A SCREENPLAY BY IVAN MAYNE

EXT PLANET SKYLINE DAY It opens with an otherworldly shot of a strange planet, barren mostly, but with weird plants growing here and there.

A few waterholes dot the landscape.

Some bizarre hills and plateaus stand here and there like great monuments or ruins.

There is hardly any sign of life here as the wind blows, howling in what must be pity to the Human ear, rousing in all its intensity.

The plants bend in the strong gust of wind.

There are many clouds in the leaden gray sky overhead.

>From what we can see, there are all the impending signs of a storm.

Just then two fireballs are seen speeding across the sky.

EXT. PLANET SURFACE DAY A lone figure is walking, in one of his hands he is carrying a large weapon of some sort.

He passes through the land, looking like some Angel of Death.

In fact, he has a name synonymous with Death, Reaper.

He is looking out for something or someone.

His eyes dart shiftily about the place.

At this moment he sees one of the two fireballs in the sky.

They are approaching fast.

He takes a few frightened steps back in fear, he knows what is happening.

Reaper unsheathes his weapon. It is a gigantic scythe blade that can be worn on the hand. .

Reaper is prepared for a fight.

As the fireball nears the rooftop the flames around it clear.

A form starts to materialize from the flames.

It is a brown-skinned man, a face possessing both Japanese and Black characteristics, his robe a mix of both the samurai and the Zulu. This is SANJARO.

Likewise his weapon is a mixture of the sword and the spear.

Sanjaro approaches Reaper, brandishing his sword-spear in his hand.

Reaper cuts forth with the blade but misses.

Sanjaro swishes his spear-sword at Reaper, it narrowly misses his head.

Reaper takes a leap into the air, shooting upwards like a rocket.

Sanjaro follows suit.

What follows is a duel in the sky.

The two combatants stand at their positions, each waiting for the other to strike. A hundred metres between them.

Reaper is the first to strike.

His blade detaches from his hand on a long metal chain, flying towards Sanjaro.

Sanjaro parries the blade just in time.

Then he flies backwards at an extremely fast speed, Reaper closing in at the same time.

Reaper of course has the advantage now given that he has an attack radius of a hundred metres. Sanjaro is having a hard time parrying the blade.

Sanjaro flies upwards to buy time for himself.

Reaper follows suit, his blade always in close pursuit of Sanjaro.

However, Sanjaro manages to outrun the blade and finally gains the height advantage.

Then Sanjaro strikes back, throwing his sword-spear at Reaper.

The sword spear knocks Reaper off his course and causes him to retract his blade.

Sanjaro puts out his hand, which generates a magnetic field.

The spear-sword returns to it.

Sanjaro goes in pursuit of Reaper.

Reaper has lost much of his energy in the fight. He falls further downwards.

In a last outburst of energy he zooms up again, blade aimed at Sanjaro.

Sanjaro and Reaper are now aimed for a collision course.

Sanjaro is twirling his spear-sword , heading towards Reaper.

SANJARO You will not escape me! I have come to stop your deeds once and for all!

Reaper's blade slices the air in a wide arc.

REAPER We shall see about that!

SLO-MO: When they are about to collide, Sanjaro lets out his spear-sword.

SLO-MO: Reaper brings his blade to parry Sanjaro.

Then two streaks of red are drawn across Sanjaro's face. Blood.

We see the other fireball clear, to reveal a tall-blond caucasian with a suit of armor.

On his arms are two crossbow launchers of sorts, loaded with sharp circular blades. This is KARL.

KARL Sanjaro, Reaper is MINE!

SANJARO Karl, what the Hell are you doing?

Karl does not reply, Instead he just fires more of his blades at Sanjaro.

One more streaks across Sanjaro's upper arm.

Two more embed themselves in Sanjaro's leg.

Sanjaro loses his concentration and takes a short fall.

Reaper sees his chance to escape.

But when he is about to do so, two blades streak his forearm and side respectively.

An onslaught of blades ensues.

Reaper tries to defend himself against the blades, but there are almost too many for him.

Karl is triumphant, he flashes a victorious grin.

Karl flings a pair of magic handcuffs at Reaper.

At this time, who should come slicing across the sky like a bolt of lightning, but Sanjaro.

Using his spear-sword, Sanjaro hits the magic handcuffs off their course and flies towards Karl.

SANJARO Watch me!

Karl fires his blades.

Sanjaro now blocks all of them with amazing dexterity.

Every single blade is blocked and flies off in a hundred different directions.

Sanjaro slashes his spear-sword forward, streaking blood over Karl's

forehead, and creating a gigantic wind force at the same time.

With a few quick slashes, Karl is flung backwards through the skies, far far behind Sanjaro.

Now Reaper is making his escape. But he is weak and is flying much slower than ever before.

Sanjaro catches up on Reaper.

Karl follows far behind on Sanjaro.

Sanjaro then releases his pair of magic handcuffs, unlike Karl's his look like a pair of interjoined metal rings.

The handcuffs fly toward Reaper and one of them slaps itself on Reaper's foot.

Sanjaro gestures,

The other end pulls Reaper backwards.

Reaper struggles, but it is of no use, he is pulled by the strong magnetic forces from Sanjaro.

The cuff eventually slaps itself on Sanjaro's wrist.

Sanjaro smiles, he has caught his prey.

Sanjaro is prepared to make his escape with his near-defeated catch.

Reaper struggles, but since he is being dragged by one of his feet he finds it very hard to strike his captor.

Just then Karl catches up, firing a hail of blades, the toothed wheels speed towards Sanjaro.

Sanjaro, still holding on to the struggling Reaper, fights the blades off.

With every skilful swipe of his spear-sword the blades are beaten off course, some are even sliced in half by the sharper blade of Sanjaro's spear-sword.

Karl puts on a blast of supersonic speed and flies towards Sanjaro, his launcher is now producing the biggest blade yet, a blade of laser.

Sanjaro sees the danger of the laser blade, his eyes pop open.

SANJARO You fool! You have no idea what you could be messing up!

But Karl will not listen, he launches the laser blade at Sanjaro.

The blade whirs and with deadly, skillful precision, it cuts the handcuffs, separating Reaper from Sanjaro.

Reaper falls down far below with a loud cry.

Karl sees his chance.

KARL I messed up your plan, no doubt.

With a laugh, Karl dives through the stratosphere.

But before he knows it, Sanjaro kicks into his back.

Karl produces a huge laser blade and aims to strike back at Sanjaro.

Sanjaro parries with his spear-sword.

The thrust and parry fight continues as they speed through the air, both of them chasing Reaper at the same time.

Before long, the two of them are yelling and growling at each other in rage.

They are not just fighting with their blades, but kicking each other here and there as well.

Sweat has formed on both of their brows.

It is hard to determine who is going to win. Both seem to be equally strong fighters.

Small wonder that both seem unprepared for Reaper's chance to wound them.

Now far below them, Reaper launches his scythe blade.

The two are almost caught unprepared by the blade rushing towards the both of them.

Then with a loud cry, Reaper is bathed in a green glow.

He simply disappears.

SANJARO What have you done? Now we've lost him!

Karl rages back.

KARL Well you've done it! He was mine!

At this moment a long shadow passes over the two of them.

It is a large and formidable-looking spacecraft, looking like a cross between a blimp and a floating city. This is the MESSENGER-1.

The MESSENGER- 1 opens a huge lid on its front, to reveal a large tractor beam blaster.

Karl and Sanjaro can only surrender to it.

The blaster fires , and the two are engulfed in the white light of the tractor beam.

INT. MESSENGER-1 CONTROL ROOM A female figure sits in front of a large screen, two guards beside her.

On the screen we see Karl and Sanjaro being dragged in by the tractor beam.

She has long, silky blonde hair, and is remarkably beautiful in comparison to the solemn clothes she's wearing. This is JUDGE WENDY.

JUDGE WENDY The two of them have been caught red-handed. Now it is time to judge them.

EXT. PLAIN DAY This is a wide open plain, set against an ever-morphing skyscape.

We see a congregation of men and women in long dark robes. This is the COUNCIL OF THE EYRIE.

They are holding Karl and Sanjaro by their long, thick chains.

Sanjaro and Karl both are grimacing as though they had been dragged through slime pits even though their faces are quite clean.

In the middle of the plain, a tall column of a fire rises into the air.

Around the fire, more men and women are gathered. Dressed in similar long and dark robes.

One of them is JUDGE WENDY.

Karl looks up at the judge and smiles.

He swipes a tongue across his cracked lips.

KARL Well well, it's you, sister.

Judge Wendy is as steadfast as ever. She peers at her brother with her steel-blue eyes.

JUDGE WENDY The Code of the Eyrie is the continuous perfection of our skills and soul to take our place alongside Mankind and watch over them, with impartiality and justice. Dear brother, true to my heritage in the Eyrie I will not be partial in this short trial. You two have been assigned on the same mission and yet you have been fighting with each other, and in the end, causing a dangerous criminal to get away. Now who knows what could Reaper have done? As Templars of the Eyrie all the evidence points against you, do you have anything to say?

Sanjaro looks at Karl and shakes his head.

SANJARO We have nothing to say, ma'am. We pledge ourselves guilty, else we are not worthy of the Eyrie.

JUDGE WENDY Very well, let the rest of the Council decide your sentence.

The rest of the Council begin to discuss quietly among themeselves.

At the end a message is completed.

Beside Judge Wendy another figure hands her a slip of paper.

JUDGE WENDY Very well, it looks like you have been sentenced to the world of the Humans, where you shall be stuck in limbo between the ethereal and the corporeal except by those who choose to see you.

Sanjaro and Karl are silent. They know have fully deserved this.

They can only look at each other.

At this moment the Judge and Jury disappear around them.

The plain and sky morph into a large round metallic room.

Two bright holes appear directly under the feet of Sanjaro and Karl.

The two of them fall through the holes.

INT. MESSENGER-1 CONTROL ROOM Judge Wendy is watching all of this via her screen.

JUDGE WENDY Good luck boys, if you only knew what was waiting for you down there.

One of the guards speaks up.

GUARD One of them is your own brother, Wendy. You're not going to... are you?

JUDGE WENDY I must as fair and impartial as I can. This is the only way to get rid of them, even if one of them is my brother. Sigh, l have to tell you this, the two of them have been like this ever since they were kids....

GUARD Hey you've told me enough, ma'am. Now it is time to put your mind off this.

JUDGE WENDY I guess you are right.

INT. CLOCKTOWER NIGHT This is the inside of a clock tower, filled with cages hanging from the rooftops and prisoners sleeping within.

The great cogs of time keep turning in here.

A fat, bearded man is sitting at a large brown oaken desk. This is GRYFYD.

Gryfyd looks up at the ceiling, at the cages with their prisoners hanging in them.

In one of the cages, the prisoner awakes. It is Samjaro.

Gryfyd sees Sanjaro awake.

GRYFYD So, good morning to you, Sanjaro! How has the night been?

SANJARO This is.....

GRYFYD Your prison.

In a cage across the room from Sanjaro Karl awakes.

He knows what's going on. He shouts to Sanjaro.

KARL You got me into this, I'll make you pay!

SANJARO Quiet you fool! Can't you see where we are?

GRYFYD Now, now, stop you two. Or else I'm not gonna treat you kindly.

Karl keeps quiet.

Gryfyd smiles in a rather sinister way as he looks up at the two of them.

GRYFYD Now that's better, you be good till then, okay?

DISSOLVE TO: INT. CLOCKTOWER NIGHT The cogs of time continue turning.

EXT. CLOCKTOWER NIGHT On the balcony front of the gigantic clock face stands Sanjaro, Karl and Gryfyd.

Gryfyd is addressing the two of them with their respective missions.

GRYFYD See this clock face here, see its hands move. Every inch moved can never be regained, with every inch the dark hair of youth...

Gryfyd touches Sanjaro's dark hair.

GRYFYD (cont.) Will turn to the white hair of old age.

Gryfyd takes a lock of his own hair and casts it out into the city.

The white hair floats like feathers into the dark night.

Sanjaro takes a look at the clock face.

CLOSE UP on the minute hand, it seems to be moving at a faster rate than usual. With a "VOOOOOOOOSH!" it sweeps past the next minute.

GRYFYD For these Humans, every day is a battle between time and themselves. Often there is no way to win time, most Humans just fade away with every passing minute, a few will triumph with their deeds of greatness and shine in the passage of time forevermore. For us, we may not notice it, for at the Eyrie exists in another continuum, and there time passes a lot more slowly than it does here.

Sanjaro looks down, far below him, the traffic seems to be travelling at a blur.

He feels faint all of a sudden.

Gryfyd smiles.

GRYFYD So, you suffering from Eyrie-Human World jet lag? Well, that's a common problem for most of our kind who have been banished down here. As I was saying, Humans here do battle with time, you are here to help some of them as part of your penitential duty. We will be making a trip to the Citadel soon.

KARL What is the Citadel?

GRYFYD It's a place that some of the Humans have built for us, where they visit occasionally and pay tribute to us. It has been such an ancient secret that today only a few know about it. One of them is Lord Dennis McClory, and he is a man who has visited us and talked to us very faithfully throughout his years.

KARL He's gotta think a lot about us to do something like that.

GRYFYD He's a human, remember? We are from another plane. Relax, he'll be fine.

Gryfyd laughs and takes in a breath of air.

INT. CITADEL NIGHT A lone figure stands in a large room, the floor replete with beautiful Arabic-looking geometric patterns.

Slowly he is revealed, he is an eccentric looking old man, somewhere in his sixties, wearing pince-nez glasses. He has a look that is a cross of the Gothic and the Victorian. He is carrying an umbrella, and in his eyes there is a look that is mad, desperate and earnest.

This is LORD DENNIS MCCLORY, and right now his eyes seem focused far ahead, watching for something, waiting with eagerness. He wants whatever he is waiting for, and he wants it fast.

As he stands alone in this large room, the geometric patterns on the walls, the large crystal chandelier, the magnificent pillars, all seem to engulf him.

Then in front of him appear Gryfyd, Karl and Sanjaro.

Lord Dennis is extremely grateful.

He bows down the ground and prostrates himself before getting up.

GRYFYD So why have you called us, Lord Dennis?

LORD DENNIS I fear the worst for my life, you see, it's my legacy.....

GRYFYD What about your legacy?

LORD DENNIS I still feel I may not have time to complete it.

GRYFYD Well what is it?

LORD DENNIS I once made plans with you, in exchange for your blessings I would build a future so bright, for my children, and our combined races, a future in which bliss will be achieved and suffering forgotten.

GRYFYD Well, I remember that, and I'll help you.

LORD DENNIS Good, you see, recently this future of ours, I believe, has met with difficulties, of the Human kind, interferences from all over, see.....

GRYFYD I have two new men, they're perfect for the job, they are some of the best fighters the Eyrie has ever produced.

Sanjaro and Karl step forward.

They bow to Lord Dennis.

LORD DENNIS Thank you, oh thank you so much.

The two of them hold Lord Dennis to his feet.

EXT. MESSENGER-1 The Messenger-1 is heading through deep space, shining in all its golds and blues, it is a magnificent sight to behold.

It heads towards a planet, floating in the depths of space like a magic orb, it is glowing with all the blues and golds that make up the Messenger-1. This is the Homeworld of the Eyrie.

EXT. GUILLAUMET CITY DAY Guillaumet City is the capital city of the Eyrie Homeworld. It is held against a sky of magnificent clouds and not of one color, but of all colors. It is a sky through which one sees the rest of the universe, reflected in its many moods.. An eternal palette of ever-changing composition.

Across this sky flies the Messenger-1, towards the shining city in the distance that is Guillaumet.

A long craft body shot follows, much like the opening of STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE.

EXT. SHIP DOCKS DAY The Messenger-1 arrives at the ship docks and slowly parks itself, alongside it are lined up numerous other similar Messenger ships.

The ship slowly moves itself between the large clamps that secure the ship.

The electromagnetic clamps close themselves on the Messenger-1's front portion.

A long glass tube attaches itself to the front portion of the Messenger-1.

INT. SPACEPORT--GALLERY DAY Judge Wendy walks along the gallery, escorted by two of her guards.

Her pace is swift and brisk, her eyes look straight ahead.

Her subordinates salute her as she passes by.

She heads out of the Spaceport.

INT. GUILLAUMET HALL DAY This is the hall where duties are reported to the Master of the Eyrie, Deus. It is built all over in shining golds.

>From the far end of the room, a large door opens.

In walks Judge Wendy.

She walks towards a large, black, imposing mirror like object at the end of the room.

All around her the place is silent.

The tiles beneath her feet seem to prate her whereabouts as she walks along.

She walks in front of the mirror-like object.

She puts her hands in front of her, in a prayer-like gesture.

In her current outfit, she looks like Joan Of Arc.

JUDGE WENDY Wendy Valkyre of the Valkyre House is here, O Lord Deus, my Lord Father.

The large black object starts to glow.

Then a face emerges from its blackness.

It is an ethereal, almost phantom-like face, like the face in the magic mirror in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", but less sinister and more benign.

This is the face of DEUS.

DEUS Wendy, my child, what problems do you have?

WENDY I can't be at ease, eternal Lord Father, for I have just sentenced my brother to the Human world.

DEUS Your brother has pushed his own selfish nature to the extreme, there must be a punishment to this.

WENDY But you should know what trials and ordeals await him.....

DEUS I know everything, Wendy.

The face of Deus dissolves.

On the large mirror like object we see a dark shadow, standing against a ghastly sick-green light in the background.

The shadow's cloak flutters in the wind.

DEUS(v/o) The Dark One, the most feared and deathly one among us.

WENDY Yes, this is what I fear, Father.

DEUS I know, the Dark One is loose on the Human world as he always has.

WENDY With every member of the Eyrie that gets sent down to the Human world, he or she will become a target of the Dark One, for all this time I have not minded this happening, but now I really do. It is my Brother who is now a target of the Dark One, and...

DEUS This is SELFISHNESS, Wendy! You do not care for others who become the Dark One's targets, but you care for your own Brother who has committed a crime worthy of becoming the Dark One's target?

Wendy takes a long hesitating pause.

WENDY Why yes, yes, you can say that the case is as such.

DEUS Such selfishness is not permitted within the reaches of the Eyrie, our mission is to fend off all the dangers to Humankind, and that is a mission whose sanctity rises above that of one's own flesh and blood! Wendy, you must let go of this mindset if you are to stay a true member of the Eyrie.

WENDY I know, but what can I do to ensure the life of my own Brother?

DEUS Well, the only choice is as such, I will give him the entire Benediction I can, but in the end he will have to rely on his own instinct and courage to survive, and to escape the clutches of the Dark One intact.

WENDY Is there no better way?

DEUS There is no other. The Dark One has been given every right to do as he pleases by our constitution.

The realization of the situation dawns on Wendy, she bows to Deus in respect.

WENDY Yes, my Lord.

Wendy leaves the room.

As she leaves the room, the large golden doors shut on her.

Deus is left staring into thin air. His phantomlike face now has a gleam of compassion in it.

DEUS My Benediction goes with you, Karl.

DARK DIMENSION This is a dark plain, endless and stretching, under a thick black rolling sky that roars with lightning and thunder.

In the middle of this dark plain is Reaper, battered and scarred.

In the darkness he hears a voice. A low, sinister voice.

VOICE Ah, welcome, Reaper, to my humble abode. We have a bargain to make around here.

REAPER Who, who are you?

VOICE I am the Dark One, better known as Fate, to you, indeed, how many can fight their fate, hmmm?

Fate appears in front of Reaper, at this point in time he is still a black mass, his cloak flowing behind him.

REAPER No, not you, not you, spare me, please.

FATE Why is it that so many want me to spare them when I have always dealt the swiftest and most efficient move on anyone deserving, am I that horrible? I just want to make a bargain, then we can move on.

REAPER No, I know what bargain is that you are making, just spare me, please?

Fate does not seem to listen to the pleas of his victim.

FATE Now tell me, which moment in your life do you wish to keep forever?

REAPER I...I...

FATE Tell me, cooperate with me and you will not regret it Now tell me, which is the moment in your life that seemed most special, most unforgettable, so precious that you will want to remember it forever? Tell me now!

REAPER DAMN! Sanjaro, Karl!

FATE You have made the decision.

REAPER Nooooooo!

Reaper tries to scream, but his soul has left his body.

Reaper's soul, now encased in a vision where he has to forever fight Karl and Sanjaro to the end of time, now floats towards Fate.

The vision disappears as Fate clutches it tightly in his fist.

FATE Now it is done.

Offscreen we hear a long scream from Reaper, it is a long, painful scream.

There is no reaction on Fate's face.

The scene disappears in a crack of thunder.

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE NIGHT This is a large, eerie castle that had once been a place of grandness and happiness.

Now minimal moonlight pours through the skylight, and all around the mansion there is an air of desolateness and loss. It is sparsely furnished, and lit by a large number of candles all over the place. It resembles a medieval dungeon.

On the walls we see dusty old paintings of the family.

A portrait of Dennis McClory in his younger days hangs on the wall, the eyes of the man still glittering with the elan of youth.

A portrait of Dennis and his first wife, the lady seated in the garden seat.

A large family portrait hangs, the eyes glowing sadly in the soft moonlight and candlelight.

A lone bird flutters through this draughty place. It is a crow, cawing as it flies to an open window .

The crow perches on the windowsill, turns its head and caws, then it heads out of the mansion and flies out.

Sanjaro and Karl walk in, following Lord Dennis as they do so.

Lord Dennis' gait is slow, brooding and sad. In his dark robe he looks like a lone phantom wandering the earth.

Lord Dennis walks near a candleholder, a long candle, shedding its tears of wax from its bright flame.

Lord Dennis smiles. It is a bitter, sad sort of smile, his face lit by the candle, it is noticed that in his eyes there is a teary gleam.

LORD DENNIS This is where I live, make yourself welcome.

Sanjaro runs a finger across one of the walls.

SANJARO This place hasn't been cleaned very well.

Lord Dennis steps in front of a large photograph.

It is the picture of a beautiful young girl, with short blond hair and a slim figure, her eyes glowing and radiant, and her smile charming.

Sanjaro and Karl look at the photo, seemingly enraptured by her beauty.

LORD DENNIS This is my daughter, Melanie. She...left a few years ago, and I have not seen her since, probably never will.

Sanjaro and Karl look on in silence.

LORD DENNIS Come, let's meet your fellow kind who have been guarding my house and home all these years.

Lord Dennis heads to a dark corridor.

INT. THE WING NIGHT This is a place of Lord Dennis' large castle that seems more beautiful than the rest of the desolate, forsaken place.

In the shadows we see several other figures, their features are still hidden from view, but their silhouettes are imposing.

Two of them are female, the rest of them are male, and one of them is...a child.

Sanjaro and Karl recognize them immediately as fellow members of the Eyrie.

SANJARO Eden, Riegella, Jude, Arcturus, Crimson. All of you are here?

LORD DENNIS I see you know them.

SANJARO Some of them were my best friends.

KARL You mean our best friends.

SANJARO Hey! Do we need to quarrel on whose friends are whose?

KARL We've been quarreling way too much, haven't we?

The leader of the other members of the Eyrie is Crimson.

She steps forward, while the others remain standing in the shadows.

She looks at Sanjaro, then she pulls out her weapon, true to her name, her weapon is a long, red, sharp piece of metal designed to make a three-sided hole in a person, this is the weapon she calls Red Herring.

Sanjaro pulls out his spear-sword and blocks it.

SANJARO You still have that same bloodlust that got you kicked out of the Eyrie, do you?

With a swift stroke, Sanjaro knocks the weapon away.

SANJARO The unfortunate thing is, you seem to have lost much of your skills.

He laughs.

Arcturus, Eden, Jude and Riegella step up from behind and glare at Sanjaro angrily. They look ready to pull out their weapons.

At this moment the enmity between Karl and Sanjaro seems to have dissolved. Karl immediately rushes to Sanajro's aid, with his blade-shooter aimed and ready.

KARL Whoever comes near the two of us shall not be spared.

At this moment the watchlings of every single Eyrie guardian spring into action, launching psychic brainblocks at all of them, they all collapse to the ground, writhing in pain.

Lord Dennis calls out to the watchlings and Eyrie guardians.

LORD DENNIS Please, stop it, I need all of you to take care of those I love, you are all here on a common mission, stop the fighting.

Karl is the first to get up.

KARL He's right, so would you show us around the place, please?

The rest of them get up, Sanjaro walks up to Karl.

SANJARO Hey Karl, I just wanna say that I loved how you stuck up for me just now.

KARL Aww, don't mention it, you and I we have yet to settle ourselves. I've not forgotten anything.

SANJARO Come on, shouldn't we put the feud behind us?

KARL I'm not replying.

Sanjaro turns his back.

SANJARO Well Crimson, lead the way.

Crimson turns her back to the others.

CRIMSON Alright guys, show them around this depressing place.

Eden carries on from here. He is the strangest of the lot, a childlike creature who has an ancient mind.

EDEN Okay, now, Lord Dennis has appointed us as guardians of what he calls "a bright shining future", and we have ever since picked up great interest in that.

SANJARO Well, what could that be?

EDEN Come here, and we'll show you.

Eden points to a staircase nearby.

INT> LORD DENNIS' MANSION-STAIRCASE NIGHT The dark spiral staircase winds upwards in classic haunted house fashion, the Guardians of the Eyrie head up the staircase, the shots become weirder and more corkscrew-like as they head up.

EDined with modern, shiny buildings. Ionic columns, statues, monuments, large buildings for God-knows-what usage, and a series of complex canals runs through it all, with magnificent ferries sailing as well as Gondolas. The buildings form a pattern, all branching out from the center, in which a tall, needle-shaped building, seemingly wrapped in a layer of gold ribbon, stands.

The Human City is nowhere in sight, none of the suffering, pain and despair one would associate with that place is here.

Sanjaro and Karl are taken aback.

SANJARO These building materials....resemble those of Home!

EDEN Yes, we have come to guard and help build this sacred place, which will be for the good of both our races.

KARL How did that old man get.....

EDEN He may look like a fool, but this is what he has created, a city of the future, which he calls NEO-VENICE.

Lord Dennis emerges from the shadows, joining them as they stand.

His long white hair now flutters in the wind, but his eyes remain gentle. He reminds one of a mad Saint if there was one.

LORD DENNIS It is my wish that Neo-Venice will become the place where all of mankind's problems will have their resolution, and where peace will reign and families prosper, and nations will solve their disputes in peace. Who better to teach us all of this than a race of advancement such as yours?

Karl nods.

He looks out at the city.

KARL This is indeed a place worth guarding.

LORD DENNIS Indeed, for behold!

The beautiful dark sky around them suddenly turns clear, Neo Venice is within a giant containment dome in the sky!

Outside the containment dome and far below is the Human City, in all its corrupt glory. This is a place that has not been spared the fire of exploitation and evil that came along with the industrial revolution, nor the cynicism that has come to plague the modern world.

It emits a red glow, as if brimstone and fire have just nuked it.

Lord Dennis sighs.

LORD DENNIS That is the world that we must save.

Now on the dome, green digital boxes appear, and they begin flashing scenes of death and destruction from all over:

In a workhouse, children slave over large machines, their bodies all coated with soot. The workhouse master carries a long stick, used for beating these children, keeping his stern eye on the no-good youngsters lest they slack off.

War is being waged with tanks and jets, entire towns are being run over. Civilians tremble helplessly in the path of the machines as they are run over. The side of a house is blown off. Bombs rain down, the place explodes in a blinding flash of light.

Entire rivers run red with the blood of soldiers, a convoy of ships has been attacked and blown up here.

The digital screens go blank.

Lord Dennis turns around, looking at the Eyrie Guardians, as if awaiting response.

The members of the Eyrie nod in silence.

At this moment, he mentions another point.

LORD DENNIS Remember, none of you are to go down to the Human world without my permission once you've been here, especially you newcomers, it will violate your code, and the consequences of code violation are of course, serious.

The reason sounds logical, but Sanjaro is starting to feel that something is not right.

He looks out at the city, the ominous lights glowing.

Karl is beginning to feel that something is not right about this place as well. As the others leave he turns to Sanjaro.

KARL Hanging around the others is less safe than hanging around with you, but do not think for a moment that you are safe from me.

SANJARO I'm with ya, all the way.

KARL This Neo Venice is a strange place, we shall take a little trip down there when the others are guarding Lord Dennis.

Sanjaro looks down at Neo-Venice, silent for a minute.

SANJARO Are you hiding anything?

KARL Whaddya mean am I hiding anything?

SANJARO EVERYONE seems to be hiding something around here except me, dammit! You know what exactly is going on? What's that other city we saw earlier hiding? What is this NEO VENICE's real reason for existing anyway? Where are we? I have the questions, you have the answers, so tell me now!

KARL I dunno, dammit!

SANJARO So, well, we both need answers, what do we do tonight?

EXT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE NIGHT Karl and Sanjaro fly out from the battlements of the castle.

Far below them is the city we saw earlier.

They fly onto the top of an especially tall building which sort of resembles a more Victorian-looking Empire State Building.

They look down on the crowd below.

The urban jungle stretches out ahead of them toward the horizon, a retro-futuristic urban jungle, tentacled ductwork stretching up the buildings like vines, a rich-looking city nonetheless, teeming with life and lights. Yet the city has a somehow sinister aura about it.

The sky is colored red above them.

They start talking as they leap off the building, and instead of fly, now glide through the city. Their speech is cold, but we get the feeling they are trying to suppress emotions underneath.

Emotions too intense.

KARL Look at all those people down there, you think Reaper is among them?

SANJARO I dunno. Someone like him will not die off easily.

KARL Man, it was all for him that we both ended up here, if we see him, he'd have to get clobbered by the both of us first.

SANJARO Then when it's all over, I'd clobber you.

KARL Wonder who's taking care of Reaper now, we've done our job and we couldn't.

SANJARO One thing we agree upon, we were the best to defeat Reaper, I knew all his moves like the back of my hand. I spent so many weeks training for that mission, preparing, learning, improving upon our weapons, I thought I could rid Reaper from our Eyrie, Reaper who has done such incalculable damage to the Human world we watched over and to our kind. I thought I could destroy Reaper that traitor once and for all, and now, I failed.

KARL You think you coulda done it? Let me tell you this, to be able to catch Reaper I taught myself to think like Reaper, to know not just his moves in battle, but the moves he makes in his head, the same moves he uses to outsmart the rest. I mastered them, and what about you, hmmm?

SANJARO Look here....

Karl grabs Sanjaro by his collar.

KARL Now see here, I still have a little bit of Reaper in me, you know how merciless he can be, can you?

Out of Karl's launcher springs a chain of whirring circular saws a la STAR TREK's Borg.

He brings the weapon near Sanjaro's face.

Sanjaro is quick to react with a forceful blow he knocks Karl backwards.

Now the stage is set for a fight once again.

Sanjaro delivers a mighty swipe of his spear-sword.

The forceful attack produces a beam of energy that sweeps across a hundred-metre radius, knocking Karl out of the sky, the energy spreads to a building nearby and then.....

Sanjaro and Karl shudder.

A hole is blasted through the building with a thunderous noise, bits of debris start to fall all over the place.

EXT. STREETS OF CITY NIGHT The debris rains onto the streets far below, crashing with forceful intensity.

The shots get weirder and weirder as it goes on.

The streets, already bathed in a red light from all the neon signs, now look like a picture of hell with the debris raining all over.

A gargoyle crashes onto a car.

Glass rains like razor-sharp snow onto the ground.

Even the furniture has been blasted out of the building, and the resulting fall is comical yet frightening, cupboards, desks, chairs fall all over the place in a freak rainstorm.

SLO-MO: Pencils, pens and stationery as well rain down from the sky, their sharp points are highlighted as they descend .

At this height of absurdity....

EXT. SKIES ABOVE CITY NIGHT Sanjaro and Karl cannot believe the seriousness of their mistake.

SANJARO Get down and save some people.

The two of them head down to the ground.

EXT. STREETS OF CITY NIGHT Along this street, the falling debris has crashed upon some cars, and caused a huge traffic jam.

The street is engulfed in a wash of reds from the neon signs.

The vehicles are sounding their horns in full intensity.

Sanjaro and Karl land on the ground.

SANJARO Now go and find the casualties.

The two of them go and start searching among the debris for survivors.

The surrounding people do not notice what they are doing at all.

SANJARO Hey, can't anyone hear us?

KARL We are seen only by those who choose to see us, these people obviously have not chosen.

The people around them seem to have no change of expression.

SANJARO The problem is that: this thing here does not seem to faze them at all, don't tell me they did not see all this debris fall from the sky, I'm not believing it on my life!

At this moment ambulance sirens area heard nearby.

KARL They're coming, now, we better make way for them.

Sanjaro and Karl run for a short distance, and then they fly onto the ledge of a skyscraper nearby.

All the proceedings are happening offscreen as the two of them start talking again.

SANJARO Man, look at them, they're not panicking or anything as they do it.

KARL Yeah, they're monotonous, deadpan and unconcerned, as if this isn't their business at all, someone has died, for goodness' sake!

SANJARO This can only mean one thing. Something has happened to these Humans, something really, completely awful.

KARL Like what?

SANJARO I do not know. I do not dare imagine.

MONTAGE: Scenes of the city, in all it's variegated glory, all its many facets.

Commuters walk in and out of a subway station, dressed in similar dim gray business suits.

Child prostitutes, around the age of fourteen or fifteen, sitting on an ornate old bridge, being embraced by middle-aged men.

Bright neon signboards adorn the streets.

Streets filled with cars, packed bumper to bumper.

Alleys filled with thugs sniffing glue.

The Metropolitan Railway thundering across a bridge, sprayed all over with graffiti, through the windows we see a hold-up going on.

Tall office buildings with lights blazing from the windows, all the signs of a city that never sleeps.

EXT. EYRIE HOMEWORLD-SEA DAY We witness one of the seas of the Eyrie Homeworld, blue, dreamy, under the ethereal sky, it lies, stretching towards the horizon endlessly.

On the shining sands of the beach stand Judge Wendy, a ferryman is coming near, his features are not clearly seen, and his frame is tall and lanky. This is CU LAIG.

JUDGE WENDY Ho there, Cu Laig!

CU LAIG Wendy, nice to see you again, it's been so long.

Wendy hops onto the ferry. Cu Laig starts ferrying Wendy across the seas.

Wendy sits in the ferry troubled, her hand on her chin.

She stirs the water with a finger.

CLOSE UP on the water, she sees a reflection of Sanjaro and Karl in it.

WENDY They've done it again.

CU LAIG What is it?

WENDY You know, Karl and my own brother, they have to face off against the Dark One, and...you know the rest. But the two of them, how could they have done something as foolish as what they are doing now?

CU LAIG The Dark One, he and we, we have long histories, don't we?

WENDY I feel responsible for all this, I feel that way.

CU LAIG But the punishment does fit the crime, does it not?

WENDY In this case, the punishment is the crime. Karl and Sanjaro are foolishly challenging something so merciless that they don't have the least chance of defeating. This punishment is something no one has ever escaped before, and I can't stand someone so close to me not escaping from the tragedy at the end. Why do we have to be so hard on those who disobey the Eyrie's regulations? Who set up this punishment, anyway? Why do we have to keep the truth from them? Why can't we just tell them that...

CU LAIG The truth is hard, my dear, the truth is the most merciless, for no one can refute it, no one, no matter their wealth, or status, or age, can refute the truth of things. Now, if you unleash the truth on them it will sic them like a dog, but let them uncover the truth under the lies....

WENDY And they will be set free by the truth itself. Some truths must be learned the hard way.

CU LAIG You got it, Wendy.

WENDY I notice the sailing is very smooth on this water.

CU LAIG The currents of time never go against the boat.

The ferry continues on its way, towards the beauty of the horizon.

EXT. CITY SKYLINE NIGHT Sanjaro and Karl fly across the city skyline not in the Superman pose, but in a pose with all their limbs spread out. Disillusioned by what they have seen in this bleak Human place.

SANJARO Hmm, so far, so good, so bad.

KARL I'm beginning to doubt our mission here. This means that while we have been fighting our foes inner and outer to protect the Humans, we have done absolutely nothing to alleviate their civilization. To be sentenced here, and then be driven to despair, is our crime so great?

SANJARO I think we misunderstood Lord Dennis, he felt as though he had something to hide from us here, and we now understand. No wonder he's building Neo Venice, the aim is to create a higher plane of existence for these beings, in their own plane.

KARL You know what, you ever heard of the cloak of the Dark One? I think this place works in the same way. It swallows, engulfs, and assimilates you into its blackness. You sink into it, your will is overpowered, and finally...

SANJARO You become one with it.

KARL Yes, that is what this city is going to do to us. When do you figure that will happen?

SANJARO I do not know, I will not even notice when it comes.

KARL Has it happened to me yet?

SANJARO Not yet.

KARL Good, I need someone to remind me.

Sanjaro and Karl start to fly out toward a large, grand building nearby.

Unknown to them, this is a CITADEL.

EXT. TEMPLE NIGHT Sanjaro and Karl fly over the long flight of steps outside the Temple.

A large number of people is going up and down the steps.

Most of them are dressed in black or other dark colors.

There is a visually ironic juxtaposition here, the dark souls heading up to the Temple, which is shining brightly.

SANJARO What are all of them coming here for?

KARL Let's check it out.

Sanjaro and Karl land on top of the flight of steps.

The crowd walks past them as though they haven't seen a thing.

However, Karl and Sanjaro see the miserable faces on the people, and they are worried.

KARL There is something very wrong, very...

Karl and Sanjaro run into the light that is emanating from within the temple, seeming to disappear into it as the light engulfs them.

INT. TEMPLE NIGHT Karl and Sanjaro see rows of prostrate individuals in prayer, and they're praying hard.

An old man is muttering feverishly to himself.

Two people are banging their heads against the floor for some sign of forgiveness.

A woman and her child sit beside each other, not saying a word, but looking straight ahead.

Karl and Sanjaro look in the direction of the woman and child.

What they see is astonishing. A gigantic effigy carved into the wall, scenes of men and woman riding upon clouds, the sunlight peeking out from behind the clouds.

On top of the whole effigy is the craft recognizable as MESSENGER-1.

And in the middle is the largest effigy of all, the face of Deus, looking benign and serene.

SANJARO This place is magnificent, why I never thought...

KARL It's pathetic! I tell you it's pathetic!

SANJARO Why?

KARL Can't you see, this is stupid, these people look to us for peace, but what are we? We are nothing but outcasts, misfits, rogues where we come from, and they look to us as their guardians, their saviors! Their salvation, their deliverance from this cold, cruel, pathetic place. Why is the truth, that very thing the Eyrie holds with such impartiality and justice, distorted to these Humans?! Why?!

At this moment nearly everyone turns to Karl. These are believers, and believers are the only ones that can hear the members of the Eyrie as well as see them, but did anyone say the believers could do it PROPERLY?

No, definitely no.

Because after this the crowd starts running around, and they are screaming, in joy and ecstasy, for they have heard the Eyrie speak, but not their words.

Cries of "We're saved, we're saved!", "Deus shines on us all!", "Glory to Deus be!" ring about the place as the crowd rushes out in a bout of mass hysteria.

Before long the crowd has dispersed, and all that is left in the Temple are Karl and Sanjaro.

Just then they see a ghostly figure in the front of the Temple.

One of them turns back his head. He is Reaper!

KARL No, I can't believe it, you're still alive...

Sanjaro draws his weapon.

KARL Can you tell me what the Hell you are doing here?

REAPER It is not what the Hell I am doing here, the correct phrasing is; what am I doing here in Hell?

Reaper gives a soft, sinister laugh.

Then he shows his blade, gleaming and threatening.

KARL So what are you doing?

REAPER You see, I am here to save you from a ghastly fate, that which you are suffering now, and will only get worse...

Reaper slices the air with his blade.

REAPER (to Karl) Now do not interfere, this is none of your business. This is Sanjaro's.

KARL Then good luck, I'm with you.

Sanjaro gets his spear-sword ready.

They both strike a battle pose.

Reaper is the first to attack, but Sanjaro parries his blade.

What follows is a thrust and parry fight on hyperspeed.

The moves of the two combatants are blindingly fast.

Reaper has greatly improved in such a short time, dodging Sanjaro's attacks with incredible speed.

Sanjaro fights Reaper into a corner, where a large torch is burning on the wall.

Reaper takes down the torch, and then thrusts it at Sanjaro.

Sanjaro blocks it

Sanjaro is astonished. Reaper is now ambidextrous with his weapons, unlike Sanjaro who can control his sword-spear with only his two hands.

Now the odds have turned, Reaper is now on the offensive and Sanjaro on the defensive.

Sanjaro points his sword-spear up at the ceiling, where the chandelier is hanging.

He waves a forceful attack at the chandelier, which comes crashing down from the ceiling.

Reaper resorts to the last means. He uses the disappearance move. With a single swish of the cape he disappears.

Karl is applauding for his now-friend.

KARL Well done Sanjaro! That move depletes a quarter of his energy, now he'll never be able to muster up enough strength to fight you.

Karl's euphoria is too early. Just then a blade is held in front of his neck.

It is Reaper.

REAPER Come closer, and your rival will die.

SANJARO You, you said it did not involve him!

KARL Don't worry about me, it's you he's after!

Just then Karl deploys one of his blades that hits Reaper's foot.

Reaper screams and lets go of Karl.

Karl deploys two more sets of spinning blades from his launcher.

KARL This time you have made it personal!

Karl and Sanjaro go up to fight Reaper, who still manages finely against the two of them.

REAPER I have been improving myself.

Karl shoots his blades, which embed themselves in Reaper's chest.

There seems to be no effect on Reaper.

Reaper laughs.

REAPER Come and get me.

He flies out of the Temple.

Karl and Sanjaro follow him.

EXT. CITY SKYLINE NIGHT The three of them do furious battle in the sky, pretty much they did at the beginning, but now Karl and Sanjaro are allied rather than bickering.

Reaper, now stronger, also shows no signs of letting up.

KARL Man something's wrong! That move has not exhausted him one bit!

SANJARO I don't care! I'm just gonna rip him all the same!

Sanjaro swipes his sword-spear in a huge arc in front of him.

The sword-spear cuts a long gash in Reaper, from the top of his chest to his bottom.

But there is no blood.

SANJARO(shocked, to Reaper) What the Hell's your problem?

REAPER Like I said it's not the Hell what's my problem, it's what's my problem in Hell!

SANJARO Whatever it is, I'm here to get you once and for all.

Reaper outstretches his arms and laughs.

Sanjaro runs Reaper through with his sword-spear.

But the blade just makes a hole in Reaper as though he were made of paper, no blood, no guts, no anything.

SANJARO My word...

Reaper then starts burning as though he was MADE of paper now.

The burn starts from the hole, then reaches outwards, slowly but surely, as he speaks.

REAPER See, look at me now, no blood, no guts, no flesh, what am I doing? What am I doing? What am I doing in Hell? The question is; what am I doing here in Hell?

Reaper lets out more laughs as his body is slowly consumed by the flames and then reduced, finally, to nothing but ashes.

The ashes scatter all over in the wind.

Silence reigns. Sanjaro and Karl cannot believe anything that they have just seen.

SANJARO What...happened to him?

KARL He just...burnt up!

Now, in front of them, four figures appear.

The four figures get up as well, they are other well-known members of the Eyrie that have been sent down to the Human world.

One of them is a thin, saggy figure with a scar and with no visible weaponry. This is RADEK.

Another is a hulking, fearsome figure with a large halberd, this is RORGO.

Another one is a petite woman with a blue military beret and costume and hair to match. Her weapon is the "Whip Of Wind", This is ZEPHYR.

Another one is a woman , with greater luxuriance in aspect, dressed in an emerald green uniform, with yellow hair and green eyes to match her uniform. Her weapon is a long green staff with a dragon head. This is SNAPDRAGON.

ZEPHYR Do not worry, we are not here to harm you.

KARL Man, Zephyr, what does all this mean?

ZEPHYR No time to think about it, Karl, there is an important thing that Sanjaro must do.

SANJARO Huh?

Radek answers by throwing a book at Sanjaro.

Sanjaro catches the book.

And oh, what a book it is!

The book is black on the cover with seemingly luminous letters on it:

THE ARCANE MANUAL

There is a picture of a coiled snake on the cover. And surrounding it are seemingly arithmetic geometric patterns.

The book is locked with a giant padlock and a golden key is stuffed between its ancient pages.

SANJARO This is the evil book...

ZEPHYR It is the book of the Dark One.

SANJARO The Dark One, I thought he was just a myth...

SNAPDRAGON No, he is more real than any of us can imagine.

RADEK For we are such stuff as dreams are made of...

RORGO ...And our little life is rounded off with a sleep.

SANJARO Wait, what's with all the William Shakespeare?

KARL I think it means something.

SANJARO But what, Karl? Please don't let me think that you've become like one of them too!

KARL There are too many riddles left unanswered about this place, let's go.

The two of them fly off into the night.

Just then, Sanjaro sees someone familiar on one of the streets.

The face he has seen among the crowd, the one face among a thousand, is the face of MELANIE McCLORY!

SANJARO No, it can't be!

KARL What?

But Sanjaro has already swooped down through the air.

Karl follows him.

Sanjaro lands in the crowd almost unnoticed, following Melanie through the streets.

He looks at Melanie in the crowd with an air of fondness

Karl, however, has no idea what Sanjaro is doing as he follows his now-friend closely.

KARL Wait, tell me where you are going.

Sanjaro just flies straight ahead.

Karl follows him.

Both of them only slightly above the streets, all of a sudden the street turns blurry and fast.

Passing cars become a streak of light.

People turn into a collective mass of Humanity.

It is the "Jet Lag" kicking in again.

Karl, feeling dizzy, shouts to Sanjaro.

KARL Don't go too close, you're not used to seeing things as they are in this world yet!

Sanjaro does not listen, and he keeps flying on.

EXT. CITY PARK NIGHT Melanie now enters the City Park, the lonely and deserted park is a quiet and refreshing place away from the bustle and noise of the dark city.

Now it is seemingly fall and moonlight peeks through the thinning foliage of the trees.

In the moonlight Sanjaro runs across the fallen leaves with his ethereal speed, the leaves rustle gently as he does so, more like there is a soft, sweet breeze stirring them.

Melanie does not notice.

As he lands on the park path, Karl sees Melanie.

KARL It can't be!

Karl follows Sanjaro, but rather slowly as he does so.

Melanie stops under a tree, that is short and nearly barren.

Sanjaro stops in his tracks.

So does Karl.

Melanie unties her hair, which was previously tied up in a ponytail, it cascades down in a golden shower.

Sanjaro stands, enchanted.

Karl does nothing much.

KARL Sanjaro, you and I, we have our loved ones back on the Homeworld...

Sanjaro is not listening to Karl.

He stands and watches as a young, good-looking man walks out from the bushes, dressed in a neat suit, jacket and a cap.

This is JIM.

MELANIE Oh Jim!

At this moment thunder sounds in the sky, an ominous rumbling.

JIM Melanie my dear, it is going to rain, we'd better... This scene of young love, its innocence and purity rapts Sanjaro.

Melanie hugs Jim even tighter, then they sit under the tree and start talking.

However, Sanjaro has no time to hear what they have to say.

Sanjaro, angry, turns to Karl.

SANJARO I've seen enough for tonight. So much of Lord Dennis to tell us that his daughter was dead!

KARL We can't trust him anymore.

SANJARO Come on, let's go back and decide what to do.

The two of them fly off.

Sanjaro looks back at Jim and Melanie as they start kissing.

SANJARO Poor girl, abandoned by her own father.

Sanjaro turns his head, never looking backward ever again.

EXT. ROOFTOP NIGHT This is the rooftop of one of the city's great buildings, Radek, Rorgo, Zephyr and Snapdragon are standing on it, they are looking down with a despairing look in their eyes.

Then instinctively, Zephyr looks upwards.

The clouds above them split open and down trail what looks like a green comet of pulsating energy.

The green comet lands on the edge of the roof and then causes a great and terrific explosion.

The explosion clears offscreen, but we hear Radek speak.

RADEK Echelon Fate, the Dark One!

And so it is Echelon Fate.

He is a dark figure like we have just seem him, his body is entirely black and no facial features are discernible save a pair of glowing white eyes. His cloak flutters behind him, it is the cloak that is glowing with an eerie green.

FATE So it is me, you knew you could never hide forever from me, you knew.

ZEPHYR It is too late, you are finished. We have given the Arcane Manual to Sanjaro, he will guard it from you with his life.

Fate laughs, a low, spooky laugh.

FATE Fools, you know nothing. Nothing can stop me, especially not Sanjaro.

SNAPDRAGON What do you mean?

FATE Time to return to me.

Fate laughs, and then his cloak undergoes an amazing transformation.

It starts turning almost into a semi-liquid, and then tentacles begin reaching out from the fabric, black gooey tentacles, almost like living oilslicks.

The tentacles reach out to the four members of the Eyrie.

However, they remain passive, rooted to the spot, they know they cannot escape this fate.

The tentacles slowly but surely, wrap around them and then engulf them into it.

The tentacles retract back into the cloak.

Some movement occurs in the cloak as it ingests the warriors wholesale.

The cloak then shrinks down to its normal size.

FATE Beware, Sanjaro! The manual is closer to me than you think it is.

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE -BATTLEMENTS NIGHT Sanjaro and Karl fly onto the battlements.

They start to worry about the book they now have in their hands.

SANJARO Karl, what do you think I should do with this book?

KARL Keep it somewhere safe where no one can find it. I would burn it if I could but ...

SANJARO I do not think so. The book must be kept, let it stay, let it stand for the rest of time. This thing has caused so much evil, so much destruction, but we must still keep it for posterity, to ensure no one will go for that type of flat-out evil ever again.

KARL I guess you're right.

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE-CELLAR NIGHT Sanjaro and Karl walk through a complex maze of passages in the cellar, marked only by their respective banners.

They find a large, rotting door.

SANJARO This must be a safe room.

Sanjaro pushes the door open.

EXT. EYRIE HOMEWORLD-SEA OF TIME DAY On the sea of time we see the boatman, Cu Laig, and Judge Wendy approaching a small island.

Cu Laig is approaching at a fairly slow pace, each time his paddle touches the water, a blossom appears on the water's surface.

In the background looms Guillaumet City, its towers going high into the sky. And above it

On the island we see a tree and beside it a lake.

Cu Laig nods to Judge Wendy.

The two of them step off their ferry and head toward the pool beside the tree.

Cu Laig looks up at the tree, it is a barren one, but with many branches going off into a seemingly infinite number of directions.

The two of them stop where they are, looking over the pool, and in the pool, they see a reflection of Karl and Sanjaro....

INT.LORD DENNIS' CASTLE-CELLARS NIGHT Sanjaro and Karl are walking towards a large shelf, on it are lined lots of old stuff.

Moonlight pours through one of the windows.

We see music boxes, crates, lampshades, various trinkets, some oriental statues, an Asian kitty bank with one paw upraised.

This place is a veritable warehouse of the past, of happier times.

Karl sees a large wooden box, and slowly removes it from the shelf.

It is a box fastened with golden pins, with a picture of a man chasing a deer on its lid.

Karl slowly opens the lid, it creaks eerily.

Inside the box is a smaller one, with a key beside it.

Karl lays the box on a dusty old table nearby.

Then he opens the inner box with the key.

Sanjaro places the book inside, locks the inner box, then takes the key and puts it in his pocket.

The two of them nod to each other. It is a job well done enough.

EXT. ISLAND OF TIME DAY Judge Wendy and Cu Laig watch from the Island, under the tree of time, this fateful proceeding of events.

JUDGE WENDY Deus' name, Cu Laig, do you think that my brother and Sanjaro can still change things.

Cu Laig walks over to the tree.

He points to an ant who is climbing on the branches.

Pointing to the many branches as he does so, Cu Laig starts his explanation.

CU LAIG See here, this is an ant, like Karl, like Sanjaro, we do not call this the Tree Of Time for nothing. Like time, it cannot be reversed except by means outside of our principles. However, at each point in time there is a branch, and the branch will have more sub-branches, and the sub-branches more sub-branches. Where the ant ends up is entirely up to itself.

The ant is seen crawling onto one branch going off into two sub-branches.

It takes the left sub-branch.

Five more sub-branches are up ahead, but one of them seems inevitable.

CU LAIG Now it may seem that the fact that your ant may crawl onto the biggest sub-branch is inevitable. Fortunately, it isn't.

The ant crawls onto one of the smaller sub-branches.

CU LAIG See? Such things are never predictable. Thousands of seen factors, millions of unseen factors all contribute to the final outcome. So who is to say that your brother and Sanjaro are...

JUDGE WENDY I understand, but Deus, He's...

CU LAIG Deus knows everything. He knows that Sanjaro is one of the rarest and most precious one of us.

JUDGE WENDY No I CAN'T STAND IT ANY LONGER, I JUST CANNOT STAND IT ANY LONGER! NOOOOOO!

Judge Wendy jumps into the water on the SEAS OF TIME, crying as she does so.

CU LAIG No, Wendy, you must be clear, you must be very clear about the consequences of what you are doing! But Wendy does not listen and has already gone on to swim into the seas of time. She does not want to fly, she is too sad to do it.

EXT. GUILLAUMET CITY-RECRUIT CENTRE DAY Guillaumet City is a wondrous place, homebase of the Eyrie, responsible for the protection of millions of worlds, the Eyrie members fly through the air, walk on the many-tiered skyways and engage in the affairs of life on the streets.

Patrols of Eyrie members return from the worlds they have been assigned to protect through great portals.

Into this place runs Judge Wendy.

JUDGE WENDY I must find Hizako!

She runs through the streets, crying out loud for Hizako.

The passers-by turn to look at her, some of them fly off from their leisurely stroll and into the air.

There we see a young woman, Asiatic-looking, looking down from one of the skyways that adorn the great city.

JUDGE WENDY HIZAKO!

Hizako is startled.

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE NIGHT Karl and Sanjaro are walking silently through the passages.

They are cautious tonight, their trust in Lord Dennis has been completely destroyed.

They hear conversation from one of the rooms, the voices are off-camera.

One of the voices is GRYFYD.

GRYFYD (o/c) Those two new bozos do not know a thing about what's happening. Heh Heh.

LORD DENNIS (o/c) One of these days they are going to make you and I pay. I tell you I can see it coming right now even as we speak.

Sanjaro and Karl approach the room where the conversation is coming from.

It is a room with a large shut door.

As the two of them approached the place no one seems to notice them.

INT. ROOM NIGHT Lord Dennis and Gryfyd are sitting at a table.

Both of them are drinking beer.

Lord Dennis, long hair covering half his face, looks like a convict who hasn't shaved in years and who is going a little mad.

Gryfyd looks like a grotesque old mad biker, his eyes glinting in the candlelight and his long, unruly white beard to match his scruffy jacket.

In the background the door looms, it opens slightly, and an eye peeks through. No doubt it is Sanjaro's.

GRYFYD You know, Lord Dennis, jolly well that only you and I have the protection against the Dark One.

LORD DENNIS Yes, I do.

GRYFYD And because of that the Dark One is no match for us in spite of all his power, for he cannot hurt us at all. It was not my decision that Sanjaro and Karl be kept secret from the big scheme of things, it was just Deus's.

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE-OUTSIDE ROOM NIGHT Sanjaro is shocked.

SANJARO Deus actually planned every...

KARL Shh! There's more!

INT. ROOM NIGHT Gryfyd takes a big sip of beer.

GRYFYD Ya see, that Deus is a smart dude who's got everything figured out. He does not wish to tell me what it is, for fear it will spoil the Great Chain of Things, but you bet we've got a reason to hide somethin' from them.

LORD DENNIS Whoever that Deus thinks he is he better know what he's doing, what is coming to us is no small conflict, it's a...

GRYFYD Hush! The walls have ears!

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE-OUTSIDE ROOM NIGHT Outside the room, Karl and Sanjaro realize something is on to them.

SANJARO He knows!

KARL Yes, we better leave or else.

The two of them run off as quietly as they can.

Once they have left, the noise of a raven is heard.

In the rafters the Raven is seen, its eyes glowing red like embers, sinister and evil-looking.

The Raven flies into the room where Gryfyd and Lord Dennis were talking.

EXT. GUILLAUMET CITY DAY Judge Wendy rushes up and gives Hizako a big hug.

JUDGE WENDY Hizako! Sanjaro's in grave danger!

The surrounding members of the Eyrie turn to look at them.

Judge Wendy turns to all those surrounding her.

JUDGE WENDY You see, there is something that is being hidden from all of you! It's regarding Sanjaro, Karl and all those who have been exiled!

The Eyrie members around her are startled, they start whispering among themselves.

JUDGE WENDY Deus has kept this from all of us except I, the thing is...

At this moment Cu Laig runs up to Wendy.

CU LAIG No! You must not do this! Spreading this news further will be a violation of the very secrecy of things!

JUDGE WENDY I do not care! I am telling all of you now, that the exiles are all sent to not redemption, but a fate worse than any of you can imagine, a fate as BAIT FOR ECHELON FATE, THE DARK ONE! The whole thing is a set-up rigged by Deus! Most of you never see them again because the Dark One has got their souls and imprisoned them!

There is a great uproar.

One Templar of the Eyrie speaks up.

TEMPLAR No, Deus would never do that!

JUDGE WENDY He has done it, and as the Judge of the Eyrie only I know about it, but now I have to take action against DEUS HIMSELF!

The rest of the Eyrie are startled.

A Dragoon of the Eyrie is more than eager to speak up.

DRAGOON It's time we get Deus for what he's doing to us!

Every single member of the Eyrie raises his/her fist in unison.

JUDGE WENDY Then it's time we head for the Holy of Holies itself----- THE MONOLITH OF DEUS!

Judge Wendy points to a large structure rising into the air, living up to its name as the Monolith of Deus.

The members of the Eyrie take off from their respective positions.

They have gathered in a swarm and are flying towards the Monolith, almost blocking out the sun.

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE--- MEETING ROOM DAY This is the room where all the members of the Eyrie who are serving Lord Dennis are gathered.

Sanjaro and Karl are present, but they are both suspicious.

SANJARO Man, you think they're gonna...

KARL I dunno, but keep quiet for now.

Lord Dennis begins addressing them.

LORD DENNIS I have great news for all of you, after all this time, we have finally completed the great city of NEO VENICE.

The brick wall at the end of the room lifts up to reveal a panoramic shot of Neo Venice.

LORD DENNIS This is the masterplan you have all been working for.

A round of applause arises.

Gryfyd notices the looks on the faces of Sanjaro and Karl.

GRYFYD Hey, why so glum, fellas?

Sanjaro ignores Gryfyd.

Gryfyd's tone turns mocking.

GRYFYD Hey, why so moody?

SANJARO Shut up!

LORD DENNIS The meeting is dismissed.

The other members of the Eyrie walk out of the room hurriedly as though they know something Sanjaro does not.

Lord Dennis and Gryfyd now face Sanjaro and Karl.

LORD DENNIS Tell me now, what exactly is the matter troubling you?

SANJARO Well, if you had someone you loved so much you thought she was the most important part of your life, and then one day she died. Then one day, if someone told you she was still alive, what would you do?

Lord Dennis seems to know what Sanjaro is hinting at, he attempts to drive the question away.

LORD DENNIS What are you hinting at? Once the person is dead, she's dead, how can she be possibly brought back to life? This is absurd...

Sanjaro bolts straight up and begins confronting Lord Dennis.

SANJARO You heartless beast! All that loving father-figure thing is a big fat lying ugly fraud! You chased your daughter away from your home because she fell in love with someone you didn't like. So you never wanted to see her again! What can be more important than kinship among Humans? What can be a greater joy in a father's life than his own children? To think that now you let your daughter wander in vain of ever seeing you again, once the man she looked up to, once the person who determined her outlook and strengthened her, the person who was a role model, a savior and a guardian to her...you BEAST! HOW COULD YOU BE SO DESPICABLE, HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO YOUR OWN FLESH AND BLOOD!!!?

LORD DENNIS WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! SHE'S DEAD ALREADY.

SANJARO No, and beware, I know what you have done, what kind of parent are you, are your children so worthless?

LORD DENNIS Silence! This is preposterous!

SANJARO No, I am not finished with you yet! Beware1

KARL Let's go, Sanjaro.

GRYFYD Sanjaro! This is no way to behave, wait till I let Deus hear about this!

Sanjaro laughs, and then, flying out of the window, he is gone.

After they leave, Lord Dennis and Gryfyd are facing each other.

Lord Dennis looks angrily at Gryfyd.

LORD DENNIS Gryfyd, what have I done now?

GRYFYD Not to worry, I have more than two eyes, some of those eyes move about a lot!

Gryfyd smiles and then raises his arm forward.

His hand transforms into a night-black raven.

As soon as the raven becomes detached from him, his hand goes back to normal.

Gryfyd smiles at the raven, now flapping its wings before him.

GRYFYD (to the raven) Now go!

The raven flies off with a sinister caw.

GRYFYD If things get worse, there's always the fact that I can report him missing or killed in action, that'd be way better for me.

Gryfyd sneers at Lord Dennis.

LORD DENNIS I will not have any part in this, Gryfyd.

GRYFYD Too bad. Now let's just hope that I will be the one credited with destroying Echelon Fate single-handedly.

LORD DENNIS I think you'd rather work for Echelon Fate than destroy him. Look at all the power he wields, look at what power he could give you if you worked for him, look at how much more power that would be than given to you by Deus.

Gryfyd is furious.

GRYFYD Whaddya mean?

LORD DENNIS Power is what you want, isn't it? Power you will get. Power so great it will devastate you completely.

Gryfyd just glares back angrily at Lord Dennis.

EXT. STREETS DAY Sanjaro walks along the crowd, in his breezelike manner as usual.

He looks around at the despair-filled city.

The place doesn't seem to affect him as much as it used to, hence he is not that upset now.

Some distance ahead of him is an old building.

Above the door this sign is seen.

JUNICHIRO'S WOMEN'S KICKBOXING ACADEMY

Sanjaro looks through one of the windows.

He sees a class of young women practising, hitting men with padded cushions all over them.

Sanjaro is laughing through the window.

Then the trainer, a short Japanese man, claps his hands.

TRAINER Okay girls, I was supposed to have closed thirty minutes ago, if you don't mind.

One of the young women is Melanie.

She teases the Trainer.

MELANIE Look, I'm still waiting to kick some butt here.

TRAINER Not mine, please.

But Melanie delivers a kick at the Trainer anyway.

The trainer dodges the kick.

TRAINER Good, but not good enough!

The trainer and Melanie hi-five each other.

Then Melanie leaves.

Sanjaro smiles at Melanie.

There are almost tears coming out of his eyes.

As Melanie walks out of the academy, Sanjaro follows her.

As Sanjaro walks through the crowd, he feels someone tap him on the shoulder.

He turns around, it is Karl.

KARL Hey, don't tell me you're.....

SANJARO No way, I have to go out and protect that girl, from her enemies, from her father, from you.

KARL Why me? Why the hostilities?

SANJARO I just want to be alone right now!

Karl turns his back to Sanjaro.

KARL Shucks, I mean, get a grip! Get a grip on yourself!

Karl turns back.

Sanjaro is gone.

KARL When will you listen? I tell you nothing good is going to come out of this!

Karl's voice resonates through the crowd with no one listening.

Unknown to Karl, a shadow already lurks on the street corner.

It is Echelon Fate.

FATE Yes, my destiny is awaiting me. Fate morphs his cloak.

The tentacles from the cloak reach out and creep towards Karl.

Karl does not notice.

Then he feels something crawling up his leg.

He looks down, and finds that Fate is standing not far behind him, and the tentacles are worming up his body.

KARL Gasp! It's you!

Karl shoots his circular blades at Fate.

Fate just laughs, and with a leap and a tug of his tentacles, pulls the two of them into the sky.

FATE Nothing like a fight in the sky between old friends, huh?

KARL What old friend....aaah!

Karl is dragged up into the sky by the black tentacles, which are pulling him closer to Fate.

Karl produces a cutter made of circular blades from his launcher.

He begins work on the tentacle, he cuts one off, but another grows outr, he tries to fight the two of them, but he is on the losing end as the tentacles grow towards him faster than he can cut them.

FATE No one ever escapes the hands of Fate! No one!

The tentacles draw Karl closer and closer to Fate.

Then Fate pulls out his other weapon. It is a long, black, two bladed weapon, with a very sinister look.

FATE But nothing shall give me the pleasure more than killing you myself!

The deadly blade inches closer to Karl's heart.

FATE No, I will not kill you yet, but I shall show you what I also can do, I can also give you an alternative.

Fate unravels his cloak, within the fabric are still living, moving forms.

FATE This is the Devil's Alternative, you will give me your deepest memory, and I shall make you one with my cloak.

KARL So, this is what you get from learning everything in the Arcane Manual?

Fate does not give a direct answer.

FATE Yes, for we are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded off with a sleep.

KARL What's with that phrase, don't give me that crap!

Karl produces two large blades from his launcher, then with great force throws them at Fate.

The blades embed themselves in Fate's chest.

Fate lets out a long scream, then he lets go of Karl.

KARL Not so tough after all, hmm?

Karl flies off, leaving Fate behind.

Fate does not bother to follow.

FATE I must let my wounds heal, meanwhile...

Fate flicks his amorphous cloak.

Out comes Zephyr, now with a horrible look in her eyes.

FATE Zephyr, you are now one with me and my cloak, do as I say, and no harm shall come to you. (Beat) I am wounded right now, tell Lord Dennis that his part of the bargain is finished, and get him for me!

Zephyr nods and leaves.

Fate leaves.

EXT. STREETS DAY Melanie is walking along the streets, then she sees Jim leaning against a bar door.

JIM Melanie! I'm so sorry that I am going to involve you in this...

MELANIE I don't care, Jim, they're on to you?

JIM Yes, they are. They know about the dope money, they really do.

MELANIE Oh Jim, I don't care about the dope but I love you...

The two hug.

Out of the corner of his eye, Sanjaro is watching. He starts pondering.

SANJARO(v/o) That is why Lord Dennis didn't want Melanie to fall for Jim. He could have used his money to cover up the dope case, but it was for all principle that he would not. Perhaps he is not that bad a father after all. Yet the two of them genuinely love each other...but who said the course of true love ever did run smooth?

Sanjaro tries to get closer to them, he appears trying to tell them something, but he just can't do it.

He recalls now : he is invisible to all except to those who choose to see him.

He looks sadly on as the two lovers exchange hugs.

SANJARO It's about time I declare something.

EXT. MONOLITH OF DEUS DAY Thousands of the Eyrie members fly up to the top of the Monolith, where the palace of Deus stands, shining brightly.

INT. PALACE OF DEUS DAY Deus sits on His throne, tall and mighty as ever, in his full robes. But we only see a silhouette of him because in front of him is a wall of bluish vapor-misty substance.

His throne faces the air, from here Guillaumet City appears very far below.

On both sides of the throne are rows and rows of seats, where the Eyrie often meets to discuss matters of the universe.

He looks down and sees thousands of the Eyrie members heading up.

The Eyrie members swarm up and start filling in the seats, like large flocks of wild birds.

Deus remains calm as ever.

He places his palms across each other delicately.

Judge Wendy represents the rest of the Eyrie.

JUDGE WENDY Deus, we have come to discus a matter of grave importance, it's regarding one of your arrangements.

The rest of the Eyrie is not impressed by Wendy's subtlety.

The dragoon from earlier on shouts again.

DRAGOON Yeah, just say it, Deus! You betrayed Sanjaro!

Deus is silent.

Then he speaks up, his voice is still calm, deep and moving.

DEUS Judge Wendy, how many times must I tell you that it is selfishness to defend this case just because your own Brother is in there?

JUDGE WENDY It's not just that, it's about Sanjaro, it's about Echelon Fate as well...

DEUS Are you sure you want me to let out our little secret?

Judge Wendy is at a standstill, she knows she has to but...can she afford the high price it entails?

JUDGE WENDY I...I...

She starts crying.

Hizako shouts. HIZAKO Wendy, let us know, let us know so that Sanjaro may come back to all of us!

DEUS Okay, I will tell you all, but you must be prepared to believe it!

Judge Wendy is holding her breath.

DEUS Sometimes there is more than one continuity, more than one space, more than one plane, in which things move. The Dark One, Echelon Fate, lives in one such alternative continuity, and the key he needs to enter ours is sanjaro.

The entire Eyrie gasps.

DEUS Yes, that is true. The problem is, Echelon Fate's continuity simply exists as a tangent of our own. Now Fate is attempting to collide our continuities together, once that happens, horror on a scale never before seen will happen. Fate wants Sanjaro. Therefore only he can stop himself. If he succeeds Fate will appear never to have existed at all.

DRAGOON That what is he fails, Deus?

DEUS If he fails...Fate will become so powerful the consequences of what he could do with that power will be absolutely unimaginable.

The Eyrie bursts into uproar.

EXT. TRAIN STATION DAY This is a seemingly abandoned train station. The air hangs thick with gloom and mist.

Melanie and Jim run into the Train Station.

MELANIE Quick, find that loose floorboard!

Jim is searching frantically on the ground for it.

Then he comes to a plank which he recognizes and then pulls it up.

JIM Ah, got it!

Under the floorboard is a stash of drug money.

Melanie is smiling, she is very pleased.

Sanjaro appears in the shadows, looking at the two of them.

SANJARO I must let your father see this...

Melanie and Jim are prepared to head off with the drug money when...

>From some dark corners of the train station two lights shine forth.

The figures emerge and reveal to be gangsters clad in leather jackets and wearing gold chains.

GANGSTER#1 Well well Lord Jim, I don't think we'd have caught you, but we finally have.

GANGSTER#2 Yeah, best to turn around and hand us all that money, ya don't know about the boss...

Jim just picks up the bag with the drug money in it and runs out of the station.

The gangsters chase after him, firing their pistols as they do so.

Melanie charges forward and then kicks the gun out of one of their hands.

The gangster throws a punch back but misses. His buddy comes up from behind and with a swift kick of his mighty foot kicks her onto the railway tracks. Where she lies nearly unconscious.

The gangsters then make off.

Sanjaro emerges from the shadows.

He goes down to the track and picks up Melanie, then lays her against one of the pillars in the train station.

He then hurries after Jim, hoping to save Jim as soon as he can.

EXT. STREETS NIGHT Jim runs across the streets full of cars.

He is fast and swift, easing through the gaps of the cars like a needle in the seams of a cloth.

By comparison the gangsters are rather clumsy and cowardly, they don't dare to go forward, and cower in the shadows of the oncoming vehicles.

When Jim has nearly run to the end of the street, he shouts in triumph.

JIM Yes, I made it, I made it for you, Melanie, I made it for you!

Just then Jim does not notice that an oncoming car is on to him.

It is too late when his eyes finally see the two monstrous headlights.

The car knocks him down in a flash.

The driver comes out.

DRIVER Crikey, this is awful...

The driver picks up Jim's body and the bag of money and puts them in his car.

The gangsters have retreated to the other part of the street.

GANGSTER#1 What are we going to tell the Boss?

GANGSTER#2 You want us to go over the other side and end up like him, forget it man, the money is less important than our lives.

Sanjaro looks from above, where he's hovering, he is feeling helpless.

INT. RAILWAY STATION DAY Sanjaro goes back to Melanie.

At this moment Melanie awakes.

MELANIE Jim, Jim, oh my God!

Melanie runs out to the road.

She only sees an ambulance, and Jim is being loaded onto it.

MELANIE Oh God, no, not Jim.

Behind Melanie, Sanjaro watches. He is feeling helpless.

INT. AMBULANCE Melanie sits beside Jim on the ambulance, the paramedics are trying to save Jim as hard as they can.

INT. HOSPITAL---JIM'S WARD DAY A quick look at the OCR reveals that a flat line has been scored for Jim.

Melanie's composure breaks down beside his bed.

She leans against his cold hand, crying.

In the doorway Sanjaro is framed, looking on. He knows what he has to do.

EXT. HOSPITAL---ROOFTOP NIGHT Sanjaro faces the skies above him.

Lightning is seen flashing in the clouds, followed by a soft groan of thunder.

SANJARO Deus, I have decided which side I should choose now.

EXT. MONOLITH OF DEUS DAY Deus watches silently as the image of Sanjaro is projected on the green curtain of flame in front of him.

SANJARO I have decided that I will remain on the Human world forever, and leave the Eyrie behind!

The whole Eyrie lets out an almost simultaneous gasp.

EXT. HOSPITAL---ROOFTOP NIGHT Sanjaro looks up at the sky, tears falling as he does so.

SANJARO I would want to return to the glory where I belong, and serve you, Deus. But there is one woman I have grown to care for unlike anyone else I know, and I wish to care for her forever, till the day she dies. May you grant me the permission to no longer side with the Eyrie, and may I wander the cosmos forever as a lonely soul.

The thunder resounds, like a pitiful, deep groan.

Sanjaro closes his eyes. He knows he has been granted the freedom to leave the Eyrie.

INT. HOSPITAL---WARD NIGHT Melanie leaves Jim, as a nurse finally covers him with his blanket.

Sanjaro is waiting for Melanie in the doorway.

MELANIE Hey, who are you?

Sanjaro is pleased, now out of the Eyrie, Melanie can see him.

However, he still moves a hand across Melanie's face.

Melanie's expression turns to almost that of a trance.

SANJARO Melanie, I know Jim is dead, but there is nothing you can do about it. Now, listen to me. I know you are broken, let me fix you. Come into my arms, because...

Melanie does as she is told by Sanjaro obediently.

Sanjaro kisses her.

The two of them are in a spinning world, a world that only seems to have the two of them in it.

The white hospital background flares to white.

MONTAGE

This entire sequence is drowned out by the background music.

A group of mourners is attending a funeral.

They are wiping their eyes, sobbing and choking.

The priest is making a passionate speech.

DISSOLVE TO: A shootout on the streets, a man, trying to shield his girlfriend from the thugs, is challenging the thugs.

His girlfriend is frightened to the point of crying.

The thugs laugh and simply shoot the man.

He collapses in a pool of blood.

DISSOLVE TO: A hospital bed where an old lady sits, watched over by her sons and daughters.

With her last breath, she says something.

Then she dies.

The electronic readings are recording a flat line.

Her children start moaning and wailing.

DISSOLVE TO: A candle is burning brightly in the darkness.

The candle is snuffed out by a gust of wind.

DISSOLVE TO: A middle-aged man cycling through a park in the fall, the blossoms are descending from the trees most beautifully.

The wheels of the bicycle run over the delicate blossoms, crushing them beyond repair.

The blossoms now form a carpet on the road as the man cycles towards the horizon.

Sanjaro and Melanie are standing in the fall of blossoms, arms outstretched.

INT. HOSPITAL---CORRIDOR NIGHT The corridor, now bathed in a surreal, Spielbergian light, seems empty except for Sanjaro and Melanie.

Sanjaro speaks on voice-over.

SANJARO(v/o) All of a sudden I have seen the nature of life, the eternal cycle that governs the Human world. In its awesome mechanism lay impartiality and justice. All concern dissolved in that one kiss, the passing of things no longer overwhelmed me, and in the present I was happy to stay. I knew that Human life, like all, had its seasons, and there was beauty in each season. Thank you, Deus.

The light bathed the two of them and they disappeared within it.

EXT. STREETS NIGHT Karl is flying, and searching for Sanjaro.

He does not notice, but behind him the raven that Gryfyd has sent is out for him.

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE---MEETING ROOM NIGHT Gryfyd has palm on his temple, he is getting psychic visions from the raven.

GRYFYD Yes, I see it all now, Karl is going to look for Sanjaro to warn him. Run, my little pawn, and very soon, I will have my victory at long last!

Gryfyd laughs.

Lord Dennis remains deadpan.

LORD DENNIS I have learnt a lot about biting off more than I could chew in my life, I hope you will learn about it now.

Gryfyd gnashes his teeth at Lord Dennis.

INT. HOSPITAL---CORRIDOR NIGHT Sanjaro and Melanie are still looking into each other's eyes.

Melanie seems to have forgotten everything.

MELANIE Who are you? Where am I?

SANJARO I have been watching you for some time, and I know you have a father who you have not seen, I am here to put things right, I am here to reunite the two of you.

MELANIE I don't know what you are talking about. I can't remember having a father.

SANJARO Poor girl. Your father is not worthy of such a daughter.

MELANIE But...

Sanjaro just grabs Melanie by her hand and goes near the window.

SANJARO I will show you your father, just close your eyes.

Sanjaro flies out the window, Melanie holding tightly.

EXT. CITY SKYLINE NIGHT Sanjaro, hugging Melanie, looks over towards the horizon.

Somewhere in the clouds we see a bright light.

SANJARO See that light?

MELANIE A wishing star?

SANJARO Not exactly, that light comes from your father's residence, and he has been looking for you for a long time. I know he hated Jim, and he had good reason to...

Melanie starts crying.

She kicks Sanjaro very hard. MELANIE I don't have a father! Stop lying to me!

SANJARO Watch it, you pack a legful!

Just then from all the Eyrie temples all over the city a bright light breaks forth.

A priest stands before each temple, all of them delivering the same announcement at once.

PRIESTS Crime, corruption and despair have filled your city for too long, now it is time that deliverance comes to the worthy, up here !

In the skies, a shining dome is seen piercing through the smog.

The dome lifts to reveal the magnificent city of Neo Venice.

SANJARO This is what your father built.

MELANIE It's beautiful.

Just then Karl shows up.

KARL Fate is headed for Lord Dennis, we must hurry!

MELANIE Fate? Fate is not a person, I do not know what you are talking about!

KARL Believe me, you wouldn't know until after a while.

SANJARO I don't give a damn about him, but I must show him his daughter, alive and well. That is what matters. Come on, let's head for Neo Venice! They fly off, behind them the raven follows.

EXT. NEO VENICE NIGHT On a tall tower above the domed city stands Lord Dennis.

He is smiling as the tired, weary inhabitants chosen enter the dome of Neo Venice.

Beside him is Gryfyd.

Gryfyd has a finger to his temple again.

GRYFYD They're coming, and they have a girl with them. Looks like your daughter. They're in the elevator boxes even as we speak.

LORD DENNIS Oh no, they found out.

GRYFYD Not to worry, they'll all find out and then ZAMM! They won't even have the time to regret it.

LORD DENNIS I am sure you hope you know what you are doing, because you have gone off too far!

GRYFYD Then who's going to stop me, a pathetic old man like you? I don't think so. You're weak, LORD Dennis, weak. Pick up the guts to stop me, can you? I don't think you even remember where you placed your guts.

LORD DENNIS I have had enough, Gryfyd.

GRYFYD Have you, hmm? Well, you shouldn't have agreed to let me come here in the first place and proceed with my plan for Neo Venice. See what I mean?

Lord Dennis grits his teeth in pain and sheds a tear.

INT. NEO VENICE---ELEVATOR BOXES NIGHT The elevator is a large rectangular one with a glass panel on one side, and forty to fifty people crammed within it.

Around ten or so of these elevators are moving up and down.

In one of the boxes Melanie, Karl and Sanjaro are leaning against the window.

MELANIE My father built all this, wow, he must see the entire city every night from here.

SANJARO Yes, and I can bet he misses you a whole lot after all these years.

The elevator rises higher and higher, rushing through a layer of low clouds as it does so.

Sanjaro whispers in Karl's ear.

SANJARO And as soon as we get to Lord Dennis, we confront him.

Karl nods and looks ahead.

At this moment something glows green, evilly so, from within Sanjaro's robes.

It is the Arcane Manual he has hidden in his robes to study for himself. The green glow dies, but Sanjaro's head starts hurting.

SANJARO Aah!

KARL What happened?

SANJARO I have no idea, something just awful entered my head.

KARL What's the matter with you, one moment you seem to find serenity in Melanie, the next awful things enter your head, you better get over this soon.

MELANIE I have had my fill of strange things...

Sanjaro nods, but all of a sudden his eyes stare into space.

To him and only to him, an apparition is appearing.

Under his breath, he reads the chilling words.

SANJARO Open...me...and...stop...this...pain...

KARL You got a problem there?

SANJARO Nothing, just...mind your own business.

MELANIE Mind my own business, I've just met folks who claim to be my Guardian Angels and have the powers to prove it and I should mind my own business?

SANJARO and KARL YES.

INT. NEO VENICE DECK NIGHT The elevator stops at the "basement" of Neo Venice.

Two other members of the Eyrie, Eden and Riegella open the doors.

The crowd steps out into Neo Venice.

They are astounded by the beauty of the place, stopping to stare at the wonders that surround them, from the boulevards and waterways to the palace-like buildings, and especially to the tall conical building in the middle of the whole place.

At this moment, Sanjaro sneaks through the crowd and leaves.

Karl and Melanie, who have been trying to find Lord Dennis, do not notice. Soon they realise that Sanjaro is gone.

KARL Hey where did he...

MELANIE What now?

INT. NEO VENICE---HOUSE NIGHT Sanjaro hides behind the door and takes out the Arcane Manual he has hidden within his robes.

He opens the book and starts reading.

On the first page these words appear;

YOUR BIGGEST TRAITORS IN YOUR LIFE MUST PAY THEIR OWN.

Then this name appears below; GRYFYD AND LORD DENNIS.

SANJARO Gryfyd has been betraying me? Come on, don't expect me to believe...

The page turns clear by magic, and Sanjaro sees Gryfyd talking, his eyes glowing with sly malice.

GRYFYD See, only Lord Dennis and I have two halves of a medallion needed to counter the Dark One's power. All members of the Eyrie under us will be free from harm, save Sanjaro and Karl. Who I have chosen to sacrifice to Echelon Fate, while nabbing Fate all by myself. (Laughs) See, I have converted the entire city of Neo Venice into a powerful converter...

The background music swells as Sanjaro sees Gryfyd relate his plans. His eyes grow wide with horror. This Gryfyd is one heartless fellow, and Lord Dennis, the willing accomplice.

He closes the book, hides it in his robes again and heads out of the door.

His eyes seem to blaze now with the very same green flames that appeared along with Echelon Fate.

As he runs out, we hear him speak.

SANJARO(to himself) I'm coming for your blood first, Lord Dennis!

EXT. MONOLITH OF DEUS DAY The Eyrie looks on in horror.

JUDGE WENDY He's slowly transforming into something ...evil.

DEUS I know.

JUDGE WENDY How can we not do anything about it?

DEUS We can have faith that Sanjaro will have the wisdom to do what is right for himself. Only with Faith then can we expect a miracle.

Judge Wendy is in tears by now.

JUDGE WENDY I have my Faith in you, can I expect a miracle?

The entire Eyrie goes into commotion.

DEUS You must all have our Faiths united into one, and directed at Sanjaro himself. I am already fighting alongside him, as I fight alongside all of you, now you must all fight alongside Sanjaro.

EXT. NEO VENICE---SQUARE NIGHT The many people are already gathered in the square, which is below the balcony from which Lord Dennis gazes down.

Among them are Melanie and Karl.

MELANIE What are we waiting for?

KARL Your father to appear. (to himself) Where's Sanjaro?

He turns around only to find Sanjaro behind him.

KARL Hey where have you...

Sanjaro glares at Karl with his now slightly evil eyes.

SANJARO Do not ask about anything, okay? I am going to get Lord Dennis later on, he has betrayed all of us. KARL Betray? Like...

SANJARO You do not want to know now.

At this moment Lord Dennis appears on the balcony. He is smiling as he addresses the cheering crowd.

LORD DENNIS Welcome all of you to a new era. Leaving behind your pointless existences to join us is indeed a wise choice. I have once promised you salvation, and now you shall have it...

SANJARO NOW!

Sanjaro and Karl fly up to confront Lord Dennis, Melanie being carried by the two of them.

Lord Dennis is prepared, but he pretends to be astounded.

SANJARO Well, this Lord Dennis who tries to save all of you, is in fact, nothing more than a liar who abandoned his own daughter! You may think that she falling for Jim was the wrong thing to do, and I understand how badly you felt, but please, forgive yourself...

Sanjaro hands Melanie over to Lord Dennis.

The crowd below gasps.

Sanjaro continues, his tone becoming more and more sinister.

SANJARO I said forgive yourself, because I cannot forgive you!

Sanjaro whips out his spear-sword and threatens to kill Lord Dennis with it.

LORD DENNIS Crimson! Jude ! Arcturus! Attack!

The three spring out of nowhere, confronting Karl and Sanjaro for an aerial battle.

Crimson is waving her red blade about.

Arcturus is an Eyrie dragoon, his weapon is what looks like a sword except in its place for the blade is a large energy crystal in a curved arc, with a very sharp edge, cuts like a sharp knife and burns the skin as well.

Jude seems rather slender, but with a flick of the wrist he is revealed to have hands that transform into sharp energy crystal blades.

SANJARO Karl, take care of Melanie for me and handle Jude! I will handle Crimson and Arcturus!

The crowd disperses in terror as the aerial fight begins.

However, they run into the crowd control team of Eden and Riegella.

Eden may look like a child, but with a psychic pulse he sends the crowd tumbling to the ground.

Riegella, then weaves an invisible forcefield out of thin air and envelopes the crowd within it.

As the aerial fight goes on, with Karl and Sanjaro handling both sides equally well. Sanjaro much better, considering that he is sandwiched between two opponents. Sanjaro is dodging both with equal agility and attacking the two of them with equal ferocity.

A new combatant joins the crowd. It is Zephyr, who has finally decided to show up.

Lord Dennis knows Fate has come.

LORD DENNIS Zephyr, tell Fate that he will not take away what is mine!

ZEPHYR You have failed your part of the bargain, Lord Dennis. Now it is time you pay for it.

LORD DENNIS Never!

Zephyr directs a gust from her "whip of wind" at Lord Dennis.

The gust knocks Lord Dennis off his feet and sends him crashing to the ground.

LORD DENNIS Karl, bring me my daughter!

Karl flies to Lord Dennis and hands Melanie to him.

Lord Dennis hugs Melanie.

LORD DENNIS Now now, everything's gonna be alright.

Lord Dennis and Melanie head off into the tower.

The tide of battle has turned. Now Jude, Crimson, Arcturus, Sanjaro and Karl are all facing Zephyr.

On the ground, Eden and Riegella are doing back up.

However, at this point Fate bursts through the dome above Neo Venice.

FATE I have come!

Fate gives a whirl of his cape.

The cape spits out Rorgo, Snapdragon and Radek.

Fate appears outnumbered now.

Karl, biting his teeth, addresses the rest.

KARL Fate, so what brings you here?

Fate does not answer yet.

INT. CENTRAL TOWER---CONTROL ROOM This is a control room hidden somewhere under the Central Tower, resembling Christof's control room in "The Truman Show".

Gryfyd is watching the action from here, on the monitor a wiregrid diagram of the central tower of Neo Venice is seen, slowly filling in red.

When the tower fills with red completely, Gryfyd turns a large knob he has in front of him.

The tower starts glowing.

EXT. NEO VENICE NIGHT The forcefield Riegella has woven over the people disappears.

The people heave a sigh of relief, just then, the people start running about and screaming.

Mysteriously, they fade out and vanish as their souls are conducted to the central tower!

FATE Lord Dennis has failed to keep his part of the promise.

Karl and Sanjaro are astonished at the sight. Sanjaro shakes his head, well knowing what is happening.

As the souls are conducted to the central tower the dome of Neo Venice closes, forming an impenetrable shield.

At this moment, a figure appears at the top of the central tower. It is Gryfyd.

GRYFYD You see, this was my plan all along. I have turned this place into a gigantic thought converter, those people you saw were just memories, plain memories.

Sanjaro continues.

SANJARO Memories shared by Lord Dennis and Fate, who have been in cahoots all along, they built the whole city together! Until Gryfyd co-conspired with Lord Dennis to build this city as a trap for Fate, so that Gryfyd can destroy Fate himself!

FATE This whole place is just my dream, and all of you are within it! For we are such stuff as dreams are made of, and our little life is rounded off with a sleep!

KARL So that's why I've been hearing that phrase every so often here! I WAS getting sick of it!

FATE It is too late, it was too late since Deus sent you here! You know what has happened, DEUS HAS GIVEN UP ON ALL OF YOU! That's what's happened! You see, this has been His equivalent of Death Row, all along!

GRYFYD Not if I can help it, I built this thing to trap you, clever ain't it, trapping you by destroying the very thing you feed on and converting it into a force field, and you have no idea of how much I have been working on my ol' transformations.

At this point Gryfyd's arms turn to black stumps that seem to be alive.

They are alive, and they are hundreds of black ravens which feed on life energy.

The ravens rush headlong toward Fate.

For a while, Fate is blanketed in ravens, then with a foosh! The ravens all fall to the ground as corpses.

FATE I see you have been practicing. The last time this trick was tried on me it was a little bit harder.

Gryfyd is unwilling to lose, his teeth gnash as he seethes with even more anger.

FATE Now it is time for the final battle to begin, and let it begin with fanfare, my style!

Fate raises his hand in a gesture, and all of a sudden, gigantic green balls of the very same evil energy that his cloak is glowing with fall from the dome, materializing almost as though out of nowhere!

The blazing balls fall like great evil comets, destroying some structures in the process.

In the middle of this cascade the battle begins...

The two sides head toward each other, even though Gryfyd's forces outnumber that of Fate that is not stopping them from heading toward each other with equal fervid conviction.

The two sides are about to collide when Sanjaro does not one, but TWO completely unexpected things.

First he delivers a long-range attack with his spear-sword at Crimson, who is bolted out of her course.

Gryfyd's side dissolves into confusion as they try to get Sanjaro for his traitorous act.

Fate's side is astonished, and they also go after Sanjaro who has taken a mega-leap into the air.

Sanjaro then delivers another long-range blow at Fate himself from his high altitude.

Fate is knocked off his feet by the forcefulness of his attack. In his voice there is a new admiration of his foe.

FATE Call a truce, Gryfyd, GET HIM!

Both sides now head up to get Sanjaro, who, laughing insanely, has taken a huge somersault through the air and disappeared into the darkness.

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE---CORRIDOR NIGHT Sanjaro crashes through the skylight in the corridor.

He runs forward, brandishing his spear-sword furiously.

His eyes are glowing from deep within even more than before.

He knocks over a suit of armor on the way.

As he continues, he pushes over a large candlestick holder, which then burns a tapestry on the wall.

Then as he runs along towards the end of the corridor he kicks open the barricaded door and rushes into another room.

INT. LORD DENNIS' CASTLE---THRONE ROOM NIGHT The room Sanjaro opens is the throne room of Lord Dennis.

Odd shafts of light from above light the place, so do shafts from the left and right.

A shaft of light is shining down on Lord Dennis, but yet his cheeks are still in the dark, the part of his face that is lit is in the shape of an elongated skull.

To his side stands Melanie, who is relatively in darkness.

SANJARO Okay now, Lord Dennis, prepare to face my wrath. Lord Dennis is remarkably silent, and between the three of them in the room now, only the hiss of the wind is heard.

LORD DENNIS Be calm, there is nothing to be mad about once you see it all clear.

Lord Dennis gestures, Melanie walks forward, she is very pale now, almost ghostlike.

Sanjaro steps back, he is stunned.

SANJARO W...what happened?

LORD DENNIS You see, she is like most of what you have seen so far, an illusion, part of a dream. Part of the dream in which I live, and in which Fate reigns. You see, once Melanie was real too, a daughter to me, then...

Lord Dennis starts getting angry.

The image of Melanie starts fading even more, becoming more and more transparent.

LORD DENNIS (cont.) Then she fell in love with this boy named Jim, from the wrong side of the tracks, I never allowed her to do so...

SANJARO I know already.

LORD DENNIS (cont.) I warned her that if she went out with Jim ever again, I would disown her, then one day she said to me, Father, go ahead, for I love Jim more than I will ever love you. So I said, FINE, you may leave, and may you never be allowed to return ever again! (Beat) Then later I heard that Jim died when members of a powerful drug-dealing gang pursued him. Fine with me, but then my daughter also disappeared with him. No one knew where she had gone, no one ever will. Then the loneliness began. I craved her presence, but she would never ever return. I met Fate one chill winter's day in the world where I came from, this extraordinary creature, Fate offered me all the peace of mind I could desire in his dream. And hence I let myself and all that belonged to me into his dream, Fate used his dream as a storehouse of memories, the very thing he feeds on. I could join my memories with his, and look down on what was once the world I lived in, the world of despair and merciless time, but in this dream exist in it as a God. Until Gryfyd, you and all the others came along and then I realized Fate was a monster, I decided to back you up in secret, now look at what has happened.

Lord Dennis looks at Melanie.

LORD DENNIS (to Sanjaro) Touch her if you can.

Sanjaro reaches out with his hand and closes his eyes in agony as he sees his hand goes right through her.

She starts dissolving in front of him, her body growing more transparent until it becomes a white outline, then the white outline transforms into thousands of little snowflakes.

The snowflakes fall all over the room, Lord Dennis looks at them and mutters.

LORD DENNIS One chill winter's day...I met Fate one chill winter's day...

Sanjaro grabs Lord Dennis' lapels and lifts him into the air violently, Lord Dennis puts up no fight.

Without a word Sanjaro slams Lord Dennis' body on the ground.

Sanjaro then sees, under Lord Dennis' long cloak, the medallion.

He pounces on top of the man and grabs hold of the medallion.

SANJARO Give me the medallion!

LORD DENNIS The medallion is what has protected me against the darkness surrounding my soul for so long, if I give it to you, I will let the darkness in and it will destroy me finally.

Sanjaro starts strangling Lord Dennis.

SANJARO I said give me the medallion or else...

Lord Dennis is wheezing, he can't say anything or do anything because his hands can't move.

Just then a whizzing sound is heard from behind.

Sanjaro stands up, and without turning back, knocks two tiny circular blades out of their paths.

The blades embed themselves in the walls.

SANJARO Karl, I could hear you.

Sanjaro turns back to face Karl.

KARL Let him go, you're turning into a monster.

Sanjaro attacks Karl with a mighty hack.

The two have a thrust and parry fight.

Karl is doing all he can with his two long blades comprised of many tiny circular bladelets, but he losing out fast to Sanjaro.

The tiny circular blades are blocked by Sanjaro's spear-sword at every turn, however, Karl is not as lucky.

One swipe of Sanjaro comes within inches of his feet. Another comes within inches of his head.

While dodging another swipe he is knocked off his feet and falls to the ground in a loud crash.

Sanjaro now seeks to deliver the final blow, which is parried by two other hits from Karl.

At this moment other members of the Eyrie burst in through the walls, they are Radek, Rorgo , Zephyr and Snapdragon.

KARL At any other time I'd hate to have seen you people barging in, but now AM I GLAD!

Sanjaro is not afraid of facing all five foes at the same time, lifting Lord Dennis' crumpled form onto his shoulders, he begins fighting all of them.

Zephyr cracks the whip of wind, but Sanjaro gritting his teeth stands remarkably firm.

His feet drag out two tracks in the floor.

Then with a single strike back at Zephyr he just blows her out of sight as she burns up like a sheet of paper, just like what happens to all who have been absorbed by Fate.

KARL Incredible!

Then Rorgo comes up brandishing his club, Sanjaro jumps up and between his legs he clutches Rorgo's neck, then he sends Rorgo on a 360-degree whirl and then finishes it off by driving a blade through Rorgo's heart.

Rorgo starts burning up on the ground.

Sanjaro slowly lifts up the burning body.

Then carrying the burning body, Sanjaro uses it as a shield and a weapon, throwing it upon Radek, who is crushed beneath.

The two bodies start burning together, within a matter of minutes Sanjaro has finished all of Fate's subordinates.

Karl is very frightened by now.

KARL What are you doing?

Then Gryfyd and his other subordinates burst into the room, they are attempting to surround Sanjaro, but they see the bodies that now lie burning on the ground.

They back off.

Gryfyd, who has not seen the bodies, is getting impatient.

GRYFYD C'mon, you cowards, what is wrong with all of you?

Gryfyd cannot believe his eyes as much as the rest, but however he is not going to lose this one.

Immediately he undergoes his ultimate transformation.

He transforms into a giant raven, with feathers like needles and claws like blades, a fearsome creature.

Sanjaro, as expected, is not in the least afraid of this creature.

Gryfyd swoops down on Sanjaro, claws outreached.

Sanjaro boldly takes his spear-sword to Gryfyd's claws, but they feel as though they were made of steel.

Gryfyd attempts piercing Sanjaro's eye with the needle-like feathers, but Sanjaro slices some of the feathers off with a single stroke.

The feathers fall to the ground, striking it like stalactites, the "thud" sound of arrowheads lodging themselves into the target is heard.

Then Sanjaro strikes Gryfyd on his feathery chest, a loud clang is heard as the blade strikes the steely-hard feathers.

Gryfyd is wounded in the attack and falls to the ground unconscious.

Sanjaro lays down the unconscious body of Lord Dennis beside that of Gryfyd.

He removes the medallions from around their necks, in the centre of each medallion is a red crystal.

Then throwing them on the floor, the crushes the medallions underfoot, the crystals on the medallion have cracked by now, rendering the medallions useless.

Sanjaro now looks severely at the rest of the Eyrie.

SANJARO You know now what I can do, serves all of you right for thinking you could hide the fact that Karl and I were to be your pawns in this game to destroy Fate. Now either we pull together to destroy Echelon Fate, or all of us die.

The rest of them listen meekly, only Crimson puts up any resistance.

CRIMSON I've always been as good as you, always BETTER!

Crimson rushes up to fight Sanjaro.

Crimson throws her red blade, it narrowly misses Sanjaro's head, Sanjaro retaliates.

She has no idea to counter Sanjaro's attack as he now goes forward in a series of fast attacks, finally knocking the red blade from Crimson's hand.

Then taking both the red blade as well as his own, he hacks forward and kills Crimson.

KARL What have you become? You monster!

SANJARO Let's all fight together, or I alone shall fight alone.

KARL I have to say this...

SANJARO SAY NOTHING! All of you are at my mercy now!

KARL I just have to say that...we were both in the same boat when we came here and now we're in different boats...and we're going to crash...and someone is going to sink.

SANJARO I don't want to hear that...AAAAAH!

Sanjaro clutches his chest in pain, and falls to the floor.

He cries out in anguish and pain, his eyes wide open, across his chest a green patch is spreading, green and luminous just like the dark magic used by Fate.

Then he stands up, calm as ever.

He lifts up his robe to see what has happened, the Arcane Manual that he has kept hidden under his robe has transformed into a sort of growth on his skin, and it is growing deeper and deeper in.

KARL Oh no, no wonder you've changed, you're...

Sanjaro is silent.

SANJARO I have never felt so...empowered before in my life. Now all of you better follow me and then let me destroy Fate myself! All of you have betrayed me once in the past and I feel that it is time you pay for it, don't you? All you need to do is help me destroy Fate

The rest are silent.

EXT. MONOLITH OF DEUS Judge Wendy knows by now that things have taken a turn for the very worse.

Deus is still silent.

JUDGE WENDY I think we must intervene and stop this now, or else it will be too late.

DEUS NO! Faith counts!

JUDGE WENDY Tell me, how can you remain so passive and sit there when what is happening down there is so terrible?

DEUS He is entitled to this struggle, let me not waste it for him.

The Eyrie waits in silence and watches as Sanjaro approaches his destiny, for better or worse.

INT. NEO VENICE---CENTRAL TOWER---PASSAGES This is a secret passage that has been built beneath the Central Tower of Neo Venice.

Eden is leading the party, followed by Sanjaro, and then Karl and Riegella, the latter two carrying Lord Dennis' and Gryfyd's unconscious bodies.

Gryfyd is now in half-transformed mode, meaning that his body is mostly Human save his hands, which are still two huge, dark wings.

SANJARO Are you sure this is the right place?

EDEN Y...yes.

SANJARO Good, because if I can't count on you don't think you'll be able to count on anybody else when the time comes.

EXT. NEO VENICE---ROOFTOP Fate sits on one of the rooftops, he is watching and waiting for Sanjaro to show up.

He is right now meditating and increasing his power as he does so.

He looks out towards the Central Tower.

It lights up and begins to glow.

FATE Memories, the very things I feed on.

Fate flies over to the tower.

EXT. CENTRAL TOWER Fate lands on the Central Tower with a gentle thud.

In front of him the memories are being emanated from what looks like a large crystal, glowing blue and pink as the memories emanate.

He walks forward to the crystal and slowly tries to lay his hands on it.

Just then on the platform that rose Gryfyd just now, Sanjaro now rises.

Sanjaro appears calm and collected as he speaks to a ravenous-looking Fate.

SANJARO Now, Fate, before you fight me, I will let you feed all you want from this power source, feed all you want, then we shall fight to the finish and see who is the better one among us! Shall we?

Fate looks up mockingly and hungrily at Sanjaro.

FATE Sure, sure, you can bet on it.

Fate lays his hands on the crystal.

All at once a powerful course of energy runs through his body.

He throws his head back and makes a noise a cross between a laugh and a scream.

The energy slowly fills and revitalizes him.

Fate is getting stronger and stronger by the minute...

INT. CENTRAL TOWER---CONTROL ROOM Eden is now at the controls, on the monitor in front of him is the display of the tower as it emanates memories, beside it are these words flashing:

READY TO REVERSE POLARITY

Eden turns the knob in front of him.

The words change to:

POLARITY REVERSED

EXT. CENTRAL TOWER Fate is suddenly thrown back by the powerful reverse, which now drains memory from his body instead of supplying his body with it.

FATE You...you...tricked me! Damn you!

Fate, weakened, tries to pick himself up, Sanjaro is already ready to fight him.

Fate takes up his weapon, which is a long black blade, and then hacks it in Sanjaro's direction.

It is blocked.

The two have a thrust and parry fight but their weapons are moving at lightning-fast speed.

The two fight to the edge of the tower, then Sanjaro cries out.

SANJARO NOW!

Far across Neo Venice, Arcturus gives a mighty wave of his blade which sets part of Neo Venice on fire.

Standing beside him is Zephyr, who gives a mighty crack of her whip, and the fire is sent in all directions.

Before long the fire has spread all over the place.

Sanjaro and Fate are now engaged in battle in a fiery arena where the loser will become subject to being roasted alive in the flames.

The fight goes on, blades crashing at rapid speed and both sides moving extremely fast.

Sanjaro and Fate are almost equal in strength by now, both sides seeming to know each others' moves before they happen. Each thrust and parry nearly becomes a blur.

The fire, meanwhile, is raging all around them, some towers crash to the ground as the flames rage higher and higher.

The two warriors now start trying to give themselves the height advantage in their fights, pushing themselves up while trying to hit the other downwards.

In this aspect, Fate appears to be the stronger as he is the stronger one among the two while Sanjaro is the more agile one.

EXT. CENTRAL TOWER On top of the central tower, Eden, Karl and Riegella watch on.

EDEN Now that the two of them are fighting, we have our chance. It's time we teach the two of them something about acting like complete and utter jerks!

KARL You know, Eden, the fact that you were created with the soul of a young boy but the wisdom and powers of a supernatural being really makes you say some things very nicely.

EDEN Thank you. (Beat) Karl and I will take the front, Riegella, you back us up.

RIEGELLA Okay, whatever you say.

Karl and Eden start attacking Sanjaro and Fate.

Sanjaro grits his teeth, now dodging three things at once, his opponent, Karl's flying blades and psychic attacks from Eden.

Fate is also suffering from these as well, and the two of them start to slow down and lose the edge in their fighting.

Sanjaro angered now, hacks one at Eden, who loses his concentration and is sent falling to the fiery burn below.

KARL That's it! You and I are finished!

Karl then shoots at Sanjaro, who also loses his concentration and is knocked off course.

Sanjaro falls down to another of Neo Venice's buildings, and grabs on to the ledge.

Riegella now comes to back up, using her force field attacks on Sanjaro.

Sanjaro howls in pain. He tries to get himself up onto the ledge again.

SANJARO Stop attacking me! Fate is still out there.

Fate lands on the edge, and delivers a hack at Riegella, knocking her out of the way, she comes back to fight Fate and they have a thrust and parry duel as well.

Riegella shapes her forcefield accordingly to Fate's attack, weaving it into the shape of whatever weapon needed. When Fate delivers a thrust she morphs the field into a shield, and then a sword or lance when she has to deliver a counter-offensive and a pair of psychic tentacles of extraordinary strength when she throws Fate about.

The fight goes on while Sanjaro climbs slowly over the ledge.

Fate's attacks are now becoming too fast for Riegella to morph her force field and the transformations are getting more frantic and fickle.

One transformation of a sword disappears after five seconds.

One pair of psychic tentacles is sliced apart by Fate in two deft strokes.

As the tide slowly turns in Fate's favor once more, Sanjaro hoists himself over the ledge and falls with a thud.

Sanjaro picks himself up. Then he slowly walks to the scene of the fight.

Mustering all his remaining strength up, he delivers a powerful kick to Fate that sends Fate careening off the ledge of the building and down into the flames.

Riegella is surprised.

RIEGELLA I never expected you to do this, I'm so...

At this moment Sanjaro just delivers another strike at Riegella and she collapses dead.

Sanjaro now approaches the ledge of the building.

Below him he sees but a fiery chasm.

Then something burning leaps up from the chasm.

Karl, who has been watching from the side all this while, sees that the thing is Fate.

KARL WATCH OUT!

Fate leaps up and embeds his powerful hands in the side of the building.

His whole body is burning already, the cloak that covers most of his body and even his face is burning away, fast.

He is however, not screaming at all, but climbing up with quiet, fearsome tenacity.

As he clambers over the ledge without much difficulty, the cloak is still burning away from him, and gradually revealing the person underneath.

Sanjaro is taken aback with shock.

The cloak burns away, only to reveal the face under the cloak.

It is a face with both Negro and Asian features on it, it is an old face, with the locks of hair turning white, and the hair shoulder-length and unruly.

One of the eyes has been replaced with a demonic yellow glass eye, and has a scar across it.

The other eye has a black pupil, with a green flame burning within. One entire patch of hair has disappeared from the scalp, and the figure smiles, revealing some crooked teeth.

It is to all its defacement, still recognizably Sanjaro.

Sanjaro steps back horrified.

FATE Coward! Are you too timid to gaze upon the hideousness of your own visage? You see, in my continuity, I am you, after you take the Arcane Manual and decide to use it for your own means, slowly turning to evil! Now, it is too late, for you are about to follow my same path too.

Sanjaro looks down, the growth that the manual has transformed into is spreading.

FATE Yes, see? I thought that I would be nobler and stronger in another dimension, having looked wickedness in the eye for so long. I thought you would be better than I could ever have been, and I came here just to see what you were like, but I was wrong.

Sanjaro collapses to the ground, writhing in pain.

The growth is spreading under his robe, towards his heart.

One of the pupils of his eyes starts turning demonic yellow.

SANJARO Is that why you have been meddling in all this conspiracy so far? Just so you can meet and fight me?

FATE Yes, exactly, and now I will seek a way to end your misery.

Fate grabs Sanjaro's collar, Sanjaro feels his life ebbing away.

FATE This is the option that I should have taken.

At this moment Fate is hit by two of Karl's blades.

He lets out a cry and falls to the ground.

FATE You fool!

Fate picks himself up.

Karl shouts to Sanjaro.

KARL C'mon! Let go of that evil influence in you and let's fight him together!

Sanjaro struggles to pull out the evil growth from his chest.

He winces in pain as he manages, slowly but painfully, to pull out the book from his flesh, the Arcane Manual detaches in the end, and he throws it on the ground.

However, he is already limping, and the scar it has left behind is causing him much pain.

Mustering up his last strength, he walks towards the fight.

Fate readies himself to take on both foes.

Karl attacks from the front, Sanjaro takes it from the back.

Fate moves his weapon equally fast between parrying Karl's blades and Sanjaro's spear-sword.

For a long time the outcome seems unknown, Fate handles both his opponents equally well.

Then he takes a leap up and lands on Karl's shoulders.

Gripping Karl's head between his feet, he squeezes it tighter and tighter.

Karl loses orientation and starts bumbling about. Then Fate does a flip, bringing Karl along with him and flipping Karl head over heels, Karl's body is dashed on the ground.

Sanjaro comes up to fight, and he engages Fate in an aerial duel of both arms and legs, the blades clash, and the legs interlock.

Both combatants grip their teeth, as they get ready to give each other the corkscrew spin.

Fate wins out, and flips Sanjaro around by the leg and sends Sanjaro crashing to the ground.

Sanjaro is badly hurt by now, and he hears Karl, on a thin breath.

KARL The Arcane Manual...it must be destroyed...it's the source of all his special abilities...

Sanjaro nods and runs to get the Manual.

Fate goes after him, now the whole thing has become a weird game of "Monkey", Fate is going after Sanjaro who has the book, and who keeps throwing from one place in the air to another.

Both sides are having a tough enough time catching the book as it is.

MONTAGE: Sanjaro throws the Manual to the far end of Neo Venice.

Fate goes to catch it, he misses narrowly before Sanjaro snatches it away.

Grabbing Sanjaro by the feet, he flings Sanjaro against one of the buildings like one would a giant boomerang.

The Manual is knocked out of Sanjaro's hand, and Fate catches it.

It is snatched away again all too soon. Fate strikes a blow at Sanjaro that knocks Sanjaro off course.

The Manual then falls downwards fast, both combatants rush toward the book, but... SLO-MO: The Manual spins and flips in the air and finally lands in the hands of Fate.

Fate raises the Manual in triumph.

Then on one of the rooftops Gryfyd is seen, Lord Dennis beside him.

GRYFYD Hey, don't get too happy.

Gryfyd transforms into his raven form, swoops down upon Fate, and starts attacking Fate.

Fate drops the manual, and Sanjaro catches it.

Then he starts tearing the pages apart with terrific force.

FATE I AM NOT GOING TO BECOME LIKE YOU, FATE! NEVER!

The scraps fall down and disappear into the wind, vanishing forever.

By now, Fate has driven his black blade into Gryfyd, and Gryfyd is dead.

Fate looks at Sanjaro.

FATE You had to do it, didn't you?

Fate closes his eyes.

A black smog descends on Neo Venice.

Sanjaro looks up, and sees that in the skies above him is the Eyrie, led by Deus.

DEUS Run now, for soon this vision of vanity, this fake utopia, will become nothing more than an illusion.

Sanjaro nods, and then flies up to the rooftop, where he picks Karl up.

SANJARO (with not much confidence) Come on, Karl, we're going home now.

The black smog, starts spreading from behind, the buildings simply vanish as it moves along.

Lord Dennis stands calmly as he sees his utopia, his dream, disappearing. And as the smog engulfs him, he disappears into nothingness.

Sanjaro and Karl struggle against the grasp of the smog, mere inches away, as it destroys all behind them.

EXT. SKYLINE OF CITY NIGHT The smog reaches out from Neo Venice and spreads all over the dream world.

Sanjaro and Karl are revealed to be miniscule dots against the daunting smog.

Then they fly into the camera, and all is dark as the smog swallows the camera too.

FLARE TO WHITE EXT. GUILLAUMET CITY DAY On the coast of sea of time two bodies lie.

They are the bodies of Sanjaro and Karl.

Nearby the two of them stand Cu Laig and Judge Wendy.

Sanjaro wakes up.

SANJARO Where am I? Cu Laig smiles.

JUDGE WENDY You are back on your homeworld again. Come on, I have something to show you.

Cu Laig goes over and wakes Karl up as well.

Karl and Sanjaro stand side by side, not believing one bit that they survived the great ordeal that preceded.

Sanjaro and Karl walk over to Cu Laig's ferry.

Judge Wendy climbs in the ferry as well.

As the ferry sails on the sea of time, slowly the island of Time is revealed, and the shining Guillaumet City in the background, filled with a cheering crowd.

>From a distance, Cu Laig is heard speaking on voice over.

CU LAIG (v/o) At the end of the day the greatest ordeal is just a dream, the greatest journey just a distant memory.

Beside him Sanjaro is heard speaking up.

SANJARO Where do we go from here?

CU LAIG It's not where we go, but how we go there.

Slowly pan around until Cu Laig is seen up close, and speaking into the camera.

CU LAIG As you live, sleep tight, and dream good dreams. And at the end may you awaken to see the light.

The music rises to a crescendo and then all fades to black.

THE END

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