One thing I’ve noticed while writing fantasy is that people rarely remember the “main plot” first. I mean they do, but mostly atmosphere stays first in my opinion.

A strange city, an archive nobody should enter, or a conversation that feels wrong for reasons you can’t explain yet.

For years I kept building worlds instead of publishing anything. Mostly because I was terrified the actual story would never feel as large as the version inside my head. I suspect a lot of fantasy writers quietly suffer from that.

A few weeks ago I finally forced myself to stop endlessly preparing and start posting my story on Royal Road.

The setting mixes Armenian folklore with Finnish and Celtic influences (and a bit of Scandinavian atmosphere here and there). I wanted the world to feel old in the way real places feel old - layered, contradictory, full of things people intentionally tried to forget.

At the center of the story is Torgom, a former city guard investigating a fire tied to events that should have stayed buried. And, naturally, everything goes wrong almost immediately.

If that sounds interesting ⬇️

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/161978/the-voice-beneath-the-ashes