NIGHT – DREAMSCAPE VISION
Shin-Ri floats through darkness. A chain binds him to Kazu across a glowing abyss. Cursed swords hover beside them, whispering.
CURSED SWORD (V.O.):
The future has already bled.
Two wielders… One doom.
A massive shadowy gate splits open. Thousands of burning red eyes peer through. A voice like cracking bone speaks:
UNKNOWN ENTITY:
Return what was sealed.
Or let the blade consume you both.
EARLY MORNING – LIBRARY RUINS
Maen brushes dust off a sealed scroll case, hidden inside a broken wall beneath the ancient Sword Archives. She gasps.
MAEN (to herself):
"A prophecy…?"
She unrolls it carefully. Strange symbols shimmer—then rearrange into words she can read:
"When fire and shadow share names, the Gate of the End shall open.
Two cursed, bound in blood, shall carve fate anew—or destroy all steel."
MAEN (staring):
Shin-Ri… and Kazu…
TRAINING YARD – RIKU RETURNS
Riku swings his blade with silent focus, bruised but alive. Lyceum watches from a perch above the yard, wings folded.
RIKU:
So… you're back from glowing in the sky?
LYCEUM (chuckles):
And you're still grounded.
RIKU:
Where were you when the demon shapeshifter almost split the town?
LYCEUM (serious):
Chasing something worse.
Something that's coming here.
He tosses Riku a silver token—etched with a demon's smiling face.
LYCEUM:
This was left behind at the rift.
A seal. Broken.
ELSEWHERE – SHIN-RI & KAZU (POST-VISION)
Both sit at the temple garden, breathless after waking from the same nightmare.
SHIN-RI:
We saw the same thing. Again.
KAZU:
That gate… those voices.
Are we cursed? Or chosen?
SHIN-RI:
Maybe both.
Their swords pulse at the same time. The ground shakes slightly beneath them. A warning.
SUDDENLY – MAEN BURSTS IN
MAEN (panting):
You two! Read this! Now!
She unrolls the scroll between them.
MAEN:
This prophecy—it's about you. About the swords.
SHIN-RI (reading):
"…share names…"
KAZU:
What does that mean?
MAEN:
I don't know, but the last line scares me—
"Or destroy all steel."
NIGHTFALL – IN THE SKY TOWER
Nyari, Sylden, Lyceum, and the others gather to strategize. Flames flicker around Nyari's hand as she speaks.
NYARI:
Whatever is whispering through those cursed swords… it's not from our realm.
SYLDEN:
We sealed that gate generations ago.
LYCEUM:
And now it's cracking.
He looks down at Shin-Ri and Kazu.
LYCEUM (to them):
You two may be the locks…
Or the keys.
MID-MEETING – A RIP TEARS THROUGH THE AIR
A screech echoes like a world tearing. The sky above splits, revealing a massive floating eye, stitched into the heavens by black tendrils.
RIKU (shouting):
What the hell is that?!
LYCEUM:
That... is what I was afraid of.
SHADOW INTRUSION – POSSESSED BLADES
Suddenly, a dozen swords in the room—hung on walls or strapped to backs—start floating on their own. They shake violently.
One slashes toward Riku—he blocks just in time.
RIKU:
They're turning on us!
MAEN (dodging):
It's like someone's controlling the blades!
SHIN-RI (realizing):
No… the blades are remembering something.
FINAL SCENE – THE UNDERBLADE'S RETURN
Far below the city, in the cracks of a buried shrine, Daiso stands again. The Underblade pulses as if breathing.
DAISO:
They found the prophecy.
Good.
He lifts the sword.
DAISO:
It's almost time... to bring back the First Blade.
As he speaks, something massive moves beneath the ground. Metal groans. Old fire flickers.
MONTAGE – WHILE A DARK CHANT PLAYS
Kazu, standing over a cliff, his flame sword whispering
Shin-Ri, staring at the reflection of his cursed sword—his eyes flicker black
Maen, decoding more from the prophecy
Riku, training furiously in secret
Lyceum, flying toward the tear in the sky with divine rage
Nyari, summoning phoenix fire around the town gates
SHIN-RI (V.O.):
Fate gave me a sword.
Then it gave me a curse.
Now it wants a war.
TO BE CONTINUED...