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 155: “It is no shame to want to know the truth of the past,” Deran told her. “Knowing it’s truth informs our decisions in the present and helps us shape the path we want to walk in the future.”
“It is no shame to want to know the truth of the past,” Deran told her. “Knowing it’s truth informs our decisions in the present and helps us shape the path we want to walk in the future.”
“So I could look to find out?” Anya asked. There were so many issues she was currently dealing with, she felt a little silly to fixate on one single moment from the past, but she felt it was important. She hoped that by finding out she might be able to let it go.
“It is possible,” Deran claimed. “If your skills incline you in those directions. It will take some study but if the library is still intact then I believe I know which volumes to turn to. But before we determine your course of study, perhaps you could continue, what happened after Marta left you by the stone basin?”
“Oh,” Anya said. “of course. Well I decided that perhaps it would be best to stay, at least for the winter and at least until I found out where else I could go. When I went down the stairs though I tripped and fell into a hidden study. The entry was hidden by a simple panel but like the other rooms I found later, no one could see them even when I opened the door. They could see me disappear into them, but not me once I entered them and the rooms remained hidden.”
“The rooms and what they contain belong to the children of the moon, not the sun,” Deran told her. “They will not be able to enter.”
“The matron seemed to think she could, or at least she might be able to once the season turns and her abilities return.”
“Ah,” Deran said. “I had forgotten the fading of their skills. They turn like the seasons. Their skills sleep over the winter, grow in the spring and summer, are harvested in the autumn and then fall dormant to sleep once more over the winter. There is often some consternation even if many use the quiet times for study to increase the harvest.”
“The matron seemed to think that once the season turned she would be able to enter the hidden spaces,” Anya said.
“She won’t,” Daran said. His words had a note of finality to them. As Anya wasn’t entirely certain about the Matron and her motives Anya found this a bit of a relief.
“And when her sight returns, will she be able to see into the hidden spaces?”
“Her sight?”
“Yes she can usually see anything happening within the mountain . Sometimes she can even see in the off seasons, but not this year. She told Marta it was because they were to have a quiet winter.”
“Well a quiet winter it may be, but that might not be the cause of her diminished sight, not if she had it in the off season as well.”
“Oh?”
“There is a Sphere of Sight that one of my predecessors created. It was created well before I was born when the Empire was at its height. Originally it was designed to let the Emperor see any aspect of his kingdom when he wanted. It was meant to prevent war and to allow him to rule the vast empire more effectively. Of course it didn’t work.”
“Because the Empire fell,” Anya said.
“Well that and he couldn’t use it,” Deran said. “He didn’t have magic. His queen could use it as she was a Daughter of the Moon.”
“How did he take that?” Anya asked.
Ten til Midnight 