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04.16.06 First Blood
Last Chance
I: Monday, April 17, 2006: Athens,
Greece
I hear the waves of the Aegean.
I feel the bracing wind embracing me.
I smell the taste of salt from off the sea.
I see history as the sun begins to fade, from
here, a top perhaps the most famous hill in the world.
I zip my leather jacket to seal myself from the elements.
I call out to the small camcorder I've set up myself
"Daemon Curtis. Our
journey commenced in the condominium we call
home. From there, you and us traveled to Washington, to New York
state, and now it ends here. It ends here in Greece.
Welcome to the Parthenon. And welcome to the sunset of your
reign."
There Avarice sits atop a fallen column, which has been silent since
its construction over twenty-four centuries ago.
The sky is ablaze in a wash of deep crimsons, oranges, pinks and
yellows, as it sinks slowly over the horizon to be swallowed up by the
night.
"Here in the land of immortal
glory - birthplace of the Olympiad - do we sit and contemplate that
very grand contest which has stalked and crept its way into
being. We have waited and waited, since our inaugural encounter,
for that which we have anticipated for all too long. Our patience
will pay handsome dividends. At long last."
"Our past selves...as Robert
Lancaster II - failed utterly in achieving that which we have now
before us, in our destiny. Time after time, he would fall flat,
slain by the unworthy simply because he was too naïve to recognize
what was missing from his life. How many times at various
critical situations did he fail. At 'Coronation's' - at 'Reindeer
Games'' - and especially in the 'Crusade for the Chosen One,' did he
fall back to earth, being the Ikarus that dared to fly too high - and
got burned in consequence."
He shakes his head.
"Never again. The
ignoramus is dead and buried, and unlike the Christ - shall never be
resurrected again. The one you face Curtis is one you know all
too well, yet do not know at all. What hell awaits you only our
Master is cognizant; but there shall be no respite, no mercy, no
withholding of anything. The evolution our soul - our dead soul -
has undergone is nearly at its limit. We have conquered all,
slain all, and only your being needs be added for the evolution to be
complete - for the time being."
"There is no end to excellence
nor the evolution we undergo. But, as in all feuds and all
conquests, we eventually run out of words and know that only action
will suffice, only action will be enough to send our message, that
message that you have known since day one. So enough then of our
addressing you. We wish you to address us and turn to your
thinking and mindset."
"We want to inquire of you a
few things."
He turns to the lens and removes his Ray Bans, his blue eyes focusing
on the camera, as the last few embers of light from the sunset begin to
glow deeper.
"What makes you worthy to wear
that what you do.
What have you accomplished.
What drives you to do that which you do.
What will you do to stop one
who has no limitations, no knowledge of the concept of mercy, one whose
contempt for human life is only surpassed by his hatred of all that is
good.
What will you bring to that
prison that will guarantee you victory.
How will you protect that which
most men fear to shed - their own blood - whilst we have no fear to
lose it, even if it means defeat.
For you see - if we bleed - you
will haemorrhage."
He sits silently for a minute or so.
"Don't we sound grasping and
loathsome Mr. Curtis. One can only imagine what you and everyone
else in Old Line Wrestling must think of us. Frankly - and this
won't come as a shock - we do not care. We shall be a tyrant, we
shall rule, and just as the Athenians were two thousand years ago, we
shall be the unstoppable force."
"First blood, last chance at
immortality. Do not fail."
He sits stoically.
"For we shall not."
I am become Death
The Destroyer
of Worlds
