STORMERE
Season 1, Episode 12: "Nox"
INT. NOX’S FORTRESS – WAR ROOM – NIGHT (PRESENT DAY)
A vast, obsidian chamber carved into the mountain itself. Runes glow faintly along the walls, pulsing like a heartbeat.
At the center: NOX. No armor. No crown. Just Kael’s face, calmer than we’ve ever seen it.
A massive map of the world floats before him, fragments of light shifting as if alive. One region pulses faintly: KRYSTAL SANDS.
Nox watches it. Silent.
NOX (V.O.): A new age is upon us...The world will pay for what it did to me.
His fingers trace the map.
SMASH CUT TO:
EXT. VERITA – LOWER DISTRICT – DAY (YEARS AGO)
Rain pours relentlessly.
A YOUNG KAEL (12) runs through narrow streets, clutching a small satchel. Thin. Tired.
Shouts echo behind him.
MERCHANT (O.S.): THIEF! STOP HIM!
Kael turns a corner, BAM, collides with a guard. He falls hard. The satchel spills open. Inside: bread. Just bread.
The guard grabs him roughly.
GUARD: Look who it is... Stealing again?
Kael doesn’t answer. The guard backhands him. Kael hits the stone.
NOX (V.O.): This is what they call justice in this world. They would rather see a child die of hunger than to help them.
INT. VERITA COURT HALL – DAY
A massive hall. Marble. Gold. Pristine.
Kael stands alone before a raised platform. Nobles whisper. A JUDGE barely looks at him.
JUDGE: Order! Kael, this is your third offense so you leave me no choice besides sentencing you to work on the labor camps in the outskirts of town for six years.
Kael’s eyes widen.
KAEL: I was hungry. What was I supposed to do? I keep asking and asking for food and help and no one helps me. The system is broken and y'all just keep looking the other way...
Silence.
The gavel strikes.
EXT. LABOR QUARRIES – NIGHT
Kael, now OLDER (16), hauls stone with dozens of others. Bloodied hands. Broken backs. A boy collapses nearby. Doesn’t move.
No one helps.
The overseer steps over the body.
OVERSEER: Guess someone wasn't cut out for this. And y'all know what happens when you collapse... MORE TIME IN THE LABOR CAMPS!
Kael watches. Something hardens behind his eyes.
NOX (V.O.): This is the world we live in. Where the poor and weak are destroyed piece by piece, until nothing remains of them.
INT. QUARRY BARRACKS – NIGHT
Kael sits alone, carving symbols into stone: crude, unfinished runes.
An OLDER PRISONER watches him.
OLDER PRISONER: You shouldn’t do that.
KAEL: Why?
OLDER PRISONER: Because messing with runes without proper training it's dangerous. You're gonna destroy yourself... and everyone around you.
Kael stops for a second, thinking. He returns carving.
EXT. QUARRY – DAY
A cave-in. Chaos. Screams. Kael is trapped under rubble. Can’t breathe. Darkness closes in.
Something answers him.
The runes he carved earlier ignite: faint, unstable.
The stone moves and Kael crawls free as the ground reshapes itself around him.
Everyone stares with fear.
The overseer draws his blade.
OVERSEER (with fear in his eyes): Kill him. Before he kills us all.
Kael runs.
EXT. VERITA – OUTER WILDS – NIGHT
Kael stumbles through the forest, barely conscious. He collapses.
A shadow falls over him.
Not cruel. Not kind. Just… curious.
THE ARCHIVIST (50s), robed, eyes sharp, kneels beside him.
ARCHIVIST: You're the one that just used runes to move the earth, aren't you? I can sense the primal energy radiating from you.
Kael doesn’t respond.
ARCHIVIST: I sense something so... powerful.
Beat.
ARCHIVIST: Come with me. I can help you escape those maniacs... and help you bend that power into something remarkable.
Kael goes with the Archivist.
INT. ARCHIVE SANCTUM – YEARS LATER
Kael, now EARLY 20s, studies ancient texts. Runes float in the air, obeying him.
The Archivist watches, impressed.
ARCHIVIST: It's remarkable how much you've grown during these past few years. Power like yours is generational. You'll live to do great things... one way or the other.
KAEL: What do you mean?
ARCHIVIST: You, and you alone, have the power and will to either turn this world into a glorious utopia or into hell on Earth covered in death and war.
Kael looks at a map of fractured kingdoms.
KAEL: What if the world we live in is already a world at war?
Silence.
INT. ARCHIVE – NIGHT
Kael pores over forbidden texts. One word repeats again and again: STORMFALL
He reads faster. Obsessively.
NOX (V.O.): I never wanted to use Stormfall as a weapon. It was a tool that I could use to reshape this world into something...remarkable.
Visions flash, a world reshaped, wars erased, borders gone. And on top of it all, Kael.
NOX (V.O.): One wish. A new dawn.
EXT. ARCHIVE COURTYARD – NIGHT
Kael confronts the Archivist.
KAEL: Why did you keep the documents that talk about Stormfall hidden from me?
ARCHIVIST: Cause I've seen what the legend of Stormfall does to people. And someone as powerful as you... it might corrupt you.
KAEL: But, Stormfall... that's what we need to reshape this world into the utopia you've mentioned before. I want to do this... I NEED to do this.
ARCHIVIST: No, my boy. This won't create that utopia we dreamed of. You're gonna bring death and destruction on Earth. That's why I had to keep Stormfall hidden.
Kael’s expression goes cold.
KAEL: So, even you, the person that's meant to protect me, lied to me? Didn't you ever think of just being... honest? Cause I'll be honest... hell on Earth is looking way more appealing than before.
The ground trembles.
INT. ARCHIVE – MOMENTS LATER
Fire. Stone collapsing. Kael stands amid ruin, breathing hard.
The Archivist lies dying.
ARCHIVIST (weak): Don't do this... You’ll burn the world in your attempt to save it.
Kael kneels beside him.
KAEL: No.
Beat.
KAEL: I’ll rebuild this world. And make everyone regret doubting me.
The Archivist dies. Kael stands.
This is the moment.
Runes start to wrap around him like armor.
NOX IS BORN.
MONTAGE – YEARS PASSING
- Kael manipulating events from the shadows;
- Wars starting exactly when he predicted;
- Kingdoms collapsing without ever seeing him;
- Kael meeting the group for the first time, smiling;
- Watching them bond;
- Calculating every move.
NOX (V.O.): Heroes are useful. They inspire hope. And hope makes people predictable. But... I think it's time we root for the villain.
INT. NOX’S FORTRESS – WAR ROOM – NIGHT (PRESENT)
Back to Nox. He closes the map.
NOX: It's almost time... for a new age in Stormere.
He turns, and for the briefest moment, we see Kael again beneath the mask. Regret. Maybe.
Then it’s gone.
Nox steps into the shadows.
CUT TO BLACK.