An oyster without a heart
Rin (quietly, looking towards the horizon):
"I can't believe it's over... So quiet after everything. It's like the river is breathing again."
Taro (smiles, puts out his cigarette on a stone):
"Remember when we were kids and we played warriors? I always played Captain Amon and you, Arden… you were the one who beat them all."
Arden (coldly, but with a slight smile):
"Yes... back then we thought war meant glory. Now I know it means—to survive."
Rin (looking at him worriedly):
"You know, when I see you like this… holding that katana, how calm you are… it's like you're not the boy who used to laugh at little things anymore."
Arden (picks up the katana, looks at it in the sunset light):
"Maybe not. But that boy is still waiting for me somewhere… I just don't know if I'll ever find him."
A short silence.
The wind blows through the dry leaves, and the flame of a small fire rustles softly.
Tarot:
"You know, Arden… maybe one day, when this is all over… we'll light the fire again—but not for fighting. For us."
Arden (takes a deep breath of cigarette smoke, his gaze sharp but warm):
"Perhaps...but first we must survive another fifteen days. This valley will not clean itself."
Taro (laughs, stretches his neck):
"So… we're going to prove who's the best again?
Or are we going to let Arden win like always?"
Rin (adjusting the band over her hair, smiling defiantly):
"Arden doesn't know how to lose. That's his flaw, not his virtue."
(Arden stands still, holding a katana in his hand, his gaze cold, focused. A cigarette hangs from his lips as he exhales smoke. His voice is calm and quiet.)
Arden:
"Losing is a lesson. But you two aren't ready to learn yet."
(Rin and Taro laugh at the same time—then simultaneously charge at him.)
________________________________________
The fight begins
(Rin strikes in quick, circular motions, using the wind to quicken his steps; Taro picks up rocks from the ground as a shield. Arden remains motionless, then quickly draws his katana—the blade glows red, following his movement as if burning of its own accord.)
Taro:
"Come on, Vex! You're unmasked, but don't act calm!"
(Arden smiles faintly, and the flames just above the ground dance.)
Arden:
"A flame doesn't act. It decides when it burns."
(His katana turns into a trail of fire—the blow cuts through Rin's gust of wind and splits it, creating an explosion of steam and dust. Taro raises a wall of earth, but Arden has already formed behind him, pressing the blade to his neck, not harming him.)
Arden:
"You're too protective. Fear dictates your movements."
(Rin flies in from the side and strikes with a wave of air—Arden drops his katana, raises his hand, the flame from his palm forming a spiral that deflects the attack and melts the rocks beneath his feet.)
Rin (panting):
"You... use fire as if you're dancing with it."
(Arden steps forward, sheathes his katana, breathes calmly.)
Arden:
"I'm not dancing. I'm just not letting it burn me."
(Brief silence. All three fall to the ground, exhausted but smiling—for the first time in a long time.)
Tarot:
"If we keep this up, Shadow will wonder if we trained… or tried to kill ourselves."
Arden:
"In war… it's the same."
(Everyone laughs. The camera pans out—three young warriors are seen, surrounded by ash and the sun scorching the valley. The shadow of the katana cuts the light, and the flame flickers briefly on its blade—a symbol of life still burning.)
(The sun breaks through the clouds above the valley. Rin and Taro lie exhausted in the dust. Arden stands tall, katana in hand, sweat running down his face, but his gaze is calm, unblinking. His katana still smolders, sending faint sparks of flame along the edges of the blade.)
Taro (gasping, laughing):
"Okay, okay...you win. As always. Even when we make a deal against you—again, you seem to see everything before us."
Rin (wiping sweat from his forehead, sheretish):
"No, not to see—but to read us. Like a book."
(Arden wordlessly returns the katana to its sheath. Exhales cigarette smoke and looks down at the ground.)
Arden:
"War does not wait for those who think slowly."
(The moment is interrupted by a heavy voice from the background. A shadow moves between the tents. From it emerges Minato, clad in dark red armor, his cloak fluttering in the wind. Two katanas hang from his belt, his eyes—warm but stern—staring directly at Arden.)
Minato:
"I see you shot them down like nothing."
(pause, looks at Rin and Tara who are still clinging to the ground)
"But tell me, Arden… do you know how to fight someone who knows how to fight back?"
(Rin and Taro snap their heads up. Even the soldiers in the background pause. Silence spreads through the camp.)
Arden (turns slightly, gaze sharp but emotionless):
"Against you, brother?"
Minato (laughs slightly, but his eyes are serious):
"Not against a brother… against a master."
(The wind stirs up dust. Arden grasps the hilt of his katana, his eyes flickering with excitement—not fear. The flame flickers from his palms for a moment, as if responding to his pulse.)
Rin (quietly, worriedly):
"Arden… maybe it's not the time—"
Arden (breaks off, coldly):
"Any moment is the time. If not now—when?"
(Minato takes a step forward. His aura of fire begins to shine like a blazing sun. Arden raises his katana, the flame pulsing from the blade. Two forces of the same blood, the same element—but different souls. Everyone around them steps back.)
Minato:
"Show me, Shadow… how much you've learned."
(The air tenses. At the same moment, they both disappear from view—only the sound of metal cutting through the air and exploding flames can be heard.
Blow after blow, every movement carries the weight of experience and passion. Arden tries to read Minato's steps, but his brother is faster, sharper, like the firestorm itself.)
Minato (during the fight):
"You're too rigid! The flame lives—breathes! If you don't listen to it, you'll burn in it!"
(Arden steps back, but there's focus in his eyes. His katana lights up and flames rise to the sky. He swings — a line of fire passes through the ground, leaving behind a trail of molten rock.
(Minato laughs as the fire illuminates him.)
Minato:
"You're starting to look like Dalis now."
(The scene ends as they both stand facing each other, steaming with heat and sweat, flames flickering between them, and Rin and Taro watch in silence — aware that they are witnessing the birth of the true Shadow.)
(The blows echo through the valley. Two flames collide and turn the air into a hot mist. Katanas flash like lightning — each movement precise, each spark deadly.)
Arden (the unmasked Vex) slides backwards, his bare foot smashing the rock beneath him to stop the momentum. The katana trembles in his hand, the flame on its blade burning ever fainter.
Arden:
"I'm not done yet!"
(He rushes forward. The earth cracks beneath him. Fire erupts from his palms, and the katana becomes like a red comet. It slashes, slashes, rotates—but Minato waits.)
Minato stands still, raising his hand slightly, the flames curling around him in a perfect circle, forming an unblinking shield of fire—steady, controlled, like a heart that beats without fear.
When Arden's shot touches that circle — an explosion.
The wind blows Rin and Tara backwards. Flames spread across the valley.
Through the smoke, a step is heard.
Arden is on one knee, katana stuck in the ground, a trickle of blood trickling down his shoulder. His eyes still burn with determination.
Minato stands in front of him, his armor cracked but his gaze calm.
Minato:
"Good shot. Too strong for the boy… but too much heart in every swing."
(Arden smiles hard, wipes the blood from his lips.)
Arden:
"And I thought I didn't have one."
(Minato laughs, lowers his katana and approaches him.)
Minato:
"That's why you're strong, brother.
But power without control — is just a flame that burns itself."
(He holds out his hand. Arden looks up, hesitates a moment, then takes it. In that touch you can see everything — brotherhood, respect, but also the line between them that Arden has yet to cross.)
Minato:
"Get up, Shadow. The battles are yet to come.
If you keep going like this… one day, you'll surpass me too."
(Camera pans up to the sky. Two brothers stand in the middle of a burned valley, embers smoldering beneath them.
Arden looks up at the horizon, where the smoke of new battles can be seen in the distance.)
Narrator (shadow voice):
"That night, under the ashes and flames, a decision was born...
He who loses to learn — one day, will set the world on fire."