Daylight - First Draft

Act II - Scene 40: Speaking to the Past

SC40 - Speaking to the Past

INT. PHILOSOPHER CABIN. EVENING.

Eleanor is lying on top of her bedsheets, twirling the sceptre around in her hands. She examines it closely then holds it out, pointing at the lamp on the bedside table. She screws up her eyes in an effort to make the sceptre react again, but nothing happens. Sighing, she rolls onto her back and lays the sceptre down beside her, still gently gripping the handle. After a few short moments, her eyes close and she drifts off to sleep.

VOICE: Eleanor?

She opens her eyes again. But she is no longer in her cabin on the Philosopher. She is lying on the grass in the middle of a vast, misty plain. Eleanor sits, looking around for the source of the voice and spots a woman standing several feet away from her, obscured by the fog. The figure steps forward.

HAVEN: We meet again.

ELEANOR: Haven... This... is this a dream?

HAVEN: I believe this is taking place within a dream, yes. However it is no coincidence that we are speaking now.

ELEANOR: You're doing this?

Haven nods.

HAVEN: I've been wanting to speak with you for a long time Eleanor, but without assistance, it has not been possible to communicate clearly.

Haven lifts a finger in the direction of Eleanor's right hand. She looks down and notices that she is still grasping the sceptre. She lifts it to eye level.

ELEANOR: This?

Haven nods again.

HAVEN: I used that sceptre to close the great portal. It is a special type of vessel, one that can transfer energy from one source to another.

ELEANOR: Isn't that what we already do?

HAVEN: Indeed we can... but this can do more. It takes our power a step further. Without it, we may move energy freely but we cannot restrain its flow.

ELEANOR: What do you mean... restrain it?

HAVEN: It allows us to move energy as we normally would, but instead of releasing it elsewhere, the sceptre can store it so as to stop it from escaping. It is with this principle that I was able to close the portal, many an age ago.

ELEANOR: But why would you need to store the portals energy to get rid of it?

HAVEN: I feared the power if unleashed, would be too strong... too unwieldy for me to handle. Our ability is powerful but it is nonetheless limited. To release the pure cosmic energy from the portal could have been devestating to the very stability of our world. I could not risk that happening.

ELEANOR: So you stored the energy in this...

Eleanor holds up the sceptre again.

ELEANOR: But I don't feel anything inside it. I just feel my own strength grow when I'm near it.

HAVEN: I already told you the sceptre itself is merely a vessel. Not any ordinary object can house such a power. In order for the transfer to work without destabilizing the energy, it needs a living being to play host. In this case, myself.

ELEANOR: You moved the energy from the portal to... yourself?

HAVEN: That is correct. After much deliberation, I came to the conclusion that it would be the safest course of action. So we marched upon the portal and I achieved what I set out to do. However, it soon became apparant that the demons would do anything to... reacquire it. Their forces in our world had suffered a terrible setback but they were not yet diminished. At this turning point in the war there was a shift in influence within their ranks. Lord Demencia - their most powerful sorcerer - slaughtered the rest of the Demonic council and took up the mantle of leadership.

ELEANOR: Demencia...

HAVEN: I have shown him to you before.

ELEANOR: The demon in the blindfold?

Haven nods, then sighs and presses on with her story.

HAVEN: Demencia decided that their only course of action was to reopen the portal, bringing forth their innumerable reinforcements into our world. To do this, he would have every assassin, hunter, or any other willing demon under his command hunt me down, so as to bring me back to him and force me to reactivate the portal. Naturally I could no longer lead an army when scores of demons were attempting to capture me daily. I was far too exposed, too vunerable at the front. So myself and my husband Calscarn left to go into hiding.

ELEANOR: Wait, I thought you stayed in command until the very last demon was slain?

HAVEN: A lie to throw them off my trail. And it worked too, the demons never found me. Over the following years, much more of the history of the war became shrouded in lies and confusion. So much so that people who had never been at the front - never seen a demon in their lives - began to believe they had never existed in the first place. By the time the demons had been stamped out for good, the ruling body of the Mayagarde Empire was vocalising that we had simply been fighting a large allied force of westerners. Which, naturally, led to a lot of fighting between the east and the west until eventually it really did escalate into full-blown war. However, this no longer concered me... for myself and Calscarn had settled down in the south and had raised a family of our own. When our first child was born, I immediately knew I had done something terrible, for within the baby girl I could sense it. The power I had taken and was storing within myself had passed to her. And it was passed down again and again until... well...

ELEANOR: It came to me. I have that power now. But there's still something I don't get... why would anyone want to open the portal again?

HAVEN: For the same reason they wanted to in my time. You see, I was told that Demencia and the last of his followers were slain in the battle at Corvat Plain. But I was lied to. Demencia lived. I found this out on my deathbed, too late to tell anyone what had happened and besides, who would have believed me? Demons had become a mere myth within just a few decades. The fool, General Hestan Crimson had let Demencia slip away, deeming him too weak to fight back.

ELEANOR: Are you saying Demencia's returned? He's been alive all this time?

HAVEN: Yes. Demons live centuries longer than humans. I believe he has come to finish what he started. And he has found you.

ELEANOR: Is this why the Emperor is hunting me? Is he in league with Demencia?

HAVEN: Sadly... to this, I cannot say.

ELEANOR: I won't let him have me. I've made it this far. I'll keep running and hiding and I'll keep the sceptre from him.

Haven smiles at her, blinking a tear from her eye.

HAVEN: You must be careful. I would have warned you much sooner if I could. Demencia is a master of deception. In my time he was known to even be able to change his appearance with his most powerful magics.

ELEANOR: Don't worry. You have my word that I...

VOICE: ELEANOR! Wake up!

The world blurs and Haven vanishes. Eleanor opens her eyes to find herself staring at Commander Fredricks, who is standing next to her bed and still wearing his parade hat. She looks down at his hand and sees that he is holding the sceptre, apparantly having yanked it out of her hand. Eleanor sits up quickly.

ELEANOR: What are you doing?

Fredricks raises his arm and points his pistol straight at her face. He looks at her sorrowfully.

FREDRICKS: I'm sorry Eleanor, but I don't have a choice. Now stand up slowly... and put your hands on your head.