The discovery of Saikasu had been an accident. A seasonal priestess on her way to Bhin, sailing on the mapped way she’d used for a decade—Lotus, Queen’s Tattoo, Threecorn—found her route interrupted by a body in the stars she’d never seen before.

Stars appeared and disappeared constantly over time, but entire constellations almost never did. They especially didn’t change among the Celestial stars, which were visible to even the naked eye. The priestess and her disciples needed hours to map the new constellation properly, and to divine its character. But once the last of dregs of Nag Champa burned to nothing, they knew its name.

It was the Orchid Mantis, blooming out into the shape of the insect’s petaled legs. Following the direction it indicated, the ship found an entirely new breed of cosmic beings: Lion-Dogs, Takamagahara, Jasmine-Rose. And beneath them, the island of Saikasu appeared.

-The Stars Went Out

In case you needed a reminder this book is magical realism, here’s the discovery of Saikasu, AKA vague Japantasy land. The history of it is actually much more bizarre and folklore-flavored than this excerpt suggests, but we won’t get into that just now. Camp Nano ends tomorrow, so wring the last and best of your creativity out today!