STORMERE
Season 1, Episode 9: "Dawnhollow"
FADE IN:
EXT. WOODLAND ROAD – DUSK
The group trudges down a dirt path, the air heavy with fog. Trees lean close, their branches curling like fingers.
LYRA (quietly): I don’t like this road. It’s too quiet.
HUNTER: We should be enjoying the quiet. Let's not call for trouble.
SOREN (gruffly): Yeah, that's not going to happen.
They spot faint lanterns ahead, a town half-swallowed by mist.
ALERIC: Dawnhollow. Didn't think we'd pass by it.
ARIADNE (softly): ...What's this place?
ALERIC: Something happened on this village years ago. After that, not many people stayed to live here and they renamed the place to Dawnhollow. "Dawn" because the town was rebirth from a tragedy and "Hollow" cause that's what the town now is...
They listen... and they enter.
EXT. DAWNHOLLOW – NIGHT
The town looks old, older than it should, wooden houses blackened at their edges, foundations warped. Yet people live here. Smiling faces. Soft music from an inn. A strange warmth in the air.
But Ariadne feels... wrong. Every smell: smoke, ash, burnt oak; feels familiar.
LYRA: You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.
ARIADNE (quietly): It's nothing. Just having a weird feeling about his place.
INT. DAWNHOLLOW INN – LATER
The group eats at a long table. Kael stays silent, still distant since Verita. The brothers bicker lightly. But Ariadne barely touches her food.
HUNTER: You’ve been staring at that stew for ten minutes.
ARIADNE: This place... I'm having such a weird feeling of Dejá Vu.
A shadow moves near the doorway. An old man, hooded, skin scarred and burnt beyond recognition, leans on a cane. His voice is soft, familiar.
OLD MAN: Oh, hello. I never thought I'd see that face again.
Ariadne freezes. The spoon drops from her hand.
ARIADNE (whispering): ...No.
The old man’s clouded eyes meet hers, kind, knowing.
OLD MAN: You’ve come a long way, child. You're not that little girl anymore.
He heads out the backdoor of the Inn.
EXT. DAWNHOLLOW – HILL BEHIND THE INN – NIGHT
Ariadne follows him through the mist, her heart pounding. The group doesn’t notice her leave.
They stop before a charred field: grass never grew back here. Blackened stones, half-sunken foundations.
ARIADNE: This place... I know it.
OLD MAN (gently): You should. You made it what it is.
The memories hit her: flashes of fire, screams, her mentor tied to a stake, her own panic, and white light swallowing everything.
ARIADNE (shaking): I thought you died.
He lifts his hand, scarred, trembling.
OLD MAN: I thought I had, too. But I had unfinished tasks on the land of the living...
She steps closer, tears in her eyes.
ARIADNE: I was trying to save you. I just... I lost control.
OLD MAN (smiling faintly): You tried to save everyone, and in doing so, you proved what I always knew: your power is remarkable. Wild, uncontainable. The kind that only comes up once in a generation.
A pause.
ARIADNE: But I killed all those people...
OLD MAN: Guilt burns longer than fire. But guilt also keeps you human. You didn’t destroy this town, Ariadne, you rebirthed it. These people, this soil... all came back because of you.
She looks out, the faint glow of Dawnhollow in the mist. Alive. Moving. Laughing.
ARIADNE (softly): But I was the one that destroyed this town in the first place. It doesn't feel great.
OLD MAN: The dead will always walk beside you, child. But not all ghosts are meant to haunt you, some are here to guide you.
He steps back toward the mist, his voice fading.
OLD MAN: When the time comes, remember this... your power isn’t a curse. It’s the key to save the world from what's coming.
ARIADNE: Wait... what do you mean, “what’s coming”?
He only smiles, faint, fading.
OLD MAN: You’ll understand... eventually.
He disappears into the fog.
Ariadne stands alone, the wind brushing her hair. A single tear rolls down, steaming slightly as it hits the burned earth.
EXT. DAWNHOLLOW – INN BALCONY – LATER
Ariadne returns quietly. The others are asleep inside. She stares at the horizon, the faint glow of a storm far away over the sea.
ARIADNE (whispering): I'm ready... for whatever comes next.
The wind carries the sound of faint laughter: her mentor’s voice, distant, warm.
She closes her eyes.
EXT. DAWNHOLLOW – DAWN
The first light of morning breaks through the horizon. The town feels different now during the day: peaceful, almost grateful.
Ariadne stands in the middle of the square, eyes still wet but calm. The embers in her veins have dimmed. She watches the fog drift away, as if the night itself is finally letting go.
LYRA (approaching softly): You vanished last night. We were about to send a search party.
ARIADNE (quietly): I just needed some air.
SOREN: Looks like you found more than that. You feel... different. In a good way but... different.
Ariadne glances at them, small smile, tired but genuine.
ARIADNE: Maybe I did.
Hunter adjusts his pack and looks toward the horizon.
HUNTER: Sun’s up. If we move now, we can reach the coast by nightfall.
They all start walking. As they leave, Ariadne looks back one last time, the town now bathed in gold light. For the briefest moment, she sees him at the edge of the square, the old man, her old mentor... smiling faintly before fading into sunlight.
ARIADNE (softly, to herself): Thank you.
She turns, follows the others down the road.
The wind picks up. The ashes swirl in the air... but this time, they glow.
FADE OUT.
END OF EPISODE.