Episode 11 - The Light of the Hill - Finale

In this finale...

James races to save Ready as a battle looms and the Library hangs in the balance.

Written and Narrated by Rajiv Narang

Musical Score Composed by Rajiv Narang



Thank you for listening.

Keywords: fantasy, fiction, adventure, science fiction, friendship, story, action, mental health, mystery, Toronto, psychological exploration, self-discovery, fantasy fiction, supernatural

Transcript

The Lost Books

Angel of Aphelion

Episode 11  -  The Light on the Hill

Transported, James and his friends, Dee and her Outsiders, all find themselves under a burnt orange sky.

Before they can even adjust to their new surroundings, the dancing portal lights disappear. "Rowle! The portal!" says Eli. "Good girl," says Dee to herself. 

In front of them is a magnificent structure -- half building, half sculpture. But something is forbidding about it -- it has no visible doors.

"The book, Dee… I need that book!" says James pointing to The Angel of Aphelion in her hands.

James notices a reflection from the ground. It's the brass sign, "The Orchard of the Golden Pear." "I know this place," says James.

Dee signals to her awestruck outsiders, and they all move off in the direction she sends them. 

High up on the sculptured building before them, a piece of it shifts, puzzle-like, and a doorway is revealed. A figure appears from it and hovers out over the group. "Thalo Blue?" asks James. Shrouded in armour, the peaceful blue light that once graced the android's frame now pulses with a sinister, war-like glow. The humanity of the android James met before has been replaced… subjugated. The blue light he emits from his eyes and from slats in his armour casts an eerie pall. The Thalo Blue they knew, hidden in there somewhere within the dark instrument of destruction now facing them.

Dee stares up in admiration.

In the Reading Room of the Library… 

Odette dutifully opens All That Glitters to a bookmarked page.

She reads silently to herself. The portal lights dance around her and carry her away. Wide-eyed, she finds herself transported to the orchard gate — her sense of wonder thrown open for the first time in a long time. The joy she feels is an unusual feeling for her. She stumbles back through the portal, landing on the Reading Room floor. "Oh, my!" she says.

At the Orchard…

Thalo Blue turns to the portal lights now shimmering at the orchard gate. "You have returned. This time you cannot leave," says the android. Ten Noxmen fly out from the structure and land around the group. With hard armour clanging, they raise their rifles.

In the Reading Room of the Library… 

Odette gets up from the floor. Through the tiny corner window of the Reading Room, something in the alley below catches her eye. It's Carissa.

"The pretty lady," whispers Odette to herself. In Odette's ears, those painful words of Dee's continue to sound. "You don't have the power to give me what I need." One of the Outsiders turns to Carissa. Odette bangs on the tiny window. "Stay away from her!" she says. Dee's words echo again: "You don't have the power to give me what I need." Odette closes the book.

At the Orchard…

The gleeful Outsiders race to the dancing portal lights at the orchard's entrance, but the portal disappears. They come to a halt of disbelief and dismay. From her vantage point, Dee sees the Outsiders standing where the portal once glowed. "Odette," she says.

The Noxmen open fire and a ricochet hits Dee, knocking her unconscious. The book, The Angel of Aphelion, flies from her hand and falls six feet away. "Dee!" yells James. He runs over, kneeling down beside her. Two more Noxmen take aim at Dee and James. Nether jumps into the path of their fire, wrapping his arms around James and Dee as the Noxmen fire into Nether's broad back. He moans in pain.

James calls out as the Noxmen's rifle fire stops. "Please don't do this! Thalo Blue! What's happened to you?" says James. "I am TH - 8LU3. And I am currently functioning within established parameters," He says as he descends toward them.

The two nearest Noxmen open fire again. "Enough of this," says Nether. The great behemoth strikes down the two Noxmen sending them tumbling through the air.

Dee's thugs return to find her unconscious. James and K race four Outsiders to the fallen Noxmen's rifles. Nether takes another Noxman's fire, then punches the attacking robot square in the chest with a metal-crushing blow.

K reaches one of the rifles first but is jumped from behind by a thug. James gets to the second rifle at the same time as three Outsiders. They lunge at him, but one, two, three, he throws them hard to the ground. He pulls the thug off of K. Then...

James and K pick up the rifles and place themselves between the unconscious Dee and the Noxmen.

Rowle steps out to face the android. "We simply want to return home," he says.

"Leaving… is no longer an option," says the android. Thalo Blue fires a stream of blue light at Rowle, who dives out of the way. The earth where Rowle stood is now a small crater. As the dust settles, Rowle gets up and wipes the blood from his lip.

A shadow appears in the sky. It gets closer. On approach are 100 airborne Noxmen. 

In seconds, several land around the group. In a few seconds more -- the bulk of them land en masse in tight battle formations under Thalo Blue.

Then comes a rumbling…

"What now?" says K.

TR - 1, the tremendous, box-headed, tractor-sized robot James and Dee saw when they first came to this place… floats up over the ridge toward them. The air around it pulses with the power required to keep the tonnage of this robot aloft. It scans the group. Then its booming communique -- along with a sound wave pattern that darts across the great robot's face -- rings with disapproval. It hovers at Thalo Blue's left side. At Thalo Blue's right, fifty more Noxmen march over the uneven ground into position.

Unnoticed by the group, Dee opens her eyes.

On the second floor of the Library… 

Odette walks out to the balcony clasping the book, All That Glitters. Shen steps out of the study, startling her. The book slips from her hands and falls. Shen catches it.

She stares down at him. He stares up.

Shen, unsure how to communicate with this woman, raises his hands to ask where his friends are. He can see she doesn't understand and grows frustrated. "Where?" Shen mouths the word. "Where?" asks Odette. Then she signs to him and speaks: "Where are your friends?" "Yes," signs Shen, surprised by her signing skill. "There in that book," signs Odette. "But that woman needs help."

Odette and Shen peek out the front door. Carissa sits in the alley with one of the Outsiders talking to her. Two others stand at the burning trash bin.

Odette leans out the front door and says to the man next to Carissa, "Dee wants you in here." He enters, Odette closes the door, and Shen kicks him over a table. 

"I'll go get her," signs Odette. "Wait!" signs Shen. He points into the shadows across the room.

A figure steps out. "Bale," says Odette. "Why is Dee always right?" says Bale as he approaches. He whistles, and the two remaining outsiders leave their post at the burning barrel. "Gotta give it to her… she knows what's what," he says. And the two outsiders enter and flank her and Shen.

Bale sees the book, All That Glitters on the table, but Odette grabs it and clutches it to her chest. Bale reaches for her. She turns away from him and falls to the ground.

At the Orchard…

Dee gets up, touching her forehead. "I bring the revolution," she says. "Dee?" says James. "I bring the night," says Dee as she transforms into Lume. Even with all that's happened, James can't believe what he's seeing.

From behind them, the group hears Lume's predatory sound -- three heartbeats. They turn to find Lume towering behind them. 

As the colossal ink-black beast strides forward, James steps out in front and feels like a man on a raft staring at an oncoming battleship. "Dee? Can you hear me?" asks James. "Is that still you?"

With a sound like thunder, Lume unfolds its great, black wings casting a dark shadow over James.

From the ruins of the barn, the Outsiders watch. "Awesome!" says one of them.

Nether stares at Lume. He feels a rush of anger. "Can it be?... Lume? You're the one who killed my brother," says Nether, as his breathing grows heavy. "Lume brings the night," is Lume's reply.

Nether throws himself at Lume, and the two powerful creatures grab each other in a clinch. Straining into one another, the ground yields. They do not.

The Noxmen march on the group. James, K, Rowle, and Eli stare at the ground-crunching army as it approaches, their hovering android general and the behemoth robot at his side. "This isn't good," says Eli. "Oh, man," says K dejectedly.

TR-1, the massive robot, descends on them as even more Noxmen approach from the sky.

Rowle steps out in front of his friends into that growing shadow of mechanical darkness before them, into the cold of it. 

"Rowle," calls James as he and K raise their rifles to protect him.

"At least we go out together," says K.

Rowle raises his hand high over his head. An unearthly sound, like waves crashing on a beach in some cosmic symphony, rings out.

Then, around Rowle's raised hand, a brilliant disc of light forms. It grows bright. It's gleaming, penetrating the shadows and reflecting in the eyes of the Noxmen surrounding them.

James stares. "Light Hand?" he says.

The Noxmen army attacks. Rowle races into them. The disk of light haloed around his right hand flashes as he cuts through one robot, then another. 

James opens fire into the attacking Noxmen. K fires, keeping the Outsiders pinned down in the ruins of the barn.

Thalo Blue joins the fight, flying at Rowle — beams of humming energy fire from the android's hands and body. Rowle deflects Thalo Blue's blasts, and they tear up the ground. And then…

The disk of light around Rowle's hand crackles as he uses it to propel himself into the air. He strikes Thalo Blue in the chest, sending the android crashing to the ground just a few yards from James. 

Nether and Lume exchange thunderous blows. Eli searches for a way to help.

In the Library's main room...

Odette lies face down on the floor. Shen reaches for her but stops. "If anyone should be forgiven, it's us," she says. "What are you talking about?" says Bale. "We tried to rise above our programming. We..." Bale grabs her by the ankle and turns her over. She is reading from All That Glitters. "We... broke shackles," and as she reads these words, the coloured lights transport Odette, Shen, Bale, and the three Outsiders from where they were... to where they are.

They find themselves at the edge of the android's city.

Bale and the three Outsiders are wonderstruck. Staring out at the city, taking in this unique reality, Bale's entire belief system changes in a moment. Odette takes Shen by the wrist and pulls him back into the portal. The two of them disappear, and the portal closes. Bale turns to Odette, but she's gone.

At the Orchard…

Lume throws Nether to the ground with such force that everyone feels the shaking. "Nether!" calls Eli.

In the Alley of the Library…

Odette helps Carissa to her feet.

At the Orchard Battleground…

Nether stands to resume his battle with Lume.

Thalo Blue, badly damaged, rises to face James. The slash Rowle put in his chest glistens with sparks from golden wires.

TR-1 lands to face both Nether and Lume as several more Noxmen gather around.

Eli runs up to TR-1. 

"Hey, Big Fella!" TR-1 turns to see tiny Eli. The great robot strikes Eli with monstrous mechanical speed. Its fist comes down with terrific force, and where Eli stood — only a puff of leaves remains. TR-1 retracts its arm. The leaves fall in a small pile which turns into Eli. "I'm little, but I'm mighty!" says Eli as he runs up the robot's arm.

Thalo Blue scans the book, The Angel of Aphelion, on the ground midway between the android and James. "Don't come any closer," says James. "Another doorway?" he says. "This cannot be permitted."

James feels a rush of fear and points his rifle at the android.

With dazzling speed, Thalo Blue takes aim at the book. You can never…" Boom! A blast rings out from James's rifle. Thalo Blue falls away. And as he falls, James remembers the moment Thalo Blue pushed him through the portal, back to the safety of the Library… back home. The android hits the ground like a cannonball falling to soft dirt. As the light in the android's eyes fades, Thalo Blue sees the battle between Lume and Nether unfolding a stone's throw away. Lume's great black wings, interspersed with sunlight shining behind the beast, are reflected in the dying android's eyes. "Angel," says Thalo Blue. The glow of life vanishes; the android's face is frozen in a soft and human smile.

Rowle, or rather, Light Hand, strikes down the last two Noxmen next to him. K fires his rifle, keeping the remaining Outsiders pinned down.

TR-1 stands over Thalo Blue.

Nether lunges into Lume, striking it squarely with both fists at once. Struck with such force, Lume rolls backward up a small hill and off the other side.

Then...

Shen appears in a portal and waves his friends over.

James kneels over the book, The Angel of Aphelion. He reads, and the coloured portal lights come. "James!" yells Nether. But James is carried from where he was to where he is.

Nether runs over and picks up the book from the ground.

Rowle calls to his friends, "Get back to the Library now! I'll get Nether!" 

K, Eli, and Shen disappear into the portal. Lume flies over the hill, and in the shadow cast by those great black wings, Rowle touches Nether, and they vanish.

In the main room of the Library…

Eli closes the book, All That Glitters.

In front of K, Eli, Shen, Carissa and Odette... Rowle and Nether appear.

Rowle runs over to Carissa.

Nether scans the last pages of the book The Angel of Aphelion. "Where are you?" he says.

At the Aphelion Plateau... 

James finds himself in the middle of an evening wheat field. In the distance, the ground rises to a high hill. The sun has just set, and in the gloaming, a fantastic light shines like a beacon from somewhere atop the plateau.

James runs toward it. 

In the main room of the Library…

K and Eli, relieved to see Shen alive, hug him. 

"Where's James?" asks Eli. He glances around and sees Nether disappear through a portal.

At the Aphelion Plateau... 

James races up the hill and sees a small figure near the top. It's Ready.

Nether appears amid the coloured lights where James entered from the wheat field.

He sees James running toward Ready at the top of the hill, both moving toward that spectacular shining light. Nether races after them.

James reaches Ready at the edge of the plateau. The boy looks pale -- the same colour as the person James saw in the fog -- the irretrievable. "Ready!" he shouts. The boy continues walking. "Ready, stop! Look at me!"

He reaches for Ready's arm, but his hand passes through the ethereal image of the unperturbed boy - still transfixed by the light.

James tries to wrap his arms around Ready, but he cannot, and the boy simply continues walking.

Nether races, midway, up the hill. "James," he says as he runs.

In the main room of the Library…

Rowle helps Carissa to a chair. Then grabs the book, The Angel of Aphelion, examining the open pages.

At the Aphelion Plateau... 

James reaches the flat top of the hill. A great globe of light, three feet in diameter and intensely beautiful, gleams before him. Brilliant white and silver swirling lights form this spinning sphere as it hovers a few feet above a boulder.

(It is everything amazing).

Then...

The boy reaches the plateau. "The Light of Aphelion," he says.

"Ready? Don't you do this?" says James.

The boy walks toward the sphere. James walks with him. 

"I'm telling you to stop this right now." But Ready continues.

James steps between the boy and the shining sphere, stretching out his arms to keep them apart, but the boy keeps walking. 

Nether arrives at the hilltop. He sees James's expression turn to resolve.

Nether reaches for his friend as James throws his arms around the sphere. 

"James!" shouts Nether.

A BLINDING WHITE LIGHT blankets the hilltop. 

As the twilight returns...

Nether Stowey -- one knee on the ground -- leans over James, who lies before him. 

Nether holds James's back in the palm of his massive left hand. He lifts James a little, but James doesn't stir. 

"James?" says Nether quietly.

In the hospital room...

Ready wakes up in his bed.

He sees Asha. She places a comforting hand on his arm. 

At the Aphelion Plateau... 

Nether picks James up in his arms and carries him down the hill.

A bright light drifts down over the boulder. It transforms into a figure of magnificent light -- an ethereal beauty glorious in its brilliance. It is JAMES TRANSFORMED. It is the ANGEL OF APHELION.

With eyes closed, the Angel hovers over the boulder -- that magical light blossoming all around.

In the Library of Lost Books...

Nether appears with James in his arms.

"What's happened," signs Shen.

"James?" asks K, stunned.

Eli climbs onto a chair to get a better look at James.

All are silent.

Out of that silence, Nether BELLOWS. And like some great horn sounding out, a loud blast reverberates through the Library and into the street. 

Outside, the Library looks peaceful this sunny afternoon, though Nether's great bellow still resounds. 

A second blast rings out. Heads turn on curious passers-by.

As Nether's second bellow fades, a dozen people, including a woman and her 6-year-old daughter, step into the alley, curious, and see the Library.

Nether sets James down on the table next to the book, The Wanderer, as Shen, K, and Eli gather around.

Rowle turns to the book, The Angel of Aphelion, on the next table.

A look of grim determination crosses Eli's face. He pulls on the table leg, but it doesn't budge. So he pulls at it with all his strength. The others look at him. "If James wants to feel the sun on his face, that's what he's gonna get," says Eli. And he pulls again.

Nether, Shen, and K look at each other. 

As the passers-by gather in the alley, their curiosity is now focused on the front doors of The Library. 

The doors swing open, and Nether, Shen, K, and Eli -- carry James and the table he is lying on, down the stairs and into the alley. 

They carry James through the awestruck people until they reach a space in the centre of the alley where the sun is shining. And there... they set him down.

At the Aphelion Plateau... 

Rowle stands at the top of the hill, bathed in the brilliant light of the Angel of Aphelion hovering before him.

"James?" says Rowle. The Angel's eyes remain closed. "James!" says Rowle... but nothing.

Rowle takes three long strides, leaps up and throws his arms around the Angel, grabbing him around the ribs. In doing so, Rowle passes through the light of the Angel, catches something substantial, and falls into a dark otherworld in the shadow of the Angel. Rowle's arms now wrapped around an unconscious James. They float slowly through this dark otherworld. The light of The Angel casts long shadows of Rowle and the unconscious James into the abyss.

Rowle holds James as they sink into the darkness.

"You're not alone, James. I'm with you. I'm with you."

They sink deeper into the darkness.

"I'm with you, James. You'll never be alone."

They sink still deeper.

"I promise," says Rowle.

In the growing cold that surrounds the two men, James's whole body shudders. Then, with even greater force, it shudders again. James jolts a third time and...

The Angel opens its eyes.

In the alley of the Lost Books Library...

The magnetic crowd is pulled in silently, fascinated.

The six-year-old girl walks up to Nether. She studies him and sees the tears in his eyes. She places her hand in Nether's hand. He looks down at her.

In the quiet of the Library...

Odette pats a dazed Carissa's hand. She stops and turns to the book, The Angel of Aphelion, on the table. "Something's coming," whispers Odette.

Carissa looks up, and a figure appears in front of her. It's Rowle. Next to him is a dazzling figure of light.

The figure moves to the door so quickly that everyone and everything around it seems frozen in time. Its absolute brilliance glints in Carissa's eyes as it passes. A trail of stunning light glimmers in its wake. And as the figure of light passes through the front door, it grows immensely bright. (Magnetically drawn to James.)

Odette steps into the doorway, amazed. "What was that?" she asks, searching the alley. (Her whole world opened up).

Carissa clasps Rowle's hand. "Rowle," she says, "I remember." The two of them join Odette at the front door.

Nether, K, Shen, and Eli stand beside James -- the curious and growing crowd in a wider circle around them.

Then, in the warmth of that sunny afternoon city alley, James opens his eyes.

"James?" says Eli.

James sits up. (Every cell and every atom in his body is functioning better than it ever has before -- fantastically well. His cells become younger and phenomenally healthy. Old scars all heal. He has become extraordinarily fit.) "God, I feel great!" he says.

"What are you guys doing?" he asks as he stands.

A car pulls up. Asha, Ready, and the Security Guard get out and enter the alley. Ready runs up to James and leaps into his arms.

The Security Guard's eyes are wide in wonder. The six-year-old girl claps. And all their jubilations ripple through -- and are carried by -- the completely astonished (magnetic) crowd.

Ready slips down from James's arms, utterly fascinated by the group. The boy waves to Rowle, Carissa and Odette -- who wave back.

Nether, K, Shen, and Eli throw their arms around James. Asha runs up and joins the group hug.

"James," says Nether, barely believing what he's seeing.

"Netty! I told you I'd come back," says James.

Shen points to James's book, The Wanderer, on the table. "I don't need it," says James.

"You have your memory back," says K. James nods.

Then, James feels a spectacular, fantastic, extraordinary new sensation.

"I'm so happy to see all of you!" says James. Expressions of awe wash over their faces. And each of them stares at him, wonderstruck.

The awestruck (magnetic) crowd watches with mouths agape.

James hovers before them all with the Light of Aphelion shining -- angelic -- all around him. Illustrious wings of light holding him aloft.

It's the most magnificent thing any of them have ever seen.

Rowle, Carissa and Odette see that that figure of light was... is... James.

Wanting to see it more, and to see it more closely, every one of them leans in.

James looks himself over and is filled with astonishment and bliss. He looks back to his friends, who share his wondrous surprise and joyful exuberance.

James smiles.