Logline: To find their only lover and friend, a silent and simple alien being must survive the Shark Trial and then cross a unfamiliar landscape to pull off a rescue in a castle full of heavily-armed knights.
A race of white, scaly, genderless beings inhabits a cave complex surrounded by shark-infested waters. Teriel is a member of the race reaching adulthood and preparing to take on the world with the members of their loving triad family, Kest and Elfarran. The trio is happy and healthy, but live with an outsider among the community's elders.
Their king, Uahto, takes a liking to Kest, but when Kest rejects the king, Uahto seeks revenge. Kest is killed and Elfarran is banished from the community when they refuse to participate in the Shark Trial.
Alone, Teriel demands their own Shark Trial, but when Teriel doesn't follow the rules, they are banished. Teriel leaves the community behind in search of Elfarran. Uahto learns that Teriel stole the sacred Bone Knife and sends a party of savage allies to get it back.
Teriel travels to a small kingdom of humans who are more advanced than the cave dwellers, but still only have Medieval-level technology and society. Teriel must face off against a mad king to rescue Elfarran.
Teriel's fellow cave dwellers track him down and bring him home for a final showdown, which Teriel must win or have his family wiped off the face of this strange post-apocalyptic world.
In addition to the brutal action scenes and emotionally-charged storyline, this screenplay is ground-breaking in several ways. The alien species is genderless, thus third-person pronouns are used throughout. Further, the creatures haven't developed language yet, so much of the story takes place without dialogue. This is not like other movies.
This spec feature was written in 2022.
Keywords: horror, sci fi, apocalyptic, aliens, creature feature, sharks, LGBTQ+, fantasy, high fantasy