Episode 6: “Long Before Time Had a Name…”

  [INT. COSMIC VOID – TIMELESS]

  (Stars bloom. Nebulae roar. A golden voice echoes over a swirling canvas of galaxies.)

  PENTUIS (V.O.): “In the beginning… there was nothing!! Then we argued over what nothing meant… no seriously, we did”

  (Cue dramatic musical sting. A giant golden hourglass falls from the sky, shattering into stardust. Suddenly: THE GODS appear.)

  PENTUIS (leaning on cane, smug)

  “I created time and space. You’re welcome.”

  VOID (a swirling black hole with snarky rings)

  Pentuis: “Uh, he says ‘And I added nothing. Which is everything’.”

  ALEAH (floating, glowing with unstable power)

  “I disagreed with both.”

  CUANDO (a calm, stone-like figure, the stone cracks and he reveals himself as a short Blue Stickman)

  “I built the stage for the play.”

  DEBRIS (shadowy, flickering)

  “I added a few… complications.”

  PENTUIS (V.O.)

  “And Death? Death didn’t show up. Typical Death.”

  (The universe explodes into being. Numerous galaxies formed.)

  [FLASHFORWARD – EARTH – 1756]

  NARRATOR (RUDY, V.O.): “Alright, alright. So there were two dudes. Jeremiah and Felix Ludwig. Both wanted to rule the land. Guess what they did?”

  (Cut to MASSIVE WARFARE. Cannonballs flying. Horses scream. A flaming chicken runs by. A mountain was cracked by a man throwing another man. Pennies dropped)

  JEREMIAH: “We’ll take the west!”

  FELIX: “The east will never kneel!”

  (The war drags on… until a young, handsome man steps between them. Dramatic music plays.)

  ZANE VOLKOV: “Y’all need to sit down. All this fighting… and for what? Dirt? Titles? You’re turning Earth into a trash fire!”

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  JEREMIAH & FELIX (in unison): “…He’s got a point.”

  [HAPPY TOWN – THE FOUNDING]

  NARRATOR (RUDY, V.O.): “They named it Happy Town. Dumb name, cool idea.”

  ZANE (now older, greyer): “I did it. Peace at last. A town where no one suffers.”

  LUIS COOKINGTON: “You sure you’re alright, boss?”

  ZANE (smiling sadly): “I hear the clock ticking backwards, Luis. Something’s off…”

  [INT. PALACE BALCONY – NIGHT]

  (Zane walks alone under the moonlight. We hear a rope tighten. A chair creaks. Silence.)

  [INT. THRONE ROOM – LATER]

  LUIS (to the people): “The King is gone. He… took his own life.”

  CITIZENS (gasps, some cry)

  LUIS (V.O.): “His daughter vanished. Never took the crown.”

  [INT. ROYAL BEDROOM – DARK]

  KING MELANCHOLY (to Queen, cruelly): “You speak when spoken to!”

  QUEEN MELANCHOLY: “I spoke to the stars, not to you!”

  NARRATOR (RUDY, V.O.): “Dude was a paranoid freak. And the Queen? She didn’t smile once.”

  [FLASHBACK – LUIS + EDWARD (secretly meeting in the woods)]

  LUIS: “I can’t watch this anymore. He’s not a king—he’s a monster.”

  EDWARD: “Say the word!”

  (Gunshot. The King’s death is ruled a “heart attack.”)

  [INT. PALACE – DAY – A NEW ERA]

  LITTLE LILY: “Mother… can we go outside?”

  QUEEN MELANCHOLY: “No. You’ll learn pain first.”

  NARRATOR (RUDY, V.O.): “She wasn’t any better. Turns out trauma doesn’t die with the king.”

  (Time skip. 12 years. Markus leaves. Lily grows older, colder. Luis watches silently. Then… a ceremony. Fireworks. Applause.)

  CITIZEN: “Long live the Queen!”

  Queen Melancholy: “I can’t wait to go to Thailand to—“

  [Sudden Gunshot]

  (The Queen falls. Blood stains the carpet. Screams fill the palace.)

  [INT. CELESTIAL COUNCIL – OUTSIDE TIME]

  PENTUIS: “Well, things escalated. Who could’ve guessed? Oh wait—me.”

  VOID: “Let the cycle continue.”

  ALEAH: “They’ll suffer. Until they’re chosen…”

  CUANDO: “And they will be.”

  PENTUIS (smirking): “The Hourglass cracks. Six contestants. One fate… you guys know what time it is right?”

  Aleah: “Was that a pun..?”

  PENTUIS: “No.”

  [BACK TO EARTH – HAPPY TOWN – NIGHT]

  Princess is in her room talking with a man in a hoodie.

  Princess: “The real world outside Happy Town has long since collapsed due to wars and disasters. Every time a contestant “wins” or “dies,” the simulation rewrites part of reality to keep the town running… that’s what I’m theorizing here..”

  Man: “I see.. The “Six Contestants” prophecy is actually the final reboot trigger—once six survive long enough together, the entire simulation is meant to self-destruct and merge with the outer world.”

  (The screen zooms in on Rudy asleep in bed. She twitches, sensing something through the cosmos.)

  NARRATOR (RUDY, V.O.): “I didn’t know it then… but everything was about to fall apart. Again.”

  END OF EPISODE 6