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.oO [ S A I N T | G A T H L Y N | A N D | T H E | B E A S T ] Oo.

{ A PLAY IN TWO PARTS }
- by Valory Diluculo, Eyes of Ice -

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{ CAST OF CHARACTERS }
from most to least words spoken

• ALEXEI NOVEKEI - Evgenii Novekei's grandfather, elderly Grandpa Al tells the tale of Saint Gathlyn.
• VYLAHI SINENTH - Gathlyn Sinenth's mother, Gathlyn inherited her long fair hair and boundless love and compassion.
• THE DISEMBODIED VOICE OF RAZIELA - The Loving Radiance's resonant voice.
• TETALNE SINENTH - Gathlyn Sinenth's father, Gathlyn inherited his clear blue eyes and unflinching bravery.
• THE PRIEST - An elderly friend of Gathlyn Sinenth's, who resides in the Great Blue Cathedral.
• GATHLYN SINENTH - The hero of the tale, this young fourteen-year-old boy commits the ultimate sacrifice to save his people.
• THE ECCLESIARCH - The Ecclesiarch of Old Celest City.
• EVGENII NOVEKEI - Alexei Novekei's grandson, fourteen-year-old Ev is eager to hear the tale of Saint Gathlyn and bring a toy to his memorial in honour of his ancient sacrifice.
• THE CROWD - A frightened crowd that flees to the Great Blue Cathedral.
• THE BEAST - The monster that terrorizes Old Celest. Mute role.

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{ COSTUMES }

GATHLYN SINENTH

Gathlyn Sinenth wears richly embroidered purple robes. Raziela’s sparrows flit back and forth in black and silver embroidery, interspersed with thin golden filigree of a golden tree. Spiderweb-thin gold grasses and white daisies decorate the hem, and delicate pink flowers adorn the sleeves and frolic among the golden grass. Soft silver sandals grace his feet, and he wears a pink, iridescent sash tied elaborately around his slender waist.

VYLAHI SINENTH

Vylahi Sinenth wears luxurious sea green robes embroidered in golden wave designs. Pearls are tucked into its folds, discreetly catching the light whenever she moves. A sky blue satin sash studded with emeralds emphasizes the slender curve of her waist.

TETALNE SINENTH

Tetalne Sinenth wears luxurious maroon robes embroidered with golden doves and angels. Rubies, sapphires and emeralds are spread opulently across the deep red cloth, to gleam and glint at every movement. A heavy brocade sash of white and gold completes his outfit, and his golden sandals appear to be fashioned more for display than convenience.

ECCLESIARCH OF THE CELESTINES

The Ecclesiarch wears pure white satin ceremonial robes with wide sleeves and golden embroidery along the hems depicting cherubs and symbols of the Supernals. A heavy silver belt studded with amethysts and pearls contrasts with the simplicity of his robes, indicating his rank. He wears simple woven sandals and a long silver necklace of the Supernals.

CELESTINE PRIEST

The priest is dressed in the flowing white robes of the Celestine priesthood, the waist secured with a white leather belt bearing a burnished circular buckle dyed deep cobalt blue. He carries an unadorned prayerbook and wears simple woven sandals, his garb the essence of simplicity and prudence.

THE BEAST

This massive monster somewhat resembles a quinotaur, with a barbed green, scaly tail of a huge serpent and a mammoth’s hind, resting upon great colossal round feet studded with five hoofed toes. In the front it possesses the chest and partial back of a roc, white-and-black feathered, its forelegs tipped with webbed, four-toed bird feet that end in vicious, gargantuan black talons. Its head is that of a bull, and curling horns protrude with titanic length and width from the nightmarish creature’s lower jaw, wickedly sharp. Nearly completely buried by folds of flesh as it snarls, its beady eyes are filled with a glowing red fury.

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The curtains reopen, signifying the end of the intermission. Gathlyn finds himself standing at a statue of Raziela just outside the Great Blue Cathedral.

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{ SCENE V }
Outside the Great Blue Cathedral, Old Celest City
Just behind Gathlyn Sinenth, the magnificent Great Blue Cathedral appears to pierce the sky. A beautiful statue of Raziela graces the centre of the room, and the young blue-eyed boy stands before it, eyes speaking of a soul greatly aged, face full of a timeless wisdom. He waits calmly as screaming citizens flee into the Cathedral and the earth regularly quakes, indicating The Beast's approach.

BEAST enters from the south.
[BEAST roars furiously at the sight of the Great Blue Cathedral.]
[BEAST charges towards the Cathedral.]

TDVO ALEXEI: Gathlyn was waiting for The Beast to come near. And when it did…

TETALNE and VYLAHI enter from the south.

TETALNE: Gathlyn! Gathlyn!

VYLAHI: Oh, Gathlyn, my son! You are all right!

[BEAST sees Gathlyn but ignores him, focusing on the Cathedral.]

TETALNE: Gathlyn, come quickly!

VYLAHI: Run, Gathlyn! We must escape the city before it is too late!

TDVO ALEXEI: ...he unleashed the trap.

[Suddenly, there is a sudden, ferociously loud sound, like ten thousand balloons popping all at once. The next moment, everyone has vanished, even the huddled masses within the cathedral.]

[The BEAST looks around itself with great surprise.]

TDVO ALEXEI: Everyone was turned into little pink bubbles. Everyone, that is...

[Blown randomly by the wind, thousands of small rosy globules of shimmering water fill the air, startling The BEAST, which looks around itself with great confusion, emitting perplexed shrieks, which finally turn into great bellowing screams of frustration.]

TDVO ALEXEI: ...except...

[The BEAST suddenly looks at the statue of Raziela and begins to drool sickeningly as it approaches the young boy standing unflinchingly before it.]

TDVO ALEXEI: ...Gathlyn Sinenth.
TDVO ALEXEI: Those who were there describe it thus. The Beast, upon seeing Gathlyn, realized that it had been deceived by a little boy. Full of fury, it attacked the helpless child viciously. Meanwhile, Tetalne and Vylahi could only watch uselessly.

[The BEAST rears up into the air and comes crashing down upon the statue of Raziela, breaking it to smithereens, but GATHLYN stays still as though frozen, and all of the flying debris miraculously misses him!]
[The BEAST releases a blood-curdling, guttural roar, and swipes at GATHLYN with its fearsome, barbed tail. This time, GATHLYN is swept off his feet.]

[The little boy is sent careening towards the Great Blue Cathedral, slamming into an elaborate marble column with brutal force.]

[GATHLYN stands up again, unharmed.]
GATHLYN (smiling): You are not going to win this battle, great Beast.

[The BEAST'S shadow falls over GATHLYN, but the young boy does not flinch.]

TDVO ALEXEI: The Beast first attempted to throw Gathlyn against the Great Blue Cathedral with its terrible, spiked tail, but the young boy inexplicably survived, unfazed. The Beast, furiously, decided to swallow Gathlyn ... whole.

GATHLYN (closing his eyes as a peaceful glow spreads through his face): Come now, and meet your fate.

[The BEAST dives in to devour GATHLYN. Its mouth closes over the little boy, teeth gnashing down.]

TDVO ALEXEI: But the moment the Beast's jaws enveloped Gathlyn Sinenth, the boy suddenly...

[The BEAST bellows with frustration as its teeth hit air. It opens its terrible maw wide and searches for GATHLYN, but he is nowhere to be found.]

TDVO ALEXEI (whispers): ...vanished!
[A new cloud of small pink bubbles dances around The BEAST'S head and blows back and forth in an errant breeze.]
TDVO ALEXEI (ominously): All that remained was a cloud of little pink bubbles.
TDVO ALEXEI: The Beast wandered the streets of Old Celest, ravenous, searching desperately for something to eat. But all that was there were the little pink bubbles.
TDVO ALEXEI: Finally, exhausted, starved, staggered back to the harbour and dove into the Inner Sea, never to be seen of or heard of again.

The light goes out and the curtains close. They reopen in beautiful gardens, filled with orchids and lotus flowers and quiet ponds.

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{ SCENE VI }
The Old Celest Gardens, Old Celest City
These rolling gardens are filled with an impressive array of wildflowers, and birdsong fills the air. Fragrant scents permeate the atmosphere and koi fish dance like flames just below the surface of the tranquil ponds. Little wooden bridges allow passage over the clear, bubbling creeks, and small temples in worship of a Supernal dot the riverbanks. Ancient, weathered statues of angels and Gods and the occasional newer sculpture of a Supernal stand inconspicuously beside the long, meandering paths. On the shore of a small pond sprinkled with white, yellow and dawn pink lotus flowers, a polished ravenwood bench offers its services to the passers-by. Vylahi and Tetalne sit beside each other on a polished wooden bench.

[VYLAHI sobs heartbreakingly.]

[TETALNE puts a comforting arm around VYLAHI.]

TDVO ALEXEI: The Beast was vanquished.

[VYLAHI leans against her husband and buries her face in his chest, weeping uncontrollably.]

[TETALNE embraces VYLAHI tightly, tears rolling out of the corners of his clear blue eyes.]

TDVO ALEXEI: But when all the pink bubbles were Tetalneered and transformed back into the humans they were at heart, Gathlyn was nowhere to be found. His parents were devastated.

TETALNE (his voice breaking): He was ... he was such a ... such a good son, Vylahi. I am sure ... I am sure he is in the best of ... best of hands now.
[TETALNE swallows painfully.]

VYLAHI (shaking her head and sobbing): Why did he have to die?
[VYLAHI fingers a delicate, sweet-smelling bracelet made from pure white daisies, tears dripping upon the beautiful creation.]
VYLAHI (voice quavering): Thank goodness we at least have this.

[TETALNE draws away from the embrace and presses a set of simple, ethereal robes to his chest.]
TETALNE (eyes red): And this.

TDVO ALEXEI: All they could recover was a daisy chain and a garment that Raziela had given Gathlyn when She spoke with him. Vylahi especially was inconsolable.

PRIEST enters from the WEST.
PRIEST: My deepest condolences. I am sure young Gathlyn is in a better place.
[The PRIEST suppresses a sniffle.]

VYLAHI (wailing): I want to see him again! I want to see my little boy again! My heart! My soul! My son!

PRIEST (softly): I am so sorry. I am so sorry. If there is anything I can do...

VYLAHI (screaming): You cannot bring him back!

[An awkward silence spreads throughout the peaceful garden, interrupted only by VYLAHI'S frequent sobs.]

TETALNE (desolately): Excuse her please, good sir. And me.

PRIEST (kindly): Of course, of course. I should not have disturbed you. I will go now. But is there really nothing I can do?

TDVO ALEXEI: Despite all reassurances and commiserations, Vylahi could not be lifted from her anguish.

TETALNE (sobbing openly): I would like to conduct a funeral service for him before the day is out.

VYLAHI (with a keening wail): No! No! He cannot be dead! My son! My little boy!
[VYLAHI buries her face in her hands.]

TDVO ALEXEI: Raziela saw her suffering and felt the mother's pain. For some time, Vylahi believed that the Supernal had not heard her, that she was doomed to suffer this despair all her life.

The light extinguishes and the curtain closes, to open upon a lavish bedroom suffused with soft grey morning light.

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{ SCENE VII }
Vylahi Sinenth's Bedroom, Old Celest City
The Sinenth family's wealth is more than apparent in these sumptuous chambers. A luxurious four-poster queen-size bed decorates the centre of the room. Just beside it, on a generous, plush blue and silver carpet, a beautiful, flaxen-haired woman sits praying, facing the window, which is open to allow the rising sun to flood the room with its golden brilliance.

TDVO ALEXEI: But one morning, a day before Gathlyn Sinenth's birthday, Raziela visited Vylahi as she prayed.

VYLAHI (praying): Please Gods, Supernals, let me see my little boy one more time. Please, please let me know that he is all right. Give me a sign that he is safe and happy.
[VYLAHI sobs miserably.]
VYLAHI (sniffling): Tomorrow is his birthday, good, sweet, kind, merciful Gods, Supernals ... tomorrow he would have turned fifteen. Oh, my little boy... My heart! My soul! My son!

[Suddenly a radiant pink light suffuses the room. VYLAHI looks up, but her eyes grow glassy and unseeing as her incorporeal soul is transported into another reality.]

[The light extinguishes but soon lights up again in a beautiful garden, everything illuminated with a pink glow. Behind a veil of time and space, VYLAHI Sinenth's bedroom is dimly visible.]

VYLAHI (awed): Where am I? What is this place?

TDVO RAZIELA (harmoniously): Welcome to my garden, Vylahi.
TDVO RAZIELA (with a breezy chuckle as sweet as the tinkling of silver bells): Or at least, a vision of it.

VYLAHI: Oh, Raziela the Loving Radiance!
[VYLAHI falls to her knees in worship.]
VYLAHI (relieved and elated): You have heard me! Thank You! Thank You!

TDVO RAZIELA (sonorously): It is not Me you ought thank, good woman.
TDVO RAZIELA (with a luminescent smile in her voice): Look up.

[VYLAHI looks up and gasps with joy.]

TDVO ALEXEI: We are not meant to see the dead, but Vylahi saw Gathlyn then.

[A soft smile of peace spreads across VYLAHI'S face.]

TDVO ALEXEI: In that moment, her suffering was finally over. She knew he was safe. She knew he was in the land of eternal love. He was in Raziela's Divine Garden.

The light dims and the curtains close. They open a moment later to reveal the rooms of the Old Celestian Ecclesiarch.

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{ SCENE VIII }
The Chambers of the Old Celestian Ecclesiarch, Old Celest City
This beautiful room is decorated with large life-sized murals of the five Supernals and studded with angels of all shapes and sizes - cherubs, devas, seraphim, archangels and the like. In the centre of the room, the Ecclesiarch stands, the picture of holiness, gentle and filled with an inner luminescence. The enormous marble doors, etched with scenes and legends echoing those found upon the walls of the Great Blue Cathedral, are wide open and welcoming.

VYLAHI enters from the EAST.

TDVO ALEXEI: That very day, Vylahi Sinenth visited the Ecclesiarch and told him of what she had seen in her vision.

VYLAHI (filled with awe): She spoke to me, and told me he was safe. And I saw him in Her gardens, Ecclesiarch! I saw him there, among the flowers and the animals and the trees and the angels, the cherubs and the devas and the archangels, too.
VYLAHI (with a nostalgic sigh): He smiled at me, you know. He smiled at me and I knew he was safe in the Light.
VYLAHI (after a short pause): Good Ecclesiarch, please, grant my little son sainthood. He has gone where no mortal was allowed to go. He has done what few mortals have ever dared do. And throughout, he has exhibited a faith and wisdom deserving of such a blessing.

[ECCLESIARCH thoughtfully rubs his chin.]
ECCLESIARCH: You speak of a vision, Vylahi Sinenth, that rings as true as the bells of the Great Blue Cathedral. And indeed, were it not for your son Gathlyn, none of us would be here today.
ECCLESIARCH (sagely): I shall grant your son sainthood.

[VYLAHI beams broadly.]
VYLAHI (gratefully): Thank you, good Ecclesiarch!
[VYLAHI bows respectfully.]

TDVO ALEXEI: The next day, on his fifteenth birthday, Gathlyn Sinenth became Saint Gathlyn.

The light dims and the curtain closes to open again a heartbeat later back in the Sinenth Mausoleum.

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{ SCENE IX }
The Memorial of the Saint of the Rapturous Ardour, Oleanvir Valley, 286 C.E.
The roomy memorial is obviously very ancient. Though clearly a tomb, the atmosphere is bright and welcoming. Crowding around a marble bust of Saint Gathlyn are many excited children and their smiling parents, each filling the many nearby shelves with a unique toy. Evgenii and Alexei Novekei stand here.

ALEXEI: So you see, Ev, that is the tale of Saint Gathlyn. Now, give him your toy. He will love it.
[ALEXEI smiles encouragingly and nudges EVGENII forward.]

[EVGENII swallows nervously.]

ALEXEI (whispers): Remember, true bravery is not to be fearless. It is to overcome your fear, and do it anyway.

[EVGENII nods courageously.]
EVGENII: I will do it, Grandpa Al!

[ALEXEI smiles to himself.]

[EVGENII approaches the marble bust of Saint Gathlyn and wistfully touches the boy's youthful face, then moves to the shelf and places a Celestian teddy bear on the shelf next to a toy carriage pulled by two ceramic dashros.]
[EVGENII beams broadly.]
[EVGENII runs back to ALEXEI and embraces him tightly.]
EVGENII: I did it, Grandpa! I did it!

[ALEXEI hugs EVGENII back.]
ALEXEI: Fantastic, Ev! Who knows? You might be a saint yourself someday.
[ALEXEI takes EVGENII'S hand.]

ALEXEI and EVGENII exit to the EAST.

[The marble bust of Saint Gathlyn seems to smile softly.]

The light goes out and the curtain closes as the actors Tetalneer to the front and bow, Saint Gathlyn and Evgenii Novekei holding hands. Then they disappear backstage and the spotlight extinguishes. The play has ended.

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{ F I N }

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