STORMERE
Season 1, Episode 14: "No More Hope"
EXT. KRYSTAL SANDS – RUINED SHORELINE – DUSK
The sand glows faintly like crushed glass beneath the sun. Ancient stone pillars jut from the shore, half-buried, cracked by time and salt. The sea is unnaturally calm.
The group stands together, weapons lowered but ready. Across from them, alone, calm, untouched by the wind...
NOX
Black cloak barely moving. Hands folded behind his back. Waiting. Hunter steps forward instinctively. Lyra grabs his arm.
LYRA (low): Don’t.
HUNTER (quiet): I'm not going to do anything...
NOX smiles, not cruel, not mocking. Almost… tired of fighting.
NOX: You made it further than I expected.
SOREN: Shut up.
NOX (glancing at him): Oh, I surely didn't miss you Soren. You talk too much.
Soren stiffens. Hunter’s jaw tightens.
ARIADNE: Why let us come here? Why not kill us when you revealed yourself?
NOX: Because this isn’t about killing you.
He takes a slow step closer. The air seems to press inward.
NOX: It’s about creating something.
ALERIC: And what’s that?
NOX looks directly at him.
NOX (smirks): That hope is the cruelest lie ever sold to this world. And that sometimes... the past comes back to haunt us...
A beat.
HUNTER: You used us. Lied to us. All for your amusement?
NOX: Yes.
HUNTER (angry): And you still think you’re right? That you're going to change this world for the better...
NOX: I know I am.
He gestures toward the glowing sands, the ruins.
NOX: Stormfall was a legend created to rewrite the world when it needed. Wars. Gods. Kings. It's time for a true ruler to command this land.
ARIADNE: You just want power.
NOX: No. I want to end the need for it. Powerful people always come with extremely high egos... so when everyone is powerless, that's fixed.
SOREN: So you're fixing everything by burning everything?
NOX (soft): If that's what it takes...
Hunter steps closer again.
HUNTER: You don’t get to decide that.
NOX: Neither do any of you. This is my time, Hunter. You'd be better off if you just joined me like...
A silence. Heavy. Then...
A shift in the air. A presence.
The sand behind Nox darkens. A figure steps forward from nothing.
THE PRINCESS OF THE CRIMSON CROWN NOW KNOWN AS THE BLOOD QUEEN
Clad in deep red armor, untouched by time. Eyes sharp. Alive.
Aleric freezes.
ALERIC (barely audible): …No.
Everyone looks to him.
LYRA: Aleric?
The Blood Queen meets Aleric’s gaze. She's not the innocent girl he once knew. She's a powerful woman.
NOX (to Aleric): You lost her once. They took you from her. You built your entire life around that absence.
ALERIC (shaking): This isn’t real.
NOX: It is. And it’s why you understand me more than the rest of them ever will. Join us, Aleric.
The Princess steps closer to Aleric. She doesn’t touch him.
THE BLOOD QUEEN (soft): It's me. I told you to not forget me. You never stopped loving me. After all this time, I ask you to trust me this once... join me.
Aleric’s breath breaks.
ARIADNE: Nox, stop this.
NOX: I’m not doing anything.
A long, brutal pause. Aleric looks at the group. At Hunter. At Ariadne.
Then back to her. The one person that could break him in a second...
He takes a step. Towards Nox.
HUNTER (shocked): Aleric… don’t do this...
Aleric stops beside Nox. His voice is hollow.
ALERIC: I'm sorry...
Nox inclines his head.
NOX: Well done, Aleric. Clearly, you see the bright vision of my utopia.
The Blood Queen stands at Aleric’s side. The group is stunned. Something has shattered... quietly.
HUNTER (furious): You don’t get to take him too!
NOX: I didn’t take anything. He came to me... voluntarily. You didn't see me point him any weapon or threatening him, did you?
Hunter draws his blade.
LYRA: Hunter...
HUNTER: No. You won't take
He steps forward, shaking with rage and grief.
HUNTER: You talk about this utopia like it's the greater good. But all you do is destroy anything good just to prove a point. You don't care about anything...
NOX (calculating): I always knew you were the heart of this group, Hunter... I almost feel touched... but, I don't have a heart.
Lightning flickers faintly above the sands.
SOREN: We'll never let you win. We'll fight you for decades if that's what it takes to stop you...
Nox turns to Hunter. Fully. Directly.
NOX: I knew this would have to end this way...
HUNTER: I'm not scared of you...
LYRA: Hunter, please... stop. Come back.
HUNTER (without looking back): I love you.
NOX: Oh, Hunter... You should be very scared of me.
For the first time, Nox looks… almost regretful.
NOX: I'm sorry... that you couldn't live long enough to see our brave new world...
He raises his hand. Everything slows.
Lyra screams his name. Soren lunges.
Too late.
A surge of dark light, fast, precise.
Hunter collapses to the sand. Blood spreads, staining the glowing crystals beneath him.
Silence.
Lyra drops beside him instantly, hands shaking, pressing against the wound.
LYRA (crying): No, no, no, stay with me...please...
Hunter’s breath rattles. He looks at her. Smiles faintly.
HUNTER (weak): I'm sorry I couldn't keep that promise.
Tears stream down her face.
LYRA: Don’t do this. Please. Don't go.
Hunter’s eyes flick to Soren.
HUNTER: Take care of her.
SOREN (choking): No. You don’t get to leave me too.
Hunter exhales once.
Then nothing.
Lyra lets out a sound that isn’t a scream, something more primal. Ariadne stands frozen. Soren collapses beside his brother.
Nox steps back.
NOX: I'm sorry... It had to happen this way. You'll understand me someday.
Darkness folds around him, Aleric, and the Blood Queen.
They vanish. The wind picks up. The sands glow dimmer.
The survivors remain.
Broken.
Defeated.
END OF ACT TWO - "THE CONSEQUENCES"
FADE TO BLACK.