The first five steps of the Hero's Journey. They include: the call to adventure, refusal to the call, the supernatural aid, crossing the first threshold, and the belly of the whale.
Departure
The journey starts with the call to adventure. Usually the hero is going through the daily grind, it's mundane and sometimes the hero wishes that the monotony would break up. Although they don't always flat out say it, they long for something more (Kemp 2011). Aya's call to adventure is the acceptance of a date from a man who kept pestering her. She finally gave in and decided to go to the opera, but she also behaves in a manner that says it is a chore for her (Tokita 1998). Aya is unaware that the opera will completely transform her life and everything she knows.
The refusal to the call is often due to the hero being humble. As Aya sits and watches the opera she notices that as Melissa sings other spectators are being set on fire. They are, quite in fact, spontaneously combusting. Aya's initial reaction is to run out and call the police. Melissa disappears beneath the stage. At first Aya is a little hesitant to follow, knowing that she should follow the singer but is uncertain as to why she did not burn herself. Aya's initial reaction is her refusal to the call (Kemp 2011). As the only person who seems unaffected by what is going on, she climbs down into the lower stage, evening gown and all (Tokita 1998).
Aya's supernatural aid comes from her mitochondrial abilities. Although she does not know she has them at first, it is her mitochondria that protects her from the fire and death that has plagued everyone else in the theater. This leads her into the deepest parts of the theater where she starts to piece together that something is wrong with the lead singer (Tokita 1998).
Crossing the first threshold is usually the boost in confidence that the hero needs to start the journey (Kemp 2011). For Aya it is taking a deep breath and diving into the deepest parts of the stage as an officer for the New York Police Department. She knows only that something is very wrong and that as the only officer on scene that can get close, she heads into her journey with the idea to stop the perpetrator (Tokita 1998).
The departure from her normal life is considered the belly of the whale (Kemp 2011). As Aya chases Melissa throughout the opera house she finds out that the singer had an operation, was ill, and began taking an immunosuppressant to keep her organs working correctly. It is there that Aya gets the vague feeling that something more is going on but is not quite sure what. Her Belly of the Whale is the when she realizes that she will be the only one to stop Melissa and must continue to chase her through New York to get her to stop what she's doing (Tokita 1998). After this, there is no going back to before. Aya knows too much and feels too strongly connected to the incident.
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