ARIANNA: An Original Screenplay by Mehul Desai

FADE IN.
     
    EXT. COAST - GREY AFTERNOON
     
    Ocean waves strike jagged rocks.
     
    The cold waters rising and breaking with a steady ferocity.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR: “Across the endless
    waters there were other lands, other people,
    but to the men, women and children of
    Centuria the great waters that surrounded
    them were not the borders of one land, but
    the borders of the universe.”
     
    In the sky above we make out two moons.
     
    CUT TO.
     
    INT. CAVE - NIGHT
     
    Campfire.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR: “In the beginning
    they were scattered.”
     
    A tribe of men and women, Caucasian, cook meat and share stories.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “But as
    generations passed they became one.”
     
    Cave wall, a child draws a picture of families working the land.
     
    DISSOLVE TO.
     
    EXT. FIELD - SUMMER DAY
     
    Villagers tend to their crops, their clothes and tools reminiscent of a late Iron Age community.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR: “They were bonded
    by one truth.”
     
    EXT. CAPITOL - SUNSET
     
    Medieval buildings, houses and markets.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR: “A belief that
    maintained peace and prosperity for all of
    Centuria.”
     
    An enormous Royal Palace sits by the coast.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “That
    all were descendants of the first line.”
     
    INT. GRAND HALL - PALACE - NIGHT
     
    Courtesans laugh and dance.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR: “All a reflection of
    a greater whole.”
     
    EXT. COURT YARD - PALACE - NIGHT
     
    Food is shared.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR: “The Great Spirit.”
     
    A peasant child smiles, pressing his forehead against his father's.
     
    CUT TO.
     
    EXT. VILLAGE - WOODLANDS - NIGHT
     
    A group of men sit around a fire and share a pipe.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR: “But in the Southern
    Realm came whispers. Voices that questioned
    all they knew.”
     
    One of the men blows smoke into the air, the smoke drifting by the moons and stars.
     
    CUT TO.
     
    INT. MARKET TOWN - SOUTHERN REALM - MORNING
     
    A young man, blond and blue eyed like all in the Southern Realm, preaches to a crowd, speaking in a foreign language (Southern).
     
    YOUNG PREACHER: (subtitled) “We praise
    the Great Spirit! We worship the Great Spirit!
    But why do not truly search for the Great
    Spirit?”
     
    A old woman in the crowd shakes her head and turns away.
     
    YOUNG PREACHER (CONT'D): “Consider
    for a moment that HE is not within us but out
    there.”
     
    He holds his hand to the sky.
     
    YOUNG PREACHER (CONT'D): “Why are
    we celebrating ourselves when we should be
    celebrating HIM?”
     
    More people walk away but an equal many remain, nodding their heads in agreement.
     
    CUT TO.
     
    INT. TEMPLE - SOUTHERN REALM - NIGHT
     
    Men and women dressed in black kneel, their heads low.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR: “The people of
    Southern Realm began a new form of
    worship.”
     
    Part of the ceiling is removed, the stars and moons visible above.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “They
    no longer saw the Great Spirit in the souls
    of their fellow man, nor even in themselves.”
     
    A priest touches the sides of his forehead and raises his hands to the sky.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “They
    were all His creation. The creation of Kalaar.”
     
    CUT TO.
     
    EXT. MARKET - CAPITOL - DAY
     
    Followers of Kalaar are confronted by locals.
     
    The few guards present struggling to maintain order.
     
    KALAAR FOLLOWER: (accented) “His
    Words have come to us! All must change
    their ways and see His light or be lost for all
    eternity!”
     
    The people of the North "boo" and jeer, throwing rotten vegetables.
     
    CUT TO.
     
    INT. THRONE ROOM - PALACE - DAY
     
    The King sits, overwhelmed.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR: “The Great King,
    descendent of the first line, pleaded for
    unity.”
     
    A Kalaaron follower kneels before him and offers a scroll.
     
    FEMALE NARRATOR (CONT'D): “But
    the people of the Southern Realm demanded
    the laws of Kalaar be the laws of all
    Centuria.”
     
    The King looks down at