[COLD OPEN — SKYVAULT CITY, NIGHT]
The stars above tremble. SkyVault's skyline — once vibrant with light — dims. Cracks of shimmering crystal spread across the sky like veins. Somewhere deep below, a hum begins.
INT. CITY UNDERGROUND – CRYSTAL ROOT CHAMBER
A throne of glimmering amethyst pulses in the dark. SHARD, crowned in jagged opal, steps forward. His body glows with internal fractures of gemstone light. Behind him: the rest of X-O-X.
Shard: (softly) The city's pulse quickens. It knows. It fears. Let them scream.
X-O-X VILLAIN REVEAL:
SHARD — Leader; turns people into gems and manipulates crystal lifeforms.
LUX VEIN — Sniper ghost; returns, scarred and loyal only to Shard.
PRISMMAW — Devourer of light constructs; half-machine, half-hunger.
DREIVA — Puppet of timelines; now fused with her marionette strings, her body floats like silk.
Shard: Tonight, the Oath breaks. Tonight, SkyVault becomes Gemspire.
He slams his hand into the ground. Energy pulses. A cathedral of crystal bursts from the earth beneath the city.
[TITLE CARD — GEMSPIRE]
[INT. VAN HQ – ALARM MODE]
Red lights. Screaming sirens. The Vanguard gather, eyes wide as reports flood in.
Yuna: Downtown's gone. An entire block — crystallized.
Echo-7: I've lost signal to 43,000 lifeforms. Frozen mid-motion.
Kael: (jaw clenched) It's begun.
Jax: And we're late.
Mira: The city council is trapped inside the Gemini Spire. It grew up through the old cathedral.
Niko: That's bait. Shard wants us in one place.
Kael: Then we'll give him what he wants.
Tari: Or die trying.
[SCENE – GEMSPIRE CATHEDRAL]
The Vanguard infiltrate the structure — a towering mass of fractal glass and spiraling gems. Inside, reality bends. Light refracts wrong. The air hums with silence.
Echo-7: This entire structure is alive.
Yuna: I can hear the city crying in the walls.
Suddenly — a trap activates. The floor shatters. The team falls through multiple crystal corridors. Split up.
Kael vs. Shard — Echo Hall:
Kael walks through a room of mirrors. Each reflection is Kael... but twisted. Shard appears, hovering above them all.
Shard: You think leadership is light. It's fracture.
Kael: You don't lead. You control.
Shard: And that control wins wars.
Shard attacks — crystal lances rain down. Kael blocks, barely surviving. Blood stains the mirrors.
Jax & Tari vs. Prismmaw — Gem Engine:
Inside a spinning engine of core-light and crystal turbines, Prismmaw waits.
Prismmaw: You glow like stars. I am the void that devours stars.
The battle is brutal — Jax's sound cannons shatter walls. Tari lands a headshot — but Prismmaw regenerates from light. Jax is thrown through a turbine. Blood.
Tari: (screaming) JAX!
Prismmaw: One by one, silence consumes.
Yuna & Niko vs. Dreiva — Thread Vault:
Dozens of spinning Dreiva illusions swarm them.
Dreiva: A timeline is a ribbon. I can fold you into a mistake.
Niko phases between echoes. Yuna summons vines of pure memory to burn illusions — but Dreiva cuts through with spectral thread. Yuna's leg is pierced — she collapses.
Yuna: Niko—
Niko: (rage) I swear to the Oath...
He explodes in dark light, fusing phase and gravity. Dreiva vanishes with a scream.
Echo-7 vs. Lux Vein — Apex Crystal Spire:
High above the city, in the eye of the tower, Lux Vein watches from the edge.
Lux: Did they fix your soul, robot?
Echo-7: No. I rewrote it myself.
Lux: Then let's see if it's bulletproof.
Sniper duel begins. SkyVault watches. One mistake — and Echo falls.
*BACK TO KAEL — Bleeding, cornered, staring at crystallized civilians.
Kael: (whispers) I failed them.
Suddenly — gunfire. Pure, deafening gunfire.
Commander Aurix storms in with twin pulse rifles blazing.
Aurix: (snarling) You want to burn my city, Shard?
He unloads round after round, blowing apart crystal guardians.
Aurix: Then you go through me.
Kael: Aurix… you came.
Aurix: Couldn't let you hog all the glory.
[TRAGIC MONTAGE]
The city burns in crystal spires.
Jax is dragged out by Tari, unconscious.
Yuna limps, helping Niko.
Echo-7 barely wins. Lux vanishes, leaving a single bloodied bullet with "WRONG TIMELINE" carved on it.
Hundreds lay crystallized. Families. Civilians.
[INT. HQ — POST-MISSION, NIGHT]
Mira tends to wounds. No music. No cheers.
Yuna: We lost so many.
Kael: We stopped X-O-X... but not fast enough.
Aurix: Loss is part of war. But so is fire. And you haven't burned out yet.
Echo-7: Shard retreated. But his structure remains. The Gemspire... is still growing underground.
Niko: That was just the prelude.
Tari: Then next time... we finish the song.