The Vanguard Oath: SkyVault Heroes!

[SCENE 1 — EXT. SKYVAULT CITY - MIDTIER DISTRICT - MORNING]

The sun rises behind the transparent towers of SkyVault. The city glows a soft gold as light reflects off thousands of floating rails and energy lanes. Airships hum overhead.

Kael, Yuna, and Jax stand with the new trio — Zenari ⚫, Lyra 🌌, and Astra ☀️ — at the base of VAN HQ. All six are suited, armored, and alert.

Yuna: "Surveillance picked up a strange reading near the city's abandoned lower districts."

Kael: "The sector hasn't been active since the Rift collapsed a decade ago. But the signal is clear. Energy spikes and thermal disruption."

Jax (rolling his neck): "So we check it out. Classic patrol. Punch what bites."

Astra: "Or trap what watches."

Zenari (quietly): "Or disappear before we're seen."

Kael: "We stay together. We're not testing rookies anymore. We're fighting as Vanguards."

They leap into grav-skiffs and descend.

[SCENE 2 — EXT. SKYVAULT OUTER FRINGES — ABANDONED DISTRICT: THE GLASS ORPHANAGE — DAY]

The sector is a maze of derelict buildings and rusted pylons. Near the edge lies a once-grand orphanage, its crystal windows shattered and half its structure floating in segmented ruins. Old Vanguard emblems are faintly visible — as if the building once housed children linked to the old order.

Lyra floats up slowly, adjusting the gravity pressure for the others.

Lyra 🌌: "Gravity's warped here. Not naturally. Someone's rewriting the laws like clay."

Astra (holding up her hand): "There's a heat signature. Very faint. No lifeforms — but something... left behind. Burned echoes."

Zenari ⚫ melts into shadowform, leaping from wall to ceiling.

Zenari: "I'll scout ahead."

Kael (through comm): "Zenari, 20-meter sweep radius. No solo hero moves."

Zenari (smirking): "Copy."

Inside, dust falls like snow. The halls are covered in murals — all children with glowing eyes and blank faces. One room still hums faintly. Power is active.

Zenari slips through the dark and sees it: a vault, split open.

A single metallic sphere floats in the air, pulsing.

Zenari: "Found something. Looks... familiar."

[SCENE 3 — INT. GLASS ORPHANAGE - CORE ROOM — MINUTES LATER]

The whole team gathers. The sphere spins, then emits light. A hologram flashes — an ancient recording.

Archive Voice: "Orphan Program 07. Designation: Astra. Compatibility: 93%. Recombinant Stability: SUCCESS."

Astra steps forward. Her face goes pale.

Astra ☀️: "That's my name."

Yuna: "Wait — this place… this created you?"

The hologram glitches, then plays another recording.

Archive Voice: "Shadow Kin recovered. Genetic graft: Zenari. Subject: Stabilized. Compliance: Partial."

Zenari stares at the floating orb.

Zenari ⚫: "No... I was born in Dusk Hollow."

Kael: "This isn't a coincidence."

Suddenly, walls shift. Hatches slide open. Black mist seeps from the floors — forming humanoid figures.

Jax: "Misty boogeymen. Figures."

Kael: "Defensive formation!"

[SCENE 4 — COMBAT SEQUENCE — THE GLASS ORPHANAGE]

The mist creatures strike fast, warping and flickering like glitched data. They don't bleed. They don't speak. They mimic the forms of the Vanguards themselves.

Jax channels a roaring beat into a shockwave that scatters the nearest three.

Jax ⚡: "Get glitched, ghosts!"

Astra summons a radiant sunburst, disintegrating a shadow-copy of herself.

Lyra tightens gravity fields into spheres, trapping and crushing multiple enemies mid-air.

Kael's Inferblade cleaves through with searing fire — each strike burning not just shadow, but lingering code beneath.

Zenari darts between illusions, his movements so fast they create afterimages.

Zenari ⚫: "They mirror us. Copy our weaknesses. Don't give them a chance."

But then — a new shape forms from the mist. It doesn't attack. It speaks.

Mist Entity: "You passed your second test. One final remains. Then the city will no longer need you."

With a final pulse, the mist dissolves. The sphere shatters.

Silence.

[SCENE 5 — INT. VAN HQ - STRATEGIC OBSERVATION DECK — NIGHT]

Back at HQ, the six Vanguards replay the recovered recordings.

Yuna: "Astra and Zenari… weren't random choices. They were part of something older. Some hidden program."

Kael: "Someone's pulling strings. Testing not just our strength — but our identity."

Jax: "Well they've got our attention now."

Lyra: "And I have a theory... That orphanage wasn't just a lab. It was a lock. We just opened something."

[SCENE 6 — INT. SKYVAULT — UNKNOWN SERVER ROOM — NIGHT]

We cut to an underground vault beneath SkyVault. Machinery pulses. A chair of wires and bone sits at the center. A new figure leans forward — half-machine, half-human, with crystalline implants across their skull.

??? — Codename: VOX

VOX: "Test two: Resolution complete. The Vanguard six hold. But they are still unaware. The Ascension Clock is ticking."

A robotic assistant steps forward.

Assistant: "Target 04 will awaken. Shall we begin the next trial?"

VOX: "No. Let them sleep a moment longer. Let them hope."

[TO BE CONTINUED IN EPISODE 6]