🔥 EPISODE 14 — "WHAT DOESN'T DIE SCREAMS"
SCENE 1 — THE NIGHT THAT DOESN'T LET GO
The dream is always the same.
Raven's back. Just ahead of him. Close enough to touch.
"Aryex," she says.
He reaches—
—and the ground gives way.
Aryex jerks awake.
His breath tears out of his chest like something clawing to escape. Sweat soaks his clothes. His fingers are wrapped around the katana hilt so tight the skin has split.
Blood. Again.
He doesn't wipe it.
He sits there, shaking, staring at the dark like it owes him answers.
Kaien is already awake.
"You screamed," Kaien says.
Aryex laughs once. It comes out broken.
"No. I didn't."
Kaien doesn't argue.
SCENE 2 — THE TEST KAIEN NEVER WARNED HIM ABOUT
They reach the ruins by noon.
Collapsed stone. Old symbols. A place where something terrible once chose to stay.
Kaien stops.
"You go in alone."
Aryex turns sharply. "What?"
"If you hesitate, you die," Kaien says. "If you don't, you might live."
"And you?"
Kaien steps back.
"This isn't my fight."
Aryex wants to argue.
He doesn't.
That scares him.
Inside the ruins, the air is wrong—too still, too aware.
Then it steps out.
Not a monster.
A man.
About Aryex's age. Same build. Same dead eyes.
The man smiles.
"So," he says, drawing his blade, "you survived too."
SCENE 3 — THE FIGHT THAT FEELS PERSONAL
They clash.
Steel screams.
The man fights like Aryex—wild, desperate, efficient. No wasted movement. No mercy.
"You know what's funny?" the man says between strikes.
"I don't remember my mother's face anymore."
Aryex's blade wavers.
Bad move.
Pain explodes across his ribs. He crashes into stone.
The man steps closer.
"I killed my first person crying," he continues calmly.
"The second one, I didn't feel anything."
Aryex forces himself up.
"Shut up."
The man tilts his head.
"That's when I knew," he says, "I was already dead."
They charge at the same time.
This time, Aryex doesn't think.
The blade goes through the man's chest—clean, precise.
The man stares down at it.
"…Yeah," he whispers. "That's the face."
He collapses.
Silence.
Aryex drops to his knees.
Not shaking.
Not crying.
Empty.
That's worse.
SCENE 4 — THE TRUTH KAien TRIED TO BURY
Outside, Kaien is waiting.
Aryex walks past him without a word.
Kaien speaks anyway.
"The boy you killed," he says, "was my student."
Aryex stops.
"I trained him," Kaien continues. "Left him alone too long. Told myself he'd be fine."
Kaien's voice cracks. Just once.
"He wasn't."
Aryex turns slowly.
"Why tell me this now?"
Kaien meets his eyes.
"Because if I don't," he says, "you'll become him."
Something ugly twists in Aryex's chest.
"…Am I already too late?" he asks.
Kaien doesn't answer.
That's the answer.
SCENE 5 — RAVEN BREAKS THE FIRST RULE
Far away.
Deep inside the Shadow stronghold.
Raven kneels before the Leader.
"You hesitate," he says mildly.
"I was remembering," Raven replies.
"That's dangerous."
He raises his hand.
The shadow moves.
Raven moves faster.
For the first time, she resists.
Just a little.
The chamber trembles.
The Leader's eyes widen—not angry.
Excited.
"…Good," he says softly. "You're starting to break."
Raven's heart pounds.
Not with fear.
With certainty.
Aryex is alive.
She doesn't know how.
She just knows.
FINAL SHOT — WHAT THEY'VE BECOME
Aryex stands alone on the cliff at night.
Blade at his side. Blood on his hands. A future that doesn't ask permission.
Raven stands in the dark, surrounded by power meant to erase her.
Both of them broken. Both of them sharpening.
Not toward reunion.
Toward collision.
CUT TO BLACK.