Relic
fade in:
black.
Title card:
DEATH COMES.
int. apartment - day
Rays of blinding light stream into a cramped, dusty apartment. Whomever lived here left a long time ago, but its old dust has been disturbed. A struggle has occurred here.
INT. APARTMENT - KITCHEN
TWO SILHOUETTES - one female, one male - sit at a small table. Through the white of the window beyond them, they are but shadows facing each other in despondent hunches.
Between them is a small, square box, held together by what appears to be a thick shoelace.
ext. FAUR SKOHSL
Ancient towers and bloated spires rise into a sky bespeckled with glimmering points of light, some brighter than others. Their numbers are so immense that their light dwarfs that of the Sun, dulling the sky into a bland grey.
This is the ancient island city of Faur Skohsl. Its streets are silent. There are no humans, no visible life.
INT. APARTMENT - KITCHEN
LONG-SHOT. The Female Silhouette turns her head to the Male Silhouette.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
For billions of years, two galaxies are heading toward collision. In their wake, mass transformation of solar systems. The Oort is destroyed, followed by the Jovian system. Earth survives, but with the dying Sun, its best hope is that gravitational forces give it a new star.
MALE SILHOUETTE
And?
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
Billions. Yet we did nothing. Instead, we wait and we leave.
Suddenly, a MAN jarringly sits up. He lets a thick globule of dark blood ooze from his mouth, too weak to spit it out. His voice broken, he croaks out a response:
dying man
Shut up! Humans don't change... just wait for Holy Mother.
MALE SILHOUETTE
You shut up, dying one.
The Male Silhouette pushes the Dying Man back down, fixing a ball of cloth over his eviscerated chest and discourteously holding it down with his boot. He leaves his foot there.
MALE SILHOUETTE
They should be back by now.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
Do you think they have it?
EXT. FAUR SKOHSL - street
A HULKING FIGURE bursts through a gaping window, landing on the pavement with a heavy THUD. His clothing is an insignificant, ugly light-brown, splattered with dark ash, counterpointed by his headgear -- a string of cloth tightly wrapped over his eyes, which would blind him were the brightness outside not so overpowering.
hulking figure
Blind one!
Behind him, the BLIND ONE crawls through the same window, gingerly feeling for where to lay his feet down. No less inconspicuously dressed, he is devoid of any eye protection, for he cannot see. Safely on the ground, he pats himself and turns in the vague direction of his comrade.
blind one
Lead the way, Nebulin.
Nebulin (Hulking Figure) obliges.
BLIND ONE
Now, where were we?
nebulin
You were saying --
INT. APARTMENT - KITCHEN
The Male Silhouette stands over a counter, pressing his head against the window. His thick goggles are so black, they seem to suck in light.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
What I'm saying is, we had the chance to prepare. It's such a waste. Nebulin and the Blind One must have discarded countless treasures to find the Relic.
DYING MAN
Somebody lift me up.
The Male Silhouette turns.
DYING MAN
Lift me up, lest I die a snake!
The Male Silhouette drags him up to the chair and guides his arm to hold the bloody cloth in place. He pats the Dying Man on the shoulder.
MALE SILHOUETTE
Don't worry. You'll see justice before you die.
DYING MAN
How fortunate.
The Dying Man lets his head drop to the side.
EXT. FAUR SKOHSL - STREET
BLIND ONE
Indeed. Needless to say, I spent the next minutes formulating a way out.
NEBULIN
This way, Blind One.
They turn around a corner.
BLIND ONE
I had a conception of the front door. Alas, it was not so great as to stop me from bonking my head on an overhanging fern.
Nebulin chortles. They head down a long, wide road.
nebulin
So, you stayed?
BLIND ONE
I bid my time. Thankfully, a minor disaster interrupted us, and I was allowed to, nay, ordered to escape.
nebulin
Thankfully, your schlange --
The Blind One stops, instinctively reaching his hand out to find Nebulin.
BLIND ONE
Wait.
nebulin
Huh?
The Blind One slides his head around slowly, letting his ears seek. SILENCE.
BLIND ONE
(whispering)
Skohsl.
Nebulin's face sinks. He frantically searches the distance.
nebulin
Where? I see nothing. Holy Mother, help us, let's run!
The Blind One reaches for Nebulin and clenches his fist around his shirt. Nebulin struggles to calm his nerves, his eyes still looking for whatever the Blind One senses. There is nothing there. No sound, but Nebulin's heavy breathing.
Suddenly, the Blind One shifts. His body slumps from its erect posture. He bows his head in submission. Nebulin grasps the knife sticking through his belt, even though his face shows that he knows it's useless.
NEBULIN
(whispering)
Wise Mother, protect me.
The Blind One shows no fear, only resignation, but his body tightens as though something is nearing him.
NEBULIN
(whispering)
Wise Mother, protect me. Wise --
The Blind One clenches his fist again. Nebulin sees his resignation and crumbles.
NEBULIN
Wise Mother, protect me. Wise Mother, protect me. Wise Mother, protect me. Wise Mother!
Tears form. Nebulin lets go of the knife. In the Blind One's blank face, he sees his own fate. Doom. Nebulin slumps, when --
BLIND ONE
Lead the way, Nebulin.
The Blind One's body loosens.
BLIND ONE
Let's go before we meet him again.
NEBULIN
Him...?
Nebulin releases a weak sigh and quickly gathers himself.
INT. APARTMENT - KITCHEN
The pupils of the Dying Man fix on the square box.
DYING MAN
You should tighten the box.
The other two ignore him. The Female Silhouette focuses on Nebulin and the Blind One in the street below them. They make their way toward the building.
MALE SILHOUETTE
I don't know. Let's not wait.
The Male Silhouette turns to the Dying Man, lifting his goggles. The Female Silhouette heaves a leg forward. She, too, is hurt.
MALE SILHOUETTE
Dying one, justice comes.
The Dying Man gurgles a laugh.
INT. APARTMENT - moments later
The Dying Man is helped along by the other two. Nebulin and the Blind One enter through the front door.
MALE SILHOUETTE
What happened?
nebulin
I'll tell you what happened.
Nebulin turns intensely to the Blind One and waits for him to explain... hearing silence, the Blind One cocks his head.
BLIND ONE
I'm sorry, Nebulin... is that pause a signal for me?
Remembering that he's blind and unable to see the group's waiting stares, Nebulin facepalms.
blind one
There is a Skohsl.
Silence descends on the group. The Female Silhouette drags the Dying Man to a nearby couch and lets him down heavily. She lets the small box rest next to him, greater things on her mind than this elusive contraption.
MALE SILHOUETTE
Impossible. I saw nothing.
NEBULIN
Neither did I. That didn't stop the fear of the Mother coming down on me.
The Male Silhouette paces.
MALE SILHOUETTE
There was nothing there.
BLIND ONE
It passed us.
nebulin
We have to run.
MALE SILHOUETTE
With that one?
He points to the Dying Man.
female silhouette
I heard a story. There was a Skohsl in millennia past. Some riders stopped at a village, and the villagers told them to turn back. Those trees through which their path weaved were home to terror. The demon ate the air they breathed.
male silhouette
That's foolish. The Gleichen texts say it's an alien, arrived and stayed. It's not good or bad. Just there.
BLIND ONE
We are still here.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
Nothing so terrible is ambivalent.
The Male Silhouette picks up the box. He thumbs its corners.
NEBULIN
We must run.
MALE SILHOUETTE
How cowardly.
NEBULIN
Cowardly?!
MALE SILHOUETTE
We have a box. It will protect us.
The cacophany of their voices fills the small room.
nebulin
How will it protect us from something we can't see?
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
What if we wait?
dying man
There is no Skohsl. It left with the rest of us.
BLIND ONE
I sensed it.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
Maybe it was something else.
The Male Silhouette puts the box back next to the Dying Man.
NEBULIN
Leave the dying one, let the demon take him.
The Dying Man takes the box and hides it in the bloody cloth.
MALE SILHOUETTE
Do you have the Relic?
BLIND ONE
Yes.
MALE SILHOUETTE
We make our way back to the ship.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
He's dying, anyway.
NEBULIN
See, we run. With the dying one, we'll reach the ship past nightfall. Maybe the demon smells blood. Maybe that's why it has come.
The Male Silhouette waves him off.
MALE SILHOUETTE
Silly myths. It didn't kill you.
nebulin
And I'm not giving it a second chance to do so!
Nebulin draws his knife.
NEBULIN
We have to run. Before it returns.
BLIND ONE
There is no use, Nebulin. If were are to be taken, it will happen. Arriving sooner or later has no bearing on that.
Nebulin returns the knife to his belt.
NEBULIN
I haven't prayed in a long time, blind one.
MALE SILHOUETTE
We will make our way back to the ship. I'll carry the dying one. Blind one, you sense it again, we choose our path. But only then.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
Holy Mother, protect us. If it comes, we must kill it. Somehow.
The Male Silhouette lifts the Dying Man.
NEBULIN
We will die first.
EXT. FAUR SKOHSL - STREET - moments later
The group slowly makes its way to its unseen craft. Nebulin, still on edge, eyes every angle, as though this time he will have better luck detecting the Skohsl.
NEBULIN
Wise Mother, protect us... wise mother, protect us.
BLind one
To think it won't be the dying one killing us today, Nebulin, but evil itself.
The Female Silhouette trembles.
NEBULIN
Enough mockery!
MALE SILHOUETTE
What do you think, dying one?
DYING MAN
I am lucky.
MALE SILHOUETTE
And why is that?
DYING MAN
I will see the glorious night sky.
Nebulin spins around. The group stops.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
What is it?
NEBULIN
My damned nerves.
The group continues. The Dying Man starts clawing at the concealed box.
DYING MAN
Sister.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
Dying one.
dying man
Know why we did not prepare?
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
Shoot.
DYING MAN
The Relic we sought, no one cared to take it when they left. Who came back for it? Marginalised ones. Who cares?
The shoelace starts loosening, slowly being untied.
DYING MAN
Such a waste, you say... Earth...
He coughs and lets spit and blood fall to the ground.
DYING MAN
Earth is the relic. No longer home... no need.
The Dying Man's bloody fingers twist around, tugging at the fragile knot.
DYING MAN
Like birdling, no need, we escape. We abandon what we don't exploit, like birdling, like fields and ocean, abandon to rot.
The shoelace falls apart, letting the box open until the Dying Man clutches it tighter.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
You're wrong, Dying one.
The Dying Man forces painful oxygen into his lungs.
FEMALE SILHOUETTE
Earth is not abandoned. We --
The Dying Man lets the box fall as he throws the bloody cloth over his face. Without strength, he leaps as far as he can. For a brief second, the rest of the group freezes, until they see the box split in two and start to WHIRR. Nebulin instinctively pushes the Blind One to safety, the Male Silhouette turns his back to the box, and the Female Silhouette starts to run --
Shards of crimson gas explode from the box, engulfing the street. AGONY ascends as the gas dissipates, each one clinging to their faces. Bodies start to spasm violently. The Dying Man, his face protected by the fabric layer of his own blood, weathers the spasms.
Bodies stop, lifelessly reaching out. The Dying Man turns to the sky. He pulls the cloth from his face, suprise and relief etched in it.
He lifts himself, and looks down at his dead former comrades, vainly reaching for life. He sighs --
The Blind One convulses to life.
BLIND ONE
Nebulin? Nebulin...?
The Dying Man jerks back... his face shifts from shock that the Blind One is alive to resolution that he may have to die.
BLIND ONE
Nebulin...?
The Dying Man limps to Nebulin and rips the knife from his belt. He pivots to the Blind One.
BLIND ONE
Nebulin? Nebulin?
The Dying Man turns, lifts his head painfully, resolutely.
DYING MAN
We don't change.
BLIND ONE
No...
The Blind One begins to weep.
BLIND ONE
No...!
The tears give in to weakness. Beyond the Dying Man, the Blind One gives in to his sorrow. The Dying Man drags himself to freedom.
fade out.
the end
Copyright 2013 Joaquim Baeta. All rights reserved.
Cover image: [Chair on black] by CDD20, https://pixabay.com/images/id-6298716, Pixabay license, modified.
