Uru - My Story

Of all the games I'd ever played in my collection, regardless of console, I would find I'd always return to the one that struck a chord so deeply with me. The expansive, puzzling world of Uru:Live.
Although URU is, or I should say was, an online multi-player game, and, although some and most of the puzzles required cooperation with other people, that isn't so true now. This world is desolate. No one comes here any more. I can stand on the balcony at the top of Bevin of the D'ni palace and look to the horizon, where the archway sits on the water. Where ferry's would travel into distant lands. Under the perpetual cloudy dawn.
This place is empty now, along with all it's worlds and linking books and unsolved mysteries. But I still walk around the buildings, just out of interest. Just because these places are my own. No one walks here but me.
It always struck me as odd. There were many things on the D'ni homeworld that I never understood. For instance, I'm standing on the balcony of the Bevin and there are many rooms here, with numbers on, all written in the D'ni script. 1403. 1605. 2511. They don't follow a pattern. They don't go up in any order, it's almost as if they're random.
And, to the east of the plaza, where the road that should end with a wall to look over the sea, has crumbled and drops onto a small ledge. A ledge with a linking parchment that takes me to a viewing platform in Kadish's realm. This to me I don't understand.
And the cafe or the restaurant or place of eating, I don't know what the D'ni may have called it. It has caved in, blocking off any further adventuring. But I know that there must be something behind it. Some tunnel that leads deep into the mountains. To the houses of the other D'ni people.
And throughout this place I find so many things which appear meaningless. Buttons and scribblings. Crumpled paper and forgotten objects.
It fills me with a buzz that sparks only when an idea forms. When a pattern emerges. I know something is here, hidden. I just have to look carefully.
So, I began pressing buttons. Reading everything. Taking notes of every door and linking book and location of every building. The drawings I have of Kadish's gallery are immensely realistic.
Eventually I settle down at the bottom of the steps. The port with an empty dock. I look at my notes and wonder at the pattern that may emerge.
Nothing, I thought. There is no pattern. What I fool I was for think there was some sort of pattern. I threw the notes on the ground and laid back on the steps. Cloudy skies shifted above my eyes. They were as meaningless as the secrets of this place.
But, what is that? I thought. And in the distance, sitting at the very top of the stairs I see it. Another player. Someone with which to share this desolation.
I gathered my noted quickly and ran up the huge flight of stairs, two at a time. But, by the time I reached the top the other player was gone. The top of the stairs was empty.
Except for a curious piece of paper, ripped from the notebook of someone in a hurry. On it contained scribbles, but ideas that looked like solutions to problems I didn't understand. Someone else was trying to solve these mysteries as well.
At the bottom of the notes, there was a line of English, which I recognised instantly as the common Myst catchphrase:
Remember, the ending can never truly been written
Hello! I call out. First in English, then D'ni just in case. But nothing is returned.
However, the notes looked helpful. Comparing them to mine I began to see some sort of connection-
A peddle skirted across the ground behind me. I span around to face the cause, but saw nothing. I could have easily assumed there was no reason to cause the stir, but I had a much more vivid imagining that another player was hiding from me.
You can come out. I said slowly. Who are you? I asked, but I must have been mistake, for nothing replied nor showed itself.
I looked back down at the torn page and my notes. It took me time, but eventually I realised that – And this was speculation, I couldn't be entirely sure – That the order in which certain buttons were pressed would open doors in different parts of the Bevin, but only for a short amount of time. And therein is the multi-player element.
On my own I was sort of stuck.
So I hatched a scheme. I worked out what order of button pressing would open what doors. I chose a door, one right at the top of the Bevin, and in front of it I placed by Relto book. I know this was dangerous, but this was all I could think of. I planned for the book to fall into the room as the door slid open. Then, when the door shut again a few moments later, my Relto book would jar it, just enough for me to, perhaps, press the unlocking button that must have been on the inside.
I looked around where the door was situated. Though I didn't see the other player, I could sense they were close. Or, at least, following me. Perhaps, watching what I was doing, even stealing my ideas. I didn't know why they wouldn't help me.
So I set off. I ran down and pressed all the buttons that I had concluded I would need to press for the door to open. I tried to run, hoping the the other player might run with me and, in that instance, reveal themselves. As I ran, I did not see them, but I did hear the faintest pattern of feet, lightly tapping the stone floor. They would always keep a large distance from me, which, in a way, was a little unsettling. Like I was being followed by a shadow.
I ignored this and continued quickly hunting around the D'ni palace, pressing all the buttons I needed to. Once the last one clicked in, I returned to the top of the balcony to see if my experiment had worked.
It had.
My Relto book was closed, jammed shut by the two sliding doors, but a gap had formed. I took a quick glance behind me. The view from the top of Bevin wasn't as beautiful as I had remembered. The calm of being lonesome had turned into anxiety.
I was slow as a gazed through the door. Easing my head round and expecting anything.
As the gap's view panned the edge of the room, I saw that the inside was small. It was filled we books all neatly stacked to the side of the shelves, all in different colours. Some of the books, however, had been randomly thrown about the floor. Whoever had been here before must have been searching for something. Or perhaps just very angry.
The desk in the room had more books on top it, with a long slit as a window, which looked out onto the archway in the water.
Feeling safe that there was nothing dangerous inside, I slid my arm through the gap and flailed around for the green button on the wall. The one that would open the door. It took me a few attempts, but I eventually pressed it.
The door slid out quickly. A ticking sound could be heard. Obviously the mechanism would only stay open for a short time, so I jumped inside, kicking my Relto inside with me. I took a quick glance behind as the timer stopped ticking and the doors closed.
I saw someone standing there. Just as the door snapped shut. A person. A small person. A child perhaps. Not another player. The green button on the wall glowed, but I dared not open the door out of horrid fear for what that thing was. I even took up a stance behind the desk in this little room, where I felt better protected.
I waited in silence, wondering if my mind was playing tricks on me. If what I saw was real or not. I mean, in terms of the game. Maybe it was an Easter egg or something along those lines. I mean, I had just broken into a room which, as far I know, no one had ever managed to get into before.
I started to search the place. Looking for hidden things and messages and all other sorts of interesting details. From this frantic search I found three things. One was a guide on the secrets of the Bevin. The hidden rooms, the secrets pathways. The map was huge, if my calculations were correct, the D'ni palace was at least a hundred times larger than that which was normally accessable to a player. All of this detail also included instructions on how to get there. I didn't think much of their ingenuity at the time, as I was more concerned with whether of not the doors of this room were about to open.
Another thing I found was a sort of diary. At first I had over-looked it, but then I noticed the front cover. It said Yeesha. To my complete surprise, it must have been Yeesha's diary.
But this is what I didn't understand. This was not Yeesha's room. This place was too old, too formal for a mature half-D'ni such as Yeesha. Too human.
And that's when I discovered a final piece of information. Above the door, in D'ni, of course, was the name of this room's owner. It seemed that this used to be a study of Atrus. Yeesha's father. And it is there that I concluded Atrus was reading his daughter's diary. But there was something about the diary that scared me. It gave off a familiarity I couldn't recall.
When I was certain the room was clear of any more details, I made plans to travel – Or, more appropriately, run – To the distressed Cafe halfway down the stairs of the palace. There was a path through the rubble, that had always been there, but was impossible to see in the darkness. That secret path reminded me of Garheesen. Hidden in plain sight. I thought.
I packed Yeesha's diary into my bag, along with the book of D'ni's secrets and stopped.
I didn't want to go outside, not with that... Thing that could have been waiting there for me. Then I remembered I could simply link to where I wanted to go. I took out my Relto and flicked to the plaza. Just above the Cafe. I took one more look at the door, finding it hard to look away, and placed my palm on the picture in the book.
In moments I was at the plaza, out in the open. I scanned around quickly, wondering if anything was near. I knew I wasn't alone, as I had thought so before.
Wherever this creature was I didn't stop to wait for it, and shuffled down the stairs towards the Cafe.
It was as dark as it had always been. Not even with the light on my UI device could I see very much. Almost as if the darkness was eating at the light.
I took the book of D'ni secrets from my bag and flicked to the page about the Cafe. Using only my hands I felt the walls for the small entrance that would allow me passage, as the book had said. It was much easier to find with these instructions. Before entering, I took one quick look behind me.
There was nothing there, which calmed me down. I took another breath in and squeezed through the gap.
The darkness was not as present on the other side. There was some light through the gaps in the ceiling above. The path before me was lit vaguely, but I did not tread cautiously. As much as I would love to spend so much time analysing these secrets, I was far more concerned with running. Finding the next safe place.
As I ran I heard footsteps clatter behind me, but I could not tell if they were my own sound bouncing off the walls, or the sound of another.
Soon I reached a circular room of doors and was confronted with the same problem as before. The book dictated how the doors could be opened, but another player was needed.
I took out my Relto book and balanced it against one of the doors, using the same trick. Lengthways this time, though. I knew if the book was lengthways the gap from the door would be wide enough such that I could fit through. The door in particular I chose as it had Atrus written in D'ni above it. Another study of his, perhaps.
I solved the puzzle quickly, noting the distinct lack of footsteps. The darkness behind me gave no clue as to what was there.
The door slide open and the Relto fell down. As it shut, my Relto kept it open. I jumped through the gap in the door and searched the walls for a green button. But, instead, something else happened.
The gap in the doors became smaller, with a loud snap. My Relto book had not broken, it had simply adjusted its position such that the width of the book was holding open the door. Now I was safe in the thought the nothing could get through the doors, but my Relto book was trapped. And there appeared to be no green button on the wall to release it.
I check through the gap to see if whatever had been following me was close behind.
I jumped back.
Half a child's face was peering through the gap. A little girl. Or, what was once a little girl. Her hair was far too long and her eyes were so tired. She was malnourished, but a grin still shone on her face. She was scribbling with awesome speed into a book in hand, but she wasn't looking at what she was writing, she was just staring at me through the gap in the doors. Smiling.
I crept back, deeper into whatever this room held.
Another desk greeted me, but behind this one, someone was sat. I yelped and pushed myself away from both the desk and door. The little girl laughed, bearing her teeth with her smile. Still staring at me through the gap in the door with half of her face.
Behind the desk was a body, sat in the chair. Of whom, I could only guess, but it was definitely dead. The face with pealing away. It's skeletal form was starting to show underneath. I felt sick and held back vomit. The little girl laughed again, so quietly. Wherever I moved, her eyes followed. And she always kept writing, so very quickly.
I got up, unable to continue staring at both the little girl and the dead body. Breathing slowly and retching quietly, I moved the chair upon which sat that body from around the desk and towards the door. I was going to throw up, whether first from fear or disgust I couldn't tell.
I didn't stop staring at the two of them as I took shelter behind the desk. The room was on a natural slant and, to my horror, the chair upon which sat the body began to swivel back round to face me. It's face. Almost, recognisable under the dying flesh.
I couldn't doubt that I had an idea about who it was, but then, I was finding it hard to think at that moment. As the little girl continued to occasionally laugh through the crack in the door.
On the desk, I recognised Atrus' hand writing. The D'ni script flowed from one letter to the next as he built the world under his hands.
That's when the familiarity returned. I took out Yeesha's diary and opened it. The page was unimportant, what was important was the script. The hand writing. It was the same as Atrus'.
Atrus' hadn't been reading Yeesha's diary, he had been writing it.
Puzzles ranged from mechanisms to human emotion. Guided by a thirst for knowledge or a quest for curiosity. Or, simply guided by the task of saving someone's life. Saving Atrus from D'ni I remember in Myst. Saving Cathering from Ghen I remember in Riven. Saving the D'ni, exiled to Releeshahn. But what about Yeesha?
And therein lies the revelation.
How could Atrus tell Catherine. How could he allow her to live with the thought of... So that was the simple solution. Building, not just world, but maintaining a person. Maintaining the illusion that Yeesha was still alive. Atrus wasn't writing Yeesha's diary. He was writing her.
And what remained? This girl without a writer. Like a child without a mind. Smiling and laughing like she had been assigned to do.
Oh Atrus... I thought.
I backed up against the wall. And I did not feel the cave as I had felt before. There wasn't stone behind me. There was glass.
This room was built to observe. To observe the state of whatever was going in the expansive room below it.
I found the light switch. The little girl behind me was still laughing as I flicked it on.
The D'ni.
So many of them.
Writing and writing. Scribbling with so much speed.
If Atrus could write for his daughter, then what could the civilisation of D'ni write for? How many were down there? Perhaps... Seven billion.
The little girl continued to laugh behind me and write with incredible speed.
Everyone has their own story... I thought.
Even me.
The little girl wasn't laughing any more. She saw that I was bending down to pick up a letter opener from the desk.
I recalled the motto that had occurred so many times in this world. And I through it to myself.
And Atrus was right. Time went on ruthlessly. I looked at the letter opener and put it back down. Knowing I could never do something like that.
I sat down, on the floor, leaning against the glass partition.
I watched the little girl laugh as she continued to write.
I heard the distance scribbles of the D'ni below.
And I waited.
And I just waited.
And I continued to exist.
All the while that same line running through my head.
Driving. Me. Slow-Ly. In-Sane.
Remember, the ending can never truly be written.
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