A.I. writing fanfic!NaNoWriMo Part 5; or, The Last Push · 2:46am Dec 1st, 2015
This is it, folks. The final day of NaNoWriMo, the day where your word-count stands in judgment over you. What does mine say?
"Eh, good job buddy. Better luck next year."
Today, I reached the midway point in my wordcount: 25,000 words. Quite a pretty pile of characters, if I do say so myself. Last time I wrote this much in a month, I was sick and unable to do anything but write. Between all the various work and volunteer-related activities I did this month, I was darn lucky to have the time I did have.
This chapter is complete, but the rest of the story lies in wait.
This last week's writing is not much of a stand-alone scene, and thus is not going to be posted on the internet alone. It's a culmination, is what I'm saying. Instead, I'm going all the way back to chapter one and posting the end of it. It gives a huge clue as to where the plot is going, what sort of trials our characters face, and the type of mystery behind everything.
Darla Deutero held up a finger. “Shut up.”
Martial Lionspaw turned up his lip. “Did you really just tell me to—?”
“Yes. Shut up and listen.” Dr. Deutero unclipped her harness and let it fall into the dark dirt of the forest floor. “What do you hear?”
Martial cocked an ear. “Nothing.”
“Right. Just wind through the leaves.” She took a step forward. Green light shone in a haze through the canopy. “What do you notice about the trees?”
“Fairly regular, run-of-the-mill trees—” Martial took a second glance. It ended with a double-take. The trees were spaced even distances from each other, much like an orchard. “—that appear to have been deliberately planted.”
Darla grinned. She pulled off her hat and ran her fingers through her graying hair. “I’m telling yah, Marty, things just keep adding up. This is the place.”
Martial hefted his backpack from a pile of busted branches. “If that’s so, the tomb will no doubt be in the center.” He twirled a pencil between his fingers. “And, if my calculations are correct, that would lead us in this direction.”
Dr. Deutero grinned and crossed her arms over her chest. “See? That’s why I needed a cartographer.”
“Happy to be of service.” Acorns crunched with every step of his boot. “Given that the grant from the royal treasury doesn’t fall through.”
“We find something good, Annette ’ll be happy.” Dr. Deutero stepped over a tall root. “As happy as old Nettle ever gets.”
It was the work of a few minutes to find the center of the valley. A circle of trees grew close to each other, their branches intertwining. The thick canopy concealed from overhead, while the trunks acted as a fence to mark the border.
Dr. Deutero spoke with a breathless giggle. “I’ll bet if you looked under the soil, you’d see that the roots are all connected, too. This is the work of a master arbormage.”
She passed her hand between two trunks. The air shimmered and hummed. “Check it out! The trees were used to erect a shield. Probably to keep out harmful enchantments or to preserve the tomb.”
Martial whistled. “Lots of work for a dead woman.”
“It was the queen, Martial. A hero.” Darla Deutero took a deep breath and passed through the trees. “Ancient Luminaria spared no expense.”
A stone block, chest-high to Martial, rested in the midst of the trees. The corners of the cube had been cut at an angle, lending it a pyramidal shape. Flowing script was carved into each side, symbols and images taking the place of words.
While the ground was plain dirt outside the circle of trees, past them the floor was covered with soft, smooth grass. Darla went down on her knees and ran her palm over the undergrowth. “I finally found it, Marty. This is it.”
She stood up in a rush and brought herself next to the stone. “Ready to take a couple notes?”
He pulled a blank scroll from one of his pack’s side pockets. “Born ready.”
Darla pressed her hands on the smooth stone. She took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. She brushed her fingertips along the symbols. The engraved script glowed a warm green. She continued, making her way around until she’d marked every glyph on the tomb’s face. With that done, she pinched her fingers and lifted the sparkling symbols into the air. They hung before her face, dancing like leaves on the wind.
“Can you read them?” Martial asked, pencil poised. “Can you tell what they say?”
“It’s fuzzy,” she said, her eyes squinting. “The older the writing, the harder it is to figure out… the intent…”
She shivered in the warm forest air. She pointed at one symbol in particular. “This says her name was… Gentle? That’s what it meant, anyways. I don’t know if there’s a modern equivalent.”
“Yet another name lost to time,” Martial mumbled as he wrote.
“This symbol says she reigned for fifty years… thirty of which happened after something called ‘The Sealing.’ That’s not ominous at all.” Dr. Deutero lightly ground her teeth. “This says she died after being poisoned.”
Martial raised an eyebrow. “Not a popular ruler, then?”
“Possibly, but not necessarily. Everything I’ve read about the ruler buried here says they liked her.” Darla scratched behind her ear. Her eyes lit up. “It says her final resting place is in the valley of the moon. The Valley of the Lesser Light!” She clapped her hands once. “I knew it!”
“Yay, vindication all around.” Martial twirled a finger. “Anything else?”
She rubbed her chin. The skin around her eyes tightened. “Yeah, but it’s weird. This says her final wish was to be buried here and forgotten.”
“Forgotten?” Martial blinked. “That’s exactly the opposite of what every other ruler in the history of forever wants. Read it again to make sure.”
“I wouldn’t call what I’m doing ‘reading.’”
“You know what I mean. Are you sure it says ‘forgotten’?”
Darla Deutero snorted. “As sure as I can be. From what I can pick up, the intent was that the queen wanted to be forgotten.” She gnawed her lip. “Which brings up the scarier question.”
Martial nodded. “‘Why?’”
Dr. Deutero moved the floating symbols around with her fingertips. “Not gonna find out just reading the eulogy. Time to crack it open.”
Martial laughed. He rolled the scroll up and rifled through his backpack. He came up with a can of grease and a pry bar. “Cartography, package carrying, exploration, and desecration. My talents grow by the hour.”
Darla waved her hands. The magic symbols vanished in a plume of smoke. She bent down and studied the base of the stone. “I see a seam near the bottom here. Gimme the grease.”
Martial jabbed one end of the pry bar into a thin gap in the face of the stone. “That stuff won’t be much help if we can’t even lift it.”
She rubbed the goop into the crack before wiping her hand on the grass. “So we push really, really hard.”
He took up position on one side of the bar, she on the other. She gave him a strained smile. “On my mark?”
He nodded and clenched his fist.
She did the same. “One… two… three!”
They pushed down with all their combined might. Stone ground against stone as the tomb listed a hair. The cube tilted back, a whoosh of air blowing into the space between the bottom and the top. Underneath, a staircase led into deep shadows.
“That’s… not what I was expecting.” Martial gave the stone a final shove and allowed it to fall over into the grass. He knelt before the newly-uncovered entrance. “Looks like the queen wanted her secrets buried pretty deep.”
“You’re not as funny as you think you are.” Dr. Deutero leaned her elbow on his shoulder. “You got torches in that knapsack of yours?”
“One better,” he said, reaching into the bottom of the bag. He retrieved an old oil lantern. “I figured we’d be staying out past your bedtime, so I took the liberty.”
“Past my bedtime?” She smirked. “What else you got hidden in there?”
Martial took a peek. “Rations.”
She placed one hand on her hip and frowned.
“You were expecting a change of undergarments?” He held his palms up. “I already had to carry rock-climbing gear and a pry bar. There’s only so much room in this thing.”
“Alright, alright, so it isn’t bottomless.” She looked into the tomb and furrowed her brow. “But that thing might be.”
Martial flipped a switch on the side of the lantern. Beside the wick, a small piece of flint scraped against a bit of steel, creating a spark. A flame appeared, gradually brightening as the fire grew. “In that case, we’d better hope the oil burns for a good long time.”
As they made their way down the dark staircase, the sound of their boots against the steps echoed all around. The light from the lantern was all but swallowed by the shadows, barely reaching three steps ahead.
“C-can you turn that thing up any?” Dr Deutero asked.
“If I put it on max, it’ll just eat up the oil. Where would that leave us?”
“In a dark staircase where we can’t see a single thing.”
“Point to you.”
Darla gasped when she reached the bottom. The room was just as dark as the stairway, but far larger. She motioned Martial forward so that she could take the lantern. She stayed close to the walls, resting one hand against them to avoid stumbling. Reliefs were carved into the rock, depicting a woman with a ring-like crown and gem-topped scepter.
Martial remained at the foot of the stairs. “You see anything interesting?”
“Oh yes.” The next wall contained a young man, holding a simple sword. His head was turned to look at the image of the woman. “This is amazing. These reliefs are almost perfectly preserved. We haven’t seen anything like this for years. If ever.”
She rounded the room, making way for the third wall. “If there’s any sort of text, this could open up so much history that was lost. We could see how these people lived, what the political atmosphere was like, who their enemies were…”
Martial leaned against the stairwell’s wall. “What their names were?”
“Well, I’ll figure that part out soon enough.” She winked at in his direction. “Who knows? Maybe it’s like a star, the one who discovers it gets to name it.”
Darla reached out to touch the third wall, a swirling mess of loops and spirals. “Here’s a mystery for right now. The other two walls had carvings of people, but this one looks like a nest-full of—”
She sucked in a sudden breath. Her knuckles went white when she almost dropped the lantern. Martial’s eyes followed the tangled carvings to the middle of the wall. A cold chill shivered up and down his back.
“—snakes,” Darla Deutero finished.
The center of the wall had a head. Long snout, sharp fangs, a sinister forked tongue, frilled ears that ended with spikes, and eyes that glared at everything at once. Arms sprouted at random from the trailing body of the monster, ending in clawed hands. Leathery wings flapped on its back in evenly-spaced pairs.
“That has to be the ugliest dragon I’ve ever seen,” Martial said.
“Fellspawn, that’s terrifying.” Darla held a hand over her heart. “What sort of sick, twisted individual carves this on his queen’s tomb?”
She turned around and shined the light towards Martial. “Three walls, plus the staircase. Unless there’s another flight of stairs in the middle, this is the only room.” She took a step away from the wall. “I’m taking a look. You can come over here at any time, you know. This isn’t a one-person operation.”
Martial gave his wings a stretch before joining her. “Aw, did the monster spook you?”
“Shut up.” Dr. Deutero paused. She lifted the lantern high, illuminating a hefty, wooden sarcophagus. “I think we found the queen.”
Martial rolled up his sleeves. “Do you want me to open it?”
“Wait. Just a moment.” She set the light down. The lid of the sarcophagus was painted with a picture of the queen. Her eyes were closed, like she was sleeping. Her cheeks were rosy and soft. Her mouth was pulled down in a frown.
Darla rubbed her forearm. “She doesn’t look over fifty. More like twenty. This must’ve been painted based on older images.”
She handed him the lantern. “Have a look around and tell me if you see anything in writing. Something solid.”
Martial Lionspaw swung the light over the remaining undiscovered portion of the room. Aside from the walls and the sarcophagus, there was only one other object. It was a podium topped with a glass dome. Underneath the dome lay a leather-bound tome, wrapped in a purple ribbon.
“How about a whole book? How does that sound?”
Dr. Deutero leaped up and rushed to his side. “Gimme. What’s it look like?”
Martial held his head high. “With your permission, I will lift the glass away so that we may see the book up close and personal. May I?”
Dr. Deutero shook her head, a half-grin on her face. “Only if you stop being a pain. Open it to your heart’s content.”
He took the glass dome in his fingertips, careful not to drop it. He set it on the lid of the sarcophagus and stepped back.
Darla Deutero undid the ribbon with trembling hands. She opened the cover inch by inch, as if she was afraid it would crumble to dust. Sketched on the first page was a copy of the carved dragon, glaring at the reader with fire in its eyes. She traced her finger across the words written below the picture. They glowed green, and she lifted the glimmering magic symbols into the air.
“It’s about cycles,” she said. “Reoccurring cycles?” She touched another set of symbols. “And it was written by the queen.”
She flipped forward a couple pages. Sketches appeared of faces from the past. Crowds of people listening to speeches. A massive excavation project.
Martial’s eyes ran over the script. “It’s a diary. Or a journal, or autobiography, or something. It’s about her rule.”
“Looks like.” Dr. Deutero caressed the paper. This—this is unbelievable. I don’t even know where to begin.”
“The first chapter would be a start.” Martial shook the lantern. “Want to see inside the casket before we run out of oil?”
“Sure.” Darla clutched the book to her chest. “Sure. Open it up.”
Martial took the short end of the lid and hefted it up and over. He slid it to the side so that they could peek at the corpse. It was a twenty-something year old woman with soft, rosy cheeks and brown hair. Her hands were crossed over her stomach. Her eyes were closed softly, like she’d fallen asleep the night before.
Martial chuckled, though he couldn’t keep the nervous edge out of his voice. “And here we thought the book was well-preserved.”
Darla swallowed hard. “Cover her back up. We’ve got plenty of notes for today.”
He heaved the lid back into place, scattering a cloud of dust. “What’s the next move?”
“We’re going back to the trading post,” she said. “I got a contact who might know a thing or two about this book. I’ll shoot him a message.”
She set foot on the stairs. “You, ah, you brought the stamps, right?”
Martial groaned. “I thought we agreed that was your job.”
“Really?” She rubbed her temples. “Great. You know how expensive cross-country stamps are out here?” She wiped off a cobweb that had stuck to her elbow. “We’d better hope that the grant comes through. We’re gonna be wearing sackcloth and boiling our shoes if we’re not careful.”
They broke into the sunlight. Darla clutched the book against her hip and turned around, taking in the circle of trees.
Martial snuffed the lantern. “Was it everything you hoped it would be?”
“It’s not quite what I was expecting, I’ll say that.” Dr. Deutero pulled off her sunhat and fanned her face. “As far as I’m concerned, this is only one piece in a puzzle. When we put it all together, it’ll give us a look at what life was like thousands of years ago. It’ll give us a window into ancient times.”
She slipped the heavy book into the backpack. “What do yah say, cartographer? Wanna make a map of history?”
Martial unrolled his scroll and raised his pencil. “I’ll get my sextant.”
Again, it's raw and certain to be edited to high heaven one of these days.
I hope you enjoyed this journey through November. It has most certainly been an experience for me. I'll continue working on Insert Title Here, but alongside pony fiction from here on out.
When the time comes for me to publish it, you'll be some of the first to know. 
Half congratulations!
Even if it's not the official bonus, 25 thousand words and matching your best record except in a healthy way is awesome.
Man, these two sure aren't genre savvy. Between "The Sealing" and wanting to be forgotten, this has all the hallmarks of an Evil in a Can scenario. Still, the characters and their banter were enjoyable to read, and provided a nice contrast to the dark environment they found themselves in. I approve.
Uh oh, some archaeologists are delving too greedily and too deep!
Why did it have to be snakes?
25,000 words is a fantastic amount of work, buddy. Do you know when you plan to finish it?
3583509
Doubled thanks!
It's pretty great, yeah.
For reference, when I was sick, I wrote about fifteen-thousand words in one week. They weren't all that good. Add to that ten thousand over the other three weeks of the month, and you've got an approximate equivalence.
3583666
In their defense, they don't try to open the "can" themselves. As a point against them, they didn't burn the tomb on sight.
Thanks! If I do one thing well, 'tis banter. There is no better tomb explorer than a quick-witted, quippy duo.
3585485
"You have my compass!"
"And my shovel!"
"And my dust brush!"
Because the Garden of Eden is still firm in our minds.
If you had asked me that in February, when I started it, I would have said "sometime next year." However, I did not keep up writing it, so I really have no idea. I'll be working on it more in the coming months, but it's still quite a ways off. The second draft is a must for this story, since I've already picked out several sequences that need a rewrite, and the editing is sure to be a painstaking effort.
I'll guess at maybe a year and a half? Perhaps less? I'm not sure, really. It depends on how life treats me over the next few months.
3588293 How long do you plan the whole thing to be? 50,000 words, or is that the first chunk of a doorstopper novel?
3588312
100,000-150,000 words, roughly. A good-sized fantasy novel, but not a doorstopper. I'm not sure writing a Tolkienian epic as my first publishable book would be a wise undertaking.
3588442 Yeah, that will take a while. Good luck with it over the next few months, and as a backup there's always next year's nanowrimo.