Chapter 1 A tale of two traps
85 years earlier... "What's the matter, Katran?" the elderly lady asked the young girl. Katran sat before the book in front of her, hesitant to continue. "You've learned from an expert, and your skills are as refined as Atrus. I'm sure Myst will be a very stable world for you to live in. "How can you be sure, Ti'Ana?" Katran asked, sounding desperate for confirmation. "Gehn thinks he is such an expert at what he does, yet all of his worlds are so...unstable. Even Riven is falling apart." She sighed, thinking of her home and her friends and family who were having to flee the age due to one evil man's interference. "The difference between you two is very simple. Unlike Gehn, you are able to admit your mistakes, and you are able to learn from them as well. Gehn does not own up to his actions, blaming anyone else he can. That's why Riven is unstable. That's why all his ages are unstable. He blames the book, the pen, the ink, even sometimes, the Art itself. But I'm here with you, helping you write this. You can do it. Just take a deep breath and..." Katran placed pen to paper, drawing the last stroke on the elaborate character. "How much further do we have to go?" she asked, knowing that their time was running out. "We are about halfway there. We will be done in time for Atrus' return."
Present day...
There was nowhere to go but forward. Lance stood to his feet, realizing that this was neither a dream nor a hallucination. This was reality. And instead of sitting on the dock dazed and confused, he needed to explore and find a way out. From what he remembered reading, there were several man-made structures around, including an imaging chamber (whatever that was), a library, and a rocketship of some sort. The book never described what these places were or what they did, but only that they existed, and where they were. So Lance pushed forward towards a set of stairs. Before he reached them, an object caught his eye. It was some kind of pedestal with a lever on top. If memory served, the book referred to these as "marker switches," though again, the text failed to reveal their purpose. Flipping the lever up seemed to do nothing. Lance returned the lever to its original position, and found no difference, either. Unsure what he was doing, he left the switch in the "up" position, just in case its purpose would become clear later. Lance moved forward, following a winding sidewalk up to where what was labeled as a planetarium in the book was located. From what the boy knew, the Library was not far beyond that. He took a step into the grass to cut across towards the planetarium when he nearly slipped forwards, catching himself before he hit the ground. Turning around to see what had almost gotten his neck broken, he reached for a small piece of paper that was now stuck to the bottom of his shoe.
Catherine,
I've left for you a message of utmost importance in our fore-chamber beside the dock. Enter the number of marker switches on this island into the imager to retrieve the message.
Yours, Atrus
Lance recognized what Marker Switches were as he stood to his feet, but the fore-chamber puzzled him. He remembered an imaging chamber near the docks was written into the book, but he hadn't seen it when he first arrived. Were these two the same location? Tucking the note into his pocket, Lance began to think about what he wanted to do. He could go to the planetarium...but the library probably had more answers for him. Maybe another magic book that would take him out of here and back home. The library was just ahead and to his right. The massive building looked a little like the Parthenon, though on a slightly smaller scale. Inside, there was one large bookcase, several framed pictures on the walls, a fireplace, and two pedestals, one with a lone red book, and one with a lone blue one. The walls and floor were all composed of wood, and a large chandelier was hanging overhead, bathing the room in a pretty dim light. It almost appeared that the chandelier was lit on fire, but closer examination showed that the room was being lit by some kind of flame encased inside of a glass sphere. It looked bizzare, but no less than anything else he'd seen on this island.
SkyeGear · Sun Aug 19, 2007 @ 08:51pm · 0 Comments |