In the White Lion Kingdom, your skin is your identity.
Every citizen carries a Mark. A sacred etching of a beast or a symbol that determines their rank, their job, and their worth. Those born without one are called "Hollows." To the crown, they are cursed abominations that must be purged to keep the kingdom pure.
Seven-year-old Kira lived every day on the edge of a blade. Every morning, before the sun broke over the castle spires, his mother would sit him down. With trembling hands, she would paint a fake "Buffalo Mark" on his arm using a permanent, charcoal-based ink.
"Never show your bare skin to the water, Kira," she would warn, her eyes dark with a fear he didn't fully understand. The ink is our only shield. If it fades, we lose everything.
For seven years, the lie held. But during the Great Festival at the royal water hole, disaster struck. The air was thick with the smell of roasting meat and the cheers of the marked. A group of older boys, larger and crueler than Kira, grew curious about his strangely dark, thick mark. Before Kira could react, they shoved him into the deep end of the spring.
The cold water embraced him, but it was a deadly kiss. As he struggled to swim to the surface, a dark, black cloud blossomed around him. The "Shield" was washing away.
"A Hollow" a boy screamed from the bank, his voice piercing the festival music. He pointed a shaking finger at Kira's pale, unmarked arm as he climbed out.
We have a Markless among us.
A Hollow in the holy spring
The music stopped. The village erupted into a terrifying roar of anger and fear. Kira didn't wait to see the look on the priest's faces. He ran. His heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird as he sprinted toward his small cottage.
He reached his mother just as the heavy, rhythmic thud of armored boots echoed down the street. The Knights of the White Lion were coming.
"Kira, listen to me," his mother whispered, shoving a small leather bag into his hands. Her face was pale, but her eyes were fierce. Run north. Don't stop for the border guards. Cross into the Red Lion Kingdom. They are our enemies, but the forest there will hide you. Don't look back. Don't stop for anything.
As Kira scrambled out the back window, the front door splintered open. He made a mistake. He turned for one split second. He saw the cold flash of a knight's blade in the moonlight and heard his mother's final cry.
He didn't know then that his mother was once a Queen in exile, or that his father had been murdered by the very men now hunting him. He only knew he had to run into the darkness, a boy with no name and no mark, hunted by the world.