COLD OPEN – TEASER
[JUNGLE PATH – DAWN]
Aryan and Devika travel on foot through the dense forest beyond Kaligarh's borders. Mist hangs low. Birds call. Aryan looks more mature, dirt-streaked but determined.
DEVIKA
You sure this priest said this way?
ARYAN
He said, "Where the sun weeps into the forest." That sounds like this, right?
A tiger's growl echoes faintly. They freeze.
SCENE 1 – THE WOUNDED CUB
[CLEARING NEAR STREAM – MORNING]
They find a wounded tiger cub—its paw trapped in an iron snare, whimpering.
DEVIKA (wary)
It's still wild, Aryan.
ARYAN (kneeling, calm)
So was I once.
He gently frees the cub and binds its paw. The cub sniffs his hand and licks it.
ARYAN (smiling)
You're with me now. I'll call you… Veer.
SCENE 2 – THE OUTCASTS' CAMP
[HIDDEN FOREST CAMP – NOON]
Aryan meets a band of outcasts and rebels—hunters, farmers, ex-soldiers—led by a fiery woman named Aasha and an old blacksmith named Gorav.
AASHA
Why should we follow a palace boy?
ARYAN (confidently)
Because I don't just want your loyalty. I want your ideas. Your strength. Your dreams.
Gorav nods, impressed.
GORAV
The boy's got fire. Maybe it's time Kaligarh had a prince who listened.
SCENE 3 – THE TEST OF FLAME
[ANCIENT SHRINE – EVENING]
Aryan enters the stone shrine alone. The Khandvaastra blade rests on a pedestal surrounded by enchanted fire. The voice of the Priest of the Flame echoes.
PRIEST
Only he who fears not the truth may carry the blade.
Visions swirl around Aryan: his failures, the battlefield, his father in bed, Devika in danger.
ARYAN (resolute)
I'm not perfect. But I will protect them. I will lead.
He walks through the flame. The fire parts. He lifts the glowing blade.
SCENE 4 – THE RISE OF THE PRINCE
[FOREST RIDGE – NIGHT]
Aryan returns with the blade. Veer the tiger cub walks beside him. Aasha and the others kneel.
AASHA
We will follow you, Aryan Mehta… or should I say, Prince Aryaveer.
Aryan raises the blade. Behind him, a new banner rises: a roaring tiger over Kaligarh's sun.
CLOSING SCENE – ENEMY MOVES
[VARUNDEV'S WAR ROOM – NIGHT]
Varundev glares at a scout's report.
VARUNDEV
He has the blade. He has an army. And now... a tiger?
He crushes the scroll in his fist.
[NEXT TIME PREVIEW ]
"Next: Aryan returns to Kaligarh in disguise. A secret meeting. A traitor unmasked. And the prince's first loyal army begins its march."