Ashborne – Episode 5: "The Oracle's Debt"
Dark Fantasy / Action / Dialogue Script Format
📍**[EXT. CRATERED PLAIN – DUSK]**
[Smoke hangs in the air. The battlefield is quiet now, bodies of the Choir scattered like forgotten dolls. Kael limps forward, Ashbreaker dragging behind him.]
[Ira follows, her hands still trembling from the orb's outburst.]
IRA(guilt-ridden)"I felt it… enjoying the kill."
KAEL(without turning)"That wasn't you. That was it."
IRA"But I let it happen."
[Kael stops.]
KAEL(turns to face her)"No. You survived it. That's different."
[He studies her a beat longer. Then keeps walking.]
📍**[EXT. ANCIENT BRIDGE – NIGHT]**
[A long-forgotten stone bridge stretches across a void chasm. On the other side, a broken tower leans toward the stars.]
[As they cross, Ira looks up.]
IRA"What is that place?"
KAEL(gritting teeth as he walks)"The Tower of Thorns. Where the Oracles were buried in sleep. If your bloodline's memories are coming back… that's where they'll scream loudest."
[Lightning flashes overhead. The orb pulses faster in her hands.]
📍**[INT. THE TOWER OF THORNS – HOURS LATER]**
[The walls are covered in dried blood and thorned glyphs. They step inside the echoing halls.]
IRA(whispers)"It's calling me."
[Suddenly—a voice not hers speaks from her lips.]
HOLLOW REIGN (through her)"Do you remember, little cage… the deal your line made to hold me?"
KAEL(sword halfway drawn)"Get out of her."
*HOLLOW REIGN (calmly)"You said you'd kill me if I woke. But now... she hears them too."
[All around the tower, faint whispers rise — the dead Oracles. Crying, laughing, praying.]
IRA(struggling to breathe)"I-I can't—make it stop—"
KAEL(grabs her shoulders)"Breathe. Just breathe."
📍**[INT. ORACLE VAULT – DEEP WITHIN THE TOWER]**
[Massive doors slide open on their own. Inside: thirteen thrones, each one crumbled — except the final one.]
[A dying woman in faded ceremonial robes sits on the last throne — eyes hollow, but alive.]
ORACLE MATRON(barely whispering)"Veyne… blood returns… at last…"
IRA(stepping forward)"You… you were the last Matron."
ORACLE MATRON"Ira Veyne… daughter of the sealed… carrier of the breathless curse…"
KAEL(tense)"She's too weak to help you. We need to move—"
ORACLE MATRON (firmly)"No."
[Suddenly, the orb leaps from Ira's hands — floats above the Matron.]
ORACLE MATRON (cont'd)"I can give you clarity. For a price."
📍**[DREAMSCAPE – A VISION]**
[Ira stands in an endless sea of broken memories. Children trained in silence. Sacrifices bound in light. The curse being forged, not born.]
HOLLOW REIGN (voice all around)"I was never evil… I was made to punish gods."
📍**[BACK TO THE VAULT]**
[The orb drops. Ira collapses. Kael catches her.]
IRA (gasping)"They built it. The Oracles. They weren't protecting the world from Hollow Reign… they created it."
KAEL(jaw clenched)"Why would anyone build something like that?"
[The Matron coughs blood, dying.]
ORACLE MATRON"Because gods needed fear. And we… needed leverage."
[She finally dies. The thrones crumble to dust.]
📍**[EXT. TOWER OF THORNS – DAWN]**
[Kael and Ira stand in the cold wind.]
IRA"The curse isn't mine… it's our legacy."
KAEL"Then we burn the legacy."
[A low hum in the distance. Thunder that doesn't come from the sky.]
IRA(eyes widening)"That sound…"
KAEL"What?"
IRA"...That's not thunder."
📍**[EXT. SKYLINE – WIDE SHOT]**
[On the horizon — thousands of shapes move in sync. Metallic. Inhuman. Glowing with curse-sigils.]
KAEL(coldly)"Choir was just the opening verse."
To be continued…