[366 Days of Monsters] Day 050/366 - Man and Boy (Patreon)

For twenty-five years, Man has lived on The Skeleton Key as a prisoner of the Serpent Whisperers. The warrior women used him as a zukterin, or breeder, to help propagate their race. He remembers very little before then, but he does remember the tunnels below the temple and the monsters that live there. The only other clue to his history was the large scar on the back of his neck.

One day an explosion erupted from the temple. When the dust settled, a boy emerged, his eyes aglow. Flames shot from the boy's hands and his flesh swirled like water. The Serpent Whisperers, fearful of the supernatural, backed away. The boy then fled into the forest, and Man, seeing his opportunity to escape, followed him. The two have protected each other since. Hundreds of miles from civilization with no formal knowledge of the world beyond the small island, they have very few options.

Like Man, Boy has marks on the back of his neck; but instead of a large scar, Boy's markings are symbols (pictured above) in a language Man does not recognize.