Chapter Text
ACT FIVE
FADE IN:
EXT. THE GREAT SMERTH - NIGHT
The serene quiet of the night is broken by loud metallic clanging. Sitting at the bank of a river, under the charred tree, skekGra irritably pulls his armor off piece by piece, throwing it harshly on the ground.
Interspersed in this, he takes feeble drags from a clumsily rolled CIGARETTE. His hands shake until he nearly drops it.
Left only in his robes, he begins the process of wrapping his wounds. He tears a slip of fabric from his cape and ties it until it is painfully taut around his leg. The wound there had reopened in his bout with the General.
He lets out an anguished groan—only half from pain. He takes another drag from the cigarette and coughs.
Catching a glimpse of his reflection in the water, skekGra hisses his frustration but his voice breaks, dissolving into a sob.
He slams his hand into the water, splashing until his reflection is hidden by the waves.
He quiets himself, hiding his head in his hands and curls into a miserable quivering ball.
URGOH
You should clean the wound…before wrapping it.
SkekGra startles and the jagged quills along his back raise in alarm.
URGOH
I could help you with it…if you want.
SKEKGRA
Come near me and I'll break your arm!
UrGoh hesitates awkwardly at the bushes bordering the clearing. SkekGra turns away from him and takes another drag on the cigarette. His hiccupping cough doesn't quite conceal the fact that he's crying.
URGOH
Moonberry smoke won't do much…to calm your nerves.
Coming up behind skekGra, urGoh nudges him with the stem of his SMOKING PIPE.
SkekGra shrinks away while craning his head over his shoulder, baring his teeth. UrGoh continues to hold out the pipe expectantly.
URGOH
This is…a bit stronger.
After a beat, skekGra snatches the pipe takes a few more futile puffs from it. He coughs.
SKEKGRA
I suppose your leg won't heal either if I keep reopening this.
He nods at urGoh's leg, bandaged in a match to his own.
URGOH
I am not concerned…about that.
SkekGra snuffs out the pipe and slides it back over to urGoh.
SKEKGRA
How did you know I was here?
URGOH
I looked…within myself…and I saw through your eyes.
SKEKGRA
Yeah? Well, you can stop looking and make us both happy. I don't need your judgment on top of everything else.
URGOH
I am not—I do not…need magic to know…when you've had a fight.
SKEKGRA
You think I don't know how bad things are right now? You think I like this?! Any of it?!
URGOH
Well…I did…but…
SKEKGRA
Do you think I'm grotting oblivious to how I look?! That being around the others brings out the worst parts of me? And now I know everything else is going to get worse too!
URGOH
What happened in the caves…
SKEKGRA
You saw the Vision too. This world is dying.
SkekGra stands up and dusts off his robes, turning to leave.
URGOH
…That is what will happen…if we do nothing.
SKEKGRA
Don't you get it? It's too late! We know where the road ends! This machine was set in motion on the day we were—
He can't finish the thought out loud.
URGOH
When we were Sundered.
The resonant pull between them visibly SPARKS.
SKEKGRA
When the Crystal was cracked…and we were created…Thra was poisoned. If you could see the Crystal now, you would be sick. Its clarity is gone—It's dying!
He turns back towards urGoh. The dark water of the river ripples behind him, glinting with a PURPLE LIGHT.
SKEKGRA
And when it dies, this world dies too. But the fatal blow has already been cast. It's only a matter of time until what life it has left is drained away.
UrGoh's eyes drift uneasily to the river as the water takes on a more distinct purple glow.
URGOH
Thra has been injured…by the fracturing of the Crystal. It is suffering…and I believe…that it wants…our attention.
SkekGra looks warily at the rippling water.
SKEKGRA
If this is another Vision…I can't.
URGOH
It was excruciating.
SkekGra plops back down on the ground facing away from the water. UrGoh sits next to him. They stew in silence.
Tentatively, skekGra reaches into his robes and pulls out the RUNE that had broken from urGoh's walking stick. He drops it in urGoh's lap.
URGOH
You repaired it?
SkekGra shrugs as urGoh examines the crystal rune. The wooden setting has been mended with the addition of metal prongs. The gem is altered, but restored.
Around them, a VOICE sings a soft hum. The song comes from the ripples in the water behind them, calling them. This time, gently.
URGOH
I can feel it calling…but I…
SKEKGRA
I can't do this again. Shards!
The two sit in silent dread as the humming song progresses.
SKEKGRA
I can't withstand it again! It's too much for just—
URGOH
…For me alone. I can't.
SkekGra lets out a nervous laugh.
SKEKGRA
Do we even have a choice?
He looks over his shoulder for an instant before turning back, panicked.
URGOH
At once then? Together?
Their eyes meet. In silent agreement, they both turn, in unison, towards the beckoning light reflected in the river.
The bright glow intensifies, blotting out everything else and throwing them into silhouette.
TRANSITION TO:
PROPHETIC VISION:
Together, they stand before an endless wasteland. Around them, plants die and decompose in a time lapse. The Darkening drains everything that was once green and alive, leaving behind only sand.
In the distance, they see the indistinct figure from the previous Vision disintegrating into dust.
This time, skekGra and urGoh watch the horrible sight together, side by side. They steel themselves for what's coming.
The scene twists and pulls them into another place—the banquet hall. Surrounded by the other skeksis, skekGra's decomposing body is slumped at the center of the rotting banquet.
SKEKGRA
It's so obvious…it's always been so obvious…that we're destroying ourselves. But we just keep going. Of course this is how it will end.
Watching the specter of his future self, skekGra trembles. UrGoh squeezes his hand.
URGOH
If this is our future…it has not yet been…set in stone.
SKEKGRA
If there's anything that could avert this—
The Vision turns again, flipping upside down and settling again outside the mystic's valley.
URGOH
I would do anything…to stop this…
The mystics cast urGoh out, pushing him away. He crawls back towards them, leaving a trail of slime behind him. But the magical gateway is now locked. His skin falls away, leaving only his skeleton crawling aimlessly ahead.
URGOH
I can't let myself be cast away from them.
SkekGra squeezes urGoh's hand reassuringly.
Then, the tempo of the singing picks up pace. They are presented with flashes of imagery, firing in rapid succession.
The Scientist raises a large NAIL into the air, about to strike.
A trio of gelfling frantically run into the wilderness, hiding in the trees.
The skeksis feast in the banquet hall, spattering their drinks in their endless thirst. But the IRIDESCENT LIQUID in their cups isn't wine. It sizzles as it spills onto the floor.
The glowing purple infection of the Darkening spreads its tendrils through the ground—destroying everything in its path.
In the sky, the THREE SUNS orbit closer and closer together.
The skeksis surround the Crystal of Truth and bask in its refracted light.
SKEKGRA
The suns! We've been using the Crystal to draw power from them to heal ourselves!
A gelfling screams in pain. She is restrained in a CHAIR, with wires piercing her back. Her lifeforce, her ESSENCE, is pulled from her.
The Crystal dims, taking on a deeper and deeper shade of purple.
URGOH
But with the Crystal fractured…Thra is poisoned.
The urRu set out on a slow march towards the distant castle.
In the woods, a CRABLIKE MONSTROSITY chases a group of exhausted gelfling.
A podling stares up with blank eyes, its body withered—drained.
The fractured Shard of the Crystal of Truth rests, forgotten, in a deep pit.
SKEKGRA
If the broken Shard was restored, the Crystal's light—
URGOH
It could stop the Darkening…and heal all of Thra.
The Emperor raises his goblet to drink, but there's no more iridescent essence left to fill it. Enraged and shriveling, the skeksis turn on each other, consumed by ceaseless hunger and bloodlust.
The suns, at last, snap into place in the sky—THE GREAT CONJUNCTION. Their combined light shines in an all-powerful beam.
URGOH
But if the Darkness continues to spread…
The beam of light hits the Dark Crystal and under the immense power of the suns, the fracture in it spreads.
It glows and burns, charging with energy until it completely SHATTERS, exploding in a blinding flash of poisoned light.
Thra is reduced to nothing but an abyss. The music rests.
SKEKGRA
—Thra…will die.
From the hopeless black void, a small hand brushes against the hidden and lost Shard.
Obscured by shadow, a gelfling picks up the Crystal Shard and holds it aloft. As it catches the light, its radiance grows brighter and brighter.
Time flows backwards, and the distance between the suns expands.
SKEKGRA
Is this—
URGOH
…Another future?
The wind picks up speed, rotating and spiraling into a powerful vortex.
SKEKGRA
Another time? A chance?
Again, the tempo accelerates, and the Visions come in indistinct flashes.
Gelfling from all seven clans come together in a circle around a BLUE FIRE.
A winding path is illuminated by GUIDING LIGHTS. The road—or is it a RIVER—leads to the desert.
A towering STONE SPIRE rises from the sand.
The air is filled with a kaleidoscope of colors as a swarm of MOTHS fly over the desert. There's so many, the swarm appears as if they were a single swirling spiral.
The skeksis shrink away and cower as a gelfling wields a shining SWORD against them.
Ahead of them are future versions of themselves. They ride together on the back of a large creature, galloping across a shimmering landscape.
URGOH
It seems unlikely…but if this future…is possible…
SKEKGRA
—No matter how unlikely…
SkekGra, in the future, extends his hand to a gelfling.
URGOH
I'd like to see it come true.
The glimpses into their Vision get more and more imprecise.
A sharp NEEDLE traces a spinning GROOVED SPIRAL.
A lopsided PILE OF ROCKS levitates in the air.
SKEKGRA
None of this makes any sense!
The sword-wielding gelfling reemerges. But it's a miniature—a puppet? It raises its sword and leaps into the air.
With a kick, the gelfling topples a miniature version of the castle.
The levitating pile of rocks forms into a STONE CREATURE, curiously tilting its head.
URGOH
I don't understand. But it's…
SKEKGRA
…it's wonderful.
They see a gelfling, a real one, hold the missing Shard up to the sky as the suns continue circling closer together.
In the future, skekGra and urGoh hold out their arms, moving closer and closer. As the two clasp hands, the suns align.
The Dark Crystal rises up from the ground, catching the light of the suns.
At the moment of the Great Conjunction, the gelfling drives the fractured Shard into the void within the Crystal. The missing piece slots into place perfectly.
When skekGra and urGoh embrace fully, their bodies radiate a powerful glow.
SKEKGRA
(whispering)
Is this really possible?! Could we—
The Crystal's purifying light spills across the barren world—healing it. Where the Darkening had ravaged Thra, new life springs from the ground.
Finally, a massive TOWER OF LIGHT surges into the sky. In this gleaming pillar, skekGra and urGoh press together until the light obscures everything else.
Looking up from the base of the towering glow are skekGra and urGoh as they are in the present.
They gape at the sight before them, dwarfed by the scale and the power of what they are seeing—their own reunification.
As their eyes adjust to the impossible brightness, the pillar of light resolved into a single LUMINOUS FIGURE. It spreads its arms joyously.
URGOH
Is that…
SKEKGRA
…us?
Unburdened by gravity, the luminous figure—an UrSkek—floats down towards skekGra and urGoh who huddle together.
URSKEK
What was sundered and undone…shall be whole…
The urSkek extends its hand to them, the two broken pieces of its soul. With its finger, the urSkek draws a sigil in the air. The sigil—an AUREYAL—glimmers and gently rotates.
URSKEK
…The Two made One.
With that, the urSkek vanishes, leaving behind colorful sparks. But the Aureyal persists, continuing to spin above skekGra and urGoh, casting them in beams of colorful light.
TRANSITION TO:
EXT. RIVER BANK - NIGHT
They stare in wonder at the Aureyal that hangs above them. Not wanting to break the spell, they whisper.
URGOH
If the Crystal is repaired…the missing piece…restored…
SKEKGRA
We could become one being again.
URGOH
I had never dreamed…
SKEKGRA
I'd given up hope—
BOTH
(in unison)
…But this changes everything.
Hopeful for the first time in hundreds of trine, both are content to bask in the Aureyal's light.
FADE TO BLACK.
