Myst III: Exile
Myst III: Exile is a graphic adventure video game developed by Presto Studios and published by Ubisoft in 2001. It is the third installment in the Myst franchise, following Myst and Riven.
Atrus
[edit]- [opening cinematic] I realized, as our group linked back to D'ni, that we should not restore the city as we had planned. The once magnificent buildings lay in ruin, a testament to the hatred that had consumed them. Too many people had fallen victim to that hate, to the prejudice and greed from which it sprang. Gazing out across the cavern, I decided to write another Age - one that would help the D'ni survivors begin again, free from the tragedies of their past. So with my wife, Catherine, supporting me, I put aside that past to write a future. More than a year has gone by since I finished writing Releeshahn. I have a new daughter, who I hope will someday link to the Age with me. And as I imagine Yeesha meeting the D'ni, those brave men and women who are building a new life for themselves, I realize I've been given another chance as well. A chance to learn from my mistakes... and leave the past behind me, once and for all.
- [imager on J'nanin, after finding the last symbol] You've done well, my sons. But there is still one task ahead of you. The Linking Book you see here links to an Age called Narayan. It's a very delicate Age, where civilization has emerged in response to the world's imbalances. It's also the first inhabited Age I'm sending you to alone, but don't be afraid. The knowledge you've acquired here will show you the way in. Use it, and see all that Narayan has to offer.
- ["semi-good ending" - Releeshahn returned, but Saavedro left abandoned] And so, as I once again set my pen to the page, a heavy sorrow hangs over me. It's true that Releeshahn has been returned to us unharmed, that the Age I wrote to provide a new beginning is secure. But I can't escape the facts of its return. Nothing I can do will change the past. The anguish of decisions that were made must be carried with me forever. But if I had been the one to face Saavedro, if I had seen the life my sons had destroyed so callously, would I have left him stranded without hope? Would I have sacrificed his dreams to claim my own?
- ["real good ending" - Releeshahn returned, and Saavedro sent home] At last I can rejoice, for Releeshahn has been returned to me unharmed. The Age I hoped would provide a new beginning still lives on. I am sure that no danger shall befall it. And as I sit here, writing in this journal, I rejoice to know that Narayan, too, is safe. The secrets of its past have been unlocked, and old wrongs have finally been righted. I know now that we can't escape the past. Nor can we rewrite it, hoping to lessen our pain. The best we can hope for is to continue to learn, to take from the past only that which is good, and move on. Perhaps, in the process, we will build a brighter future.
Catherine
[edit]- (welcoming the player) Breathtaking, isn't it? We call it "Tomahna". We moved here after Atrus finished writing Releeshahn. He wanted us to have a new home too. I'm so glad to see you. I told Atrus our paths would cross again. He was just going to grab something for your trip to Releeshahn, so he shouldn't be terribly long. Unless he decides to check over the whole house first, which means he could be hours resetting all his padlocks. But I know he was looking forward to introducing you to the D'ni, so he shouldn't be terribly long. Why don't you wait in his study?
- (before entering the sunroom) You know, this trip is exactly what Atrus needs right now. I haven't been able to get him out of the house for months, ever since he found his journals out of place. But seeing how well the D'ni have settled in on Releeshahn should help him to finally relax.
- (If you return to Catherine after entering the study) Atrus doesn't usually keep people waiting this long. He's just been so concerned about his books. When he gets here, I'll tell him you're in the study.
- (If you try to enter Atrus's study, but find the wrong door, as it's locked) I'm sorry, the other door.
Saavedro
[edit]- [first spoken lines, in the observatory on J'nanin] Atrus? Is that you? Come to rescue your Book so soon? Not yet, old friend... not yet. [raises the Book of Narayan from the middle of the chamber]
- [imager message on the first explored age] What's the matter, Atrus, can't remember how things work? Yet you explained this class so well when we first spoke of it in Narayan. "I want Sirrus and Achenar to learn everything they can, Saavedro! First from Amateria, Edanna, Voltaic, and finally from Narayan. When my boys come to see your people, I want them to see Narayan's traditions at work, so they can see how civilization can balance an Age." Do you know what they did when they finally came to us? You never came back. After class was over, you took your boys away, and you never came back. Sirrus and Achenar did.
- [imager message on J'nanin, after finding the first symbol] Not so easy, is it, Atrus? Running like a rat through a maze, looking for a sign that'll help you save your world. "Is it over here? Is it over there? Is it some place I can't find?" Sirrus and Achenar didn't care about saving Narayan. All that talk about "fixing instabilities", rewriting the Age so that we would be free to live our lives... that was just talk, to hide the truth of why they had come. But we believed their lies, Atrus. So we abandoned our traditions, forgetting that those traditions were keeping Narayan alive. And when the Lattice Trees started to die, I followed them here, to tell them what they had done... and they laughed. They said they would never fix Narayan! They said that they had already taken everything it had worth saving! So my dear old friend, Atrus, I've brought you to this place where your education begins. Find the remaining two symbols, and then come see what your boys did to Narayan.
- [imager message on the second age] Twenty years, Atrus! Twenty long years alone! They tied me to a post. They burned their Myst Linking Books in front of me. They took everything I had! My wife! My two baby girls! And then, when I finally made it back to Narayan, and I saw... I saw... it would have been better if I had died.
- [imager on J'nanin, after finding the second symbol] This what you expected, Atrus? When you followed me here, hoping to reclaim Releeshahn, is this classroom what you expected to find? I read your journal, you know. In Tomahna, after I found your linking book abandoned outside this observatory. I read all about the D'ni. How you started their world again. Can you really do that, Atrus? After everything that's happened to Narayan, could you start the world over again? I don't think so. I think there's too much blood on our hands, too many ghosts. Surely you can't change that with a pen stroke? One more symbol, Atrus. Narayan is waiting.
- [imager on the third age] This morning I woke up, and I couldn't picture Tamra's face. The little line at the corner of her lip that pulls her whole mouth down when she smiles, the flutter in her eyelashes... I tried so hard to picture her in my mind, put her down on paper, as if that might bring her back. But I couldn't do it. Atrus, I'm not you.
- [first face-to-face meeting with the player, on Narayan] What? You're not... where is he? Look, I know he's here, I have his Book. So where is he...? He didn't come. I take Releeshahn from him, and he sends you instead. [to himself] You idiot! You actually thought this would work?! You thought that you could force him into coming here and fixing things? Why? Why would he rewrite Narayan? Because of your messages, because of your paintings?! Look at your world! Look at what's left of it! When are you gonna get it through your thick skull that you do not matter to him?! [sighs, calming himself] No one could be alive out there. No one... [turns back to the player] We're stuck here, you know. The Linking Book back to J'nanin is gone, left behind when I linked out of Atrus' study. And as for getting into Narayan, look around you. This chamber is the only way in, and Atrus installed some kind of shield, and I have never been able to get past it. Not once in all these years. So you're just as stuck here as I am. At least until I open this Book, and I show Atrus what it's like to watch your friends and relatives die. [turns to leave, then stops and turns back] If you do find a way out of here, I suggest that you think very carefully about using it. Because the one thing I know about Linking Books - the doors they open... don't close behind you.
- [after the player unlocks the shield code, revealing the world of Narayan - damaged, but still alive] My God ...oh my God... they're alive? How did you... [realization dawns on him] The fourth symbol. [turns the lever, opening the shield through the door to the gondola - only for the outside shield to go back up; he turns the lever again, which deactivates the outside shield, but blocks the door] No! He gives me hope, only to destroy me with it! [turns the lever to open the door, then turns back to the player] But you see, I still have something he wants. Something that he sent you to bring back for him. Releeshahn... [points to the gondola] Drop the outer barrier. When I'm out by the gondola, switch the shields so the outer barrier is open. And in return, I'll give up Releeshahn. [walks out the gondola, then turns back to the player] Do it!
- [after the player traps Saavedro on the gondola platform, sealing off the shield chamber] Oh, God. No. Idiot! Oh no. No! No! NO!!! No no no!!! No no no!!!! [breaks down sobbing, as the player goes downstairs to confront him] Oh, God. No. Please, don't do this to me! Not when my family could still be alive out there! Want the Book? Here, I'll give you the Book. [hands the player the Book of Releeshahn] Just... please, please, don't do this. Please! I can't do this again! Please, don't leave me trapped in here like this! I can't! No! NO! No no no! [breaks down sobbing, screaming "No!" inconsolably]
- [if the player approaches and faces Saavedro after he being told to drop the barrier to the gondola] What are you doing? Go back inside and drop the outer barrier. Do it. Or I swear, I will let go of this book into oblivion. [if the player continues to stand] What are you waiting for? [yells louder] Drop the outer shield OR I SWEAR, I will let go of this book! [if the player waits long enough after this, Saavedro drops the book and hits the player with his hammer]
- [if the player comes back to Saavedro after the first approach towards him] What? You don't think I am serious about destroying Releeshahn? Drop the barrier, or I will drop this. [Saavedro proceeds to do the latter after waiting long enough. Alternately, if the player makes a third approach, Saavedro will hit the player with the Releeshahn book]
- [if the player pulls the lever as asked to do so by Saavedro] Apparently, it is my turn to live up to the end of the bargain. [he drops the Releeshahn book into the water and gets away with the gondola as the objective to claim Releeshahn has failed]
Dialogue
[edit]- [first meeting with the player, after examining the Releeshahn Descriptive Book in its glass case]
- Atrus: Well, my friend, I see you've found the Releeshahn Book. Catherine tells me you've been here for some time. Sorry if I've kept you waiting, but since we'll be gone for a few days, I needed to secure some of my things. And I also wanted to give you this. It's a journal I kept while I was writing Releeshahn. I thought you might find it interesting to read about what I'd hoped to achieve, and compare it to what the Age truly is. Well! Let me just get my keys to unlock Releeshahn, and we'll be off. Oh, and I'm interested in hearing what you've been up to in recent months...
- [sounds of linking as Saavedro - a wild-eyed, wild-haired man - appears, grabs a fire-marble and hurls it into the tapestries, setting them ablaze; he then smashes the glass]
- Atrus: No! Stop!
- [Saavedro grabs the Releeshahn Book, opens another Linking Book, and links through it; the Linking Book falls to the floor]
- Atrus: Releeshahn! [coughs]
- [first imager message, in the observatory on J'nanin]
- Atrus: My sons... I promised to teach you the "secrets" of my Ages. This world is the first step on your journey. Search the island, and you'll find three Linking Books. Each connects to an Age --
- [Atrus' image fades into static, replaced with the image of Saavedro]
- Saavedro: Hello, Atrus. Been a long time. Sorry I'm not there to greet you in person, but I just didn't think it would be wise, considering how long I've been stuck here. Trapped in these "Lesson Ages" by two very greedy little boys. Your sons, Atrus. Sirrus and Achenar. Of course, they're not so little anymore, not so innocent. I thought a lot about innocence these past few years, and what happens when it gets lost.
- [Saavedro's image briefly fades in static, as Atrus' fuzzy image appears, before returning to Saavedro]
- Saavedro: Worried about Releeshahn? I have it. Worried about friends, relatives, people you can't get back? I know just how you feel. But if you want to do something about it, you're going to have to open this device. And there's just one problem: I've changed the three symbols that do that. So if you want to reclaim Releeshahn, you're gonna have to take your own class! [laughs, then becomes serious again] Find the three symbols, Atrus. And don't keep me waiting forever.
- [one of the "bad endings" - freeing Saavedro without reclaiming Releeshahn]
- Catherine: By the Maker, you've returned! [turns inside] Atrus! Atrus, come quick! [to the player] The fire burned the Linking Book you used. We had no way of following, and thought...
- Atrus: [emerges] You've returned! And where's Releeshahn? Did you bring back the Book? [sees the player did not return the Book] All those people... everything we worked so hard to restore...
- Catherine: Oh, Atrus...
- Atrus: Without that Book, they're lost to us forever.
- [another "bad ending" - returning from Narayan while Saavedro is still loose]
- Catherine: By the Maker, you've returned! [turns inside] Atrus! Atrus, come quick! [to the player] The fire burned the Linking Book you used. We had no way of following, and thought...
- Atrus: [emerges] You've returned! But where's Releeshahn? Did you -- [Saavedro links in from behind!] Look out! [Saavedro strikes the player with his hammer and steps over the body; screen fades to blank]
- [both "good endings" - Releeshahn is saved, and Saavedro cannot pursue]
- Catherine: By the Maker, you've returned! [turns inside] Atrus! Atrus, come quick! [to the player] The fire burned the Linking Book you used. We had no way of following, and thought...
- Atrus: [emerges] You've returned! But where's Releeshahn? Did you bring back the Book? [hands his burnt books to Catherine, fumbling around for the key to unlock it; Catherine finds it and hands it to him. Atrus unlocks the book and breathes a sigh of relief] Thank the Maker, it's fine. We're in your debt, my friend. If this Book had been destroyed, everything we've worked for, all the people of Releeshahn, would have been lost to us forever.
- Catherine: You must tell us everything.
