Post by Claire Hawkins on Mar 7, 2021 19:52:24 GMT -5
"Something the matter, child?"
Tearing her gaze away from the deathly reflection that seemed to dance upon the water's surface, Claire absently looked towards the mass that stood in the center of the waist-deep pool; a quiver of trepidation playing havoc upon her lower lip. For months, she had taken the hellish nature of their teachings and the diabolical beatings of those on the Action Wrestling roster in stride. Yet, at this crucial moment, she found herself second-guessing the resolve she took pride in. If she took the last step in her pursuit and met only failure there would be nothing left for her; there was no safety net nor barrel to protect what might remain. For the first time, in what felt like ages, fear had its skeletal grip upon her and refused to relinquish her.
Fear, true fear. was something naught to be trifled with.
"I....."
"Do you not wish to proceed?"
"That...."
Although their face was concealed by the low-hanging brim of the elaborately embroidered black robe, one could clearly picture the face they made as their exasperated sigh echoed off of the frigid granite walls of the underground chamber.
"Listen and heed these words, fickle child. You stand on the precipice of that you have fought for, and now all you must do is take that final step. Should you not, then everything those singularly minded fools ever spoke shall become true and you shall forever be deemed unworthy of the life in which you have been given. Will you allow them to further dictate your worth and the overarching validity of your forsaken existence? Will you allow yourself to become nothing once more? Or will you fight against the fetters that bind you?"
"......"
"CHOOSE!"
Without any further response, or lack thereof, Claire took that fateful step into the pond-like pool; stepping from the old unto the new. Unable to repress the involuntary shaking, she waded deeper into the pool till she too was waist-deep within the frigid liquid of life. The bone-chilling temperature is a welcome respite to the bruises and wounds that littered her pale body; the freshest ones being from the hands of her former stablemate at Battlefield.
"Good, good! Now, all you must do is surrender yourself to that which dictates the balance of the natural forces and the spirits that dwell within them."
Before she was able to verbalize the question that had begun to form, the wisp-like being and the robe they wore liquified and melted into the pool, leaving our beloved witch with a host of questions. However, what wasn't questionable was that there seemed to be a direct correlation between the events that she had been tortured with over the past months and the new life that she sought. Running a hand through the now inky black liquid, she could not help but feel the tumultuous touch of fear once more.
"Well, here goes nothing."
Setting aside the cocktail of fear and doubt, The Witch submerged herself within the abyssal womb.
The camera hums to life as a liquid-like substance dominates the scene. Water-like in nature, the black liquid seemed to dance as a steady rhythm of unseen drips sent shallow ripples across the surface. After several moments, the image of Action Wrestling's resident Witch appeared upon the surface of the inky black liquid; battered and beaten by the hands of the Television Champion at Battlefield. A moment later, a ripple rolled across the surface, and the defeated image of the Metal Witch was replaced by that of The Man Action Wrestling Forgot; Dionysus. Which, as expected, was soon dissipated by another ripple that left nothing more than a blank canvas of black liquid in its wake.
"Defeat; a common occurrence for those that seek the competitive thrill that is otherwise unavailable to them during the mundane humdrum of their everyday lives. Yet, for those that fully submerge themselves within that competitive storm defeat can come to mean either of two things. For some, it means nothing and thus they continue upon their path without noticing that their route to the top has become a slope to obscurity; a pitiful and sad existence. However, there are those that take their defeats and learn from them; dissect and grow from them."
"People like us, Dionysus."
"At least, it should be."
"The reality is something far different and marks us not as equals, but opposites. For it is our defeats that set us apart from one another when some might consider us to be mirror reflections of the demoralizing nature of those that are unable to attain irrefutable victory. For, as you might have come to suspect, you fall within that category of people that pay no heed to their loss and continue to move forward. As commendable as it may seem to the uninitiated, the reality is that the continued practice of such flagrant irresponsibility is that of insanity as you continue to fail with hopeful expectation that things will change. That, if you continue to tell yourself that you have nothing left to lose that you find that which is necessary to win back which was lost."
"Jobber to the stars."
"Such a pathetic existence."
"Even so, I am certain that you are wondering if I am not the same as you; that our defeats place us upon even footing with one another. Foolishness; that is what THAT notion is. For we are not the same, far from it. Unlike you, my Combative Jester, I do not continue to tread upon my path of a new life without addressing my faults; my failures. I embrace the foolish insights from the narrow-minded and use their asinine judgments as fuel for my own forsaken odyssey that is my professional wrestling career."
Suddenly, two ripples from opposing sides rolled across the abyssal surface where they ended up colliding in the center surprisingly violently. As a result, the combat-ready images of both Dionysus and Claire Hawkins appeared; seemingly prepared to face each other.
"However, let us set aside the differences in the strength of our wills for a moment. The unavoidable fact is that there are many that have already deemed you the victor for our first recorded meeting within an Action Wrestling ring. Memory loss or not, they can only see the physical advantages that you hold over me and assume that the end shall be the same as it was at Battlefield. They further cement that idea with the WCF legacy that you scrape together four years ago and they relentlessly scoff and claim that I will never transcend past the Television Championship; that this new life I desire shall never be."
"Maybe they are correct."
"Then again, maybe not."
"Dionysus, you play-act a fool of a boomer and you might very well be. However, that does not change that my path must go through you, and through you, I must go if I am to survive this perpetually turbulent realm of competition and imbalance. As I do every week, I shall stand within the squared circle with gladiatorial glee as the fires of expectation defiance burn brightly within my heart!"
"The same fire that fueled my history-making moments and rise to become the greatest Television Champion!"
"It is with that SAME competitive fire that shall allow me to turn back the challenge of the Crimson Gladiator, differences be damned!"
" Prepare yourself, Dionysus, for I am not going to meet you on Monday night with the wavering convictions that I bore last year. No. Instead, I am going to meet you in that ring with all the fire and fury that one can feasibly manifest so that I will be able to confront you without regrets; so that I will be able to defeat you. Then, when you find yourself lying upon the flat of your back once more, you will know that which so many already fear deep within their hearts."
"That I am a force of nature that is only BEGINNING to rise!"
"I will not allow you to become an obstacle on my path nor shall I allow myself to further descend into the darkness that clings to my soul. Dionysus! We shall clash on Clash and I shall obtain my new life!"
"Your aspirations be damned!"
Suddenly, the infamous Banshee's Wail rang out and a plethora of ripples violently rolled across the surface of the inky black liquid; erasing the images of those battle-ready competitors. Yet, even after the shrill wail had ended, the frequency of the ripples only seemed to increase as furious bubbles began to break the surface. WIth ever-increasing fervor, the bubbling continued to increase as if it were a pot reaching its point of boiling. With those possessing a keen and practiced eye, a pair of burning crimson eyes seemed to rise up from the blackest depths of the abyss as the boiling bubbles overtook the scene. Then, just as those predatory eyes were about to breach the tumultuous surface, the scene abruptly cut to black.
"Quoth the WItch.....forevermore."
With the unnatural sounds of wailing souls being boiled, the furiously bubbling surface of the tainted pool was broken as a woman violently breached the surface; ooze-like liquid sent flying. Frantically, desperately, the woman made her way over to the edge of the pool. A moment later, just as she was about to pull herself from the disturbingly dark tar pit, an irrepressible convulsion gripped her body causing her to violently heave the contents of her stomach upon the frigid surface of the granite floor of the chamber; the vomit a hellishly disturbing black color.
Weakened and heavily disorientated, she slipped back into the pool where she limply floated as her senses slowly returned to her. Yet, even when they did it wasn't something that any sane person would ever wish to experience. All at once, the numbness that had burdened her nervous system fell away and the unmitigated fires of pain cut in with such a degree that it was nearly crippling!
After what felt like an eternity, the crippling pain became more of a dull throbbing and she found the opportunity to once more pull herself out of the blackened pool; away from the inhumanly dark vomit as well. Although she still felt immensely weak, the porcelain pale woman rolled onto her back as the frigid floor continued to cool her fiery feeling bare flesh. Breathing heavily, she closed her eyes as the ink-like substance evaporated from the surface of the water; leaving an untouched purity.
"Congratulations, my petulant child. You have taken the final step towards the new beginning that you have so desperately sought. Now, with the blessing of the three, we bid you go forth so that the balance might be restored within the realms of man and the foolishness that they incite."
Breathing a sigh of relief as the final syllables of her torturer's words faded from the world, the woman meekly pushed herself up into a sitting position as the world around her once more came into focus. The sights, sounds, and below-average temperature that was a sharp reminder that she needed to dress lest she ended this new life with a deadly chill. Even so, there was an overwhelming fierce curiosity that drew her back to the edge of the pool once more.
As if she were a young child once more, the woman crawled to the edge of the pool and peered into the freshly untainted water/. Much to her surprise, the face that peered back was not one that she had any familiarity with! Truth be told, she had been expecting the entire ordeal to be along the lines of some sort of ritualistic cleansing that some religions often did when they took their congregations to shallow rivers or lakes. However, this wasn't anything of the sort and she felt almost giddy as her reflection smiled back. No longer did she feel the lingering aches and pains that had since plagued her!
"Well......shit."