1. Where it all began

Welcome Guardian!

Through these posts, I hope to share with you how Aether Guardian came to be. I want to help you not only learn about my own journey, but how you can learn from my mistakes, what might or might not work for you in your writing/reading process, and how you can be encouraged to follow your creative dreams.

In full transparency, this was a very long process for me. But I hope that you can learn, grow, and challenge yourself forward. If my story helps lighten the load - even if just a little - for the next inspiring author or creative, then I've accomplished my goal.

I can't wait to share this story with you and I can't wait to learn from you as well.

Let's get started!

Aether Guardian has been a work in progress since 2018.

Originally, I wanted to create a Dark Souls Fan fiction short story where the reader was placed in the boots of the chosen undead. Following the narrative of the hit video game, the reader would start in the Undead Asylum and make their way to through the Dark Souls world.

But... after about three pages of writing, I felt such a project would be waaaay to big a project for me at the time. I also wouldn't be able to do my story, nor the story of Dark Souls, the justice they both deserved. So I let it fall to the side. However, I still felt the itch to write something.

My mind raced through dozens of shows, anime, manga, and movies that I'd read over the years. What am I going to write? What am I going to write?

Well it obviously has to have a hard magic system - of course! No flimsy "the power of friendship" or "if I just yell louder, I'll power up" systems for me. It's got to be realistic, tangible, and impactful.

Oh! It also should have detailed training arcs that walk the characters through their own power step-by-step in incremental advancements in progress. Gotta get that slow burn churning. No unexplained power spikes or convenient plot devices that let's the main character win-in-the-end. Plot armor is always flimsy at best!

There has to be costs and consequences too! With every power gained, their is a price paid. Can't just be going around with unchecked abilities. Overcoming one's limits is what shows true power.

All these things swirling in my mind. Back and forth. For three months I threw around idea after idea, trying to pin down a story that could make sense.

That's when I landed on Cecilia's story...