Opening Scene: The Ruins of Solara
Setting:
Setting: The skeletal remains of the Starfire Palace, its once-gleaming towers now reduced to jagged obsidian teeth jutting from a desert of black glass. The sky hangs low and bruised, streaked with veins of violet lightning that crackle without sound. The air is thick with the scent of ozone and something older—burnt sugar and iron, the ghost of magic long spent.
The ground beneath Lyria's boots is not sand but petrified spellwork, the remnants of a final, catastrophic battle frozen in time. Every step sends up tiny plumes of iridescent dust that swirl in the sickly light, each particle humming with faint, dissonant notes—like a song half-remembered.
To the west, the ruins of a celestial observatory tilt precariously, its great astrolabe shattered, the embedded star maps still glowing with dying embers of blue fire. To the east, the royal gardens have mutated into a grotesque parody of life—crystallized trees with branches like grasping fingers, their leaves turned to razor-edged shards that chime in the wind.
And at the center of it all, the palace throne room, its domed roof split open as if clawed apart by some colossal beast. The edges of the fracture still smolder with residual shadow, tendrils of darkness licking upward like inverted flames.
(Lyria steps through the shattered gates, her boots crunching on glass-like shards of petrified magic. The Crown of Embers—now fused to her locket—pulses like a second heartbeat. Behind her, the team is tense:)
Marina grips her coral staff, seawater swirling around her ankles in defensive loops.
Vesper's lightning flickers erratically up her arms, betraying her fear.
Zephyra scans the ruins with a thief's paranoia, her wind senses stretched thin.
Kael walks stiffly, his wingless back scarred where the Shadowling chains had bitten deep.
Lyria (whispering):
"This is where my mother died."
(A gust of wind howls through the ruins, carrying voices from the past. For a second, the shadows solidify into ghostly figures—
- A woman with Lyria's eyes (Queen Solara) standing atop the palace steps, arms raised in defiance.
- Malrik, younger but already hollow-eyed, driving a dagger through her chest.
- The sky itself splitting open as the Devourer's roar shakes the world—
The vision vanishes. The locket burns cold against Lyria's skin.)
Scene 1: The Devourer's Truth
Setting: The palace throne room, its gold-and-onyx mosaics cracked into cryptic patterns.
Lyria steps through the fractured archway, her breath hitching as the Crown of Embers thrums against her chest. The locket's light spills across the ruins, illuminating:
The Shattered Throne: A massive seat of white gold and onyx, now cleaved in two. One side gleams as if freshly polished; the other is corroded black, eaten away by something that left behind spiraling, worm-like grooves in the metal. At its base, the tiles are stained in a radial pattern—not with blood, but with liquid shadow that still moves sluggishly, recoiling from the light of her locket.
The Murals: The walls are carved with scenes of Starfire history, but they've been defaced. The faces of the royal lineage are scratched out, their eyes gouged deep. Only one figure remains untouched—a towering, nebulous shape with a maw of stars, its limbs chained by a woman who looks eerily like Lyria. Beneath it, an inscription in the Old Tongue:
"The Eclipse is not a gift. It is a hunger. And all hungers must be fed."
The Scroll: Nestled in the throne's ruins is a cylinder of living parchment, its surface shifting like water. When Lyria unrolls it, the ink rearranges itself into her mother's handwriting:
"My dearest Lyria, if you read this, I have failed. The Devourer was never our enemy—it is the echo of our ancestors' greed. The first Starfire queen tore light and shadow apart to wield them separately. The Devourer is what was left behind—the void where they once touched. We are not its jailers. We are its tether."
As the words fade, the scroll disintegrates, the dust forming a hologram of Queen Solara in her final moments—her wings burning at the edges, her hands pressed to the ground as black veins spread beneath her palms, swallowing the palace whole.
Then—a sound. A low, rhythmic thud that shakes the ruins. It takes Lyria a moment to realize:
It's a heartbeat. And it's coming from beneath the throne.
(Lyria touches the throne—it crumbles to ash. But beneath it lies a hidden compartment with a single scroll. As she unrolls it, Seraphina sucks in a breath:)
Seraphina:
"That's not possible..."
(The scroll shows an ancient mural of the first Eclipse Fairy—but her face is blurred, her body half-consumed by a maw of stars. The text reads:)
"The Devourer is no enemy. It is the price of Starfire—the hunger born when light and shadow divorce. My bloodline is the lock. My heir will be the key."
Kael (grabbing Lyria's wrist):
"Your mother didn't seal the Devourer. She created it."
(Lyria's magic erupts in a shockwave—black-and-gold energy cracks the floor beneath them!)
Scene 2: The Team Fractures
Setting: The ruins' courtyard, where the group argues as violet storm clouds gather.
Vesper (backing away):
"So what—your family's been farming this thing like some twisted power source?"
Lyria (voice breaking):
"I didn't know—"
Zephyra (drawing her daggers):
"Does Malrik know? Is that why he wants you?"
(Kael steps between them, his voice lethally calm:)
Kael:
"Enough. The how doesn't matter now. That thing is coming, and we're the only ones—"
(A shadow spear impales him through the shoulder! The team whirls to see—)
Scene 3: Malrik's Arrival
Setting: The sky tears open, disgorging Malrik—but he's not alone.
(Hundreds of Shadowlings pour from the rift, led by Malrik in his new, corrupted form: his wings are now jagged obsidian shards, his eyes fully crimson. Behind him floats the Starfire Dagger, its blade dripping liquid shadow.)
Malrik (smiling):
"Hello, little heir. Ready to fulfill your destiny?"
(The team snaps into battle formation:)
Marina summons a tsunami from groundwater.
Vesper electrifies the water, creating a lightning cage.
Zephyra hurls wind blades at Malrik's eyes.
(But Malrik just laughs, absorbing their magic into his cloak of stolen wings. He flicks a hand—
—and Seraphina screams as her own sun blades reverse, burning her from within!)
Scene 4: The Choice
Setting: The throne room collapses around them as Lyria faces Malrik.
(He tosses her the Starfire Dagger. It lands at her feet, its hilt carved with her mother's initials.)
Malrik:
"Stab me, and the Devourer is free. Stab yourself, and you reseal it—but your magic dies forever. Choose."
(Lyria looks back at her team:)
Kael bleeding out on the steps.
Marina desperately healing Seraphina's burns.
Vesper and Zephyra barely holding off Shadowlings.
(Her fingers close around the dagger— and she plunges it toward her own heart.)