In Zerah, Guardians of Water, Air, Fire, Earth, Life and Death are chosen by The Beings to serve their people. Able to feel the emotions the Beings cannot, they help their world stay in balance.
Guardians live and die together, but when Kieran is born with the marks that prove he's the Guardian of Death, his mother hides him instead of giving him up to the temple. She loves him too much to lose him. But then he starts seeing people die, and they're begging him for help. Trying to remove the "curse", he inadvertently kills a seer and is brought to the attention of the temple.
His mother is imprisoned and he's turned over to the temple. The rest of his life, he's expected to live there, study with the other Guardians, learn the right ways to use his power.
Amaya, the embodiment of Water, breaks through his brittle shell, helps him to see that all of life isn't bleak, but they've sworn a vow and love for one another isn't part of it. He'll never know the people he must eventually lead into the next life, never know love, never be free.
If he stays...