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Scene 1: Beneath the Bright Sky
The sun had risen, casting golden light on Valeiris Academy as if the horrors of yesterday had never happened.
But inside Aeyon, it was still night.
He stood at the edge of the rooftop garden, where the wind was sharp and cleansing. Below him, students walked, laughed, existed. People who didn't know the war already lived inside their heads.
> "Is it wrong to envy them?" Aeyon wondered.
Behind him, Elura approached, silent as always.
> "They live blind. You live burdened. Which one suffers more?"
He didn't answer. Because a part of him—a dark, whispering part—resented them.
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Scene 2: Character Perspectives
Elura's Thoughts:
> "Aeyon is more than we deserve. And yet, less than he could be. His genius is beautiful, but what would he become if no one tethered him to empathy? Would he still choose good? Or simply victory?"
Reva's Thoughts:
> "He broke me once. Not with lies—but truth. Brutal, logical truth. But I came back because no one else sees the game like him. No one else dares play against gods."
Mirra's Thoughts:
> "He gave me a name. That was a rebellion louder than any scream. But now I wonder... Does he name people to give them power? Or to control their shape?"
And Aeyon...
Aeyon's Thoughts:
> _"If I have to become a monster to dismantle the real ones, so be it. But I need to remember why I started. Or I won't know when I've become them."
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Scene 3: The Society That Shaped Him
That night, Aeyon walked the streets of the outer districts. Places not shown in school brochures or government screens.
Children high on injectable dreams.
A girl selling her thoughts in exchange for safety.
A man screamed at a wall: _"They took my voice! My ideas! They're not mine anymore!"
Aeyon sat beside him.
> "Who did?"
The man blinked.
> "You know who. The ones who build systems inside skulls. You're one of them, aren't you? But broken. Like me."
Aeyon offered him his coat.
> "No. I'm trying to break the system that broke you."
But even as he said it, he questioned if he was lying.
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Scene 4: The Red Letter Exam
At school, a mysterious exam envelope was slid into Aeyon's locker. No sender. Only a symbol:
ΔΨΩ
The symbol of Null's inner sect—The Architects.
He opened it.
Inside: A single sheet with one line.
> "Manipulate someone you love into leaving you forever. And make them believe it was their idea. You have 48 hours."
Reva appeared behind him, holding two coffees.
> "You okay? You look pale."
Aeyon smiled.
> "Just tired."
His hand clenched the exam.
Inside his mind: silence and storm.
> "What do I sacrifice? Her? The mission? Or myself?"
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Scene 5: Conversations With the Past
That night, Aeyon returned to the orphanage where he grew up.
He found the old records. One had his name. But another file was marked Alyra.
Her death had been faked. She was listed as transferred to Project Purge.
He trembled.
> _"So you survived. They lied. And I mourned a ghost while they made you into a weapon like me... or worse."
The door creaked behind him.
A teenage girl with silver hair stood there.
> "Looking for ghosts?"
Aeyon stared.
> "Alyra?"
She tilted her head.
> "No. I go by Lys now. Alyra was someone who died in a classroom with too much empathy. I survived by becoming your opposite."
> "You hate me?"
> "No. I became like you. That's worse."
She vanished into the night.
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Scene 6: A Choice No Answer Can Fix
The next day. The final hour of the twisted exam.
Reva approached Aeyon.
> "What are you hiding from me?"
He looked at her.
Saw the kindness. The faith. The part of him that wanted to believe he was still worth loving.
> "I think we shouldn't see each other anymore," he said, voice calm, expression blank.
Reva flinched.
> "Why now?"
> "Because you're a distraction. And I can't afford distractions in a war where I'm the only weapon left."
He turned away. She stood still. Heart breaking.
> "Then goodbye, Aeyon. I hope you win whatever war you're fighting. Even if no one's left beside you when you do."
She left.
He collapsed behind a wall, shaking.
> "I passed the test. I failed myself."
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Scene 7: The Question That Broke the Architect
At midnight, he received a new envelope. This time, a question:
> "How many versions of yourself have you destroyed to become this one? And what will be left when the war ends?"
Aeyon looked into a mirror. And for the first time... He didn't recognize the boy looking back.
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TO BE CONTINUED...