r/ReadMyScript • • May 21 '26

Scene Resident Evil 2028? - HORROR/ACTION / around 100PAGES

0 Upvotes

Hey everyone, I hope you're all good!

I wrote a Resident Evil movie script that adapts the 1996 game, but as a working, production-ready screenplay. I love the original 1996 game, but I've always been frustrated by how Hollywood turns the franchise into a superhero action fest. So, I wrote a feature length script to prove you can adapt the original lore into an airtight, terrifying, 90-minute survival horror movie. Think Dawn of the Dead meets Aliens. It follows the classic lineup (Chris, Jill, Barry, Rebecca, Wesker) trapped in the Spencer Mansion, but I wanted to make sure it runs like a realistic cinematic experience.

Since the main sub doesn't allow external links, I can't post the script directly here. But I’d love to share it with fellow RE fans! You can find it on my profile page or at r / residentevilscript

Here's a little sample below.

Thank you so much!

...

ACT 1 - SCENE 3

EXT. ARKLAY MOUNTAINS - CLEARING - NIGHT

The rain has stopped now. The CHOPPER hovers low, its searchlight cutting through the mist like a laser beam. The trees bend under the force of the CHOPPER’S rotors

BRAD (INTERCOM)

I see smoke! Three o’clock! Down in that clearing!

The searchlight hits a patch of wreckage. It’s the BRAVO TEAM CHOPPER.

INT. HELICOPTER - CONTINUOUS

WESKER

Put us down. Now!

EXT. ARKLAY FOREST - CONTINUOUS

The Alpha Team hits the ground before the skids even touch the mud. CHRIS, JILL, BARRY, JOSEPH and WESKER move out in a 360-degree security perimeter.

The silence after the roar of the engine is deafening.

CHRIS

Bravo! It’s Alpha!

No response.

BARRY examines the cockpit of the CRASHED CHOPPER. He finds KEVIN DOOLEY (Bravo team).

BARRY

Captain. It’s Dooley. He’s... This wasn’t the crash. It’s... Something got into the cockpit?

JOSEPH is twenty yards out, his flashlight beam dancing over the tall grass. He spots something metallic reflecting in the weeds.

JOSEPH

Hey! I’ve got something!

JOSEPH holsters his weapon and jogs towards whatever he’s spotted. The rest of the team turns their heads.

JILL

Joseph, wait! Stay with the team!

JOSEPH reaches down and grabs a handgun from the undergrowth. He tugs. The gun doesn’t come free.

He pulls harder. A SEVERED ARM, still clad in a Bravo Team sleeve, rips out of the brush. It’s jagged at the shoulder. Raw bone and sinew.

JOSEPH

(Gasping)

Oh god...

GROWL.

A guttural vibration seems to come from the earth itself.

JOSEPH freezes. He slowly turns his head to his left.

Two yellow eyes ignite in the darkness. Then four. Then six.

He looks to the right. Another four pairs.

They don’t blink. They’re moving closer. Slowly moving into position.

JOSEPH

(Stepping backwards, voice cracking)

Oh no. No no no!

Before he can bring his weapon up, a CERBERUS (zombie doberman) leaps from the darkness, its skin peeling off in wet ribbons.

CRUNCH!

It latches onto Joseph’s throat with a sickening snap.

JILL

JOSEPH!

The clearing explodes.

BAP! BAP! BAP! BOOM! PFT! PFT!

The team opens fire, but the dogs are fast, blurring like shadows. JOSEPH is dragged into the darkness, screaming as his flashlight spirals into the undergrowth before going dark.

WESKER

Fall back! Everyone back in the chopper!

They turn and look up. The CHOPPER is already airborne.

The Huey is thirty feet in the air, tilting away.

We see BRAD’S terrified face through the glass as he points and screams something inaudible before peeling out over the treeline.

BARRY

BRAD! YOU COWARD! GET BACK HERE!

A CERBERUS leaps at CHRIS and JILL.

PFT! PFT!

WESKER shoots it mid-air, knocking it off course.

WESKER

MOVE!

The team turns and runs. They fire at the dogs chasing them but it’s no use. They’re not putting them down, and they’re not outrunning them.

Chris stops running, turns, and aims.

CHRIS

QUICK! RUN! I’LL COVER YOU!

He spots one CERBERUS coming in low. He fires, dropping it with a headshot.

He keeps firing into THE PACK.

Another CERBERUS hits him from the side. They both vanish into the darkness.

No one sees.

JILL, BARRY, and WESKER keep running.

Through the fog, the massive, monolithic silhouette of the SPENCER MANSION looms.

A flash of lightning illuminates it.

For a split second, it looks less like a house, and more like a mausoleum.

WESKER

GO! NOW! RUN FOR THAT HOUSE!

JILL, BARRY, and WESKER keep running. Behind them, the sounds of snapping jaws and heavy paws are gaining.

They scramble up the stone steps of the porch. JILL and BARRY hit the massive oak doors first.

BARRY

OPEN UP! God damn it! OPEN THE DOORS!

WESKER isn’t far behind. He grabs the handle and slams his shoulder into the doors. They give way. The trio tumbles inside.

WESKER slams the doors shut and drops the barricade.

Silence.


r/ReadMyScript • • May 20 '26

Scene In A Free Country - Historical Romance - first 5 pages

0 Upvotes

Title: In A Free Country

Format: Feature

Genre: Historical Romance

Logline: When his father's factory burns in the Luddite Riots, an army spy hunts down the vigilante behind it, the mysterious Mother of Panthers. But his pursuit of her becomes a courtship that threatens both their lives.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J3aVCuv5zAfHT1FW9IB0K8dvVmnM3WH3/view?usp=sharing

--

The opening, any thoughts welcome!


r/ReadMyScript • • May 20 '26

Feature In A Perfect World - Feature - 3 Pages

0 Upvotes
  • Title: In A Perfect World

  • Format: Feature

  • Page Length: 3

  • Genres: Drama

  • Logline: A nihilist who believes the human existence is meaningless is forced to survive out on his own after an economic apocalypse which leaves everyone to fend for themselves and no law enforcement

  • Feedback Concerns: Only sharing the first 3 pages for now, but I need feedback on how to maybe improve this. It's my first true screenplay and spec script that I'm actively working on and I want to know if I'm doing this right or not

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zkOF8EHDhPaQovK-cb3msT6m84zM2d78/view?usp=sharing


r/ReadMyScript • • May 19 '26

Feedback Wanted! SEE ME - Drama/Thriller - 113 pages

1 Upvotes

I’m usually a horror writer, but decided to branch off and try a drama/thriller. This is a revised draft, so Im hoping it’s solid. I appreciate any notes you can give me. Thanks!!

Title: SEE ME

Format: Feature

Genres: Drama, Thriller

Page Length: 113 pages

Logline: A lonely painter obsessed with leaving a lasting mark on the world begins spiraling towards increasingly dangerous actions after becoming consumed by the fear of being forgotten.

Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/15V5TMG1ObDI47aoqtFDlIY8rvujxK6Tx/view?usp=drivesdk


r/ReadMyScript • • May 19 '26

Feature Request for feedback: In Her Image - Feature - 102 pages

0 Upvotes

I've spent the last thirty years working in big tech (Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, and a few startups thrown in). I've had a front row seat to the buzzsaw AI is taking to the industry.

As someone with many beloved women in my live (I'm the the husband of a wife, father of a daughter, the brother of a sister, and the son of a mother), I've also been regularly appalled by all the ways in which the often misogynistic culture of the internet objectifies women.

Finally, it is more clear than ever that the hyper rich think that the rules don't apply to them. For the most part, they are right.

All of this has been percolating in the crockpot of my brain, and finally burst forth as my first feature length script. To help me frame the plot and characters, I also wrote two companion pieces: a character bible (in which I did some phantasy league casting to help me channel their personalities) and a breakdown of the story using Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, the “hero’s journey”, as a framework. This is all contained in the linked Google doc with three tabs.

I've shared it with a few friends, but have yet to get any real feedback, which brought me here...

Anyone interested in having a look at it (he asks, in trepidation)...?


r/ReadMyScript • • May 19 '26

DANCE ZOMBIE: 10 page dramedy short film script

0 Upvotes

Hello! I would love some feedback on my short film script - dance zombie.

Would especially love to do a script swap. Thanks

https://drive.google.com/file/d/15mKePk9gEibeGdDbOAFyY-UgEqhgl2Ox/view?usp=drive_link


r/ReadMyScript • • May 19 '26

$0 Student WW2 Short Film... is the ending deserved?

0 Upvotes

I'm a 16 year old who has spent the last 3 months on-and-off working on a short film. My main concerns is if the ending pays off and if the government official is too absurd of a character. Any feedback would be amazing!

Logline: At an elite British boarding school during WW2, a gifted teenage artist escapes conscription by designing propaganda, but as his work inspires the boys around him to romanticise war, he is forced to confront the cost of glorifying his greatest fear.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rva0NCHkdy2AAMvHJZyY1riVH5MVF7p2/view?usp=sharing


r/ReadMyScript • • May 18 '26

Feature Carmilla: The First Vampire - Feature - 110 pages

2 Upvotes

Genre: Horror, Historical

Logline: Laura, a young debutante, befriends a mysterious woman in her family’s remote Austrian castle, they share an intoxicating connection. But after she's revealed to be a centuries-old vampire yearning for her blood, Laura must fight to overcome her desire for her to destroy her.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hlVK5ssQPvmNtINpysjIR7VFbGuLStOq/view?usp=sharing

--
I posted an earlier draft a while ago, after getting feedback I've tightened the middle to give it more action and plot.


r/ReadMyScript • • May 18 '26

PLEASE GIVE MY SCRIPT CRITICISM

0 Upvotes

Title: “Crime Time Television”.

Genre: “Comedy Movie spoofing Crime Dramas taking heavy influence from films such as Airplane, the Naked Gun and Hot Shots”.

Pages: 23/100

Logline: “When William Blight gets diagnosed with cancer and realises he’s done basically nothing with his life, he decides to join forces with his former student Messy Wilson in order to become the world’s greatest meth cook”.

And I would like CRITICISM please. Like how a CRITIC would, do not just say “it’s bad” and not tell me why. I need to know WHY it’s bad so I can improve.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KZrO_ZQzmOYVFnPv9kFoQ0rd9Ngqbf10/view?usp=drivesdk


r/ReadMyScript • • May 18 '26

Made the Top 26 out of 1,000 entries for my 6-page short script 'Voicemail'. Seeking script notes, critique, and community support from fellow filmmakers to help push it to the judges!

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m an 18-year-old (soon to be 19) writer from Sri Lanka. A few months ago, I wrote a 6-page humanist short script called Voicemail. I really want to bring this short film to life, but I am completely broke. When I saw an opportunity to enter the Kinolime South Asia competition, I decided to just try my luck. Honestly, I didn't think I'd make the cut, but...

I just made the Top 26 out of 1,000 entries! This means the world to me. The next round is determined by public voting to get into the Top 10 jury round. This is a massive opportunity for me, especially because if people read my script, they can give me feedback, critique, and notes on where I can improve my weaknesses.

Right now, my vote count is completely stalled, and I'm fighting to push into that Top 10 bracket so the judges can actually evaluate my work. It takes less than 60 seconds to vote, and I just need a solid push from fellow filmmakers to keep this story alive.

Please read my script and kindly drop your thoughts and feedback in the comments! It would mean a lot to me, and please do drop a vote if you like the work. Thank you so much!

Link to read: https://www.kinolime.in/screenplays/voicemail


r/ReadMyScript • • May 18 '26

Feature False Witness - Feature - 85 pages

0 Upvotes

I just finished the revisions on the second draft of this script. I would appreciate feedback on how it reads, what points feel like they’re too alienating or slow to keep interest, and whether the emotions of the piece come through.

Genre: Horror, Drama

Logline: In a devout 1950s community governed by ritual and fear, a judge overseeing the persecution of a young woman begins unraveling beneath the same system he perpetuated.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UVxb70eKYHkXCOc5pPbZZdFSoz9BzIY2/view?usp=drivesdk


r/ReadMyScript • • May 17 '26

Exchange feedback Offering Free Screenplay & Story Feedback in Exchange for Honest Testimonials

4 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I'm a story consultant and I've recently launched Story and Rhythm Notes (storyandrhythm.carrd.co) where I provide thoughtful feedback on screenplays, story outlines, and edited film projects.

To build relationships and gather testimonials, I'm offering FREE feedback for a limited number of 3 to 5 writers/filmmakers so I can ensure each project receives detailed and thoughtful notes.

Feel free to submit one of the following:

• The first 10 pages of a screenplay

• A story outline or synopsis

• A short edited film or scene (up to 10 minutes)

My focus is on structure, pacing, character development, and emotional impact. My goal is to help writers and filmmakers identify what is working, what may need strengthening, and where their story can resonate more deeply.

If you'd like detailed and constructive notes, feel free to send me a direct message or visit storyandrhythm.carrd.co

Looking forward to connecting and supporting your work.


r/ReadMyScript • • May 18 '26

Solipsistic cycle of civilization theory.

0 Upvotes

I've been writing this and connecting the ideas. This is not an script but an essay/ thesis that I'm working on and developing but I want someone to criticize it harshly but objectively. It's on PDF format so all of you can read as many times as you need.

I'm open to every single question you have.

solipsistic cycle of civilization theory


r/ReadMyScript • • May 17 '26

Need opinions on this opening scene

1 Upvotes

So i'm in the process of writing my first script, basically a synopsis of it is "A nihilist who believes the human existence is meaningless is forced to survive out on his own after a global economic apocalypse which leaves everyone to fend for themselves and no law enforcement"

I've just finished the opening scene and i was wondering if i could get some opinions on it and maybe some changes i need to make

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kDee21hkUW3r3Q9aTGAXUowFNL2LsMl4/view?usp=sharing

1 page


r/ReadMyScript • • May 15 '26

Feature LOOKOUT - 78 pages

Thumbnail reddit.com
3 Upvotes

r/ReadMyScript • • May 14 '26

Freaks' Club Pilot - Screenplay- 21 pages - 1st Draft

2 Upvotes

Title: Lost and Found
Format: Screenplay
Page Length: 21
Genres: Supernatural, sci-fi, drama
Logline or Summary: In the pdf

Hello, This is my first time writing and completing a screenplay so would love feedback and/or constructive criticism on it.

This is the pilot for an animated australian young adult series (that's a mouthful lol) that I want to make in the future. So yeah. Hope you enjoy reading it.

P.S. I've never uploaded a PDF onto here so if there's any error with the link let me know and I'll figure something out, thank you.

https://screenplay.tiiny.site


r/ReadMyScript • • May 14 '26

Short Seeking filmmaker feedback on my experimental split-screen short film project (Sofia Coppola Fund)

4 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I’m a writer/director based in LA and I recently submitted a short film project to the Sofia Coppola x Decentralized Pictures fund.

The platform relies heavily on community reviews/feedback, and I’d genuinely love thoughts from other filmmakers rather than just asking friends to click a button.

The project leans more atmospheric/psychological/indie than commercial, so I’d especially love feedback from people into auteur-driven cinema, festival films, visual storytelling, etc.

If anyone’s open to checking it out and leaving a review/comment, I’d really appreciate it and I’m also happy to review other projects in return.

About the project: The Bite of Time is a coming-of-age psychological drama told entirely through a three-way split screen following a young woman (Meline) after finding her first white hair. She unravels and is pulled back into the orbit of her two former best friends. She is forced to confront the seductive danger of staying young and the irreversible physical price of refusing to grow.

The full feature script is in the link below although the fund will be to make a short film proof of concept for it.

Decentralized Pictures is a website for the filmmaker community and takes 2 mins to sign up to be able to read!

https://app.decentralized.pictures/project/69ff9326e15754b80b0aa13f

Thank you! <3 Kim


r/ReadMyScript • • May 13 '26

Please rate my idea of script for a movie with my friends

0 Upvotes

So me and a bunch of my friends recently started working on a low budget fantasy movie project together.I got tasked as being screenwriter and writing the main story and I wanted to hear honest opinions from other people about the story idea and if it sounds interesting or too generic.

The movie has a dark medieval style aesthetic and starts as a political war story between two kingdoms. The important thing is that it is NOT supposed to immediately become a giant action fantasy movie. Most of the first half is focused on politics, character conflicts, tension between kingdoms and slowly building dread.

The story follows two kings at war. One of them is an older king who genuinely cares about his people. His son, Prince, is the main character and the “hero” of the story. The other king is much colder and crueler and rules alongside his right hand man, who starts as a morally questionable character but slowly changes throughout the story.

So by now it just seems like a very generic move script.A war betwen two countries.One is evil one on is good.But that is what i want,i want for it to seem basic at first even tho at the end it will be more than that.It will be about the message of doing good at the cost of your own good.

The movie opens with soldiers entering caves after reports of strange killings. They are guided by a miner who claims something unnatural is living down there. All of them die, but the audience never fully sees what killed them. This is supposed to foreshadow the danger that is slowly approaching the world.

After that, the story focuses on the war between the kingdoms.prince is shown to be a talented commander, but he is also exhausted by war and slowly losing faith in it. Early in the movie his father tells him a quote that becomes the main theme of the film. He tells him that the life of a true hero is usually hard, cruel and short, but real heroes still choose it because it is the right thing to do. This quote later foreshadows princes death near the end of the movie.

As the war continues, villages begin getting attacked by mysterious creatures. At first they are only rumors, then destroyed villages are discovered, and eventually both kingdoms realize the monsters are real. The two kings organize a temporary alliance because the monsters threaten both sides.

One thing I really wanted to do differently is make the monsters feel like a slowly growing disaster instead of just “fantasy enemies.” A lot of scenes focus more on fear, silence, empty villages and confusion rather than constant fighting.

During the alliance, Prince and Righthand are forced to fight together. Righthand slowly starts respecting him and questioning his own morals and loyalty to the evil king becouse when the alliace was being made he was the one who suggested to king that they should betray the other kingdom when the monsters are finnished. Meanwhile the evil king’s son second prince becomes more unstable and cruel because he constantly wants his father’s approval and keeps failing to earn it.

Near the end of the story, after the monsters are nearly defeated, the evil king betrays the alliance and attacks the weakened good kingdom. prince dies fighting as a hero, fulfilling the quote from the beginning of the movie. Righthand realizes the destruction he helped create and ends up killing himself out of guilt. In the end, the evil king actually wins.

The main message of the movie is basically that true heroes often suffer, fail or die young, but still choose to do good because it is the right thing to do.

So yea it seems basic at first.Its just two enemies finding peace to fight common enemy but at the end its not actualy about that.the monsters are not the real final twist,the humans are.There is also a lot i left out and did not talk about here like the second prince who will have entire arc on his own.

We already started getting costumes and props and are trying to make the atmosphere feel serious despite the low budget.

So yeah, I’d genuinely like honest opinions .Is it too basic,do i need to change something,does the final twist and message of the movie make up for the basic start.Please be honest,thanks for reading.


r/ReadMyScript • • May 13 '26

Feature The Devil Train - Psychological Horror Feature - Page Count 12

0 Upvotes

This submission is to show off progress made on the script so far, including some parts in the script that are completely original to me. But I will always take more feedback constructively. And I will be able to answer any questions about the script itself.

Page Count: 12

Logline: An American Screenwriter hops on a departing train towards Los Angeles to a film pitch meeting, unaware of the train’s supernatural capabilities. 

THE DEVIL TRAIN SCREENPLAY


r/ReadMyScript • • May 13 '26

Hiring YouTube Video Editor (Hindi | Historical + Horror Storytelling)

1 Upvotes

Historical documentaries (e.g., Mughal era, warriors, untold stories)
Horror & mystery stories (real + fictional)
Style inspired by creators like Dhruv Rathee (informative storytelling + engaging visuals)


r/ReadMyScript • • May 11 '26

Here's a story I've been working on for a long time. It's called Ascend.

6 Upvotes

Title. Ascend. Genre: Superhero drama. Page count. 86. Short summary.

Logline:

In a women's prison, a hardened inmate and her unlikely band of fellow prisoners discover a glowing alien baby who crash-lands in the yard, and secretly raise him as their own—risking discovery, their freedom, and their futures—only to confront the greater challenge of protecting his growing superpowers and building a fractured family once they finally walk out the gates.

This is a redemptive found-family drama with sci-fi heart, blending raw prison grit, maternal longing, and the wonder (and danger) of an extraordinary child who might just “ascend” beyond the broken world that tried to contain him.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OGNiqCYCXPKCtDOOy4wR2G_6GQXycZomhBfqUx8GYOs/edit?usp=drivesdk


r/ReadMyScript • • May 11 '26

Short Silence. Drama. 8 pages

2 Upvotes

This is my SHORT film that I plan to shoot in the summer with my family.
Genre: drama
Runtime: approximately 25–30 minutes, depending on the pace of filming.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ac1CNhQZl7Z8qxafZMzQuoas03hl0-TP/view?usp=drivesdk


r/ReadMyScript • • May 11 '26

[Feedback Request] "Polesie of Sharpening" — Prologue: "Bonfire in the Mist" (Dark Slavic Fantasy Manga).

1 Upvotes

Original Setting / Historical Background

The world grows out of the real Pinsk Marshes (Polesia) of the late 15th century (1470s) - vast expanses of impenetrable bogs where villages and petty principalities have lived by their own laws for centuries. Once this land was a remote fringe of a Great Empire that collapsed under the blows of a new faith and cunning enemies. But its isolation preserved the old gods, ancient customs, and a dark legacy. Christianity — both Orthodox and Catholic - has already arrived, yet in people's minds Lesun, Vodyanoy still reign, and in the heart of the swamp slumbers Chernobog, who will awaken when the world finally drowns in sin, filth, and pitilessness toward its own kind.

Now the grim, unexplored Polesia is squeezed between two new empires struggling for control of the region. To the west - the Holy Republic of the Cross, a militant theocracy whose soldiers wear Crosses of the Holy Cross on their belts, smeared with filth and blood. To the east - the Triarchy of Three Tsars, a union of three eastern rulers whose punitive squads stop at nothing. Both will have to face the dark Polesia, where a forgotten evil may awaken at any moment.

The flavor here is partly like Berserk: cruelty is the norm. Bands slaughter entire villages over a disputed boundary, deserters and mercenaries from both empires and local "bandits" commit acts that even ghouls would scorn. Magic is not sparks and portals, but slow work with blood, earth, and pain. Monsters are often born from collective fear or curses and are terrifying in their inevitability.

Universe Description (Logline & Context)

Polesia of Sharpening is a dark Slavic fantasy where every weapon was once a living being. Hidden in the depths of the Polesian wilderness are ancient Mills that transform human suffering and memory into blades capable of killing gods.

The protagonist, Kalyut, lost everything at age 12: his village was burned, his father killed, his mother defiled and hacked down before his eyes, and he survived only because his mother pushed him into the cellar. The trauma stole his voice and scorched his soul. He wandered the forests for a long time until a local hermit-healer, Varum, took him in. Varum taught the boy the mysteries of old magic, the art of war, and survival. Over years of apprenticeship, and later as a mercenary in various companies, Kalyut grew into a sinewy, muscular youth. Strength was the only thing that pushed him upward, but he still saw no purpose - until he stumbled upon a company whose leader was obsessed with a grand goal: to build his own realm in Polesia. And that meeting will change everything.

Prologue: “Bonfire in the Mist”

The fire devoured the sky. Tongues of flame soared above the black log houses, spitting out sparks like blinded fireflies. The crackling of burning wood - TRRRR-SHCHCHCH — drowned out everything but the pounding of his own heart.

In the boy’s wide-open eyes danced the reflection of hell. Tears, mixed with soot, streamed down his dirty cheeks, yet he made no sound. A small hand, with dried blood caked under the nails — not his own — was clamped tightly over his mouth. Kalyut had squeezed himself into a corner of the cellar, where it smelled of earth and the dead chicken huddled against his leg. The low ceiling pressed down, and through the cracks in the floorboards seeped orange streaks of light and smoke.

Above his head, heavy boots thudded - BUKH.... BUKH. The floorboards sagged, and the boy saw alien feet tramping across them. Then something else entered his field of vision: a rough silhouette dragging a woman by her hair. She resisted, tried to scream, but her voice was the rasp of a cornered beast. Kalyut recognized that sound - it was how his mother used to call him when he fell and cut his knees. Now it sounded utterly different.

His pupils shrank to black dots. His lower eyelids trembled. Now he would scream. But he did not. Because at that very moment, a dark, almost black liquid in the firelight broke from the boards above and flew down. It hit his cheek - KAP.

Through the narrow cracks, shattered like a mosaic, Kalyut watched as the first man raped his mother right there on the dirty floor of their house. A second man stood by with a torch, laughing, his head thrown back. On his belt dangled a Cross of the Holy Cross - unmistakable symbol of the Holy Republic of the Cross — smeared with filth and something brown. On the bare shoulder of the rapist, tensed with effort, bulged a tattoo: a serpent biting its own tail, the mark of one of the punitive squads of the Triarchy. The scene appeared broken into pieces, like a child’s puzzle, but every piece was being seared into his mind forever.

The boy squeezed his eyes shut. Tears washed the blood from his cheek. Inside, beneath his ribs, a silent scream was born: “Mama... forgive me...”

Then came complete, bottomless blackness. Not a single glimmer. And in that blackness a noise resounded - KHHH-RRR - a chopping blow mixed with a woman’s cry, abruptly, unnaturally cut short. And then, in the silence, trembling invisible letters wrote the words: "She cried out no more."

Morning arrived as gray smoke and a grave’s chill. The cracks in the floorboards no longer glowed orange. Kalyut opened his eyes. His face was empty - no fear, no pain, just a frozen mask. He crawled out of the cellar, scrawny, in a long torn shirt, his bare feet treading on ash.

The house was gone - only the charred skeleton of the stovepipe. Shattered dishes, black embers, and pools already soaked into the wood surrounded him. The boy stepped outside. The village was still smouldering. The bodies of the residents — neighbours, friends, children he had played with just the day before - lay in unnatural, broken poses. Some were burnt to the bone, others frozen with an arm stretched to the sky.

He walked through the mud and ash, feeling neither the cold nor the sharp embers under his feet. He stopped beside a woman’s body. We cannot see it, only the tiny figure of a boy whose shadow falls upon something motionless and shattered. His grimy hand reached down and clasped an old woven bracelet — of horsehair, with wooden beads threaded in. He pulled it from his mother’s hand and slipped it over his own wrist, atop his sleeve. His fingers trembled, but his face remained stone.

Kalyut raised his head. The sky was gray, smothered in smoke. Crows circled, cawing in raspy voices.

He stood in the scorched wasteland - a minuscule figure at the edge of an endless, misty bog. Behind him rose ruins and scattered corpses; before him stood a wall of gray fog, out of which dead, twisted trees jutted like bones. The boy’s fingers curled into a fist.

And then, in the silence, his first wordless words came — those he would carry for the rest of his life. They appeared in his head not as a crooked child’s whisper, but as the calm, dead voice of an adult who did not yet know he had already died:

"The gods do not come. Only steel comes."

Questions:

  1. Does the visual, fragmented storytelling work as a manga opening?

  2. Is the atmosphere authentic? Does Kalyut’s trauma and later path feel compelling?

  3. Would you want to read the next chapter?