Irena's Tale - Part 2

Disclaimers may be viewed in the previous posts or accessed here: Disclaimers.

Sharp tingles ran through her, building until they blocked all thought. After an eternity they began to fade and as they did she saw an outdoor landscape instead of her bedroom. Ahead of her was a steep rock slope, to her right a sea of cloud floated beyond the edge of a sharp cliff. To her left a peak sprang up from behind a small stone hut. Thick, luxurious mossy plants, warmed by the late sun, cushioned her bare feet. The air was warm and scented lightly with pine and something unrecognizable. Only a faint, warm wind broke the stillness of the place, sighing through the small trees, bushes, and stone.

For a moment, she was at peace, then a slow panic welled up. She spun, trying to find how she had arrived, and how she would get back. The cloud sea surrounded her, empty, with no sign of her room. A small weight bumped her right hip when she stopped. Hanging from her belt was the small green book from her room. She grabbed it, flipped it open and stared at the tiny picture of where she stood. She almost missed the small fold on the lower right edge of the page. She pulled at it the instant it registered. On the next page was a small image of her bedroom.

She thrust her hand against the picture and waited. After what seemed like a very long time the tingles built and faded again, depositing her back in her room, standing at the foot of her bed. The clock radio showed she had been gone four minutes.

She dropped back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling for long moments. Her right hand stroked the small book at her side, stopping only when she noticed the motion. Opening the book again, she stared at the picture, debating what to do next.

She stood, crossed to the phone, and played her sister's message again. When the numbers went by she grabbed a pen and tried to write them in the green book. The pen slid across the page, leaving no mark. Playing the message again, she wrote them on a scrap of paper and stuffed it into her pocket, then flipped the green book open and hesitated. She closed the book, darted back into her bedroom and grabbed the digital camera from the bottom of her desk and dropped it into a pocket. It wouldn't take great pictures and it hadn't seen any use since the last time she had tried to sell something online, but it would help her remember what she was seeing.

Feeling slightly more ready this time, she opened the book and touched the cloud island image.

Irena's Tale - the beginning

Disclaimers may be viewed in the previous posts or accessed here: Disclaimers.

I received an email from Irena the other day. At first I was excited, we had drifted apart a bit after we had graduated college. As I read her message I began to wonder what had happened to her. I remember she had started living with the crazy purple haired Goth girl we had met in school, but what she said in her email, well, it was hard to accept.

Still, I did a little checking and some of what was talked about did have some analog in the news and events. She asked that I consider publishing her tales. I present them here, cleaned up a bit for clarity, but mostly as her emails narrated them. She sent a few pictures, which I have included, when appropriate.

Irena's Tale:

"Shan, are you home?" Irena called as she opened the door to the apartment she shared. Silence greeted her, as it had every day for the last month. 'Damn it, I really needed to talk to you!," she thought. Her main reason in staying with Shandi had been their friendship and the support they gave each other when life sucked. Now Shandi was missing more than she was around, dropping vague hints about some important project she had gotten involved in.

Irena tossed her bag on the couch and glanced at the phone. The light was blinking and the counter showed one new message. She punched play and reached down to undo her boots. Her sister Katyarina's voice began, "Hey sis, just a quick call, I'm almost late for my shift. Anyway, I ran into Shan when I came by to see you earlier. She was being kind of secretive and dropping something on your bed. I called to her, but she just vanished in front of my eyes. She left you some kind of book. Now don't be mad, but I looked in it. Something really weird happened to me. I can't explain in the time I have, just remember these numbers. They will let you find people that will help once you look at the book on your bed. Oh, and go inside your little hut, open the only book on the shelf, and go to the place it shows. Follow the signs there. The numbers are: 990000001, 990000002, 990000003, and 990000004. 990000004 is a rather nice guy named Kreel, I think you'd like him, he's a little quiet, and maybe a bit shy, but really cute. Anyway, gotta run! Love you, sis."

Irena stared at the phone in her hand for a long time before kicking off her boots and walking slowly to her room. There, in the center of her bed, was a small green book with a yellow postit note attached. She took a deep breath, reached for it, and paused. Instead she turned to the clothes at the foot of her bed and changed out of her work costume. Once she was comfortable she settled onto the bed, reached for the book, and read the note attached to its cover.

"Hey roomie, Sorry I've been gone so much of late. I was going to wait and surprise you with this, but Katya interrupted me. I don't have enough time to explain everything right now. I'm late for an appointment I have to keep. Touch the picture in this book and the explanations will begin. I hope to see you soon, Shandi."

The book opened to a single place, the rest of the pages seemed glued together. A picture and a few inked symbols were the only content.

No words, no explanations, were included. Curiosity warred with an unreasoned dread as she inched her hand to the picture. She stopped for a long time with her fingertips inches above the image. With a final breath she dropped her hand and touched the picture.

The room faded from her view as a weird almost subliminal sound echoed around her.

On me as a blogger

Just as I suspected. My ability to sustain a blog is about zero. So, I am changing direction and will be posting stories about a different obsession of mine. I recently discovered that GameTap is providing a MMO version of the Myst Universe from Cyan Worlds, Inc., called Myst Online: Uru Live.

These stories will be about one of my characters as she wanders this world. The following notes and disclaimers apply.

Disclaimers: the usual - any resemblance to persons living, dead, or otherwise is entirely accidental. Myst Online: Uru Live, Yeesha, and Zandi are copyright Cyan Worlds, Inc. and presented through GameTap.

Other characters are copyright by their various players or myself.

Warning: These stories contain massive spoilers for Myst Online: Uru Live. If you plan on playing in this world, you might not want to read these tales. Any blog entry not dealing with spoilers will be marked OOC - Title as the title of the post.

Correspondent's notes: These are either the ravings of a mad-woman, or a tale of secrecy and exploration. It is for you, the reader to decide whether or not you believe any of this. I will say that I believe her, because I want to believe her.