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[Opening Scene: Shattered Destiny]
A battlefield outside of time
The Cloaked Man of Destiny stands atop a mountain of broken swords, his tattered crimson robe fluttering in nuclear winds. Below him, the city of Serenia burns in eerie violet flames—but something's wrong. The destruction flickers like a corrupted hologram.
CLOAKED MAN OF DESTINY (murmurs to the bleeding sky):
"You called me mad... but I'm the only one who ever saw clearly."
A blade erupts through his chest from behind—the weapon is a katana. He coughs black blood… and laughs.
FATE BEARER (voice raw with grief):
"For my daughter! For every life you've poisoned—!"
The Prophet grabs the blade impaling him, his golden eye locking onto his attacker with something like (pity).
CLOAKED MAN OF DESTINY: "She was never meant for this world."
Reality shatters like glass—
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[Scene 1: Present Day – Serenia City (Illusion of Peace)]
The camera (dives from the void) into a pristine metropolis, sunlight glinting off chrome skyscrapers. But sharp-eyed viewers catch anomalies—subtle "glitches" in reflections, birds flying (through) solid objects.
Inside a cramped apartment:
RYO KENZAKI (17, sleep-deprived, brown hair perpetually messy) slams his forehead onto his desk. University brochures are strewn everywhere—the one circled in violent red marker reads: "Luminon Institute for Applied Studies." His phone buzzes:
📱 DAD: "Dinner at 7. Don't be late this time."
Ryo types three different replies—deletes them all. He exhales sharply through his nose before grabbing his bag and heading out into the city's artificial glow. (Note: The "sunlight" is too perfect—no warmth.)
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Scene 2: School Rooftop – The Cracks Beneath
Ryo leans against the chain-link fence, watching classmates laugh below. The scene is picturesque—until (a shadow flickers unnaturally) across the courtyard for a single frame. Ryo's grip tightens on the fence.
SATOSHI (blonde, short, grinning like a shark):
"Brooding again, Kenzaki? Or just failing another test?" He hip-checks Ryo hard enough to sting.
Ryo side-eyes him with practiced annoyance but doesn't rise to the bait.
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[Scene 3: Festival Preparations – Something Watching]
After school, students decorate for tomorrow's festival under buzzing fluorescent lights. Mei (dark purple hair) tosses streamers at Ryo while Hiroshi (lanky redhead) teases her about being "obsessed."
A beat of normalcy—until Ryo feels it again: eyes drilling into his back. He whirls around—nothing there but an empty hallway…and a single, fresh **crack** running up the wall that definitely wasn't there before.
Mei snaps her fingers in front of his face:
"Earth to Ryo! You okay?"
He forces a grin—"Just tired." But his hand trembles as he adjusts his bag strap.
---
[Scene 4: The Walk Home – Echoes of Another World]
Dusk paints the city in gold. Ryo takes the long way home, past an alley where graffiti seems to shift when he blinks—Japanese characters melting into strange, angular symbols. A whisper slithers from the shadows: "Ken…zaki…" His breath hitches—but it's just some stray cat knocking over trash cans. Probably.
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[Scene 5: Dinner Table Conversations]
Ryo's father is already seated when he arrives, stirring miso soup absentmindedly. The man looks exhausted but smiles warmly as Ryo enters. Their conversation is light at first—homework, summer plans—until Dad sets down his chopsticks with deliberate care:
Dad: "...Luminon University? That's quite far."
The unspoken air hangs heavy between them: It's where your mother studied before she disappeared.
Ryo shoves rice around his bowl.
Ryo (too casual): "Yeah, well. Their theoretical physics program is top-tier."
A beat of silence. Then—his father reaches across the table and squeezes his wrist, voice barely above a whisper:
Dad: "You'd tell me if you were... seeing things again, right?"
Ryo freezes. The air turns to ice. (Flashback glimpse: Child Ryo screaming at "shadow people" in his room.) He yanks his hand back with a forced laugh:
Ryo: "What? No! I stopped that crap years ago." (Liar.)
His father's smile doesn't reach his eyes as he changes the subject to festival plans tomorrow—but Ryo catches him (wiping blood from under his nose) when he thinks no one's looking.
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[Scene 6: Night Walk – Starfall Incident]
Restless, Ryo escapes to the park where he used to stargaze with Mom. He flops onto "their bench"—the one with her name carved clumsily into the wood by 8-year-old him. Above, the stars seem... (closer) tonight. Brighter.
Ryo (muttering): "Hey Mom... If you're watching? I'm gonna figure out what really happened to you."
A gust of wind—then (BOOM). A streak of violet fire tears across the sky, crashing into the woods beyond the park. The shockwave rattles Ryo's bones as every car alarm in a five-block radius shrieks to life.
He should run home. He should call the police.
Instead, Ryo sprints (toward) impact site like a moth to flame.
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[Scene 7: First Contact – The Girl From Nowhere]
Smoke curls from a crater cored into reality itself—at its center kneels a girl in tattered kimono splattered with what looks like blood, her sword plunged into glowing earth to steady herself as she coughs violently:
??? (Girl, voice ragged but sharp):
"Don't come closer—! Unless you want your soul devoured by what's chasing me."
Ryo freezes. Her eyes lock onto his—one violet, one a weird yellow color. The sword at her side thrums with eerie light, casting symbols onto the trees that make Ryo's vision blur.
Ryo (brain short-circuiting): "...What the hell are you?"
She grins, all teeth and desperation:
YUA AIHARA (Wanderer/Hunter):
"Right now? Your worst mistake or your only hope. (Run or help me.) Choose fast."
Behind them—the trees (bend away) from something approaching. Something (hungry).
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[Scene 8: The Kaimon Emerges]
A guttural (roar) shakes the earth as the air itself splits open—revealing a monstrous, shadowy mass of writhing tendrils and glowing red eyes. It's wrong, warping reality around it like a black hole made of nightmares.
Yua snarls and forces herself upright, her sword flashing violet as she swings it in a wide arc—but her stance wavers. She's badly hurt.
Ryo (instinct overriding fear): "Shit—!" He lunges forward just as she stumbles, catching her before she collapses. Her blood burns where it touches his skin—(literally), leaving faint scorch marks on his hands.
The creature (SCREAMS), lurching toward them with horrifying speed—just as Yua grabs Ryo's collar and hisses:
YUA: "Say you trust me."
RYO (panicked): "I DON'T EVEN KNOW YOU!"
YUA (grinning through bloody teeth): "Good enough."
She plunges her sword into the ground.
[Scene 9: Severed Fate]
(Violet light erupts like a supernova), swallowing them whole. For one terrifying second, Ryo feels his body (unraveling)—then solidity slams back into him as they crash onto cold stone in a cavern bathed in pulsating blue veins of energy.
RYO (gasping): "Where the hell—?!"
YUA (collapsing against him): "Temporary rift jump. We've got... maybe five minutes before it follows." Her breathing is ragged, her grip on consciousness slipping fast. She gestures weakly to an archway carved with the same symbols from Ryo's visions—ones he's drawn in his notebooks for years without understanding why.
And then she drops a shell shock on Ryo:
"Welcome home, Kenzaki."
🌀 End of Chapter One