Ghost (Draft)

BEGINNING

Opens with Sylvius alone, getting ready for the day. He writes in his journal which shows the audience what the time/date system looks like for them, and how the Sylvans are keeping track of the time they’ve spent underground. Sylvius has been underground for nearly his entire life, and has very few memories of the above ground world. 

He leaves his room and begins to clean up after his brother, who has left things in places they shouldn’t be. He bumps into Aliyah in the common room, they exchange a few words, and she asks where Azrael is. Sylvius says he knows exactly where he is.

—

Scene from the night before:

Azrael is still at the bar, talking up his friend Codias who is serving drinks. Cody makes a comment about how he’s had enough, and Azrael humorously convinces him to pour another before the bar closes for the evening. There’s a brief scene of some Sylvan hooligans shapeshifting in the pub, which Cody has to kick out because shifting forms isn’t allowed in restaurants. 

Azrael comments on how he was “not able to score tonight”, and how he can’t go home sober, or not alone at least. Cody ends up walking him back to his room. 

—

back to the previous scene, Sylvius tells Aliyah he needs to speak privately with his brother. Bangs on Azrael’s door and shouts that it’s time to get up and get to work with the plans for the day. Imagery implies that Cody stayed the night with him. Azrael lazily dresses himself and meets Sylvius in the common room. Aliyah waits outside. 

Sylvius reprimands Azrael over his drunken laziness. Azrael acts distant, not wanting to hear it from him again. He responds by pulling an advanced fighting move on his younger brother, knocking him to the floor. He tells Sylvius that he shouldn’t be so aggressive, because he didn’t live through the Scourge like Azrael did.

—

cut to a flashback of The Scourge occurring for the first time. It possesses people and makes them do terrible things, and it also agitates the local wildlife which happens to be monster-like creatures. Azrael and Sylvius lost their parents, and Azrael lost his wife. Sylvius was only a few years old. Azrael’s quick thinking rescues his baby brother and takes him far away. They meet with other refugees who find them, and they find their escape route underground. The brothers are the only surviving members of the royal family.

—

cut back, Sylvius leaves the common room with a bruise on his face from the confrontation. Aliyah asks how the conversation went, sees his face, and says she assumes it didn’t go well. Sylvius brushes it off and the two leave together to head for the meeting room where they will plan strategies.

After they’re gone, Cody looks out the door carefully and then leaves back for his own room. He has an emotional moment alone; the reasons why are left up to the reader to speculate.

THE HUMANS

A scout team reports back stating that human naval ships have docked on the island. The king and prince go out with a group to investigate, and are met with immediate hostility. The person in charge has one of the background characters killed out of fear. They have never seen Sylvans before and think it’s some secret military organization. They want to take Sylvius in for interrogation and leverage, but The Scourge attacks before they can. Most of the humans are wiped out, and those remaining are forced to join the Sylvans underground.

Sylvius welcomes them cautiously and designates a portion of the shelter for the remaining humans. He has a conversation with Sage about how things work around here.

SAGE

Sage was a higher up in the military force of humans. She ends up hanging around the main group (Sylvius, Azrael, Aliyah) and becomes friends with them. 

The group has a gathering at one point, in one of the bars in the underground sanctuary. They all laugh and have a good time despite the struggles they’re going through. This brings them closer together.

Sage teaches them all a lesson in human combat. They all have a training session with her.

Sage talks with Aliyah about her feelings of inadequacy, and gives her some confident advice.

—

Working with the humans now, Sylvius, Azrael, and Aliyah get together with Sage to discuss the next rescue mission. They have to send a troop aboveground to rescue handfuls at a time of those who were left behind. Sylvius insists on going this time, which Azrael discourages. In the end all four of them end up going, but Sylvius gets left behind due to The Scourge possessing him. The other three can’t do anything to stop it unless they kill him, which they don’t want to do, so they leave to regroup. Aliyah and Sage have to try really hard to convince Azrael to leave him.

Azrael explodes over this when they return, and Sage has to pull him together so that they can make a plan to get Sylvius back.

—

When they finally go to get Sylvius back, he’s a mess. Not only is he now dealing with the mental and emotional aftermath of being possessed, but in his mind, they abandoned him, and he remains bitter for what he had to suffer through alone.

—

Sylvius and Azrael are getting ready for battle, backs turned to each other, having a heated argument in almost complete silence. Neither has the energy to raise their voice, but vicious words are thrown. They enter the battlefield with unresolved problems.

FINAL FACE OFF

Armed and ready, the Sylvans and the humans march in to the old settlement, now overrun. Weapons brandished, they start fighting against possessed creatures and people, careful to only knock out any possessed individuals and not kill them.

At one point near the end, The Scourge possesses Azrael and goes after Sage. Sylvius fights Azrael and attempts to knock him unconscious but can’t seem to do it. Azrael is too skilled. The Scourge, through Azrael, tells Sylvius that he needs to kill Azrael, or else it will make Azrael kill Sage.

In the moment of truth, Sylvius is given no choice and shoots a fatal blow at his brother, who, before The Scourge leaves him, it makes him kill Sage anyways. Azrael is conscious for his final moments and apologizes to Sylvius for not being a better brother. Sylvius stops him and apologizes himself before his brother dies.

Sylvius and Aliyah are left alone to lead the settlement. All they really have is each other now. She has to be his voice of clarity and reason and talk him down from ending his own life. Somebody refers to him as “king” and he shouts at them.

The story ends with Sylvius staring in his bathroom mirror. He stares into his own eyes, not recognizing the person behind them. He punches the mirror out, shakes the blood from his hand, and draws his weapon. The final scene is of him sobbing and holding it, leaving what happens ambiguous for the reader to decide.