Children of the Whales

In a world swallowed by an endless ocean of sand, a drifting island called the Mud Whale carries an ancient town within it. Most of its people are "Marked," blessed with strange powers but cursed to die young. Chakuro, the town's young archivist, records the discovery of new islands-though each one is empty, its inhabitants long gone. When an unknown island appears on the horizon for the first time in half a year, Chakuro and his friends join the scouting party. Among the ruins of a lost civilization, Chakuro finds a girl hidden in the wreckage. Her presence will alter his fate-and the fate of the Mud Whale itself.