NOVA BASE – TECH LAB – MORNING
Daiki sat cross-legged on the floor, cables and crystals spread out around him. His brow furrowed in concentration. Zayn stood beside a glowing console, his fingers dancing across the keyboard.
Between them hovered a fragmented Nova Shard—cracked, unstable, and slightly different from the others. This one belonged to Lyra and Daiki's mother… or at least, used to.
DAIKI (intensely)This has to mean something. She wore this. She used this. Maybe it can tell us where she went.
ZAYNI've cross-checked its energy signature. It was once part of the Nova Force, but it's fractured. Like someone forcefully extracted the bond from its wielder.
DAIKI (murmuring)And then shaped into a trap… like that imposter teacher.
Zayn hit a final key—and suddenly, the shard flashed, projecting a sequence of glowing glyphs into the air. They hovered like floating code.
ZAYN (eyes widening)There's data in it. A message. But it's encrypted in an ancient Nova dialect. I can only decode part of it right now.
He tapped a key, and the message read aloud:
"To the bearer of the broken light... if this shard still pulses, then I have failed. He walks among stars in shadows—he knows our names. The Nova Force was never whole. The fifth gate is a lie."
Static interrupted the rest.
DAIKI (whispering)That… was Mom's voice.
INT. NOVA BASE – LOUNGE – MOMENTS LATER
The team gathered as Zayn replayed the message.
RAYNA (uneasy)"Walks among stars in shadows"? That sounds like someone from the Void Dominion. Someone deep in it.
JETT"The fifth gate is a lie." What does that mean? There were only five shards, right?
KAEL (gritting his teeth)Unless… there was supposed to be a sixth.
LYRA (softly)She said if the shard still pulses, she's failed. That means… she knew what she was going into.
DAIKIShe was warning us. Even back then.
INT. TECH LAB – LATER THAT NIGHT
Zayn continued working at the console, scanning the second half of the glyph code. Daiki dozed lightly next to the table, still holding the cracked shard.
The room glowed dimly.
Suddenly, the shard blinked again—not randomly, but rhythmically.
Morse code.
Zayn's eyes snapped open.
ZAYN (quietly)It's not just a message. It's a trail.
He turned to Daiki and gently shook him awake.
ZAYNGet up. Your mom left more than a warning.
DAIKI (blinking)What?
ZAYN (intensely)She left a location.
TO BE CONTINUED…