Sapphires in the Shadows of Night

Multiple moons in the sky place the action on another world. The
Sapphires arrive via transit gate in a ruined city shrouded in
night (the transit gates are a kind of terrestrial wormhole).
The Sapphires possess blue crystals in the backs of their necks,
enabling them to electronically track one another. Their
tracking device has brought them to the city; but soon they lose
Diana’s signal, suggesting her crystal was found and removed.
All appears lost until Lumina hears the sounds of suffering
emanating from somewhere nearby. Andromeda impulsively runs off
in pursuit of the sounds, and the others follow.

The Sapphires trace the sounds to a hole just inside the doorway
of a burned-out building. They are startled by Captain Stone,
who has been observing them since their arrival. He explains
that the hole is a Demon’s Well, which leads down to the
subterranean city of Daemonium, one of many such Wells in the
city. Stone says he doesn’t know anything about Diana or where
she’s being kept, but suggests that others in the city may have
witnessed her abduction. The Sapphires follow Stone back out
onto the street.

Meanwhile, the city’s dictatorial ruler King Jamus brings his
army together in the park to address the Sapphires’ invasion. He
gives his army of supporters (numbering a hundred and referred
to as King Jamus’ Boys) a rallying speech, and declares that his
best men have been sent to intercept and kill the Sapphires.

Stone and the Sapphires trudge along a street when they are
confronted by King Jamus’ Boys, who trap the Sapphires at both
ends of the block. They threaten Stone with violence if he
doesn’t leave the vicinity, and Stone obliges, wishing the
Sapphires luck (a move which makes Andromeda suspicious). After
some trash talk, the Sapphires and the Boys engage in a severe
and violent street fight, both sides employing surreal handheld
weapons. The Sapphires’ fighting skills allow them to overwhelm
the larger number of their enemy. The remaining survivors, Cyan
and Glover, threaten the Sapphires with extermination, before
running off. Stiletto suggests they discreetly follow Cyan and
Glover, in the hope they’ll lead them to Jamus, and Diana.

Following them in the shadows, the Sapphires see Cyan and Glover
surprised by Draken and Timus, two of Jamus’ elite guards. The
guards escort Cyan and Glover into a nearby building, shutting
the door behind them. The Sapphires kick in the door, finding a
dingy foyer with the only other means of exit being another
doorway, entering into a darkened passage. Andromeda suggests
they follow, but Stiletto wonders if taking the passage without
a map might lead them further astray. Andromeda accuses Stiletto
of wanting to abandon the search, which Stiletto angrily
rebuffs. Nevertheless, Stiletto insists she go first into the
passage, followed by the others.

Draken and Timus escort Cyan and Glover into Jamus’ lair, a
derelict power plant in the city park, as a thunderstorm looms
overhead. Cyan and Glover are forced to admit that they and the
other Boys were defeated by the Sapphires’ superior fighting
skills. Jamus erupts into a furious, profanity-fueled tirade,
and instructs Draken and Timus to throw Cyan and Glover down a
Demon Well. After Draken and Timus haul off Cyan and Glover,
Jamus reminds his men that Diana, and the city, belong to him.
Gazing out at the lightning flashes, he instructs his men to
find Dominae.

The Sapphires follow a dark subterranean passage with their
flashlights. Constance complains of fatigue and asks for a rest.
Andromeda insists they have no time to rest, but Constance
angrily reminds the others of her lower adrenalin levels.
Stiletto gives Constance a cortisol gel to help increase her
metabolism. Lumina suddenly hears voices coming from somewhere
further down the passage. The Sapphires turn off their
flashlights and perch themselves on ledges along the walls. In a
few moments, the bobbing flashlight beams and laughing voices of
Draken and Timus can be heard. Once they arrive at the point
where the Sapphires are hidden, the Sapphires jump on them and
wrestle them into submission. Stiletto and Constance threaten
to slice Draken and Timus’ throats (and then their testicles) if
they don’t give up Diana’s location. Draken and Timus refuse to
betray their king, and begin screaming for help. The Sapphires
stun them and drag them away.

Draken and Timus are awakened by the rainstorm, only to find
themselves hanging upside down over the side of a building with
cords around their ankles and their hands tied behind their
backs. The Sapphires have their feet pressed up against the lip
of the roof, with one pair holding Draken’s cord while the other
pair holds Timus’ cord. The Sapphires again demand to know where
Diana is being held, or they’ll drop them. Timus relents and
tells them that Diana is being held somewhere in the Theater of
Skulls. He tells them that the quickest way there is via transit
gate. After promising to take the Sapphires there, Timus and
Draken are laboriously hauled back up onto the roof.

The rain pelts Stone as he waits next to a Demon Well in a
vacant lot. He makes up his mind and tosses a piece of gold down
the Well. He waits. Soon tittering and clawing sounds emerge
from the Well. The tittering and clawing grow louder until, in a
flash of lightning, a thin pale arm, surmounted by a five-finger
claw, emerges from the Well and grasps the earth.

Jamus waits in his lair, flanked by his guards, staring out at
the rain. He grumbles about Diana’s prophecy that “the rain
(reign?) will fall”. Jamus nearly makes up his mind to feed
Diana to the Demons when Dominae surprises him and the guards
from behind. She lectures Jamus about leaving his back
unguarded. Jamus angrily dismisses his guards, and he and
Dominae discuss the situation. Jamus theorizes that the
Sapphires are like Dominae, with heightened senses and physical
strength. Dominae taunts Jamus about his men getting “soft”.
Jamus asks her to go and take out the Sapphires, that there will
be a reward for her. Dominae snarkily doubts that. Jamus tells
Dominae where reports say the Sapphires are headed, and Dominae
agrees to go intercept them.

Draken and Timus come flashing through a transit gate in the
forest. As their hands are still bound, they slip and fall on
the wet ground. The Sapphires follow them through the gate and
also stumble on the wet ground (the storm has since abated).
Timus tells them that they’ll have to cross a nearby inland sea
to arrive at the Theater of Skulls. Stiletto asks why they can’t
reach it by land. Timus and Draken warn them that they would be
trespassing on the Woodcutters territory. The Woodcutters are a
tribe so fierce and deadly that even Jamus won’t mess with them.
After insincerely thanking them, the Sapphires force the
protesting Timus and Draken back through the transit gate. The
Sapphires then resign themselves to building a boat.

As the Sapphires labor to build a raft near a wooden dock, Stone
arrives in his fishing boat, which he offers them as
transportation to the Theater of Skulls. Andromeda voices her
suspicions about Stone’s motives. She fears that if Stone led
them into a trap back in the city, that he may be likely to do
it again. Stone reassures them that he has no influence with
Jamus. As for knowing where the Sapphires would be, he was able
to guess from information he received in a trade; though he is
reluctant to say with whom. The Sapphires guardedly agree to
have Stone escort them to the Theater of Skulls.

Dominae sits alone brooding in the park where Jamus earlier
addressed his men. She speaks in soliloquy of how Diana had
secretly prophesied that the One Dominae has been waiting for
her whole life will soon arrive; the One whom she is to love,
and who will answer her passion, as well as match her in combat.
Dominae is certain that one of Diana’s rescuers is the One. She
runs off into the night, to keep her appointment with the
Sapphires.

Stone and the Sapphires arrive at the rocky shoreline. They
disembark and Stone tells them how to reach the Theater through
the dense woods. He gives his apologies for not escorting them
further, and says he has to go and prepare for a very important
appointment. He bids them farewell, and rides away.

Unable to travel to the Theater of Skulls by sea, Dominae sneaks
carefully through the Woodcutters’ territory in the forest. A
group of Woodcutters are sleeping by a fire nearby. In her
attempt to make her way quietly, she falls into a bush, from
which a nightbird loudly squawks and flies away. This alerts the
dozing Woodcutters. As soon as they see Dominae, they grab their
axes and begin pursuit. The Woodcutters chase Dominae through
the forest. Dominae struggles mightily with the Woodcutters,
stealing a few of their axes to fight back. She manages to
survive the encounter and reach the road to the Theater of
Skulls, but not without a bloody axe wound to her arm.

The Sapphires converge on the open-air Theater of Skulls, which
resembles a military fort. Stiletto and Constance search one
part of the fort while Andromeda and Lumina search the other.
While Andromeda is searching a room, she hears Lumina cry out.
Andromeda runs outside only to find Lumina prostrate on the
ground in front of Dominae, who laments that Lumina is not the
One. Andromeda and Dominae fight it out until Dominae gets the
upper hand and puts Andromeda to sleep next to the unconscious
Lumina, lamenting that Andromeda, too, is not the One.

Meanwhile Stiletto is searching the tower overlooking the
theater, when falling stone and debris traps her inside.
Constance searches a dark, dank cell when she is surprised by
Dominae. Constance wounds Dominae in the leg with her steel
knuckles and runs out to the theater, calling Stiletto. Stiletto
looks out from the tower window, beneath which hangs a tattered
tapestry. She sees Dominae, wounded but still on her feet,
follow Constance out to the theater. Constance and Dominae
engage in combat, while Stiletto watches helplessly from the
tower window. Eventually Dominae overpowers Constance and puts
her to sleep. Stiletto makes a desperate attempt to escape the
tower by climbing down the tapestry. Realizing Stiletto is the
One, Dominae becomes emotional, overwhelmed by shame and guilt
for her part in Diana’s abduction. They engage in combat, but
Dominae’s heart is not in the fight, allowing Stiletto to pin
Dominae to the ground. Stiletto once again demands to know where
Diana is being kept, and Dominae declares that Diana is being
held “at the gates of Hell”. Dominae hopes to redeem herself in
the eyes of the One she has waited for her whole life, and
agrees to lead Stiletto to Diana so that she may be rescued.

Dominae leads Stiletto down a dark tunnel until they reach a
junction of three tunnels, terminating at a large sliding door.
Manacled to the floor in front of the door is Diana. Stiletto
immediately uses one of her weapons to burn through Diana’s
manacles. Diana is still in a state of shock as Stiletto and
Dominae help her to her feet. Just then, Jamus and two of his
men arrive via one of the adjoining tunnels. Dominae pulls Diana
away from Stiletto, while Jamus’ men grab Stiletto and pin her
against the wall. Dominae pretends to have betrayed Stiletto,
though Stiletto believes the betrayal to be real. Jamus slides
the door open, revealing an enormous colonnaded city at the edge
of a slate and lava field, the city of Daemonium. Jamus has made
up his mind to give Diana to the Demons for predicting his
downfall. However, before Jamus can follow through on his plan,
Stone, lantern in hand, comes sauntering down the tunnel, to the
surprise of everyone present. Stone explains how he earlier made
a deal with the Demons: for a piece of gold, they agreed to take
him instead of Diana. Jamus threatens to kill Stone then and
there, but not before the Demons emerge from their city and
cross the slate and lava field. Jamus’ men are so revolted by
the sight of the Demons that they become distracted, loosening
their grip on Stiletto. Stone gives a weeping Stiletto a fond
farewell, and then goes off with the Demons as they joyfully
escort their latest victim to their city. With Jamus and his men
distracted, Stiletto kicks both of Jamus’ men in the shins
before hand-chopping them in the throats, knocking them
unconscious. Dominae gives Diana back to Stiletto, and comes
between them and Jamus. Dominae and Jamus ferociously battle one
another on the field of slate and lava before Dominae manages to
push Jamus down onto a flaming lava rock, setting him on fire.
Following Jamus’ incineration, Dominae slides the door shut, and
she, Diana and Stiletto make their way back through the tunnel.

Stiletto, Diana and Dominae emerge from the darkened tunnel into
the warm bright morning sun. They find Andromeda, Constance and
Lumina sleeping under the tapestry. A smiling Diana greets them
as they awake. The Sapphires emotionally reunite with Diana, but
respond guardedly to the sight of Dominae. Diana reassures them
that Dominae saved hers and Stiletto’s lives.

Hiding out within stone ruins, Stiletto, Constance and Lumina
tend to Diana’s wounds. Andromeda converses with Dominae,
confessing her guilt for her suspicions about Stone’s
intentions. Dominae assures Andromeda that Stone would have
understood, and would not have held it against her. Just then,
Lumina hears men’s voices coming. The Sapphires run and hide
behind the walls of the ruins. A group of King Jamus’ Boys come
around the corner, declaiming profanities in their search for
the Sapphires. When they see Dominae, their behavior changes to
one of subtle deference. Dominae lies to them that she took care
of the Sapphires and that the Demons dragged Jamus away to
Daemonium before she could stop them. Dominae tells them to
return to the city. The Boys wander off in a kind of limbo.
After they’re gone, Dominae and the Sapphires realize that they
cannot return safely to the city, and must find another way out
of the territory. The Woodcutters make a safe landward escape
impossible, but Dominae knows of a nearby transit gate that will
take them away, but to where, no one knows. The Sapphires decide
to risk it.

Dominae and the Sapphires arrive at a derelict steel truss
bridge. Crossing its threshold will send them through the
transit gate. Dominae wishes them the best, but declares she has
no intention of returning to the city to rule in Jamus’ place.
Andromeda, Constance, Lumina and Diana are about to leap through
the transit gate, when they ask if Stiletto is joining them.
Stiletto tells them to go on ahead. The four Sapphires hold
hands and leap forward through the gate, flashing in and out of
time. When they’re alone, Stiletto and Dominae are quiet for a
moment. Stiletto bids Dominae goodbye and turns towards the
bridge. Dominae bows her head in acceptance. After a pause,
Stiletto turns and grabs Dominae by the side of her head,
declaring, “You’re coming with me. I don’t intend to let you out
of my sight.” Stiletto and Dominae laugh and exchange passionate
kisses. They turn, hold hands, and, howling with joy, leap
through the transit gate, flashing in and out of time.