The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is a attempt to write a complete (and very rough) draft of a novel by writing for fifteen minutes each day. I have taken a timed writing from one of the daily prompts done in 2021, cleaned it up a little and used it as my jumping off point into a story. Each day I will take the last line of the story written the day before and use it as my sentence starter and write for fifteen minutes, growing the story as the year progresses.
Day 38: ‘Maybe tomorrow I’ll find out more about the Haverdown.’
‘Maybe tomorrow I’ll find out more about the Haverdown.’ The thought followed Anya into sleep and she found herself dreaming of the ancient empire. In her mind she saw the ruins and watched as rocks slid together and reformed the fallen buildings. The empire grew in her mind, becoming more fantastical. There were tall buildings that rivaled the tower she was kept in so that it was only one of many, blending in seamlessly to the others.
While she saw the tower where she was kept at first, easily visible among the ruins, as the rest of the town grew, she lost sight of it. While many of the towers were the same size some dwarfed the tower. There were other building that were more interesting. There was a large dome gleaming white in the sunshine. There was another domed building slightly smaller but even more impressive as it’s dome looked as though it was covered in gold. In the bright sunlight it hurt to look at it. There were statues and fountains scattered throughout the city. There were wells, but they weren’t the simple places for gathering water that she knew. These had fanciful decorations around them. Carved sea creatures played along their edges and even though the women of the city still brought buckets to fill, they dipped their water out of the gleaming white fountain rather than lowering it into a dark stone pit.
Everything in the city seemed clean and bright. The people even seemed happier and prosperous.
“How could something destroy this?” Anya thought. As though she asked the dream a question, the buildings began to crumble around her, falling back into ruin until only the tower where she was imprisoned stood. It shone with a light as though there was a lantern placed at the window. The light grew brighter and brighter and then flew out of the window taking a direct line north. Anya turned away from the tower and the ruined city and faced north.
In her dream, she followed the light north. She passed the forests with ease and found herself standing once again at the gate between the mountains. The gate that led her to the house of the star. It looked different in her dreams. For a moment Anya stopped and stared at it. The gate she remembered was composed of ancient stone, moss covered in places but still standing despite its age. The small gate where she was allowed to enter was of wood.
Here the gate was metal, and while the stone was still dark, it looked newly cut as though the gate and city between the mountains had just been built. Anya floated through the gate, the metal no impediment to her dream passage. There were further defenses beyond the metal and far more than just one guard. The town beyond did not look new. The town looked like it had been established long before the gate.
‘And there weren’t this many soldiers,’ Anya thought. If the city had been filled with this many well-armed men, Anya knew she would have been much more nervous entering.
‘This looks more like a fort than a town. A fort with a new gate.’ Anya frowned. ‘Perhaps a new enemy.’ As she thought of an enemy, someone with a commanding voice ordered the soldiers to their posts. Grim faced men moved into positions of defense.
Ten til Midnight 