RoughKut Rd. 4 Promo 1

An eerie darkness falls over the land and the camera catches Royce as he is walking down a secluded gravel road. The grass is growing high between the worn tire trails and along the sides. The rocks have thinned making it more of a dirt road than gravel. The street sign has long since been knocked over and the only letters than could be made out is part of the “RD.” still sticking up through the brush.

The back of Royce is prominent as he is walking away from the camera, near the right side edge of the tire tracks, independent of any company. Shadows sway and dart as the wind picks up blowing through the trees. A faint ominous tone rises from Royce as he realizes he is being taped and intruded upon, but the camera is not the offender.

Royce: You come to bother me again?

Another shadow flickered to his left, casting a long uncomforting overcast to the ground. Insects and a couple of field mice flee in its unnatural presence. The hair on the back of Royce’s neck, even from a distance could be seen standing on end.

Ambrose: You seem to believe you have this tournament in the bag?

The menacing voice shook Royce a bit and causes a quick flicker of anger in his tone.

Royce: Your point?!

Royce’s pace sped a bit as he walked along the road. The grass swayed back and forth in the strong come and go nature of the wind.

Ambrose: You have no idea what you are doing. You lie to yourself each time you step in that ring. The lights, the adrenaline, the glorified validity, you truly believe this means anything? Your life is a lie… You lead yourself not through self righteousness, but through a constant state of your yearn for acceptance.

Royce nearly broke his composure and almost collapsed to the ground in a fit of rage.

Royce: You have NO IDEA. You aren’t shit, a distant voice in the breeze, a lost thought in the sea of my mind. I do have meaning and I am not a lie. I step into that ring every week with one thing in my head, to prove what I can do. I have walked through mountains to get to where I am today. I will take this tournament and bury every soul on my path to the top of this pier.

Royce picks up a lose rock near the grassy edge and chunks it into the trees as if to relieve a bit of tension through a small gesture of chaos.

Royce: You have no bearing on me. You have no judgment over my own decision. Your lost voice is but a small distraction that is overcome with ease.

A long pause deafens the night air. The silence was brought on by a strange build up and seizing of noise through the wilderness. The animals who, not moments before were chirping and hooting mercilessly now froze and did not release a sound.

Ambrose: See you have a problem. You say, prove what you can do. You seek acceptance and you can not live without it.

The harsh but familiar tone rose above the silence and pierced the darkness that loomed. Royce began to tense up and become even more annoyed at this individual, no this conscience of ever annoying reason.

Royce: I do seek the acceptance of the crowd but without it there is no use in doing what I do!

He spoke the words so forcefully and angry that it startled some birds resting for the night in a nearby tree. They all with much formation and noise, took flight and moved toward a desolate quieter perch.

Ambrose: I know you better than you know yourself.

Royce stood silently dwelling on this recent statement. He began to realize the truth in the words. His focus stood directly ahead as he trekked along still not showing his face toward the camera, which remained closely behind.

…

Attempting to break his train of thought and the constant distraction that loomed over his head Royce stopped in place and swung around to the camera. His eyes burned like fire and his face was tense and ready for any battle that may walk out from the trees. The shadows danced about blanketing his expression. Only so rarely would they relinquish their hold to allow his beautiful but aged and stressed face to show through. He began to speak almost half breathed, the low but very forceful tone seemed as though it would silence a raging river.

…

Royce: I have dominated each useless soul that has stepped to me in this tournament and I plan not to end my path so soon. I have faced personality depraved fools, a molester in a clown suit, and a mindless pigmy with farce voodoo attempts. Now I find yet another one of these bricks in the wall. Joe Martin, what do I know about this individual? The same as I knew about the rest of the measly fools that I incinerated into the canvas throughout each and every round. I have said it before and I will say it again, there are very few things I must know about my opponent in order to win a match or if I so choose… to end their career. You will join the rest of those numbers within my books as just another brick. A brick settled in under mortar and stone that of which I will bring to rubble. My hammer has struck with a might blow through each round, and you sir will not hinder my work.

A grim smile streaks across his face. Only noticeable for a moment at a time before the midnight black shadows would take hold yet again of his face.

Royce: I may be a bit unnerved, a bit, how would you say, off the mark at times. But whether Joe Martin is worthy to put me out of this tournament will be my decision. This will be my judgment. Joe, you may have got a break in the past. You may have weaseled your way back into this tournament on the whim of popular choice, but you haven’t faced anyone like me. Your little joy ride will soon come, yet again to an end. However this time, there will be no second chance. Well…

Royce paused for a moment to correct his statement.

Royce: …actually a third as it would be. Yet you will not be receiving this third chance from me. You got walked out of here in your first match only to be called upon again to serve your federation. I on the other hand have fought each and every round, and proved each and every round that I can and I will be the sole individual standing, when the end of the final match comes. There is not one spirit here that can reach out and take my glory, my seed of success. And you damn sure will not be the one to correct me.

Royce takes a step forward coming slightly into a more clear view. The light from the camera is switch on and Royce stands in an aura of white luminance. The darkness retreated for a far more suitable area outside this ray of light.

Royce: You remarked previously about your own reincarnation, your own second coming. Well the belief goes that past lives affect your current. So ask yourself this. Will your loss before in turn be another in this near future? You were put out once before, and my belief stands that the past life you struggled in will reoccur and leave you walking home with your gym bag in hand.

The light from the camera switches off and again Royce is thrown into the shroud of the midnight environment as he pivots and walks aimlessly down the road. His thoughts vocal and his voice echoing through the darkness until his form fades into oblivion and no more sound can be heard but the hoot of the owls and the howl of the coyotes nearby.