You materialize in a cage, and despite your best efforts, all you can do is look around the room helplessly. Fortunately, there’s a doorbell on the cage, and when you press it, Gehn shows up. He asks you some questions, tells you about himself, and then offers you a chance to try out his linking books. He goes for a hike, leaving you free to pick a book to visit. There’s only one island you haven’t been to, so you should be chomping at the bit to get there. Open the book with the one little square on the cover, and off you go!

You find yourself on Prison Island. Take a moment to appreciate the fact that this prison has been built out of a massive tree stump. Priorities… Anyhow, head up the path to an elevator and take the elevator up to Catherine’s cell. She’ll tell you what the plan is, while trying to convince Gehn, who’s probably watching somehow, that she’s a raving lunatic. She tells you to go back to Gehn and trick him into entering the Prison Book. She says you’re then supposed to meet her back at the entrance to the Rift, which is under the telescope on Gold Dome Island.

Ditch Catherine by taking the elevator back down. Head back to the small dome, open it up, and return to Gehn’s Age. Summon Gehn with the bell, and listen to what he asks you to do. If you refuse to enter the Prison Book, you may never get out of this cage, so you had might as well go for it. After you enter the Prison Book, you watch for a few agonizing moments as Gehn thinks about whether to follow you. He eventually decides it’s safe, and jumps on in, setting you free. You can now search Gehn’s place freely.

There’s some interesting stuff on the desk, and downstairs there’s a diary and a movie-player of Gehn’s mother. But you’re primarily interested in the small clock on his bedstand. Press it, and it makes a series of sounds. Remember them, for they make up the code that frees Catherine from her cell.

Go upstairs, take the Linking Book to Prison Island again, and press the appropriate code to open the bars. Take the elevator to the top floor, where Catherine gets in and thanks you for saving her. She then asks you to meet her at the rift, and she takes off to go evacuate the natives.

Go back down to the dome, open it, and ride the book back to Gehn’s. Then, ride the Linking Book to Gold Dome Isle, and make your way back to the telescope. Once you’re there, use the code from Catherine’s journal to open the telescope manhole. If the code is “5-4-3-2-1”, press the fifth button, then the fourth, and so on. Once you’ve opened the manhole, you need to lower the telescope to break the glass and open the Rift, signalling Atrus that you’ve completed your mission.

Use the lever and the button on the right side of the telescope to lower it. You can view the Rift through the eyepiece as you zoom in closer. If the telescope stops before hitting the glass, you need to remove a safety-stopper that’s on the lower left part of the telescope frame. Finally, you’ll succeed in breaking the glass, and the final sequence ensues. Atrus and Catherine show up, and thank you for your efforts. Catherine says she’s evacuated the natives successfully. The rift begins to open wider, and your time in Riven is coming to an end. Atrus and Catherine bid you farewell, and leave via a Linking Book. You are left with only one option--leap into the Rift.

As you fall into the Rift, you look above you and see Riven fading from view. The stars above you are breathtaking, and you feel no fear as you feel a new Universe enveloping you below. You experience only a mild sense of deja-vu, as if you believe you’ve fallen through a Rift like this sometime before. And oddly enough, though you don’t know how you know this, you are entirely certain that someday you will fall into a Rift like this again. Your story, as it will be written someday by Ancients, may be just beginning.

[Beginning] [Golden Dome] [The Forest] [The Village] [Boiler Island] [Lagoon] [Rebel Age] [Survay Island] [Fire Marbles] [Endgame]