Beyond the City of Glass and Light by Auraelia Caelwyn
Velmoor had never been meant to leave the room.
For most of his existence, the world existed at a distance—something to study, long for, and never touch. He had grown used to stillness. To waiting. To the quiet ache of a life spent observing rather than living.
But some things do not remain unchanged forever.
When a thief slips through the window and interrupts the stillness he has come to understand, the distance between himself and the world begins to disappear. What follows is not a story of grand destiny, but of something quieter: freedom, connection, and the strange tenderness of being chosen.
Beyond the City of Glass and Light is a whimsical, heartfelt fantasy short read about longing, movement, and what happens when something that was never meant to move finally does.
How Scribe Forge's tools helped:
While creating this project, I primarily used Scribe Forge’s progress tracker.
Since this was my first fantasy book and my focus and energy were limited, I approached it as a short read so I could fully commit to finishing it instead of overwhelming myself by trying to do too much at once. The progress tracker helped me stay aware of where I was in the process and gave me a simple way to keep moving forward, even on days when my momentum felt small.
For this project, the biggest challenge wasn’t coming up with ideas, it was staying grounded enough to actually complete the story. Having a visual way to track progress made the process feel more manageable and helped me push through to the finish line.
I also have a larger collection of future story ideas that I’d love to expand into a full novel one day, and I can see myself using more of Scribe Forge’s tools for that longer-form process.