[SCENE – ABANDONED OBSERVATORY – EXT – DUSK]
The sky is smeared with ash-colored clouds. The observatory looms like a forgotten god — cracked, devoured by vines, and ghost-silent. Rain stands in the parking lot, jaw clenched, teeth grinding.
RAIN (thinking):
"Shut the fuck up…"
He slams his heel into the pavement, cracking the ground beneath him. The voices — whispering fragments of forgotten galaxies — echo inside his skull like tinnitus made of stars.
RAIN (thinking):
"Every fuckin' second… every step… louder."
He stares up. No stars. Not in the sky. Not on the observatory ceiling. Nothing. He's alone. But not for long.
⸻
[SCENE – OBSERVATORY – INT – MAIN HALL – NIGHT]
Inside, the observatory is clean. Pristine. Spotless as if time gave up trying to rot it. Light hums from old machines that shouldn't work. Rain walks in, steps heavy, breath tight.
A sudden flicker. A figure. Right in his face.
MOON PERSON (human form, trying to be hip):
"Yo, yo, big dawg, chillax—"
RAIN (startled):
"THE FUCK?!"
Instinct. Heel slams again. The floor erupts, light shoots upward like a volcanic scream. The Moon Person barely dodges, jacket singed.
MOON PERSON (dusting off):
"Okay, okay, less 'gangsta' more… sage. My bad. Tone mismatch."
Their playful demeanor drops. A pause.
MOON PERSON (serious):
"You're breaking the seal. Your soul is leaking essence. He'll find you."
RAIN:
"He who?"
MOON PERSON:
Mourn.
They vanish in glitchy particles. Rain stands alone. Then—
⸻
[SCENE – OUTER RIM OF THE OBSERVATORY – NIGHT]
Wind howls. Everything slows. The sky twists.
A rift opens like torn skin — black ink leaking into reality.
[ENTER: MOURN]
Slender. Pale. Barefoot. Cloaked in cosmic static. Mourn steps into the world with eyes that look like collapsed stars.
MOURN (softly, almost reverently):
"So this is the beacon… pathetic."
RAIN:
"You lost, Casper?"
Mourn raises a hand. Reality bends. The ground Rain stands on buckles, launching him across the yard. He crashes into a rusted satellite dish.
RAIN (coughing blood):
"Okay… not a ghost. Noted."
Mourn is on him. Every blow hits like gravity collapsing. Rain can barely block. He tries to retaliate but the essence slips from his control — raw, wild, unformed. Like trying to punch with thunder you don't understand.
Mourn kicks him into the observatory wall. His spine cracks something important.
MOURN:
"You don't even know their name."
⸻
[SCENE – FLASHBACK – DIMLY LIT APARTMENT – NIGHT – YEARS AGO]
Rain as a kid, sitting on a rooftop with his father. The stars are dazzling.
FATHER (smoking, calm):
"You know, every star's got a name. Not the science kind. The real ones. Old names. Cosmic names. Living names. And if you ever hear 'em… really hear 'em… they'll answer you back."
RAIN (young):
"What's their name?"
FATHER:
"You'll know when you need to."
⸻
[SCENE – PRESENT – OBSERVATORY – INT – NIGHT]
Rain's body is broken. He's bleeding out on the observatory floor. His breath is shallow. His vision doubles. Mourn approaches, hand outstretched.
Then—
RAIN (barely breathing):
"…Aetherion."
The air goes still.
A light erupts inside him. Like a second sun. The room trembles. His body begins to float — a silent resurrection.
MOURN (hissed, eyes wide):
"…Impossible."
Rain's eyes blaze with galaxies. His wounds begin to close. His voice is layered — his and something far older.
RAIN (now fused with the essence):
"You wanted a beacon? Now you've got a fuckin' flare."
Chapter ends with Rain standing mid-air, eyes burning, a blade of light forming from his soul. First true awakening.
⸻
[PAGE 25]
[FRAME: CLOSE-UP]
Rain's eyes now fully reflect the cosmos. Within them, pinpricks of celestial bodies orbit and pulse. His pupils flicker like eclipses.
[NARRATION]:
He wasn't fighting alone.
He wasn't fighting at all.
[FRAME: WIDE SHOT – STANDOFF]
Mourn stands still, watching. The entire room is silent, save for the distant hum of starlight. Rain's sword rises beside him—without being touched.
[PAGE 26]
[FRAME: RAIN'S POV — HIS HANDS MOVING ON THEIR OWN]
His fingers flex. His stance shifts into something unnatural—elegant, impossible. Each breath aligns with something ancient. A rhythm buried in bloodlines.
[RAIN (internal)]:
What the hell is this…?
My body—
It's moving like—like I've done this before.
[OVERLAY – ECHO OF HIS FATHER'S VOICE]:
"The blade remembers what you forget. Let it speak for you, Rain."
⸻
RAIN:
"I don't know what the fuck is happening. But if you think I'm going down easy—"
[He steps forward—each motion cracks reality around his heel like glass fracturing in space.]
RAIN (cont'd):
"—then you better start praying to whoever gave you that ugly-ass face."
[Cliffhanger Panel: Rain dashes forward, leaving a burning comet trail. Mourn braces for impact. Freeze frame.]
[Page 27]
[Scene: Abandoned Observatory – Interior]
The wind howls through broken window panes. Dust floats in slanting rays of sunlight, like glittering ghosts.
Rain stands in the rotunda's center, breathing heavily, eyes twitching. Sweat drips down his neck. The floor beneath him is cracked from his earlier outburst.
[NARRATION]
Something inside him had been clawing at his skull. Whispers. Pulses. Starfire in the veins. He tried to ignore it—but the voices wouldn't shut the fuck up.
RAIN (thinking):
I'm not hearing shit.
I'm just stressed.
Lack of sleep. Too much weed.
Maybe Dawn slipped something in the brownies again—
A sudden flash of static distorts his vision. The air shifts.
[Page 28]
[Impact Frame]
Mourn appears behind Rain in a blink.
Mourn is tall, cloaked in pulsating black and silver. Their eyes are voids with swirling galaxies. Gravity distorts around them. Dust floats upward.
MOURN (calmly):
You're leaking essence.
It's… irritating.
RAIN (spinning, blade drawn):
The fuck does that mean?
MOURN:
It means you've been chosen.
And I've come to unchoose you.
The scene explodes into action.
[Page 29]
[Frame 1]
Rain lunges, slashing at Mourn with brutal precision. Fluid strikes honed from years of battle.
Mourn parries with a single finger.
[Frame 2]
Rain skids back, tightens grip, smirks.
RAIN:
Bet. Let's see how you handle One Thousand Years of Death!
[Frame 3]
He mimics the infamous Naruto jutsu.
Mourn catches his hands mid-thrust.
MOURN (blinking):
…Is that supposed to be an attack?
RAIN:
It was gonna be funny, bitch.
[Frame 4]
Mourn hurls Rain through a pillar.
Dust explodes.
Rain coughs blood, grinning.
RAIN (thinking):
Alright. No more clowning. This fucker's different.
[Page 30]
[Scene: Rain's Style Unleashed]
Rain switches stances—his swordplay becomes erratic, unpredictable.
Feints, misdirections, slashes meant to disorient.
He's not just a fighter—he's a storm with a blade.
Mourn is fast. Faster than anyone Rain's faced.
But Rain adapts, piece by piece.
[Frame]
Mourn slices through Rain's shoulder.
Blood arcs.
MOURN:
You are not ready.
[Page 31]
[Rain on the Precipice of Death – Flashback Triggers]
Rain's back hits the floor.
His body refuses to move.
Breathing becomes static-filled.
Mourn approaches, dragging their blade across the ground, slow and deliberate.
[Visual]
Stars flicker in Rain's eyes. Burning white light pulses.
[Voice – Rain's Father, echoing from memory]
The stars aren't just light, Rain…
They're stories.
They're alive.
They watch.
They wait.
And when you need them most…
they speak.
[Child Rain under a blanket fort, holding a star map.]
FATHER (continuing):
Each star has a name.
And the one that follows you…
the one that belongs to you…
is called Astrael.
[Present – Rain's body jerks.]
RAIN (whispers):
…Astrael.
[Page 32]
[Power Awakens – Star Essence Ignites]
Rain's body lights up like a galaxy imploding in reverse.
His veins glow like constellations.
Mourn halts, sensing it.
MOURN (softly):
…So he is the one.
Rain rises, hair drifting as if underwater.
Blade hovering beside him like a loyal companion.
The stars no longer whisper.
They sing.
[Page 33]
[The Unseen Hand]
Rain stands still.
Breath low.
The battle fades.
He feels it.
A warm pressure on his back.
The smell of burning incense and old tatami mats.
For a second, the observatory smells like home.
RAIN (internal):
What is this feeling...?
The warmth spreads into his limbs.
His hands move—but not of his own will.
[Page 34]
[The Way of the Forgotten Blade]
Rain shifts stance.
Not flashy.
Not conscious.
Precise.
RAIN (internal):
I've never moved like this.
His grip tightens.
Breath slows.
There's no panic now.
Only peace.
RAIN (softly):
…Why does this feel like… home?
[Page 35]
[Flashback Fragment]
Child Rain peeks into a candlelit room.
His father kneels, repeating a blade kata.
Movements sharp but quiet—poetry with steel.
Stars shine through the window.
One twinkles.
[Page 36]
[Back to Present – Mourn Attacks]
Mourn lunges—blade raised.
Rain vanishes like wind.
His sword arcs upward, elegant and lethal.
Spark trails from its tip like comet tails.
[Page 37]
[The Cut]
Mourn blocks—barely.
The shock sends them skidding across marble.
MOURN (thinking):
That movement… ancient.
Impossible.
[Page 38]
[Rain Speaks]
Tears in his eyes.
Not sad.
Confused.
RAIN (whispering):
I don't know what this is…
But it feels like someone's helping me swing.
[Visual Overlay: a ghostly hand flickers on Rain's shoulder, like a star's light.]
Rain doesn't see it.
The audience does.
[Page 39]
[Technique Unleashed: Starfall Slice]
Rain performs a stance unseen by modern eyes.
Feet still.
Blade held backwards.
He vanishes.
A slash of light arcs from every direction.
Stars align.
Sound disappears.
[Page 40]
[Impact]
Mourn barely blocks.
CRASH.
They fly back, smashing through pillars.
[Page 41]
[Landing]
Rain lands silently.
His blade drips stardust and blood.
RAIN (voice low):
You said I wasn't ready.
RAIN (eyes glowing):
Guess you were right.
That's why he's helping me fight.
[Page 42]
[Battle Resumes]
Rain's body glows.
The blade hums.
Ancient power and modern skill fused.
Mourn narrows eyes.
MOURN:
Then let's see what that ghost teaches.
The clash continues.