The Book Of Origin: Codex Architectus

CHAPTER 8: THE ANIMAL WITHIN

FADE IN:

A dense jungle at night. Crickets hum in the distance. Trees sway under a cold wind. A green panther moves like a shadow through the foliage—silent, predatory.

CLOSE-UP – THE PANTHER’S EYES

Beast Boy—calculating, alert. He moves with predatory grace, his paws making no sound on the damp earth.

BEAST BOY (V.O.)
(muttering to himself)
"He’s here somewhere… watching. Always watching."

Suddenly, a whisper echoes through the trees—deep, smooth, unnatural.

YOUR VOICE (O.S.)
"You're good, Garfield. But you're thinking like an animal."

Beast Boy instantly shifts—his panther form dissipates into a falcon. He soars upward, scanning the treetops, trying to pinpoint the source.

BEAST BOY
"Yeah? And what’s wrong with that?"

A chuckle. The voice bounces from every direction.

YOUR VOICE
"Animals react. They adapt. But they never ask the most important question…"

A brief pause. Silence thickens.

YOUR VOICE (CONT’D)
"...Who built the cage?"

Suddenly, a pulse of blue light flickers through the forest. A dozen energy barriers rise like unseen walls. Beast Boy flaps his wings—only to crash into an invisible force field. He falls—midair—shifting into a cheetah before hitting the ground. The moment he lands—

*—The ground beneath him disappears.

WIDE SHOT – BEAST BOY FALLS
He tumbles into a shifting labyrinth of hard-light walls—a maze forming in real-time. He scrambles to his feet, shifting into a gorilla and smashing against the walls. They absorb the force like nothing.

INT. THE OBSERVATION ROOM – SOMEWHERE ABOVE

You sit in a darkened control room, watching the scene below through a holographic interface. Your face is unseen. Only the glint of a playing card flicking between your fingers.

YOUR VOICE (FILTERED THROUGH SPEAKERS)
"You’re thinking too small, Beast Boy. Still playing checkers when the game is chess."

INT. THE MAZE

Beast Boy shifts into a boa constrictor, slithering along the floor, searching for gaps. The maze shifts again. Walls reform, cutting off every opening.

BEAST BOY
"Okay, okay—cool sci-fi mind trap—very ‘evil genius.’ But you can’t keep me in here forever."

Above, in the control room, you smile.

YOUR VOICE
"Of course not. The point was never to trap you…"

The walls vanish. The maze is gone. Beast Boy blinks in surprise. He’s standing in the middle of the untouched jungle again.

YOUR VOICE (CONT’D)
"...The point was to see if you could escape before I let you out."

WIDE SHOT – A FIGURE STANDS ON A TREE BRANCH ABOVE

Shrouded in darkness, you flick the playing card down toward Beast Boy. It lands at his feet. The Ace of Spades.

BEAST BOY
"...Dude, you are seriously messing with my head."

A pause. Then, Beast Boy smirks.

BEAST BOY (CONT’D)
"But I like a challenge."

YOUR VOICE
"Good. Because I have something bigger in mind."

FADE TO BLACK.