Of Flame, Sand, and Gold
“I buried you,” the traitor whispered.
“Then dig deeper,” Kaelen replied, voice like sand on steel, “because I’m not done rising.”
Zaria stood behind him, the wind pulling strands of her hair like fire-dancers in the dusk. “Let them come,” she said. “We burn hotter together.”
The masked woman landed beside them, blades humming with heat.
“You still don’t get it,” Kaelen muttered, watching the desert pulse like a living thing.
“Get what?”
“This isn’t a fight for gold.”
“Then what is it?”
Kaelen smirked, cracked lips bloodied. “It’s the reckoning.”
Kaelen was left for dead in the scorching sands of Sutekh; stripped of his name, his wife, and the child he never met. But the desert doesn’t forget. It carves vengeance into bone.
Now, Kaelen rises from the ruins of betrayal as something more than a man: marked by ancient fire, hunted by his half-brother, and haunted by what he can’t remember. As he claws his way back through a kingdom built on secrets, one thing drives him: Zaria. His wife. Missing, maybe dead; or worse, weaponized by those who want to claim a legacy soaked in blood.
But Zaria is no victim. Imprisoned and pregnant, she holds the key to an empire long thought dead. And when her twin sister emerges from the shadows to seize that power for herself, love becomes war — and the price of legacy is life itself. In a world where loyalty is a lie and prophecy demands sacrifice, Kaelen must decide: will he reclaim what was stolen; or burn it all to the ground?
OF FLAME, SAND, AND GOLD is an epic fantasy of fire-forged vengeance, unbroken love, and the rebirth of a forgotten kingdom.
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Chapter: Chapter 88For a moment, it felt like the world had forgotten how to move. Kaelen sat in the choking dark, fire licking weakly around his whole self, and watched the old man slipping away. Sahrak’s skin, once weathered bronze, was now the color of paper left out in the rain too long—thin, gray, drained of everything that made it human. His lips had gone slack, with the blue edges creeping inward. His chest barely moved, and for one stomach-turning second, Kaelen thought it had stopped altogether.“Mahn…” Kaelen muttered under his breath, clenching his jaw so tight it trembled. His gut sank with the kind of fear he didn’t have the luxury to admit out loud.He dragged a sharp and steady breath in through his teeth, and crouched down beside the old man, scraping his boots softly against the brittle sand-caked floor. He leaned in close, studying Sahrak’s still face like it might suddenly twitch, like the old man was playing some cruel joke. But there was nothing—just that hollow quiet and the opp
Last Updated: 2025-09-01
Chapter: Chapter 87“I can’t spray fire downwards,” Kaelen muttered through clenched teeth, the wind clawing words right out of his mouth. “And spraying fire onto the sides — might crumble down the whole thing on top of us.” He paused, jaw tight, narrowing his eyes into the thick, endless dark. “So there’s only one thing left…”His hands snapped alight — first a flicker, then a steady, roaring bloom. Flames wrapped his fists and licked at his boots, casting away only a sliver of that devouring black. The darkness pushed right back, swallowing the edges of the fire.Kaelen glanced down, craned left, then right — nothing. Just the hiss of the air screaming past his ears and the weightless crush of gravity dragging at his gut. No Sahrak and no sight of the bottom.“Oh, mahn…” he breathed, darting his eyes side to side.He threw both arms in front of himself, fired off small, controlled bursts from his palms — pop-pop-pop — not strong enough to kill his speed, just enough to tilt his angle, flip his body in
Last Updated: 2025-08-31
Chapter: Chapter 86The air over the pit was colder than it should’ve been. It crawled, like it was alive. Like it was tasting whoever dared to lean close.“Fine,” Kaelen muttered, pushing up to his feet, brushing the dirt off his palms. The set of his jaw said more than the words did — he was already gone in his head, already diving into that void before his body had even moved. “But I should go first. If not… the old man and I could jump in first.”His voice was calm, but a sharp undertone made even the soldiers hanging back shift on their feet.Sahrak gave a firm nod, curling his lips into something that wasn’t quite a smile.Kaelen exhaled through his nose, sharp and quick, then raised a finger. “I’ll send up a bolt of fire when we can tell it’s safe to jump in,” he said, using a crisp and measured tone. His eyes flicked between Sahrak and Rokhen, like he was burning the plan into their heads. “I’ll send two bolts if we feel it’s… slightly dangerous.” He paused, raised two fingers, resting them und
Last Updated: 2025-08-30
Chapter: Chapter 85“Okay… fine.”Varohn’s voice came out rough and guttural, like gravel grinding underfoot. His brows pinched tight before he forced his eyes open and fixed them on Zhaedor. “Just tell me what I need to do.”Zhaedor’s lips curled—not quite a smile, not quite a sneer, but something sharper that cut between the two. He leaned back a fraction, as the torchlight painted his high cheekbones in a wicked glow.“You mean… what we need to do.” His voice slid like silk over steel.He flicked a finger sideways, and almost instantly a smooth and reverent voice rang from the far entrance of the square corridor.“My lord.”Zhaedor turned, and Varohn craned his neck ever so slightly, scraping his boots against the stone floor as he shifted to catch a better glimpse.From the dim light, a figure emerged draped in a long, weathered brown cloak. The hood shadowed most of his face, but the weight in his posture, the deliberate calm in his step—was enough to justify that power walked in with him.“Every
Last Updated: 2025-08-29
Chapter: Chapter 84The sand hissed and thinned under Kaelen’s boots, glowing brighter with every heartbeat until it couldn’t take any more punishment. It gave way suddenly—not like a crumble, but like the earth had been hollow all along, waiting for the right moment to swallow him whole.The ground split wide beneath his fire, tearing open a yawning black throat. A deafening roar of collapsing earth filled the air, and Kaelen’s stomach lurched as the sand beneath him dropped away in one violent rush.“WATCH OUT!”Sahrak’s voice cut sharply through the chaos, snapping Kaelen back into himself. His eyes shot open just as the raging flames cloaking him flickered out in a single puff, leaving him exposed to gravity’s cruel grip.Kaelen fell.Instinct screamed louder than fear. His body jerked, and he bellowed through gritted teeth, forcing a burst of flame from his boots. The fire exploded downward in a sharp whoosh, halting his plummet. The heat seared the air, whipping his cloak and hair upward, and for
Last Updated: 2025-08-28
Chapter: Chapter 83“Meaning?” Rokhen’s voice was low, steady, but sharp — the kind of voice that could slice through steel if words could cut.“Meaning… I can’t take you there,” Sahen replied, using a flat tone, but his eyes betrayed that slippery flicker of guilt.“You—” Serakai began, but her words were ripped from her tongue when the ground beneath them lurched violently, as though the desert itself had decided to roll over in its sleep.The tremor slammed through the earth, climbing up their bones like jagged lightning. The wooden stakes of the tent groaned under the sudden shift, swaying the heavy canvas walls with a sick rhythm. The fire lantern strung on one of the center poles swung madly from side to side, casting frantic shadows that jittered across their faces. The flame flared once, nearly extinguished, then hissed stubbornly back to life, clinging to its wick like a soul refusing to be snuffed out.It felt like the world itself was trying to shake them loose.Rokhen and Serakai exchanged
Last Updated: 2025-08-27
