ARIANNA: An Original Screenplay

FADE IN.

EXT. COAST - GREY AFTERNOON

Ocean waves strike jagged rocks.

The cold waters rising and breaking with a steady ferocity.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “Across the endless

waters there were other lands, other people,

but to the men, women and children of

Centuria the great waters that surrounded

them were not the borders of one land, but

the borders of the universe.”

In the sky above we make out two moons.

CUT TO.

INT. CAVE - NIGHT

Campfire.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “In the beginning

they were scattered.”

A tribe of men and women, Caucasian, cook meat and share stories.

FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “But as

generations passed they became one.”

Cave wall, a child draws a picture of families working the land.

DISSOLVE TO.

EXT. FIELD - SUMMER DAY

Villagers tend to their crops, their clothes and tools reminiscent of a late Iron Age community.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “They were bonded

by one truth.”

EXT. CAPITOL - SUNSET

Medieval buildings, houses and markets.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “A belief that

maintained peace and prosperity for all of

Centuria.”

An enormous Royal Palace sits by the coast.

FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “That

all were descendants of the first line.”

INT. GRAND HALL - PALACE - NIGHT

Courtesans laugh and dance.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “All a reflection of

a greater whole.”

EXT. COURT YARD - PALACE - NIGHT

Food is shared.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “The Great Spirit.”

A peasant child smiles, pressing his forehead against his father's.

CUT TO.

EXT. VILLAGE - WOODLANDS - NIGHT

A group of men sit around a fire and share a pipe.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “But in the Southern

Realm came whispers. Voices that questioned

all they knew.”

One of the men blows smoke into the air, the smoke drifting by the moons and stars.

CUT TO.

INT. MARKET TOWN - SOUTHERN REALM - MORNING

A young man, blond and blue eyed like all in the Southern Realm, preaches to a crowd, speaking in a foreign language (Southern).

YOUNG PREACHER: (subtitled) “We praise

the Great Spirit! We worship the Great Spirit!

But why do not truly search for the Great

Spirit?”

A old woman in the crowd shakes her head and turns away.

YOUNG PREACHER (CONT'D): “Consider

for a moment that HE is not within us but out

there.”

He holds his hand to the sky.

YOUNG PREACHER (CONT'D): “Why are

we celebrating ourselves when we should be

celebrating HIM?”

More people walk away but an equal many remain, nodding their heads in agreement.

CUT TO.

INT. TEMPLE - SOUTHERN REALM - NIGHT

Men and women dressed in black kneel, their heads low.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “The people of

Southern Realm began a new form of

worship.”

Part of the ceiling is removed, the stars and moons visible above.

FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “They

no longer saw the Great Spirit in the souls

of their fellow man, nor even in themselves.”

A priest touches the sides of his forehead and raises his hands to the sky.

FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “They

were all His creation. The creation of Kalaar.”

CUT TO.

EXT. MARKET - CAPITOL - DAY

Followers of Kalaar are confronted by locals.

The few guards present struggling to maintain order.

KALAAR FOLLOWER: (accented) “His

Words have come to us! All must change

their ways and see His light or be lost for all

eternity!”

The people of the North "boo" and jeer, throwing rotten vegetables.

CUT TO.

INT. THRONE ROOM - PALACE - DAY

The King sits, overwhelmed.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “The Great King,

descendent of the first line, pleaded for

unity.”

A Kalaaron follower kneels before him and offers a scroll.

FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “But

the people of the Southern Realm demanded

the laws of Kalaar be the laws of all

Centuria.”

The King looks down at the scroll and rejects it.

CUT TO.

EXT. BATTLEFIELD - BORDER - DUSK

The soldiers of the Northern Realm, armed with swords and spears, stand ready.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “Centuria was torn

apart.”

Across the border the black clad army of the Southern Realm.

FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “What

followed was a darkness that took the lives

of thousands.”

The armies charge at each other, steel into flesh, cheers into cries, blood onto land...

We pan away to the night sky as the battle rages.

DISSOLVE TO.

EXT. VILLAGE HUT - SOUTHERN REALM - NIGHT

A young women stumbles out her home, crying.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “An end finally

came when a new darkness swept the

Southern Realm.”

The woman trips and falls, coughing up blood.

INT. VILLAGE HUT

Two children, aged 3 and 4, lie dead by the fire.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “Disease.”

CUT TO.

INT. ROYAL COURT - PALACE - DAY

A new King listens to his advisers.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “Centuria reached

out to their fallen brothers.”

EXT. BATTLEFIELD - BORDER - EVENING

Emissaries ride off into the Southern Realm.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “But all who crossed

the border never returned.”

CUT TO.

EXT. MARKET TOWN - SOUTHERN REALM - NIGHT

A rat scurries past a dead body.

The entire town deserted.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “To the people of

the north the silence of the south was the

silence of a grave.”

CUT TO.

EXT. BATTLEFIELD - BORDER - EVENING

Fences are erected, the Centurian forces turning away and leaving with a few left behind to stand guard.

FEMALE NARRATOR: “The Southern

Realm was soon forgotten.”

Across the battlefield the bodies of the fallen Southern soldiers are left to the vultures.

FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “And

the people of Kalaar were never seen again.”

FADE TO BLACK.

WESTERN PROVINCE, SOUTHERN REALM. FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE ARMISTICE

FADE IN.

EXT. FIELD - COAST - NIGHT

Bare feet stagger across dead soil.

A SKINNY BOY of 14, dressed in little more than rags, picks around for food.

He coughs, balancing himself on his staff.

He staggers to the cliff and looks up at the night sky.

His face is pale and sunken.

He lowers his head, turning to leave, but then stops.

He notices his shadow stretched out before him.

He slowly turns around and stops.

A single star shines brighter than all the others.

The staff drops from his hands.

The starlight begins to pulsate.

Behind him men and women from his village approach, all weak from disease. The weakest amongst them crawling on their hands and knees.

The boy raises a hand, shielding his eyes as the light intensifies.

A woman carrying a dead baby shakes her head, tears in her eyes.

An older woman besides her also begins to cry.

CRYING WOMAN: Great Father...

An old man drops to his knees and weeps like a child.

WEEPING MAN: (subtitled) He has not

forsaken us... He has not forsaken us....

All of the villagers are now on their knees, touching the sides of their foreheads and raising their hands to the light.

CRYING WOMAN: Praise Kalaar!

The light spreads, slowly consuming the dying people.

The boy closes his eyes and smiles.

FADE TO WHITE.

FADE IN.

EXT. OUTSKIRTS OF WOODS - SUNSET

Wild flowers.

A 9 year old girl stands alone.

She reaches down and picks out of the flowers, holding the white petals to her nose.

A shadow passes from the side.

The girl, NAIYOO, turns her head and sees a woman in her mid 20s approach.

Both have the same pale blonde hair and fair blue eyes.

NIMUE smiles, gesturing with her hands as she talks.

NIMUE: (subtitled) Sundown is approaching.

Naiyoo offers her the flower.

Nimue smiles again, accepting the gift.