Morning all and welcome to the Fifteen Minute Novel. Here I take the start of a story idea and work on it for fifteen minutes a day. I started with an old writing prompt that interested me, cleaned it up a bit to fit the basic outline of the story I want to write and then set aside fifteen minutes each week day to see it grow. Each morning’s writing starts with the last sentence of the day before. And so now we have the story of Kasca…
Day 45: There were, however, drawings of new creatures designed to help pacify other territories.
There were, however, drawings of new creatures designed to help pacify other territories. Kasca looked them over. The new creatures were designed for different terrains. They were smaller and given the data she looked over, more were planned.
‘I suppose if they are smaller, they might take less time to create.’ Kasca thought. She looked at the large vats. ‘Or take smaller vats.’
There was something off about the designs though. For a time, Kasca couldn’t work out what the something off was. Then she realized.
‘They are incomplete.’ There was a section of the designs missing from the diagrams. It had a small section broken out where the designs should be and then a notation to see a separate page where the designs were detailed, but the detail page, when Kasca found it, had nothing more than a preliminary sketch and temporary notes about pieces that needed to be worked out later.
‘They didn’t finish,’ Kasca thought. She looked around and realized even the new drawings had a bit of dust filtered over them.
‘It wasn’t just that they stopped making the larger creatures,’ she thought. ‘They were interrupted before finishing the designs of the new.’
She thought of the rampaging disease and wondered if she was reading too much into things. If she was seeing a timeline because it fit with what she knew. Looking at the larger vats and equipment needed for the patrol creatures she could see the dust layered more thickly than it did on the incomplete drawings of the new creatures.
‘Which means that they discontinued creating the creatures before they finished the designs and just never finished the designs,’ she told herself. She tried not to put too much interpretation on the facts she collected. Deciding she learned enough from this particular space, Kasca moved forward into the next laboratory.
This one had no vats or machinery. There were worktables littered with books and papers. It looked more like a group study room.
‘Maybe here was where they thought up their designs and the other space was where they finished and created them.’ She wasn’t certain and instead of guessing, she looked at the diagrams and designs. Some were clearly war machines and had notations regarding destructive capability. The machines that rolled over the landscape here were deemed inadequate for other terrain. Thinking of the rocky coastline of the stretch of kingdoms facing their island she had to agree.
Kasca saw ship designs unlike the small boats she was used to. They would be able to carry a large number of people and supplies. Kasca frowned. “A large number of creatures and gear more likely.’ She thought.
She knew there were people who worked for the Overlord but he long since disbanded the actual army, replacing it with his creatures. He was leery of any of the populous having fighting skills as it might lead to insurrection. The people he employed were tax collectors and those who would help him design and build his creatures. He had servants and staff but if he were to invade, the transport ship would be filled with creatures not men.
‘So he was planning an invasion as we thought,’ Kasca said. She knew their neighbors were right to worry.
‘Not that it matters anymore,’ she thought recalling the body of the Overlord stretched out on his bed. ‘Unless someone picks up where he left off.’
She let the thought go as she continued to look over the space. The designs for the war machines were more complete than that of the new creatures but they too had a light film of dust over them.
‘Maybe those designing them took ill,’ Kasca thought. She could feel no remorse for them. She knew some might have been pressured to work for the Overlord, but many sought his employ willingly. Power, even secondary power, was appealing to many.
Ten til Midnight 