Catherine walked to the balcony of her prison. Again. She had done this countless times, for she had nothing else to do. Where was Atrus, or the messenger of Atrus that Nelah had told her about? She could barely make out the shapes of the other Rivenese islands on the horizon, but even from here, she could tell that they couldn't last too long.
Suddenly, the sounds of a rising elevator echoed through the prison. Katran ran inside to see not Gehn, not Nelah, not a villager or rebel, but a mysterious man who looked like he was among Anna's kin. But he was wearing brown robes - Atrus's robes! And the elevator bars were on the other side of the platform. Catherine's rescuer had come at last!
Katran ran into the elevator and pulled the lever. As the elevator lowered, Katran quickly stated, "We have to move quickly. Gehn's people may already know what's happened. Once we're back with the Moiety, we'll have time to regroup." The stranger had a large book in his hand. It looked like a Linking Book, but Catherine knew that it was a Trap Book: the very thing Gehn deserved. She said, "Can I see the Book?"
Atrus's friend nodded and handed her the Book. Katran opened it to its Gateway Image, and she saw what looked like a D'ni chamber. But after a few seconds, the illusion vanished and was replaced with a bewildered Gehn surrounded by static. She gasped, "You did it. We're all free! You captured Gehn!"
She couldn't help but smile. Gehn was gone. Gehn was gone! The villagers, the Moiety, all the civilizations Gehn could have discovered and then enslaved: they were all free! And now, Katran could be with Atrus again.
The grin dropped, however, when Katran realized a more imminent problem. She quickly said, "But there's still his followers. I'm not sure what they'll do once they realize he's gone. We'll have to get the villagers to safety as soon as possible. You go back to the Temple Island and reopen the fissure. I know it's risky, but it's the only way to signal Atrus. I'll try to make it back there as soon as I can, but don't wait for me. Don't forget. The portal combination's in my journal. Good luck."
She then snapped the wires leading to the prison with the side of her hand, and ran toward the fire-marble dome. "Don't worry, people of Riven. I will set you free. Do not worry, Atrus, my love. I'll be in your arms once more."
"Gehn! Wake up this is an emergency!"
No answer.
"Gehn!" Cho pressed the summoning button again. Not good. Gehn couldn't have been sleeping, and he couldn't have been outside, because Gehn could have heard his summons there, too. Not good. Had the stranger succeeded?
Before Cho could think of an answer, he heard the sound of linking from behind him, followed by an angry woman's roar of "YOU AGAIN?!"
BONK!
Cho fell on the ground. Katran was standing over him, holding the Trap Book that looked exactly like it was before, except it had a large dent on the cover shaped like his head. That explained the feeling of a large, blunt object hitting him and the throbbing headache he just had.
"Now," said Katran, "You shall remain silent about this meeting. Got it?" She then went over to the Prison Island Linking Book, and ripped out a page.
"What are you doing," screamed Cho, slowly rising from the floor. Katran did not listen to him. Instead, she went to the Survey Island Linking Book, and ripped out a page.
"I'll tell Gehn about this!" Yelled Cho, "He'll execute you this time!" Katran, who was about to rip out a page from the Jungle Linking Book, turned to Cho and an evil grin emerged on her face. "Gehn," she said, "Is not going anywhere for a while," she held up the Trap Book, "I'm afraid our visitor has, ahem, closed the book on him."
"You..." hissed Cho, "Disgusting little Bahro!"
Katran just laughed, "Curse at me all you want. Go ahead. I won't care. Now that Gehn is in his worthy prison, I could do anything I want and you cannot stop me. You, least of all."
"SHUT UP, YOU!" Cho lunged his dagger at Katran, only to have it knocked out of his hand by a knife that Katran was holding in her pocket. Now it was her turn. She threw down her knife, and instead kicked Cho in the... well, let's just say that was a good shot, and it hurt... a lot.
Cho hit the ground again, doubled up in pain. Katran grabbed his wrist and laughed, "Now then. Let's seek a haven for you, shall we?" She then placed his hand on the Book Assembly Island Linking Book.
After he vanished, she ripped out a page from the Book. "Now back to the agenda," she said as she ripped a page out of the Jungle Island Book. The only Linking Book that she spared was the Temple Island Linking Book, which she linked through.
Cho groaned as he hobbled from the fire-marble dome on Book Assembly Island. He was in pain: both physically and mentally. Obviously, he had aches in his head, on the side of his body from hitting the floor, and Katran's kick in the... never mind. Including the pains from before, Cho was now aching all over. But he still was confident. He still had a chance to stop Katran. A probability of say, one out of a thousand.
As he pressed the button to rotate the Gate Room, he heard a noise: A slow, loud mechanical noise. Urrrrrroom. As Cho walked through the Gate Room, he heard it again. Urrrrrroom. What could make such a noise?
Urrrrrroom. There it was again. Wait a minute. The noise was coming from the - Urrrrrroom - Fissure Plateau! Cho gasped. It was too late to do anything now! All he could do was sit and watch.
Urrr-crash!
The silence of D'ni was interrupted once more. Still, the intruding noise was still the furious scratching of a fountain pen; more furious than it had ever heard before. Even the great writers who wrote marvelous Ages in this cavern in its period of life had never written with such intensity, or with such enthusiasm, or with such a reason.
Atrus finished writing another sentence into the Book. There! That should last for... three minutes. Perhaps now he should look at the Gateway Image to see if it got any clearer. But with the thought of the Image, his mind drifted to his friend. His friend who was now somewhere in that dying Age. It was quite ironic that the first words Atrus said directly to him were, "Who the devil are you?" And now, Atrus wanted to reward him with anything in the world, not just for freeing him, but just for entering Riven. And also for keeping him company. That's all that he needed: simple company.
And then, he flipped to the Image. Yahvo! The Image was darker than before, and it seemed to become more fuzzy than ever; even static-like! The only thing that Atrus could view was a mass of stars. Wait a second- the Image was looking downward. Of course! The Fissure! His friend was signaling him!
Atrus thought. He had to continue his Writing. Oh, forget about Writing! Riven was now damaged beyond even temporary repair! But what if he only opened the Fissure by accident, and he hadn't captured Gehn or rescued Catherine? Can't be. Atrus instructed the stranger to first capture Gehn in the Trap Book, then rescue Catherine, and finally signal him, and such wonderful yet mysterious things like the Fissure can't just be opened by accident.
But then, the Image suddenly turned jet black, and turned back to just static. Yes. He had to link now, and if not now, when? Riven couldn't last any longer. And so he linked into the Fifth Age. The last person to do so.
"It can't be... no... but how?" Cho was appalled. The Fissure was open again! It was like seeing a ghost of a mysterious past... actually, it seemed even stranger than that.
He heard voices in his head. Screams. Desperate cries of the transgressors who were cast into the Fissure and quickly vanished beyond all knowledge. Whatever happened to them? Did they safely land on wherever they landed - where would that be, anyway? Did they hit some surface at too hard of an impact, and died on contact? Or maybe they just fell... and that was all. Perhaps it was the Fissure was an infinite abyss and nothing more.
The sky turned dark, but the clouds still were glowing with an uneasy brownish light. The sun vanished into what was like an unpredicted eclipse, and stars winked into place in the sudden night. The earth shook like a gigantic animal waking from hibernation, just as it did 30 years before. Even as Cho watched, he knew that Riven's fate was sealed.
Suddenly, a linking sound pierced the sounds of doom, coming from the Cage, stuck in the open position. A man bowed, and exited the Cage, as he took off his goggles. Who was he? He was wearing D'ni clothing, and the goggles looked like Gehn's. His pupils were smaller than normal, and he looked so much like... no! Could it be? Yes, it was Atrus!
Atrus ran up to the stranger and said something that Cho couldn't understand. But whatever it was, he was sure that Atrus was concerned: perhaps about whether or not Gehn was gone. Cho felt a surge of humiliation. But then, Katran came and called Atrus's name. Quickly, the two ran to each other, and embraced.
"Well, just GREAT!" muttered Cho. It seemed that everyone that he opposed always got the better endings. Katran was free, and got Atrus back. Atrus got Katran back, and his father was gone. The stranger... well, Cho didn't know exactly how this benefitted the stranger, but the stranger got the feeling of pride that Cho never felt: the feeling of a job well done.
The two then said something to the stranger: most likely words of gratitude. This made Cho even more jealous and humiliated by the second. Why couldn't HE ever win?
Katran linked into a Book that Atrus was holding. Gone.
Cho groaned. That was the Linking Book he could have gotten all this time! And here it was now, in Atrus's hands, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Atrus linked, and let the Book fall into the open Fissure. Gone.
There it went. The goal Cho was after all this time. The only way he could get it now (but who would he hand it to) let alone the only way out of here was to enter the Fissure. Never!
But the most disturbing parting there was that of the stranger. He simply looked down into the Fissure, and the rocks under him trembled before falling. And then he just... fell in. Into the Fissure without a word.
Cho sighed. What could he do now? Perhaps he could find Rifih, or another Guildsman. But how could that help his situation. As far as he knew, he was trapped on a dying world...To be continued...
Thank you to all who reviewed so far! Keep up the good work. Only one chapter left! I'll write up the ending as soon as I can!