Story
This section contains spoilers which could ruin the game for you if you have not played it before, or have not yet reached the end.
Decades before the events of Myst III Exile, Atrus was exiled to Myst Island along with his grandmother Ti’ana and wife Catherine [see: Book of Atrus]. In making a new life for themselves, Catherine and Atrus had two sons, Sirrus and Achenar. As they grew up, Atrus sought to teach them about The Art, the D’ni skill of writing Linking Books to new worlds.
To teach them the elements that make up an Age, Atrus wrote the lesson Age of J’nanin, where the boys would come for their lessons. Three other Ages, Amateria, Edanna and Voltaic, was available to them to learn these elements. By combining what they learnt from these Ages they could access the final lesson on the Age of Narayan. Upon their arrival on Narayan, Atrus introduced his two sons to a man called Saavedro, who was to teach them the ways of his civilization.
The sons betrayed and manipulated the inhabitants of Narayan in order to get what they wanted, Saavedro saw what they were doing and sought to speak out against them. Civil war broke out upon the Age and the two sons fled the Age, no longer finding any value in it. Saavedro followed Sirrus and Achenar to J’nanin in order to confront them, instead he was beaten by the two and tied up. Tied to one of the Ages “Sun Scopes”, Saavedro watched helplessly as Sirrus and Achenar Linked back to Myst Island, burning their books in the process and trapping Saavedro on J’nanin.
Believing is family and home-world to be dead and suffering from decades of solitude, madness began to claim Saavedro. Until one day Atrus returned to J’nanin and opened the door for Saavedro’s escape. Finding the book Saavedro Linked to Atrus’ home in order to find Sirrus and Achenar, instead he discovered Atrus’ Journal of Releeshahn and planned to steal the book in order for Atrus to fix Narayan. Unfortunately Saavedro steals the book in front of Atrus and his friend “The Stranger” who arrives in Tomahna to make a trip to Releeshahn. Following Saavedro to J’nanin, The Stranger must take a Atrus’ lessons and Saavedro’s new lessons in order to make his way to Narayan and claim back Releeshahn.
Confronting Saavedro upon his home Age, The Stranger lowers the protective “Ice Shields” to reveal that Narayan had not been destroyed as Saavedro had thought, but was in fact flourishing. Overwhelmed with the thought that his wife is alive, Saavedro returns the Releeshahn Linking Book and returns home to find his wife, thanking The Stranger as he goes. The Stranger returned to Tomahna, taking the book back to Atrus and Catherine and closing one of the chapters of Sirrus and Achenar’s betrayal.
