Part 11
(Aryan 22 – First month of rule. The throne is cold stone.)
FADE IN:
INT. CENTRAL SPIRE – THRONE CHAMBER – NIGHT
Aurum veins crawl up black walls like living scars. Throne carved from obsidian and gold — too large, too empty.
Aryan sits motionless. Eyes pure gold, no silver left. Face harder than the stone beneath him.
Before him: joint council of Sarangi and Pati elders — kneeling, heads bowed, sweat gleaming.
ELDER SARANGI
High Custodian… the mines yield triple since the Lode answered you.
ELDER PATI
The people sing your name.
They call you… Awakener.
Aryan's finger taps once. Silence falls like an axe.
ARYAN
They sing because fear has rhythm.
Not love.
He stands. Walks past them. No one dares breathe.
ARYAN (inner voice)
Why does their fear taste like my father's last cough?
Why does gold feel like ash in the throat?
He stops at balcony edge. Looks down — campfires dot the valley like dying stars.
ARYAN
Double the tribute.
Build walls higher.
No one enters. No one leaves.
Elders bow deeper. Scramble out.
Aryan alone. Fist closes. Tiny white flame flickers — dies instantly.
ARYAN (inner voice)
Control.
Finally absolute.
And worth exactly nothing.
FADE OUT.
Part 12
(Aryan 23 – The first rebellion whispers. Small. Sharp.)
FADE IN:
EXT. OUTER MINES – DAWN – FOG THICK WITH DUST
Miners — faces black with aurum powder — move like ghosts. Chains clink soft.
One young miner (19, eyes still bright with something unbroken) slips a folded note to another.
Note reads: "The Awakener bleeds the land dry. We remember the boy who was hunted. Not this king."
Note burns in miner's palm — self-ignited. Ash scatters.
CUT TO:
INT. SPIRE – WAR ROOM – NIGHT
Aryan stands over map of the Land of Gold. Red marks — rebellion cells.
Captain of Guard (old Sarangi veteran) reports.
CAPTAIN
Small. Scattered. Pamphlets calling you tyrant.
They say… you killed your own blood to sit here.
Aryan's face doesn't change.
ARYAN
Truth is expensive.
Make an example.
One village. Public.
Captain hesitates — fraction.
CAPTAIN
Which one?
ARYAN
The one that birthed the note writer.
Captain bows. Leaves.
Aryan touches map. White flame traces red marks — erases them like breath on glass.
ARYAN (inner voice)
Mercy breeds hope.
Hope breeds knives.
I learned that from you, Uncle.
FADE OUT.
Part 13
(Aryan 23 – The example. Fire prefers memory.)
FADE IN:
EXT. BORDER VILLAGE – DUSK – SKY THE COLOR OF BRUISES
Huts burn clean — white flame, surgical. No screams escape the circle Aryan drew.
Villagers kneel in ring. One boy (14) — same age Aryan was when he first killed — stares up.
BOY
You were supposed to save us.
Aryan kneels. Meets eyes.
ARYAN
I saved you from worse.
BOY
Worse than watching my mother burn?
Aryan stands. Flame in palm pulses once.
ARYAN
Yes.
He turns. Walks through fire — untouched.
Behind him — village becomes white ash. Perfect circle. Warning.
ARYAN (inner voice)
Why does his hate feel familiar?
Why does it fit like my old skin?
FADE OUT.
Part 14
(Aryan 24 – The mirror cracks. First ghost.)
FADE IN:
INT. PRIVATE CHAMBER – MIDNIGHT
Aryan stands before polished obsidian mirror. Reflection shows him — gold eyes, gold veins creeping under skin.
He raises hand. Flame forms face — Kavya's.
Face speaks. Her voice. Soft. Broken.
KAVYA (reflection)
You chose this.
ARYAN
I chose survival.
KAVYA (reflection)
You chose solitude.
Flame twists — becomes Vikrant.
VIKRANT (reflection)
Power was never the prize, son.
It was the chain.
Aryan slams palm against mirror. Glass cracks. Faces shatter.
ARYAN
Shut up.
Silence.
He sinks to floor. Back against wall.
ARYAN (inner voice)
Why do ghosts speak louder than the living ever did?
FADE OUT.
Part 15
(Aryan 24 – Rebellion finds a face. Young. Female. Dangerous.)
FADE IN:
EXT. HIDDEN CAVE – NIGHT – RAIN HAMMERING
Rebel camp. Small. Growing.
At center: MAYA (21, Pati blood, sharp jaw, eyes like storm glass). She holds burning pamphlet — Aryan's face drawn in ash.
MAYA
He thinks fire scares us.
Fire reminds us.
She drops ash. Wind carries it.
MAYA (inner voice)
My brother burned in his circle.
I will make him remember names.
CUT TO:
INT. SPIRE – OBSERVATION BALCONY
Aryan watches distant lightning. Senses shift.
ARYAN (inner voice)
Something new moves.
Not fear.
Purpose.
He smiles — small, cold.
ARYAN
Good.
FADE OUT.
Part 16
(Aryan 25 – First meeting. Blade to blade.)
FADE IN:
EXT. RUINED BRIDGE – TWILIGHT – GOLD VEINS PULSE BENEATH
Aryan waits alone. Cloak still.
Maya steps from mist. Single blade. No army.
MAYA
You came.
ARYAN
You asked nicely.
With corpses.
MAYA
Your examples leave bodies.
Mine leave questions.
She draws blade. No flourish.
Aryan raises hand — no flame.
ARYAN
No fire today.
Just us.
They circle. Slow. Predators measuring.
Maya lunges — fast, precise.
Aryan sidesteps. Grabs wrist. Twists — not to break. To hold.
ARYAN
You fight like my mother.
MAYA
And you kill like your uncle.
Aryan releases. Steps back.
ARYAN
Walk away.
Live.
MAYA
Not while you sit on stolen gold.
She attacks again. Aryan catches blade between palms — white flame flares, melts steel.
Maya drops hilt. Unarmed. Still standing.
MAYA
Kill me then.
Aryan studies her.
ARYAN (inner voice)
Why does killing her feel like killing the last piece of me that cared?
He lowers hands.
ARYAN
Go.
Tell them the Awakener spares one.
Maya laughs — bitter, bright.
MAYA
Mercy is just delayed cruelty.
She turns. Walks into mist.
Aryan watches until gone.
ARYAN (inner voice)
She's right.
FADE OUT.
Part 17
(Aryan 25 – Doubt is a slow poison.)
FADE IN:
MONTAGE – MONTHS PASSING
Aryan alone in throne room. Food untouched.
Elders report growing desertions. He nods. Silent.
Nightmares: Kavya's face in gold veins, whispering "Choose again."
Maya's rebels strike supply lines — surgical, no massacre.
Aryan burns another village. Smaller flame. Smaller circle.
He stops mid-gesture. Lets one family run.
ARYAN (inner voice, overlapping all scenes)
Why does sparing feel weaker than killing?
Why does ruling feel like waiting to die?
FADE OUT.
Part 18
(Aryan 26 – The second mirror. The last ghost.)
FADE IN:
INT. VAULT – NIGHT – TOME OPEN AGAIN
Aryan stands before pedestal. Places palm on page.
White light floods. Forms figure — not Ravan, not parents.
Himself — younger. 6½. Holding dead hare.
YOUNG ARYAN
Why did it die after I fixed it?
Aryan kneels. Eye to eye with his own ghost.
ARYAN
Because fixing and breaking use the same hands.
YOUNG ARYAN
Then why keep fixing?
ARYAN
Because stopping feels like surrender.
Young Aryan smiles — sad.
YOUNG ARYAN
You surrendered years ago.
To the throne.
To the name.
To the lie that power fills holes.
Light fades. Vault dark.
Aryan alone. Breathing hard.
ARYAN
What's left if I stop?
No answer.
FADE OUT.
Part 19
(Aryan 26 – The final confrontation. Bridge meets fire.)
FADE IN:
EXT. CENTRAL VALLEY – DAWN – BOTH CLANS GATHERED
Rebels on one ridge. Clans on other. Aryan alone in middle.
Maya steps forward. No blade. Just voice.
MAYA
Step down.
Or we burn the Gold before you can.
Aryan looks at faces — fear, hate, hope.
ARYAN
You want the bridge gone.
MAYA
We want the tyrant gone.
Aryan raises hands. White flame coils — massive, skyward.
Then — he closes fists.
Flame dies.
Complete darkness for one heartbeat.
Then he speaks. Soft.
ARYAN
Take it.
He walks past Maya. Toward horizon.
Clans murmur. Rebels hesitate.
Maya calls after.
MAYA
Where are you going?
ARYAN
To find what's left after the fire goes out.
He keeps walking. No one follows.
FADE OUT.
Part 20 – Epilogue
(Aryan 30 – Four years wandering. No name. No gold.)
FADE IN:
EXT. DISTANT MOUNTAIN PASS – SUNSET
Man in patched cloak. No gold in eyes anymore — just gray. Scarred hands. No flame.
He sits by small fire. Normal orange. Weak.
Watches flames dance.
ARYAN (inner voice)
No power.
No throne.
No ghosts.
A child — maybe 8 — approaches from trees. Hungry. Afraid.
Aryan tears bread. Offers half.
Child takes. Sits beside him.
No words.
Fire crackles.
ARYAN (inner voice)
Why does this feel heavier than ruling?
Why does ordinary hurt more than any blade?
He looks at sky. Stars indifferent.
Smiles — small. Real. First in years.
ARYAN
Stay warm.
Child nods.
FADE TO BLACK.