At the beginning, Untold Guardians didn’t even have a title.

It started on a stormy night during a hurricane, with rain pounding against the windows and thunder roaring outside. Whenever I’m scared or overwhelmed, I write. Back then- and honestly, even now, I found inspiration in music, stories, and emotion. At the time, I was heavily inspired by BTS. Their music, their storytelling, and especially their music videos felt like art to me.

Like many fans, I originally started writing fanfiction. I never published any of it, but one particular idea became so loud in my mind during that stormy night that I realized it wasn’t meant to stay fanfiction. It was meant to become something of its own. A real story. A real world.

That was the beginning of The Untold Guardians.

At first, I wanted to hold onto the emotions and personality traits that originally inspired me, so traces of those inspirations still exist within some of the characters. But my imagination has always had a habit of growing far beyond the original idea. What started as a much smaller story slowly expanded into something massive.

At one point, there were only around seven or eight important characters. Now, there are nearly thirty main characters, each with their own story, relationships, struggles, and growth. The world itself continued to evolve alongside them. What began as a fantasy romance slowly became something much larger — a story deeply centered around friendship, connection, loyalty, survival, and the intensity of human relationships.

In many ways, The Untold Guardians became my own little world inside the real one.

For a long time, life often made me feel invisible. Writing became the place where I could finally speak freely. Every time I reread a chapter, rewrote a scene, or discovered a new layer to the world, I fell more in love with it. The story became a comfort to me. A place to escape to. A place where I felt seen and heard.

I truly love these characters. Some more than others, admittedly, but together they created something that feels alive to me. Sometimes I honestly feel like I’m stepping into another universe entirely while writing it, and that feeling is difficult to explain unless you’ve experienced it yourself.

I’ve now spent over 11 years building this story.

There were years spent simply planning details. I remember spending months choosing character names alone. Then came their backstories, appearances, races, spirits, histories, and relationships. Every detail mattered to me because I wanted the story to feel cinematic and immersive. While writing, I constantly ask myself questions like:

“How will this scene feel to the reader?”

“How will this moment move someone emotionally?”

“What will keep them turning the page?”

Even the worldbuilding itself took years to shape properly, and some of my favorite moments during that process came from brainstorming ideas with my youngest son. We would bounce ideas back and forth for hours, building pieces of the world together. Those moments became some of my favorite memories tied to this story.

At one point, though, I stopped writing.

I lost confidence in myself after sharing a rough draft online years ago. I hoped people would connect with it, but instead the criticism hit me harder than I expected. Looking back now, I realize I shared unfinished work with the wrong audience and allowed harsh opinions to silence something I genuinely loved creating.

But over time, I found my way back to the story.

And honestly? I’m glad I did.

The Untold Guardians continued to grow during that time. The characters became more layered. The world became more complex. Politics, conflicts, relationships, and entire histories began weaving themselves deeper into the story. It evolved into something far beyond what I originally imagined during that stormy night years ago.

Now, the goal is finally to tell the story the way it deserves to be told.

What started as one idea has grown into multiple connected series set within the same universe, with each main character carrying their own story arc and journey. It’s become far too large to stay hidden away in my notes forever.

I still get nervous sometimes. I still question myself. But no matter how many times I stepped away from this story, I always found my way back to it.

Maybe that’s how I knew it truly mattered to me.

And now, I think it’s finally time for The Untold Guardians to be shared with the world.