Post by The Nihilists on May 2, 2019 14:18:16 GMT -5
~We open in a locker room … it is fairly non-descript and seems devoid of human life and the usual trappings of a locker room. One can only assume it is an empty locker room in the arena for Prestige XVIII, the VFW in Bethesda, Ohio. The camera pans left … and right … but there is nobody.~
“Welcome … to the void.”
~The lights shut off one by one across the room and we are plunged into complete blackness. A single floodlight illuminates the area just in front of the camera, it seems to be emanating from the floor at the cameraman’s feet. It cannot light the darkness but it punches a dim hole into it. From each side of the room two shadows move into view. They step into the floodlight and though cast in shadow we can see the visages of the masked men known as the Nihilists. Newcomers to the AWF and XHF Network, they approach the camera man.~
”Welcomes all around I suppose. Though we are new to you all, seeing our faces … your home of AWF is not new to us. You see we have been around here before … as spectres … as hooded men following another … looking for a place in this world.”
”But let us start at the beginning, surely you want to know more about the two beings of the void who stand before you. More than just a simple pre-match blurb in the programs can tell you before the emptiness consumes its first victims. So for the benefit of you XHF Network viewers and our opponents Kira Izumi and Frank Fletcher … let us elucidate a few details from the past so you can get a better sense of what you need to do at Prestige.”
”Gebin and I have been together for many years, searching for a place, a home, a meaning … in this world. We sought out the great gurus to learn from them. We spent years studying with Hindu and Buddhist practitioners. Looking for peace, looking for answers, but finding only empty promises and hollow teachings. What worked for many others at these masters’ hands did nothing for us. Our purpose was elusive. No we would not find what we needed in the orient. We did not begrudge our teachers, they simply did not know how to reach us. It was not the first time we had been cast aside after all. Finding meaning in these meditations and exercises was not for us.”
”No surprise really, Esmur and I had found each other after being cast away by the Western religions. For all brought us nothing but emptiness. A feeling of anguish in our guts. You see for all the teachings of the three big religions about acceptance and peace, there is not a whole lot to be found. Tolerance and understanding are hard to come by and easily lost. And we found no way to convince the zealots that we were worthy of their hospitality. To us it seemed that the followers of all three of these Temples, Churches, and Mosques had lost their God’s voice and were simply following blindly without thought to what the teachings represented. How they could use the lessons enshrined in those holy books to better the lives of themselves and those around them. Yes, otherworldly rewards are something to strive for if you believe … but watching the quest for the afterlife cause these men and women to cast aside the lives of others … let’s just say a three year old cares little for promises of heaven when they are starving, dirty, in pain …”
”So we started going further back … there was a man here whose brother was likewise cast aside for the “sin” of being who he was and so we followed him here. Color us shocked to see him worshipping an old Norse deity. But who were we to judge for we had tried so much else. We followed him … and watched his bloodlust be assigned as glory for the thunder God … no this man was simply unstable … insane. Broken by the industry he worked in and mourning the loss of his brother. But in finding him we found a man who seemed to truly have some answers. We followed this … Church of Hyperion … for a while. Watched as he brought in followers … was brutal but fair and seemed to truly make the lives of his followers somewhat better. It started as well as we could have hoped. He built a Church and brought in others. However, these men were dark influences. And it turned out the so called Greek God, the Titan … truly was mad. We could not abide by the one called Ezriel, and when Hyperion vanished, so did we.”
”And that brings us here, we have tried searching for everything else, meaning outside of ourselves. And it failed us miserably. We came to a realization, there is nothing and nobody in this world we can trust other than each other. There is no outside force we should be bowing down to. There is only nothingness. And it has emboldened us, it has empowered us. It is the answer we were searching for. Embracing the emptiness we found inside ourselves. Looking to no higher power than what we were capable of and what we required to get out of life what we want. … So today we simply want to ask two questions to our opponents …”
~Esmur leans into the camera, the blue highlights on his mask lighting up~
”Who … are you? And I don’t mean that as in we have no idea who you are. I don’t want to spout some catchphrase about it not mattering. No. I mean deep down inside … who is … Kira Izumi? On the outside it is an easy read. You are a man with no principles. A savage looking to beat down other men … but why? Is it due to your innate sense of failure? I mean you sprung onto the scene full of vim and vigor. First ever Prestige Class Champion … and where did it leave you? I see a man looking for power. Looking for a reason to be. Looking for the adoration of the people within the industry. You try so hard to seem a stereotypical tough man, a prime example of the honor and dignity of the Japanese wrestling industry. You want to be seen in the same light as the legends from across the ocean and you want to find that glory here. But you have yet to truly grasp that ring. Sure, the talent is there. The will, the desire, the raw untapped potential … you have that in spades. But there is something missing. You look outside yourself. You find excuses in the opponent, you find agony in the losses you suffer, you cannot learn from your mistakes and as such … there is no improvement. There is no victory. So Kira … the question again … is who … ARE you? Who is the true Kira Izumi, is it the man who won the Prestige Title and won the adoration of the hundreds of fans in the arena that night in this hick town? Or is the failure who has tried on numerous occasions to win back that proof of your abilities, that gold strap … and never scratched the surface? Or perhaps is there more to the answer than I give you credit for? It is surely possible but, when I look into the heart of my opponent … I see that your bravado … rings hollow.”
~Now Gebin leans in~
”Who … is Frank Fletcher? You truly are a hard nut to crack Frank … A man of dual identities. We have looked into your past. That title you carry from a now dead federation … it is one of prestige. It tells us that the wrestler in you is strong, a successful in ring foe. Someone to be wary of and to take seriously. And yet … everything about you screams fake. According to that title’s history you laid final claim to it at the Battle For Everything … and we sat down and watched that show. A lot of special effects must have gone into the production. You almost believed that you, Frank, were fighting a demon … and almost cost the world everything from your selfishness. But there was an interesting aside in that show … Frank … are you really the “real American” you claim to be? Or is there something more. I will be honest that aside showed us a side of you I would very much like to see. I want to know the full potential of the man Frank Fletcher once was. Not this watered down stereotype in a MAGA hat and setting back American/Japanese relations by two centuries. The battles we could have ... would be so rewarding. It would provide us much more of a boost than the man you are now … title belt or not. But we instead simply have to look at what could have been. So tell us … Furanku … who … are … you?”
”And the other question we have to end on is simply … who can you depend on? Who can you rely on? Gebin and I …we have tread this path for almost two decades. We have been fighting by each other’s sides for so long that we are as family. As brothers. Our bond … is one that cannot be broken. But you two … you two barely know each other. One, a pale shadow of a man who hides his heritage in some persona, and the other, who tries to exemplify the very culture and heritage the other strives to hide away. Similar in so many ways and yet at dramatic odds with each other here in this team. How can you truly trust one another when you don’t even walk the same path? Frank … Kira is a man with a stable he already belongs to. He is a man who would sacrifice you in a heartbeat if it meant his personal glory. Look at the violence in his history. Look at the history of failure. Deep down … this is a man who cannot be trusted, and will not trust anybody. To his own detriment. Kira … how can you truly know what competitor you will get? We have seen three different sides of Frank … the original buried deep down, one I’m sure you could support. The one he tries to hide behind, the fake American, the conservative man who tried to kill another man because a sacrifice was required and he couldn’t be bothered to come up with one. A man who tried to doom everyone around him … for fear of being who he was supposed to be. A man who looked destiny in the eyes and blinked.”
”But then destiny isn’t real. Nobody’s fate is predetermined and the only thing we can rely on in this life is the real people in it. And in ourselves. At Prestige you will face a team with a new outlook on life, one that has not been seen in AWF. A team with nothing to lose and the world to gain. In our quest for personal success, to chase away our personal demons … we will use you as a step ladder. And introduce you to a world … of emptiness. Your potential may be hiding within you … but unless you can tap into it and put up a real fight … it is all just null and void.”
~Gebin steps into the shadows and vanishes~
”AWF, at Prestige we will provide you all with a little dose of clarity. You can decide to love us, hate us, or feel nothing at all … and perhaps that is the greatest honor we can bestow on you … a choice … with no right or wrong answer. And a match … to remember these men by. As stepping stones to greatness, and the first to see the beauty of nothingness.”
~ Esmur now steps back and vanishes into the shadows. The floodlight goes out. No sound is heard. The lights slowly flicker on one by one … and the locker room is empty once more.~
“Welcome … to the void.”
~The lights shut off one by one across the room and we are plunged into complete blackness. A single floodlight illuminates the area just in front of the camera, it seems to be emanating from the floor at the cameraman’s feet. It cannot light the darkness but it punches a dim hole into it. From each side of the room two shadows move into view. They step into the floodlight and though cast in shadow we can see the visages of the masked men known as the Nihilists. Newcomers to the AWF and XHF Network, they approach the camera man.~
”Welcomes all around I suppose. Though we are new to you all, seeing our faces … your home of AWF is not new to us. You see we have been around here before … as spectres … as hooded men following another … looking for a place in this world.”
”But let us start at the beginning, surely you want to know more about the two beings of the void who stand before you. More than just a simple pre-match blurb in the programs can tell you before the emptiness consumes its first victims. So for the benefit of you XHF Network viewers and our opponents Kira Izumi and Frank Fletcher … let us elucidate a few details from the past so you can get a better sense of what you need to do at Prestige.”
”Gebin and I have been together for many years, searching for a place, a home, a meaning … in this world. We sought out the great gurus to learn from them. We spent years studying with Hindu and Buddhist practitioners. Looking for peace, looking for answers, but finding only empty promises and hollow teachings. What worked for many others at these masters’ hands did nothing for us. Our purpose was elusive. No we would not find what we needed in the orient. We did not begrudge our teachers, they simply did not know how to reach us. It was not the first time we had been cast aside after all. Finding meaning in these meditations and exercises was not for us.”
”No surprise really, Esmur and I had found each other after being cast away by the Western religions. For all brought us nothing but emptiness. A feeling of anguish in our guts. You see for all the teachings of the three big religions about acceptance and peace, there is not a whole lot to be found. Tolerance and understanding are hard to come by and easily lost. And we found no way to convince the zealots that we were worthy of their hospitality. To us it seemed that the followers of all three of these Temples, Churches, and Mosques had lost their God’s voice and were simply following blindly without thought to what the teachings represented. How they could use the lessons enshrined in those holy books to better the lives of themselves and those around them. Yes, otherworldly rewards are something to strive for if you believe … but watching the quest for the afterlife cause these men and women to cast aside the lives of others … let’s just say a three year old cares little for promises of heaven when they are starving, dirty, in pain …”
”So we started going further back … there was a man here whose brother was likewise cast aside for the “sin” of being who he was and so we followed him here. Color us shocked to see him worshipping an old Norse deity. But who were we to judge for we had tried so much else. We followed him … and watched his bloodlust be assigned as glory for the thunder God … no this man was simply unstable … insane. Broken by the industry he worked in and mourning the loss of his brother. But in finding him we found a man who seemed to truly have some answers. We followed this … Church of Hyperion … for a while. Watched as he brought in followers … was brutal but fair and seemed to truly make the lives of his followers somewhat better. It started as well as we could have hoped. He built a Church and brought in others. However, these men were dark influences. And it turned out the so called Greek God, the Titan … truly was mad. We could not abide by the one called Ezriel, and when Hyperion vanished, so did we.”
”And that brings us here, we have tried searching for everything else, meaning outside of ourselves. And it failed us miserably. We came to a realization, there is nothing and nobody in this world we can trust other than each other. There is no outside force we should be bowing down to. There is only nothingness. And it has emboldened us, it has empowered us. It is the answer we were searching for. Embracing the emptiness we found inside ourselves. Looking to no higher power than what we were capable of and what we required to get out of life what we want. … So today we simply want to ask two questions to our opponents …”
~Esmur leans into the camera, the blue highlights on his mask lighting up~
”Who … are you? And I don’t mean that as in we have no idea who you are. I don’t want to spout some catchphrase about it not mattering. No. I mean deep down inside … who is … Kira Izumi? On the outside it is an easy read. You are a man with no principles. A savage looking to beat down other men … but why? Is it due to your innate sense of failure? I mean you sprung onto the scene full of vim and vigor. First ever Prestige Class Champion … and where did it leave you? I see a man looking for power. Looking for a reason to be. Looking for the adoration of the people within the industry. You try so hard to seem a stereotypical tough man, a prime example of the honor and dignity of the Japanese wrestling industry. You want to be seen in the same light as the legends from across the ocean and you want to find that glory here. But you have yet to truly grasp that ring. Sure, the talent is there. The will, the desire, the raw untapped potential … you have that in spades. But there is something missing. You look outside yourself. You find excuses in the opponent, you find agony in the losses you suffer, you cannot learn from your mistakes and as such … there is no improvement. There is no victory. So Kira … the question again … is who … ARE you? Who is the true Kira Izumi, is it the man who won the Prestige Title and won the adoration of the hundreds of fans in the arena that night in this hick town? Or is the failure who has tried on numerous occasions to win back that proof of your abilities, that gold strap … and never scratched the surface? Or perhaps is there more to the answer than I give you credit for? It is surely possible but, when I look into the heart of my opponent … I see that your bravado … rings hollow.”
~Now Gebin leans in~
”Who … is Frank Fletcher? You truly are a hard nut to crack Frank … A man of dual identities. We have looked into your past. That title you carry from a now dead federation … it is one of prestige. It tells us that the wrestler in you is strong, a successful in ring foe. Someone to be wary of and to take seriously. And yet … everything about you screams fake. According to that title’s history you laid final claim to it at the Battle For Everything … and we sat down and watched that show. A lot of special effects must have gone into the production. You almost believed that you, Frank, were fighting a demon … and almost cost the world everything from your selfishness. But there was an interesting aside in that show … Frank … are you really the “real American” you claim to be? Or is there something more. I will be honest that aside showed us a side of you I would very much like to see. I want to know the full potential of the man Frank Fletcher once was. Not this watered down stereotype in a MAGA hat and setting back American/Japanese relations by two centuries. The battles we could have ... would be so rewarding. It would provide us much more of a boost than the man you are now … title belt or not. But we instead simply have to look at what could have been. So tell us … Furanku … who … are … you?”
”And the other question we have to end on is simply … who can you depend on? Who can you rely on? Gebin and I …we have tread this path for almost two decades. We have been fighting by each other’s sides for so long that we are as family. As brothers. Our bond … is one that cannot be broken. But you two … you two barely know each other. One, a pale shadow of a man who hides his heritage in some persona, and the other, who tries to exemplify the very culture and heritage the other strives to hide away. Similar in so many ways and yet at dramatic odds with each other here in this team. How can you truly trust one another when you don’t even walk the same path? Frank … Kira is a man with a stable he already belongs to. He is a man who would sacrifice you in a heartbeat if it meant his personal glory. Look at the violence in his history. Look at the history of failure. Deep down … this is a man who cannot be trusted, and will not trust anybody. To his own detriment. Kira … how can you truly know what competitor you will get? We have seen three different sides of Frank … the original buried deep down, one I’m sure you could support. The one he tries to hide behind, the fake American, the conservative man who tried to kill another man because a sacrifice was required and he couldn’t be bothered to come up with one. A man who tried to doom everyone around him … for fear of being who he was supposed to be. A man who looked destiny in the eyes and blinked.”
”But then destiny isn’t real. Nobody’s fate is predetermined and the only thing we can rely on in this life is the real people in it. And in ourselves. At Prestige you will face a team with a new outlook on life, one that has not been seen in AWF. A team with nothing to lose and the world to gain. In our quest for personal success, to chase away our personal demons … we will use you as a step ladder. And introduce you to a world … of emptiness. Your potential may be hiding within you … but unless you can tap into it and put up a real fight … it is all just null and void.”
~Gebin steps into the shadows and vanishes~
”AWF, at Prestige we will provide you all with a little dose of clarity. You can decide to love us, hate us, or feel nothing at all … and perhaps that is the greatest honor we can bestow on you … a choice … with no right or wrong answer. And a match … to remember these men by. As stepping stones to greatness, and the first to see the beauty of nothingness.”
~ Esmur now steps back and vanishes into the shadows. The floodlight goes out. No sound is heard. The lights slowly flicker on one by one … and the locker room is empty once more.~