Waking Up

## **EPISODE 4, SCENE 6 – “Waking Up”** [NARRATION] A sharp gasp tears through the dormitory air. [SFX: _GASP. SHATTERING GLASS._] Ash Stonefist bolts upright, sweat-slicked and shaking, seated in the center of his dorm room. Shards of mirror glint around him like the aftermath of a failed divination. His chest heaves. His hands grope at nothing. For one impossible moment, it seems like the void followed them back. **ASH** (hoarse): “…Balance.” [NARRATION] Around him, the others stand in stunned silence. Maine’s eyes glow with residual magic. Nick grips a robe too tightly. Jonah stares at the space where the portal once was—now just cracked tile and twitching air. Victor is the last to speak, his voice breaking the trance. **VICTOR** (cheerful, too cheerful): “Well, that was... a lot.” **JONAH** (quiet): “Where’s Darius?” [NARRATION] The question hangs like smoke. The room answers in absence. **MAINE** (moving to the dorm door): “No one’s back from the festival.” [SFX: _CREAK._ DOOR OPENS TO EMPTY HALL.] [NARRATION] Silence spills in. Maine walks into the hallway—barefoot, blinking. A strange quiet has settled over the floor. No laughter. No spells fizzling. Just the echo of a moment out of joint. He reaches the elevator. [SFX: _METALLIC GRIND. CRUMPLE._] The doors hang loose. The lift shaft is ruined—scorched, clawed, collapsed. Whatever came through didn’t knock. **MAINE** (to no one): “Something happened.” [NARRATION] Back in the room, Ash is on his feet. The tremble in his voice is new, but the fear in his eyes is not. **ASH** (urgent): “Where’s Eveline?” [NARRATION] No one answers. Nick doesn’t wait. [SFX: _CLINK._ The sound of chain, steel, scythe unsheathed.] Nick throws the scythe upward into the elevator shaft. The chain snakes and bites into the metal above. **NICK** (grim): “I’ll find out.” [SFX: _CLINK._ _SCRAPE._ _RATTLE._] He begins to climb, one arm over the other, scythe embedded like a climbing pick in a world they no longer trust. [NARRATION] The others watch him ascend—up into the hollow, broken dark of Von Queef University. [NARRATION] Ash stares at the mirror shards. Jonah sits where Darius once stood. Victor gently places his disguised egg under a folded towel. Maine folds his arms. Outside the window, something distant crackles. Not fireworks. Something worse. **END OF EPISODE 4.**