To prepare for this years NaNoWriMo I will do prompts by the.plottery for September and October.
You can read today’s short piece right here. Today’s prompt was:
Write a short story featuring the words: candle, frolicking, astronomicalMy candle burned low as I sat down to copy the ancient report. The flame struggled in the dusty gust, the leather bound tome had conjured upon the stained wooden table. After reciting the appropriate prayers, I opened the book. With reverence I turned the pages to the report that my superiors had requested.
I pressed a button that was laid into the wooden table. As a reaction I heard a shuffling coming closer though the rows and rows of overstuffed bookshelves. Although I knew it was coming, because I called it, it still startled me as it turned the corner and arrived next to my workplace. The former shape of a man was propped up in a corset of gears and wires. Unnecessary parts of its body were removed, what was left was kept alive to serve as the living heart of the automaton. The service the automaton provided was to provide scribes with all they needed to do their work. So the mockery of the human form pushed a card loaded with parchment, candles, quills and ink. The servitor cocked its head as if to ask a question in a jerky motion.
I took a pile of parchment as well as a candle and then dismissed it. I hope the sweet smell of rot that was emanating from the biomechanical servant would flee together with it leaving the smell of parchment and incense of the archive. I lit my new candles and began my work.
The report was one of an excursion on a newly discovered world. A chapter of the Emperor’s angels had been misled by astronomical anomalies that had an influence on the sea of souls.
The chapter found the lush green planet and noted that the Imperium had no record of it, so they decided to investigate and send a report to holy Terra. This very report that I had now before me. I was probably the first human to lay eyes on this after it was copied into this tome by a scribe of the chapter.
My mind buckled under the time that had passed since this report had been entered into this archive to this very day. Several lifetimes had passed. In an effort to shorten the time this piece of information was delayed, I hastily got to work. With precision I copied each ancient letter after the other. I hardly paid attention to the content of the report, but after a while the act of copying was so mechanical that I could not help but to be drawn into the report.
The sergeant of the exploring troop noted the lush forest that covered most of the landmass. The planet smelled like a decaying forest on its way to become a bog. The marines found ancient fragments of temples slowly being overtaken by the creeping nature. Strange creatures were frolicking through the thicket. The marines were led by the elusive inhabitants to a large clearing with a structure. The report changed tone afterwards. The conduct of the marines seemed off and the descriptions of the creatures encountered in the temple complex were alarming.
I did the only thing that I could do, even though I was afraid. I hit the large button with the stylized letter “I” in the center. Within seconds a floating skull descended in front of me. Over its speakers I was ordered to take my work with me and follow it. I got up and was led to the bowels of the archive.