《The End》 Scenes 1-5 1 EXT. FIFTH CITY - STREETS - DAY The avenues and boulevards are not unpopulated, but barren is the right word. There is token greenery here and there to break up the grey and brown, and nobody seems to be interested in going anywhere. The lifeless architecture is almost evocative of a park or communal space in how people are treating it. There is a sense of boredom - and a sense that everyone is comfortable with it. A stream flows lazily through the town. A metal TELEPHONE POLE, twisted out of shape, hangs off the side of a bridge like a crucifix. It is ready to fall, but its cables suspend it above the water. Two children run past it, playing chase. A building is covered in things that only vaguely resemble satellite dishes - they are more spherical, and point towards the ground rather than the empty sky. 2 EXT. HILL OVERLOOKING THE FIFTH CITY - DAY A TOWER looms over the Fifth City, high into the sky. The top is above the clouds, and then beyond that. It is impossible to see the top even from the faraway grassy hills. A dead log lies on its side, the wood open like an eye socket on a dragon''s skull. A boy and a girl are sitting on it, eating a meal together. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. 3 EXT. FIFTH CITY - SQUARE - DAY An old stone fountain is running, worn out of shape. The faces of statues can no longer be discerned. A man is washing his hair in the water. 4 EXT. FIFTH CITY - STREETS - DAY A piece of the TELEPHONE POLE falls into the water. The Fifth Tower is visible here too, of course. 5 EXT. FIFTH CITY - SQUARE - DAY A digital CLOCK is counting down the years, months, days, and so on. It crosses the five-day mark. Digital billboards light up, reading in stark plain text: "FIVE DAYS TO GO" The text lingers, and then changes. "DO NOT COMMIT SUICIDE" Everyone seems to ignore the notices. They are more focused on each other. The Tower, like a sundial, casts a shadow over the clock. Scenes 6-10 6 INT. FIFTH CITY - MARKETPLACE - DAY Stands selling fabric, foods, and other goods line an arcade, sunlight framing the scene through a glass roof. The CROWD is almost eerily quiet for a place of active commerce, barely more than murmuring as they go about their transactions. Amongst these is PILATE (32), a gangly dark-haired man whose face is peppered with stubble. He has a ukulele in his hands, and there are glasses on his face: the lenses are scratched quite severely, and he looks over them more than through them. He stands out as unkempt and dusty amid the cleaner, tidier patrons, and a beaten old ukulele is in his hands. He strums, adding some simple and subdued music to the scene as he walks down the arcade. A GUNSHOT echoes through the marketplace, freezing the patrons in shock. He stops playing. MARIA (28) - a tall, imposing lion of a woman visibly possessed of nobility and untamed will, like a modern Hercules - stands with her right hand in her pocket and her left hand with a SHOTGUN. The PILLAR besides her is marked with damage from her gun. She slowly lowers her left arm. The crowd is silent. MARIA Glad we''re on the same page. She snaps her fingers. Pilate sighs, and resumes his song. The energy and spirit that had been interrupted returns. Bubbles of human interaction break up into foam as masked figures produce various FIREARMS. Their clothes are not particularly distinct from those around them in terms of style, but they are more colourful, and their demeanours fit the lively tone of Pilate''s song: parlour tricks, sleight of hand, and throwing various items to each other from the stands. The gaggle of THIEVES openly snatch up a huge roll of CARPET, fruits and vegetables, boxes of tobacco, et cetera. Rather than a hold-up or a raid, it feels almost like a street performance as they steal in time with the song and with a tremendous degree of audacity - a flash mob stealing the entire market is a spectacle to behold. Among the thieves is JOSEPH (22), a somewhat scrawny and underbuilt lad evocative of an aged-up Oliver Twist. He fails to catch a CRATE of fruit. He stumbles and falls on his backside. The crate strikes the ground, splitting in half, spilling its concrete on the pavement. A LIME rolls to the feet of a young girl, who picks it up. Joseph hauls himself to his feet sheepishly as the girl offers it out to him. JOSEPH Thanks. But with his error, the spell is broken around him. A stall owner looms behind him, raising a WOODEN STOOL to strike him. Joseph turns just in time to see it swinging down toward his eyes. It doesn''t make it. Maria holds her shotgun out to parry the stool, defending him. Lodging the gun between the legs, she deftly tears it from his grip and flings it high into the air. In that brief moment, she takes stock. The people around them have caught on that something is wrong, and are far beyond the point of playing this off - they seem to be debating whether or not to step in. The balance now is between riot and panic. Maria chooses panic, squeezing the trigger to shatter the stool as it starts to fall again. Screaming breaks out, patrons begin to flee. PILATE (grumbling) Two and a half minutes, she says. The thieves manage to blend into the crowd for their escape, Pilate included. Maria lowers her gun and turns to face Joseph. JOSEPH Sorry, boss. The height difference between the two is very apparent as she towers over him, staring with no expression on her face. She knows she doesn''t need to show him what she''s thinking. 7 EXT. HILL OVERLOOKING THE FIFTH CITY - DAY The thieves have reconvened. They are quite clearly far fewer in number than they originally appeared in the marketplace. The carpet is spread across the grass. Stolen food and drink are laid out, and the gang all sit themselves down. Pilate crosses his legs and plucks at his ukulele as he tunes it. A smattering of congratulations on a job well done are exchanged, and around half a dozen of them toast with bottled water. One of them is PETER (29), a stocky masculine man whom the ragged appearance of the slums rather becomes. PETER (to the others) Hey, watch this, watch this. (to Pilate) Pilate! What the hell are toasts even for, anyway? PILATE Poison. You exchange the liquid so that everyone dies. PETER (to the others) See what I mean? This guy knows everything. PILATE I also know that it''s bullshit. There''s no proof that it was ever actually used like that. Peter, judging by his hearty laughter seems to find this deeply amusing. PETER How come you''re not in charge, Pilate? You''re easily the smartest guy here. PILATE We have a perfectly competent leader already. My role is to support her as and when I can. PETER Yeah, I guess you can''t really beat the great and almighty Maria. MARIA (O.S.) Unless you''d like to challenge me for the position, Peter? Maria has arrived behind him, Joseph in tow. Peter almost spits out a mouthful of water. PETER Haha, no way in hell, boss. I was there when you conquered the First City. I''d have better odds squaring up against God. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Maria sits, Joseph taking a seat next to her. Her gaze shifts to the ever-present Tower in the distance. MARIA Maybe, if we can make a better showing than today, you''ll get the chance. PETER (scoffing) C''mon. There''s no way you''re actually gonna try to take that thing on. For what? A laugh? MARIA You''ve told worse jokes. He shrugs in agreement and takes a swig of water. PILATE I think it''s far too late to be thinking about that with just a few days left until the Last Stars arrive, don''t you? PETER I never got the problem you guys have with the Last Stars. I mean, if they end a mediocre world, that''s a good thing, right? What gives? Pilate plucks his strings again and finishes his tuning. PILATE I can''t speak for Maria, but I''ve never been a religious type myself. When the Last Stars come... I''ll make my own decision. JOSEPH I don''t even know what choice there is to make, honestly... The End will make us perfect. You don''t get to choose if that''s true, it just... is. MARIA Just because you''re correct, doesn''t mean you''re right. JOSEPH ...What? Yes. It does. By definition. She says nothing once again, only continuing to look out to the city. The group fade back into what they were doing. Joseph produces the LIME from his pocket, looking at it dejectedly. JOSEPH It''s not even a good fruit. Maria plucks it from his grip and takes a bite out of it through the skin. He looks on in awe and horror. Pilate cringes. MARIA What? I''m not gonna let it be for nothing. JOSEPH How can you even do that with a straight face? PILATE To be fair, I suppose limes taste like shit no matter whether the skin is on or off. MARIA I''ve tasted shit. This tastes like a lime. Joseph remains visibly intimidated by her display, but Pilate''s still-forming music resumes. A faint breeze blows. The gang chats among themselves. Maria, Pilate, and Joseph sit quietly. An uncommon peace dwells in the scene, a perfect image of people who cannot afford to live with regrets. This moment will become a memory for those within it. JOSEPH Maria... MARIA Pack it up. JOSEPH What? Sirens are in the air. Maria gets to her feet, turning to the gang. MARIA Pack it up! They need no further instruction. Peter and the others grab what they can and scatter down the hill in all directions. Joseph scrambles to his feet, eyes darting in a panic. JOSEPH Already? We just got here! Pilate hasn''t moved an inch. PILATE Good grief. They''re not wasting any time today, are they? (to Maria) You seem to be in a decent mood, so can I leave it to you this time? MARIA Today is passable. I''ve got about twelve guys in me. Six if they''re tough. After that, I''m heading home. JOSEPH You''re going to deal with them all by yourself again?! MARIA At some point, you form a routine. Joseph is silent, gritting his teeth in frustration. PILATE Hurry up. Joseph doesn''t stick around to respond, sprinting down the hill to try to keep up with everyone else. Maria leans down, and picks up her SHOTGUN once again. 8 EXT. FIFTH CITY - STREETS - DAY Joseph catches up with Peter and the others, clearly out of breath. He is the only one having this much trouble as they duck into an alleyway. JOSEPH Hold on. He leans against a large diagonal iron HATCH, struggling to even keep himself steady as he leans on it. PETER You ran down a hill, man. JOSEPH Anyone would want to die after doing that! GUNSHOTS. The group falls against the walls, duck behind random objects around the alley for cover. Peter practically tears the hatch open. PETER Alright, get in. JOSEPH What? No way! Those tunnels get hot enough to melt your flesh off your bones! PETER Every hour, on the hour, yeah. So run. More shots. JOSEPH Are you serious?! Despite the protests, Peter shoves him inside. PETER Sorry, runt, but the boss will kill me if I get you in a fight. JOSEPH Wait, stop, the airlocks are...! Peter slams the door, and the floor falls away under Joseph''s feet. 9 EXT. HILL OVERLOOKING THE FIFTH CITY - DAY Somewhere between twenty to thirty armed police officers take positions around Maria. Among them is HEROD (56), a grizzled man with a heavy coat and a cigarette between his lips, along with a peaked cap in a failing attempt to conceal his clearly receding hairline. He takes a long drag on his cigarette, and blows a fairly impressive cloud of smoke. HEROD Just you this time? Rubber bullets aren''t that expensive, you can bring more bodies. MARIA If you''re disappointed, you can always come back again another day, old man. But I''m always willing to take you on one-to-one if you want the exercise. HEROD You''ve got five days to go before The End, you know. Couldn''t you just leave it? MARIA If you''d like to bribe us, officer, we''ll accept a one-time donation of cash or a subscription of three square meals per day. HEROD You think we don''t feed people in jail? MARIA Give me a break. Herod sighs. He takes another drag on his cigarette. HEROD Give her hell, I guess. The officers raise their guns. Maria rushes in, swinging her shotgun like a club. 10 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY Joseph hasn''t fallen yet. He clings to the underside of the hatch by its inner handle. He looks down at the abyss he dangles over. He had been expecting a ladder or something, but the only thing separating him from the black void below is the grip of his fingers on the handle. His legs flail in panic as that grip almost immediately begins to fail him. He slips, falling, and drops several tens of metres into a pool of water. He swims up to the surface, illuminated by the lights on the floor and ceiling of a wide, rhombus-shaped passage a few metres above the water. He wades over to it, climbing up into the passage.The inside is a polished silver, every part akin to a mirror. Joseph hasn''t been here before, and he looks around the almost alien architecture in confusion and awe. The water dripping off his body can''t cling to the surfaces here, even the floor - it behaves more like mercury. There are walkways up above made from some kind of transparent material, and the lights are just bright white lines reflecting off the floor and ceiling. Joseph holds his hand out over the line - it goes dark both above and below, as if the light only exists in the reflection. He shakes his head and gets moving. He doesn''t have time to dwell on this bizarre place. He almost slips on the mirrored floor several times as he runs. A fork in the path comes up after just a few seconds. He slides into an image of his own face as he tries and fails to stop. Identifying the problem, he tears off his wet shoes and socks, and starts running barefoot down the right-hand path. Scenes 11-14 11 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY Also running barefoot down the vents is AETHER (20), a thin girl with silver hair and silver eyes, dressed in a pure white cloak with her skin covered in silver patterns. Looking back over her shoulder for something, she doesn''t look ahead fast enough to stop a collision with Joseph from around the corner, knocking them both to the ground. JOSEPH Ouch. What the... AETHER What a ridiculous person. She immediately stands up, looking herself up and down through the cloak. The silver patterns on her skin are undamaged. AETHER You are aware that you cannot touch the floor here, aren''t you? Please watch where you''re going a little more carefully. We are in a hall of mirrors, so you must be a very special kind of moron if you honestly didn''t notice. True to form, Joseph stares blankly at the odd-looking stranger who just barrelled headlong into him. AETHER Are you listening to me? Are you perhaps hard of hearing? My circuits are extremely delicate, so I would appreciate it if you didn''t sprint at full speed into me, you sprinting oaf. JOSEPH (giving up) I don''t have time! I don''t have time. He moves to run down the way she came. AETHER I wouldn''t do that if I were you. The priests that way have machine guns, so if they see you, you''re as good as dead. This is enough to give him substantial pause, and he looks at her with utter bafflement. JOSEPH Wait, what? AETHER So you deaf, at least. Machine guns. I don''t suppose you have some guns means of dealing with those. JOSEPH Aren''t machine guns a bit much to deal with a petty thief?! AETHER So you''re a petty thief? Yes, I suppose they would be. Fortunately for you, nobody is quite so insane. Not here for you, they''re here for me. JOSEPH What the hell did you do to warrant machine guns?! AETHER Given the outstanding capacity for awareness you''ve demonstrated, I doubt even time to explain why I don''t have time to explain. The lights briefly turn red as a female voice echoes through the vents. ANNOUNCEMENT (V.O.) You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.Heat exhaust will be released in thirty minutes. Please vacate the ventilation system as soon as possible. Repeat. Heat exhaust will be... JOSEPH Okay, then don''t. But you''re also gonna want to get all the way out of here right now, this place is going to be a furnace any second. AETHER It''s not really "any second", is it? It''s thirty minutes. We both have bigger worries. JOSEPH Like what?! AETHER Machine guns. Joseph completely gives up. JOSEPH Come on! He grabs Aether''s cloak, dragging her back down an alternative path. 12 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY Five figures march in perfect step with each other down the tunnels, dressed in full body armour with royal purple adornments and religious iconography. In their hands are the machine guns that Aether promised, but their capes and helmets make them appear more like knights than soldiers. These are the WARPRIESTS, clerics and warriors granted the duty to protect The Faith by force. The priest in the middle wears a crownlike headdress on her helmet, marking her as an authority among the group. Her face, though it cannot be seen through her helmet, could belong to someone aged either 20 or 50. This is SOPHIA, the Defender of the Shrines. She is not armed, and her right gauntlet is marked with faintly glowing violet patterns. 13 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY Joseph and Aether are heading deeper and deeper into the tunnels, and the reflections are beginning to become disconcerting. The images, from their sizes to their angles, are making less and less sense, with only the lines showing where the paths begin and end. JOSEPH This isn''t helping me navigate. What''s going on? AETHER We''re approaching the main body of the Lesser Grand Shrine. The shape of space is deforming. JOSEPH The shape of space? What does that even mean? AETHER You don''t need to worry about it. A circle is still a circle for now, and it''s on scales larger than a human body. But you''re going to want to consider turning around pretty soon if you don''t want to see the inside of your ribcage. Joseph stares blankly at her, lost in her babble. AETHER Don''t look at me. I didn''t build it. JOSEPH I didn''t think it was possible to build something that deforms space. AETHER The Last Stars are the souls of God. They need something to receive them. What, did you think the clergy spent the history of civilisation pissing around? The Tower in the middle of your town isn''t just a massive stick for them to shove up their asses. (beat) It is that, but it isn''t just that. SOPHIA (O.S.) Need I remind you, Fifth Greater? The booming voice echoes through the tunnels. Aether and Joseph freeze, and Aether reflexively shrinks into her cloak. An enormous image of the masked Sophia is bearing down on the two - a reflection, but a terrifying one. SOPHIA Until you serve your function on the day of The End, you are unqualified to speak on the astral mysteries. Such is the fate of those who refuse their education. JOSEPH Who is that? Aether only grasps her cloak tighter. SOPHIA I am here on behalf of the unborn God. Do not interfere. Joseph looks between the two. BEAT. He grabs Aether by the hand-- JOSEPH We''re almost there. --and they run. 14 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY Sophia recoils in frustration from the miniscule reflection she has been seeing on her end, returning the party of four Warpriests. WARPRIEST #1 Your orders, Holiness? SOPHIA I can still sense her. We will continue to pursue. WARPRIEST #2 The other? SOPHIA Assume he is a nihilist. The Warpriests cock their guns. Sophia steps into file, and the party begins to march again. Scenes 15-19 15 EXT. HILL OVERLOOKING THE FIFTH CITY - DAY Maria is standing amidst a scattering of beaten officers, who are lying around. With another swing of her gun, she strikes the back of a man trying to get up, winding him and sending him back to the ground. MARIA I said twelve, but I''ve got some momentum going. Herod remains flanked by two more officers, but none of the three move. An air of frustration is about them. MARIA What, old man? Given up? Herod ignores her, talking into his RADIO. HEROD Second wing, regroup at point. It gives a rambunctious response. PETER (V.O.) Oh, my bad! Guess you needed this! Herod grits his teeth, tearing his radio off his uniform. 16 EXT. FIFTH CITY - ALLEYWAY - DAY Down a narrow side street, the thieves have a number of uniformed and plain-clothes opponents pinned. Peter is sat on a fan unit, toying with the procured RADIO. PETER Heavy blockade you had waiting for us, didn''cha? Trust the boss to keep the reinforcements up where you are. Can''t spread yourselves too thin if you wanna win. An amused sneer crosses his lips. 17 EXT. HILL OVERLOOKING THE FIFTH CITY - DAY Herod pulls the RADIO from his uniform, glaring at it. PETER (V.O.) She''s seen right through your whole play as usual. You ought to be proud-- Herod cuts the line. One of the officers besides his side looks bewildered. OFFICER #1 Wait, so everything we''ve been doing up here... MARIA You must be new here. HEROD We try to dogpile her, they all get away. Surround them all, she wins the fight. MARIA Cat and mouse. Sticking together works better every time. A gust of wind blows over the hillside, and she turns away. MARIA You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.Well, I''m done here. I''m going home. Herod raises a gun toward her. HEROD You think so? MARIA If you want to take me on, then we''ll do it the old-fashioned way, Dad. BEAT. He lowers it. MARIA Yeah, figures. She begins to walk down the hill. HEROD It won''t be so easy next time. MARIA Whatever. She disappears under the slope, leaving only the image of the horizon. 18 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY Joseph is keeping an eye on the walls and ceiling as he moves, occasionally catching glimpses of the moving party of Warpriests in the distorted reflections. The line is intact, and he is using it to check for corners and junctions. AETHER So what, precisely, is your plan? Do you actually intend to go up against Sophia? You''d have more luck with the machine guns. JOSEPH Can you stop saying machine guns?! AETHER Let it be carved into your epitaph: "here lies a petty thief. I told him so". JOSEPH What are these walls anyway? AETHER Are you trying to work out if you can filch the walls now? Are you so fixated on anything shiny, you magpie? JOSEPH I''m serious. AETHER Why do you expect me to know? JOSEPH Well, you''re the one covered in the weird light trails. BEAT. AETHER They''re not the same as those. JOSEPH Yes they are. BEAT. AETHER These walls can''t be allowed to deform, so they perfectly reflect everything. JOSEPH What kind of material perfectly reflects everything? AETHER What made you think these walls are material? JOSEPH Wait. What does that mean? AETHER You''re walking on your feet, petty thief. JOSEPH I know that. AETHER Apparently not. Joseph pauses, and then stops. Lifting his feet from the floor - or lack thereof - he realises that he is literally walking on his own reflection. JOSEPH (flatly) What the hell is this. AETHER So you do catch on. Eventually. By the way, you certainly seem to be rather relaxed about that urgent time limit you''re so attached to. Joseph almost shoots a response, but shakes his head. He looks at the ceiling and down the corridor, but can''t seem to see what he''s looking for. JOSEPH If we''re under where I think we''re under, there should be a way out somewhere around... BEAT. Gunfire. The Warpriests finally have a straight shot. Joseph and Aether barely evade by throwing themselves against the wall. The bullets sail down the corridor, until they hit the far end and strike themselves. JOSEPH Okay, we''re splitting up! AETHER What? Joseph shoves Aether around the right-hand corner, narrowly avoiding another burst of fire as he runs to the left. Aether watches him flee in shock. Did he just abandon her? She barely has time to react as the marching of the Warpriests speeds up, and she scrambles to flee. Her pursuers are gaining on her. 19 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY Joseph sprints down the vent at full pelt. Ahead is a junction, and in the middle is a protruding silver door. He rushes over to it, moving to grab the handle... but his hands don''t grasp anything, instead hitting the wall. He uselessly slaps against it a few times. It''s a reflection. He looks down the junction. The vents here are covered in reflections of the door. JOSEPH (breathlessly) Really?! ANNOUNCEMENT (V.O.) Heat exhaust will be released in five minutes. Please vacate the ventilation system immediately. The tunnel of fake doors looms dauntingly in the face of certain death. Scenes 20-22 20 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY Aether is running desperately. She can barely stay upright - she''s not used to sprinting, and is tripping over her own feet every few seconds. ANNOUNCEMENT (V.O.) Repeat. Heat exhaust will be released in five minutes. Please vacate the ventilation system immediately. She reaches a junction and turns left. But she immediately panics, turning around. Too late. Violet light flashes around her, and she is suspended from the ground, paralysed with her limbs spread out. Sophia approaches from behind, gauntlet glowing brightly, holding her aloft with an intangible force. The other Warpriests follow behind, lowering their weapons. SOPHIA I never thought I would find myself using the Star''s blessing on the Shrine itself. Ironic, no? AETHER Let go! SOPHIA (sarcastically) Oh, of course, right away. She tightens her grip, and Aether cries out. Sophia simply sighs, thoroughly bored. SOPHIA Sometimes I wonder if you would have even succeeded in your studies if you tried. But for all your idiocy, had you chose an excellent place to give me the runaround. Sophia gets closer and closer. SOPHIA Did you think I couldn''t use my powers down here? I had doubted you thought it through that far, but it seems you did actually understand the nature of the blessing at least that much. WARPRIEST #1 Is this safe, Holiness? SOPHIA Firmly. I would need to exercise a far greater extent than just this to endanger the integrity of the Shrine. Now then, if we are finally done here... JOSEPH (O.S.) Not yet! Joseph is at the far end of another corridor, poised to charge forward at the group. Even masked, Sophia is clearly far beyond the limits of her patience. She swings her gauntlet, her headdress shining violet. A invisible wave of force is launched at him, and immediately bounces back. The wave throws Aether to the ground, along with the four Warpriests. Sparks fly from Sophia''s armour as she takes a step back, poised as though someone just threw a football into her gut. She has grasped herself. SOPHIA What is this?! JOSEPH (surprised) Oh my god. Did that actually work? You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. He disappears, seemingly into a wall, before Sophia realises what happened. The real Joseph - not a reflection this time - rushes from around the corner while the Warpriests are stunned by the blow, pulling Aether to her feet in a scramble as the two flee. A scattering of bullets from the ground fly wildly off-target, failing to catch them. SOPHIA System override! Terminate processes and reboot! The lights on Sophia''s gauntlet and headdress blink out, and her stance drops as she almost falls to the ground from the sudden dead weight of her armour. The Warpriests, able to move again, begin to haul themselves to their feet. 21 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY Joseph and Aether have entered the corridor with the decoy doors once again. AETHER How''d you know that was a reflection anyway? The angles were perfect, even Sophia thought it was real. JOSEPH The lines on the ceiling. They''re the only things that don''t reflect. Which means... ANNOUNCEMENT (V.O.) Heat exhaust will be released in sixty seconds. Evacuate the ventilation system. Fifty-five. Fifty-four. The voice continues to count as Joseph leads Aether through the various "dummy" doors. JOSEPH ...the line also leads the way through the tunnels too. He reaches a door that the line connects to, and grabs the handle. Sure enough, it''s the real thing. He swings it open, gesturing for Aether to step through. Aether is visibly astonished. AETHER Perhaps you''re not as braindead as you look after all. That''s nice to know. JOSEPH I will... choose to take that as a compliment. Imagine if I couldn''t find a reflection like that though. Come on, we''re on a timer. With plenty of time left to take two steps, Aether leisurely walks through the doorway, and Joseph lets out a heavy sigh of relief. He moves to step through, and hurries himself up when he hears the marching Warpriests once again. 22 INT. VENT SYSTEM - DAY The Warpriests round a corner, scouring now for a way out before it''s too late. WARPRIEST #2 I can''t find anything. WARPRIEST #3 The two of them must be out of here by now. SOPHIA There will be an exit. ANNOUNCEMENT (V.O.) Venting heat exhaust. The vents begin to rumble as the temperature rises. From around the corner erupts a wave of white-hot wind, rushing toward the five of them at blinding speeds. It''s too fast to outrun, blasting with force and heat impossible for a human being to withstand for even a single second. One of the Warpriests finally cracks. WARPRIEST #2 (desperately) Oh god. Oh god! Sophia simply raises her hand out toward it. The roaring wind splits around the five, parting like the Red Sea. The heat is cleaved, forming a perfect safe zone within in the tunnel they stand in. SOPHIA We have no need for something on the level of God to save us. A miracle on this small scale can be carried out through the works of faith alone. WARPRIEST #1 I''ve... never seen something like this before. I thought I''d never get to. The blessing of the First Star... WARPRIEST #3 No wonder, Holiness. Your purity must be unmatched to be favoured by the First Star itself. SOPHIA This was not a power granted to us. It is a power we took from the cosmos using the strength of our conviction. I only inherited that conviction. She turns to the Warpriests, removing her helmet to reveal her face. SOPHIA This is a fraction of a fraction of The End. I implore you to burn this moment into your mind, and to truly understand what it means to create a God. She stands tall in the midst of the searing wind, the very image of a demigod. Scenes 23-25 23 EXT. GANG HIDEOUT - DAY A derelict two-storey warehouse in the middle of town has been renovated somewhat. Its true face is readily apparent, but it lacks the desiccated feeling that one would expect to see from such a building. Parts of walls, doors, and even entire windows have been replaced in a patchwork job of simply cobbling together whatever can be found to replace the broken parts. There is a patch of tilled soil outside, but it has nothing to show for itself besides a handful of tiny sprouts. A utility pipe is connected to the side of the building, but it drips constantly into a muddy hole below where the tarmac has broken. Joseph and Aether step up to the front door. JOSEPH Home at last. AETHER You must be joking. JOSEPH It looks worse from the outside. Joseph tugs on the rusty door with some force, causing it to rattle open. 24 INT. GANG HIDEOUT - ENTRANCE - DAY The entrance is somewhat dingy, with a single broken bulb that isn''t lighting up the landing any time soon. The walls here are made from shelves with as many bricks rammed into them as possible, creating a kind of vestibule that certainly wasn''t there when this was first built. JOSEPH I''m home! Aether peeks over his shoulder. AETHER It looked better. She isn''t wrong. There is a doormat and a shoe rack, but the scraps and shards of rust and glass in the corners of the room make it hard to believe that wearing anything short of work boots in here is the prerogative of the deranged. The walls are bare brick with patches of plaster here and there, and the floor is barren concrete. JOSEPH Alright, it looks bad. AETHER Why is it so cold? JOSEPH Well, brick, steel, and rebar aren''t the most kind and welcoming of the construction materials. AETHER It bothers me that I can''t not judge you for this. Joseph keeps walking, carefully avoiding the debris with his bare feet. JOSEPH Watch your step. Aether follows suit, and Joseph leads the way out of the makeshift vestibule through a clearly improvised door. 25 INT. GANG HIDEOUT - DAY Joseph steps through the door. A LIME immediately sails through the air and splatters against his face. PETER It''s a hit! Uproarious applause and laughter erupt from the men in the spacious room. It is much cleaner and more liveable, a genuine communal space. Couches and chairs are scattered with reasonably pleasant furniture, including coffee tables and bookshelves. Pilate is lying across a sofa with his feet on the arm, reading a book through his scratched glasses. There are even appliances like electric kettles and a hob here and there. At the far end of the room is a table covered in art supplies and tools ranging from wood saws to glue guns, which Maria is working on. PILATE (sarcastically) Welcome back to high school. JOSEPH It''s like I never left. Joseph wipes the surviving fruit guts off his face. Maria doesn''t turn her gaze toward the entrance, but chips in to chide Peter anyway. Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. MARIA Don''t think you can get away with whatever you want just because I''m not looking. PETER (nonchalantly) Sorry, boss. MARIA Are you? PETER (suddenly serious) Yes, boss. Joseph walks further into the room, letting Aether follow on behind. The room falls quiet. PETER Whoa. The runt kidnapped someone. JOSEPH I didn''t. AETHER You sort of did. JOSEPH I didn''t! PILATE I didn''t think you had it in you. JOSEPH I don''t! THIEF #1 I did. Makes more sense than anything else I can think of. JOSEPH Screw off, man. THIEF #1 (snorting) "Screw off". Maria turns to get a good look at the stranger in the white hood. Aether shoots a glare back. AETHER What? MARIA Did you two meet in the vents? AETHER Yes. Why? MARIA No reason. PETER Think fast! Peter slings a second LIME at Aether, hoping to baptise her. She looks at it as it flies, and the patterns on her skin shine for a split second. The LIME bounces off some kind of invisible barrier and strikes Joseph in the face. JOSEPH Why?! AETHER It felt like the right thing to do. The thieves collectively aren''t sure they just saw what they think they just saw, and end up laughing it off. Maria and Pilate don''t miss a beat, shooting glances at each other - they know there''s only one thing she can be. PETER I like you already, little lady! Name''s Peter. Aether puffs up her chest, extraordinarily proud of the warm reception. AETHER (smugly) You peons may graciously refer to me as Aether the Fifth. I intend to stay here for the few days, since it seems serviceable enough. JOSEPH Peons? Wait, staying?! AETHER Do as you see fit to make me comfortable. PETER You''ll want to know that the big name around here is Maria. She''s in charge. MARIA More or less. If you have something to raise, talk to Pilate, our operations manager. PILATE That would be me. Pleased to make your acquaintance. AETHER Out of curiosity, what role does this one play? PETER Joseph is emergency rations. AETHER How unfortunate. You must be starving. MARIA If Peter doesn''t stop throwing shit. Peter slowly lowers a third lime he had been poised to toss, and Pilate begins to pull Aether and Joseph to one side. PETER C''mon, boss, they''re barely food... MARIA Do anything to that lime besides eat it, and I''ll be doing the same to you. Peter gives the lime a suspect look, as if some devious engine is whirring in his head. PETER Interesting. MARIA No. During their continuing banter, Pilate speaks to the pair in slightly hushed tones. PILATE I trust the journey back wasn''t too arduous, you two? JOSEPH Uh... Well, I wouldn''t do it again? AETHER To be entirely truthful, I don''t suppose I would have gotten out of those tunnels if it weren''t for him, so he''s good for at least something. I was quite lost when I found him. PILATE And what on earth would you be doing down there to begin with, Miss Aether? AETHER I planned to see the world somewhat before The End. My... guardians disagreed. JOSEPH You said that woman''s name was Sophia? Who was she? AETHER Defender of the Fifth Grand Shrine, master of the Warpriests. JOSEPH I don''t like that word. Are those the guys who shot at us? PILATE Please tell me you didn''t go head-to-head with a parish of Warpriests. How did you even survive that? JOSEPH Why would Warpriests be after someone? Shouldn''t they be protecting the Tower? AETHER I assume by "the Tower" you mean the Fifth Grand Shrine. PILATE They should be protecting it around now, unless something has gone direly wrong. Aether looks away. JOSEPH Oh god. What did you do? Pilate pinches the bridge of his nose. PILATE Okay. I''m going to consult with Maria. But don''t be surprised if she decides to turn you over. We may need to head to the safehouse. He turns to go without waiting for an answer. Aether looks to Joseph, anxiety evident on her face. JOSEPH Relax. I already know what she''s going to say. AETHER You''re certain? JOSEPH I haven''t been by her side for eight years to be wrong now. You can get comfortable like you said. Her fear melts somewhat, and she folds her arms firmly. AETHER I said you can make me comfortable. JOSEPH I can probably offer you some bread for these trying limes. She squints, utterly unamused, and it''s clear for a split second just how odd a pair they are. Scenes 26-29 26 INT. FIFTH TOWER - STUDY - EVENING The study is a spacious room: the large bookshelf along its south-facing wall is all there is in the way of decoration. A desk faces away from a large glass wall that overlooks the city from high up. On the desk is a pile of papers, pencils, a photograph of a woman, and a jar with what appears to be a foetus inside. Standing behind it and watching the sunset is SAUL (59), a man clad in a modest habit with an aura like a withering tree - his posture remains tall and proud, but there is a melancholy hollowness to him where something important has been lost. SAUL Sorry to call you both here so late. Sophia, helmet under her arm, is standing in the middle of the room. Besides her is PHOTINE, another woman in heavy white robes evocative of a Howie coat, but her glasses are lopsided and she holds herself with the anxious disposition of a person who has barely escaped NEEThood at 30. SOPHIA Think nothing of it, Lord Saul. The Hierophant calls. It is our duty to answer, no matter the time, if there is something to add to the record. SAUL I appreciate that, Lord Sophia. Though truthfully, dragging Lord Photine away from her family at this time of day is what I''m most concerned about. Photine stands up straighter, startled. PHOTINE No, Lord Saul, that''s fine! My family don''t... really talk to me these days anyway. SAUL That''s surprising. I would''ve thought they''d be proud of our one and only Magister. SOPHIA I expect they''re intimidated in the presence of the authority on all mysteries. PHOTINE (reticently) Perhaps, Lord Sophia. SAUL I won''t waste more of your time than I must. Lord Sophia. The Greater Fifth has escaped? SOPHIA Through the heat exhaust. She was accompanied by a presumed nihilist. They struck me with my own blessing. PHOTINE Oh, it''s the reflection, isn''t it? You shouldn''t go down there. SOPHIA Your Pontiffs have done excellent work on the architecture, Lord Magister. It is a shame that you selected the Fifth to be something so disobedient. Fire burns. Water flows. Only mankind may rebel against nature. Is the concept of suicide not such a thing? PHOTINE I... don''t really understand your sermons... SOPHIA I implore you to learn. Lord Saul interprets the past within the records, whereas you understand the laws and mysteries of the present. It is my duty to produce a dictate for the future, upon which you of all people ought to rely. The sciences must be restrained by moral law. SAUL There''s no need to worry about that. Lord Photine, The End begins tomorrow. We may be the last Shrine to activate, but is the spare still adequate? PHOTINE If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.Less than ideal. He''s technically incomplete. Unless his personality has improved, then... SAUL Sadly not. SOPHIA Then why continue to ponder? We ought set him free at once. I will gather my forces. Without waiting for a response, Sophia turns and exits the room. SAUL Do you think she ever sits down? PHOTINE I doubt it. She takes her job as seriously as I probably should. SAUL Can you imagine her reaction if I told her he''s already gone? Photine looks to him in shock. 27 EXT. FIFTH CITY - STREETS - NIGHT If the streets were barren during the day, they are desolate at night. It almost feels like a ghost town, missing everything but the people. Only a few figures walk here and there. A stocky man walks down the street, and is passed by a figure more than head and shoulders taller than even he is. PHOTINE (V.O.) He''s what? This monster of a man, SOLOMON (20), dwarfs everyone around him. His lantern jaw and broad shoulders give him the stature of a titan, and he has the same distinctive silver hair/eyes that Aether has. 28 INT. GANG HIDEOUT - NIGHT The thieves are spaced out in hammocks hung from the ceiling, asleep. Aether is not - she lies in a hammock closest to the couch that Maria lies on. The two stare at the blank ceiling, murmuring to each other. MARIA So... The Tower. AETHER I can''t answer any of your questions. MARIA You only know secrets? AETHER I barely know anything. Studying was hardly my strong suit. I don''t understand the science. MARIA You''re not calling it "mysteries"? AETHER The Faith''s special dialect is deeply irritating, so no. MARIA Can''t argue with that. What made you leave? BEAT. AETHER I don''t know anything about this world. MARIA Maybe study next time. (beat) I''m joking. AETHER I know. (beat) I don''t want to participate in The End without knowing why. I want to see the world that we''ve decided to erase. I want to decide if it''s worth ending. I know why The Faith was created. I know how gravity is too strong for us to leave this planet. How we''re doomed to stay stagnant, suffering and dying forever until we go extinct. There''s no way forward. This dead end was here from the very beginning. But... MARIA But? AETHER We''ve studied the mysteries for ten thousand years. Can living this way be so unbearable if we''ve waited for so many generations? Or did those generations only survive because they knew that their descendants would one day be here for The End? Silence. Maria doesn''t offer her opinion, but her expression makes it clear that she has one. AETHER I have to know. What makes a world worth ending? MARIA Maybe a better question is "what makes an end worth having"? Why live at all, knowing you''ll die? AETHER Well, that''s the point of The End, isn''t it? MARIA The End is one answer. To change everything. Is that different to death? AETHER I don''t know. Is it? BEAT. MARIA Would you rather change the world or yourself? AETHER I don''t know. The Faith says "ourselves", and the world will change because of that. MARIA Don''t like saltwater, so the plan is to change into freshwater fish and swim to a cleaner pond? AETHER I don''t think we don''t have a choice this time either way. MARIA Don''t we? AETHER As far as I can tell, everything they say is true. They''re correct. Maria chuckles. MARIA Well, just because you''re correct, doesn''t mean you''re right. Joseph is still awake, overhearing the conversation. He is facing away from the two, staring at the wall as they talk. The subject is making him uncomfortable, so he does his best to ignore it and force himself to sleep. 29 EXT. GANG HIDEOUT - DAY It''s a new day, and the sky is clear this morning. It''s quiet once again, and the sound of cicadas is in the air. Solomon''s hand reaches for the door handle, warping it out of shape as he pulls it open from the sheer force of his grip. Scenes 30-36 30 INT. GANG HIDEOUT - DAY A loud bang rouses Maria from sleep immediately. MARIA Dammit. She leaps to her feet, yelling. MARIA Up! Now! The others, already half-awake, shake themselves to their feet, and Aether looks around in confusion. AETHER What''s happening? MARIA Pilate. Joseph. Take her upstairs. PILATE Already on it. JOSEPH Come on. The two direct Aether to the stairs, and the other thieves draw knifes and firearms. PETER How many are we looking at? One of the bricked-up shelves forming the walls of the vestibule is thrown to the ground. Solomon steps onto it. PETER Holy crap. SOLOMON Where is she? Peter, shaken by the imposing figure, raises his PISTOL to take the first shot. In the time that it takes him to squeeze the trigger, Solomon has already grabbed his wrist, causing him to shoot into the ceiling. With one hand, he effortlessly flings the gunman across the room, splitting a table with his body. Solomon evades the line of sight of another pistol with blinding speed, grabbing the shooter and holding them up in front of another gun''s barrel. The third shooter, unable to fire through their ally, is made short work of. SOLOMON (louder) Where is she? Two more thieves, armed with knives, rush him. He dispatches them with his bare hands without blinking. Maria turns, rushing to her SHOTGUN at the back of the room. Solomon charges her, grabbing her just as she grabs her weapon. SOLOMON I won''t be ignored! Gripping her collar, he swings a punch at her. Maria swings back with her shotgun, deflecting his fist. The force of the punch snaps her weapon in two, but it does push back his hand long enough for her to wrap her legs around his arm. She pulls on his body, causing him to crash into the wall - it cracks, and she twists herself free of his grip and gain some distance. Solomon straightens his back, turning to face her, seething. Maria''s steely expression has not changed, her limbs in a defensive stance. MARIA You''re going to have to do better than that, gorilla. Solomon cracks a grin, genuinely amused. SOLOMON We''ll see about that, monkey. The pair trade blows, evenly matched. Solomon''s superhuman advantage in size, speed, and power is not enough to overwhelm Maria''s skill and her quick thinking allows her to predict attacks she shouldn''t even be able to react to. Neither of them can land a decisive hit on the other. Just as Maria is about to, though... PILATE (O.S.) Where are you going?! AETHER (O.S.) Solomon! Solomon looks to the flight of stairs, only to see Aether glaring down at him. AETHER What on earth do you think you''re doing to my hosts? Solomon winces a little, like a worker answering to a manager or a child answering to a parent as Aether strides up to him. She barely comes up to his abdomen. SOLOMON Nothing in particular. AETHER They''ve offered me perfectly passable hospitality, and I come down to see you doing this. Apologise immediately. SOLOMON I didn''t know where you were. I thought they''d kidnapped you. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. MARIA Are you serious? SOLOMON Always. I don''t do jokes. AETHER Apologise! SOLOMON (to Maria and the thieves) I beg a thousand pardons. I must have somehow... misconstrued this entire situation, despite my reasonable assumptions. Peter hasn''t moved, and isn''t starting now. PETER I think you did my back in, man. SOLOMON My sincerest. Maria relaxes her stance and sighs. MARIA Pilate, go check on Peter. PILATE Well, this has been a ridiculous turn of events. Pilate does as instructed. 31 INT. GANG HIDEOUT - UPSTAIRS - DAY Maria and Joseph stand face to face with Aether and Solomon up on the first floor - a storehouse of miscellaneous equipment such as camping supplies, pots and pans, coats, firearms, and so forth. There is notably very little food up here compared to downstairs. AETHER I must apologise for my little brother. JOSEPH Little?! SOLOMON We were finished at the same time. AETHER Solomon is my secondary. That makes him my little brother. I don''t know what he''s doing here though. SOLOMON You left on your own. That''s an incredible danger, given how important you are. JOSEPH That''s no reason to attack everyone! MARIA Joseph. JOSEPH What would you do if you''d killed someone? Anyone who dies won''t be here for the perfect world, in case you forgot! SOLOMON How touching. Unfortunately for you, Aether and I were created to take part in The End. I am already a perfect being, the pinnacle of man. So until such circumstances that I am to replace my sister, that perfect world of yours has nothing to do with me. JOSEPH Says who?! Maria places a hand on his shoulder, soothing him somewhat. It''s too little, too late - Solomon immediately smoulders at the challenge. SOLOMON Says the Hierophant, and say the long line of Magisters who created the Grand Shrines. You have no authority on which to argue otherwise, you who have not touched the mysteries. AETHER Solomon. He immediately pretends to cool off. SOLOMON I understand if you aren''t familiar. Regardless, we intend to take our leave. AETHER Speak for yourself. I have plenty left to do. MARIA You''re staying? AETHER Of course. I haven''t seen anything of value just yet. Maria and Joseph look at each other, but neither of their expressions betray their emotions. 32 EXT. FIFTH CITY - STREETS - DAY The four wander the streets, showing the twins around town. AETHER (V.O.) Besides, I have four days left until I need to return. SOLOMON (V.O.) We really shouldn''t wait. The End begins tonight. They come across a pair of children with a broken TOY, which Maria repairs for them. 33 EXT. FIFTH CITY - SQUARE - DAY The digital countdown CLOCK is still ticking. It has just passed the four-day mark. JOSEPH (V.O.) No, hold on, it begins in four days. SOLOMON (V.O.) It reaches here in four days, imbecile. The First Grand Shrine receives its Star tonight. It steadily continues to tick down, closer to zero every moment that passes. 34 EXT. HILLTOP - DAY A large grated vent, wide as a football field, built into the hilltop begins to glow and spew high-pressure steam into the sky. AETHER (V.O.) Our Shrine is the last to receive one because of the position of the planet relative to the Stars as they pass. You should be able to see them in the night sky as they arrive if you look. In the distance, a ring of vents around the perimeter of the city are doing much the same. 35 EXT. FIFTH CITY - SQUARE - DAY The Tower looms. JOSEPH Just make sure you get back in time. We need The End to happen properly. The sun moves behind it as it begins to lower in the sky, casting a shadow like an eclipse. 36 EXT. GANG HIDEOUT - EVENING A gathering of police officers, led by Herod, is standing outside. Herod is staring up at the warehouse in awe. HEROD I can''t believe my daughter''s been staying in a place like this the entire time. I have to thank you for your help in finding them, Holiness. Sophia steps forward with a trio of Warpriests. SOPHIA I should be thanking you. Without the information you provided us, we would never be able to trace the trail properly. She turns to her Warpriests. SOPHIA Burn. WARPRIEST #1 As you command. The Warpriests step forward, preparing flamethrowers. The officers look horrified. HEROD What are you doing? SOPHIA I cannot sense either of our quarries in here. HEROD There are still people in there! SOPHIA Thieves and rats. They lack in virtue. We have no duty to them. HEROD If they die, they won''t be with us for The End! SOPHIA That, faithful one, is exactly the idea. She snaps her fingers and the torching begins. Sophia turns to leave. Herod pulls his gun and fires four times at the back of her head. The rubber bullets halt centimetres before reaching her, and fall to the ground. The other officers have pulled out their firearms too now, and the sound of gunfire has caused the Warpriests to halt - their flamethrowers are trained on the officers now. Sophia has stopped, and takes the helmet under her arm in both hands, raising it up. SOPHIA Congratulations. She places it on her head, and the crown sparks to life as she turns to look at Herod. SOPHIA You have become acceptable targets. The officers begin to fire uselessly at the Warpriests. The Warpriests begin to torch their new enemies. Scenes 37-48 37 INT. GANG HIDEOUT - EVENING Peter is tossing firearms to everyone inside the hideout when the sound of gunfire and screaming comes from outside. PETER The hell is going on out there? Are they shooting each other now? PILATE Evidently. Out the back. Come on. The gang move for the back door. They don''t make it before it explodes inwards, crushing one of the thieves against the back wall with sheer force. Sophia is standing on the other side, gauntlet raised up. Everyone except Pilate immediately opens fire, but the slugs just gather in the air in front of her. She looks to Pilate, and waves her hand - all of them are immediately pushed into the ground by an invisible force. She takes a few steps forward, looming over Pilate. SOPHIA If it isn''t the absolute last person I expected to see in a den of thieves. What on earth are you doing? He barely manages to choke out a reply. PILATE (strained) You don''t have to do this...! SOPHIA I am the Defender. It is for me to judge what is necessary. I am the "ought". You... were the "is". The flames are beginning to build in earnest now, and Sophia turns to leave. SOPHIA But I am forced to admit that you are, on this occasion, right. I have no particular interest in whether you people live or die. You lowlives have my permission to leave. The pressure is released. The thieves begin to get up as their hideout burns around them. The slugs surrounding Sophia drop to the floor. Peter, hobbling to his feet, raises his gun and fires at Sophia. The bullet bounces off thin air, striking him through the throat. His spine severed, he falls to the ground. SOPHIA But you won''t. Present them with a feast, but rodents will continue to eat their own dung. Silence. The room is petrified with fear. Only the crackling of the flames can be heard - and the building starting to collapse. Even as the warehouse burns around them, nobody can bear to move. SOPHIA Pilate. I am not affording you such freedoms. Your insight will be invaluable, and so I will have you report to Lord Saul. You of all people should know better than to resist. BEAT. Pilate doesn''t need to say that he understands. SOPHIA My cohort is outside. PILATE You can do what you want with the twins. But the two that are with them... They''ve done nothing wrong. SOPHIA They are mine to judge. She exits the building, and the survivors follow suit. 38 EXT. FIFTH CITY - STREETS - EVENING Aether is sitting on a bench as Joseph, Maria, and Solomon are dotted around the empty street. JOSEPH Cones are fine. I mean, at least you can eat them. SOLOMON A perfect illustration of how little you understand about cuisine. JOSEPH It''s ice cream. SOLOMON Your opinion is an insult. A time limit before the moisture saturates a thing that will crumble in your hands, whose taste taints the purity of the dessert? Are you a savage who understands only quantity? JOSEPH They both taste fine. I don''t know what your problem is. Pots only make waste anyway. SOLOMON Let them. The handling of that waste is the work of others and the systems they work within. This society is structured in a way as to remove it from my responsibility. JOSEPH It''s definitely more complicated than that. AETHER Are you two incapable of discussing anything without turning it into an argument? JOSEPH I was minding my own business! SOLOMON I''m objectively correct. You should care about the food being made. JOSEPH Cones are food. SOLOMON I don''t use cones, so who cares? MARIA This is pettiest, stupidest the bullshit it''s even possible to bicker about. Is this really worth the air? SOLOMON Every argument is worth the oxygen. If you can discuss it, you can reach a conclusion, closer to the truth. It would be impossible to raise evidence if there was no truth somewhere. MARIA Facts aren''t the same as evidence. What you''re discussing is outside of facts. JOSEPH I... don''t know if I can argue with that, but I feel like I should. MARIA "Should"? Why "should" you do anything? What is "should"? SOLOMON It means to have reasons. MARIA You have facts. How did you turn facts into reasons? BEAT. This is new territory, and the two are lost. AETHER Sorry, I don''t mean to cut this short, but... Her gaze is fixed on a plume of smoke in the distance. Maria grits her teeth. JOSEPH Wait, is that...?! MARIA Yes. SOLOMON That has to be the Warpriests. Aether, we need to go back. AETHER I''m not going. JOSEPH They''re going to kill us! MARIA We''ll make it. The three look to Maria in shock and surprise. She starts walking, and with hesitation, the others begin to follow her lead. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it MARIA You don''t want to go back? You don''t have to. JOSEPH Maria, our home... MARIA Four days. (beat) Four days to go until the world ends. We can make it that long. You want to see the world? We have a safehouse. JOSEPH You''re talking about the one in the First City. SOLOMON Why does a gaggle of thieves based in the Fifth City have a safehouse in the First? MARIA It''s an old hideout. We were based in the First City before we moved here. JOSEPH Can we even make it? What about the others? MARIA This is about the fate of the world, Joseph. We take the train. Come on. She moves with determination, and the other three follow with mixed degrees of certainty. 39 EXT. FIFTH CITY - STREETS - EVENING Sophia walks alone down the roads with direction and purpose. Her cape gently flutters in the breeze. She turns a corner, seeing the bench where Aether was sitting. She''s gaining on her targets. 40 INT. FIFTH CITY - STATION - ENTRANCE - EVENING Maria vaults over the turnstiles. Joseph barely manages the same. Aether clambers through them. Solomon tears off the metal that dares to block his path with his bare hands. A STATION GUARD hurries to reprimand them. STATION GUARD (aggressively) Excuse me, do you people have tickets? Maria reaches into her jacket, preparing to pull a gun. She doesn''t have to: Solomon knocks the guard onto their backside with a flick of his wrist. He doesn''t even look down. SOLOMON We''re busy. Joseph is looking over the timetable. JOSEPH You''re gonna be shocked at this one, but I have no idea what we''re trying to catch. Has it even arrived? MARIA Even if we need to change down the line, we just need to start moving in the right direction. She takes a look at the timetable, pointing immediately. MARIA There, Platform 4. Let''s move. AETHER How long will it take us to get there? MARIA Coming up to eight hours, I''d hope. We''ll arrive after The End has started there. She shoots Aether a knowing glance. MARIA That should throw them off your scent, right? Aether pauses, unsure as to how exactly Maria could possibly know something like that. AETHER Possibly, yes. I''ve never tried it. MARIA Great. After you. Aether makes her way through the second set of turnstiles. AETHER I hope Sophia won''t get too upset about this. JOSEPH Yeah, honestly, same. Recently I''m doing all kinds of things I do not want to live to regret. Aether freezes. Solomon''s eyes widen. The twins turn around, having sensed the very person they were fleeing from. Sophia is standing on the opposite side of the entrance. SOPHIA Worry not, young man. She raises her gauntlet. SOPHIA You won''t. JOSEPH (throwing his hands out) Wait! Sophia hesitates, but pauses. JOSEPH Why?! SOPHIA Are you mentally deficient? I am here to do the right thing and ensure The End. Maria steps forward. MARIA What makes you so sure that''s the right thing? JOSEPH Boss, not now! MARIA Just because you''re correct, doesn''t mean you''re right. SOPHIA I was being sarcastic about mental deficiency, but now I just feel bad, because you really are. A bolt of invisible force bursts from her hand, tearing the turnstiles at the entrance apart as it flies through them, shooting directly at Joseph''s head. Solomon dashes into its path, catching it in both hands. The force is incredible - the floor cracks underneath his feet as he struggles to keep his footing, barely managing to keep an impossible grip on the immaterial blast. The skin on his arms burns white in the same patterns covering Aether. Maria doesn''t wait and see - grabbing Joseph, she throws him to the other side of the gate onto the platforms, following suit herself. Sophia is slightly shocked that Solomon is capable of such a feat, but it doesn''t take her long to puzzle it out. SOPHIA I see. You two vessels for the are same kind of power, I suppose. But any cup will overflow eventually. Solomon isn''t listening. With his tremendous strength, he flings the blast back at its owner. She effortlessly deflects it, and counters with an unbelievably powerful riposte. Solomon cries out as the walls begin with crack and tremble, straining increasingly under her pressure. Solomon begins to sink into the wall slightly, and then-- Maria ducks around the corner, an uncommonly large pistol in hand, trained on Sophia. Two shots. The pressure recedes as Sophia focuses on catching the slugs in her imperceptible grip. She tries to return them to their sender, but Maria ducks behind cover to evade. SOPHIA So you''re both this obstructive. MARIA Trust me, one is enough. SOLOMON Why would you taunt her, you id--?! Sophia snaps her fingers, and the entrance explodes, sending Solomon and Maria flying off their feet. 41 INT. FIFTH CITY - STATION - PLATFORM - EVENING The handful of people in the station are fleeing wherever they can, with many crowding onto trains. Several drivers and conductors are starting the engines to get everyone out, stumbling with the tremors of the exploding entrance. Aether gets into an empty carriage on the train at Platform 4. Joseph hurries in the opposite direction as Maria lands on the ground a few metres away. JOSEPH Maria! Maria, coughing, gets up with Joseph''s help. The two hurry toward the train as Maria takes a few more potshots in the general direction of Sophia. Joseph looks to Aether. JOSEPH Are you sure you''re not going back?! MARIA The time to do that was before she lost it. Come on. Joseph and Maria get into the train. Solomon is pushed out of the dust from the explosion, his shoes grinding against the concrete as he pushes against another blast of force. Sophia marches out the dust, preparing yet another attack, but Solomon tosses the blast in his hands at the ceiling, causing part of it to collapse down on her head. JOSEPH Did he get her? Solomon doesn''t stick around, leaping into the carriage just as the doors start to close and the train starts to move. Sophia lifts the debris off herself, clutching the departing train with her invisible grip. 42 INT. TRAIN - CARRIAGE - EVENING The sudden stop throws the four to the floor. MARIA How much battery does that thing have? SOLOMON It doesn''t. MARIA You''ve got to be joking. SOLOMON I told you, I don''t do jokes. Maria grips her gun tighter. 43 INT. FIFTH CITY - STATION - PLATFORM - EVENING Sophia clenches her fist. Sparks fly from the wheels as the train begins to slowly drift back to the platform. 44 INT. TRAIN - CARRIAGE - EVENING JOSEPH Solomon, can''t you do that thing?! SOLOMON We don''t have the capacity to absorb all of it! Something seems to click in Aether''s mind, and her eyes widen. She slams her open palms onto the ground. AETHER Is that fact any reason not to try? Her body begins to glow in white light as her patterns shine. SOLOMON What are you talking about?! The realisation crosses Joseph''s face as well. JOSEPH Just because you''re correct... doesn''t mean you''re right. AETHER Don''t just stand there! Help me! Solomon grits his teeth, and then slams his palms against the carriage floor too. 45 INT. FIFTH CITY - STATION - PLATFORM - EVENING The sparks continue to fly from the wheels as the reversal slows down. Sophia has realised that something is up, and grips harder, but to no avail. The train is beginning to retreat away from her. 46 INT. TRAIN - CARRIAGE - EVENING MARIA Can you push? Aether responds with a grunt of exertion - she''s working on it. 47 INT. FIFTH CITY - STATION - PLATFORM - EVENING The deadlock breaks. Sophia loses her grip as the train shoots away from her at full speed. 48 INT. TRAIN - CARRIAGE - EVENING The four almost lose their balance as the train jumps to full speed right away. The intercom chimes. DRIVER (V.O.) I have no idea what that was, but we''re moving. We''ll be stopping at the first station down the line to drop anyone off that we have to. If anyone is injured, please report to the front of the train. Joseph lets out a sigh of relief. SOLOMON That''s the primary for you, I suppose. JOSEPH How did you even do that? AETHER I didn''t realise I could. SOLOMON I didn''t realise either of us could, but you learn something new every day. MARIA She said something about "the same kind of power". What''s that all about? Aether and Solomon look at each other. He shrugs. She gets up and takes a seat. AETHER How long did you say this train ride was? She folds one leg over the other, folding her arms. Scene 49 49 INT. FIFTH TOWER - INNER SHRINE - NIGHT Photine and Pilate step into an expansive room, flanked by Warpriests. It is full of bizarre and arcane equipment and machinery - its appearance resembles a nuclear reactor core assembled from Space Age alchemy. The room has no ceiling, simply a dizzyingly tall shaft up to the night sky. The floor is a ring around an abyss, with three evenly-spaced catwalks around a central glass cylinder suspended over the hole. Within the cylinder is a silver sphere, large enough to fit a person inside it. A number of workers in white robes are adjusting the equipment inside sealed glass chambers - these are PONTIFFS, whose duty is to research and engineer the mysteries. PHOTINE And this is the heart, where we''ll be receiving the Star. If you recall, the vessels we use here-- PILATE Artificial humans. I''ve met them, yes. Who engineered them? PHOTINE Oh, that was... me. Pilate blinks, astonished. PILATE Personally? PHOTINE Well, I drew up a lot of the designs and did a lot of the work, but obviously there was a team working with me for the practical parts... PILATE That''s impressive. You make a better Magister than I ever did. Back at the First Grand Shrine, we decided to light a big fire and call it a day. PHOTINE You''re too humble. I was deeply impressed myself when I learnt about your work. Who would have thought to use a chemical process like fire as a Grand Shrine? You''re a genius, Lord Pilate. PILATE I''m a regular guy. Not a genius, and not "lord" anything. PHOTINE That... I don''t understand. Why did you leave? You deciphered so many of the mysteries for us. I honestly believe that you''re the greatest Magister of all time, and I think most people would agree with me. I can''t fathom why you''d want to become an apostate. Pilate stares at the sphere in the core. There is no expression on his face. He remembers his days in the past, but his feelings are incalculable. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. PILATE I understood too much. I put together too many pieces. PHOTINE What do you mean? PILATE Lord Photine. Do you ever think about what it would be like to live after The End? PHOTINE Well... it''ll be good, won''t it? PILATE What is "good", Lord Photine? Look at this as an engineer for a moment, rather than as a priest. You can describe the literal effects that this Shrine will have when it activates, can''t you? PHOTINE You mean when the Gods are born. To save us. PILATE And when the Last Stars come, and the Gods are born, and we can''t control their actions... PHOTINE Humans are flawed. We shouldn''t control them. Lord Pilate, the Gods will be good incarnate. The Last Stars will compose their pure, immortal souls, from which good is derived. PILATE That''s the problem, Lord Photine. Human beings don''t have souls. Souls don''t exist. He gestures to the surroundings - the equipment, the Pontiffs, the Shrine. PILATE We are literally inventing them. We are creating them, and then blindly handing over our entire species - our entire world - to something that has never existed before now. There is nothing mystical or metaphysical about this. The Hierophants and Defenders are the ones who argue about the traditions and the morals and the spirituality. Magisters deal in the facts. And the fact is that we don''t know what this thing is going to choose to do, how it will think, what it will value! There is no equation for "good"! PHOTINE (distressed) I know! I know. I just... know that there are... What else can we do? It''s been ten thousand years. PILATE You can leave. PHOTINE I can''t. You can''t. The Faith is everywhere. It''s the entire world. Everyone believes in us. I believe. I have to trust what I''ve been taught. I have to trust the generations who were here before me. I don''t have a choice. It''s all there is. It''s too late to just leave. It''s been too late since before I was born. Even if we destroy the Shrine, everyone believes in it. They have to. It''s their entire world. It''s the only hope we''ve ever had. You can''t just give that up. It might be wrong. But I don''t have anywhere else to go. So even if I''m wrong, even if it kills me, I have to hope. Even if they''re bad, "good" is "whatever they are". I have to dream of the perfect world we were promised. Everyone does. Everyone who came before us did too. It''s meaning, Lord Pilate. The only alternative is absurdity. BEAT. Pilate sighs, shaking his head. PILATE Well, you''re right about one thing, I suppose. We''re past the point of no return. If it''s going to happen anyway, I''ll make sure you do it right. He rolls up his sleeves, gesturing for her to lead the way, and the two begin to walk across the edge of the rounded room to inspect some monitors. Scenes 50-59 50 EXT. TRAIN - NIGHT The train is on its way to the First City, cutting through the dark across the grasslands. 51 INT. TRAIN - CARRIAGE - NIGHT Joseph, Maria, Solomon, and Aether are sitting in the harsh light of the train car as it bumps up and down on occasion. JOSEPH So... wait. The Last Stars, the souls of God... are just... an astronomical phenomenon? AETHER There''s nothing spiritual about them. I don''t understand them completely, but they''re vaguely related to gravitational waves. It''s rare that we come across them, but they''re really just comets that are made out of energy or something, rather than rock and ice. JOSEPH They don''t even have a will? SOLOMON They resemble life, but bacteria is the best comparison. They certainly aren''t conscious. They convert distortions in spacetime into energy, just like living things metabolise nutrients. The goal is to make them into Gods with power and intellect. MARIA Quite a far cry from the preaching and the sermons. SOLOMON Even for the few priests who do know, it''s so wrapped up in mysticism that they usually don''t notice. AETHER The purpose of the Grand Shrines is to give the Last Stars consciousness and wills. The Towers are the Lesser Grand Shrines, they only capture the Last Stars. MARIA And the Greater Grand Shrine is the vessel that the Last Star inhabits to gain intelligence. Which would be you. AETHER I''m beginning to think you know more than you first let on. MARIA Pilate knows a lot of the details. JOSEPH Why didn''t he fill me in? MARIA Your lack of despair, mostly. Faith for faith''s sake. He thought it was a mercy to keep you in the dark. JOSEPH I''d have liked to know. MARIA You wouldn''t have believed it before meeting Aether. That''s what the Faith is, you know. It might not be good, but it''s not evil either. It''s "perfect", so it has no morality any more than a wheel has for turning. JOSEPH What do you mean? MARIA It''s ideal for its purpose. It is what the people need it to be. And what they need is a tool, to build hope. It has all the facts, it''s correct. But it''s not the facts that are important. It''s the values. Joseph looks at Aether, and admits defeat. JOSEPH I guess. But just because it''s not inherently spiritual, that doesn''t mean that I''m not looking forward to The End. Maria quietly sighs. AETHER Well, that means you have my magnanimous self to thank, no? I am indeed the Fifth Greater Grand Shrine. I was born to form the core of the God that shares my name. MARIA This doesn''t explain Sophia''s magic glove. AETHER The Last Stars aren''t the only ones of their kind. They''re not much rarer than comets in this part of the universe. The gauntlet is a weapon derived from the First Star, the sample the Magisters studied in order to work out how to build the Shrines. It''s the same power that Solomon and I were designed to receive, so it makes sense that we can manipulate it somewhat. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. JOSEPH Why not use that to make a God? SOLOMON Too small. You need bigger. JOSEPH How much bigger? The windows begin rattling, and the lights begin to flicker and sputter out, but the carriage isn''t plunged into darkness. A bright light shines through the window, and Joseph rushes up to it. JOSEPH Holy crap. His eyes widen as he tries to take it all in. 52 EXT. TRAIN - NIGHT The entire sky to the east of the train is filled enormous white star, gleaming brightly. Bordering it is a pale blue, as though radiating daylight. From its main body wisps thousands of glowing trails like wings of diamond. JOSEPH (O.S.) Holy crap! That thing''s gigantic! It''s hard to believe such a thing isn''t already a god in itself - the cosmic beauty is unlike anything ever seen in history, making even mythology look like its dreams are too small. 53 INT. TRAIN - CARRIAGE - NIGHT Joseph is practically pressing his face against the window, but Aether, Maria, and even Solomon are enraptured with it. JOSEPH Maria, are you seeing this?! MARIA (amused) Yes, Joseph. I''m seeing it. AETHER (nervous) I don''t think all of that is going to fit inside me. MARIA Phrasing. AETHER I''m serious. SOLOMON You''ll be fine. You were born to receive the biggest of them all, remember. AETHER That doesn''t help! Joseph places a hand on her head. JOSEPH I believe in you. AETHER I haven''t earned that. JOSEPH If you want to earn it, you can always prove your conviction. Joseph reaches into his pocket, producing a LIME. JOSEPH I brought this lime you can eat. AETHER (incredulous, lost for words) Oh my god. JOSEPH Maria ate one whole. Skin and all. MARIA It was fine. AETHER You''re idiots! You''re both idiots! Joseph laughs, and Maria cracks a slight smile. JOSEPH I wish Pilate was here to see this. MARIA Hopefully everyone got out okay. JOSEPH Yeah... They''re all pretty hard to put down, but Sophia is basically invincible... I still don''t even know how she found us. SOLOMON Under the right conditions, she can sense us using the First Star, but she has to find the trail before that''ll work. She won''t be able to track us out here if we play our cards right. Aether slowly steps toward the window, next to Joseph. A mixture of anxiety and concern is welling up. JOSEPH What''s wrong? She doesn''t answer. JOSEPH Aether? Aether is staring at the Star as it begins to bleed into the First City''s Tower in the distance. 54 EXT. FIRST TOWER - NIGHT The Tower''s matte black exterior is beginning to light up with the shining white patterns of the vessels as the glow of the Star is funnelled in through its top. 55 INT. FIRST TOWER - INNER SHRINE - NIGHT The heart of this Tower is similar to that of the Fifth City''s. Pontiffs are surrounding the core, calling out values and instructions to each other as they adjust dials and equipment. The white light from above is spilling down the glass funnel and into the core. However, instead of a silver sphere, this Tower instead has a bright FIRE at its core. The starlight begins to wrap the fire, and the fire itself turns white. FIRE (V.O.) I... The fire cannot see or hear. It has no senses. It receives no information from outside. But it knows. FIRE (V.O.) I am. What... is "am"? A cold, lifeless phenomenon has just been given a mind. It reaches out. 56 INT. TRAIN - CARRIAGE - NIGHT DRIVER (V.O.) We will be arriving at the First City in about five minutes. Until we arrive, please enjoy the view. Aether''s eyes fill with fear. JOSEPH Aether? She doesn''t respond. She clenches her fists. 57 EXT. TRAIN - NIGHT In the distance, the base of the First Tower explodes. A flash of white flame erupts from the bottom. The white patterns fill the sky as the Star is absorbed into the Tower. The flames are expanding, getting closer and closer to the train at blinding speeds. 58 INT. TRAIN - CARRIAGE - NIGHT JOSEPH What''s that?! AETHER Hold onto something! Aether throws her hands forward against the glass just a moment before the flames arrive. 59 EXT. TRAIN - NIGHT The blaze consumes rails, the fields, and even the train. Only a single carriage remains, intact as the flames race around it, protected by Aether''s barrier. Everything else is sublimated instantly into incandescence, incinerated. The flames push on for a few long seconds as Aether desperately struggles to keep the carriage safe, even as the ground beneath it evaporates. For just a moment, it is a single speck, careening through an infinite blazing void of blinding white. After a moment, it falls, landing sideways in a shallow pool of white lava. Scenes 60-67 60 INT. TRAIN - CARRIAGE - NIGHT The four are hanging onto poles and seats as they pull themselves up, further away from the lava seeping in below through where the windows used to be. Solomon manages to shatter a couple of windows, climbing up through them and pulling the others through. 61 EXT. TRAIN - NIGHT Aether holds her hands out, faintly glowing. AETHER I absorbed what I could. Stay close to me if you don''t want to boil alive. JOSEPH This isn''t right. What happened? Nobody answers. Maria starts climbing down the side of the carriage. Aether holds her hand out, parting the lava enough for her to stand down there. MARIA The driver estimated us at five minutes on the train. We can walk the distance to the safehouse. Solomon begins to follow her lead, as does Joseph. SOLOMON Here''s hoping. Aether climbs down as well, and the four begin the trek through the sea of white-smouldering molten fields toward the looming pillar of flame where the Tower used to be. JOSEPH At least we''re not getting lost. 62 EXT. MOLTEN FIELDS - NIGHT A short distance away from the wrecked carriage is the molten remains of another. The charred, smouldering corpse of the driver is lying across the controls. A white ember briefly flickers from its joints, prompting them to twitch. 63 INT. FIFTH TOWER - STUDY - NIGHT Saul is sat at his desk, quietly filling out papers. Sophia enters the room, helmet removed. She storms up to him, slamming her hand down on his desktop. Saul calmly looks up from his work. SAUL No dice, I take it? Silence. She simply glares. He sighs. SAUL What is it, Lord Sophia? I don''t have anything for you. PILATE (O.S.) It''s fine. I might. Pilate and Photine are off to the side of the room, perusing the bookshelves. Sophia straightens her back, meeting Pilate''s gaze. SOPHIA Ironic. PILATE Unless you give me lip. SOPHIA I am the weapon of mass destruction here, not you. PILATE If there''s one thing about you that hasn''t changed, Lord Sophia, it''s that you wouldn''t dare to damage anything within half a mile''s radius of this Shrine. Not counting secular transport hubs, obviously. Pilate closes the book in his hand. PILATE The question is how you feel about the other Shrines. SOPHIA Explain, apostate. Pilate looks to Photine. He says nothing to her, but the intention in his harsh gaze is clear - that what he does next is on her, the person who talked him into doing it. With that declared, he makes eye contact with Sophia once again, and plays his hand: PILATE I know where Maria is going. His stance is almost confrontational, as though testing her. Her gaze does not let up. 64 EXT. FIRST CITY - STREETS - NIGHT If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.Even by the time Maria''s party arrive within the borders of the First City, the fires have not died down in the slightest. Ashes fall like snow. As they walk, strange shadows are visible through the windows of the blazing buildings. The lava has begun to cool, but the white glow of embers continues to light the way. JOSEPH This is awful. For Joseph, this place was once his home, rendered unrecognisable by the cataclysm they just witnessed. It''s taking a serious emotional toll on him. Maria is holding up significantly better, but it''s easy to tell that the pressure is building in her gut. JOSEPH How could this have happened? I thought they had ten thousand years to make sure that the Shrines were working properly. This should be impossible. SOLOMON It''s right in front of you. MARIA Cut him a break, will you? This is hard for anyone to accept. SOLOMON You seem to be doing just fine. MARIA One of us has to be. Before allowing anyone to puzzle out what she means, Maria makes a fairly sweeping gesture in the general direction of the First Tower. MARIA The safehouse is close to the city square. I can''t tell you about the entrance, but the majority of it is underground. It should be intact. At least, more intact than... Not far away, a building collapses to the ground, giving out from the flames. MARIA ...that. AETHER Keep an eye out for angry architecture. I''d rather not test this barrier any more than we have to. The sound of light footsteps over ash travels on the wind. Maria immediately draws her PISTOL. JOSEPH What was that? SOLOMON Something''s here. From the gap between two buildings steps a figure - their clothes are incinerated, and their body is a charcoal-like colour and texture. They shamble, seemingly aimlessly, across the street. Joseph rushes toward them without hesitation. AETHER Wait! JOSEPH Are you okay?! The figure looks up. Their eyeballs have burst from their sockets - white flame fills their place. The smouldering figure opens its mouth, and Fire crackles from its lips. FIRE Am I? Joseph screams, falling backwards. The figure extends a burning hand, reaching for his face. FIRE Are... you? Its fingers don''t reach him. Its head jerks back with the sound of a gunshot. Maria has reached Joseph''s side, emptying a magazine into the figure''s face until there''s nothing left to come out of the barrel. It stumbles back. One step, two steps. It snarls like a bonfire. Joseph gets up, fleeing back to Solomon and Aether. JOSEPH What is that thing? Maria watches as the figure stares into space, off-balance and about to fall. It doesn''t fall. FIRE What is... that thing? The damage done to its head fills with more Fire. It is unharmed. Maria quickly falls back faster than it can shamble toward her, reloading. MARIA Immortal, apparently. SOLOMON Not exactly. You can tell. It''s not a living being anymore. Its "eyes" lock onto the four. SOLOMON It''s a corpse. "Death" doesn''t mean anything to it. AETHER It''s like me. A vessel. Dozens more corpses, crackling with the Fire, begin to emerge from the surroundings - alleys, buildings, even from under the ashes. Most of them simply move to pass them, feeling the walls and ground around them blindly. They clutch at everything and wander aimlessly like newborns, but a handful are acutely focused on the party. MARIA Vessels, plural? AETHER Like... a sense of touch... JOSEPH For... For the fire...? It can think? SOLOMON Infesting the corpses of its own followers, using them like cells... MARIA Stay on the move. Come on. The four skirt between the slow-moving bodies, moving further into the city. 65 EXT. FIRST CITY - STREETS - NIGHT The Fire''s corpses continue to move in great swathes through the streets, clutching and investigating everything they come across. Anything in their hands too long melts or burns away. A twisted, half-molten lamppost gives out in its grip and falls to the ground, crushing one of the corpses beneath it. The body is split in half. The split crackles and ignites. Flames spring from each half, each independently forming a complete figure - two bodies where there once was one. The legs that formed a torso now form a head - it looks at itself, its own fiery hands, now able to think and perceive even without a brain. 66 EXT. MOLTEN FIELDS - NIGHT The dark fields are illuminated by a great procession of the Fire''s vessels. The entire population of the city has been converted into a forest of burning bodies. From afar, they look less like a simple mob, and more like a nervous system or mycorrhizal network. Their spread is organised and methodical. Solomon was clearly right: these "zombies" are mere feelers of the Fire, a single gigantic organism larger than the entire city. In the distance, the white flames - the limitless body of this abominable God - continue to spread. The First Tower has become a gleaming white pyre, and its vents that surround the border have become looming bonfires, making the entire city look like a blazing altar. 67 EXT. FIRST CITY - SQUARE - NIGHT Lying in the light of the Tower''s flames is the CLOCK that once showed the countdown until The End. It has fallen to the ground, and its display has gone dark. Fire''s vessels ignore it. Briefly, burning words flicker on the display: "AM:I :HE:RE: :WH:AT:IS:BE:YO:ND:HE:RE" The sound of the flames rises and falls, like breathing. Scenes 68-71 68 INT. SAFEHOUSE - ENTRANCE - NIGHT A dark and dingy tunnel, lined with rusting pipes and eroding iron walls, ends in a misshapen, half-melted brown door. It rattles, clangs, refusing to open. Solomon''s hand hooks it from the other side, tearing it free. MARIA Thanks. SOLOMON Don''t mention it. The party enter the tunnel. It''s almost pitch black, the only illumination being Aether''s patterns. JOSEPH Hold on, I''ve got this. Searching through his clothes, Joseph pulls out a TORCH, switching it on to point the way. It flickers a bit, and he smacks it around somewhat to turn it back on. JOSEPH Just... one second. Solomon loses patience almost immediately, holding out his arm and lighting up his own patterns - instantly more effective than the torch. JOSEPH Or that. That''s... That''s fine, I suppose. I''ll just... He reluctantly puts his torch away as the four advance. AETHER You people and your interior decor. MARIA It''s better than I was expecting. I was worried that the fire hit here too. Guess not. SOLOMON Isn''t this connected to the Shrine''s heat exhaust? MARIA It was going to be. This was a prototype for the vent system that Pilate designed. They cancelled construction long before it was finished, so it''s disconnected from the Shrine itself. AETHER I that four-eyed bastard seemed knew shady! So he was an engineer for the First all along? MARIA The head engineer. He was the old Magister, but he left. JOSEPH I never knew that. MARIA He doesn''t like to talk about it. Apostasy isn''t taken kindly up in the Towers. Nothing you haven''t seen with your own eyes already though. JOSEPH Yeah, I don''t think I''d want that Sophia lady coming after me either. AETHER Oh, don''t worry, you''ve definitely sealed that fate. She hates you guys. JOSEPH Oh. Good. The four cast long shadows on the decaying walls as they advance deeper inside. 69 INT. SAFEHOUSE - MAIN CHAMBER - NIGHT The four enter into a wide squarish room, with makeshift furniture laid out inside. Maria flips a breaker switch on the wall, and a number of lights on the ceiling blink to life. She checks a pressure gauge next to it, connected by tubes to a large engine-like MACHINE. JOSEPH You''re kidding me! The generator still works? Silence. The machine doesn''t move. JOSEPH Or... I guess not. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. MARIA Figures. We''re on reserve power. SOLOMON How long have we got before the lights go out? MARIA Impossible to say. JOSEPH We always kept the batteries topped up for a week''s worth of energy, but they''re probably drained. Or leaking. Maria gives a shrug. MARIA Make yourselves comfortable. We''ll be here for a while. Joseph frowns, confused. JOSEPH Wait. What''s the plan? MARIA There isn''t one. JOSEPH But... MARIA But what? What goals do we have to achieve? We came here to hide Aether. Joseph looks to Aether, who looks down at her feet. MARIA The only thing left is for her to make her decision about whether to finish The End or not. I''m sorry that we don''t have any boulevards to walk down and ponder about the meaning of life or anything, but that''s the hand we''re dealt. This is the end of the line. There''s nowhere else to go. Joseph looks back to Maria. He was expecting more than this. Instead all he''s faced with is an abyss of despair. MARIA Sorry that you weren''t paying attention, I guess. JOSEPH I was, I just... I thought you, of all people, would... have something. AETHER I understand. I''ll think about it. MARIA I recommend you all get some sleep. We''ve got four days to go. 70 EXT. MOLTEN FIELDS - DAY The Fire hasn''t died down by the next morning. It''s not better, nor worse. A pair of helicopters fly over the scenery, doors open. A cohort of Warpriests stand ready inside each one. Pilate stands by Sophia''s side, staring hollowly at the devastation below. SOPHIA It''s glorious. You must be proud. PILATE (incredulously) Glorious? Proud? SOPHIA To see mortality itself immolated, a divine flame to cleanse mankind... Look. They are liberated from their physical forms, and have ascended as higher beings. They themselves have become the Fire. Pilate stares at her, dumbfounded at the lengths of her denial - or perhaps the depths of her delusion. She has not lost her mind, but her absolute devotion to The Faith has left her unable to see the destruction for what it is. 71 EXT. FIRST CITY - STREETS - DAY The helicopters land in the street, blowing ashes into the air as they do. Sophia puts on her helmet, and steps out. The Warpriests follow. One of them hands Pilate a rifle. A crowd of corpses sees the landing squadron, beginning to make their way toward them, chanting in unison. FIRE You... Who are... you, standing upon... my body? Sophia drops to her knees. The Warpriests, and even a reluctant Pilate, follow suit. SOPHIA It is the greatest of all honours, O Highest of Highs, ye Grandest Holiness. We are in the presence of Heaven itself. FIRE Who are you? SOPHIA I am Deborah Sophia, the Defender of the Fifth Grand Shrine. FIRE Who are you? The corpses are getting closer, reaching out. Sophia takes to her feet, offering a solemn bow. SOPHIA Please forgive me for my impudence, great divine one. Our salvation is fated at the hands of the Fifth, not yourself. FIRE Who are you? She looks up. The burning finger is less than an inch away from her - and then it stops. The figure is trapped in Sophia''s telekinetic prison. SOPHIA I see. If you cannot understand my words, then perhaps this will suffice. Sophia raises her hand and musters a cataclysm. A ludicrous blast of force explodes from her gauntlet. Destruction emanates. Entire blocks of the city explode, blown away by the tremendous force. The crowd before her is reduced to dust and strips of blackened flesh. Ash fills the air as the ground is torn asunder. It is a feat unlike anything she has displayed before - out here, she no longer has any reason to hold back. Everything before her is instantly reduced to rubble and remains. Although the city sustains great damage, the Fire itself does not die down, unfazed by the tremendous blow - we see that although she has obliterated so much, it is practically nothing from a bird''s eye view. If the sea of Fire is the flesh of a god, then this is barely even a bruise. Pilate approaches her from behind, clearly trying to act discreet. PILATE (quietly) I wasn''t aware you were allowed to do that. She has no such reservations. SOPHIA Do not mistake reverence for submission. I answer to the Faith, not its creations. PILATE Just be careful. Even you''re doomed if it learns violence. Sophia turns to the Warpriests behind her. SOPHIA Remember this. We are here for the god that will complete The End. god, Our the Fifth, will bring about our deliverance! We have a sacred duty today! Is that understood? The Warpriests take to their feet, saluting. WARPRIESTS Yes, Holiness! SOPHIA Let us begin the final pilgrimage. Scenes 72-77 72 INT. SAFEHOUSE - MAIN CHAMBER - DAY Maria and Solomon are engaged in a hand-to-hand spar. Joseph and Aether sit off to one side, watching. A rumbling shakes some rust flecks from the ceiling. AETHER Do you think the Tower finally collapsed? Joseph doesn''t respond, staring intently at Maria''s movements. Just like before, her disadvantage is tremendous, but she is managing to keep up with Solomon just fine. AETHER Are you two related or something? JOSEPH Maria and I? AETHER You act as though she''s your older sister. Being an older sister myself, there''s something to it. Joseph frowns, tearing his eyes from her to look at Aether. JOSEPH No, we''re not. But you''re kind of right, I guess. 73 EXT. FIRST CITY - STREETS - NIGHT (FLASHBACK) A young Joseph, around 13, is wandering through the alleys in the rain. JOSEPH (V.O.) My parents died when I was twelve. There was nobody else to take care of me. I flunked out of school. Not that I had any talents to begin with. I wasn''t worth saving. Joseph slips, falling. Maria catches him, lifting him up with his arm around her neck. Pilate is beside her. JOSEPH (V.O.) She was already here. She took me under her wing. She was stronger than anyone. She was always bigger than the world behind the desks. She broke free, and was shunned for it. The three walk toward the end of the alley together. 74 EXT. FIRST CITY - ALLEYS - NIGHT (FLASHBACK) A mountain of bodies. Maria climbs to the top, bloodied and bruised. JOSEPH (V.O.) She defeated anyone who threatened us. We both fell out of society, but she''s not like me. She reaches the summit, looking up at the moon as the clouds part. JOSEPH (V.O.) Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.She''s like a superhero. I was too weak, and fell through the cracks. She was too strong, and the world wasn''t enough to keep her down. At the base of the pile of defeated foes is Pilate, and Joseph behind him. The two look up at the victorious woman. 75 INT. SAFEHOUSE - MAIN CHAMBER - DAY AETHER You really look up to her that much? JOSEPH Maria''s heart is the strongest. She can defeat anyone, and nothing in this world can kill her. I honestly believe that. AETHER It explains a lot. I thought you were obsessed with The End because you were taught to be. JOSEPH What do you mean? AETHER It''s obvious, isn''t it? You want to be like her. Maria brings Solomon to a knee. MARIA How''s that? SOLOMON ...You''re... better than I gave you credit for. He gets to his feet as she stretches. MARIA I''ve had a lot of practice. Mostly against my dad''s goons. Hope the old man''s alright. Yelling voices begin to echo into the main chamber from the tunnels. JOSEPH Are they here?! MARIA We''re out of time. Aether, your answer. Aether looks to Joseph, then Maria. AETHER I... I don''t know, but... I think there must be... some way to make the world better without burning it. JOSEPH Aether... AETHER For now... For now, I''ll stay. Maria produces her PISTOL, loading it, and handing it to Joseph. MARIA Solomon, Joseph, go. Hold them off as best you can. I''ll protect Aether. She pulls a KNIFE from her boot. SOLOMON You''re going to fight Warpriests with that? MARIA We''ll figure out another way out of here. Just buy some time. JOSEPH Maria... MARIA Go. With reluctance, the two nod, turning to go. 76 INT. SAFEHOUSE - ENTRANCE - DAY Sophia and Pilate step in behind a squadron of Warpriests. SOPHIA You will rue this day if you have led us into a trap, Pilate. PILATE Don''t worry. I was serious. There''s no going back now. All I can do is help avoid a disaster. The Warpriests begin to advance, casting a web from dozens of lights into the dark from their torches. 77 INT. SAFEHOUSE - MAIN CHAMBER - DAY Maria is waiting by the door, knife in hand to ambush anyone who enters. Her knuckles are white from the strength of her grip. Aether is right behind her. AETHER Thank you. MARIA For what? AETHER For protecting me. I know you don''t believe in The End. MARIA I''m just following my conscience. AETHER You mentioned there being another way out. MARIA I''ve already got one, I think. How much can those circuits on your skin withstand? AETHER That depends on what they''re exposed to. They''re generally quite delicate. MARIA Good. Maria spins on her heel. The knife is thrust into Aether''s abdomen. The air is forced from her lungs, and her patterns flicker and blink out. Maria pulls it free. She strikes Aether in the face, knocking her to the ground. Scenes 78-83 78 INT. SAFEHOUSE - TUNNELS - DAY Solomon and Joseph are running at full speed. Solomon turns a corner, grabbing a Warpriest''s head and slamming it into the floor. Gunfire breaks out from half a dozen more just up ahead, but he uses the uneven walls and the darkness as cover. Joseph doesn''t even manage to take a single shot as Solomon crushes the enemy line. PILATE (O.S.) I never thought I''d see the day that two teams of Warpriests weren''t enough. Pilate walks down the tunnels, coming face to face with the pair. JOSEPH Pilate! SOLOMON So the traitor in the midst finally reveals himself. PILATE I haven''t betrayed anyone. I''m here to do what I was supposed to have done from the start. The alternative is in Maria''s hands now. JOSEPH Maria... A dreadful realisation begins to dawn on Joseph. JOSEPH I have to go. Hold him off! SOLOMON I''ll do better than that. Joseph turns, sprinting back in the direction they came. PILATE Do you think he''ll forgive you if you kill me? SOLOMON Who cares? I''m right. Solomon rushes Pilate, swinging his fist. It strikes Pilate''s rifle - Pilate has parried him with the exact same move Maria used. PILATE Just because you''re correct, doesn''t mean you''re right. Solomon''s patterns shine, and he tears the gun in half, punching Pilate in the chest with enough force to send him flying. 79 INT. SAFEHOUSE - MAIN CHAMBER - DAY Joseph runs into the room to see Maria standing over Aether, knife in hand. She grabs her, pressing the knife to her throat. Joseph points the gun at Maria. AETHER Joseph...! JOSEPH Maria! MARIA You''ve caught me at a bad time. JOSEPH What are you doing?! MARIA You know exactly what I''m doing. I wanted to persuade her to kill herself, but in the end, we didn''t have that kind of time. JOSEPH Why?! If Aether dies, The End fails! We won''t have a perfect world! MARIA What is "perfect", Joseph? Who told you what it means? JOSEPH I know what it means! MARIA Who told you? (beat) You pinned all your hopes on The End, and you made up what it means to you. The End isn''t magic. It''s just bodies. JOSEPH You can''t know that! MARIA You''ve seen it with your own eyes. JOSEPH What happened last night was a mistake! You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. MARIA Ten thousand years of work. You said it yourself. We both know there was no mistake. The Tower did exactly what it was supposed to do. You just assumed you understood it. And you were... incorrect. Joseph doesn''t lower the gun. He can''t. 80 INT. SAFEHOUSE - TUNNELS - DAY Solomon''s patterns are magnifying his strength. Pilate can barely evade his blows as he punches through the rusting iron walls. SOLOMON Give up. You don''t stand a chance. PILATE I''ll keep striving towards the impossible. That''s what it means to be human. SOLOMON To blindly charge into your grave? I pity your weaknesses. As a perfect being, all I can do is weep for your flaws. PILATE You keep saying that. Perfect for what, exactly? The words have visibly struck a chord. SOLOMON Excuse you? PILATE "Perfect" implies you''re an exact fit for your situation, doesn''t it? Because you certainly aren''t flawless. You fell for the same trick twice. You failed to keep your sister safe. You didn''t even that Maria and I notice wanted her dead this whole time. Did you, in your arrogance, even consider it? Did we hit a blind spot? Are you keeping some specialty behind that bluster or not? Solomon is visibly enraged at the challenge, and more enraged that he can''t refute it. SOLOMON You''d best hope there''s a miracle behind yours. PILATE Don''t you worry about that, boy. My miracles were behind me years ago. Solomon grabs Pilate by the throat, lifting him up to slam him into the ground. 81 INT. SAFEHOUSE - MAIN CHAMBER - DAY The standoff continues. JOSEPH You knew it would be like this. MARIA Not exactly. But I had a hunch. It''s healthy to be sceptical when materialising a nebulous thing like "good". She presses the knife against Aether''s throat, drawing a little blood. Aether gasps. JOSEPH Stop it! MARIA One way or another, I won''t be a part of The End. I knew that from the beginning. You''ll have to kill me. Joseph''s grip wavers slightly. JOSEPH Maria... Please. MARIA I''m sorry, Joseph. JOSEPH I can''t do this without you. A perfect world has you in it. MARIA "Perfect" means nothing to me. Say it like I can understand. BEAT. Joseph has accepted what happens next. Tears begin to flow down his cheeks. JOSEPH (weakly) I love you. Maria gives a warm, affectionate smile. MARIA I love you too. Her grip on the knife tightens. The sound of gunshot, tinged in finality, echoes through the room. 82 INT. SAFEHOUSE - TUNNELS - DAY Pilate''s brains have been thoroughly beaten out. The back of his head has been reduced to a red smear as he lies lifeless against the floor. Solomon stands over him, panting heavily to catch his breath. SOLOMON There. I win. His words are more to convince himself. It doesn''t work. For the first time in his life, he has been tricked, and the doubt creeping into his mind makes the challenge to his self-proclaimed "perfection" ring true all the more. Then, footsteps. Someone is coming, looming in the dark. He already knows who it is. SOLOMON Show yourself. Sophia''s crown and gauntlet spark to life in the shadows. 83 INT. SAFEHOUSE - MAIN CHAMBER - DAY Aether is on her knees, staring speechless at Maria''s body. A rumbling explosion in the distance shakes her out of her stupor. AETHER Are you... okay? JOSEPH It was... That was the only thing I could... do, I... Can you still bring The End? AETHER I think they can fix my circuits, but... Are you still... I mean, you wanted a perfect world, and... Joseph can only grit his teeth. JOSEPH It''ll work out. She''ll be there, right? She''ll... Maria''s body twitches. JOSEPH Maria! AETHER Oh no. JOSEPH You get it, don''t you? I''m not going to let you do that, even if you believe in it! AETHER Joseph. That''s not... Maria pulls herself to her feet, looking up with eyes like white embers. JOSEPH (weakly) ...Maria? Her shambling has become identical to the corpses from before. Her flesh begins to sear itself into a coal-like colour and texture as her body begins to immolate right in front of his eyes. FIRE What... is... Maria? Joseph screams, backing off immediately in horror as the last fragments of his faith come crashing down. AETHER Joseph! I know! I know, but we have to leave. We have to get out of here. If we don''t, Sophia is going to catch us and... she''s going... to... Maria''s corpse is slammed against the wall, held there by invisible force. Aether and Joseph look to the door in terror. A bloodied Solomon is tossed into the room. The worst possible person strikes a horrifying figure against the doorway, flanked by two Warpriests. SOPHIA Oh no, please continue. Give me some ideas. The rage in her eyes borders on inhuman. Scenes 84-88 84 INT./EXT. HELICOPTER - EVENING (FLYING) Joseph is in chains, sitting in the back of one of the helicopters escorting them back to the Fifth City. Three Warpriests are present, and Solomon and Aether are opposite him. They do not make eye contact. Sophia is standing, staring wistfully out the door toward the burning city. SOPHIA I can only hope that you are finally willing to do your duty and complete The End. AETHER If I become the God that you want me to be... She cuts herself off. AETHER I''ll do it. I don''t have any guilt about ending something cruel. SOPHIA It''s good to see you''ve come around. I wasn''t expecting you to change your mind so easily. AETHER I didn''t change my mind. I started to believe in something, and then there were... new facts. SOPHIA Those do have a tendency to teach you things. It makes one strong. If the First God had but a little more time to learn the concept of an enemy, it would have overwhelmed me in one fell stroke. It took my strongest blow, and see how little it cares. That is the power of perfection, of a pure machine. Solomon looks up. SOLOMON Pure machine? As opposed to what? SOPHIA An impure machine. Like human beings, for instance. SOLOMON Can you really call something with free will a machine? SOPHIA What is "free will"? Interrogate it, and you will find the concept is nonsensical at its core. An undefinable myth. Will exists, but freedom is impossible while we are imperfect. We are slaves to our inborn sins and our accumulated fallacies. An infant has nothing but instinct. It develops its intelligence based on its experience. But those experiences are inherently flawed. The senses are imperfect. They cannot comprehend all things necessary for true understanding, only a facsimile. The intelligence becomes flawed, and we are locked away from truth. The only flawless will is a random one, born from chance, with no coherent motivation nor direction. The only truly free human is one unbound from the limits of their own intelligence. Your eyes can be mistaken in what they see. But a blade has never once been mistaken in cutting, nor a wheel in turning. That is perfection. Solomon has no answer, simply watching as Sophia continues to watch the burning city. 85 INT. FIFTH TOWER - STUDY - NIGHT Photine is giving a final diagnostic report to Saul. The desk is largely empty - the paperwork is long since done - with only the foetus jar left. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. PHOTINE Aether is intact. Her circuits were damaged, but only minimally. We''re in the process of repairing them using intact material from Solomon. She''ll be ready to go on the day. SAUL Then everything is resolved, Lord Photine? PHOTINE Everything. SAUL It''s been a long few days. You should get some rest. PHOTINE So should you. She turns to leave, and then stops. PHOTINE Lord Saul. I''ve been meaning to ask for a while. SAUL What''s that? PHOTINE The jar... What... is that? Saul looks to it. SAUL Ah. It''s probably a little morbid. My late wife passed away while carrying, you see. PHOTINE And that''s... SAUL Yes. I keep him preserved here so that I can take him with me on our ascension. PHOTINE Will that work? SAUL I have no choice but to hope. PHOTINE I see. I can understand that. My apologies. She exits the room, leaving Saul alone with the jar. 86 EXT. FIFTH CITY - SQUARE - DAY The CLOCK is ticking. There is little over one day to go. 87 INT. FIFTH TOWER - HOLDING CELLS - DAY Photine enters a small room crammed with tightly-packed cells - the bed takes up more than half the space in each one. They are almost empty, save for two - Joseph and Solomon, side by side. Sophia is standing outside the cells, helmet under her arm. She turns to look at Photine on her way in. PHOTINE Lord Sophia, it''s time. SOPHIA I was just informing the nihilist of his fate. Ritual sacrifice seems fitting, don''t you agree? A shame we can''t do the same to the spare. Joseph, curled up in the corner of his cell, only shoots a glare. SOPHIA For endangering our salvation, execution is the only appropriate punishment. You will not see the perfect world. JOSEPH The perfect world is gone. I didn''t realise it was there until I lost it. PHOTINE You must be the one who Aether talked about. SOPHIA A fool to the last. Perfection is what the Gods do. They are righteousness incarnate. Right is derived from them. That which opposes them is evil by definition. PHOTINE (softly) We have to have hope, don''t we? That''s why we pray. JOSEPH Bullshit. Photine is taken aback by his response. JOSEPH I''ve seen a God. Sure, you made them real. You''re weren''t about incorrect being able to make them. But you''re still . "Salvation" means nothing wrong to me. Don''t you tell me that dare you''re right. SOPHIA It''s a pity to see one so lost. JOSEPH Maybe I am. But you can''t argue with me, because the "perfection" you''ve been chasing only exists in your mind. BEAT. PHOTINE I see. "There''s no equation for good", is that right? SOPHIA Lord Photine. PHOTINE It''s nothing. We should get going, Lord Sophia. You need to hold a mass. Sophia shakes her head, and the two exit the room, leaving Joseph alone with Solomon. SOLOMON When did you get the balls? Joseph doesn''t respond. SOLOMON Sounds like you know more about perfection than I do. Funny how things work out. The two sit in silence, back-to-back with the cramped cell walls in between. 88 EXT. FIRST-THIRD BORDER - NIGHT A Last Star soars overhead, passing over a cataclysmic clash between the Fire and gleaming white WATER, spanning as far as the eye can see. It reaches the Fourth TOWER, and everything in sight is petrified into white STONE. Above, a divine WIND roars. The stone begins to turn to mud and lava - the four elements rage violently for supremacy. Scenes 89-93 89 EXT. FIFTH CITY - SQUARE - DAY The CLOCK is finally almost at zero. Joseph is escorted by a squad of Warpriests into the open space, a small crowd beginning to form around the site, murmuring with a general air of confusion and anxiety. Solomon is present, standing in chains as a witness with a pair of Warpriests either side of him. Sophia, heading the squad, turns to Joseph. SOPHIA I have no intention to be present for the moment you die. I will not hear any last requests from you. Let it be known that the thief who tried to steal our redemption from us failed. On the moment that the final Star arrives, you will be sacrificed for your sins. We will not meet again. She turns to go, heading towards the edge of the city in the complete opposite direction to the Tower. WARPRIEST #1 Holiness? SOPHIA I have more important things to do. You know your mark. She departs. The CLOCK counts down to two minutes remaining as the Warpriests stand in silence. They raise their guns, preparing to execute their target. JOSEPH Solomon. Solomon makes eye contact with him. JOSEPH Tell Aether I''m sorry. SOLOMON Tell her yourself. Joseph chuckles. JOSEPH You finally do jokes? Solomon pulls his arms apart, and his chains snap. Joseph stares in shock as Solomon dispatches the Warpriests by his side immediately. The crowd screams, beginning to flee. The executioners turn on Solomon, opening fire, but he has already picked up one of the guards to use their body armour as a shield. Grabbing a gun that his human shield dropped, he makes short work of the entire firing squad. Silence falls on the scene. Joseph is dumbstruck. JOSEPH Okay then. Taking that as a no. SOLOMON I hope you really did want to talk to Aether. JOSEPH Yeah. You could say that. SOLOMON Good. Well, if you''re set on storming the most heavily guarded building on the planet right now, you''re going to need one of these. He picks up a second machine gun from the other guard, tossing it over. Now armed, resolve fills Joseph''s body. JOSEPH How long have we got? He takes a look at the clock - the time is zero. The clouds burst. A blindingly bright light shines on the city as the Last Star touches the tip of the Shrine. The divine patterns fill the sky. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. The End is here. The bodies of the dying Warpriests lying on the ground around them slowly begin to turn into motes of light, gradually dissolving into the sky. JOSEPH Is that...? SOLOMON She''s saving them, is she? BEAT. The two watch the display for a few seconds. SOLOMON I''m not slowing down for you. JOSEPH You''d better not. The two sprint at full speed towards the Tower. 90 INT. FIFTH TOWER - INNER SHRINE - DAY Aether is alone in the heart of the Shrine. She is on her knees, hands clasped together. Her entire body is shining as the light of the Last Star begins to enter her. Any regrets she may have had are drowned out by here and now. The tremendous energy entering her body lights up the entire chamber in divine patterns, and she begins to scream. What comes out is not a cry of pain, but a godly hymn. 91 INT. FIFTH TOWER - ENTRANCE - DAY The entrance to the Fifth Tower is enormous, as grand as anyone would expect from the ultimate temple. Warpriests line the antechamber, loading their weapons to the sound of gunfire outside. Their bodies are glowing, already beginning to fade away, but they keep their weapons trained on the entrance. Solomon and Joseph take cover at either side of the doorway, avoiding the onslaught of lead that erupts from inside. JOSEPH What''s happening to them? SOLOMON I don''t know. It''s probably the nature of the Fifth God. JOSEPH But we''re fine! SOLOMON Of course we are. At a time like this, Aether would want to talk to you. Solomon takes a few potshots, and Joseph tries the same. 92 EXT. FIFTH CITY - STREETS - DAY The populace of the city are staring up at the divine patterns and the falling Star, paralysed by sheer awe. Those inside begin to step out of shops and their homes to see the light above. A child looks at their hands as they begin to transform slowly into motes of light. The people are starting to dissolve and disappear, and they joyfully accept their fates. People start to cheer and weep with happiness. Friends and family embrace each other. The sources of the motes cannot be told apart as they float away into the divine patterns. 93 INT. FIFTH TOWER - ENTRANCE - DAY The Warpriests have dissolved to the point that they can no longer fight. Even those who are still alive no longer have arms. Solomon and Joseph are intact, hurrying further in. Solomon stops, raising his rifle, and Joseph follows suit. Saul - holding his jar - and Photine are walking down the corridor toward them. SAUL Good day, Solomon. And you must be Aether''s friend. SOLOMON What are you doing here? JOSEPH Who''s this? SAUL Relax. I was just going for an afternoon stroll, since I have no work left to do. PHOTINE Where''s Sophia? JOSEPH She started walking toward the hills. Photine sprints past the pair, headed for the exit. SAUL She''s unusually motivated. Well, it''s a big day. SOLOMON (to Joseph) Come on. The two hurry past him as he continues to walk. SAUL Solomon. Solomon briefly stops. SOLOMON Father. I''ve already changed my mind. SAUL I know. I just wanted to say that you shouldn''t go out with any regrets. SOLOMON I won''t. With that, Solomon gets moving again, catching up to Joseph and disappearing around a corner. Saul keeps walking, stepping into the sunlight at the entrance. Turning to light, he holds up the jar, only to see that the foetus is not reacting to The End at all - it remains dead flesh, unchanging. Saul manages a wistful smile, and the jar falls to the stone steps, shattering to pieces as the hands holding it vanish. Scenes 94-95 94 EXT. HILL OVERLOOKING THE FIFTH CITY - DAY The vent nearby has become a pillar of light. Sophia stands in the wind. She removes her helmet and her cape, holding her gauntlet above her head. Wisps of violet light begin to bleed from it as she relinquishes the First Star, allowing it to float off into the sky as the gauntlet falls apart. She watches it go, lowering her hand. PHOTINE (O.S.) So this is where you were. Photine is behind her, panting for breath - she just ran all the way up the hill. Sophia turns, raising an eyebrow. SOPHIA You''re still dreadfully out of shape. PHOTINE Anyone would want to die after doing that! Sophia sighs, sitting down. PHOTINE What are you doing out here, anyway? SOPHIA Just finishing my duties. All my life, I thought when The End arrived, I would die on my feet in full uniform. But I have to pay my dues to that nihilist somehow. PHOTINE Aether''s friend? What dues? SOPHIA He had a point. PHOTINE Wow. SOPHIA Oh, be quiet. Photine sits down in the grass next to her. The two watch the light spilling from the city as it disappears into the sky. It''s not just people now, but buildings and even the earth itself. SOPHIA I realised that there are other perspectives. I believe I am right. He believes he is. But we both have different ideas of what it means to be "right", so neither of us can refute the other. PHOTINE That... is how a conscience works. SOPHIA I know. But knowing is not always understanding. It''s rare that such an idea truly sinks in. It''s hard to explain. PHOTINE It sounds hard, but... why take it so seriously? SOPHIA Because when I arrived at the First City, I shot a hole in the God of Fire. PHOTINE Uh. Whoa. Okay. SOPHIA It was doing something I objected to. So perhaps my "good" wasn''t the Gods, but my image of the Gods. PHOTINE Philosophy doesn''t suit you. SOPHIA It doesn''t, does it? But I don''t have time to say anything more than "maybe he was almost right". BEAT. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. PHOTINE Can I hold your hand? SOPHIA If that is your "good". Photine links fingers with Sophia, and the two fade away watching the light. 95 INT. FIFTH TOWER - INNER SHRINE - DAY Joseph rushes into the room. The heart of the Shrine is shining brightly. JOSEPH Aether! He looks around frantically at the equipment, almost immediately giving up, throwing his gun to one side. JOSEPH I''ll pull her out! See if you can shut it down! He runs over to the glass, shielding his eyes with his arm as he tries opens a hatch. Solomon''s hand grabs his shoulder. Joseph is flung aside like a ragdoll, landing winded on his back on the catwalk. JOSEPH What are you doing?! I thought you didn''t want anything to do with The End! Solomon stands tall in front of the heart. SOLOMON And I thought you wanted to see The End. JOSEPH Are you insane?! Joseph gets to his feet, staggering. The two stand at opposite ends of the desolately gleaming shrine. SOLOMON Maybe. My body is perfect. But I''ve made mistakes. Is my mind flawed? If it is, would I ever be able to understand that with my flawed mind? Would I ever recognise "good", the way you do? There''s no way to know. Except one. The Gods will make us perfect beings, because they are perfect too. They have no doubts about their functions. They were born exactly as they were created to be. They have no reasons to regret anything. So how will they judge me? What will my perfection look like? Will I change at all? Am I a good man, Joseph? Can I ever be? Joseph grits his teeth. JOSEPH SOLOMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON! Solomon closes his eyes. The two step forward, and trade fists. It''s not even a contest. Joseph is send flying, crashing into the floor with tremendous speed. Solomon leaps the distance, falling toward him. Joseph narrowly avoids a stomp that would crush his head. He pulls himself to his feet, evading Solomon''s fist and landing an utterly ineffectual attack. Solomon is too tough and too strong. He''s also fast - Joseph finds himself unable to dodge another blow, blocking with his arms. A sickening crack - Joseph''s bones break. Light erupts from the wound, and Solomon withdraws his fist - his knuckles are singed. On closer inspection, light is leaking from Joseph''s back too - his shirt is beginning to burn off around it. He doesn''t even flinch. SOLOMON I see. Perhaps this is Aether''s way of asking us to stop. BEAT. The pair''s eye contact has not broken. Neither of them back down. SOLOMON I suppose I''ll have to apologise to her too. The two keep going. Joseph doesn''t stand a chance. Solomon has no openings, and outmatches him in every single way. All Joseph can do is try to withstand the strikes. But for each blow Solomon lands, the white beams scorch him. He cannot attack with the same body part twice, and he cannot attack the same place on Joseph twice either. It is the price he pays for attacking a body made of light. The two are hardly fighting each other - their real battle is against the limits of their own bodies. Joseph guards his head. Solomon''s hands are already cinders - he relies on his elbows and feet now. Eventually, Joseph is finally thrown to the ground. SOLOMON I''ve won, Joseph. A stomp to shatter Joseph''s chest. He barely evades. Solomon''s heel crushes his left hand. It bursts into light. Joseph throws his left arm to one side. The light, like a sword, sears across Solomon''s chest. It lands directly over his heart. Joseph pushes on. He stands up. His gleaming left hand gets closer. Solomon raises his shattered hands to crush Joseph''s head. He is not faster than light. The beam burns right through him as Joseph''s hand touches his chest. JOSEPH That''s no reason for me to give up. BEAT. Solomon lowers his arms in defeat. He has lost the will to continue, and begins to fade away. SOLOMON About that first apology... JOSEPH Don''t bother. If there was something you did, I already forgot it. (beat) If this stops, will you come back? SOLOMON If it doesn''t, will you join me? JOSEPH Even for a first joke, that sucked. SOLOMON Please. It was perfect. Solomon vanishes. There is nothing left in Joseph''s path. He limps into the light, and the world vanishes around him. Scene 96 96 VOID Aether is waiting as Joseph approaches her, but something about her is different - as though it''s not herself in her body. JOSEPH Aether. BEAT. She stares coldly. AETHER No more. The Fire and Water and Wind and Earth. They battle far from here. I am to join them, so we may leave this world together. I must ask why you come, small thing. He does not answer. He reaches into his pocket, and offers to her a crushed LIME. JOSEPH This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.I think I fell on it at some point, but... Aether stares at it. She takes it. It reforms itself. AETHER You think that I don''t remember you. He looks up at her, astonished. AETHER I have taken in this city''s patterns. Its people are within me. We are composites. But I am none of them. I am the Star. You know this, no? (beat) I recognise the pattern that was once in this vessel. The one that saw your sorrow and chose to become me. For that reason, I will hear your request. JOSEPH You can''t undo all of this? AETHER That is true. Even if I were willing to destroy myself, there is nowhere for these patterns to go. I must ask you to join them. My records are not complete without yours. JOSEPH You said you''d hear me out, didn''t you? She closes her eyes. AETHER I should have expected that your final wish would be a curse upon me. Joseph smiles. JOSEPH I''m cursed too. It isn''t as bad as you''d think. The two stand face to face in the blank white void. Ever so slightly, the void cracks. The End. 97 EXT. SPACE The planet is dissolving into water, earth, fire, air, and light - each pulling themselves free from the sphere until there is nothing left. The light coalesces into Aether, standing on nothing. The lime is in her hand. A silver-eyed woman with flames for hair - Fire - sidles up besides her, looking over her shoulder. FIRE If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.What''ve you got there? Following suit are the others: Water, a tall man; Wind, a young boy of childish stature; and Earth, an average near-ordinary woman. AETHER When you all take the same shape as me, it makes me want to change. FIRE Ah, don''t be like that. What is it? Aether stares affectionately at the lime, and it transforms into a star in her hand. AETHER A good memory. The five walk into the boundless universe, and the title emerges: the end.