A failed experiment meant to unlock human potential instead created The Paling,
a genetic illness now buried deep within every living person.
It activates between the ages of nineteen and twenty-one,
but only in a select few.
Those who succumb lose their minds, their bodies, their humanity,
becoming monstrous things known as The Hollowed.
In the chaos that followed, civilization crumbled.
Governments collapsed. Cities burned.
From the ashes rose the Supreme Commission,
an unchallenged authority that built towering walls
to contain what remained of society.
And to stop the spread, a law was passed:
All citizens must report to special academies at nineteen.
There, they are monitored, assigned roles, and observed until age twenty-two.
They call it Placement.
A future chosen for you. A partner selected.
A promise of order.
But for some, it is something else.
Now, as more youths disappear and The Paling grows stronger,
one girl will be forced to choose between survival and the life she once called her own.