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SaltmarrowReading edition

Cold open

The first ninety seconds of the game, before the title card. In engine, no cut to black.

About 2 min read
Milestone
Alpha
Track
Narrative
Saltmarrow: cold open
Title: Saltmarrow
Credit: Cold open, draft 3
Author: Maëlle Rocher
EXT. THE SALT FLATS - LOW TIDE - DUSK
Wet salt to the horizon. Towers of crystallised salt stand out of the shallows like the bones of a city.
A leaning lighthouse, rusted the colour of dried blood, lists toward the sea. Its lamp is dark.
Four lanterns move along a plank walkway. The CREW: ODA (16, rake over one shoulder), BRAM (40s, hauling a sledge), TEO (12, too fast) and NAN SORREL (70s, slowest, and in charge).
NAN SORREL
Eleven minutes of dry ground. Count them.
TEO
(already counting)
Ten. Nine...
Oda kneels and drives her rake into the crust. Salt breaks like sugar glass. Underneath, something glows.
ODA
Nan. This one is humming.
Nan crouches. Lantern light passes through a MEMORY CRYSTAL the size of a fist. Inside it, faintly: the lighthouse, with its lamp lit.
NAN SORREL
(quiet)
Nobody has seen it burn since my mother.
Far off, a low horn. The sea starts its walk back across the flats.
BRAM
Tide's turning.
NAN SORREL
Then we turn first.
They run. Behind them the water reaches the towers, and every tower begins, very softly, to sing.
SMASH CUT TO:
TITLE CARD: SALTMARROW
NODARYEnd of document