Flames of Destiny Part 1 Chapter 1

The Crown of Bone is an epic fantasy saga set during the Sangai no tatakai, War of the Realms, which contains depictions of violence, philosophical and theological conflict, existential themes, death, divine and supernatural violence, emotional distress, Kaos-based magic, and sexual content, including explicit sexual situations. 

The installments of this blog are a work of fiction in preparation for a full novel series. While it may draw on mythological, historical, and cultural inspirations, all characters, events, and locations are the product of imagination.

What follows is not tempered for comfort, but rendered as it is spoken within the realms.

Enter accordingly.

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Part One | Destiny's Dawn

Return, Restraint, and Recognition of Fate

Those who drink from the mouth of Kaos shall speak in forgotten tongues. 

Genshō-Shin's Gospel 

Book of Kaosu-Shin, Verse VIII 

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The dead did not plan for tomorrow. Do not be like the dead. Plan to live. 

The Late Honorable Sunlord Minimoto

Battle of the Kemono

Chapter 1

Akuma 

Hovering like a shadow, Ryuji Sensei kept trained steps behind me. The birds were so loud in the approaching dawn that I could barely hear my own thoughts. We wove through the tangled web of shade and secret, named Kao no Mori, for the many faces claimed here. Time-honored trees stretched endlessly before us, looming as the silent defenders of the underbrush. Their gnarled branches knitted together, cloaking the heavens with a dense canopy. 

My heart thrummed with a mix of anticipation and impatience. The sooner I completed this Rite, the sooner I returned as the Embera no dansei. The sooner I could get Ascension and Coronation over with, the sooner I could get back to the First Legion. I inhaled, expecting to remember the smell of the pines, but instead gagged. The soil of Pandamora was malodorous and damp. I had still needed to locate our trail, so pausing I inhaled once more, only this time a delicate breeze brushed up from the North, meeting me as if the heavens wanted to close the distance between us.

Notes of lavender wrapped my senses in silk. A slight whisper of breath escaped me as I bit back tender memories: her unbridled laughter, the wind blowing her cherry blossom hair into my face as we ran wild through Embera's foothills. The way her intensity carried through every stride, up until she spotted a wildflower too beautiful to pass by, one she just had to stop in awe over, just before shoving off my shoulder playfully, racing against the clouds once more.

These were memories I had fought hard to hold onto over the years.

Her scent curled around my ribs like an ancient ache, an unyielding tether that pulled at my chest, silent and insistent. The urge to call out welled inside me, but I swallowed it back into the quiet shadows of the forest, fearing the echo of rejection more than the silence I had already grown so accustomed to. Where joy had once been, time had placed distance, the crown had woven disconnection.

The deeper we stalked into the eerie wood, the more the symphony of night sounds belonging to the beast, and birds set my nerves on edge. A rustle of leaves to my left had me reaching for a short dagger at my hip, until I saw a mockingbird. A snapping of twigs ahead had me reaching for my katana, until I saw a linky fox. Sensei's voice was a soft chiding at my back. 

"You would do well to stay alert, Akuma-sama. The Dreken are cunning." Just the thought of the putrid beast sent a lump straight to my stomach and beads of sweat slicking the smooth skin of my shaved scalp. Rogue droplets trailed beneath my tunic and mapped my spine. But it wasn't the droplets that I felt, but those nible idling fingers swirling aimlessly along my spine. A chill crept from my hips up my shoulders, which I noticeably shook off.  

I nodded, not for the reminder, but because I knew Ryuji expected the worst. I acknowledged it. I'd faced worse before.

I'd become worse.

A male who commands fear as lethally as a blade. His admonition was unnecessary. It was during my impressionable years, when the Kaoslord—my so-called guardian—banished me, alone, to these very forests, that my skills were honed to a fatal edge.

Tonight's mark was nothing more than a formality: the final test, to conclude my time in seclusion and time honing in on the beast I held within. Ryuji Sensei bearing witness before my acceptance home to the Sunpalace can be granted. This wasn't just a test of honor to gain the favor of the Sunlord. The Dreken was a creature of nightmares, a monstrous fusion of reptilian agility and spectral malice. Its opalescent scales shimmered with a sickly lilac phosphorescence, casting a haunting brilliance through the gathering dark—poison coated every inch of it, designed to fell the unsuspecting.

It had taken three villagers already this week. I wasn't going to let Ryuji Sensei, or myself, be its next meal. It had come to eat, and so had I.  

The creature's body was serpentine, undulating through the underbrush with a grace that made my skin crawl. Slitted cornsilk eyes, pale, cold, and calculating, gleamed with hunger. It tasted the air for a nearby Sika. I had already sensed it.

A rustle ahead drew my attention. I crouched low–muscles tensed. The Dreken's head emerged from the vegetation, its elongated snout twitching as it caught my scent. For a moment, our eyes locked. A flicker of challenge passed between us: a silent acknowledgment of the fight for our lives to come. I wanted to call on Ryuugami, but the scar on my left palm pulsed. A reminder of the first time I had called upon him and lost command over my Kaos.

The flame does not forgive, not even its own master.

"Patience, Akuma-Sama," Sensei's voice was measured and rough. "Wait for the right moment. Your intuition will guide you, tell you how much Kaos to pull, and when."

I ignored him. Patience had never been my strong suit, and I knew the Kaos pooling with flame and my body's abilities best. My mind was already back with the Kenshi, the Sunpalace's Chosen Guard, the Swords, back with her. This creature was merely a delay. A final obstacle to be swept aside. 

I focused my energy, feeling the familiar heat of my fire pool within me, a restless, eager flame ready to be drained, before licking the scales of the Dreken in warning of what was to come. 

"Get back, Sensei," I growled through gritted teeth, as Ryuugami, the Divine Dragon sealed to my soul, clawed to be unleashed. 

The Dreken reeled, its scales scorched and smoking, letting out a keening wail, its battle cry echoed through the elder wood—its death ballad. A song was written just for me. An approving grin washed over my face, brows furrowing with determination. 

"Good," Sensei's voice was a guide now, deep in the trees. "Don't underestimate it." His voice carried out to me in soft coaching.

I landed lightly, the forest floor barely shifting beneath me. The Dreken regrouped, its eyes narrowing with fury. It circled, testing my defenses. I matched its movements, my breath coming steady and even just as I had practiced. This was a dance I knew well, the rhythm of combat thrumming in my veins. 

The Dreken lunged again, faster this time. Its talons flashed in the dim light. I spun away, my katana a deadly blur of motion. Flames trailed my movements, scorching the air between us, strengthened against my windswept force. I struck low, aiming for the beast's sorry excuse for legs, slicing through muscle and snapping its tendon clean. The Dreken hissed, rearing back as the fire licked at its scales, scorching its meat. It countered with a swipe of its talons in a fury that I barely avoided.

I swallowed a curse. This should have been over by now. I pressed the attack, my strikes growing more aggressive and applying more pressure while avoiding direct contact with its scales. The Dreken snarled, keeping its weight off its injured leg, its eyes flashing with animosity. It lunged again, and I was ready. I dropped low, spinning into a crouch. My katana swept upward in a fiery arc, catching the Dreken across the chest. The beast roared, its body splitting under the force of the blow. I had the upper hand; it could not survive the onslaught. 

I felt the pull in my chest like a tether, a tug at the edge of my consciousness. I couldn't explain it, but it was her. The connection between us was a thread I could never sever, a lifeline. A reminder of who I'd been fighting for all these years. A reminder of why I returned to the crown, why I fought and planned to live. 

The Dreken staggered, its movements becoming sluggish. I could feel its desperation, the instinctual fight for survival. But it was no match for my determination. I gathered my Kaos, the fire within me blazing with life, with an insatiable hunger. Flames engulfed my hands as I spread the blaze along the length of my katana. I moved with fluid grace, my final strike, a union of power and precision. 

I hurled the katana like a spear, then leaped—spinning mid-air, heel to hilt—driving the blade home through its chest. With perfect aim, I caught the Dreken where I had already sliced. The sword pierced through scale and flesh, sending the Dreken careening back. The wound flared like a sunburst. The fire's breath from my blade claimed the creature from within. 

A wild scream echoed across the canopy before silence returned with the smoke. 

The forest eerily quieted around us. Not even Ryuji Sensei dared break my attention on the foul animal before me. The only sound was my ragged breathing and the crackle of the dying embers. The flame had always been my mistress, kissing my flushed cheeks before retreating, leaving only flicker, smoke, and scorched flesh. I stood over the carcass for a moment. My knees threatened to give, but I forced myself upright, like any self-respecting male. 

Instead of feeling relief, an emptiness met my chest. I straightened my spine and rolled my shoulders back, with a deep inhale. I bowed my head in a sacred prayer to Pa, my Otōsan, whose voice still echoed like a distant wind. Don't be like the dead and plan to live. Well done.

As I withdrew Korogashi, I gave gratitude to my blade. Another soul harvested, efficient and merciless. The Dreken lay still, its malevolent eyes now dim and lifeless. It was over, but winning this battle only guaranteed trading what had felt like shackles for cuffs—still a prisoner to the beast inside, to the nation's safety and expectations. I only traded masters; I had not won my freedom. 

   "Impressive, Akuma-Sama." Ryuji Sensei emerged from the shadows. His expression was one of measured approval. "Your control over your Kaos has greatly improved, though fireweaving will only get you so far, masterful-one, it is Ryuugami you must still tame with your soul."

I only nodded, wiping the sweat from my brow. "Can we go now?" The Dreken's body cooled behind me.

The air smelled of ash and blood, the silence ringing like a dinner bell. Sensei's lips twitched in a rare–proud smile he nodded. "Yes​."

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~ Catch Ch. 2 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.