The New Church

(Also titled: A Warning for All)

A Screenplay

Cast:

Tentatio-A Practicer of a ‘False Religion.’

Nefatas-A Priest of the ‘True Religion’

Several guards

Several nameless priests of the ‘True Religion.’

--The scene would open on Tentatio kneeling in prayer at an alter, though what was on the alter was not visible. He is a thin man, seemingly poor, wearing a stained and grimy white toga. The room around him seemed very scarcely furnished, with the alter stand being the only thing that looked like it cost anything, and it was the only thing appearing to be clean, still the religious artifacts atop the alter are not visible.--

Tentatio: --With unmoving lips, he stayed praying, these words being his thoughts-- It seemed longer ago than it actually has been. When I heard the sounds that I had long feared, but in the end, expected. I did not hide the person I was. Honestly, I was surprised it took the church as long as it did to find me.

--There was a knock at the door, and Tentatio serenely opened his eyes as men from the church, clad in their red rushed into his house, he stayed in his kneeling position, a calm smile crossing his face, even as he was beaten and tied up, then dragged past the threshold of his house. Once outside his small hut, one of the guards kicked him.--

Guard #1: You are being taken before his holiness, Nefatas, to be executed in the name of the church, for crimes against said organization.

Tentatio: Let him kill me, and I will be greeted with open arms…

--A second guard kicked Tentatio, silencing his speech, but provoking his laughter.--

Tentatio: You fear the truth, same as your mistaken priest.

--A severe beating ensues, leaving Tentatio bloody, bound and laughing--

--The scene would close.--

Tentatio: --Though nothing is visible and the scene remains black-- I have been, for the longest time trying to cause the downfall of this corrupted church. And now, it seems the reverse has happened.

--The scene would open on Tentatio kneeling again, and quite bruised, this time inside of a cell, furnished with nothing, save for an aging television. No bed, no chair, not even a toilet, simply a television. A guard walks by and sees him kneeling, and prods his partner on the shoulder and points to Tentatio, smirking. The both then entered the cell.--

Guard #3: Get up, scum.

--Both guards laughed slightly, but Tentatio didn’t move, so, the guards, angered, stepped forward and lifted him to his fit, turning him on his feet, to face the television, they then released him.--

Guard #4: Now, you may pray, scum.

--Both guards laughed as, and the Tentatio swept forward and kicked the television stand out from underneath the television, and it cashed to the floor, breaking. The guards quit their laughing, and yet another beating ensued.--

--The scene again closed--

Tentatio --Again, through darkness--: I am not a fighter. I am a simple man of God. The real God, not the false gods of today.

--The scene opened upon a bleeding Tentatio, lying bloody and bruised amid broken glass and the other remnants of the television set.--

Tentatio --Again, unmoving, in thought.--: They left me bloody and beaten. In time, I was able to rise and make it away from the broken glass to sleep, and await the next day, and my final salvation.

--The scene closed.--

--The scene opened on Tentatio still sleeping, and several guards picking him up from the ground and dragging him from his sleeping position, and binding him again as before. He was then dragged from his cell and into a stadium of sorts, where many people were seated, and there were several red-robed figures, including the main one, whose robes appeared silk instead of simple cloth, this man was Nefatas, the high priest. Tentatio, now fully awake, was tied to a stake in the ground. Nefatas stepped forward to Tentatio.--

--The following sequence is to shot from behind Nefatas’s back.--

Tentatio --In thought--: Here the old man held up their holy book. --He laughs-- I couldn’t help myself.

--Tentatio, clearly visible over Nefatas’s shoulder during this sequence, spits on the cover of their holy book. Nefatas looked to his priests.--

Nefatas: Force his penance.

--The crowd around this place, which had been mostly silent until this point, cheered.--

--The priests pulled Tentatio from his stake in the ground and dragged him; beating him along the way, to the priest’s alter.--

--This is again shot from behind, from behind; all you can see of the priest’s alter is the red cloth that apparently colors it. Tentatio is forced to kneel in front of it, and he spat again. Here, the camera turns to reveal the altar as a television set. The priests seize him yet again, and he is dragged and beaten back to the stake, where he is tied, as the crowd cheered and Nefatas read from an aging issue of ‘TV Guide’ and the ground around Tentatio was littered with pages of the Holy Bible, which were then lit on fire, and the scene would close on Tentatio’s serene smile as he burned in the fire started by the pages of his most precious book.--

THE END