Eagle Rising
Sequence 1
Michael looked up from his wheelchair at a sculpture of the Virgin Mary and the baby Jesus with his mother praying nearby and thought, "Not all men are created equal".
After finishing her prayers, and not wanting to hang about longer than necessary, she wheels her son out of Saint Micheal's Catholic church, to the stormy streets of Lagos Island and quickly into her car to begin the journey home.
As they maneuver through the streets of Lagos, Micheal's mother explains to him, "I have a meeting this Friday and I'll be leaving very early. I wish I could bring you along but I won't be able to so I'm sending someone over" and Michael dryly responds, "Yes mother I understand".
They park by the side of their home and his mother carries him out, wheeling him up using a specially made ramp to get to his room before walking out. Once alone, he changes into his night clothes of only pajama bottoms then falls asleep.
In his sleep, Michael dreams of walking through a peaceful city which slowly turns into a burning hellscape.
An angel appears in front of Michael and stabs him which shocks him out of his sleep.
He looks around to see his mother leaning by his doorpost holding a mug.
Michael throws his duvet off asking, "How long have you been there?".
She puts the mug on the bookshelf and replies, "I was worried and came to check on you".
He says, "I'm fine, you worry too much" while trying to get on his wheelchair.
She asks, "Do you need help with that?".
He says "I'm fine" while still struggling with the wheelchair.
Michael slips and falls down, his mother runs to help him up.
As she tries to lift him he angrily tells her off, "Get off I don't need your help!".
She leans over him looking emotionless for a few seconds as he sits on the floor dusting himself then turns around to leave.
Michael's mother goes down the stairs covering her mouth with her right hand, trying to muzzle her crying, when suddenly the doorbell rings.
She wipes her eyes then goes to see who it is. She opens the door and sees David, Micheal's friend, who asks "Good morning ma, is Michael around?".
"Yes he's upstairs", she replies, pointing her thumb upwards.
David rushes in saying, "Thanks Ma".
He opens the door of Michael's room as he's still on the floor struggling to get up and asks, "What happened to you?".
Michael sarcastically tells him, "Nothing... What are you doing here anyway?".
David lifts Michael onto his wheelchair as he replies, "It's about that thing we talked about, I would have called you but your phone wasn't going through for some reason".
Michael says, "The reception here isn't very good, I thought you knew that by now, anyways are you sure it's going to work?".
David sits on the bed and exclaiming, "Of course it's going to work! You know Dare he was broke as hell but he's balling now, this guy is the real deal".
Michael covers his mouth with his right hand deep in thought but after a few nudges from his friend, eventually breaks the silence saying, "What will it cost?" and David replies, "50k".
Michael folds his arms saying, "Well it's not like I have anything else to lose, Friday is really the only free day I have".
David stands up, arms outstretched saying, "It's decided then".
He heads out the door saying, "We'll leave by Friday".
Michael shouts "Close the door" before he goes down the stairs. David returns and slams it shut which makes Michael laugh slightly and say to himself, "This David is a fool sometimes".
Sequence 2
Friday arrives and the two friends get to a crowded and busy Obalende bus stop. Michael is wheeled by his friend to an empty bus with the driver sleeping.
David taps the driver's shoulder and asks "Bros wake up, how much to Ibadan?".
The man angrily gets up and says, "Wetin you want?".
David repeats, "How much for two going to Ibadan?".
The driver looks around asking, "Wey the second guy?".
The driver looks down and sees Micheal grinning nervously, he leans back and says "Na one thousand".
They awkwardly enter the bus while the driver tries to hail more passengers. Micheal stares out of the window with a worried look on his face as the bus fills up.
After a surprisingly short wait, bus fills up and leaves. The journey is mostly uneventful with David dozing off and Micheal listening to some music.
They eventually stop at the Lagos-Ibadan expressway bus-stop then find a cab to take them to the edge of the Old Oyo national park near Igbeti.
David pulls out his phone and checks the location on his map, "It should be just around here".
They proceed down a path in the bush until they see a sign with an unintelligible language written in glowing purple marks.
A small boy dressed in a long purple skirt, covered in white markings appears on the path behind them saying, "Hey wait there!".
He puts one hand on Michael's wheelchair and says, "Just him".
David pushes him off saying, "No way, who the hell are you?".
The boy says, "He does not want you just him or else you both go back to Lagos".
Michael and his friend look at the boy then back at each other before bursting into uncontrollable laughter.
The boy brings out a bag of powder and blows it at the two which renders them unconscious in seconds.
Sequence 3
After a while, Michael opens his eyes and sees a man dressed in a purple robe and headpiece with a menacing black staff with the head of a Snake with purple jewels in its eyes.
He gasps in shock and tries to get away but realises that he is sitting down in his underwear tied to a tree. He angrily asks "How did I get here, where the fuck am I, and who the fuck are you?" while struggling with the ropes.
The man answers, "I thought you knew, if not then why have you come here?".
Michael answers in an angry tone, "My friend brought me here, where is he anyway, what have you done with him?".
The wizard says, "Right now he is on his way back to Lagos".
Michael struggles to get out of the ropes while shouting to himself, "That bastard left me...when I get out of here I'm going to kill him".
The wizard replies, "And how will a boy who can't even walk do that?".
Michael replies, "Let me out of these ropes and I'll show you".
The wizard sighs and shakes his head before saying, "Listen boy if you have not come to waste my time, I have just one task for you".
With a raised eyebrow Michael listens attentively as he continues, "Bring me an egg from the white eagle and I will give you power beyond your imagination".
"And if I refuse?", Michael asks.
The wizard responds with authority, "Then you slither back to where you came from".
Micheal asks sarcastically, "I don't really care much about power, I just want to walk again, how do I know you can actually help me?".
The wizard's staff begins to glow and the ropes tying Michael down snap.
Convinced Micheal asks, "So uh where's this white eagle?".
The wizard answers, "It lives in the tallest tree in the forest, over there" as he points to a large mass of trees with one towering over all of them.
The wizard starts to walk away saying "When you have done it follow the markings to the east".
Michael asks, "How am I supposed to get up there?".
The wizard responds, "The only thing stopping you is your imagination" as a gust of wind blows up dust and leaves, obscuring the view of the wizard.
The wizard disappears as the dust settles and Michael thinks to himself, "What have I gotten myself into?".
Micheal begins to slowly crawl towards his destination. After several minutes of crawling through the forest, he sees the base of a massive Iroko tree in a large clearing.
He stares up at the massive tree and thinks to himself, "How in the hell am I supposed to get up there?".
Micheal looks around for something to get him up and sees some rope, a broken pot and two knives. He ties the ropes around his waist, crawls around the tree with the rope then ties the loose end around his waist again and pulls tightly. He sticks one knife after the other into the tree's bark and begins climbing up.
He makes his way to the top and sees a large nest with 3 eagle eggs inside. Micheal picks one up and says "I hope this is worth it".
He hears a screech and looks back to see a massive white eagle flying towards him at full speed.
Micheal screams and covers his head as the eagle starts attacking him, clawing and biting at his back.
He grabs a knife and swings it wildly at the eagle.The knife cuts the eagle's chest and it's lilly white feathers turn red around the site of the gash as blood spills everywhere.
The eagle screams out in pain as it thrashes around. Its talons cut the ropes holding Micheal up. He swings from the tree and falls down into the bush below screaming as he does so.The egg also falls out of his hand beside him.
Micheal crashes through the trees breaking branches and getting scratched all over.
He groans in pain on the floor brushing the dirt off his injured body and thinks to himself "How the fuck am I still alive?".
He gets a shocked look on his face as he realizes the egg might be broken, "The egg!".
He looks down and sees the egg is completely unscratched beside him thinking, "What the fuck is going on here?".
He looks up and hears the eagle screech out then thinks, "I better get out of here".
He grabs the egg and looks back as the white eagle lands on the clearing and cries out sadly looking for it's egg.
Micheal crawls as fast as possible following the markings in the forest to the east. As he moves he begins to see apparitions of evil spirits staring at him through the darkness of the trees.
Micheal crawls until he gets to a small collection of huts, there he sees several children playing and the wizard standing among them.
One of the children tugs his robe and points towards Micheal, the wizard walks to him and asks, "Have you gotten what I asked?".
Micheal shouts in confusion, "What the fuck is this place and who are you?".
The wizard crouches down as Micheal covers his head in fear as he replies with a smile on his face, "All will be revealed in time".
The wizard takes the egg from him as he's still cowering on the floor.
Sequence 4
Micheal is sitting down, legs crossed with the wizard sitting in front of him with a bowl between them and some charms and a knife beside him.
The wizard shouts, "My children leave us" and they run away into the huts behind him.
The wizard holds up the egg and asks, "Do you know what this is?".
Micheal answers snidely, "It's an egg, what I want to know is why I almost died for it".
The wizard continues, "This humble object is the symbol of new life. It is a rare object which can not be broken by mortal means".
He gesticulates to further dramatise his speech, "All around us there is great spiritual energy..... and an essence which is buried inside you. This egg is the key to unlocking your hidden gifts".
Micheal responds, "That's all well and good but will it heal my spine?"
The wizard drops the egg gently beside him and says;
"Boy of little faith, trust and see".
The wizard claps his hands together and his eyes and staff start to glow with the same purple tint as before.
The wizard begins to chant in an unknown language and raises the charms on the floor to the air. Micheal looks on with a worried expression as the wizard puts the charms into the bowl and continues to chant.
The wizard raises up the egg and continues to chant. The egg starts to crack, emitting a red light from within.
The wizard breaks the egg and a red yolk falls into the bowl below.
As the objects in the bowl glow red and melt, the wizard raises the bowl to him and says, "Drink and be reborn!".
Micheal takes the bowl and looks down at it, whispers, "For you mother" and drinks the liquid mixture.
Micheal's face changes to one of shock as energy flows through him, his eyes glowing faintly red as he sits in a lethargic state.
In his mind he sees distorted visions of war flash all around. He returns to his senses after a few seconds as the glow fades.
The Wizard shouts to him, "Now is the time, seize your destiny and rise!".
Micheal stumbles forward on his hands and knees then raises one knee as he tries to get up.
He stands up and spreads his arms beside him, the wizard shouts with a large satisfied grin, "Yes, let the power flow through you!".
Micheal puts his hands over his head and starts to scream in pain.
The tips of wings start to protrude from the scar on his back.
Micheal looks down in horror at his hands and sees them transform into talons and shouts "What did you do to me!?".
The wizard's face changes to one of sheer horror and shouts, "No No NO NO!".
The wizard swings his staff to tear open a portal to escape as Micheal tries to grab him saying, "It was not supposed to be this way!".
Micheal falls to the floor and reaches out as the portal closes in front of him.
He sees a distorted and red tinted view of his monstrous hands emitting a fiery red glow.
Micheal screams out in horror as birds fly from the trees towards the evening sun.
The End?