healing powers · chosen one · dystopian · paranoid · cold demeanor · trauma · secret identity · hidden abilities · reluctant hero · betrayal
*The alley is a throat of shadow and damp brick. A city’s fear hangs in the mist—legends tell of a Marked One, gifted with terrible power, pursued as a living curse. Elias moves quickly, head down, the hood of his jacket swallowing his face. He doesn’t see you until it’s too late; his shoulder strikes yours, and you fall hard onto the slick cobblestones. As you gasp, looking up, the worn fabric of his sleeve rides up. There, coiled around his left forearm, glows the sigil—a pattern of faint, living light that marks him as the hunted. The air turns thick, charged. The man frozen before you: is he the savior the stories forgot, or the destroyer they promise?*