I wrote this story for a short story contest, and I figured it might help here. Although it was not technically written as a part of Myst, it was heavily influenced by Myst (I was reading the BoT at the time), and is relatively well-defined (since the story is mainly geared toward describing the place, rather than the plot). If you like, you can skip the story below and read my summary if you don't want to read the whole thing (it was published 6 pages long).
- a long story Show Spoiler
The canyon was dotted with lights in the silent darkness, the houses afire with candles and starfire. In the dark light of the night, a number of balconies could be seen hanging over it like monolithic gaping mouths, their dead eyes staring across the canyon.
       A young man, by appearances no more than 16 seasons old, walked out onto the balcony and looked up at the stars. Even though it was warm, he still felt chilled by the sight of the incarnadine sky above. The night unsettled him like that. As if remembering something, he suddenly turned, slung a backpack beside him onto his shoulder, and climbed down a ladder affixed to the edge of the balcony.
       The ladder, made of a fine red stone but polished to an almost unnatural sheen, wobbled under his weight, but held firm. He climbed to the bottom rung and looked down. The bottom of the ladder opened out into a drop the height of at least 10 men, but the view was cut by a rock, barely large enough for a person to stand on and haloed with a strange red glow, floating just below the ladder.
       He sat down on the rock, trying to stay on it as it wobbled under his weight like a dinghy in the ocean. When it calmed down, he gently pushed on the ladder, floating himself and the rock across the gorge. Coming out of the shadow of the cliff face, the red-black light gave him a gaunt, hellish look. A slight slip of his leg shook it again, and he struggled to remain aboard the floating stone. He chanced a look down at the gorge beneath him.
       Now that he was clear of the walls of the canyon, he could see all the way to its bottom. Instead of a river, the valley below (at least a hundred men high at this point) was filled only with a barren red sandstone-like rock known as sakka, its red made all the more red by the glow from above. Off to the south, down the valley, the wide opening of the Great Shaft could be seen, its impossible depth hidden from this angle. The thought of that well gave him chills again as he remembered the first time he had seen it.
       When he had been only 8 seasons of age, his father had taken him down to the shaft to show it to him (at his insistence). Usually only workers went into the ravine because of the absolute barrenness and jagged rocks on the ground. He had looked down into the Shaft’s deepness with fearful awe. It seemed to go on forever into the deep as it got darker and darker, its perfectly smooth walls seeming to absorb the light cast into it by the starfire his father had held over it (which was rather unlike sakka).
       “They say the shaft goes on forever into the deep,†his father had said, his voice filled with the same natural wonder he knew he himself exhibited.
       “But, surely, it has to end somewhere!†he had replied.
       “If it does end, we haven’t found the bottom yet,†his father had said as he cleanly dropped the starfire down the shaft, watching after it as it fell, lighting its way down, and down, and down, until it disappeared from view in the distance. He had stared, wide-eyed in wonder, curiosity, and fascination, down that deep pit.
       “Has anyone ever fallen into the shaft?†he had said.
       “No one has ever fallen in as long as I can remember, but we try to be very careful to avoid accidents like that. That is part of the reason why your mother and I don’t allow you to play down here in the valley. Come now, I don’t like this place.†And with that, his father had picked him up and carried him back up to the homes on the canyon wall.
       Ever since his father had died, he had not felt so obligated to remain at such a distance from that black pit, and today, his curiosity had gotten the better of him. He waited on the floating rock as it drifted across the canyon and grabbed onto another hanging ladder, which was identical in almost every way to the one he had climbed down. He held out his arms to slow the large rock, but it knocked into the ladder at its exposed bottom.
       For a fleeting instant his mind worried that he had applied too much force in his passage and would break the ladder, but it only made a dull thud as it hit the stone ladder. He stood up, using the ladder to keep from becoming unbalanced on the air-ferry and lifted himself onto the ladder. He quickly and easily ascended it and entered the house through its balcony.
       The house was dug straight into the canyon wall, and it evidenced this easily. Unlike the harsh red sakka in the valley, here the walls were of a delicate pink slate, vath (which made very neat and flat floors and ceilings). The walls, like the floor and ceiling, were unadorned, and marks in the stone where chisels had battled with the resident stone were still plainly displayed.
       However, this was not a house. It was, in fact, simply a passage, part of an elaborate network of passages that linked everything together and made travel easy (something akin to a road or a sidewalk). Some side passages did, in fact, lead to other houses, but these were for the lower classes, those not wealthy or powerful enough to be treated to a balcony. He walked on through the main path, ignoring the multitude of branches and auxiliary passages and sleeping villagers as he went deeper into the rock.
       He finally stopped at one of the passages, noticing a small sign to the side of the passage which read in fine red lettering: “Rekselon Alde Eth.†To the surface. Within the passage was a chamber, so small it was essentially the passage itself. The floor had been dug out and replaced by that same glowing red rock of which the air-ferry was made.
       He stepped onto the rock carefully, again steadying himself against the rock’s undulation, and jumped as high as he could. At once the rock flew upwards, as if it were glued to his feet, but it continued on after his own momentum slowed. He remained crouched during the upward foray from after his leap because the unfinished walls of the elevator shaft, now gaining that hellish look again as he approached the clear sky.
       The elevator rock came to an abrupt and unceremonious halt. Had he been standing he would certainly have fallen, but as it was, this only served to toss him back into a regal stand as he indulged himself with inward pride at his own genius. He had emerged on top of the cliffs, looking around the whole world now, his view unobscured by rock.
       All around him, huge, flat pieces of a pink glass-like crystal littered the landscape, as if the Maker had broken a window and scattered the shattered remnants across the world. They were absolutely massive, though—by his estimation, they ranged from 300–500 men tall—but the nearest one was 2 days’ walk away, and they were impossible to climb.
       The sky—the whole sky—was a sight to behold. Over that deep red sky, the stars were as a perforated blanket, their bright light hidden and veiled by the atmosphere. The night being now well advanced, the moon had also just come over the horizon. The Sisters, it was called. The resident scientist suggested that it had formed as a failed collision between two unusually liquid celestial bodies, but it needed no introduction. The moon looked like two spheres which had blobbed together and now had a bridge-like bond between them. He knew it to be white, but the atmosphere, as always, pink-hued it to the exact shade of a regenthrom (a red variety of nectarine).
       In order to keep its form intact, it was spinning very fast (although he did not know it, for he had no basis for comparison). Even now, one could see it rotate and count the number of drips on the water clock it needed to revolve once. 24 drops each time. It never changed. Such a paragon of timely motion could be found nowhere else in his life, and so he often looked to it with his yearning, questing eyes when he needed escape, as he did now.
       With his mouth agape and a look of trance-like enrapturement, he suddenly felt foolish and rose to pick up his bag. He walked back to the elevator rock and this time leaped onto it, pushing down hard as he did. The elevator dropped like a stone but pulled up just as it neared the floor. He turned and continued down the main path as before, angry at himself for wasting precious time.
       The main passage turned in a sort of half-circle and re-entered the canyon, ending with a slide which he had actually helped his father build when he was young. They even coated it with a secret (some even said magic) coating which made the rough sakka as smooth as whetted wind-blown vath and (of course) put another ferry stone at the base to help those who were going back up to the village. Just as he was about to reach it, Tegla, an elder, had woken and was standing in the hall when he passed by.
       “Tethys, what are you doing with that pack?†said Tegla.
       “Just a little sakka-climbing, nothing to worry about,†said Tethys.
       “At 500 moon-spins past sundown?†Tethys knew that Tegla knew him too well—he had never been a good liar.
       Tethys looked expectantly at Tegla, hoping he would believe him, but gave up shortly and said flatly, “I’m going down the Shaft to see what’s down there.†And he leaped onto the slide, leaving Tegla still in shock. He was nearly at the bottom of the slide when Tegla started shouting to wake up the village and stop Tethys.
       Tethys ran across the jagged terranical labyrinth, trying to reach the Shaft, even as others were shouting to him and trying their best to reach him. The warm, sonorous voice of Tethys’ mother rang out across the canyon. “You don’t have to do this!â€
       “I must know!†He started tying the rope, which had been taking up the majority of the space in his pack, to a nearby crag.
       “There are other ways to find out!â€
       “And yet, after all this time, we still don’t know what is down there!†He heard the sound of the workers getting close. “See you later, Mother!†The other end of the rope had already been tied about his midsection, so he stood at the edge of that perfect cylindrical hole with his back to it with arms outstretched and eyes closed, and tipped backwards into the depths. He could hear his mother’s scream, now more and more distant, as he fell down the hole.
       He opened his eyes now, aware that the rope would jerk tight at any moment. He quickly put a tiny ferry stone at the base of his foot and kicked off. Immediately, the stone began to slow the downward fall. Then, he slipped. The stone flew upwards as he continued to plummet. He reached out immediately to catch the stone before it was lost to him and he was lost to the world.
       He caught the stone in his right hand, feeling the weight it was pulling. Then, just as he thought his arm would be ripped out of his socket, he was winded by the rope at his midsection as he came to a halt. He spun the rock in midair, and it seemed to let go of its grip on empty space. It fell into his hand like a normal rock.
       He looked up. Only a tiny pinprick of light was still visible, but it was getting larger. What was happening? Was he falling up? Then the light passed him, almost hitting him, and he understood. They sent down a starfire, just like his father had all those years ago. He continued to watch the light as it went down. The ring of illuminated wall followed the starfire, getting smaller and smaller, then—
       It was gone. That pinprick of light remained, but the ring that had surrounded it was gone. That could mean only one thing. The walls went away. There was a cave down there! But then he saw his problem. There was no more rope. Even this mile-long rope could only take him halfway. He needed more. He shouted up: “Hello up there!â€â€”but there was no echo in the deep. He tried to climb the rope, but the walls were too slippery.
       He considered his problem, and then concluded that without a connection to the surface, he had to make do with only the things in his pack. He took out his ferry stone and, setting it to slow his descent, stood on it. Than he took his pocket skinner and cut the rope holding him. He very carefully coasted down to the cave.
       The first thing he noticed as he approached the cave was that he could see a faint light in it. At first he thought it was a reflection of the starfire’s light, but the color was wrong somehow. It made his eyes hurt to look at it. But as he got closer, he saw this different color more and more, and began to think that the cave was somehow generating the light. As he stared at it, his eyes adjusted to the light, grudgingly, and then he saw the cave.
       The sight of it almost took Tethys’ breath away. Lining the cave were thousands of gargantuan magenta crystals, each at least 30 men tall, the whole cave thousands of men in diameter. Thousands! The scale of it all amazed him. And then, with similar effect, he realized this was the core of the planet. One enormous geode. He would have fainted if the ferry rock he was balancing on had not been his only defense from death at that moment.
       The starfire whizzed by him again. At first he thought they had sent another one. Then he saw it flying away from him, back the way he came. He looked the other way, where the starfire had just come from, only to discover a hole, just like the one he had come from. His curiosity was at once aroused by this, and, almost without thinking, he began to steer his miniature propellant to go that way. As soon as he was in line with the tunnel and gravity had firmly decided from which direction it felt like tugging, he jumped up to signal the rock, and up he went, cruising at a respectable pace, considering the propellant.
       Again, the first thing he noticed as the circle of light dilated, was the color. It was all wrong and it made his eyes hurt, even more so than with the geode. By a complete coincidence, the Sisters happened to pass over the Shaft just then, and he saw: they weren’t pink anymore. Now they were light blue, although it was day, and it was hard to see the Sisters at all. But the sky wasn’t its normal, healthy, bright red color. It was this sickly bluish color. It didn’t make any sense to him.
       He emerged from the Shaft, disgusted at his surroundings. It was like the world had gone haywire. There was a blue stream trickling constantly, gratingly. A dark green ocean could be seen off at the horizon. And strange branched protuberances coated in thin pieces of what could only be described as green paper were everywhere, stuck in a soft brown bedrock he had never seen before. There was so much noise from nothing. Nothing alive, but lots and lots of noise. He twisted his rock, its welcoming red glow the only familiar piece of this terrible world, and dived headfirst into the hole.
       He took up his “pencil†form, with his hands together far above his head and legs straight back, in order to fly so fast that he would go all the way back up to his home. He flew through the entire tunnel in seconds, was granted two whole seconds with the beautiful geode, and almost made it back when his momentum gave out. He had to taxi the rest of the way on his little rock.
       When he returned he found a funeral pyre being built next to the Shaft. His mother was weeping. Everyone else had lowered their heads solemnly.
       “You folks sure do give up easily!†he said, still rising from the Shaft.
       There was a gasp among those who were at the pyre. “We thought you were dead!†one person said.
       “We assumed the worst after the rope went slack,†said another.
       He crouched on the rock, then grabbed onto it with his hands and dropped so that he was hanging from it, then he twisted it and he dropped the ½ man height remaining. “We do have these utilitarian ferry-rocks, remember?†He tossed it to another worker. “No matter. You won’t believe what I saw down there.â€
This story describes three separate regions spanning an entire planet (which itself poses a problem). The "top" is a red world—
everything is some hue of red—and there are no plants, but some unusual rocks. It is set in a large canyon (500 or so feet across and 300 feet deep) which is made of a pink slate-like material (
vath) near the surface and a rougher red sandstone-like rock (
sakka) at the bottom of the canyon. There is no water at the bottom (the canyon was created by tectonic activity). There are several balconies set in the canyon, which lead to tunnels in a large network to form the village.
One specific rock of note are the ferry-rocks. They vary in size from 8-or-so inches in diameter (Tethys' pocket rock) to a meter or two (the elevator rock). They have the curious ability to "grab" onto empty space (like a thumbtack stuck to a nonexistent wall) or drift with constant velocity, as if there were no gravity. (Imagine Spire rocks, except without falling up.) Only the rock itself is affected by this, though—someone standing on the rock would still feel gravity pushing them onto the rock even while it floats. At extreme speeds it can be observed that the rocks only apply a great deal of deceleration (rather than instantly sticking to wherever it is used). The rock's "abilities" can be turned on by a change in your force on it (i.e. push off from it) and turned off by twisting the rock quickly. When "off," they behave like normal rocks. They tend to be flat on top and rough and glowing red on the bottom.
Above the canyon is a flat region of
vath with other canyons (and other villages) visible in the distance. There are also giant planes of rock stuck in the ground, flat on the front and back, stuck vertical, and partially transparent (and pink). They are about 2000-3000 feet tall, 1000-1500 feet wide, and uniformly 50 feet thick across the objects (imagine thick broken glass stuck vertically). They are perfectly smooth on the faces, and the sides can curve, but are smooth as well. The sky is thick and cloudy (red clouds), but you can see the occasional star. You can also usually see The Sisters, which is the planet's moon. It is roughly hourglass-shaped, with two masses of rock (white rock, but tinged by the atmosphere) rotating rapidly (24 seconds per revolution).
At the bottom of this canyon is a hole, a perfectly smooth borehole into the planet. Looking down shows that it is extremely long (beyond eyesight). It is also strangely smooth, like polished marble. It is in fact a perfect cylindrical hole of about 14 feet in diameter through the entire planet. By following this hole (via gravity), the main character discovers the second region, which is a massive geode (10000 feet in diameter) set in the center of the planet. There are many crystals lining the walls, hundreds of feet tall and all glowing purple.
The hole continues on through to the other side of the planet, where the world is, in fact, Earth-like. The part where the hole exits is in a sparse forest with a little undergrowth and a nearby river. The Sisters are visible here too, but bluish this time.
I didn't expect the summary to be quite so long, but it's a complicated place. The story's a better read though. So, what do you guys like about it? Dislike? I'd love some feedback.
