I’ve written the word ‘island’ into two more books now. Each one with an active link. Each one a world contained within a portable package. What will these three island Ages be like? Full of dangerous creatures? Steaming hot or frozen in the coldest winter’s night? Completely devoid of life? Writing a single word leaves the possibilities endless.
And yet, I cannot link to them. I cannot risk my safety to a blurry concept of an Age that I wrote with no training. What if, by curving a particular character too sharply, I cause a link to an Age full of poisonous air? I still have no clear understanding of how an Age is chosen. I suspect the D’ni didn’t either.
So, without risking my own life, how can I possibly gauge my success? I have three books with ‘island’ as the only form factor for a link to an Age, and I cannot see the results of my work.
If only the training wall still worked, I could retrieve a Maintainer’s Suit. I doubt it would do much to protect me, but it would ease my mind.
This is a roadblock that could potentially stall my work… What to do…
I celebrate for writing a single word into a Descriptive Book. I applaud myself, as if I had accomplished some great work. I sit now, with the books I found in the chests in Jaren. I’ve been flipping through the books to examine the work.
I sit in absolute awe of the works. The books are filled. Characters to words, words to sentences, sentences to pages. Pages and pages and pages. All to create the author’s vision. Each word is as important as the last, slowly chipping away at the blank stone. Each word like a ripple of water, slowly eroding rock, shaping the Age.
How can I ever measure up to such greatness? Even a medeocre Age must take a great deal of time and effort! These men are giants, and I am merely a follower, in their shadows. I have no right to congratulate myself yet. I have lain a single brick. These men built D’ni.
I…I’ve done it. I’ve actually done it!
I, Giles, have written an Age! Created a link across unknowable space and time to another world!
I knew it was different the moment my pen touched the page. The ink almost burned into the page. My hand began to move almost on it’s own, driven by the pen.
island.
My God, I have created something miraculous! My hand felt the tingling sensation, the link must be active!
The first step has been taken, but the journey will need ten thousand more…
The weight of this task now dawns on me.
Today is the day. I’m ready to Write. I replaced the ink i’ve been practicing with with the ink from my locked chest. There will be no mistakes this time.
island
I wish it would rain down here.
I’ve been practicing my strokes again. I hadn’t attempted them in many weeks, and I refuse to rush back into such a procedure.
Yes, this time I’ve locked away the Writing ink, to make sure I don’t make the same foolish blunder I did last time.
I picked it up quickly enough, I think I will attempt to write “island” soon.
I’ve returned from Jaren.
I could never have predicted the things I found. This journey was much shorter than the trip to J’Taeri, but much more rewarding. My notes are transcribed below.
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I’m off to Jaren. I’ll jot down notes like I did with J’Taeri. My Relto book is back on my hip, it’s a comforting feeling. My journey starts in the square at the top of the Great Stairs, and continuing down the alley in the direction a Restoration Engineer once lazily pointed out to me, saying “Jaren’s over there somewhere. We haven’t begun there yet. Don’t go there, the buildings are ready to come falling down.”
I got the feeling he was exaggerating slightly, but there is always that risk. My fear is overwhelmed by my excitement at the prospect of correcting my mistake!
To Jaren!
In my hasty preparations to investigate the Jaren district, I forgot to jot down that Will had been working with a new version of voice recognition software, that will automatically record a person’s voice and transcribe it into text. As a freelance software engineer (a fancy word for programmer, I’m sure) his client requested a more efficient way for disabled people to access computers. While this technology has been around for a while, he says his software has a much lower chance of error, and it can even be used in a portable device. Quite a smart lad, that Will.
I had been toying around with the idea of buying a simple audio recorder to catalogue my journies in the more unsafe sections of the City, but not having to transcribe it later would be a great help!
He says he has some major bugs to work out, but knowing Will, that just means he hasn’t finished toying with it, adding in new features. I did ask for my own when he’s done. We’ll see what he’s got to show me the next time I visit him.
