The Mark of Death

In life, there will always be death. But in death, new life flourishes.

In the land of Nocuous, danger lurks everywhere. Ophelia knew this since she was young. Her nomadic family has traversed the continent for as long as she can remember, such is their way. She has witnessed death more than once. What she didn't expect was to watch her entire family be devoured by wyrms. She is left with a cryptic prophecy from her grandmother foretelling what is to come. The Blood Tree that sustains life all over Nocuous is withering. Beasts are running more rampant than usual. But none of that should matter when Ophelia's life is to also be stolen away, or so she believes.

An assignment sends a team of hunters to the Ashen Wastes to take care of a particularly problematic monster. One young man in the group, Dante, isn't like the others. One would think a blind hunter to be useless. But it's his keen senses that allow them to find the sole surviving nomad. Perhaps it is fate that the now beastly girl is traveling with hunters, for there is something she finds mysterious about Dante and the black thorns that mar his unseeing eyes.