Chapter Text
Ten years ago, there was a small kingdom in the Tyrrish province called Aretia. Once a refuge for weary travelers, this kingdom and others suddenly became plagued by dangerous beings who brought with them dark, terrible magic pulled from the earth itself.
When asking for aid, the largest ally on the Continent was Navarre, who ruled over the smaller provinces like Tyrrendor and Poromiel.
But their pleas for help and support went ignored. Old King Tauri flat out laughed at those who came to his castle begging for assistance to defeat the dark wielders, refusing to believe something that sounded like an old wives tale or something meant to scare children.
The brave Duke of Aretia, Fen Riorson, refused to be turned away. He, along with many loyal to him on his council, announced that they wished to secede from Navarian rule if King Tauri and his followers couldn’t be bothered to help the people of other provinces.
The thing was, King Tauri did believe everything, including the dangers of these dark magic wielders. The dragons of Navarre confirmed it to be true. Thanks to his advisers at Basgiath who bonded to dragons, King Tauri had special protective wards put in place around Navarre to protect his people.
Around only Navarre.
He and others in power with him willingly let the dark wielders—venin—move through the smaller, “less important” provinces, completely draining these small lands and killing anything that got in their way.
But at least Navarre was safe.
As punishment for rebelling against him, King Tauri had Fen Riorson and any of those loyal to his cause executed in front of the children of all of the traitors.
He had wanted to kill the children as well to fully dissuade any thoughts of ever considering rebelling against him, but a sane voice on his council told him instead to curse the children and bind them within controlled wards to Aretia so that Navarre could keep eyes on them.
The thirteen year old son of Fen Riorson, also known as The Great Betrayer, Xaden Riorson made a deal to protect all one hundred and seven children of the so-called “traitors.” He took responsibility for every child, using a Tyrrish tradition of scars for loyalty. He took one hundred and seven scars to his back as a way to prove his life was tied to the loyalty of the Marked Ones.
If any stepped out of line or upset King Tauri, Xaden and the Marked Ones would be killed and Aretia would burn.
King Tauri was satisfied with this idea. He knew that if these children, dubbed Marked Ones for the relic markings on their arms showing them to be children of the felled traitors, stepped out of line then King Tauri could order the destruction of the wards he had placed around Aretia and the venin would be there to fully destroy the stubborn province once and for all.
King Tauri demanded Aretia also be wiped from the memories of any old enough to know the truth, with the scribes completely rewriting the history books of what happened. Any dragons bonded to Marked Ones were cursed as well to ensure that no help came to them.
In addition to the curse placed over Aretia, Xaden was cursed separately as the eldest Marked One. He was transformed into a terrifying, hideous beast, doomed to live and suffer in his solitude.
The only way he and Aretia could be freed from the curses was if someone with the mind of a scribe but the heart of a dragon rider fell in love with him and figured out the truth before his twenty-fourth birthday.
But who would ever attempt to fall in love with a beast?