The Story So Far...

Our story begins in fair Florence, home to a great number of merchants, peasants, all faithful men and women of God. Huge white walls, encircle the city, their only defense against the demons that lay waste to any who venture outside the walls after dark. Here, magic is feared and hated. Those who practice it are immediately burned at the stake, for the church holds much sway. Our four unwitting and seemingly common characters have all fallen asleep at their place of work and in the midst of dreams brought on by the holiest of hands.

Three people, a boy and two girls stand on a boat in a storm. The waves toss and throw their boat about, they feel sick to their stomachs. A figure walks toward them on the water- but they fall through, engulfed by the waves. The waves pound them, the boat about to capsize. The figure rises from the waves and slumps onto the deck, dead. It's a young boy, a large burn marring the left side of his face. The three feel piercing eyes on their backs. They turn to see a man in white, fire blazing in his eyes. In a booming voice he speaks, “you must protect him.”

Viridis (played by Egg), a frizzy haired girl with big brown eyes resting on a workbench in her father’s studio, jolts awake from her dream. Paints, brushes, palettes, canvases are floating around her. Her father comes in to see the various objects clatter to the floor. In a panic he runs to her asking if she is alright. Viridis begins to clean the mess, insisting she’s alright and trying very hard to pretend nothing happened.

Marco, (played by Bridget) a short boy with black hair, too, wakes suddenly. Things about his bedroom also floating around him. His brother stands in the doorway open-mouthed. Marco is frozen, before he gets the chance to say anything to his brother, Manuel books it. Knowing his brother’s strong allegiance to the church and not doubting for a moment he’d turn him in, Marco begins to pack some clothes and precious momentoes then also runs from the house.

Ivetta, (played by Val) a beautiful young woman with long brown hair, asleep at the counter of her late father’s apothecary, wakes to yet more floating objects. This time, however, they are glass bottles. The crash of them falling brings her younger sister running in. She simply brushes it off, explaining she had a nightmare to her sister and was flailing in the dream. She begins cleaning up the glass. As she is doing so Marco bursts in through the door.

Castor, (played by Celia) a wild haired young boy with a large burn on his cheek, wakes up peacefully in the smelter’s workshop. Heavy implements float about him with a purple and orange hue surrounding them. His back burns. And they all thud to the ground. Master Fabbrio standing there, his mouth agape. He rushes Castor with a sword. Castor grabs a shield from the wall and defends himself. Knocking the sword out of his master’s hand and pushing him to the ground. His master begs him not to hurt him. Shaking, Castor tries to explain- “Master please! I-I don’t know what that was, it wasn’t me, I was asleep!” Fabbrio shouts at him to leave and never come back. Castor drops the shield and runs home and hurriedly packs some clothes. He tells his mother he’s leaving. She tells him, no he has to stay and care for her, she is ailing. Castor says the church will now be caring for her and he’s going on a quest from God. He leaves, heading to the church. See *Castor's first Vision/Dream

Castor gets to the church and sees Maunel, Marco’s brother, a middle aged balding man, and father Marian. A group of people sitting down all have red hoods. Castor waits till they finish talking together and the group in red leaves. He talks to the father and says he can’t care for his mother anymore, it's too much. The father says he’ll send some people to help tomorrow. Castor asks who the men were. The father replies by saying to stay away from Marco, that he's been practicing witchcraft.

Marco, panicking in Ivetta’s shop stresses, "my brother is tattling on me, you were in the dream I had so I came here.” Ivetta offers he stay there to hide.

Viridis, investigating the studio, hears a loud knock at the door. “Good evening, is your father home?” Three young men clad in red, hooded robes with black priest vestments. “He’s asleep sorry, he’s been feeling ill.” “Do you know the whereabouts of Marco Fabrri?” Ever so convincingly Viridis replies with, ”Noppe haven’t seen him.” The man continues, “We’re afraid he’s in danger, you might be in danger as well. Wake your father, tell him matters of the church should interest him.”

Virdis ascends the stairs heading to her parents’ room. She listens at the door and hears them talking about what father saw earlier. She knocks and tells her father of the men. Before he heads downstairs he tells her to go to her room. She goes into her parents' room instead and talks with her mother. Who is crying and upset, “Your father knows the church has ways to find out about these things... People taken in the night, burned at the stake....” Viridis consoles her then listens in to her father’s conversation. He can't help them, they believe him. She goes to bed after searching the studio.

Ivetta makes a bed for Marco in their spare room. They see torches heading down the street out the window. Marco panics and hides under the bed. Ivetta hurries down and answers the door before her sister and lets the 3 men in. She offers for them to search the house after they ask if she has seen Marco. A tense few minutes for Marco as they enter the room in which he hides. But they only search the closet and not below the bed. There's a screech from Ivetta’s sister’s room and she runs out. Ivetta calms her down, bringing her to the kitchen, and makes her favorite snack. The men leave. Marco is in the fetal position and crying.

Castor reluctantly heads home after several hours praying. Sleeps, then wakes early and heads back to church, praying until Sunday service starts.

Viridis has breakfast with her family then goes into the studio. In candle wax on the desk words spell out: you need to find him. The wax turns to ash, she sweeps it away with her hand and leaves in a hurry.

Ivetta insists on Marco not going to church today, he firmly agrees. “I'm worried for Castor. He comes into the shop to buy medicines for his mother but I don't know him that well or where to find him. I’ll go and find Viridis after church, she was in the dream too. First, I'll bring you some food. Stay here.” She brings him bread.

Viradis returns home, mixes paint for her father, puts a note in a hole the wall of her backyard then goes to church.

Church service:

Father Miriam introduces a middle-aged balding man. “He comes from the cathedral and you all should listen to what he has to say. The bald man speaks “We here are a very close-knit community. Which makes the person absent today very noticeable. It was made apparent to us last night that one of you was practicing magic and demonic sorcery.” Gasps in the congregation. “If anyone has any information you must come forward. If anyone of you has helped or harbored him, you will be dealt the same punishment. May god drive out the demons.”

Church ends and everyone leaves, save Castor who continues to kneel and pray. Ivetta finds Viridis and they go off to a field to talk. Afterward they return to the church to find Castor. They ask him to go with them to another field so they can talk privately. Castor agrees.

Ivetta reveals she and Viridis had a strange dream, accompanied by objects floating around them. In the dream, they say they were told to find him. Castor, shy as ever, perks up, relieved he’s not crazy and tells them he had the same experience, "God came to me in a dream saying, I should find Him at the edge of the world." Ivetta and Viridis were told to protect him on this quest. They go to Ivetta’s house and meet up with Marco. As they all met up they're all struck with a vision: a golden cross adorned with bleeding red rubies and a voice telling them to find it. They plan to leave Florence but Viridis needs to go back to her house to prepare before they plan to find the cross.

Castor asks Ivetta for some salve for his back; it felt and still feels as if it were burning. Ivetta finds some and hands it to him offering to put it on. He declines, blushing, asking for a different room. The only place was the closet. After some thuds and bumps he emerges, his face not showing any relief. After Viridis leaves, Castor pulls Ivetta aside and asks her to look at his back, the salve didn’t really help and he doesn’t remember hurting it. He pulls her to the corner of the room and lifts up the back of his shirt halfway. Square between his shoulders is a slightly glowing orange triangle. Castor freaks tf out pulling his shirt back down and backing into the wall. Ivetta tries to calm him.

They think about disguising Marco so that he can go look for the cross with them. They pull a top hat and large overcoat from the closet but decide it's not up to snuff and recommend he stay there while Castor and Ivetta go to Viridis’ to discuss their plan.

In Viridis’ backyard they plan for Viridis and Castor to go to the new cathedral that's being builtt to install a painting Virdis’ father painted while simultaneously looking for the golden cross. While Ivetta and Marco are gonna work on his disguise to flee the city.

Viradis and Castor head to the cathedral with the painting all boxed up.

Priests stand in front of the door and stop them from entering. Viridis says “we’re here to deliver a commission.” They grumble about waiting for confirmation. “Oh I'll go back and get the paperwork.” but as she turns to go ‘get the paperwork’ a middle-aged man recognizes her. “Ms. Della Torre are these men not letting you in? Come with me, men, I’ll vouch for them.” They enter the cathedral. Huge, towering ceiling, paintings everywhere. Small what look to be tents litter the atrium. A huge cross is embedded in the floor illuminated by an oculus above. He watches Castor and Virids install the painting then Viridis asks if she can look at all the magnificent art around the hall. He agrees and leaves the two, wandering up to the altar. They mill about looking around until Viridis spots the cross on the altar in the center of 4 other crosses, a drip of blood falling from encrusted rubies. She and Castor head up to the altar and the priest goes over to a small alcove on the right of the altar. Viridis leaves Castor at the altar and joins the priest, engaging in conversation and prayer with him.

Castor makes sure they're busy and looks at the cross. His vision tunnels and everything, aside from the cross, fades to black. As he reaches to touch it, orange sparks and a jolt of tingles go up his arm. In his grasp at last, his vision returns and although his heart pounds, he makes his calm and even-stepped walk back to the box that held the painting and places the cross inside. He calls to Viridis, saying they should get back, her father needs her. Viridis finishes the rosary with the priest and heads toward Castor and the box. A man emerges from one of the tents and looks to be heading toward the altar but turns and speaks to the priest in the alcove instead. They walk out with the box in tow. As they reach the street the doors slam open and the priest shouts-

“Stop them!”

They book it. Managing to lose the few men chasing them, getting rid of the box in an alley after taking the cross out. Castor and Viridis split up and return to Ivetta’s through back alleys and doors.

Sweating and shaking they both make it inside. Marco asks if anything happened when they touched it. Castor says “It uh s-shocked me? Maybe it'll happen for you too.” he hands it to him. Nothing happens.

Unrelatedly, a chill shoots down their spines and nausea wells up in their stomachs. Then, for a split second, it feels like they’re being watched. “Did you all feel that?”

A knock at the door and Ivetta goes to answer. Marco, Viridis, and Castor all yeet under the bed.

A priest bursts in and says that a lot of people have been coming in and out of here. He searches the house and finds the three all under the bed. He demands they come out brandishing his sword. Ivetta comes at him from behind with a knife. She misses and he grabs her arm aiming to cut it off. Viridis plows into his legs and throws his balance off. Marco gets out from under the bed as well and grabs Viridis’ legs and pulls. She, still holding onto the priest, pulls him down. Marco then grabs the sword. And stabs the guy. This man is dead, his blood splattered on the walls and seeping into the floorboards. Castor, still hiding under the bed, holds the cross and prays fervently.

Ivetta is freakin and rushes to gather supplies, medicine, food, anything they could need while they flee.

Marco coaxes Castor from under the bed. He averts his eyes as much as possible from the gigantic pool of blood and the dead man. He grabs a shirt and wraps it around the cross, holding it to his chest like a lifeline. Those with blood on their clothes change out of them and within a few minutes are ready to escape.

They debate some and decide to go through the plague zone and out that gate, the men chasing them would be crazy to enter there. With the logic: If we’re truly on a divine quest, we should be fineeee. They cross the bridge and reach the entrance. Ivetta says we're healers here to help. Acting like she's in a rush to get in and help, flashes her pass to the guard and he lets us in.

Yeet on inside the plague zone.

Walking through they see people moaning on the streets, dead bodies piled high, and smell the pungent scent of disease. At the gate, Ivetta asks them to open it, but the guard insists no one can leave.

Viridis steps up and says”We are on a mission from God. We need to get outside and gather herbs before dark, would you stand in the way of our holy mission to relieve the suffering here?”

Reluctantly he agrees to let them out but insists on coming with.

The group walks several miles away and then Marco draws his sword and pretending to rob Ivetta. She yells at the guard to help and he's about 15 feet away so he yeets his spear at Marco. Castor tackles Marco out of the way of the spear.

The guard books it back to the city and Marco, Viridis, Ivetta, and Castor book it deeper into the forest. Ivetta grabbing the spear on the way.

After about 20 minutes of running they have to slow to a walk, out of breath.

Hoofbeats pound the ground behind and they climb trees to hide. Darkness is approaching.

Voices from below, “Cardinal we need to go back, it's getting dark.”

“They'll die out here anyway, we’ll find the cross in the morning, with whatever remains of them. Tell the others-” he stops as spooky fog rolls in and they book it back to the city.

Castor and Ivetta in one tree, Viridis and Marco in another, the fog stays away from them. No crickets, no rustlings of creatures, just dead silent.

Blood curdling screeches in the night. Hear voices can't really hear what they're saying. The group spends a sleepless night in the trees. Castor, Marco and Ivetta are scared out of their minds, yet Viridis manages to catch some sleep.

As dawn approaches, the fog fades.

They all climb down and walk for a few hours, eating rations along the way. A structure looms in the distance. Decide to go up to it and check it out. Viridis tries to pick the lock but without much luck.

Marco knocks instead and a guard in armor opens the door saying “we weren’t expecting a shipment today wait- where is your boat?”

Thinking quick, Viridis says “Uh our ship sunk and our goods are at the bottom of the river.”

The guard is a lil sus and is like “Your clothes are dry, as is your hair.”

“Yes, I carry a spare pair in my bag and my hair is naturally buoyant.”

The gullible guard believes this and says “I can give you horses to return to Florence but that is all.” Inside is a beautiful renaissance villa with shrubs and fountains. Big boxes line the walkway and when the guard is gone Ivetta looks through some of the crates. She finds Parchment, bits of metal, some spices, and a compass. The parchment is a map of all Italy.

The guard returns with the horses and asks us to tell his father about our mishap. They agree and set off.

They each get on horses. Ivetta, Marco, and Viridis all rein in their steeds with no problem but Castor's just kinda follows the others, very accurate to his character. They ride next to the river between it and the treeline.

Viridis spots some people in the forest and as they debate whether to stop and ask for help, a man emerges and offers to help them, all smiles and good will. Ivetta gets off her horse and speaks with him a moment. With an ashen face tells the others they’re going to go to his house and get a map he has. Marco pulls his sword and the man grabs Ivetta and brings the knife he had to her back to her throat.

He tells Marco, Viridis, and Castor to get off their horses. They comply. (Although Castor tries to get his horse to buck and kick the guys who came out of the trees behind them. Didn't work tho :

They are all thrown to the ground, their hands bound behind their backs. They walk their captives as well as their steeds into the forest and to a small encampment with a large pentacle dais.

More people chant in latin as they’re tied to stakes, kneeling. Marco tries to break his bonds but only gets a punch to the gut for his efforts. They were made to stay there for some hours, kneeling and bound. Some time later five men stand at each of the the points of the star. In the center there's a tent. A man emerges, turns bows before the entrance.

From the tent a hand with red nails emerges. A slender, naked woman covered in blood. Goat horns adorned her head and a clean knife in her hand gleams in the firelight.

Viridis audibly gasps, “Imilia?”

Smiling, Imilia says “sister, what are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here? You're supposed to be in Rome!”

“Isn't it obvious? We worship the true lord here- Satan. You will join us, won’t you dear sister?”

Nervous now, Viridis asks “Can we speak in private?” Imilia bids a man to remove her bindings and brings her into the tent.

Close up her skin is cracked, hair matted, and she’s tired looking. In the tent there’s a Ouija board with a pentagram, furs hung all around, skulls, and candles. Viridis asks how she got here, that she was supposed to be in Rome, happily married to Salvius.

“The lord elevated me to this status.”

“So Salvius brought you here?”

“In a way. My life in Florence had no meaning. It is here that my true lord speaks to me.”

Viridis tries to run it but thinks better of it and instead lunges at her sister holding her hostage. Imilia’s own knife at her throat. They leave the tent Viridis shouting at everyone to back up and let her friends go. The man bowing at the entrance, Imilia’s husband, hesitates but the threat does not work on the congregation. As Imilia shouts at them “My life matters not, kill them now! Slit their throats!”

Ivetta gasps, Marco lets out a sob, and tears roll down Castor's cheeks as she squeezes her eyes shut. The men behind Marco, Ivetta, and Castor step forward, the cold of their sharpened knives biting at each of their throats when—

A beam of light shoots up into the sky, enveloping Castor. His bindings fall away and he rises in the air. His eyes glow, all the satanists are surrounded by an orange glow, also begin to float, frozen in time. Castor raises his hands, open at first, but then his fingers curl and he yanks his hands apart in a tearing motion. All of the unnamed guards are eviscerated. Their bodies torn apart, blood and gore fly everywhere. Amelia’s husband, still on his knees begs for his life. Castor passes his hand over his face, knocking him out. Open-mouthed and furious, Imilia tries to get out of Viridis’ hold but the same happens to her as her husband and she crumples. Castor then floats gently down, the glow fading from his eyes. A hint of brown shows before his eyes roll up in his head and promptly passes out. Face down, in the muck.

TBC

Episode Two Journey to the Edge of the World