Flames of Destiny Chapter 2

Kao no Mori is never quiet; when it is, it is too late. 

Koa no Mori Forest Compendium

Scholars of the First Legion

Chapter 2 

Akuma

Kao no Mori's cedars and oaks wrapped around us. The moons' silver beams burst through the patched canopy. The branches left just enough of the sky visible to see streaks of light glow overhead. Stars were falling tonight. A warmth spread through me, and goosebumps lined my shoulders and back.

We took to the riverbank to muffle our sound and moved painstakingly slow. For now, the wood was dominated by the sound of flowing water, the relentless hum of insects, and, ever so often, the whistle of the Sika before a chorus of whines and howls. 

Every step drew us deeper into a maze of twisted branches and wrestling vegetation. The roots recoiled, but not before tasting me. The air hung thick with the scent of death and decay that followed us all the way back to camp. 

"Your time here is over, as your Sensei, Ken no chichi, and Ascension Namari, you have completed your first Rite." His voice was measured and steady like the slow beating of a drum.

I bit back my sarcastic remarks and recognized his attempt at honoring the legacy of the path I walked. That he had led long before me, this was it. Our last night under a sky blanketed in stars. 

"I suppose we make it for the Sunpalace before dawn?" I hid any excitement, I saved any worry. The only thing that needed to be discussed was when we were leaving and where we were headed.

I could feel the weight of the canopy pressing down on us, the branches reaching like skeletal hands to snatch us off our path. If I had known better, I would have believed I felt their twigs like fingers snapping at my tunic as we passed. My nerves felt stretched thin, every rustle of leaves or snapping of twigs magnified in my mind. I dug deep into my training to control my breathing, keeping it even, hushed. In counts of yon. 

"Yes, Akuma-Sama, that is correct." he hesitated, "You may have the right to return to your homeland, but I must remind you. It is consistent. You must focus unless you want to be referred to as 'the remembered one'."

I glanced back, irritation flaring. "I am focused, you said so yourself that I had mastered fireweaving. Soulweaving or not, I killed the Dreken, didn't I?" Several birds stormed from their perch on a nearby branch, sending my arm recoiling to a defensive position. 

"You did," he replied, his tone never wavering, "Your fireweaving may have been enough to win today. But it doesn't get easier from here. You must gain complete control of the beast inside." he paused before continuing, "I understand your time as the Choaslord's ward has had its impact, but soulweaving is balanced. It is not hate from the gut. You'd fear it less if you trusted your soul to hold it." he prodded my back with what I could only assume was a stray branch he'd found.

Resentment gnawed at me. Stopping in my tracks, I turned toward him. Squaring my broad shoulders, I lowered my blade. Midnight-blue ink traced serpentine symbols across my forearms, cold and raised against my skin like ancient scars. Each line whispered a story; some of vengeance, others of protection, tales etched in shadowed ink, only the heart of a samurai could truly read.

I couldn't ignore the bracing lines as I reached out to Ryuji, palms open, containing the snarl from rising in my voice, "Ryuugami is a beast. I am not, I will not become one, and I most certainly will not defeat any enemy like they are one." 

Ryuji sighed, a sound filled with a weight I couldn't grasp. "The Divine Dragon was sealed inside you for a reason. A day will come when you realize you must accept the gift of soulweaving bestowed upon you for the greater good of your kin, for your nation, and the nations that sit at your borders. It means becoming the only hope, a beacon of strength and protection—their leader."

I stumbled, the words hitting me like a physical blow. "I never asked for this," I muttered, a cold knot forming in my chest. "I never wanted any of it. Not Ryuugami, not soulweaving, not title of Heir."

"Few of us get to choose our paths," Ryuji said softly, longingly. "You're not just a samurai anymore, Akuma-Sama. You're the Heir rising. You are the next Sunlord and have been given the ultimate protection."

"You mean sacrificed to the beast that destroyed our village and killed my Ryōshin?"

He continued with the same speech he had been giving me since my birth, "I am here for you, but only you can choose to tame the beast, and only you can change the shape of the Realms."  He sounded mournful, almost, but that didn't change how I felt about it.

"Change the realms!"

"To what?" I demanded.

  "Save the Realms!"

"From what, Rebels, these deserters that call themselves the Kamanari?" I had known better than to raise my voice so loud. I did anyway. I could not take it. The pressure, the expectations, the next assignment, the next Rite, the next to please, the next to kill. I am a sword. I am a blade. I am just a male.

He did not answer. But allowed me to sit in my anger. 

"Thrones rot, but the soil remembers." It was all I could muster with a scoff as I turned once more to march us forward. 

His eyes softened at my back, but his voice remained firm. "What of the Celestial's on Tenjō no and Mortal's of Shisubeki Ryōiki does their soil remember?" He pressed, "The Kenshi serve you now. The moment you set foot in Embera's borders, you will become the former General of the Embera Legions. You will be the Embera no Dansai and Heir Rising. You are to shepherd them. Lead with strength and wisdom, not arrogance and ego. Destiny's will is your command." 

I was about to argue when the forest suddenly fell silent, and the usual night sounds vanished instantly. My skin prickled with unease as Ryuji's lecture came to a pause with a sharp inhale. 

I tightened my grip on Korogashi. A low growl rumbled from deep in the thicket before a grotesque creature emerged from the dense gloom. Its body, a morose midnight black, was nearly invisible against the wood. Its fur appeared matted with blood, and its piercing scarlet eyes narrowed on me with an ominous glow, glinting with predatory intelligence. Of course. The forest always had more teeth.

"Kurogarou," Ryuji trembled, his gaze never leaving the creature.

The beast lunged, jaws snapping viciously. I raised my katana, but it twisted unnaturally, claws raking across my side. Pain flared hot and searing, and indigo blood slicked my fingers as I stumbled back.

It was over. It was written in the massive mutt's eyes. 

"Ryuugami, Akuma-sama!" Ryuji's voice cut through the haze. "Channel your him with your kaos."

Then help him yourself, old male. Ryuji had never seemed as sensitive as the others to the celestial-speak Ryuugami gave me. However, no one was comfortable with him addressing them directly except Ryuji. He felt about and spoke to the Divine Dragon, as he did with all his students.

He has a point. I added. 

"Now, Akuma-Sama, control him!"

Rage and pain tangled in my mind. I couldn't risk soulweaving now; it would burn through what little Kaos I had left, especially as healing drained every ounce of Kaos from me. Fibers of skin grow and reattach in stitches that restore with every movement of my blade.  

I felt Ryuugami's reluctance to allow me to channel his Kaos. I also felt his reluctance to allow me to die. 

Do it, and the Velkaar will burn. There will be nothing left. 

If I don't, you will lose your vessel and be unable to enact your revenge. Save my ass now, have the Velkaar later. 

I could feel Ryuugami's presence, the dragon's power piercing through the bond binding him to my soul, granting him passage to the recesses of my mind, demanding to be unleashed. 

Naive one. 

I'm not dying here.

I felt his primal hunger, a ferocious energy that threatened to consume me whole. Too much too soon.

The Kurogarou circled before it lunged again. I let my own fireweaving flow, my katana igniting with a fierce, hungry flame. I ignored Ryuugami's whispers and instead moved with my own instinct. Each strike was a blur of fire and steel. The beast howled, its flesh burning under the relentless assault. It fought back with a desperation that matched my own fury. 

I hadn't known which to be worse: the Dreken, the Kurogarou or this damned hell of a forest for having both. To fall in the forest would be a fitting end. I was raised here, cursed here. But to crawl back maimed, without kill or clarity? That would be worse than death. That would be exile twice. It may have consumed every entrant's fate, but not my own. Not me, not now, not before I finally had the chance to get out. This was not where I was meant to fall.

The beast's slitted eyes glinted with a dark malevolence as it reared back, preparing to strike. I felt a savage thrill. Ryuugami's Kaos within me blazed hotter, a force that demanded release.

I struck low, my blade searing through the beast's flesh, severing its breast in a spray of blood. The stench of burning meat filled the air, mingling with the pungent tang of fear. Yes, fear. 

The creature thrashed, its maw snapping in a frenzied rage, but I was relentless. Each subsequent strike was fueled by the dragon's unbridled power, seeping through the cracks, a symphony of fire and steel that left no room for hesitation or error. I felt Ryuugami's influence coursing through me, a burning tide pushing me beyond my control. Unleash, unleash, unleash! 

With a final, furious roar, I dragged the blade of Korogashi around the Kurogarou's neck as I leaped over its right shoulder and swung over its left side. The flames erupted in a blinding burst. The creature convulsed, then fell still, its lifeless eyes staring blankly into the canopy. It's maroon blood pooling at my feet. I stood over its smoldering carcass, my breath coming in ragged gasps, the Kaos receding into a hollow emptiness. Whatever deal I had just made with Ryuugami is likely to come back and bite me in the ass. But for now, my skin was saved. On the other end of the tether at my chest, a vibration of excitement answered the fall of my adrenaline.

The pulsing ache of my ribs sat me down. My side throbbed, the pain a sharp reminder of my vulnerability. Ryuji approached, his expression unreadable, a flask of healing salve in hand. 

"A small courtesy of Amaya-Chan before we departed. Now hold still," he said, his voice gentler now, more reserved. I pulled my torn tunic from my neck, discarding the threads to the side. He poured the salve over the wound, the liquid sizzling as it made contact. I hissed through the pain, the burn sharp and searing. 

"This will burn," he added, as a complete afterthought.

"No shit," I sneered through clenched teeth, bracing against the white-hot flare. I hardened myself to the familiar and agonizing pain of my immortal flesh healing. This time, stitching itself slowly, struggling against the knuckle deep claw marks.  

"At least it protects you from infection while the wound heals. But if we are to make it back to Embera by tomorrow, then the wound should be cauterized. It will at least give your body a closed wound to heal, making it faster." Faster being the operative word, not less painful. 

Ryuji lifted a burning palm to my flesh, the heat sealing the remaining tears shut. I fought to keep my breathing steady, sweat beading around my crown. Not letting a scream part from my lips, I clenched my jaw as hard as I could. His eyes softened on mine in apology. 

"We need to get the fuck out of here," I said as Ryuji scanned the darkened wood and offered me his hand, raising me surely from the forest floor. "There's no telling what else is lurking in this damned place." I scoffed. 

Wiping the blood from my blade with a trembling hand and sheathing it across my back, I moved, slowly and steadily. Ryuugami's Kaos had wrung me dry, a void where there once was a deep well.

A weariness settled in my bones. My ears rang. Drifting like incense, a female's voice curled within me: "The Crown never saw a throne." The words weren't mine, yet they coiled in my skull like prophecy. I blinked the haze from my eyes. I must have imagined it. I ignored the lingering song and the beast growling within. My mind had to be playing tricks on me, or perhaps it was the blood loss. I followed Ryuji, the forest closing around us once more.

The beast had fallen, but mine still stirred, and now he was owed. 

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~ Catch Ch. 3 Next time and be on the lookout for additional stories and poems in my Worlds & Works.

© 2026 M.W. Sturdivant. No part of this work may be reproduced without written permission.