Episode 1: Scene 17

SCENE 17

EXT – EARTH: ULIN’S DWELLING

The camera cuts to Ulin approaching his apartment. Jingling keys are heard, followed by a click of the door unlocking and then the door creek as Ulin pushes the door open. A subtle breeze of an air purifier fills the space.

INT – EARTH: ULIN’S DWELLING

As he steps through the threshold of the door, he reaches to turn on a light switch. The living area is suddenly illuminated by a warm light emitting from a lamp stand on the far side of the sofa and end table, revealing his tidy minimalistic apartment. Facing the open kitchen on the left, he slowly closes the front door behind him. With a slow pace and sluggish stride, he sets down his gym bag on the floor in the entry way. He removes his boots, slowly sliding one off at a time; an airy grunt follows with every effort. Each boot makes a thud as it hits the hardwood floor. He sets them neatly to the side of his gym bag. His movements are heavy, deliberate, emphasizing the toll the day has taken. He walks to the nearby fridge to store his leftovers. Upon closing the fridge, he turns to grab a washcloth from a small stack near the kitchen sink and runs it under cool water. After ringing it out, he heads to sit near the center of his couch. He leans back with a tired sigh. He presses the cool rag to his face and wipes the settled perspiration off as he lowers his hands to his lap. His gaze drifts to an old twine-bound book resting on the coffee table. The sacred writings, with its weathered pages, sit open next to a pen and notepad. With a faint puzzling expression, Ulin leans forward and peers upon the sacred writings. His eyes scan the text, absorbing its meaning with quiet reverence. After a moment, Ulin reaches for the pen and notepad. He jots the question down, “He must be loosed a little season?” with slightly uneven handwriting from exhaustion. He pauses, rereads what he’s written, then places the pen and notepad back on the coffee table. Ulin shifts his position to lying on his back along the length of the couch. His head rests near the end table and lamp. The camera captures a photo of Ulin's parents in a picture frame on the end table. Ulin places the washcloth over his face. As his body relaxes, the tension in his shoulders eases, and his breathing slows. Ulin’s exhaustion overtakes him, and he drifts into sleep.

The Vision: Ulin suddenly enters a vision, through the cameras first-person perspective, silently observing from a bird’s-eye view. Music with dark vibrations tells of emerging dangerous entities. The camera moves in sync with Ulin’s head movements as he looks upon the chaos below. The appearance of a Rift Storm envelopes the surrounding terrain. Dust, rain, loud booming and crashing debris fill the air. In the environments low-visibility, unclear figures and faces move about quickly. Ulin vaguely sees a stationary woman in the midst and narrows his focus. With a distant indiscernible shouting, she directs others: waving her arm and guiding by the touch of her hands. As some of the dust clears from around her, Ulin sees her face. She is clothed in attire that has some semblance to Rift-Storm armor. Her head bears an unfamiliar Lex Diffuser Vox Frame, complete with a Chailux Discoid. Jetti suddenly looks up straight into the camera. She locks eyes with the bird’s-eye view, as though she’s looking straight through the vision at Ulin with a piercing stare. After a paused moment, her distant voice rings out from an echoing distortion to clarity as she speaks once more.

Jetti (Revelatory with undertone of tension):

“Ophis.”

Ulin has received a glimpse of the prophecy yet to unfold. Before the vision ends, the camera pauses on Jetti’s expression. The sound of the storm fades out. The image freezes. The music continues. The freeze-frame slowly morphs into an artistic rendering while the music fades. The artistic rendering transitions into the credits and the theme track swells.