THE MOON CROWN

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EPISODE 01:

GHOST OF A CHANCE

INT. - THE BACKROOM OF AN ANTIQUE SHOP

SFX: CLICK

LOU

I don't know who might be listening to this, but it wasn't my fault. I didn't summon that thing.

This may be restored technology, but I know there are still hobbyists, like... My brother. Artisans, like the one allowing me to use his equipment, though I wish he wouldn't watch me with his face so close to the glass. Unmoving. You'd think he would be fogging up the surface, standing as close as he is.

You know, I think he might be angry with me. Nevermind. It is possible that they'll find me if they hear this. If they tune into the right frequency. Maybe these broadcasts will just be additional evidence, but I need to tell someone. So if you can hear this, listen to my side of what happened.

SFX: RADIO TUNING, STATIC

LOU

The world as we know it is exactly as you might perceive, and yet nothing like it, at the same time.

I learned this first by working through the academy at Gods’ Peak. As a transcriber, I generally take down accounts of all forms of creatures, yet specialize in unclassified entities. This doesn't mean that they’re new entities, per say, but rather ones that don't fall into the categories already established in our town.

Over the last two centuries the academy hasn't found a single previously undocumented creature. As in, something that has never shown up in the old scripts, or history, or first-hand accounts in the surrounding area.

I learned that my perception might not align with reality, by seeing something new and previously undocumented by anyone in our town, with my own eyes.

I should say again: I didn’t summon that thing.

SFX: RADIO TUNING

LOU

It started a few months ago. I dragged a coffin through the graveyard outside of town.

Oh, by the way — it is difficult to sneak past the Stalkers, their spider-like figures skulking in the moonlight. It might have been the smell?

They’re not as keen to tear into a dead body so, in a way, the vampire I'd abducted… Was a sort of good luck token.

At any rate, I was trying to outrun dawn. At the time… I just — I hoped he wouldn’t die too quickly.

Yeah, I know how that sounds. Stay with me.

First off, I could get fired for harassment and intent to harm an entity. That might be the only repercussion I’d face, if it wasn’t for what happened at the ruins.

If you’ve never been to Gods’ Peak, I don’t recommend it. Sheriff Kit. Is a dick. And if you run into any trouble while visiting, well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Let’s, ah… Let’s get back to the coffin.

SFX: RADIO TUNING

LOU

Chains dug into my shoulder while I dragged it along. He was heavy. The vampire. I might be, well. Short? Don’t call me that. But everyone says I’m weirdly strong. I… I don’t know if that’s a compliment.

Anyways, I’d wrapped the chain around the coffin’s handles, which helped? Because in the other hand, I held... A crowbar...

When we reached the cemetery’s central plot, the coffin groaned, and the guy – the vampire – howled from within the wood.

It didn’t bother me, of course. Er. Maybe it did. A little.

Yet, it’s nothing compared to the winds at night, their screaming, crying, all through the night. Begging you to just open the door! Please open the door! They’re coming and if you don’t open the door, I will die.

So… Of course, it didn’t bother me too much. I banged on the coffin’s surface, telling him–

SFX: RADIO TUNING, SOUNDS OF CRICKETS

LOU

(???)

distorted

Nice to hear you're up, bright and early.

Let's get you out of bed.

SFX: RADIO TUNING

LOU

B… Before he could even talk, I grit my teeth, wedged the crowbar into the wooden lid. The planks creaked as I pried the thing open.

A bright yellow eye peered out of the hole in the wood and I tripped, falling on my ass. Sure, I knew he was in there, but… You ever seen a new gen? A newly turned vampire?

His face was pallid, lips tattered and sliced. Skin withering with each breath.

Now, to be fair, he didn’t actually look like some of the other vampires in town. I assume they preferred blending in, biding their time, waiting to find you out alone after curfew.

Like I said, this vampire was new. Very new. So new, that he could–

SFX: RADIO TUNING

LOU

(???)

distorted

He couldn't help himself, when I waited there, biding my time, wondering who might bite given the opportunity. And when he went for it? Well, I was especially you sure that the chance that he'd attacked-

LOU

-my brother was pretty damn high.

SFX: RADIO TUNING

LOU

I held the crowbar, pressing my foot against the lip while I wrenched off the coffin’s lid up. His fingers scrambled to get a hold of me, so I had to act fast, bashing his knuckles with the bar until he pulled his hands back in…

S-screaming.

And I… I relished in it. There’s something strange about that, now that I say it out loud.

I don't think I've always been so cruel, but things are-

SFX: RADIO TUNING

LOU

(???)

distorted

Different now. So much I’ve left to do! To heal, to kill. (laughing)

SFX: RADIO TUNING

LOU

Or — n-no, I— Why would I say that?

I only wanted answers. That’s… Shit, look, I don’t know why I’ve – why I’ve been acting this way. Even with what happened to Arnel, it’s too much. Right…?

Right?

But I… I went on. I popped open the coffin, letting the vampire tumble out onto the dirt, into the fog. Upon hallowed ground.

His hands were bloody. Clutched to his chest. He seemed surprised to see me. He looked from my face, back the broken pieces of himself. Asking me why in the Gods’ Will would I do something like this.

I… I could almost spot the humanity behind his metallic irises. Smears of dirt painted his pale face, sweeping across his cheek to his pointed ear.

I finally got to the point, asking which one of his clan turned my brother. He acted like he had no idea what I was talking about and didn’t seem very open to helping.

I tapped the statue beside us, ripping the vines crossing its rusted plaque. Its epitaph was faded, but you could clearly see the words…

LOU

(???)

distorted

Here. Lies. Goliath.

SFX: RADIO TUNING, QUIETER STATIC

LOU

His eye twitched when he realized where he was. Maybe he knew, then, who I am.

It’s all the town wanted to talk about, in their hushed murmurs. An undulating chorus, following wherever I walk. Like a chant.

They might have thought I couldn’t hear them, that I never noticed them standing at their windows, a-all of them… Chanting in unison, when I would leave for work in the morning. Goliath, Goliath.

As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a family name, nothing more. But clearly the town disagreed. They kept statues like those. As if the things acted like some protective barrier. And when I did hear their whispers, they’d talk of… of—

LOU

(???)

distorted

Of something greater and darker. They have their beliefs. And maybe. They're. Right.

SFX: CLICK, STATIC-Y/POOR QUALITY AUDIO, CRACKING BONES, A HIGH PITCHED GROWLING QUIETLY IN THE BACKGROUND, STEPS PACING,

LOU

What's wrong with me?! What... That was so... Stress? Yeah, stress. I mean, all of this is stress! And he came after me.

I didn't… I guess I should - I guess I should, focus, get back to transmitting.

Okay.

SFX: CHAIR SQUEALING, CLICK

LOU

Well, I… I swung the chain at him… Lashed at the vampire’s face, so he took the chance and grabbed it, pulling me closer. Blood streamed from his wounded mouth, dripping onto my hands.

He wanted to know what sort of symptoms Arnel was showing. Was he eating bloody meat? Was he sleeping during daylight? According to him, none of that meant anything.

He told me that I should have known that.

I did.

I’ve read all of the documentation at work. It’s a list of symptoms that plenty of entity transformations present.

But I was pissed. I told him how Arnel was sick. Infected.

There was this statue, towering over us. Green marble. This sort of cloaked figure, the carving so intricate it looked like real cloth. It held a lantern in its bony fingers.

It took me a moment to really hear him, the vampire, asking if Arnel was just. Sick. If I was ready to go to jail over a guess.

Pretty good joke.

Let me reiterate: Sheriff Kit does not care.

There was this steam whisking around us, and we were both drawn to the statue, inching closer, listening for the low growl that emanated within the stone.

I broke out of the trance when I noticed him panicking. He had scratched at his neck, held a slice of skin between his fingertips. And then he said something that probably changed the course of my life.

He wanted me to ask Benny about it. About the infection. Apparently, he didn’t have time for my vigilante bullshit.

His words. Not mine.

Admittedly, he really didn’t. Oranges and pinks bled into the sky and I stood back while he hurried, crawling to hide, under the coffin. Begging me to nail him back in.

I watched him, sort of paralyzed, wondering if my brother felt as terrified as this, the night he started to turn. The night that I pulled him up the stairs to his bed.

Followed by nights of me feeding him raw, finely diced meat mixed with milk, as he lost the strength to chew through the pounds and pounds of flesh that he was craving.

All these… Days, watching him fade into nothingness. Hoping that I was wrong.

Maybe I shouldn’t have done what I did, all of the things I’ve done since then.

Turns out – I was headed in the right direction. I’d just taken the wrong path. To get there.

Gray clouds drifted over the sun, casting shadows, leaving trails of Godsrays over the horizon. I…

I picked up the coffin’s lid from its place on the ground.

LOU

(???)

distorted

And I watched him there, for a moment, memorizing his huddled form in the coffin.

LOU

And then I, and then – And then I…

Walked away.

With the lid...

Leaving one long trench... In my wake...

SFX: RADIO TUNING

LOU

Now you have to understand. Even if you're on the jury for the trial that could be awaiting me. Even if you're one of them. Even if you're particularly sympathetic to the new generation of beasts, and – and you think I'm a monster, for dragging him out into the sun. For leaving him there…

I had to find who infected my brother. Why he was sick. I need to—

THE CHORUS

whispering

GOLIATH... GOLIATH…

LOU

I can hear them, right now. The chorus, that murmur, the hum in the floorboards...

THE CHORUS

whispering

GOLIATH... GOLIATH…

SFX: RADIO TUNING

LOU

The — The artisan hasn’t moved from his place behind the glass. I think he’s… He’s waiting for me to leave. Which is fair enough!

What I need to do, first and foremost, is find another place to hide. Find the others.

But if you care about what’s happening here, about what we saw – about what’s happening to our world… Remember this frequency.

I'll talk to you again soon.

SFX: CLICK, LOU SIGHING

LOU

What is that? What–

SFX: CHAIR SCOOTING OUT, STEPS, DOOR OPENING, STEPS

LOU

Oh… gods.

SFX: STEPS

Hi… How far do these broadcasts usually make it?

...

How much for your time...?

...

That piece is pretty... I'd be tempted to take it, if you… Weren't… Around.

Sorry...

Um, you know, there are things in there, right? I think they're tiyanak? I don't think you can keep them like that. They're not exactly… They’re uh…

Undead… Y’know… Children…

Can you – maybe – turn around… For a sec? Can you hear me?

SFX: CREAKING WOOD, STEPS

LOU

Oh! Oh… well, I should get goin'! I don't have much on me right now, but I don't even know how much something like this would even cost, and–

LOU

sudden shift in demeanor

But if you see a necromancer, a vampire, and a manananggal - could you tell them there's a friend waiting for them?

SFX: STEPS

There's a nearby coastal city. They’ll know where to find me.

And.

SFX: STEPS, "THUMB" BY MONOPHONA PLAYS

LOU

distorted

I'd appreciate it, if you didn't mention this to anyone else.

SFX: RADIO TUNING

INTERRUPTING BROADCAST

FIFE point FIFE - south? Five degrees! Nothing else fol-

SFX: RADIO TUNING, "THUMB" CONTINUES MONOPHONA PLAYING