““Boy, you are sad…” my father murmured in sudden realization. “Boy, you are sad,” he repeated in excitement. “Boy, you are sad!” he exclaimed jumping up and down in joy. “Wife, our youngest is sad,” he proudly announced, “he is going to bring us wealth.”
But I was only going to bring them shame.”
A boy is born, a mute in a strange tribe of roaming beggars. He can’t speak, he can’t even beg. Scorned and ignored, he is summarily rejected, an outcast in a band of outcasts.
After a weird incident that ends with the fiery death of the tribe’s ancient witch, he is suspected by the superstitious beggars to be in reality the shell of a powerful demon, a fear that immediately earns him a travesty of recognition and a name. As an effort to deceive the evil inside him, they call him Tsura, the Light of Dawn.
When his father takes him to the city, a chain of events that will shake both worlds starts unfolding. While others of his tribe return from the city with rich trophies, Tsura purposelessly wanders its streets. When he meets Mr. Winter, he feels like his life is going to change. He watches him for weeks, begging for some attention. An exchange of glances is all it takes, instant recognition!
Then a shot.
Tsura is caught in a political plot of gigantic proportions that will turn him into a convenient scapegoat for an entire nation’s ills. Only one man, a young lawyer, will stand in the way.
“The Mark of Man” is the story of a boy violently rejected, used and abused; a child who, in his innocence, rose to become a catalyst for events that would lead to the destruction of a society and the redemption of another.