(Morning. The sky over the northern camp is gray, tired. Snow is falling quietly, covering the ruins and fields where the war has only just subsided.
In the center of the camp — medical tents. Inside, Lyra bandages the hand of a wounded ninja. Her face is calm, but her gaze keeps wandering towards the exit.)
(The door of the tent opens — Taro enters, covered in snow. In his hands he carries a letter, sealed with the red wax of the Pyra Empire.)
Lyra (quietly):
"Taro… news from the front again?"
Taro (nods):
"Yes. From the Shadow."
(He opens the letter. His voice is heavy, the words come out slowly, as if each one burns.)
Taro (reads):
"Operation 'Astra Bastion' — successfully completed.
The Lightning Clan fortress completely destroyed.
Enemy command eliminated.
Shadow losses… none."
(Silence. Everyone in the tent looks at each other. One of the wounded ninja whispers, his voice shaking.)
Wounded:
"They say that… the ice is still burning."
(Lyra looks at Tara, her eyes glazed with discomfort.)
Lyra:
"Who led the attack?"
(Taro looks down, his voice barely audible.)
Tarot:"Vex."
(Silence. The whole tent falls silent.
Someone is whispering from the corner :)
Ninja:
"Heartless Blade..."
(Lyra drops the bandage she was holding. Her hands shake.
He tries to hide his emotion, but he can't.)
Lyra (quietly, almost to herself):
"That's not Vex… that's Arden. My friend…"
(Taro looks at her. His face is dark, serious. He knows the truth—he knows that Arden is no longer the boy they knew.)
Tarot:
"He's not Arden anymore, Lyra.
The war took him.
All that remains is what the empire created."
(Lyra looks away, but a tear slides down her cheek.
Outside the tent, the voice of a guard is heard running, shouting through the camp.)
Guard (from a distance):
"Confirmed! Astra Bastion has fallen!
The hostile north is retreating!
Vex — led the charge!"
(The voice mingles with shouts and whispers through the camp.
Some celebrate, others remain silent.
And in the center of it all, Lyra looks north, toward the horizon where the ash still smokes.)
Narrator:
"Every hero has a price.
And every flame casts a shadow.
And while everyone celebrated Vex — some wept for Arden for the first time."
(Final shot: Lyra stands alone outside the tent, snow falling on her shoulders.
Fear and hope are mixed in her gaze — and a silent prayer that he still exists somewhere inside her.)
(Night. The camp is nearly empty. Snow and smoke mix into a thick fog that covers the ground. Vex (Arden) walks alone toward the medical squad's tents. A fox mask hangs from his belt, bloody, cracked over his left eye.
On his face—a new scar, long and thin, cutting through the silence like his katana.)
(He enters the tent. Inside, Lyra sits by the wounded man's bed. Her hands are tired but neat. When she sees him, she freezes. Silence lasts for a few seconds, only the crackling of a candle can be heard.)
Lyra (quietly):
"I heard... about the attack.
They said... it was you."
(Vex doesn't answer right away. He just stands there, his gaze fixed on the candle flame. Then he takes a metal box out of his pocket, lights a cigarette and takes a puff of smoke.)
Vex (Cold):
"War does not choose who fights it."
(Lyra looks at him, her eyes filling with tears.)
Lyra:
"The war didn't kill those people, Arden...you did."
(He flinches, but shows no emotion. Yet when she says his real name — Arden — something human flickers in his eyes for a moment.)
Vex:
"Don't call me that.
Arden… died out there in the snow."
Lyra:
"No, it's not.
He's still there.
He's just hiding behind that mask."
(He raises his hand and slowly touches the scar over his eye. He doesn't flinch, but his gaze wanders—as if seeing through Lyra the memories of the day he saved her from lightning.)
"This… (touches the scar) …reminds me that I'm not completely burned yet."
(Lyra lowers her hand, quietly.)
Lyra:
"Then come back before you burn to death."
(Silence. He puts out his cigarette on the metal table, turns toward the exit.
Before going out, he pauses for a moment — and without looking at her, he says quietly:)
Vex:
"Thank you… for saving me then.
And that you still see me."
(Lyra remains alone, looks at the closed door.
On her face — a mixture of pain and hope.)
Narrator:
"In the darkness of wars, some seek light.
And some just want not to forget that they once burned themselves."
(Camera pans out of the tent — Vex walking in the night, cigarette smoke disappearing into the snow.
On the horizon, the outline of Nia and her Shadows awaits.
Time for a new mission.)Vex (quietly):