The next few days on the set weren’t hard for Aiden. He would come on time everyday and sit in one of the corners, waiting for his next scene.

Other actors rarely approached him, so he decided to stay quiet and just observe them.

He wanted to see how an experienced actor acted out a scene and by observing he did learn a few things. Even Aaron, who didn’t really have a good personality, was clearly very experienced in acting.

He portrayed the character of Ethan with precision and whenever Aiden had a scene with him, he didn’t see a trace of Aaron’s personality in Ethan.

That made him want to surpass Ethan in his acting.

But it wasn’t as easy as it looked. When Aiden checked Aaron’s skill interface, he found that he was at Intermediate Grade 7, a very high grade.

But Aaron didn’t have the empathy skill that Aiden had and because of that, he was able to outperform his level.

Even Lincoln was very impressed with him as the shooting went on.

In a war movie, there were a lot of retakes, not because the actors would make a mistake but because Lincoln wanted to have different takes to choose one from during the editing.

Moreover, some scenes would be shot with different angles multiple times.

This meant that Aiden needed to give a great performance every single time. Only some scenes that included explosives were shot just once just because shooting them again would be too expensive.

“Aiden.”

He raised his head from his thoughts when he heard the voice of Lincoln. Standing up, he asked.

“Yes, is the scene ready?”

“Yeah, we are checking the lightning and Jeremy is just looking for a nicer angle to shoot from.” Jeremy was the cinematographer, a position that was very important in filmmaking. “I just wanted to go over the next scene.”

Aiden nodded his head. Lincoln was a director who would explain the scene to every actor to get them a better understanding of his vision._.

The next scene was one of the last ones of Aiden and it was mostly a scene where his character talked about why he was in this war and how he felt about it to Ethan.

It was just a dramatic scene which would change Ethan’s perception about the war.

“As you know, the scene is the first proper conversation between Ethan and your character that won’t be interrupted by German soldiers.”

“Yeah.”

“We are going to do a lot of closeups of your face, so try to just give it your best.”

Aiden was a bit surprised by the short explanation. Normally, Lincoln will give big explanations as to how he wants an actor to do a scene.

“I thought you would tell me a bit more.”

“I just decided to trust your acting. You are a newbie but you are not bad. Quite good, I would say and you have proven that. So, I’m just going to leave it to you.”

Saying that, Lincoln walked away and Aiden smiled a bit.

‘So, this is getting acknowledged by the director.’

He thought in his mind.

It was not an easy thing for a newbie to get acknowledged by the director, but Aiden had somehow gotten Lincoln’s approval.

‘I feel like I’m more confident now.’

Thinking that, he took a deep breath. Now, he really wanted to nail the next scene.

***

[Shadows of War|July 26-2015| Act 9| Scene 1| Take 1]

The crisp sound of the slate board came out and with that, the scene began. Aiden’s skill activated at the same time as he suddenly found himself in a different zone.

The crew and the rest of the cast that was observing the scene disappeared from his view and Aaron that was in front of him became Ethan and no one else.

Even Aiden was not feeling like himself anymore.

“We are still… alive.”

Aiden muttered, observing his ankle where a bruise could be seen. They were currently hiding in one of the houses. The sudden ambush of the German soldiers had left him with a lot of restlessness.

He felt like soldiers would rush in from the door any second and bullets would make several holes in his body.

“Are we really?” Ethan said in a dead tone, making Aiden look up at him.

“You are breathing… so you are alive. That’s… what I know.”

“Maybe it would have been better if I had died there with the others. That’s the better option, isn’t it?”

Aiden didn’t say anything for a while, thinking of those words. A trace of longing suddenly flashed in his eyes as he sighed.

“You don’t… have a place to return to?”

“What?”

“People who want to see you again. Parents, friends… wife. Maybe a home. Stuff like that… Don’t you want to go back?”

Ethan did have people to return to. Parents and a girl who was waiting to marry him but he felt like he had already forgotten how their voice sounded. It was just a whisper now.

“I do. But I don’t know if I will be the same when I return. The war has given me lots of scars.”

Aiden smiled at that. Leaning against the wooden wall, he said.

“At least those… scars are due to fighting for your own country.”

“What are you–”

Ethan stopped speaking when he realised what Aiden’s words meant. He didn’t say anything to that and just muttered.

“You feel like your country will get freedom if the British won the war?”

“That’s what was said. Don’t know what to… trust but a… bit of hope is nice. I think that much is enough… to keep you alive.”

“I don’t think that’s enough. Bullets don’t care about hope.”

Aiden chuckled hearing that. Smiling a bit he replied, “They don’t, but bullets… aren’t your only enemy… in war.”

After saying that, Aiden just focused on his wounds. He didn’t know how long the war was going to go on and the only thing he could do currently was to hope that he would come out of it alive.

The worst thing for him would be to die in a land that was not his and never would be.

They didn’t talk after that but Aiden’s words kept ringing in Ethan’s head. He just didn’t know what to make out of them yet.

At that moment, Lincoln’s voice sounded out.

“Cut!”

***

“That was a great take.”

Jeremy, the cinematographer said as he looked at the monitor where the scene that they had just shot was playing. Lincoln, next to him, nodded with a beaming smile.

“Yeah, it’s one of the best so far. I think the editor will like it a lot too.”

“I agree.” Jeremy looked at the monitor, particularly at a close-up shot of Aiden. “The rookie is just getting better as we are going. I think his role will fill the hole in the screenplay.”

“The character was written for that. Now, only one scene of his is left and we need to make it very impactful.”

The next scene was the death scene of Aiden’s character that could become another scar for Ethan. They had planned it well but the execution still needed to be perfect.

“We can’t really shoot the scene twice, so only one take.”

Jeremy muttered, a bit worried. Aiden’s last scene contained a lot of explosions in the background and if they want to do a retake, their budget won’t be enough. They were already pretty tight on it.

“Let’s leave everything to Ethan and rookie. They have done a good job till now. If it was a bad take, well..” Lincoln made a conflicted expression. “We won’t be able to help it.”

If they really got a bad take, Frank would surely not be very happy and Lincoln needed to keep a good relationship with him until the end of the shooting.

After [Shadow of War] worked at the box office and the critics gave it good ratings, the relationship between him and Frank would change with the shift in power dynamic.

Until then, he would just stay silent.

***

As Jeremy and Lincoln were talking about the scenes, Aiden was looking at the system notifications in front of him.

[Your acting level has increased from Basic Grade 9 to Basic Grade 10.]

[Congratulations! You have broken past your limits and have gotten a special one time reward that you can use.]

[You are now close to breaking into a new grade.]

[Special skill ‘Breakout scene’ has been given for a one time use. The next scene you perform, your limits will break and the chances of giving a standout performance will increase.]

‘Finally!’

Aiden shouted in his mind as he saw those system notifications. The entire set around him was bustling with the crew preparing for the next scene.

But he didn’t seem to care about it.

All his attention was on the system prompts. Not only has he gotten through Basic Grade 9 and was now one step closer to breaking into Intermediate Grade in acting. But he had also gotten a new skill.

Though, it could only be used once.

‘Breakout scene.’

Aiden read the description of the skill and he couldn’t help but flash a bright smile. He felt like this was the exact skill he needed for the final scene.

‘Though, it’s not definitive.’

In the description, it was only written that there were only chances that his limits would break which meant that he could fail too.

But something was still better than nothing.

…

//DreamNote//

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