[Scene Opens – Border of the Shrouded Teeth]
Dense fog shrouds the path ahead. The air is thick and cold, and not even the birds dare chirp here.
Arav and Elara stand before a ravine carved into mountains of ash-black rock — the infamous entrance to the Shrouded Teeth.
A sign made of bones hangs loosely from an iron pole.
Elara (reading silently, lips moving):
> "Speak not… or be spoken through."
Arav (quietly, staring into the fog):
"We're not turning back. The Fang is in there. And so are the next answers."
Elara tightens her cloak and nods, her face paler than usual. The heat from her powers is useless here. Her flames shiver, barely visible.
They step into the fog.
---
[Scene: Inside the Shrouded Teeth – No Sound Zone]
Once inside, all sound vanishes.
Their footsteps echo only in their minds. No wind. No breath. No heartbeat. Just… void.
Narrator (low and soft):
"The Shrouded Teeth — where sound is not swallowed, but stolen. Where every whisper becomes a weapon in the hands of the ancient Fang."
Elara taps Arav's shoulder and signs with her fingers. Arav nods. They had practiced sign language back at the monastery.
But suddenly — the fog shifts.
A voice echoes… but neither of them spoke.
> "Why do you carry fire… into a place meant for shadows?"
Arav's hand goes to his sword.
Elara's flame flickers… and then vanishes.
---
[Scene: The Silent Killers]
Shadow figures lurch from the fog — Silent Ones, cursed warriors whose mouths have been sewn shut, eyes glowing with ancient runes.
They don't move like men. They float.
Their steps leave no mark. Their weapons drip with mist.
Elara (signs to Arav):
> "Don't speak. Don't fight unless they touch you."
Arav (nods, tenses his body):
> "Then let's not give them a reason."
But suddenly, the Eye Shard pulses.
A glow lights up around Arav's heart. It was not his doing.
The Silent Ones all stop… and turn.
Narrator:
"The Eye does not silence… it reveals."
---
[Scene: The Stone Choir]
In the center of the Teeth lies a temple of jagged crystal, known as the Stone Choir.
Statues of screaming faces stretch toward the ceiling — mid-agony, eternally mute.
Elara approaches one. It looks familiar.
Her hands brush the stone.
A pulse shoots through her — and suddenly, she sees herself again as a child… but not alone.
Another girl. White hair. Pale eyes. Smiling as she's carried away by monks.
Elara (thought echo):
> "That's… not me. That's…"
She turns to Arav and signs.
> "My twin."
---
[Scene: The Voice Thief Appears]
The air ripples.
From behind the crystal altar, a tall woman made of living shadow appears. Her face is covered by a veil of chains. From her back, flesh-made wings stitched with tongues flap gently.
The Voice Thief.
> "You dare bring voices here?"
"You dare carry the Flame and the Eye?"
"Then let silence claim you."
She raises a staff carved from vocal cords.
The Silent Ones bow.
And the fog becomes heavy… crushing them both to their knees.
Arav tries to scream but no sound comes.
Elara grips her pendant — it begins to burn white-hot.
---
[Scene: Elara's Hidden Flame Unleashed]
The heat grows.
Her flames burst out — but they make no sound.
Instead, they mimic light and memory — showing the Voice Thief her past.
> A kingdom silenced by betrayal.
A sister lost in exchange for peace.
A bargain made in blood — but never broken.
The Voice Thief gasps.
She sees her own reflection in Elara.
> "You… you are not her…"
Elara (mouths the words):
> "No. But I carry her pain."
Then she claps her hands.
The sound explodes — not in the ears, but in the soul.
A Flamewave shoots out, burning the fog clean.
---
[Scene: The Escape and Aftermath]
The Voice Thief falls.
Her form crumbles — not from death, but release.
She whispers one last breath, and Arav hears it.
> "She's beyond the southern gate…
guarded by the Hollow Fang…
wearing your name."
The fog lifts, and they collapse outside the Teeth.
Arav's voice finally returns.
Arav (hoarsely):
"Elara… what was that?"
Elara:
"I think I just broke a vow I never made."
---
[Scene: Final Clue – The Fang Map]
The Eye Shard spins in Arav's hand — now brighter.
It glows with a new symbol: a mouth sealed with gold.
Elara touches it.
The crystal displays a name:
> "Naerys."
Arav (shocked):
"That's… my real sister's name."
Elara looks away.
She knew.
She always knew.
---
End of Chapter 35
Next: Chapter 36 – The Golden Oath
> Secrets unravel. Naerys, long believed dead, may still live. But her survival came with a price — one paid in silence, and another in betrayal. Arav must walk into a kingdom that remembers his name… but not his face.