Another chapter for tonight. I have decided to upload two chapters every time I upload. Don't ask me why, I just feel like it. Probably because we still have so far to go. We aren't even half-way through the second game and I have written all the way to the end of the fourth game.

Without further ado, drum roll please,

*crash*

... not what I wanted, but I'll take what I can get. Here's chapter 13.

The cart stopped at an island that was made entirely of a giant crater. She decided to call it Crater Island. The track ended inside the massive crater in front of a large lake in the middle of it. Pipes and machinery were everywhere. The largest machine she recognized as the paper maker from the paintings. So the mine cart was used to transport lumber from the forest to this place to be made into paper.

Melody followed a drainage pipe through a small tunnel to the outside of the crater. It led to a dome. Out of habit, she pressed the button on the little machine to stop the dome at the gold symbol. She still didn't have the combination, but at least she wouldn't have to do this later.

Above the dome was a rock ledge that led upward to a balcony. She made the hazardous climb without looking down too much and was relieved when she climbed over the railing onto the balcony. She was about to go in when she noticed a walkway leading back to Dome Island. So some of the islands were connected after all. She thought for several moments, then because the walkway looked like it went inside the top of the giant dome she decided to see what was there.

It led over the water, through the top of the giant dome and out the other side, down some stairs to yet another rotating dome. Each island seemed to have one. She got the symbol and opened the dome.

Now that she felt that she had accomplished something, she went back to the balcony on Crater Island.

For once she found a door unlocked and entered a good sized room.

It was an office. She didn't have to guess who's it was.

On a desk to her left she found writing equipment and a wooden eyeball. A paper beside it told her that the balls were not Gehn's. The ball she was looking at was the one from the water. Every time he removed a ball, another appeared in the exact same place. Gehn wrote that he suspected the balls were important but he didn't know what they were for. She made a note of the symbol on the ball before continuing her search.

Next to the desk was a table with a large chunk of tree truck with a magnifying glass over it. Gehn was examining the rings of the tree for some reason. To see how old it was maybe? Also on the table was more paper, ink, a paper press and a pipe.

The pipe was warm, which un-nerved her. She had to explore this place and get out fast. She really didn't want to run into Gehn yet. Not until she had rescued Catherine.

To think she had complained about the Ages on Myst because there were no people. Now she'd take the loneliness of those Ages compared to the fear she felt now.

Across the room from the table was a furnace filled with burned books. She pulled one out, hoping she would be able to tell what it was, but it fell apart when she touched it. Some of the ashes drifted to the floor. Oh well, Gehn had to have known she was here by now. No sense in trying to hide her presence now.

Next to the furnace was another desk with a teapot, a cup, a trap that had a piece of paper under it that said it was for catching frogs and a leather book. She opened it and realized with a start that she was looking at Gehn's journal.

There was so much writing she didn't have time to read it all. But what if it revealed where Catherine was being held? Did she dare take it with her? No, no sense in pissing off the overlord with man-eating fish as pets.

Melody made a quick decision and locked both doors leading out of the room. She would speed read as best she could and hope she could get the heck out of dodge before Gehn returned.

Twenty nerve-racking minutes later she made sure everything was as she had found it, unlocked both doors and hurried out the door opposite the balcony. It led to a cave with another cable car. She wasn't sure where it went, but it was better than staying where she was. She hopped in and pulled the lever. The car turned around and began it's trip to another island.

Melody couldn't enjoy the ride. Her mind was too busy turning over everything she had learned from the journal.

It had started out mundane enough, with Gehn talking about his cataloging of the elements of Riven and his experiments with ink and paper. Gehn was trying to write working Ages so he could escape. Unfortunately none of them seemed to work. The furnace had been filled with his failures. He lamented that his long-term goal would not be accomplished.

It had continued with his comments and theories about the Star Fissure. Atrus and Catherine had thrown themselves into it when they had trapped him in Riven, so Gehn had concluded it was safe. But without knowing it's true nature he hadn't attempted to use it himself. The villagers were terrified of it and unwilling to test it for him. As a result, he had closed off the Star Fissure. That must have been what was under the massive telescope she had seen on Dome Island.

Gehn realized that Atrus had trapped him there with no way out, but as Riven was Catherine's home world he wasn't afraid that the Star Fissure would destroy it. He believed his son meant for Riven to be a prison for him and not a death sentence, so he didn't believe that Riven was collapsing.

Several entries spoke of his constructing imagers (the thing she had seen in the temple and the school) and of someone named Keta. He believed the number 5 to be very important to the D'ni civilization and, as 5 is very prominent in Riven, it was proof that the D'ni created the worlds they linked to. He wrote that anything having the number 5 in it was the most beautiful and the most sound.

In her opinion, he had lost his flipping mind.

Gehn had the writing materials, but needed a power source for his books which was why he constructed the domes. So the books she had been seeing inside the domes were actual linking books. Gehn had succeeded in linking to other Ages.

He described the first Age he linked to as a desolate and harsh world. By studying it, he hoped to eventually be able to write a world for him to escape to permanently. He had an office built in that desolate Age, which Melody had decided to call the Office Age. The domes linked each island of Riven to his office in the Office Age.

She had skipped ahead several pages until she found a place where he talked about a group of rebels that called themselves The Black Moiety. Did Mr. Gorgeous belong to the group of rebels?

Under Catherine's leadership, they had become braver. Catherine had obviously been working to undermine Gehn's rule. The rebels used terror tactics and intimidation to get villagers to join them. They used the frogs on Riven to make their paralyzing darts, like the dart hot-man had used on the guard when she had first arrived.

The next entry mentioned that Gehn had gotten hold of a rebel knife and had examined it. He'd been amazed to discover that it was made from a substance unlike anything found on Riven. The knife had been found on the south side of the village where several people had gone missing. The rebels no longer seemed to fear that their hideout would be discovered. Was that what she had seen in the secret tunnels under the prison? The entrance to the rebel's hideout? Of course Gehn wouldn't have thought to look under the prison for it. It was a genius plan to avoid being caught.

Melody read about Catherine being captured, but she refused to tell the whereabouts of the rebels. She spoke in her native tongue whenever he questioned her and soon refused to speak to him at all. Gehn expected Atrus to come rescue Catherine and was waiting for him.

The next thing of interest was Gehn's realizing that the break-up of Riven had stopped. He realized quickly that Atrus must have been repairing the damage. Gehn had been experimenting with the water of Riven, but he abandoned it to focus on his books.

The last entry was dated that day. He wrote about a rebel being captured and searched. A crystal had been found on him that powered the linking books. It was a small and portable power source that Gehn had been thrilled to find. He believes the crystals to be D'ni in origin and that Catherine had brought them with her when she had returned to Riven, but she refused to answer him when he questioned her.

Melody gulped at the mention of several villagers and guards reporting sightings of a mysterious young woman. Gehn had guessed that she had been sent by Atrus to rescue Catherine. Gehn wanted her apprehended and brought to him to speak to her.

A part that made the hair on the back of her neck raise was when Gehn had written about an assistant of his that he had caught looking through the journal. The man had been punished.

Melody shivered. She didn't want to know how.

The one thing she had found that was useful was the combination to the domes. It was in D'ni numbers, but from the notes she had taken in the school house Melody was sure she could decipher the numbers later. Before she went to Gehn's Office Age she needed to find Catherine. At least Gehn hadn't said anything about her being fed to his pets, which she had learned were called wharks. Melody could only hope that Catherine was too valuable a bargaining chip for Gehn to kill.

The cable car stopped at a new island. From the car platform, she went up a flight of stairs to a walkway over a strange pond filled with orange and green and blue water. The pond was framed with whark tusks.

The walkway ended at an elevator that took her up to a pedestal that had a map of the five islands of Riven. Because of this, Melody dubbed the island Map Island.

The rotating dome on each island was marked. She drew a rough draft of it in her notebook.

Melody discovered that the elevator went farther down. It led down to a large room that looked like an aquarium. One wall was made entirely of glass. She was looking inside the pond. Despite the murky multi-colored surface, the water was surprisingly clear. Up a few steps to a platform was a chair. As soon as she sat in it, a metal arm with a screen lowered in front of her. There were several buttons. She tried each of them.

The first one overlooked the village. The second turned on the scope in the lagoon. It was pointed at the wooden eyeball floating in the water. The rock behind it looked like a regular fish.

Her mind went back to the secret room under the prison. All of the stones with different animals drawn on them. Each of the wooden eyeballs was associated with an animal and a number.

That was it! That was the combination to the rebel's hideout! She just had to push down the stones in the order of the animal/number wooden eyeballs that she had seen. She noted that the ball in Ghen's office was associated with a fish.

The third button showed a room she hadn't been in yet. It had a desk, a chair, a bed, shelves with dishes and blankets and a balcony with bars around it. A figure walked in front of the viewer, a beautiful woman with long dark hair.

Catherine! She was alive! But where was she?

The other buttons showed nothing so Melody pulled a lever she assumed would raise the viewer to let her out.

She was wrong.

A horn sounded. She jumped. What had she just done?

She had her answer moments later.

A guttural roar made her freeze as a large dark shape swam slowly in front of the glass. Melody had to cover her mouth the keep from screaming. She had called a whark! It was massive with long ugly tusks curving out of it's mouth. It swam slowly back on forth in front of the glass. It seemed to be watching her.

That was enough for her. Melody slipped out of the chair and ran from the room, taking the elevator back up to the walkway. It wasn't just Jaws. It was Jaw's smarter, bigger and uglier older brother. The thought of the poor villagers and rebels that had been fed to that thing made her want to throw-up. The people must be terrified. It was no wonder that Atrus had trapped Gehn, to keep him from destroying any other worlds. It was terrible that the people of Riven had suffered because of it. She had to get the trap book back. It was the only way to make sure that Gehn would not hurt anyone else.

Melody reached Village Island just as the sun was going down. She was exhausted. It had been the longest day of her life. She pushed away the thought of where she was going to sleep. She would worry about it later. Now she had to get to the rebels and see if they could be persuaded to give back the trap book. Maybe they knew where Catherine's prison was.

The cell door was still open. Honestly, what was wrong with the guards? If there were no prisoners they didn't bother to close the doors? It made no sense.

She made her way under the prison to the secret room with the marker stones. By studying her notebook, she figured out the order : fish, beetle, frog, seal-thing, and whark.

As soon as she pushed down the whark marker stone, the heavy stone door rolled away to reveal a book that had been stuck in a niche in the wall.

No wonder Gehn couldn't find the rebel's hideout. It was in another Age! Had Catherine written it for them? She must have. Melody opened it and saw from the moving image that it worked. She made out what seemed to be a giant tree with lights inside it. It was so reminiscent of Peter Pan that she wouldn't have been surprised to see Tinker Bell fly up and wink at her.

Melody didn't hesitate as she linked to the rebel Age.

So now Melody is finally in the rebel Age. I believe this is about the middle of the second game.

As for why I did not write out Gehn's journal, honestly have you tried reading that man's handwriting? It's worse then a doctor's note. Plus I figured that since I included all of Atrus' journals, and will include others, that it was okay to skip Gehn's. I still love him dearly.

Melody : Whoa whoa! What do you mean you love Gehn dearly? He's freakin' evil incarnate!

Me : I know. That's why I love him dearly. He's an awesome villain.

Melody : *shakes head* And this is the woman who controls my fate. I am terrified...