Chapter Seven: Sins of a Changed World
Open on the forest. It is greening. Leaves and plants are growing full. Birds fill the trees, chirping and flitting about. It is midmorning. The sun is out. Dew gathers on leaves.
Show a deer in the forest. It chews on a leaf.
Show a rabbit run by.
Show a sparkling river filled with fish.
Show blood soiling the water.
Show a bloody hand lying in the water.
Show shattered chunks of wood floating in the water.
Show a broken husk of a lumber mill. Dismembered bodies are strewn about the wreckage. Blood is everywhere.
Show Dawn, Sir Thomas, and Remi standing in the forest. Dawn looks somber. Thomas is unnerved. Remi covers his nose.
Remi: “Oh my, this is quite the sight.
Dawn: “Another one, just like the last.”
Thomas: “Runner’s Mill. We’ll update the map when we get back. For now, we should return to the hunt.”
Dawn: “In a bit, I want to see something first.”
Dawn walks down the hill.
Sir Thomas follows shortly with Remi at his heel.
Thomas: “Princess, we shouldn’t…”
Dawn: “We’ll be fine. Whatever, whoever did this, is long gone.”
Thomas: “But Fionan soldiers could be nearby.”
Dawn: “They’re easy enough to handle for the three of us, wouldn’t you say?”
Thomas: “I’d rather not test the theory.”
Dawn stops beside the mill. A woman is pinned against the wall. Her arms have been ripped from her body. Her throat and chest are torn open.
Dawn kneels beside the body and examines it. Sir Thomas stands beside her and looks out at the forest.
Remi joins them. He is still covering his nose.
Dawn: “Have you ever seen anything like this?”
Remi: “Not quite like this, no. Mind you, magic could create such havoc, but normally…”
Remi looks around.
Dawn: “Normally?”
Remi: “Normally you’d feel it in the atmosphere. These deaths are recent, but there is no magic. No spells were cast.”
Thomas: “Nonsense. What in the world could have done this if not for magic?”
Dawn stands.
She looks at them.
Dawn: “That is the question, isn’t it?”
She looks around the chaos.
Show the bodies littered around the area.
Show a woman cradling her child. Both have been torn to bits.
Show Dawn.
Dawn: “What kind of beast have they set on us now?”
Thomas: “Whatever it is, it’s destroying everything in its path, not just us.”
Remi: “Yes, that’s right. Runner’s Mill was in Fiona, wasn’t it?”
Dawn: “Even more reason to stop it.”
Thomas: “Princess, we really should get back to the hunt.”
Dawn: “Right, then let’s go.”
They climb the hill.
Dawn stops at the crest and looks back.
Cut to an overhead shot of Anthem at midday. The streets are busy and bright. Birds are bouncing from roof to roof.
Show Anthem from the sea. The sky is clear. Birds flock around the pier. Ships from various nations are docked and are unloading their goods.
Zoom in on the pier. Dock workers are unloading freight.
Show a box on a ship with birds settled on it.
Birds scatter as a worker picks it up.
Follow the bird above the city.
It lands on a building.
Show the street beside the building. Zara is at street level eying the bird.
Mary joins her.
Mary looks up.
Mary: “And so the seasons have changed.”
Zara: “I noticed.”
Mary: “Your mood, however, has not improved in the least, princess. Might I ask, is something wrong?”
Zara: “Nothing is wrong. I simply don’t care for those wretched, feathered vermin.”
Zara flails toward the bird.
Zara: “Shoo! Away with you!”
The bird stares down at her.
Zara glares up at it.
Zara: “Filthy thing.”
Mary: “Oh, leave it be. The thing has hardly been a bother to you, so never you mind it. We have other things what to occupy ourselves with than feathery friends, or foes as it is in your case.”
Zara: “We have nothing to occupy our time, which is why I was rather content to stay in the mansion and nap.”
Zara yawns and stretches.
Zara: “Of course, it is never too late to return and take that up.”
Mary: “My, unfortunately, it seems it is quite too late. And why waste your days sleeping when you can fill them with adventure?”
Zara: “I’ve had too much adventure lately. Sleep, however, I could use more of.”
Mary takes Zara’s arm and pulls her down the street.
Mary: “Why, I wouldn’t allow it. You’re still young, and the good lady left you in my care while she is away, and I shan’t underperform.”
Zara: “I don’t think she meant for you to pull me about from one end of town to the other.”
Mary: “Then, consider it my actions appended to the task assigned, if you would.”
Mary drags Zara down a narrow street with high walls.
She pulls her through a crowd of people.
They stop at the top of a large hill overlooking the sea. There is a chapel before them. The chapel has large, white pillars and an open entryway. The entry arches high. Show them from behind, staring at the building.
Show Zara goggling up at the building.
Show Mary smile.
Mary: “Quite the sight, wouldn’t you say, dear princess?”
Zara: “It is large, I’ll give you that.”
Mary: “That it is. Almost the same size as the president’s mansion, and arguably twice as important, were I to hazard a guess. This is Anthem’s famous Singing Chapel. Here, the legends’ say, as they often do, rests the great spirit of song and sound. It is the crown jewel of the city and the center of their worship. They built it atop the hill so that they might see it from any point in the city, or so I have been told.”
Zara: “The spirit of song and sound?”
Mary: “Angelus, princess, the song from the myths. In days of old, many cities worshipped their own patron spirits, who personified one aspect of the world. As the myth goes, mankind seized the gift of magic and waged a war with the gods, eventually using their very craft against them and sealing them in the stars, which is where we get our lovely constellations.”
Zara: “And Anthem worshipped music?”
Mary: “In a sense. More broadly, it is metaphor. Song is art, creativity, and expression of any sort. Which is why Anthem has always held artists in the highest regard.”
Zara: “I see.”
Zara looks at Mary.
Zara: “Mary, you said that all of the great cities had a patron god which they worshipped. If that’s true, then who did Silavara worship?”
Mary grins.
Mary: “You don’t know? What are they teaching children these days? Well, if I must repeat myself, then listen closely, for I would ever so hate to have to repeat the lesson in only a day’s time. Your nation, long before you were born, mind, worshipped the Fox, and so bare one on your royal coat of arms. Had you never made the connection?”
Zara: “I guess not.”
Mary: “Fret not, dear, when born into the system it is hard to see how it surrounds you. Why, by your time, the worship of the old gods was so long forgotten and practiced only by a few lone fanatics. Even Anthem, with their festivals and festivities as they are, view this worship as tradition and little more. Though, once, it was most like a more somber expression of subservience meant to earn them protection, safety, or boon.”
Mary takes Zara’s hand.
Mary: “Well, we have rested long enough, haven’t we? Come! We’ve much more to explore!”
Cut to Emeraldine in the past. The city was burning. The sky was a dark red. Bodies were piled up in the streets, rotting and blackened.
Show young Glenn as he dug through the bodies. His arm was black and hung limply at his side. His face was covered in soot and streaked with tears.
He stopped and coughed.
He lifted one body up and tugged on it.
The arm of the body tore and Glenn tumbled back.
He fell down the pile of corpses.
Lying on his back, he stared up at the sky.
Show the red sky, darkened by black smoke.
Show Glenn staring up at the sky. Red light is reflected in his eye.
Show Glenn today.
Show him standing before the beached trading vessel. He holds a horse by its reins. An assortment of Anthem soldiers are with him. Elsea is at his side on her own horse. She is wearing her riding cloak.
Glenn: “Not much to go by. Not much left.”
Elsea looks around the beach.
She looks back at the boat.
Elsea: “There are no bodies on the beach, either.”
Glenn: “Which means they’re inside of there. It’s been days, though. If anyone is alive, it’s just barely.”
Glenn looks back at the soldiers.
Glenn: “Tether the horses. One of you keep watch on the area. The rest should get ready to search.”
The soldiers go toward the forest.
Elsea hops from her horse.
Elsea: “Sir Glenn, I must ask…”
Glenn: “We should keep an eye out. Things are sour.”
Glenn looks at the soldiers.
Show the soldiers tying their horses to trees.
Glenn: “They’re wary of us. I’m afraid even if we find Zelos, we won’t be welcome much longer.”
Elsea: “Right.”
Cut to chapel interior in Anthem. The room is large and well-lit. It has a high, arching roof. Light spills in through the open archways. Candles burn at the front. Pews are filled with people bowing in worship and prayer.
Zara and Mary stand in the entrance way. The light from outside casts long shadows in.
A group of children run by them.
Mary leads them in. Zara is looking around.
Zara: “It’s rather bleak inside for a culture dedicated to art.”
Mary: “With an exterior so rich, mayhap their resources ran dry.”
Zara: “Maybe but it still seems strange.”
Zara stops in the aisle.
Show the palanquin from earlier set at the front on a platform. The curtains on it flap in the gentle breeze. Aria sits inside with her veil on. Her eyes are empty.
Zara: “Mary, who is that girl?”
Mary: “I don’t know her personally, princess, but if I were to hazard a guess, I would say she is the holy maiden of Anthem. According to myth, she holds the bound god of Anthem, Angelus the song, within her and contains the destructive power of its voice.”
Zara: “A holy maiden?”
Mary: “Yes, the tradition is long held and mayhap has origins in the days of the gods themselves. In those days it was a sacrifice to the song. Girls were gathered from around the city and made to sing. The one with the most beautiful voice was given as tribute to the song. She would sing the prayers of her people, their pleas and their praises, and the god would sing to her in response. Just a few notes would dissolve her on the spot. It is said that once sealed, should the vessel of Angelus ever speak she would bring about the ruin of the entire nation.”
Zara stares at the girl.
The girl stares ahead blankly.
Zara: “That sounds awful. So, why does she sit there all day?”
Mary: “She communicates their prayers or something of the sort, I imagine. The details are uncertain, or rather, I am uncertain of them. By the time this became the practice I was in already in Fiona. I imagine it is all just pageantry at this point, theatrics to carry on the tradition.”
Show Zara staring.
Show the girl’s veil flutter.
Show the two of them in silhouette, Zara and Aria staring at each other. Everything else around them is faded. They stand alone in the darkness.
Return to normal and show Zara staring with Mary at her side.
Mary: “I am shamed to admit, dear princess, that you are quite right. This adventure was not nearly so enchanting as I had hoped. Come, then, we shall adjourn to the castle for that nap you spoke of, lest you wish to make yet another trip into the bazaar.”
Mary turns and leaves. Zara lingers.
Zara: “No, no, that’s fine.”
Zara turns away.
She hurries to catch up to Mary.
Together they walk out the entrance.
Zara: “If you’ve seen one painting of the Anthem skyline, you’ve seen them all, I’d say.”
Show Aria sitting in the palanquin. Her veil lifts again, showing a glimpse of her stitched lips.
Cut to the boat on the mainland shore. Show it from an overhead view. Anthem soldiers are busy working around it. One soldier is by the horses. Glenn is walking on the fractured deck.
Show Glenn hanging from a railing as he works across the slanted deck.
Show him slip in through a doorway.
Show him landing in the captain’s cabin.
He looks around.
He climbs back out.
Show him looking down at Elsea, who is on the ground. A few dead bodies have been laid out around her.
Glenn: “Nothing.”
Glenn slides down the deck.
Glenn hops from the boat.
He lands beside her.
He dusts himself off.
Show the corpses.
Show Glenn’s face.
Glenn: “All day, and this is what we found.”
Elsea: “I’m sorry.”
Glenn: “Not your fault.”
Glenn looks out at sea.
Show the sea. The sun is setting. The sea catches the light and sparkles.
Glenn: “We didn’t find him.”
Elsea: “Perhaps he’s still alive.”
Glenn nods.
Glenn: “Come on, let’s get some shovels. These men deserve graves.”
Cut to Glenn later in the day. The daylight is fading. He is covered in dirt and has his shirt off. A shovel is dug in beside him. Anthem soldiers are all around him in similar states.
Glenn pats one soldier on the shoulder.
Glenn: “I’m sorry we couldn’t do more.”
Anthem Soldier1: “At least they were given graves. Some of those men are at the bottom of the sea by now.”
Glenn nods.
He looks back down the beach.
Show Elsea near the forest.
Glenn approaches her.
Elsea looks back at him.
Glenn: “You okay?”
Elsea: “Oh, y-yes, I am, but—I think I’ve found something.”
Glenn: “What?”
Elsea: “Look at this.”
Elsea points into the forest. There are broken twigs and footprints sunk in.
Elsea: “While you were digging, I found a trail from the boat’s exterior. It was confused with all of the trails of us running around, so it was hard to see, but I followed it here. It looks like someone has walked here, and they aren’t ours. The camp we made is farther down. It could be a survivor.”
Glenn: “It could be Zelos.”
Elsea: “Maybe.”
Glenn grins.
He and Elsea return to the soldiers.
Glenn: “We’ve found something. Footprints leading into the forest, and if we set out now, we may be able to find whoever…”
The soldiers stare ahead wearily.
Glenn pauses.
Glenn: “What?”
The soldiers exchange glances.
Anthem Soldier1: “We don’t think you’ll find anything at all.”
Glenn: “The footprints aren’t ours, they…”
Anthem Soldier1: “They don’t necessarily belong to a survivor, either. All due respect, no one came out of all of this alive.”
Glenn: “But on the…”
Anthem Soldier1: “I’m sorry, but we have families to get back to, and lives. We were told to search the ship. Anything else is different.”
Glenn stares.
He sighs.
Glenn: “Fine. Head back. I’ll look on my own.
The soldiers stare.
They turn away and go to their horses.
Glenn turns to Elsea.
Elsea: “I’ll stay with you and…”
Glenn: “No, go back. I don’t like how tense they are about this, and I want you there with Mary and the princess. Just in case.”
Elsea nods.
Elsea: “But what about you, Sir Glenn? Maybe I should get the others, pack them up, and…”
Glenn: “No. The lead is good, fresh. I’ll follow it and meet you back in Anthem. Just keep an eye out.”
Elsea: “Okay.”
They part. Elsea passes him toward the horses. Glenn goes toward the forest.
Elsea stops.
Elsea: “Glenn!”
Glenn turns.
Elsea: “Please, be careful!”
Glenn smirks.
He turns and waves back at her.
-EL-Cut to Silvaran ruins near the sea. Statue of a fox cradled by a crescent moon stood before the area. Stone walkways stretch over large pools of water. Fractured buildings and dilapidating pillars litter the area.
In the center there is a large, circular stone altar. Pillars surround it on all sides. They are in various states of collapse. Runes are cut into the altar. A podium is at the center, holding a fox mask.
The sky is overcast. There is a light rain.
Show Lady Daphne and Veruca walking along a stone-laid path to the altar. Veruca is holding an umbrella for her lady. Lady Daphne holds her dress up above her ankles to keep it from getting wet. Sir Fredrik walks behind them. He is wearing a frayed cloak over a set of dark armor. It is raining directly on him. He holds a large, black bottle in his hand.
They stop at the altar. It is cracked along the edges and overgrown with weeds. A moon sigil is cut into the center, around the podium. The mask stares at them with gem-stone eyes.
Sir Fredrik steps onto the platform.
He smiles.
Fredrik: “So, this is it?”
Daphne: “Yes, the ruins of old Silverthrone. Considering the state of the capitol, they look disturbingly similar.”
Fredrik: “No, the differences are considerable. There is power here.”
He looks around the area.
Fredrik: “I do find myself wondering, why?”
Daphne: “Why what?”
Fredrik: “Why leave this all behind? Why cast aside an old kingdom in favor of a new? Is it simply in the nature of the mercurial Silvaran blood? Or was it the whim of their anarchist god that drove them away? A curious thing, whatever it was.”
Sir Fredrik approaches the mask.
He runs his hands along it.
Fredrik: “Even without a magician’s grace I can feel it. It is ancient, but it is breathing, alive, and it wants out.”
He looks back.
Fredrik: “Can you?”
Lady Daphne looks at Veruca.
Show Sir Fredrik and the idol from Veruca’s perspective. A silver area encapsulates the area and casts light around Sir Fredrik.
Veruca nods.
Veruca: “Yes, Sir. Lady, I can see its power.”
Sir Fredrik smiles.
Fredrik: “They say that he gave us the light of magic, and that it was this act that freed humanity, but that raises the question: are we truly free? Or are we still slaves, kept in a cage of our own making now. So long we depended on these false idols for power. But the King will bring an end to that. He will give humanity true freedom. He will rewrite history as we know it.”
Daphne: “He already has.”
Sir Fredrik smiles.
Fredrik: “True enough.”
Sir Fredrik lifts the bottle.
He pulls the stopper and holds up the mask.
Fredrik: “And so I give you the freedom you seek. Leave your prison, for we’ve accommodations with a view.”
Show the silver aura of the idol twisting.
It circles around Sir Fredrik’s wrist while being sucked into the bottle.
Show the aura gradually depleting.
Show the bottle now with a muted silver glow in its belly.
Sir Fredrik replaces the stopper.
He holds it up to stare at it. It casts a faint glow on his skin.
Cut to Metis sitting in the Black Castle’s throne room. He is on his father’s throne, and he is staring ahead.
Show the floor in front of him. Daedalus is displaying something to him. There are thirteen black bottles sitting in a line.
Metis smiles.
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