The Dragon's Blossom oleh Christine Blakey

A creeping blight whispers through the cherry blossoms of Hanazono, a mountain village haunted by a broken pact.  Once revered, Ryūjin, the mountain dragon, is now forgotten, its slumber disturbed not by devotion, but by the vengeful spirit of Akemi, a priestess betrayed.  Twisted by grief and bitterness, Akemi’s wrath manifests in withered blossoms, whispers of madness, and children born with winter in their eyes.

Seventeen-year-old Taro, a samurai’s son burdened by the village’s unspoken accusations, finds solace only in the whispering stillness of the forest.  Haunted by the landslide that claimed his parents, he carries the weight of their perceived transgression – a disregard for tradition that awakened Akemi's curse.  But Kaede, the village elder who raised him, sees not weakness in Taro's quiet nature, but a hidden strength, a deep connection to the natural world.  She charges him with a perilous quest: awaken Ryūjin and implore its protection.

Armed with a flute carved from the bone of a tengu, its melody the key to the dragon's slumber, Taro ascends Mount Hanazumi. The Whispering Woods, once a sanctuary, becomes a labyrinth of illusion, patrolled by spider-women and faceless spirits that prey on his deepest fears. Akemi’s power twists the landscape, turning streams to molten rock and trees to clawing nightmares, her illusions weaving tapestries of Taro's guilt and regret.

Ryūjin, a magnificent serpentine form of jade and gold, stirs from its age-old sleep. But its power is a double-edged sword, a force of nature as unpredictable as the mountain itself. Taro has offered a fragment of his soul, not for a savior, but for an alliance with a being whose motives are as enigmatic as the mountain’s shadows.

As Taro races back to Hanazono, caught between the dragon’s untamed fury and Akemi’s icy vengeance, he must navigate a precarious path. He must find a way to restore balance, to heal the rift between the mortal and spirit realms, before both dragonfire and vengeful spirit consume his village. Can a song of healing mend a broken pact, or will the dragon’s blossom bloom amidst the ashes of a world destroyed?