this was true.

I don't know how they've managed to obtain this. But their technology is incredible and their Art surpasses anything that the D'ni had ever achieved. Perhaps they simply built it into their own Age, themselves.

Ages.

That's why I'm here.

"Our universe is full of these… 'Ages', as you call them," the President of the Word Lords explained to me, as he greeted me. "We, of course, call them what they are — Hands."

I looked at my own hand.

"Our greatest leader, the Word Lord 'All', created order out of chaos by connecting these Hands together, and binding them up in a single living text," the Word Lord President continued. "Under his guidance, we were able to link the Hands together using only words and the breath of living language. But that's under threat."

They told me of a renegade Word Lord, named 'Nobody No-One.'

Nobody No-One had traveled to another universe — a matter universe — to pursue a vendetta against a Time Lord called the Doctor. He had, unknowingly, brought a small section of one of the crucial Hands of our universe, with him. And had lost it.

The matter-creatures of that universe called it the Handovale.

The Doctor discovered the Handovale and used it to trap Nobody No-One. When Nobody No-One tried to escape and destroy every living thing in his universe, the Doctor had no choice but to destroy the Handovale… and kill Nobody No-One.

But even if the Doctor had saved his universe, he had no idea what he'd done to ours.

"A Hand cannot die within a matter universe," the President explained to me. "It doesn't just seal off the Hand from us, like burning a linking book. It destroys the words themselves. The language dies. Every single letter is erased… like the Hand never existed at all."

I cannot imagine such a thing happening to the Ages I write.

Imagine my dear Myst… undone and unwritten.

"The destruction of that Hand has led to the destruction of many others," the President told me. "The words of our entire universe have been corrupted. Some… erased. Our story is breaking down, and Ages everywhere… are dying."

Ages like Riven.

I am now starting to understand why the Word Lords took such an interest in me, when they found me attempting to save Riven. They have been struggling, as well, with their own Art — trying to prevent the collapse of our entire universe.

At least I can evacuate Riven.

The universe… I cannot. If it dies, we die.

I've agreed to help them to stabilize the universe.