I’ve always wanted to write a book. Anyone who knows me already knows that. Since I was a kid, I’ve been writing things. Short stories. Bits of character backstory. Even just single paragraphs set in some made-up place I dreamed up. I was never short on ideas. That part was easy. The hard part was keeping it going once I started. That’s what always got me. I’d begin something strong and clear-headed, even excited. Then somewhere along the way, it would stop. Not because the story died but because my motivation just left the room.

The Iron Chamber is one of those. I started it ten years ago. It was about a young woman in medieval times who finds a portal. She steps through it and ends up in modern-day Earth. It was strange and a bit messy, but it made sense to me. The idea came from a TV show I liked called Goodnight Sweetheart. It’s an old British sitcom. It’s outdated, sure, but the concept had something in it. It stuck with me. I didn’t care that it was mostly played for laughs. The idea of a person slipping between two timelines felt real enough to play with.

But this new story, this one I’m writing now, it’s going to live on my blog. For two simple reasons. First, because I’ve already built blogs and proven I can keep it going. Over the last few years, I’ve stuck with my blogs. I’ve kept them updated and posted multiple times a week. I’ve stayed consistent even when I didn’t feel like it. It’s something I’ve actually followed through on. And second, maybe this is just how I need to write it. Maybe I don’t need a book in the traditional sense. I just need to tell the story. And if I can do that here, post by post, then that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

She Started as an Avatar

The story of Nymira almost happened by chance. I made a new roleplay account in Second Life and decided she’d be an elf. That was it at first. Just a thought and a shape. I was building the avatar, going shopping for stuff, tweaking her look like I wanted. And while I was doing that, she started to take root in my head. I couldn’t stop thinking about her. Who was she. Where did she come from. What was she meant to carry.

I knew I wanted her to have a split. A sundered soul. Something that let her shift between two sides of herself. A light and dark side. But that wasn’t enough. It couldn’t just be a gimmick. I needed a reason. Something that held some weight. Something that hurt.

And then I had it. Just this one line in my head — “she touched an obsidian seed.” That was it. That was the moment everything else snapped into place. The past, the curse, the pain, the voice inside her. It all made sense from there. So I sat down and wrote her backstory. The first shape of it anyway. That’s what ended up here as “Chapter One.” It won’t stay like that forever. I already know I’ll go back and pull it apart and stretch it into pieces, give it more time to breathe.

Of course I sent it to Chandra. She’s one of my closest friends and a proper fantasy nerd. I trust her taste. If she said it worked, then I’d know I wasn’t just chasing shadows. And she did. So here we are.

That’s how it started. That’s how this story begins.

Two Souls, One Body, No Mercy

Nymira, at her heart, is a good person. Overly curious and a little brash, and not afraid to mess with the rules when something pulls her interest. But good, nonetheless. She doesn’t go looking to hurt anyone. She just doesn’t like being told what’s off-limits.

So then what. When you build a character like that, someone decent but a bit chaotic, how do you write her opposite. How do you create something that does more than merely contrast? You make her cold. You make her ruthless. You make her Vhaelyx.

In Chapter One, we don’t know much about Vhaelyx. We barely see her. But what we do know is that she wants to cause damage. Real damage. Not tantrum violence. Not petty revenge. She wants destruction, and she doesn’t care how she gets it. There’s no softness in her. No hesitation. No guilt. She’s pure evil without theatrics or excuses. And maybe that’s what makes her worse.

Does she have a goal? Real villains do. The good ones always do. They reflect the hero while trying to burn them down at the same time. But what’s her goal? What shaped her? Where did she come from and why does she want the world to suffer for it?

The one thing I won’t do is write her like some mindless killer. “She likes to kill” is boring. Lazy. Anyone can write that. And sure, it’s obvious she does. You can feel it in the Tribunal scene. She doesn’t hesitate or gloat. She doesn’t drag it out to watch anyone bleed. She just wipes them out. Gone.

The seats of judgment stood empty. Ash dusted the tribunal’s high dais like snowfall. No bodies were found.

That line came from a very specific place. I wrote it to show how absolute she is. She’s a character who doesn’t need a speech or a scream to make her point. She kills like it’s instinct. Like it’s just part of some sort of process. She doesn’t want screams. She just wants silence.

But that has to come from somewhere. Right? Nobody just turns to ash unless something burned them first. Why does she do it? What broke her?. How far can Nymira be pushed before she breaks too? Can she stop Vhaelyx or is this already out of her hands? And if Nymira dies, what happens then? Does Vhaelyx go with her? Or does she finally get full control?

There are too many questions.

He Was There When It Burned

And who is Eldrys.

We haven’t met him yet, but he matters a lot. His part in this story is tangled deep in the roots of it. You’ll meet him soon.

He was there, you know. Near the tribunal. Not close enough to stop anything but close enough to feel it. The heat. The magic. The change in the air that no one could explain but everyone could feel. He smelled the burning. He felt the weight of what Vhaelyx left behind. And he didn’t turn away.

But who is he? What’s his stake in any of this? What does he want from Nymira? Or from Vhaelyx? And what has he done that he hasn’t said out loud yet?

Most of all—

What is the Heart of the Thorn.

You’ll find out. We all will.