Scarlett Jones and the Hidden Legion

Through many years, the Hidden Legion, a secret group of sorcerers, has devoted itself to protecting the magic world by fighting those who attempt to use magic to cause harm. Their last great fight was against the Romanian sorcerer, Constantin Ionescu, during which the Legion’s leader’s wife, Camille Jones, died in battle. Her death became one of the main reasons for the estrangement between the Legion’s leader, Pierce Jones, and his daughter, Scarlett. Twenty-five years later, Scarlett Jones lives alone in London, selling potions that she makes through science rather than magic. She has abandoned the magic life after a fight with her father, and her only company is an old bulldog called Winston. They struggle to survive, but she values her independence. One day, she is visited by Benedict Rutherford, Pierce’s protegee, who asks her to join the Hidden Legion at their upcoming party to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of their victory over Constantin Ionescu. While reluctant at first, calling her invitation a “hypocritical” move from her father, Scarlett agrees to go. Pierce Jones becomes concerned after hearing about an incident in Sweden involving a wizard that goes by the name of Arletta, and who has made a public demonstration of her powers. Fearing that Arletta might become a new threat, Pierce discusses strategies with Benedict and security chief, Barnaby Caine, asking them to be extra careful as the party progresses. Scarlett arrives at the party together with Winston and reunites with several old friends, including Moroccan master Abasi Amirpour and French dame Cecile Seydoux, as well as her childhood friends Makar Stoica and Emily Voight, who are now engaged. She then meets with Pierce, and their encounter is tense as Pierce asks her to come back to live with them, while Scarlett reproaches Pierce for having forbidden the other sorcerers from visiting her in London. Pierce reiterates that is dangerous for people like them to live among normal human beings and that Scarlett’s place is with them. He leaves to give his speech before the discussion can continue any further. As Pierce begins to give his speech, the party is interrupted by Arletta’s arrival. Arletta reproaches Pierce and the Hidden Legion for all the damage they have caused to countless sorcerers and reveals herself to be Constantin Ionescu’s daughter. As she calls for retribution, a fight begins, and Arletta turns out to be too powerful for the Hidden Legion, defeating them easily while taking away Pierce, Abasi, and Cecile. During the fight, Emily is accidentally killed by Arletta. Conflicted by this, Arletta leaves with the captured sorcerers. The remaining members of the Hidden Legion reorganize. Benedict and Caine decide to go after Arletta while leaving a mourning Makar in the care of Scarlett, whose lack of practice prevented her from helping during the battle. Conflicted about this, Scarlett is convinced by Makar to go on their own quest to find and kill Arletta. Fearing for him as Makar is emotionally unstable, Scarlett agrees to help him but asks him to investigate more about Constantin as this will help them understand and defeat Arletta. Meanwhile, Arletta takes Pierce, Abasi, and Cecile to her hideout. Scarlett and Makar head to Cecile’s mansion in Paris, where they learn more about Constantin and the power he wanted to achieve – that of bringing the death back to life. Such an idea causes a conflict in Makar, and Scarlett tries to keep him calm when Benedict arrives and confronts them for being there. Makar defends himself and Scarlett by saying that they have as much right to be there as Benedict, and after the fight escalates, Makar threatens to kill Benedict with a knife if he gets in his way to avenge Emily. Scarlett calms things down, and Benedict agrees to let them join him and Caine on their quest. Together with Benedict, Scarlett and Makar travel to Abasi’s palace in Morocco, where Constantin’s body is buried (as they are convinced that Arletta will try to use the captured sorcerers to bring him back). While waiting for Arletta, Scarlett tries to practice her magic and apologizes to Benedict for Makar’s behavior. She expresses her remorse for having walked out of the magic world, convinced that if she had kept practicing the magical arts, she could have helped and saved Emily. Benedict tells her that Emily’s death is not her fault and that she has every right to search for her independence. He also says to be happy to have her around. Arletta finally arrives and Makar confronts her right away. Arletta offers him her apologies, stating that she never meant to kill Emily (nor any of them), but Makar ignores this and attacks her. They fight… and Makar’s anger soon allows him to defeat her. He takes her to Constantin’s tomb and as he is about to kill her, Benedict and Caine stop him, telling him that they need her alive to find the kidnapped sorcerers. Arletta tells them that they won’t defeat her or her father… and soon casts a spell to take them (and Scarlett) to a black-and-white dimension where their powers are useless against her. There, Arletta kills Caine by absorbing his life energy and is about to kill Benedict, when Scarlett stabs her with a knife. This causes nothing to Arletta and she absorbs only part of Scarlett’s life energy, telling her that her fight is not with her. Arletta then uses the absorbed energy to bring Constantin back to life. As Constantin sees the three young sorcerers, Benedict manages to create a portal and saves himself and Scarlett. Makar is left behind. Defeated, Scarlett and Benedict return to Abasi’s palace and argue about what to do next as Benedict is convinced that they can’t do anything against Arletta and Constantin, while Scarlett tells him that they can’t leave her father and friends behind and that they need to gather the entire Hidden Legion and fight Arletta and Constantin, together. Benedict ends up agreeing with her. Meanwhile, Constantin and Arletta capture Makar and take him to Constantin’s castle, in Rumania. Constantin apologizes to Makar for all the pain they have caused him and offers him to join them. Makar rejects their proposal, calling them for all the damage they have caused to hundreds of people. An amused Constantin shares his story with Makar, telling him that, much like Makar, he lost his wife when he was young. As the system failed to provide him justice, he used his powers to find and kill the men who caused him such pain, and he became an avenger for the people who couldn’t defend themselves or fight back. He also reveals to him that even though he has killed hundreds of men, all of them were doomed souls and that he did that so he could bring innocent souls back to life… such as himself. As a shocked Makar asks him what he means, Constantin tells him that Makar’s real parents had died in the cold after being expelled from a city along with some other Romanians and that he brought them back to life. Constantin even takes Makar to where Pierce, Abasi, and Cecile are to confront them about this, and as a shocked Makar comes to realize that Constantin is telling the truth, he accepts to help him on his mission to defeat the Hidden Legion so they can bring peace and justice to the world. Scarlett and Benedict gather the Hidden Legion and convince them to fight Arletta and Constantin. They go to Constantin’s castle and are shocked to find out about Makar’s new side. Makar tries to convince them to surrender and join Constantin, but they reject such an offering and a battle takes place. As the Hidden Legion fights Makar, Arletta, and Constantin, Scarlett makes her way to find Pierce, Abasi, and Cecile. They reveal to her that the only way they can be released from their chains is by having Arletta herself break the spell. Scarlett searches for Arletta during the battle and as Constantin conjures shadows to capture all the members of the Hidden Legion, Benedict saves Scarlett from falling into them. Scarlett casts a minor spell to bring Winston the bulldog into battle and as he falls over Arletta, Scarlett chains her by the hand and transports the two of them to where the kidnapped sorcerers are. While Arletta initially refuses to release them, Scarlett casts a minor spell that transforms Arletta into a fish (a technique that Arletta had used to defeat Scarlett the first time they met) and threatens to feed her to Winston if she doesn’t release them. Arletta agrees to release them and is transformed back to human form… just for a few seconds. Then Scarlett transforms her back into a fish so they don’t have to worry about her anymore. As Scarlett prepares to leave together with Pierce, Abasi, and Cecile, they are surprised by Makar, who freezes them and confronts them for not having supported him to bring Emily back to life. Pierce confesses that even though they hid some things from him, they never meant to cause him any harm and that while what Constantin said is true, he failed to admit that those he brought back to life weren’t the same anymore after using doomed souls. He tells Makar that his parents were corrupted after the spell and that they had to adopt Makar so he didn’t follow their steps. As Makar complains about the unfairness of life, Scarlett tells him that even though life can be unfair, the important thing is that he has people who love him to help him through the hard times and that all the suffering Constantin and Hidden Legion have caused shouldn’t keep hurting people anymore. A teary Makar surrenders and releases them, then agrees to help them find an alternative solution with Constantin. As Constantin defeats Benedict and the Hidden Legion, Pierce, Abasi, Cecile, Makar, and Scarlett join to confront him one last time. Using Fish Arletta to negotiate, they prevent Constantin from attacking them, while Pierce, Makar, and Scarlett present him with a peace offer in which everyone goes their way as long as they don’t cause any harm to innocent parties. Even though Constantin doubts him, he agrees that he is tired of all the fighting and accepts the proposal. Scarlett turns Arletta to him, and the fight finishes. A few days later, Scarlett prepares to leave back to London. Making peace with Pierce, he invites her (and Winston) to visit him anytime they like. Makar reveals to Scarlett and Benedict that he is leaving the Hidden Legion so he can actually help Constantin and Arletta on their search to find something that can bring Emily back, but promises to be around and to visit Scarlett more often. Benedict expresses his sadness about Scarlett’s leaving, having used to share a roof when they were kids, to which Scarlett replies that they could find another way of living under the same roof, sometime in the future. She gives him a kiss and leaves. Scarlett returns to her life in London, where she now allows herself to use some magic to get her out of some problems with the law while telling Winston “What? A girl has to eat…”.