INT. A HALF-SHATTERED TEMPLE IN AIRIOUS — TWILIGHT
Ash falls like quiet snow. KLEXIS stands alone at the edge of a cliff inside the ruined training sanctum, his fist clenched, veins flickering with a silvery-blue Avian hue. The Voices murmur like cracked radios in his mind. Ghosts of doubt. Echoes of expectations.
His uncle's face flashes—ELEXIS, before the fall. That proud smirk. The lectures. The sparring. The warmth. Then the betrayal. The corruption.
---
KLEXIS (to himself, coldly):
"Even now, I hear them. Whispering like I'm just a rerun. 'He's his nephew, so it's only a matter of time.'"
"Funny. My Avia's supposed to be me, right? My truth. But lately... all I feel is everyone else's version of me."
---
He punches the stone wall beside him. Cracks ripple through it like broken trust. His knuckles bleed. But even the pain is... numb.
KLEXIS (bitterly):
"I train to prove them wrong... but that means they're still the reason I train."
"What the hell do I even want?"
---
ENTER REDAN, stepping from the shadows with a slow clap that sounds more like mockery than applause.
His presence doesn't scream villainy—it hums with something subtler, seduction by logic.
REDAN (calmly):
"Bravo. That's the first honest question you've asked in years."
---
KLEXIS (glaring):
"You again? You already have my uncle. You want the whole family discount?"
---
REDAN (smirking):
"Oh, I already got a free trial the moment you started doubting your reflection."
(He walks around Klexis slowly)
"You think people see you as another rogue waiting to happen? They do. Because fear is lazy. They don't see your potential, Klexis. They see a ticking time bomb shaped like Elexis with prettier hair."
---
KLEXIS (tense):
"I'm not him."
---
REDAN (softly):
"But you were him… once. Weren't you? You looked up to him. You smiled when he praised you. You wept when he fell. And now? You train like every drop of sweat is a scream into a void that won't shut up."
---
KLEXIS (gritting teeth):
"You don't know me."
---
REDAN:
"But I do. I know what it's like to live in a cage of other people's stories. Avia's not just about truth—it's about freedom of truth. That's the difference."
(He leans closer, whispering)
"You want to break their expectations? Stop trying to prove them wrong. Start proving yourself right."
---
KLEXIS:
"And what? Take your Liberation Force? Lose myself like Elexis?"
---
REDAN (firmly):
"He didn't lose himself. He found the part no one let him keep. His freedom. His pain. His fire. He stopped apologizing for what made him dangerous and beautiful."
(pauses, looking Klexis in the eye)
"You're not training to be strong. You're training not to break. And that's why you will."
---
KLEXIS:
"So what, Redan? I join you and I finally 'get it'? Is that the trick?"
---
REDAN (smiling gently):
"No tricks, Klexis. Just sight.
You think liberation is corruption. But it's revelation.
You won't become evil. You'll become clear.
No chains of legacy. No whispers in the back of your skull.
Just… you. Raw. Unapologetic. Alive."
---
(He extends a hand)
> "Come see the world without filters. Without guilt.
Not because you're weak…
But because you finally chose you."
---
A long silence.
Klexis's hand twitches.
The cliff winds howl like judgment.
His Avia flickers between its stable form and something else… something wilder.
Redan waits. Patient as a devil. Gentle as a savior.
Will Klexis answer?
Or will he forge his own road between shadows and stars?
---
The air cracked like broken glass.
Just as Klexis stood on the trembling edge of decision, torn between shadow and self,
he felt it.
That presence. That weight.
That soundless thunder that didn't echo—it declared.
ELEXIS.
He emerged from the void as if it were his throne.
Eyes glowing like twin storms.
Hair wild, not from chaos, but from conviction.
His aura didn't just radiate—it rattled dimensions.
REDAN—
—for the first time—
stepped back.
Not out of fear… but out of reverence.
Even he hadn't expected him.
---
ELEXIS (voice like a blade through silk):
> "You still cry, nephew."
"I hoped you wouldn't. But I see now… you were always meant to cry before you roared."
---
Klexis fell to his knees, breath stolen.
All the resentment, all the hurt, all the questions—
collapsed like a dying star—
and gave birth to a supernova in his soul.
---
KLEXIS (tears falling, but voice rising):
> "You weren't lost?"
"You didn't abandon us?"
"I thought… I thought they corrupted you…"
---
ELEXIS (stepping forward, power vibrating in his every word):
> "No, Klexis.
They freed me.
I was never a villain.
I was just a man… tired of living in chains made of praise."
---
Redan smiled. That sly, maddening smile.
REDAN:
> "He gets it now.
You were the final push, Elexis.
Klexis wasn't losing himself…
He was finding the flame you left behind."
---
Klexis rose slowly.
His Avia—
no longer flickering like a confused flame—
but roaring, wild and fused with something deeper.
Not just Avia.
Liberated Avia.
His aura didn't change color.
It changed meaning.
Every shimmer, every spark now screamed: I choose this.
---
KLEXIS (eyes locked with Elexis):
> "I get it now.
You didn't betray the path…
You walked ahead so I could find it too."
---
ELEXIS:
> "And now you will lead others.
Not to safety.
Not to obedience.
But to clarity."
---
REDAN (clapping):
> "Game. Set. Transcendence."
"Klexis has won.
Not by resisting corruption...
But by understanding its truth."
---
And in that broken void, a new knight was born.
Not of Airious. Not of chains.
But of a freer flame.
---
Klexis, the Liberated Echo.
The First of the Free Flame Order.
A warrior who still cries...
But now roars louder.
Scene: The Threshold of the Free Abyss
The air here wasn't air—it was choice.
It felt like possibility wrapped in paradox.
A thousand whispers echoed but none spoke.
The Free Abyss shimmered before Klexis like a mirage built from freedom and madness.
Klexis stood frozen.
His hand trembled, now pulsing with Corruption Force instead of Avia.
It didn't feel evil. It didn't burn.
It understood him.
But… why did he still feel that hollow pit in his gut?
---
KLEXIS (voice low, uncertain):
> "Why do I still feel… scared?
I thought this was supposed to make me feel alive.
Complete. Unchained."
---
REDAN (grinning, arms wide like a preacher of chaos):
> "Because you were born in a cage, Klexis.
You're just feeling the wind for the first time."
"Of course it's terrifying. It's called freedom."
He gestured to the Free Abyss behind him.
Mountains of upside-down lightning, rivers made of music, floating beasts of thought and memory—
A realm with no rules… because it is the rule.
---
KLEXIS (eyes flickering):
> "But… if I have to kill my doubt to stay here…
If I have to silence my fear…
Isn't that another form of a chain?"
---
REDAN (stepping closer, serious now):
> "No. You don't kill your fear."
"You befriend it."
"The Corruption Force isn't a replacement for Avia…
It's what Avia becomes when it stops lying to itself."
He placed a hand on Klexis's shoulder.
---
REDAN:
> "Tell me the truth, Klexis.
Didn't you always want to be more than your name?
More than your uncle's shadow?"
"Didn't you want to burn, not just glow?"
---
KLEXIS (eyes shadowed):
> "I wanted… to be real.
Not some prophecy filler. Not someone's fear project."
"I was tired of being the warning story."
---
REDAN (smiling wide, eerie and proud):
> "Then step in, nephew of the fallen.
And rise not as Klexis the Heir…
But as Klexis the Flame That Refused to Ask Permission."
---
The Free Abyss pulsed.
Calling.
Not with promises.
But with truths.
Klexis stepped forward.
Still scared.
Still unsure.
But in this place… even fear had a voice.
---
Scene: The Return to Airien Academy – Evening
A gentle hum filled the sky as the Avian portals spiraled shut, depositing the students onto the radiant marble steps of Airien Academy. The golden sun above Airious bathed the towers in light, and the wind carried the scent of clarity—a rare peace after the chaos of the Game.
Kennedy, arms crossed, stood like a sentinel at the gate.
KENNEDY (counting off, eyes sharp):
> "Jack. Henry. Yyvone. Sonia. Charles. Ian. Osei Jerry…"
He paused.
Head tilted.
Then frowned.
Then his face twisted like glass under pressure.
KENNEDY:
> "Wait... where's Klexis?"
"Where. Is. Klexis!?"
---
The silence slammed them all like thunder.
Jack looked around.
Sonia's hands covered her mouth.
Henry stepped forward, shaking his head like he could undo reality.
HENRY (gutted):
> "He... he was just behind us when the last trial ended... wasn't he?"
"We—we didn't see him leave…"
---
Yyvone (eyes wide, heart sinking):
> "You don't think… he—"
---
Charles (bitterly):
> "He gave in. He fell. Just like his uncle."
The words hit like daggers.
Kennedy turned away, fists clenched.
---
IAN (gritting teeth):
> "No. Don't say that. Don't you dare."
"He was the strongest of us. He kept us together."
---
SONIA (softly, tearfully):
> "But strength doesn't mean peace…
And silence doesn't mean safety…"
---
Their eyes turned to the distance, the place the Game had ended—
that twisted place between mind and myth,
where illusions bled into truth and every choice had a shadow.
They were all tempted.
Every one of them had been offered power, escape, or clarity twisted just enough to taste sweet.
But they resisted.
They fought for each other.
For home.
For who they were.
---
But Klexis… he was fighting something else.
Something deeper.
Something they never truly saw.
---
KENNEDY (quietly, haunted):
> "He wasn't weak.
He was… unheard."
---
They all lowered their heads.
The return was supposed to be triumphant.
But now it felt hollow.
Not just because they lost one of their own…
But because they didn't see him breaking.
---
Yyvone (softly):
> "What do we do now?"
---
Kennedy turned to the stars.
His eyes glowed with old knowledge, the kind passed down from those who had danced with destiny before.
---
KENNEDY:
> "Now?
We prepare."
"Because when Klexis returns... and he will..."
"It may not be as our friend."
"But as a message... from the Free Abyss itself."
Scene: The Return, Interrupted – The Steps of Airien Academy
Just as the clouds of disbelief began to settle over the students, a cool breeze whispered across the courtyard…
Not natural.
It carried sorrow. It carried... Merina.
---
She stepped forward, the water trailing her feet like mourning silk, her long braid undone, eyes wide with denial. Behind her came Kainen, the mentor scarred by history, and Ractor, the silent sentinel of logic.
MERINA (voice trembling):
> "Say it's not true…"
"Say... he's not the one who—"
Her voice cracked before she could finish.
---
Kennedy didn't answer.
He didn't need to.
The stillness said enough.
Merina's knees buckled—but water formed beneath her to catch her fall.
KAINEN (stoically, eyes closed):
> "...Another one lost."
"Another spark dimmed before it could become a sun."
---
Ractor stepped forward, his stone face unreadable.
RACTOR:
> "He didn't fall."
"He chose."
The words struck like icicles.
MERINA (through clenched teeth):
> "He didn't choose this...
Not really. He was hurting. No one saw him but me. I—I thought I was enough..."
---
Water spiraled upward from her, catching the light like tears in suspension.
She had trained beside Klexis.
Fought with him.
Laughed in quiet corners of the Academy when no one was looking.
Maybe she had loved him. Maybe he never knew.
---
KAINEN (placing a hand on her shoulder):
> "Pain ignored becomes poison.
Even the strongest drown in silence."
He looked to the horizon, distant eyes shimmering with grief.
KAINEN:
> "First Elexis. Now Klexis."
"I've trained champions... and buried them too."
"We fight so hard to shape greatness... we forget to heal brokenness."
---
SONIA (softly):
> "So what now?"
---
Ractor turned, cloak flaring like thunderclouds.
RACTOR:
> "Now? We prepare for war... not just of strength... but of memory."
"If Klexis is corrupted, his power will evolve beyond what we knew."
---
Merina stood slowly, wiping her tears, voice clear and sharp now.
MERINA:
> "Then I'll be the one to face him.
Because if there's still a piece of the boy I knew left inside the being he's becoming...
I'll find him. I'll bring him back."
---
KAINEN (turning to her, solemn):
> "Then you better prepare to face not just him...
But yourself."
---
The wind howled across Airien Academy.
They were no longer students.
They were witnesses to a storm that had already begun to break across the realms.
And somewhere, in the impossible tapestry between light and liberation...
Klexis was watching.