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Language:
English
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Published:
2023-07-12
Updated:
2023-08-21
Words:
860
Chapters:
2/?
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10
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12
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Myscellany

Summary:

A collection of short Mysterium prompt fills go here.

Latest: THE BLAZE - Atrus survives the fire

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Chapter 1: Sun

Summary:

Stranger bullies local nerd into self-care. Written for the July 2023 Mysterium prompt: "Sun".

Chapter Text

When you next link in to D’ni, you find Atrus with his head in his hands, pinching the bridge of his nose as if to stave off a headache, keep himself awake, fend off tears, or possibly all three.

“Come back to Myst with me,” you tell him. “Just for a bit.”

“My work…” Atrus protests weakly, replacing his glasses.

“...is not getting done right now anyway.”

Atrus was able to leave it briefly to go deal with his sons, and you know he gets brief snatches of sleep, a couple of hours at a time, before worry and urgency wake him again. So you’re fairly sure a few minutes’ absence won’t hurt, and may instead do a lot of good.

“It’s so dark in here,” you add.

Atrus makes a weary gesture at his surroundings. “Sorry,” he says, a little snippy, as if you were complaining about the interior decor.

“No, I mean, come outside. Did you even step outside the library when you last linked back to Myst? Get some sunlight, get some fresh air.”

He gives you a resigned look and sighs. He doesn’t want to fight you about this, so he surrenders, however reluctantly. He opens the Myst book and, at your insistent expression, links away. You follow him.

He’s still standing a little blearily in the library when you appear behind him, but you’re done pushing him ahead of you. Instead, you head outside yourself, making your leisurely way down the length of the island. The air is fresh but warm, and the sun is still high in the sky. You pass the model ship and turn a little to look behind—he’s made it out of the library and is squinting up at the sky for the first time in… well, you’re not entirely sure, and it’s probably not a great time to ask. You feel a smile creep onto your face and continue down to the shore by the clocktower controls. You kick off your footwear and sit there, feet dipped into the cool seawater.

Presently, you’re aware of Atrus coming to sit next to you, his feet joining yours in the water with a small sigh of relief. You wait a moment for him to speak, in no hurry to break the companionable silence.

“It’s… nice to see the sun again,” he says finally, almost reluctantly, as if he’s ashamed to need it. He turns to you, already seeming far more at ease than when you found him. “Thank you, my friend.”

You smile back at him. “Any time.”

Chapter 2: The Blaze

Summary:

Atrus survives the fire. Written for the August 2023 Mysterium prompt: "Blazing".

Chapter Text

It takes precious minutes to put out the fire, even once Catherine bursts in at his shocked cry, and it roars in his ears the entire time—Yeesha cries too, outside, at being so abandoned by her mother—“Don’t come in! I have this under control”—“You clearly do not. Give that here, love, let me”—crackling, the horrible crackling of the blaze as it consumes his home before his eyes, swallowing up fabric and paper like a messily feeding beast, creeping noisily along the walls and floorboards—and the pulsing wail of two people linking away still ringing in his mind long after the sound itself dies, like the final fading tones of a struck bell.

Only it is Atrus himself who feels like the one struck with a hammer as he stands amongst the smouldering ruin of his office and tries not to choke on the air as the shock settles.

Catherine pulls on his arm to retreat into the house, but he shakes his head and she leaves with a sigh to go settle Yeesha. Atrus just stands there for a moment, taking in the scorched black of his surroundings, the shards of shattered glass, the ruined husk of a book. Finally, he brings himself to approach it, picks it up gently and lets out a shaky breath at how charred chunks of pages fall away to ash at the motion. The linking panel remains—barely—dark and useless. The only thing of any integrity left is the cover, the thick leather warped and cracked from the heat, but not so destroyed as to hide the name, a mocking signpost to a path he can’t follow.

He feels the same lurch in his stomach that he remembers feeling all those years ago on Myst Island upon seeing what remained of his library—that same sharp smell of ash, the same crumbling paper under his fingertips. Back then, it had felt like a stab to the gut—the sheer shock of betrayal, the sinking horror of realisation of the likely culprits, the wrenching grief of all those worlds, all those friends, forever now out of reach.

It is the stricken resignation of a paranoia proven true that clutches him now, though this was not anything that nara locks could have guarded them from. With a ragged groan, Atrus sits among the wreckage, the shell of the linking book cradled in his hands. Neither his life’s work nor his friend were touched by the flames, but he cannot help but fear that he has lost both in the blaze all the same.

Notes:

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