My people have one purpose in life, and it marks them from birth.

When a Grearus brings his offspring into the world, each perfect young has pointy ears with a tiny tuft of fur at the tip, velvet golden skin and a red thread-like mark etched onto its tiny forearm.

Our Goddess gifts every member of our species with a unique pattern on their body, matching them with the mate destined for them. The marks swirl or angle in intricate patterns and grow more beautiful with every year of a Grearus' existence. When two sides of a pair finally meet, when they touch for the first time, the mark burns bright and shifts to indigo blue, the colour reminiscent of the calm resulting from the perfect unison between mates.

Our planet is one of love and unity, fated pairs roaming the blue meadows to pick black flowers blooming at their bare feet.

I was born without the Mark.

According to our priests, I was the first one in recorded history with untouched golden skin. The implications were too horrendous to even consider.

For the first time, there was a Grearus without fated mate, without the soul-deep purpose to search and unite. The priests whispered about the danger of the Unmarked. Too many of us, and the unity in our world would shatter. Purposeless as they considered any Unmarked, they could only imagine misery and war would follow.

The sole reason they tolerated my existence was because I was no danger on my own.

My father tried. He came up with a myriad of theories about my faulty design. He claimed the Goddess had another purpose for me, and all I had to do was find it.

His love—despite the murmurs, despite the wary looks and condemnation of our community—was what got me through the first score of my existence. His belief in my worth spurred me on.

Slowly, I came to realise that my bare forearms represented a blank slate. Where every other Grearus was destined to find his mate, I was free to find my own path.

The young I grew up with started their search as soon as they assembled the means to travel our planet, eager to attend the mating gatherings organised in every community.

Meanwhile, I buried myself in the velvety scrolls covered with our script, its curls and swirls as mesmerising as the Marks on the forearms of every Grearus that surrounded me. If there was a purpose for an Unmarked, I thought I might find it in the writings recording our history and rules.

At first, I studied the scrolls I had easy access to in our local temple and only found the stories the priests recited to us in their Wisdom Chants. Every night, they sang to the community gathered around the fires as the two moons, Greac and Erus, rose on the horizon. Just like the image of the two moons rotating around one another, symbol of the fated mate every Grearus possessed, was burned into my mind, the words of the Wisdom Chants were etched into my very soul.

When I'd read all scrolls kept in our temple, I realised I had to widen my search. Saving up every chunk of obsidian I earned by harvesting black flowers, I bought every scroll I could get my hands on, some from traders who only lurked on the outskirts of our community.

The scrolls with legends I'd never heard before gave me the first hints. Buried among the endless stories about fated pairs and the quest to find one's mate, there were stories about a red-and-gold planet, so unlike the shades of blue and black that coloured our own planet. The swirling script told stories about terracotta skies and golden rock, crimson rivers and yellow flowers.

My rational mind told me these were tales made up to soothe crying young. Still, the stories took over my waking hours and my every dream.

When my research brought me across the vast expanse of the black sea to the temples and traders in other Grearus communities, I found more scrolls by the hand of other priests and historians telling similar stories. Doubt hooked its tiny claws in my mind and soul.

Had our planet once been different? It was hard to believe that every inch of its surface had been painted in shades of gold and red at some time.

Unable to stop myself, I looked further, read more, thought harder.

One night while I was staring mindlessly at the drawing of the Goddess my father kept on the polished wall of our home, it hit me.

For the first time, I saw Her. I saw Her as a being rather than a Goddess to be worshipped.

I saw the dark, glimmering skin. The elegant lines of Her hips and the narrow waist were so different from the thick muscle on the Grearus. I saw the bright blue of Her eyes, distinct from the red stare my people shared.

Unlike us, She seemed born from the colours of this planet, black and blue present in every cell of Her body.

I raised my arm and stared at the golden skin, so different from this planet's surface. So similar to the stories about the red-and-gold planet.

The pieces clicked, the image finally complete, and my mind could hardly contain my soul-shaking understanding.

I had to see the Goddess in Her shrine on top of the Forbidden Mountain.

Had to bend before Her and ask Her if it was true. If we had chased off the species of this planet, had taken their place as if we belonged.

I needed to understand what had happened to Her people.

The craving in me grew with every breath of hydrogen I took.

My requests to the priests were met with laughter, then anger, and finally deep suspicion. One night, my father pressed a satchel with dried black flowers in my hands. "These should keep you fed for a few days. You need to run."

I knew this moment would come. There was a reason the Wisdom Chants never changed, until they vibrated in everyone's mind and took the need to think for yourself away. There was a reason the priests ruled our society with a zealous fire in their red eyes.

I had outlived my welcome. Unmarked. Different. Kicking up dust when all they wanted was polished obsidian.

Without a plan, I fled to the black canyons close to our dwelling and started my frenzied journey to the Forbidden Mountain further north.

Before I was captured, I was determined to undertake one final attempt for the truth. When the acid rain forced me into hiding for a full day, my mind raced with an intoxicating mix of terror and excitement. As I hiked on steep paths and squeezed through narrow crevices, I was focused on one thing only—getting to the Goddess. Finally, I'd found my purpose.

Too bad I would likely perish pursuing it.

It took three rotations of Graec and Erus to reach the Forbidden Mountain. From my hiding spot at the foot of the mountain, I stared up at the onyx rock and cursed my luck when I saw the guards stationed along the path leading to the clear-blue shrine on its peak. No matter how hard I tried, I didn't see a way up without getting myself killed.

Hoping my dreams would spark some thoughts, I rested my head against the rock of the mountain and closed my weary eyes. I was woken by a loud shout from the fog-covered mountain top.

One by one, the guards joined the marching squadron down the narrow path. When they got closer to my hiding spot, I heard the commands they yelled at the guards they passed, "The Goddess has spoken. Join the line. We need to clear the Mountain until the moons rise again."

Finally, the mountainside laid bare and silent.

I stared, sure I was still dreaming, until I realised this was my only chance. Leaving my satchel behind, I ran as fast as my legs would carry me.

By the time I reached the shrine, I was out of breath and covered in fine droplets of the mist that shrouded the top of the mountain.

Fighting my fear, I lingered in front of the obsidian entrance to the shrine until I found my courage.

I entered and found Her waiting. The Goddess stood before me in black and blue beauty, Her clear blue eyes riveted on my face.

"I've been waiting for you."

It took me a moment to realise that Her voice rang through my mind, crystal clear and melodious, while silence still reigned the shrine.

"Me? You've been waiting for me?" I stuttered, breaking the holy quiet with my clumsy attempt at communication.

"Eons. Ask me your questions," She urged in my mind.

"How—how do you even know...?" I couldn't wrap my head around what it could mean.

"There's a reason I'm the Goddess to your people. I know everything that touches the obsidian of this planet. Now, ask and I will answer."

I took a deep breath. "What happened to your people? To those who inhabited this planet before we—before we came along?"

She gestured to the rock below her feet. "We're still here. We shared. Your priests pleaded for sanctuary when your own planet burned. As long as you treat our planet with respect and leave my people alone, I agreed to let the Grearus stay."

Finally, I understood the meaning of the Wisdom Chants and the strict rules we lived by.

"You—Your people are safe then?"

Relief washed over me when She nodded once with light in Her clear blue eyes and a smile around Her lips. The dark nightmares turned out to be just that, horrendous dreams rather than reality. This planet was one of love and unity after all; only it was shared by more beings than I'd realised before.

"You're brave," She told me.

I looked up in confusion.

"You believed your people had hurt mine and still, you came to find the truth."

I didn't even know what I would have done, what difference I could have made. At least I would have been able to tell the other Grearus.

"You're worth the long wait," the Goddess murmured in my mind.

She stepped closer, the graceful arc of Her foot sliding over the obsidian floor towards my own bare feet.

As the distance between us closed, my body sparked until every fibre of my being was engulfed in bright red flames. There was no physical pain, but the pull on my soul was so strong it was hard to bear.

I wondered what kind of powers She possessed.

She smiled at me and offered me Her hand. When I touched Her skin, the heat of the flames shimmered down to mild warmth, its indigo glow enveloping us both.

Mesmerised I watched the blue fire burn its way along our linked fingers, onto Her skin.

Only then did I realise that every inch of my own skin was now covered with indigo patterns, the fine lines swirling over my arms, legs, chest and stomach. Before my eyes, Her skin transformed until the patterns on Her onyx shimmering beauty matched mine.

The fire faded, leaving me with my mate.

Unmarked and Goddess.

United.

Finally Marked.