Okay, after that last story, I thought I’d go back and take a look at NovelAI again, and remind myself why I’d stopped using it. And it turns out it’s also quite good! At least as good InferKit, I’d say, so who knows why I stopped; maybe the novelty had worn off, and now the wearing-off has worn off. Its writing, like large-language-model AI writing in general, tends toward the cliched and mediocre (thanks, Central Limit Theorem!), but it can be nudged in, and sometimes spontaneously charges off in, more interesting directions.
Because, unlike InferKit, NovelAI has visual cues for what is entered by the user and what is generated by the AI, I can see which is which, and I’ll italicize my contributions in the below. It’s nothing stunning, really, but it shows the sort of typical behavior of NovelAI, without fiddling with any of the (many, many) parameters that NovelAI offers, and it’s kind of impressive! Clearly, it contributed most of the text, with me just nudging it now and then (and hitting Retry now and then, which isn’t indicated in any way below).
Watch for the “humble abode” cliche :) and various continuity errors, and note that this is relatively short just because I stopped, and we could continue essentially forever, exploring the afterlife, the ocean, what the woman with the tail means by “get back home”, and so on…
The Witch of Sunlight
I parked my autosteamer at the ferry dock, and took the ferry out to the island where the Witch of Sunlight was supposed to live. She didn’t have a house on the beach like the other witches I’d met in this world—she had her own private island. A beautiful one, too. It was green with trees and grass everywhere you looked, and there were no cars anywhere around it.
The ferry let me off at an unremarkable stretch of white-sand beach, and I walked along it until I came across a little hut made from a combination of driftwood and palm fronds. The door was open, so I went inside.
“Hello?” I said. “Is anyone here?”
There wasn’t any response. I didn’t see anything in the room except a low table, several chairs, and some blankets spread out on the floor. There was definitely someone living here, though. It smelled like they’d just finished cooking something.
I sat down on one of the chairs and waited for a while, but nobody came to greet me. Finally I stood up and opened the door.
As soon as I did, a woman wearing a green dress stepped out from behind the hut’s wall. Her hair was long and curly, and she wore a golden necklace that hung over her chest.
“Good morning, young man,” she said. “What do you want?”
“Um… hello.”
She smiled at me. “Come in. Please take a seat.”
I followed her instructions and sat down on the chair opposite hers.
The Witch of Sunlight was pretty tall—taller than most of the women I knew. But she only had about half as much body fat as them, which made her look more slender.
“So, what brings you to my humble abode?”
“I seek wisdom,” I said. “To become stronger, I must first know how weak I am.”
The witch nodded. “You’re absolutely right. That is why I built this place on a remote island—so that people like yourself would come here to learn.”
“I’m not here to be taught, exactly. I want to fight you.”
Her eyes widened. “Oh? You mean you want to challenge me?”
“Yes.”
“Very well. What kind of battle do you wish to engage in?”
“A fight to the death, of course.”
At my words, her expression stiffened. “That is quite bold of you, child.”
“It doesn’t seem very wise to ask for something without offering anything in return, does it?”
“No, it doesn’t.”
I laughed. “Fair enough. So, what do you say?”
She nodded. “Prepare to die, then; may you be wiser in the next world.”
With that, she pulled a wooden sword from beneath her dress and held it up. In the blink of an eye, she had it pointed at my throat.
I quickly leapt back, out of range.
She smiled, and the sword emitted a beam of light that sliced through the air. When it hit the ground, a circle appeared in its center. Then she placed her foot in the hole. With a simple twist of her wrist, she turned herself into a swirling vortex of wind.
“Now!”
I ducked under the blade’s trajectory and thrust my hand forward. Wind surged forth from the tip of my hand, and blew the Witch of Sunlight’s sword away from her.
A laugh came from within the vortex of wind, and a shower of blades rained down upon me. I dodged every single one of them with ease.
“Impressive,” said the Witch of Sunlight. “How many times have you done this before?”
“Maybe once or twice. Why don’t we start with three?”
“Why not? But first, I’ll warn you, this isn’t a game. If you lose, you won’t get your life back.”
“Then I accept your terms. Let’s begin.”
We both charged at each other, weapons drawn.
The witch’s attacks consisted of nothing more than gusts of wind, so I decided to use that against her. I focused all my energy into a single blast of wind that pushed her back.
But when I did, a blinding flash filled my vision.
When I recovered, I saw that my opponent had vanished.
“Hey!” I called out, but then the witch reappeared behind me.
I turned around just in time to see her raise her sword overhead. Its blade flashed again, and I felt a sharp pain in my back.
“Urgh…”
My breath caught as I fell to the ground. My entire body ached, and I couldn’t feel my legs.
I tried to move, but I couldn’t. Something heavy pressed down on my chest.
“Have a good death,” the Witch whispered, and I felt the sharp blade pierce my heart.
***
I woke up with the sound of waves crashing nearby. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a place I had never imagined seeing: the bottom of the ocean.
The blackness of the water was so deep that I could see nothing beyond it. It stretched on forever in either direction, and there was no sunlight anywhere.
“Is this where death has taken me?” I wondered.
Suddenly, a giant wave crashed down onto the beach, and a figure emerged from the surf. It was a woman who looked younger than me, and was dressed entirely in red. She had dark skin, long silver hair tied behind her head, and a long, graceful tail that extended from beneath her skirt.
“Greetings, boy. Who are you?”
“I’m…”
“I see. Now, tell me, what brought you here?”
“I died, that’s what! And now I’m stuck in the afterlife.”
“Ahh, yes, I know the feeling. Come closer, and I’ll help you get back home.”
I stared at her for a moment. “Are you—”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to eat you.”
She reached out her hand, and I took it. “Thanks.”
We began walking together through the endless darkness.
ceoln 