[RISE] ➵ P.Lahote

[0:0]

Beijing, China.
June 1988

It is a warm summer evening, and a young Hai Chee is at the lake playing. His parents are on a hill watching the sunset, and listening to their young sons' giggles and cries of excitement. As the young year old plays with his toys in the water, one slips out of his hand and begins to float towards the middle of the small lake. Struck with the fear of loosing his toy forever, he begins to cry for help. When his cries are heard, his parents rush down the hill, fearing the worst. When they reach their son, they sigh a breath of relief and scold him for screaming when there was no emergency. Hai begins to explain to his parents that his toy was floating away, and they needed to grab it quickly before it got too far. When his parents refuse, the youngest Chee grows angry and begins to throw a tantrum. His parents continue to scold the young boy for acting so innapropriate, which makes the child even angrier. Hai stops what he is doing and stares at his parents, furious. Mr. and Mrs Chee continue to rant, not realising the mass of water that was growing behind their son, larger, and larger. The Chee parents finish their scolding, and look at their son expectantly. He continues to glare and his parents roll their eyes and begin to walk back to the top of the hill, telling the boy he had other toys to play with. Their walk was cut short, when a mass of water swallows them up, and drags them into the lake, to never be seen again. Hai Chee was later brought to an Orphanage, where he would spend the next 8 years.
This boy, would soon learn his true potential.

////

8 years later
An old woman walks into a large Orphanage, located in the middle of Beijing. The young woman at the desk, greets the cloaked elder politely before asking, "Are you here to adopt Miss?"
The elder woman nods, and replies with, "I have heard you are housing a child with the name of Hai Chee?"
The desked woman looks at her with wide eyes before replying. "Y-Yes we do, his parents went missing when he was 4, no one will adopt him because they think the child is evil, black magic has something to do with their disappearance it." The cloaked woman nods before adding "I would like to adopt him." The young woman nods, and goes to retrieve the young boy.
Minutes later, she emerges with a small, innocent 12 year old boy holding two large bags. "Hello Hai, I am Hannah, and I will be adopting you."

/////

After hours of paperwork and chatting, the young boy follows the elder to her car. After putting his bags in the trunk, he steps into the passenger seat and buckles in. When he notices the car hasn't started moving, he looks towards his elder.
The woman lowers her cloak, and her face slowly morphs into a much younger, more beautiful woman.
"Hai Chee, my name is Rebecca Connors, and you have much to learn."
This boy, would later be known as
Connor Connors.

London, England
October 1999

It is a crisp fall evening, and Oliver Williams is walking home, furious because his parents forgot to pick him up from school. He kicks rocks and pebbles as he walks, huffing as he approaches his home. He reaches his front porch and grabs the key under the mat before unlocking the door and stepping inside. What he sees when he reaches the living room both shocks and angers him. Right on the couch, is his mom, in the lap of another man.
"So this is why you forgot to pick me up!?" he shouts furiously. His mother quickly jumps away from the man and looks at her angered son with wide, fear stricken eyes. "O-Oliver!" she exclaims. "Not only that, but your cheating on dad? The man that works 3 jobs to support us?!" the angered 8 year old yells. With his problematic family life, Oliver was forced to grow up quickly, and learn to appreciate even the littlest of things in life. So his father working 3 jobs, he knew was a big deal, but apparently his mother didn't. His mother quickly tries to explain herself, but Oliver hears none of it, his anger is taking over his whole body. He suddenly feels extremely hot, and hears loud ringing in his ears.
He looks around confused, vision becoming blurry. He turns back to his mother and glares, anger coming back, all confusion gone. Suddenly, before he even realises, the ground beneath his mother bursts into flames, and spreads extremely quick. Before he realises what is going on, the flames have taken over the house, and all he sees is smoke. His mother's screams can be heard, and he quickly rushes out the door and straight into the arms of someone who seemed to be waiting.
He looks up with wide eyes and sees a beautiful young woman in a hooded cloak. "Miss! Miss please you have to help me!" he begins to blabber, eyes swelling with tears. The woman looks down at him with sad eyes
"Shh. Oliver, everything is going to be all right." The boy backs away slightly, fearing the worst of the woman.
"H-how do you know my name?"
he questions wearily. The woman takes a step towards him, and places a hand on his shoulder which causes him to relax. "Oliver, my name is Rebecca, and I can help you."
This boy, would later be known as
Blake Connors.