The war against the hostile aliens hit France particularly hard. For some still unexplained reason, portal after portal opened up in France. The onslaught of the Z'lanthrax menace was an unrelenting crisis. Atrocity and brutal destruction were common occurrences that cost many human lives. In the small but beautiful village of Conques, along the Pilgrim's Trail of southern France, a raid took place. 17 citizens were captured by the aliens. The hardy soldiers of the UN spared no expense in the search to get them back. With help from the locals, they were indeed able to find the makeshift lair the Z'lanthrax had constructed. Out of the 17, 10 were women. When they were found, only 8 were rescued alive. All of them were women. Unfortunately, all 8 were brutally assaulted. While recuperating in the care of the infirmary of the nearest base, it became clear that they were all pregnant. This was not something that had been encountered before. They were pregnant with the offspring of vicious aliens. When they went into labor, only 3 of the 8 managed to survive the pregnancies. It was tragic.
Esme Bardin was one of those 3 women. She did not survive giving birth to Henri unscathed either. Her injuries were so severe, she would be bound to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Being a pious Catholic young woman, it was a big challenge to accept the fact that this happened to her. Things like this would shake anyone to their core. Still, she resolved herself to taking care of her child. At the age of 24, she was a high school graduate. It was her parents that own a decently frequented coffee house that kept the family afloat. She worked there after school. She was not a very good student, but she was earnest enough when it came to serving the customers of her community. Nightmares plagued her nights for many years after that harrowing experience, but she kept praying and living. It was the best thing that she could do for her son. He was bigger, stronger and faster than normal human kids his age. He was also 3 times as aggressive. Keeping a close eye and a firm hand on Henri was very important. It was crucial to keeping him in line. His grandfather suggested some sports.
For the middle aged shopkeeper, sports was something he loved as a hobby. He loved his local and national soccer teams. He was the one that taught Henri how to play with all the rules. Henri took to it with a fish to water. The hybrid had lightning quick reflexes and the speed to keep control of the ball. He also had the power to make long distance shots at the goal. With this in mind, it was no wonder that Henri would like playing. Using his broad skillset, his first coach put him in as the left midfielder. It let him both attack and defend. The people around him did not like this. They did not trust their children around a Z'lanthrax hybrid. Some teams would simply resign in protest. Being that the coach and Henri's grandfather liked winning, they did not mind this outcome. It only padded their records for the season. Henri would get annoyed if it happened too many times in a row. He wanted to go on the field and play. Losing was not a big deal. However, for every team that would forfeit in protest, there was another team that would purposely try to take him out because they hated simply him.
