The one who dreams of drinking wine, in the morning may be crying. The one who dreams of crying, in the morning may go hunting. When one is in a dream, one does not know one is dreaming. One may even dream while in the middle of dreaming. Only after awakening does one realize it was a dream. Similarly, only after one experiences the Great Awakening, does one realize that this is all one big dream?

~Start Scene~

I was lying calmly in bed one night, sleeping soundly when, from out of nowhere, my eyes shot open as I felt a stinging pain inside my chest, a pain that was so intense and horrible that I was jarred from my normal slumber. This was not the dull throbbing pain nor a quick sharp pain, but rather what felt like a thousand heated needles jabbed slowly into my heart. My eyes began to glaze over and soon all I saw was a blinding white, pure white as far as the eye could see. The only thought that could pierce through my head as I lay there paralyzed was that this must be what happens when you die�I was dying and nothing could save me.

The blinding white that I saw seemed to increase a thousand fold, to the point where I wanted nothing more than to turn away and cry. Me, cry, as much as I would normally dismiss such a concept�that is what I wanted. I wanted to scream out and cry and ask whoever could hear me for another shot at life, but all I could do was stare into the light. Every minute seemed like an eternity and then suddenly the pain in my chest increased and maneuvered its way throughout my body and a scarring, searing pain enveloped me as the light dulled to coal black nothingness.

�NEVER SUBMIT�

A single solitary phrase echoed in my head for what seemed like hours and the blackness that I saw became my life�a quick pulse of images and moments that had brought me through to this date.

I saw an image of me and my adopted father, sitting in our Calgary, Alberta living room watching the NWA�s syndicated wrestling show and cheering on our heroes; Dusty Rhodes, Rick Steamboat, Flair and others.

I saw my graduation day from the University of Alberta and the pure happiness that was in my dad�s eyes as he greeted me after. He was never more proud.

I saw what happened four months later and felt the pain in my heart increase as I heard the doctor telling me that my father had passed away and shaking with anger as he said my dad was not strong enough to last the night. How dare he! There was never a man stronger than David Tannon.

I saw a youthful version of myself, cloaked in red and orange debuting in the AWWF on in 2000 and signaling towards the heavens�a final act of love towards my father perhaps?

I saw my pin over Dust Nightmare that led to my first taste of gold in the AWWF TV Title.

I saw the attack by Gabe Knight on me inside of a cage, the subsequent breaking of my foot and then my return six weeks later with all black as my outfit and the moniker of The Slasher.

I saw the hate and pain that Johnny Dangerous and I caused each other over six months of competition. How I had convinced him for two months that his only child had been murdered and how I devastated him in a Gates of Hell Submission Match to cause him so much pain.

I saw my surprise pin in mid-2002 on the greatest touted champion in the history of the AWWF, Revelation and the official handing me the belt and raising my hand to announce me as the World�s Champion.

I watched as my title reign began and how I was the most dominant force ever seen within the ring and how nobody could escape my reign of terror. How I controlled the action of everyone from the owner, to the opponents I faced and all the way down to the ring crew. That feeling of power waved over me again as the images continued to flash across my brain.

I watched as Kevin Jones, a true opponent made his debut and shot to the top of my World Title contender�s list. He pushed me to my limits more time than I had ever been pushed. He stole my belt after a three-month reign by making me, for the first and so far only, time in my career tap out. He caused me to actually give up in the middle of my ring and that has been the single worst moment in my career.

I saw my fall from grace, so to speak as I was knocked out of the World Title division, had a hap-hazardous two week reign as TV Champion, spent months in relative seclusion as my stable, called �Nexus� fell apart at the seams. All of this happened within a short four month period of time, a period that I never wanted to go through again.

I felt my shock, surprise and relief as my bad luck seemed to erode away in one fleeting instant when I won the North American Heavyweight Title and returned to my rightful spot in the top card of the federation

I saw the flashes of four months of fighting between myself and The Assassin, how he won the North American Title from me to end a reign of 140 days, or five months to be exact, but how I won our final bout in a bloody Lion�s Den Match that left fans speechless and begging for more.

I watched as my greatest single moment was replayed in my mind. It was the final match in AWWF history where I won a match against the other five Hall-of-Fame members. I saw how I pinned perhaps the greatest of all time, Revelation, for the second time in my career.

I saw the fleeting glimpses of eight months in the WPW flash through me: a tag title victory, my time as a Mile High member, the matches of brutality with Proteus and Sabotage over the International Title.

I saw me announce my resignation at a press conference because of how tired I was of the egos, the attitudes and the politics of this game.

I saw a flash of my debuting victory over Cordover Stevenson in The Zone and all the way up to the match within a cage against Senji Yulav at AD 11 where I again walked out victorious.

I saw my first Sin Wrestling bout against Ragin' Craig and how through sheer determination I overcame two months to claim what is rightfully mine, the Platinum Title and end Mike Phantasy's reign as champion.

I saw the Triple Threat bout of a week�s past and how I was able to devastate my opponents through twenty minutes of an unending pain until they could do nothing but lose to the greatest Platinum Champion of ALL time.

The flashing whiteness in my eyes returned as I saw every enemy I had ever faced and some faces that I had never seen before all in front of me. I could see them and not see them all at once. I could see through them into their minds and saw their fears and pains and betrayals opened up to me in one big jumble. I saw around each face all at once and saw behind them their enemies and I saw their fears and sorrows and the guilt they carried for all of their deeds.

I saw myself and my mind was opened and I saw all the pain and anguish come back to me, a tidal wave of emotion barreling down on me. I moaned out in agony and saw my face forty years from now, older but still the same. My mind again was opened up, but this time there was no fear or pain or anger�rather it was contentment, happiness and peace.

�TO GET HERE��

I watched my peaceful fa�ade morph again into the faces of my enemies and saw their hate and anger and pain again.

�YOU MUST RID YOURSELF OF FEAR.�

I saw images, cloudy and fuzzy but still there. Images of me destroying these enemies and ending their ways.

�RETURN TO EVIL AND BE AT PEACE�NEVER SUBMITTING.�

I saw myself at peace again, but then as each enemy entered the view my own pain and misery became stronger. The intense pain in my body became more excruciating until my view turned blood red and a single solitary dot of light. The dot moved closer to me, closer and closer until it enveloped me and I felt myself screaming out for mercy�and then my world collapsed into a world of black space.

��

I moaned and slowly opened my eyes.

�Slash�Slash, baby�can you hear me?�

I heard a voice and as my world returned to focus I saw a woman staring at me, her eyes showing fear and distress as she looked upon me.

�I cannot submit.�

I said as I sat up and shook the sleep from my eyes, sliding my legs out of bed and sitting up, still dazed.

�What did you say Slash?�

I looked at the woman and slowly stood up, pulling on a pair of jeans and grabbing my trench coat. As I left the room I slowly answered her, not even hearing her question�my mind answering for me.

�I have been in two-hundred matches and have only submitted one time in my career and it was to a man much more worthy than Flame. I will never give that man the satisfaction of hearing me tap out. He will step into the ring against the Pinnacle of Human Evolution and he will see that he simply doesn�t cut it. We enter a match where the stakes are high. It will end after many minutes of pain, and torture has expired I will STILL be your SW Platinum Champion and I will showcase every single moment of his misery to the entire world from the bruises I shall inflict and the blood of his that I shall spill and to the bones within his retched, ruined body that shall be broken as I stretch them in so many knots that a Boy Scout troop could never untangle them. Flame will be nothing but a small thorn in my side and the time to end his move to the top will conclude this weekend when I take him to the mat and lock him into No-Man�s Land from the beginning of the match until the end and subject him to defeat. I will take so much pride in knowing that I sent Flame into a misery of disappointment. Flames Will also know that making useless accusations of him defeating me in some federation no one here even gives a damn about will cost him dearly. He is a liar and he will suffer. I will go on to be the best this company has ever seen, I will excede all the things accomplished by people like Aurora Steele, The Dealer, Regan Chambers, Xander Gates, Tony Millenia or even Travis Miller himself, these people will all be inferior.�

I did not say another word but rather walked out of the room in a sad silence as the door creaked shut behind me and all that was heard was the silent pounding of raindrops across the windows of the room and the woman�s silent whispering voice.

�Slash?�

~End Scene~

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