4. Cissar

When my senses had returned, I decided to go for the sky (blue w/clouds) book.  Opening it revealed a linking panel with two relatively small islands (one little more than a rock sticking out of the ocean) in a huge, blue sea.  It looked like early morning.  I linked.

Upon arrival, I found myself facing a huge marble dome structure.  It reminded me of the golden fire marble dome on Temple Island in Riven.  Come to think of it, Riven is probably destroyed by now.  I hope Atrus and Catherine made is back safely.

I ventured forth and found myself in front of an elevator.  I entered the elevator and could see the small rock island facing me.  I pressed the control button on my left-hand side, and the door closed with a jerky clank.  I could just see the island through the tinted pane.  I pressed the control button again and the elevator began to descend.  Once it had stopped, I pressed the control button yet again to open the door.  I walked out.

I was in a dark brick room, presumably underground.  On the floor was a book, and there was a shelf and a panel on the wall.  There was also a window on the right wall.  I started by opening the book on the floor, which turned out to be Agmis's ninth journal.  Again, I copied the most important entries into my journal, as well as the Age's symbol:
 

Ninth Journal of Agmis               Journal Entry 1230                    It might have been a little less of a surprise if Noira had told me that she had inserted marble into               this age at the last second.  I was not prepared to see these massive temple structures beneath us               when we arrived.                    Cissar truly stands as a physical definition of us.  Being the first age we have collaborated               together completely on, it shows all of our imagination and love.                    The people of Cissar were more than easy to get along with.  Ushered into one of the great               stone temples, we feasted, and communicated.                    My main goal to accomplish on this age first, is an easier way to get from the top of the cliff, to               the small city.  The climb down was treacherous, and I would not want to do it again.  I would               write a smaller hill, but it appears that in doing so, we will drastically alter the link away from the               people we have met.             Journal Entry 1254                    I found my journal.  That last entry was important; now it will probably be lost among all my               others. I will have to note here that the journal entry previous to this is in my 7th journal.                    Besides that, this journal is even more important.  I made the link back to D'ni.  The smells, the               walls, the air, the memories...  I can still hear the screams echo.  My eyes began to water with the               first glance out the window, at K'veer, and Noira's constant soothing took almost an hour to stop               my sobbing.                  Father, mother, my sister, everybody was gone.  I didn't need to see the empty house as proof of               that.  We hadn't spotted any bodies...  for what reason I cannot fathom.  Noira believes they got out,               but I know the truth.  And I also believe K`aastor knows more of what happened to D'ni than he's               telling me.                    Within the house library, I found that Amerak still lies there after all these years.  I never thought               I would hold the book again.  The pride of my family, a beautiful age kept and passed down after               generation after generation.  An artifact.  My legacy.             Journal Entry 1255                    I have given several blank books to K`aastor, a gift for being the sign for my return to D'ni.  An               interesting man, he has kept to himself for several years since the disaster.  On a search for blank               books, he came across my library.  And deciphered my father's poor excuse for a code to the               library.  Noira has taken a seven day leave to her Alev.  During her excursion I will give K`aastor a               tour of Gaelin, and our other two ages.             Journal Entry 1261                    I returned to Cissar today, discovering that the impossible has happened.  The entire age has               been flooded.  I checked the page, and it is obvious that someone has tampered with it.  K`aastor               would be my first guess.  And Noira does not come back until tomorrow.  Another D'ni might have               found the book, although why not take the book instead of desecrate it?                    I do not believe I can undo the damage, for this link will just spiral further and further into               despair.             Journal Entry 1262                    Some form of evil has befallen my home.  Amerak has been rivened, it's beautiful rolling plains               have become deserts, trees are now ugly wooden stags, of life there is no sign, the clear water               turned to a thick muck.  And tremors are abundant.  Whatever, or whomever is doing this, will               surely pay.             Journal Entry 1264                    Noira's family came to me this morning.  They are extremely worried at her disappearance over               the past few days, as am I.  Her brother gave an occasional piercing stare.  As if I too am not hurt.               I've been without her for a week.  K'aastor's disappearance, along with Noira's age of Alev, had               left me in despair.  I scoured our ages.  Searched hopelessly through D'ni.  And wailed her name in               the middle of the streets.                    I exhausted myself.  And returned home to Gaelin.  My heart leaped when I found the note from               Noira.  Only to be thrown once again into misery.    The things she wrote of send pangs of fear               through my mind.  Noira claims that K'aastor is a mad man.                   I had somewhat come to that conclusion myself.                   Only his madness includes her devotion and my death.  It's hard to imagine that I welcomed this               man almost as a savior when we met.  Now it seems that  K'aastor is completely caught up in               within his own world.  A world where I do not exist.                   Noira wants me to meet her in Amerak by mid-day Gaelin time.  In Amerak.  Where K'aastor               hopes I will meet my doom.  Where Noira hopes to save us.  And where I hope this would all be a               bad dream.                   Please wake up... Cissar

Hmm.  So this is Cissar.  Once containing a small city, this age is now flooded, because of K'aastor's tampering.  A huge shame.  It appears that K'aastor is mentally ill.  The only other age I've read about but haven't visited yet is Alev.  So far I've visited three ages.  I wonder what the other two in the book room are...?

I looked out the window.  The magnificant sunken city.  What kind of mental illness could have caused this?

I walked to the far wall.  There was nothing on the shelf, so I turned to the panel on the wall.  Hmm.  More D'ni number buttons.  I copied the symbols into my journal, and found that they were in order, from 1 to 8:
 

	1		2
	3		4
	5		6
	7		8

The Safe Panel

Hmm.  I tried pressing them in numerical order but, unsurprisingly, to no avail (that would just be too easy).  Then I decided to simply use trial and error.  Each time I made a correct decision, the symbol disappeared; otherwise the whole system was reset.  I finally discovered what the correct combination was, and recorded it in my journal:

2, 1, 5, 3, 7, 6, 4, 8

Can't see much of a pattern here.  Never mind because, in front of me on a bench, like I expected, was the linking book back to the book room.  Once I had turned it to the right page, and checked all my gear, I linked back to D'ni.

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