Outline
CHAPTER 1
Miraculous Meteor
In 2024, a considerable number of people and lives vanished worldwide at once, while a gigantic Blue Hole surrounded by a coral reef graveyard mysteriously appeared in the middle of the Pacific. 2080, when survival on the surface of Earth seems impossible due to extreme climate change, SAV-I (abbreviation of "Savage Immortals"), a transnational terrorist group consisting of the brightest scientists and engineers, seizes attention by nuking the top nuclear power plants across the world simultaneously. They insist that the invisible Asteroid Belt (briefly, "Belt") is surrounding our planet, which supposedly can cleanse and heal, and would soon appear to return Earth to its original form. However, nothing is to be seen in the sky, and soon, members of SAV-I are arrested.
Watching the execution broadcast on air, one man grasps the mysterious meteorite. He is Dr. Road, the leading scientist of the Seattle Underground Capital (Seattle UC) project, a city operated by CASI (abbreviation of "Central Artificial Superintelligence") for human survival. CASI is cradled inside the central hub tower, which connects the city from the bottom to the top. The city's screens show CASI's projected image, and the speakers announce its orders. Once the American East, including Washington D.C., is polluted with nuclear substances that flew from power stations in Virginia, Dr. Road opens the project to the public. He urges the environmental refugees to move to the announced location to launch a new era alongside the DNA-altered Wombats with human intelligence upon completing the construction of the underground city. The Wombats were chosen as humanity’s only companion due to their ability to build burrows as their natural habitat.
Years ago, Dr. Road had first discovered the magical meteorite with healing powers, the Curite, near the McMurdo station in Antarctica. Close by his faithful Wombat assistant Soo and human assistant Marlon, he picks up the meteorite from the remaining glacier to see Zuri, the Curite Angel. "The Curite that you're holding is the sacred Bloodstone of Rapha, god of Earth, who refuged to space - waiting to be awakened," says Zuri, who appears before the holder of the Bloodstone to guide, and seals the memories spent together into it. She tells Dr. Road to find the "brightest" hero who'll summon the yet unseen healing meteorites in the sky and awaken the true power of the Curites to save the world. She then shares the vision of the Belt's formation – while tipping off the prophecy that will echo in the sky once the time comes.
In 2024, a Curite landed to create a small crater in Zuri's backyard. She once was a Tanzanian girl with albinism, with a pure heart, and well-versed in astronomy. The meteorite's pattern spreads on her hands when she grasps the Curite - while Rapha's warm voice greets her. "Be lifted into the restful arms of the stars, my beloved treasure." That night, intruders instigated by witch doctors who spread the superstition that a body part of an "albino" brings luck and wealth, attacks Zuri to sever her leg and run off. Amidst the deadly crisis, Zuri crawls to touch the crater and immediately gets lifted to space while transforming into a Curite Angel; over the horizon, she sees others, various lives from Earth, get lifted and transformed together to form a space garden full of Curites. When Rapha greets her warmly, she is appointed as the only awake Curite Angel as a delegate and guardian. However, when the storm caused by space debris collides with their orbit, the ascension ends, which forces Rapha, who's used his powers to protect them, to surround himself with thick Curite walls to create his own "Throne Room" and fall deeply into sleep – waiting for a hero to summon everyone back to their home planet.
Micro-implants extracting energy generated by human motion power the whole city, encouraging the limited use of energy and robots. These implants are inserted into those who arrive in Seattle UC to be connected to cutting-edge technology and CASI efficiently, which leads to CASI's atrocious control while the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) protects the West Coast. As the privileged elite who has access to the surface of the Earth, Dr. Road communicates with Captain Lee of cutter Aurora to progress his duty to watch over the environment and any sign of improvement in condition. At the same time, he keeps the Bloodstone in the deepest safe inside his lab's collection room.
Recalling Zuri's request, Dr. Road takes matters into his own hands to create the "brightest hero" himself. He announces that he'll raise then-8-years-old-son Ezra to become the sole leader to save all humanity at the city's summit. He meticulously trains Ezra, managing his biometric information as top secret, and inserts a unique, custom-made serum when Ezra gets injured.
But when a Wombat man attacks Ezra during his training, Dr. Road poisons the Wombat man and attempts to terminate him, which surprises Soo and causes her to steal the Bloodstone from Dr. Road.
Soo and her only daughter and protagonist, a white albino Wombat girl, Aara, are amidst the grey Wombats in charge of the U.C.'s construction as slaves who gathered at the ruined camps. Aara uses the stolen Bloodstone to cure the abandoned, injured Wombat man. At that moment, a mysterious light penetrated through the aperture of the U.C. and is absorbed into her. Aara looks up to the sky, telling Soo that she can see the Belt with her own eyes. While her white fur especially shines bright, Aara drags out the light from the supposedly invisible stars, somersaults with it.
Hard to believe, but Soo tells Aara not to tell anyone of her ability since Aara could be killed by Dr. Road if determined to be an obstacle to Ezra's road to his throne. Soo leads out Dr. Road's oath for the coexistence of Wombats and humans for a secure future, but once CASI decides to oust the Wombats due to depletion of food and water, the Wombats riot against the eviction, and humans start the Wombat hunt. Led by Soo, with the Bloodstone stolen from Dr. Road, the Wombats migrate south to face the fear of white dots—an illness caused by nuclear contamination—and the gigantic trash island in the Pacific Ocean.
Aara picks up her mother's hand to help her rise, who kneels to scream in desperation. “Together, they and we can live the dream that connects the starlight.” She tells Soo that she can see the invisible Belt through faith. Soo tells Aara, "Never forget - you are the brightest soul, able to bloom the light of love. You edge out the darkness. That makes you unique. Will I be able to see what you see?"
The moment Aara drives out the colorful light from the Bloodstone to shoot straight to the sky, the image of the Belt unfolds before them. Soon, a gigantic meteor of Curite flashes across that grand drapery of starlight, scattering across its debris on land and sea – summoned to strike through the very trash island they were standing on. A great force field erupts to bury the Bloodstone at the bottom of the island, while Zuri appears momentarily on the transformed island of life, and the song of prophecy echoes through the sky like a divine promise – which is engraved deeply in Aara’s memory:
"The brightest bloomed from the ashy burrows;
Shall show us the vision, so meteoric;
carry the mystery from the darkest abyss
to the dawn at the highest cosmos;
lead all to revive, join the fate of the light - "
Zuri walks to Aara, whispers the last two secret verses of the prophecy, and fades away:
"Should the ardent heart imbibe the light,
born is the grand spirit who'll make the stars realign."
Soo, soon to vanish post-meteor-impact, looks up at the sky as if granted with new eyes and swallows her breath to murmur.
"...marvelous."
Meanwhile, Dr. Road chases after the Wombats and the stolen Bloodstone to witness the island of life, Birrong, tucked in by the waves to disappear. Upon Dr. Road's return to Seattle UC, CASI inaugurates the expedition team with the U.S. Coast Guard to search for the Curite pieces. At the same time, Dr. Road uses this opportunity to form the AOC(Allies of the Curites) to part ways with CASI.
The expedition team and US Coast Guard soon face SAV-I, who thunders into the site to ignite a Guerrilla war - though once thought dead. "Bow to the Chosen!" blasts Captain Seth, the main villain of our story.
CHAPTER 2
Master of Prophecy
Although the trauma from humans forces them to hide, the Wombats commemorate the heavenly prophecy with their annual festivals to pass ill lives through Birrong for revival. On this particular day, although Aara turns 14, her eyes are bruised by her fellow Wombats as always, name-called "nuked panda" since her albinism is misunderstood as an aftermath of nuclear contamination.
Aara starts the military training to protect herself with Troy, the Wombat warrior and her only friend with a secret crush on her. Despite improving daily, she doesn't demonstrate her skills to those who assault her, but keeps her head down and takes the punches.
Weighed down by the nightmare as she sleeps through the uninviting festival, she recalls the last verses of the prophecy only told to her. Aara disguises herself with soil to hide in the parade to get to the bottom of Birrong to retrieve the Bloodstone. However, when Aara touches the Bloodstone, Birrong reacts with a severe earthquake which raises the island to the sea's surface, angering the Wombats. Her white fur is revealed by the waves and she is tied to the ground; she'd be expelled or her Bloodstone taken away forever.
The quake is sensed on the radar of cutter Aurora, and Ezra, instructed by Dr. Road to locate Birrong, busts in. Upon seeing Aara, he instantly falls for the white-albino-wombat girl. At the same time, Troy burns with jealousy upon watching them leave, and Aara is surprised to see a human rescue her. The two encounter the white squall. After being rescued by Aurora, Ezra shouts to Dr. Road, "Dad, I'm starstruck with madness for her!" while lying inside the Sick Bay. Dr. Road feels a strange sense of déjà vu from Aara and instructs Marlon to investigate her secretly. However, a Wombat without the inserted implant was greatly useful to him. Hence, Dr. Road gives Aara a mission called "The Surgery" along with the hologram device to disguise herself as human, to separate CASI from the humans and to liberate humanity from A.I. control.
Although just a hologram, Aara's heart pounds for a chance to live with a new human identity.
"Starshoot to spring!" The teammates chant this for greetings and farewells as they wish for the symbolic and literal spring to be back on Earth as swiftly as possible.
Soon, SAV-I ignites a guerrilla war, and Captain Seth throws a captive, a fellow scientist of the Aurora, into the deadly, giant portal weapon mounted on the deck of their pirate ship, Dark Star. "Witness the end of these hypocrites. Their deaths must go on – for the glory!" Dr. Road's colleague diffuses into the air, as the weapon built with converted Curites had consumed his death to spew great dark energy to strike Aurora with massive ice waves. Captain Lee commands to open fire while communicating with Base Seattle; Aurora breaks through the ice easily, as she is the world's largest icebreaker. USCG's vessels guarding Aurora transform from ships to take flight, to fight against Dark Star's deadly weapons. After a sweet victory, Captain Lee greets Aara with a Hawaiian Kiss - who's assisted through the cutthroat battle with the power of the Bloodstone. "Be the lucky rainbow to revive my hometown from ashes!" He approves when the Curites stored in Aurora glow when Aara is near, while Dr. Road glares from behind, annoyed. The AOC continues with the expedition to search for Curites on the sea. At the same time, Aara and Ezra arrive at the secret underground bunker near Seattle UC, to stay and explore Curites on land while reporting to Aurora. Meanwhile, a shadow falls inside Aurora as someone secretly receives an order from SAV-I for Dr. Road's captivity and assassination.
Zuri appears to Aara, the present holder of the Bloodstone, to inform that with the collected pieces of Curite, she can summon the Curite Angels from the Belt, those who ascended to the Belt and transformed. Aara summons Zuri, who had been the very first to ascend, and Zuri stirs up the stardust wondrously to revive the nature around her. "Have you seen figure skating in space before? See it here, where all shall return because of you."
While continuing to search and collect the Curites on land, Aara is stopped and beaten up by the citizens whenever she attempts to sneak in the CASI tower, and Ezra, as bad as he feels, cannot intervene, worried that it'll demolish the mission. Despite CASI sensing Aara and luring her offering to grant the authority and power she never had, "The Surgery" mission Dr. Road had ordered is accomplished when Aara separates the CASI and encapsulates it to send to him. However, mistaken as an intruder, Aara gets beaten again, and Ezra finally comes to the rescue and saves her from being found out that she's a Wombat. He sympathizes with Aara, who seems shunned both by her kind and humans.
Now that the numbers of Curites accumulate through expeditions and numbers of people cherishing new hope through Aara’s rise, the Belt seems to start showing itself as a whole. However, it cannot be seen through Ezra's eyes, so Dr. Road hides this fact for his son's honor.
One silent night, on Zuri's watch, Aara and Ezra experiment and play with the summoned Curites. Aara returns to her Wombat self and feels free and comfy when alone with Ezra. She shows Ezra her genuine ability to harness the light from the seemingly invisible Belt for the first time since her mother had told her not to reveal it, which enables Ezra to finally see the Belt. "Thanks for saving me, my lovely light. Perhaps all my years of training were for you," thinks Ezra.
CHAPTER 3
The Betrayal
*PART 1:
"Take 'em down! Not gonna let that piece of crap metal agonize me ever again!" shouts a pack of men in front of the falling CASI tower. During the rescue operation searching through the ruins, Aara uses the Curite to heal the victims despite the danger to be revealed, and they are surprised. One tiny girl grabs through the hologram to realize Aara's Wombat identity; however, she keeps the secret, which leads Aara to take her above ground to declare in hope. "Indeed, I'll show you living on this surface of the world."
Among the Curite Angels summoned to expand the purified land is Rayelle (name meaning "light of God"). Aara is excited to see a fellow Asian friend who used to have albinism while on Earth and confesses her compassion for life, which she holds as an outcast. Rayelle tells Aara she'd like to return home and to her original self then kindly speaks: "Root with those like us to embrace yourself warmly. Then return that warmth to all."
Blooming smiles can be seen through the underground as more people notice Aara. However, when Marlon tips off that Aara is Soo's daughter to Dr. Road, Dr. Road leaks the truth to the masses as a political maneuver - that Aara is a Wombat – and people slander Aara out of jealousy. As Dr. Road publicly says, "Although a Wombat, however – watch Aara defeat SAV-I for us!" he sends Aara out to a location assumed to be SAV-I's secret base but practically a death trap without troops to support her. Ezra, opposing his father's will, follows Aara.
Aara summons a great albino whale Curite, to bring with her during this mission, and the existence of Curites is now known throughout the world due to the sonic boom created by the meteor impact on sea. The whale Curite is salvaged to the pier in Base Seattle (assisted by MSST, JHOC), and citizens of the Seattle UC lose their minds and raid to take it over. Aara rides on the whale, rescues Ezra - captured by SAV-I due to Marlon's evil tactics- and purifies Seattle's land and sea, rising to fame as the world's only hope.
While gaining momentum, Aara, Rayelle, and the whale head to Birrong together. Once located, a fierce face-off intensifies between the Wombats and the submersibles of the Coast Guardsmen. Everyone watches as Aara takes the whale and Rayelle through the island; Rayelle and the whale turn back to their albinistic selves, matching Aara’s albinistic being. "Interesting, you're like a human, but a Wombat. If a human, what picture would it be?" says Rayelle. Aara observes her in awe, the beautiful human girl freely swimming inside the waters of Birrong. Although admitting Aara's albinism, the Wombats criticize her as the traitor who is helping the humans, leading Aara to leave them behind.
Back in Seattle UC, Aara spreads out the purified, clearing SAV-I from the territory, and helps some settle down on the ground while all hope arises for a better future. While sharing all data at Aurora's science conference room, purified sea areas extend, assisted by USCG's VOSS program, accelerating the summoning of Curite Angels, consequently strengthening Aara's reputation. Aara discovers that the powers of the Curite Angels are fundamentally connected to the Belt, and Birrong, a giant powerhouse, should be lifted to the Belt to awaken Rapha. Meanwhile, Dr. Road mulls over what to do about Aara. "You're my son's sidekick. That throne is not yours to take." Despite Dr. Road's words, which seeded doubt inside of Aara, dying hair white to imitate Aara is trending; she becomes self-absorbed in heroism, head over heels in love with Ezra. "I've prepared somethin'… It'll take you to the summit where you deserve to be," Ezra joyfully tells Aara.
A festival unfolds at the shores of Seattle to credit the achievement of AOC and the Curites – making Aara the center of attention. "While at the Belt, I've heard us with albinism were treated with all spectrums depending on each country we lived in," Rayelle smiles as she speaks of her future hope, reuniting with those with albinism on the completely healed Earth. Aara speaks at the podium, resonating with her friend's wish. "We explore and summon the uncharted. But the uncharted existences were nothing, but ourselves. In the repeating of history of conquest and revival, let's rise to preserve the indestructible highest good and resurrect. That is the reason for our presence on this grand and divine planet. Explore, summon, revive!"
When the festival reached critical mass, SAV-I raids in to seize the encapsulated CASI, to crash the party and paralyze the whole of Seattle, now to be without A.I. assistance.
*PART 2:
Marlon and Ezra had vanished, and soon Ezra captures a member of SAV-I, who disturbingly murmurs as if brainwashed, "B…Bow to the Ch-o-sen," and during treatment Dr. Road finds out that he's an A.I. zombie. The SAV-I had built secret bases along the coast like moles, and Marlon was their spy to make the attacks efficient.
By unstoppable force, SAV-I takes over from Seattle down to San Diego, including the cleared areas, to expand their sphere of influence. Aara and her allies retrieve the territories back to some degree. However…
Once Aara and Aurora port to the final base of SAV-I's headquarters, Ezra stands before a massive rocket, synced with CASI's conscience – next to Marlon and Seth, holding the CASI capsule.
Soon, CASI's sound blitzes majestically through the canyons. "Here, alongside Ezra the anointed and my faithful sword SAV-I, I present the peak of this grandiosity." It reveals its ambition to take over the Belt and migrate to another planet to become the god there, as they have kidnapped all the Curite Angels.
Since they had admitted Dr. Road's analysis of the prophecy, they won over Ezra, the appointed hero by Dr. Road, by threatening him to reveal Ezra's X-file that Dr. Road had hidden, then providing him with a more advanced serum to ultimately insert a new SAV-I micro-implant to control and use him as a double agent. Ezra empowers SAV-I's portal weapon to sink USCG vessels one by one, and SAV-I attempts to make Ezra's body a host of CASI since CASI needs a physical human body.
Dr. Road offers his own body to save Ezra; when the drone hovers over him at the flight deck of Aurora, he levitates in the air once CASI absorbs into him. The greatest villain, Dr. CASI, is now born.
Aara and AOC try to save Ezra. Despite the furious battle, Aurora breaks down due to the forcible surge caused by Dr. CASI. Aara falls into the ocean when the storm created by the SAV-I's headquarters hits the flight deck she was on, and Rayelle scoops her out of the waters to run to a ruined, baroque, billionaire mansion in Medina, WA. The then-highest-tech equipment and airlock system show a trace of efforts for final survival. However, Troy's Wombat troops soon bust in, geared with state-of-the-art suits and weapons…
*PART 3:
…to destroy and search the site, as well as to execute the assassination of Aara while communicating with SAV-I. The road they passed was devastated by the vengeful Wombats, who kidnapped Zuri and had questioned why they had to help the rotten humans all along. On Birrong, they built a new fortress with CASI's technology.
Aara runs off with Rayelle and the Bloodstone with a bare body since they cannot sustain themselves at the mansion. However, Rayelle fails to endure due to her human limitations and albinism in the polluted wild full of heat and sun rays. "No regrets, 'cause I'm back to die here. Let me go, darling. But let others stay a bit longer… please."
Troy chases after them and takes them to the top of Mt. Si, where Seattle and the far horizon can be seen, and kills Rayelle in front of Aara, telling her that a human with albinism that is no longer a Curite Angel is useless. He confesses with his bitter, wrenched heart to Aara, who is on the ground crying out. "Strangely, I've stepped out of that small island you had left me alone on and now see the whole world we can have. Oh, but you're not invited."
As soon as Rayelle dies, the Bloodstone dims, and Zuri's voice can only be heard by Aara. The death of a Curite Angel who returned to its original form had stopped the summoning, and the Bloodstone is losing its power. Zuri tells Aara to lift Birrong to the Belt to sync, bring the Bloodstone to the Throne Room to wake Rapha, recharge the powers in it, and make sure to accomplish the final mission to bring back all to Earth. "Once you reach there, your ability will meet Rapha's to enable creation. It's you – the one all have longed for."
However, Aara is forced to watch through the massacre the SAV-I and Wombats perform on the new cities built on land as Troy signals them to. Aara self-flagellates while feeling heavily defeated, unable to protect the ones she loved, and thinking for the first time that she might not be "the one" of that prophecy. "Prophecy is like a weather forecast. Shine to remove the cloud of doubt – and take courage to face the truth." Zuri then shares the actual memory of Soo's death with the remaining power of the Bloodstone. After Marlon had informed him to admit Dr. Road's view on the prophecy, Seth wanted to remove the potential obstacles – Aara and Soo - and succeeded in killing the mother. Zuri's contact ends after the sharing of truth. Troy seizes the Bloodstone from Aara and then pushes her off the cliff. SAV-I tries to extract all the remaining facts and needed powers once the Bloodstone is delivered to the Birrong base.
Hanging on the cliff with her claws and avoiding suffocation, Aara realizes her true enemy – SAV-I and Seth. Aara furies to know that someone else's manipulation to build a "fake" hero caused her mother's death and her hiding; she now wishes to see with her own eyes the end of this road as the one chosen by fate. Aara digs a tunnel with her claws to the mansion, gears herself, and heads to Birrong to retrieve Zuri and the Bloodstone - she now, indeed, has become the Joan of Arc.
CHAPTER 4
Arena of Light
*PART 1:
The rocket from SAV-I's canyon base is aimed towards the estimated location where the lifted Birrong would meet the Belt to sync, while SAV-I plans to conquer all as humanity's last victors. Once Aara arrives at Birrong, she picks up one of Wombats' weapons. She slashes Marlon, then approaches the lab where the Bloodstone is. SAV-I scientists had extracted the left power, pervaded facts and memories from the Bloodstone, and bottled it up next to it. Then Aara breaks the bottle to absorb the extract into the Bloodstone and, while doing so, learns that the true nature of her ability, the summoning, was to control the connective light from the Curites and the Belt freely as if strings of an instrument and that when she lifts the Birrong back to the Belt, the weapons of light cradled with Curite would be given as a reward to combat her enemies. She plays with the light thread created from the Bloodstone for a moment to feel its powers.
Troy then approaches Aara. Her weapon is soon severed by Troy, and Aara throws it to the ground. "If I have to aim the sword at my kind, my mother protected with all her might, it'd be towards the one who killed Rayelle – you, Troy." Aara strikes with all her will, the light she gathered from Birrong straight to Troy to push him into the deepest ocean.
Aara then lifts the light from Birrong to spread across the high waves, healing the injured Wombats at once, and hands them the threads of light so that the ones who shunned her can feel the power themselves. Aara tells the Wombats, who just lost their leader: "It's not too late to turn the tide of fate. Feel the miracle I've touched, the dream of eternity for all to live!" The Wombats declare to stand with Aara and to exterminate SAV-I.
Released Zuri tells Aara that if whoever enters the Throne Room has an artificially built genetic structure, that entity would surely die, but Aara, an artificially engineered Wombat, speaks despite the risk. "Someone must send everyone home, and I know that's me." Her courage persuades the remaining SAV-I members of Birrong, who now become Aara's allies.
Aara takes the Bloodstone to where it originally was, then quietly drags the light from the Belt, then the grand hands of light surround Birrong, causing an earthquake to lift it to space, the Belt. Wombats and SAV-I members of Birrong fall to the ocean, and Aara calls for the USCG for help. The USCG performs search and rescue missions. Soon, SAV-I and Seth advance on the sea to reclaim Birrong.
As great battle lies ahead, Captain Lee calls over the AOC crew to make an announcement speech at Aurora's lectern, as the new control tower and for the future of humanity – a moment of "Coup d'œil." "Stand with the new history, not as a bystander, but be remembered as those who rescued the time of life beyond destruction!" Captain encourages Aara, "I'll crush those bastards for your revenge, so focus solely on the mission and bring everyone back on Earth – including yourself, alive." While awaiting Aara to bring everyone back down as meteor showers from the Belt, Captain Lee would preemptively strike at the war front. Zuri would secure the purified territories with her healing power as the only available Curite Angel and other vessels supported with VOSS. USCG officers free some captured Curite Angels at the SAVI’s canyon base to join the operation, but most are still tied inside the CASI rocket.
The moment Birrong arrives at the Belt to sync, the rocket that carries Dr. CASI and Ezra shoots itself from the headquarters base to the middle of Birrong to hijack it.
*PART 2:
Dr. CASI tells Aara that it had abandoned SAV-I, who believed themselves to be "chosen" by CASI as final survivors of Earth to migrate to another planet – now that it doesn't need to head to another planet but rather strike on Earth with all the Curite Angels from the Belt at once to create a worldwide scale meteor attack to reboot Earth and become the god of utopia on new Earth.
"You'd all be dinosaurs, legendary!" Dr. CASI destroys the remaining serum meant to be inserted into Ezra to use him as a tool to recharge the Bloodstone by pushing Ezra into the Throne Room and dispose of him, and there'd be no humans left on Earth. Ezra now has only some hours left to live. "Aren't you curious about the truth Road was holding all this time? Ezra was a Wombat, and SAV-I knew it all along." Dr. CASI grins.
The phrase of the prophecy, “The brightest bloomed from the ashy burrows,” hinted that the chosen one was a Wombat. However, Ezra becoming a human on the outside, not the "less adequate" Aara, who's still a Wombat, encouraged everyone to follow Dr. Road's analysis of making Ezra the foretold hero. However, Ezra was still unstable. Soo's genetic structure had changed due to the power of Bloodstone and became the last clue to finalizing Dr. Road's humanization experiment. Hence, SAV-I captured Soo to extract her blood upon meteor impact on Birrong, and assistant Marlon created a better serum than Dr. Road with the obtained information.
"To be my summoning tool, I let you prank with light! Even that portal weapon on deck was completed by pushing your mother in!" Dr. CASI provokes Aara. Aara, Ezra, and Dr. CASI step forward closer to the Throne Room. Once at the gate, the giant light is then handed to Aara's hand. Ezra, raised to meet his father's expectation, grabs the human weapon while Aara holds onto the weapon of light cradled by Curite, fighting fiercely - prepared for death.
As Aara gets closer, the small asteroids, floating in space between the Curite Angels, emit light to realign like the staff of musical notes, and Aara lets the Bloodstone levitate to arrive at the gate to open the Throne Room. The light reacts to Aara, connects the Curite Angels altogether in harmony and stretches out to show a grand symphony of light for all on Earth to witness. The song of the prophecy echoes in the sky and space to greet the truly anointed; the weapon of light is handed to the Curite Angels on Earth, those whom Captain Lee had set free. Aara then sees humanity fighting on the sea for the same cause.
The magnificent sight overwhelms Ezra and Dr. CASI for a moment, and they counterattack, but fail when Aara bombards them with massive light, which defeats Ezra - while Ezra, who cannot withstand the weight of such light, becomes badly injured. "The knot with Soo finally unties here." Dr. CASI forges through the fight. "You'll shred to pieces anyway once you step foot in there." He appeases Aara by suggesting that he'd replicate her mother for her and turn her into a perfect human without entering the Throne Room to risk death, to make her the Adam of the reset Earth that he envisions. "I am not your shield," says Aara, wrapping him in light and taking him to the Throne Room, which paralyzes CASI for a moment to bring Dr. Road's consciousness back to him. The first thing he does is to remove the SAV-I chip from Ezra's arm.
"I've hidden it deep within, where CASI cannot reach." Dr. Road takes his hand to the Bloodstone, and the memory of what Ezra had done for Aara unfolds before her. Ezra, using his genius, figured out the source of where her light was coming from and sent a signal in advance to the asteroids to help with the realignment once Aara arrived in the Belt.
Dr. Road honors Aara as the true hero of the prophecy and puts Ezra into the only escape pod in the rocket. "If there's a miracle to make you a perfect human, your blood will save Ezra… So, my choice to keep my son alive is this." He transfers his memories of picking Ezra up as a Wombat joey and caring for him to show his genuine affection towards his son. "Show this to Ezra once you return to Earth, would ya?" As soon as Dr. Road presses the button to dismantle the rocket he is standing on, it descends to the ocean of Earth, creating a shooting star of explosions while Ezra's pod safely lands on the water. Over the small USCG boat searching for the two who’ve landed, the hazy sky with belch and ashes denotes the continued battle.
As expected, Aara's body dissipates as she enters the Throne Room. Still, she feels the warm light surrounding her and calmly chants the last verses of the prophecy that was only allowed to be heard by her. The light spreads across the room now that Aara is standing before the awakened Rapha.
In front of Ezra, who had reunited with Captain Lee on Aurora, Seth on Dark Star uses the portal on deck to shoot the raging storm of dark energy toward where Aara is, in death throes. Due to Seth attempting to mine the Curites all in one direction, the Curites tilt to dismantle the light's realignment as if a Black Hole is created in the center to suck in everything. As the thick Curite walls of the Throne Room begin to crush, the two - Captain Lee and Ezra – feel something has gone wrong.
*PART 3:
Captain Lee leads to take over Seth's Dark Star, while Ezra follows with all his strength left over to convert the portal's powers to reform and shoots it back to the Black Hole to prevent the light's alignment from being destroyed, then collapses right after. Seth thunders in an attempt to kill Ezra and seize the portal. Captain Lee wields the weapon of light to kill Seth, then rushes over to embrace Ezra and looks up to the sky with a desperate plea.
The Throne Room is silent, as all space and time has paused. Rapha shares his divine love for all lives as a vision with Aara and informs the asteroids - the source of light that was given to her – are the crystallization of knowledge that contains the secrets of the cosmos since ancient times, the power that connects us all.
"The greatness in you sprouted once collided with a part of me. I will grant a chance to live again for you who diced with death to give back." Rapha holds onto the Bloodstone to open up a new cosmos and puts an asteroid in to take out a magical nebula. "The power of creation is in your hands - Blow your candles, what's your zeal?"
"The greatest love each can give another on this Earth makes humans the most precious. To become a whole human, to save Ezra and all, to return and stand with the living… is the completion of my prophecy." Aara steps out of the Throne Room as a complete human with albinism. The Bloodstone shines with the celestial secret in her hands, which will complete Ezra's humanization.
All the Curites come alive to light up due to Aara recovering everything, and the sky's dusk drapes upon the horizon of the Earth. "Lead us, Aara – we'll follow!" shouts the Curite Angels. Aara then jumps into space to somersault and grab the lights from the asteroids to skydive with them. All the people from the night sailing Aurora and on Earth watch the grand meteor shower of the Curites, the countless tails of light, holding the threads of light together to return graciously to Earth. USCG vessels track down the Curites and operate rescue missions across the ocean.
The last remaining clean water in Aurora's water tank is used on the descended Birrong, the biggest power station, to be connected with the Curites' vast drape of light to cover the whole planet. The vessels around the world, including USCG and other countries' Coast Guard vessels, mutually assist.
Aara runs in the air with the drape of light straight to Aurora, where Ezra is, and heals him with the Bloodstone. The light wraps around the two, and now that they are humans, they kiss. While Ezra sobs, having reviewed his father's memory that was left as his heirloom engraved inside the Bloodstone, Aara gently embraces Ezra.
CHAPTER 5
Hero's Paradise
A funeral at sea to commemorate Dr. Road's sacrifice is held on the coast of Washington. Rapha heals the people of the relics that were all connected to CASI while returning Zuri to her original form. Zuri is turned back into her authentic self with only one leg. The AOC's last voyage is then arranged.
Before leaving Seattle, the trio - Aara, Zuri, and Ezra - meets up with people with albinism, those Rayelle mentioned, to chat cheerfully inside a café. They commemorate Rayelle, the experience at the Belt, and the extraordinary journey all were on with Aara and Rapha.
Zuri reunites with her family at SEA-TAC airport; it's been decades – alongside Ezra and Aara, who keep up with her light footsteps of joy.
The expedition's final mission is to port at New Zealand's Port Wellington, absorb Rapha back into his own body, Earth, through the Blue Hole surrounded by coral reef graveyards, and arrange a new home for Aara and Ezra.
Upon arrival at Hawaii (US COAST GAURD BASE HONOLULU), Captain Lee expresses his uttermost gratitude to Aara for resurrecting his homeland.
Zuri has taken over Dr. Road's role to become the new chief scientist of Aurora, while Ezra boarded as the official U.S. Coast Guardsman. All celebrate with Thanksgiving dinner at the mess deck, plentiful unlike before.
Soon, cutter Aurora ports in Tasmania, Australia, the original habitat for the Wombats. Once the Bloodstone is on the ground, the light surrounds the devastated island, turning it into a colorful paradise. Aara picks up the Bloodstone and returns it to Zuri while Zuri nods. Aara and Ezra hold their hands together while Zuri and the Coast Guardsmen fare them well.
"Starshoot to spring... Finally, that spring has sprung for us all." Aara waves her hand back. The two of them gaze at each other lovingly, suggesting Adam and Eve for this paradise island.
New dawn rises.
THE END