Chapter 83 – "Truth in Shatterglass"
> "The cruelest weapon is not a lie—but a memory that feels too real to deny."
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Scene 1 – "Dion's Hollow"
> Narrator: "Depression doesn't shout. It whispers your worth into dust."
Dion hasn't spoken in two days.
He sits in a shallow trench near the edge of camp. Rain collects at his feet. He doesn't notice.
Gift brings him food. He doesn't eat.
Reen leaves Atlas's broken blade near him. He barely reacts.
Maiku: "Is he even in there anymore?"
Reen (quiet): "He's somewhere deeper than sadness. A place hard to come back from."
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Scene 2 – "Nightfall"
That night, the crew sleeps uneasily.
> Narrator: "Not all sleep is rest. Some dreams come preloaded—with blood."
The Root Avatar watches from afar, hands over 70,000 pulsing memory jars.
Root Avatar: "We teach them to hate themselves next. Doubt is a sharper sword than ether and steel."
He turns the dials on the Link.
The dreams begin.
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Scene 3 – "Reen's Dream" – 'Ash Garden'
Reen walks through a burned village. Charred bones everywhere.
She sees herself standing tall—calm, unflinching—as people scream.
A mother begs for her child. Reen's dream-self slits her throat.
She wakes up choking—gasping, clawing at her own chest.
Gift rushes in.
Reen (shaking): "It was me… It felt like me."
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Scene 4 – "Gift's Dream" – 'Poisoned Roots'
Gift finds himself in a garden filled with children—laughing, playing.
He offers them fruit.
They all die choking.
His hands drip black sap.
A child says,
Child: "You always wanted to see what death looked like, didn't you?"
Gift wakes up vomiting.
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Scene 5 – "Matthew's Dream" – 'Wrong Note'
Matthew plays music in a village square.
Everyone dances—until they start collapsing.
His flute bleeds.
He looks up. A sign reads: "Execution Day. Musician: Matthew."
He wakes up to find the flute shattered in half beside him—he doesn't remember breaking it.
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Scene 6 – "Jakku's Dream" – 'The Laugh Before the Fire'
Jakku lights a fire to warm children.
He laughs—then realizes it's a funeral pyre.
He's surrounded by corpses he swore he'd protect.
His own father appears, eyes hollow:
Jakku's Father(hollow): "You're no son of mine."
Jakku wakes up in tears. He hasn't in a while.
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Scene 7 – "Dion's Dream" – 'Echo of the Blade'
Dion stands in a city street.
Everyone he's ever loved stands in a line—Atlas, Reen, Gift, even Maiku.
A Root-blade forms in his hand.
A voice: "You'll kill them. Because you always do."
His body moves on its own. One by one, he cuts them down.
He tries to stop. He can't.
He wakes up screaming.
No one comes.
He curls into a ball. Doesn't speak.
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Scene 8 – "Seventy Thousand"
Cut to different regions.
People whisper names like "Reen the Reaper," "Jakku the Jester Butcher," "Gift of Death."
The Link pulses.
Root Avatar: "Seventy thousand... and they believe it now. Because their heroes do."
He breathes into a memory jar. It pulses violet.
> Root Avatar: "Soon, Dion won't need to be hunted. He'll surrender. Just to stop remembering."
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Scene 9 – "Reen Breaks the Silence"
At the fire, no one speaks.
Then Reen does.
Reen: "We all dreamed of blood."
They all nod slowly. Eyes tired. None of them feel whole.
Maiku: "What if it's not a dream?"
Reen: "It was."
Gift: "But we felt it."
Reen: "We feel the world wrong. That's the point."
Reen looks toward Dion, still curled in silence.
Reen (softly): "And he's drowning in it."
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Scene 10 – "The Last Thread"
That night, Dion finally speaks—just one line:
Dion: "I'm scared that if I ever believed the lie... it means there's truth in it."
He clutches the piece of Atlas's blade again.
Fade out.
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To Be Continued...
> Narrator (Closing Monologue):
"The most dangerous lies aren't spoken by others.
They're the ones you find growing in your own voice."
"This wasn't a chapter of blood. It was a chapter of erosion—
not of the body, but of identity."
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"There are griefs too loud for sound.
Dion wasn't quiet.
He was absent—
like someone who'd left without moving an inch."
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"They didn't sleep.
They fell into curated terror—
dreams hand-stitched by an enemy who didn't need to fight,
just convince."
> "When you dream of guilt with clarity,
you wake up unsure whether you ever were innocent."
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"Reen bled for sins she never committed.
Gift vomited truth that wasn't his.
Matthew's melody snapped under weight it never asked to carry.
Jakku… Jakku laughed before the flames, and hated himself for it."
> "And Dion?
Dion became the executioner of everyone he loved—
by design."
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"He didn't need to raise armies.
He only needed to raise doubt.
Seventy thousand minds,
twisted not with hatred—
but with misplaced certainty."
> "Because once the hero believes the lie…
the world will follow."
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"It didn't fix anything.
But it named the wound.
And sometimes, that's all truth can do—
call itself out loud,
even if the echo doesn't come back."
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"It was just a sentence.
But it was the truest thing he'd said in days."
> "Fear isn't just being wrong.
It's wondering if, deep down… you never were right."
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"Shatterglass cuts from the inside.
These weren't memories.
They were reflections,
warped just enough to feel real—
just enough to hurt."
> "But a cracked mirror doesn't mean your face is broken.
They haven't lost yet.
Because they're still waking up."