5. Taiga

Again, after my senses had returned, I went for the next book...  the grey marble book.  Opening to the last page, I could see that this world was vastly different to the others:  the only visible land was covered in ice.  I knew I could get a chill out of this, but I linked anyway.  I desperately needed to solve the mystery.

Upon arrival, I lifted myself up from the cold, dry and icy surface.  In front of me was a small iceberg.  Behind me I could see a cage.  I traversed over the cold ice to it.

The cage was open and inside was a page, torn out of a book.  After reading it, I placed it in my journal:

The sketch page

Behind me was a curious mound of fire, and the control panel sketched on  the page was in front of it.  I sketched the console into my journal:

The chemical console

There were also three outer numbers on the left and right sides of the console, evenly spaced.  They were all (you guessed it!) the number five.  I copied one of them into my journal: .  The inner numbers are 1, 5 and 10.  This appears to be a chemical control system of some sort.

I achieved a balance (like it says on the torn page) by pressing the middle fives on the sides.  These side controls increase and decrease the level of chemicals being utilized by 5 units.  Once the balance was achieved, the curious mound of fire ceased to exist, revealing a manhole in the ground, with only small trickles of flame existing at the base.  There was a ladder in the manhole, so I climbed down and found myself in a neat bedroom.

The first thing I noticed was a strange device.  By squeezing it's head, which was on the end of a solid slick, I could turn it on and off.  Interesting.  Could it be a weapon of some sort?  There was also a triangular light on the ceiling.

There was a small bench, but it was bare.  I made my way to the bed, and discovered a tattered old journal sitting on top.  I copied the letters on the front into my journal:

Front cover of K'aastor's journal

What where the letters on the front?  Of course...  They spell KAS.  I started reading the journal and discovered that it was definitely K'aastor's.  This island's name is Taiga.

K'aastor seems to believe that Noira loves him, and in the journal, is plotting to trap Agmis in a (probably ruined) age called Amerak, while he and Noira retreat to a secluded age, most likely this one.  Again, I copied the most important entries into my journal:
 

7/12                  Must hurry.  Even as I make these scant scratches in my journal, D'ni is being enveloped by a               large green cloud of some unknown origin.  It appears to be coming right from the very walls               surrounding the city.  From my window, I can see the people fleeing just as the first tinges of the               noxious vapor reaches their olfactory nerves.  Cannot write any longer, must Link to Kormeka...              7/26                     I have spent the past fourteen days "tidying" up my family's Age.  I don't believe I have been               back to Kormeka since my father's death on the day of the Third Feast of the Maker so many               years ago.  I recall the funeral well...   he requested to be lowered into the large churning caldera               boiling on the edge of the island, dressed entirely in his Guild robes.  I remember looking down,               feeling the raw heat of the roiling lava, watching as the guild robes ignited and my father slipped               below the lava...  Since then, no one in my family has returned.  My mother gave me the book to               Kormeka just before she and my sister escaped D'ni through the winding tunnels to the Surface               World.  I opted to stay in D'ni, to protect the wonderful Ages my father wrote, and the feeble               attempts I had made.                     I was turned down time and again each time I tried to join the Guild of Writers.  I know I have               the talents, my father told me so. He said I have great potential...  but as I am now looking through               some of the books he wrote in his lifetime, I see some very detrimental errors he made.  If given               enough time, each of his Ages would simply self-destruct, collapsing in on themselves.                     I am currently copying over one of his most striking Ages, Go'arsa.  Beautiful tropical beaches,               striking blue waters, and a mountain covered in green vegetation.  But there is a fatal flaw deep in               the soil of Go'arsa, a chemical imbalance that will eventually turn the ground sour, causing all life               to die.  I will be spending my time restructuring my father's words until it is safe to return to D'ni, so               I can save his most wonderful Age.              8/??                     I believe it is time to return to D'ni.  My experiments have failed with all my father's books, and               they seem to be irreparable. All except for Go'arsa.  That Age did not self destruct               catastrophically, as I had expected.  The soil samples I retrieved from there after my changes are               striking: I repaired the line that contained the fatal mis-write!                     Except now the tropical paradise Go'arsa once was no longer exists.  In a strange result from               my repairs, Go'arsa is now completely covered in thick ice floes and hip-deep snow drifts.  I was               forced to rename the Age Taiga, to fit with its new appearance.                     I will be taking Taiga back to D'ni with me, where there are more books to continue my studies.              8/26                     I believe others have survived!  I discovered several books, one a gilded family book.  The name               of the Age is Amerak, and as I scanned the pages, I found it more flawed than many of my father's               books.  If I didn't do anything, it would soon self-destruct.  I am sure I got all the symbols right.                Now I just need to transfer them from the training book to the one containing Amerak.  I am               currently looking at the other linking book as I am writing this. The Age, like the others, is flawed,               but the large gilded dome on the edge of the island has grabbed my attention.  I must Link to it, if               not only to search for survivors, but to see that dome.                     Next to the linking book was a journal, written by a man named Agmis.  He, like myself, found               barely enough time to scribble a note in it to future visitors to D'ni.  He said he was going to Link to               G'nidih, to escape the gas cloud.                     I will be leaving my journal and the book to Taiga here in D'ni until I return.              9/2                     Agmis annoys me.  He has his mind closed shut, yet he still allows his mouth to stay wide open.                He doesn't deserve such a beautiful wife as Noira.  I believe we have formed a connection of               sorts, one she and Agmis never had.  My heart leaps to my throat each time she looks at me and               smiles, the edges of her mouth curling up coyly.  I do believe I am falling in love, and I think the               feeling is mutual.  As an act of kindness towards the siren called Noira, I am currently making               corrections desperately needed by Agmis' obviously flawed Ages.  I am going to spend the most               time on the Age that requires my talents most: Amerak.              9/7                     I must plan carefully now.  Only yesterday, as I was going through one of D'ni's many               abandoned private libraries, Agmis stormed in, clearly angry.  He asked me if I had tampered with               his Ages; I simply replied that, "No, Agmis, I did not...  I corrected them."  He actually had the gall               to inform me that I ruined his family Age, and many other books he had written himself.  One, he               said, was almost completely destroyed.                     Amerak.  My plans were actually to restore the world to a balanced state, but I must have               mis-written a symbol or two.  Ah, well, it was a learning experience.  Now, however, I can use               my blunder to my advantage.  All I have to do is lure Agmis to Amerak some way, and trap him in               the ruined world.                     Then Noira and I could be together...  forever.              9/9                     Ah, my Noira!  I love her more and more each day...  as my contempt for Agmis grows.  Why               must he always be there, stopping my love from something that is obviously right?  No matter.                Noira agreed to my plan of trapping Agmis last night.  She is to write a letter to Agmis, telling him               to come to Amerak right away.  Several days before that, she and I will retreat to a secluded Age,               most likely Taiga.  Let him snoop and probe all he wants; I will be taking this journal with us.                     Noira will then leave the note in G'nidih, and we will wait for Agmis to link to his impending               doom.  We will then live out the rest of our lives in Ages of splendor crafted from my pen.

I can't believe Noira really loves K'aastor.  I must hurry to see if I can change this grave misunderstanding.

I turned to the shelves on my left.  There were only four items there:

1)  A non-functional linking book...  It must be for Cormeka mentioned in K'aastor's journal.  Hey...  Could that non-functional descriptive book on the table in K'veer be the Cormeka descriptive book?  Now that's a possibility!

2)  A linking book to the book room on K'veer (phew).  This particular linking book it different to Agmis's.  This one is green (Like Atrus's one on Myst).

3)  An inkwell with, presumably, D'ni ink inside.

4)  A pile of blank books.

The only thing left to be done was to link back to D'ni, so I opened up the green book, and after checking up on my journal and pack...  I linked.

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