Thanks to Winona and Guest for leaving such nice reviews for me. :) It warms my heart to read them.
Winona - I'm sorry about the 'rush-y-ness' of the chapters. While Myst was more laid back and about searching and discovering, Riven to me felt more rushed. You had specific goals you needed to accomplish and limited amount of time to do them before the Age collapsed. So for me, when I played, there was a sense of urgency in the exploring. I am trying to capture the feelings I had while playing the different games. I hope this new set of chapters, set in Exile, will be more Myst-like in their feeling of wandering and exploring.
Whatever Saavedro was he sure was a pack rat. The more Melody searched the more odds and ends she discovered. Gears, giant egg shells, sacks of dried flowers, furs, jars of things she didn't want to investigate, different colored stones in all shapes and sizes, dried meat, fire marbles, pieces of jagged crystals… it went on and on.
On the wall behind the hammock was a large drawing on the wall. A woman with bright wild red hair and an oval shaped face. Could it be Tamra, the woman Saavedro mentioned in his journal? The creepy part about the drawing was that the woman's eyes had either been rubbed out or had never been painted in the first place.
She wasn't sure which option creeped her out more.
On the desk was a large stone hammer and several contraptions that looked like experiments. By turning the crank on one of them, static electricity flowed through wires to a cylinder full of rocks. The rocks began to float. When she stopped turning the crank, the rocks fell.
On the other side of the contraption was a plant growing out of a large shell. Thick green vines stretched across the table. One lay near the cylinder. Curious, Melody moved the wires from the cylinder to the vines and turned the crank. The top of the plant opened and a fly flew out. It was a carnivorous plant. Something told her that knowing electricity caused the plant to open was going to be very important.
It was the kind of experiment Atrus would find fascinating. It seemed as though Saavedro was more like Atrus than he thought. Saavedro had called Atrus 'old friend'. She wondered why Atrus had never mentioned him.
Since there wasn't anything useful in the tusk, Melody decided to head up the elevator and inspect the projectors closer. Once she reached the top room or the tusk, she went to the door leading outside and unlocked it. No sense in taking the long way around to get to the other tusks, which she was sure was hiding the linking books to the lesson ages.
On the floor next to the door she spotted a piece of paper she hadn't seen before. Picking it up, she realized it was a page out of Saveerdro's journal:
Sirrus. And. Achenar.
The walls run red with steam and struggling branches. I see their bloated faces laughing at everything. I remember how they lied. I remember what they did.
They brought me here to die.
I followed them.
The Lattice Root were black from too much overgrowth. Puffer spores floated up in the hot steam and burst. No one was there to guide the spores to the branches. No one waiting to perform the ritual Weaves. The fighting had torn my people apart.
They didn't care.
They didn't care.
They wanted Narayan to die.
Melody had to read the page several times. The pictures Saveedro painted were horrible to imagine. To see your world destroyed before your eyes…
Great, now she was starting to feel sorry for him. But that still didn't excuse his actions. He would have to answer for what he had done, just as Sirrus and Achenar had.
The projectors were still open so she didn't have to push the button and watch the recording again. One was blue, one was red, and the last was green. Because it was closer, Melody went the green first. A small hole under the projector revealed a telescope with a symbol that looked like a bird etched in the middle. By adjusting lever on either side of the projector, she could maneuver it up and down and also change the focus. She scanned the area, hoping for a clue as to what she was supposed to do. The largest thing she could see from the telescope was one of the tusks. She moved the view slowly from the top to the bottom and found a window halfway up the tusk. And, interestingly, the window had a symbol that looked like a bird etched into it.
A hunch formed in her mind. Carefully maneuvering all the levers, she lined up the symbol on the telescope lens with the symbol on the window as precisely as she could. Had that unlocked the door of the tusk? There was only one way to find out.
Heading out of the door she had unlocked, Melody braced herself against the wind and made her way down the ladder, across the cliff and down another ladder toward the tusk.
When she got there, she frowned darkly. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy.
A large gap separated her from the door of the tusk. Along the cliff wall next to the gap was a large vine that was covered with large pink watermelon looking fruit, but seeing as how she didn't want to go crashing down into the lagoon with who-knew-what kind of animals that were probably hungry hiding in it, Melody didn't risk trying to walk on the fruit.
There had to a way across. Otherwise what would be the point of adjusting the telescope?
Glancing around and down, Melody saw there was a ladder leading to a small platform beneath the vine. On the platform was a large flower. Curious, Melody climbed down to inspect it. As she approached, a loud noise like howling wind hit her ears and she covered them in self-defense. In the process she managed to hit the flower, which moved. The loud noise suddenly stopped.
Melody lowered her hands, puzzled. That noise had been coming from the flower? Reaching out gingerly, she moved the flower.
The loud creaking of a bridge filled the small area. Standing behind the flower, Melody realized it was pointed at the bridge above her. She moved the flower downward, toward the lagoon. The peaceful sound of rippling water could be heard.
The flower was an amplifier! It amplified the sound of whatever it was pointed at! Could that be the key to getting to the door? Would the right sound cause a bridge to appear?
Moving the flower around as far as it would go proved to be useless. Evidently the right sound was not in the lagoon… at least not yet. Was there something she had to do first? Something she had to activate?
A flash of white down below caught her eye. There was a small cave at the bottom of the chasm. She waited, watching carefully. After a few minutes, a small white head poked out from the cave. She couldn't tell what it was, only that it was small.
Moving carefully back up the ladder, then across the bridge and down the steep stairs to the lagoon, Melody peeked around the corner and waited.
The animal appeared again moments later.
It was adorable! It was small and white, about the size and a housecat with large eyes, a long tail and a small curved horn going back from its head. It cocked its head and made a chirping noise, it's cheeks puffing out a little.
Melody wanted to scoop it up and cuddle it. When she moved out from behind the corner, it squeaked in alarm and darted back into the cave. Maybe she could coax him out with some food.
A little ways from the cave was a small beach with what looked like a smaller version of the vine up by the tusk. This vine also had several large pink watermelon-like fruit on it. Was that what the little creature ate? The two areas were separated by some shallow water. Did he not know how to swim? Did he not like getting wet? Was he afraid of the water? Was there a reason to be afraid of the water?
Melody eyed the dark water suspiciously. She was not about to find out, but there was no reason she couldn't make some sort of path for the critter.
Some large stones nearby made perfect stepping stones. Placing them close together, Melody stepped back and surveyed her work. A step-stone path to the beach, perfect for a hungry critter. Knowing he wouldn't come out if she was standing there, Melody moved back around the corner and didn't make a sound.
A few minutes went by before the little animal appeared, poking its head cautiously out of the cave. Seeing the stepping stones, he took one small step from the cave, then another. Then before Melody could blink he bolted across the stones and stood in front of the vine. It made its chirping noise.
Melody's mouth dropped in surprise as the pink watermelon things blew up like balloons, growing to twice their normal size. The critter began to chew on one of them, lapping up the purple colored juice that came out.
Melody smiled. "Eat up little guy," she whispered. "You just gave me the answer to my problem."
She went back up to the ampli-flower, positioning it to face the creature who was still chowing down. A loud puffing noise above her head made her look up in time to see the fruit expand all along the large vine. Climbing the ladder, Melody congratulated herself. The fruit was now large enough for her to walk all the way to the door which, thankfully, was unlocked.
Melody rubbed her forehead. She was going to have to do this with the other two tusks wasn't she? Jnanin was proving to be the Age of Headaches.
Inside the tusk, a green book sat on a pedestal. The word 'Edanna' was inscribed in gold on the cover along with the bird symbol from the telescope.
Opening it, Melody saw what looked like a giant tree in the middle of a vast ocean. But there was something strange about it. The tree looked… inside out…
The outside looked like bleached bark, but she could see that the inside of the tree was a lush jungle.
And somewhere in the jungle, Saveedro had hidden one of the symbols that unlocked the machine that held the book he had escaped into. Melody groaned. The jungle had a definite 'inhabited' look about it. Who knew what kind of animals were waiting to eat her?
She had no choice.
Placing her hand on the page, Melody held her breath as she linked into Edanna.