Chapter One
Entering Riven
My hand slid over the books as I searched for the right one to read. But they were all terrible stories that were written for the sake of the author getting money. Then I saw something. Old, leatherbound...maybe even the oldest I had ever seen. I pulled it out. There was nothing written on it. I opened it up. There was a picture that took up maybe half the page, even less. Suddenly the picture was growing, engulfing me into its swirling lights. The picture was moving. Suddenly I fell down...into a man's study.
He looked up at me and kind of rolled his eyes. "You're the third one today." he told me, not very scientifically.
"Third what?" I asked.
"Human to visit me. While you're here, I need to ask you of something. I need you to find Catherine." said the man.
"Catherine? Who is she?" I asked.
"My wife." he answered. "My name is Atrus, by the way."
"Pleased to meet you, Atrus." I said, holding out my hand. He shook it. "Now, how do I get out of here?"
"Through this." said Atrus, handing me another leatherbound book.
"Will it take me home?" I asked, opening the book. "To the library where I came from?"
"No, you are going to Riven." Atrus said, looking very solemn. "Get Catherine for me. You're the only one who will agree."
"Agree?" I yelped, just as I was engulfed with the swirling lights of the book. As I was wrenched through time and space I heard Atrus calling through the wind, "If you find Catherine, I can get send you back to your home!"
I fell on the floor of a little golden and silver capsule. I stood up, and suddenly a rail came up. I was caged in! Then a man walked past me. He did a double take, and turned around to face me.
"Erm, sir, can you help me?" I asked.
He started speaking in gibberish. I shook my head helplessly. "No, I mean, can you help me? Can I put this to any use?"
I held up the linking book to Riven. Could I use it to get home? But I had to have Catherine with me, or so Atrus said...
Suddenly the man was walking closer. He said something that sounded like, "Haguonei", or something. I backed up. "HAGUONEI!" the man shouted, and grabbed the book out of my hands. "Hey! That's my ticket home!" I shouted. "You can't take that!"
The man looked through the book. I froze. Would he get transported back to my world? But then something else happened.
An arrow flew through the air and hit the man in the back. He stumbled, and fell. He was dead.
A moment later a person in black and red with a mask over its head sneaked forward. The person dragged away the man's body and threw it off the cliff face. Then it took the book and stuck it in a lever, jamming it with a little dagger.
"Hey, person! That's my book!" I shouted.
The person looked over at me. I figured that it was a girl. She pulled back the lever, jamming the book inside even further, but the rail came down. "Thanks." I said. She scampered, and disappeared. I walked over to the lever and pulled. Hard. Nothing happened. "Oh, man!" I muttered angrily. I walked over to where there was an odd instrument. "What is this?" I asked myself. I looked in where there was a peephole, but the inside was blank. Underneath there was what looked like a trapdoor to under a street in a city or something. I pulled. Nothing. There were five little square keys underneath. I pressed them in order- 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.Nothing at all happened. Knowing just how many combinations there could be, I walked over to where the the girl had thrown the body.
It was gone!
I turned around and saw another girl, one who looked like...like someone from where I came from!
"Hey! You! do you come from Earth?" I asked. She seemed my age, which was extremely lucky.
She turned aroud and smiled, sighing. "Finally someone from where I come from! All these D'ni are confusing me. I'm not exactly fluent in their language."
"D'ni?" I asked, puzzled.
"Didn't you ever play the computer game Riven?" I shook my head. "Myst?" I shook my head again. The girl sighed again, this time exasperated. "You didn't get here through a game, then."
"I got here through a linking book." I said.
"Really? I didn't think those existed. In fact, I kind of though this was a dream. Until I cut my knee. Then I thought that I couldn't be a dream, because in dreams you don't hurt yourself. Unless I fell off my bed and scraped my knee in my sleep, although you'd think I'd wake up. Hey, what are you giggling at?" she demanded suddenly.
"It's just funny. And I'm not giggling. That's what girls do." I said, trying to keep my face straight.
"Whatever. What's your name?" she asked.
"Leonardo. What's your's?"
"Melissa. I hate my name." she added unnecessairily. I could tell by the way she said it.
"Don't we all." I muttered.
"Will you help me beat the game?" Melissa asked.
"I thought you were good at it, from the authority in your voice." I muttered.
"I am good at it!" Melissa said indignantly. Then she hung her head. "Except I can't get onto disk five."
"Disk five?" I yelped. "You mean there are five disks to that stupid game? Forget it! I am not helping you!"
"How about I help you?" Melissa asked.
"No." I said.
"I'm the only one who will. Or at least nobody will help me, so they probably won't help you. They want to win the game more than anything." Melissa said.
"Okay, I'll help you. We'll both find Catherine and get out of here." I said.
"Wait a minute...I want to explore also. I want to take back little tokens from Riven." Melissa said.
"All right..." I said, exasperated. "Just promise me you'll help me win the game."
"I promise." Melissa said. "Okay, here's the plan. We try to get into the golden dome. Trust me, I know what to do."
"Until the fifth disk."
"Hey, I'm a pro at the rest of the game. Now, we're also going to have to go in a little copter like transport." Melissa reported.
"A...you mean, like a helicopter? No way!" I crossed my arms to seem very final.
She sighed. "Okay, then you can stay here stuck for the rest of your life."
"Fine! I'll go in the stupid copter!" I said.
"Oh, good! There's another thing too, it's also very fun. You can go in a sub in the game!" Melissa said delightedly.
"A...a what? You mean a submarine?" I spluttered.