Origins 2 - Run - [Oddity EOD #1]

[Steele]

Life began on April 1st, 1997. Or at least, it did for me. 

Of course, I existed before then – but I don’t remember any of it. I’d like to tell you that “it was all a blur” but even a blur suggests that there is something there. I have nothing. 

No recollections of my childhood – no fond memories of birthday parties, of snow at Christmas time, kicking through autumn leaves. No memories of friends or family. Not even my parents. 

So for me, life literally did begin that day when I awoke, wet and cold, face down in a field in the middle of God-knows-where. A man and his dog found me in the grass as I drifted in and out of consciousness. I could do nothing but stare up at the stars as they dwindled in the dawn. 

They seemed to call out to me, their fading light soothing the pain that wracked my body. As the man with the dog ran for help, I felt my eyes roll back into my head as the darkness took me once more. 

---

I don’t know how long I was unconscious for, but when my eyes reopened the stars had long since disappeared. No longer under their comforting spell, lost and alone, I found myself suddenly gripped by fear. 

I had presumed the man had run off to summon help. But what if he hadn’t? What if he was the one responsible for me being in this situation to begin with? 

He could be calling in reinforcements for all I knew. More men, with more dogs. 

My head pounded as my brain tried desperately to process the possibilities. If I stayed where I was, there was a chance that everything was going to be alright, the man with the dog would return with somebody who could help me. 

But there was also a chance that he could return with somebody who wanted to hurt me. 

I had no choice. I had to run. 

I pulled myself to my feet through sheer willpower, I could feel my body protesting as I tried to stand up. Falteringly, I began to take small steps as I turned in the opposite direction to where the man with the dog had gone. 

Step by step I struggled through the wet grass, slowly gaining speed as my legs began to grow accustomed to their sudden and unexpected mission. 

---

I was thankful I found the forest. I quickly grew tired from running, and the trees made for a useful shelter when a sudden downpour broke out not long after I entered the woods. Not that it made much of a difference though, my tattered clothing was already soaked through. 

I wandered among the trees, and I remember finding the forest to be fascinating place. The sunlight broke through the leaves in rays that almost looked to be solid. 

The fascination of the forest was not to last, though. Very soon I found myself in flight again – the silence was broken by a sudden shout, and a cacophony of disparate sounds ricocheted all around me. In an instant, the forest was alive and it reared up against me – or so it seemed to me in that moment – as I heard the same indistinct trumpeting I had heard when the man and his dog had first spotted me in the grass. 

This time, the voices were many. They were looking for me, for sure. 

---

---

I'm done with running. 

I won’t pretend that running was the sole reason for what happened to me next, but I know now that had I not repeatedly taken the coward’s way out, the next few years of my life could have been very different indeed. 

These days I face adversity head-on. I won’t back down from a challenge, I can’t back down from a challenge. The past twenty-two years have been building up to this point, and I can feel the culmination of two decades' work is about to make itself apparent. 

The stars have told me this. 

No, I can’t take the easy road now. I’ve come too far. I was offered a choice by the Cosmo Kid – take a championship match, or enter the End Of Days tournament. Choosing the title shot would have been akin to taking the easy road. That’s not to speak unfavourably about any of the competitors for that title, oh no. I’m sure they would have proven themselves to be worthy adversaries. 

But choosing the End of Days tournament is a true test of my ability. I can bring honour and prestige to Phantom Star Wrestling. 

I begin my quest against an opponent of the highest calibre, Fukushima Zombie of Sakura Shoujo Stampede. 

Many in my position would consider it a bye, facing a female opponent. I won’t be so foolish – as I say, Fukushima Zombie is a high-calibre adversary. She has proven herself on countless occasions in Japan, and now she will be entering the tournament with the same goal as myself – she has every intention of taking the honour and prestige of this title back home with her. 

But I won’t let her. I won’t run from this task. There is too much at stake to walk away from everything now. I can feel how close I am to finding out the answers I so desperately seek. 

Who am I? Where did I come from? 

I will take the Zombie down. And I won’t run. I will not fear.