Post by 𝓓𝓾𝓴𝓮 𝓚𝓸𝓼𝓵𝓸𝓯𝓯 on Oct 7, 2019 19:12:11 GMT -5
Duke slowly arose from his knees the dark soil and spotted patches of grass, stained his pants from where he had knelt those past two hours. A grave marker, notable only by its chest high size, stood before him in a silent testament of loss, grief, and missed opportunities. When she was alive, Duke had loved her. He was kept at a distance, they mistrusted her zealous nature, her aggressive strength, her warrior's soul. Now, just mere decades after her death, Duke was full of regrets. She had been right in the end, but she couldn't explain it. She couldn't, or wouldn't, subject herself to the judgments of others. He would love to go back and talk to her, to really get to know her, to show her what her decisions all those years ago created today.
But that was simply a daydream. She cared as much for his opinion like anyone else's, except perhaps Duke's fathers. Duke stepped forward toward the stone. His hand, almost with a will of its own, reached out and gently caressed the damp grey rock. Only two words were carved into the stone. Two words to give witness to a heart that was once full of energy, full of fury, full of life, a life that once held him in its arms before his life would be turned into violence, destruction, and death.
Mischa Kosloff...
That simple name, shortened from the unpronounceable gibberish that she was born to, carried more weight than many others to him. It meant believing, really believing. It meant being ready to sacrifice self, friends, or any other thing to accomplish a just cause. But right now, it meant sorrow, anger, disappointment, and chaos. Emotions that overwhelmed him on a damp cool fall day, with no friends present, no other family present, or welcome. Duke had come alone, and now that he was here, he did not regret it. There was only one other person who could have ever shared this moment, and memory that had left this world to travel the shadowland's of his nightmares long before Duke had ever realized. Other than Duke, Luca was now the last of the Kosloff bloodline that still traveled in the lands of the living.
Duke slowly released the stone, turning to take up his meager possessions. The leather bag was newly made, its stitching rubbed roughly against his bare hand. His heavy carrying sack made the sound of a hundred mismatched things being roughly awoken from their silence. But one item could be made out clear as day through the leather bag just by the shape it made as it pressed against the material, Duke's AIW Asylum Championship.
Duke had learned that on these types of trips, gear would fail, the ring ropes would break, and you never know when a championship may be called upon. He expected two weeks of travel but prepared for a month away from the Asylum Islands. Again, as he began walking towards the tall, old half-dead Birch tree several headstones away from where his mother laid, he recited the litany of things that would kill him or that has happened to him already. Each word separated by a second of hesitation, and a vision of when his fate would occur.
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
Burned Alive, Starvation, Dehydration, Falling from the cells, buried alive, tortured, Betrayal...
And if he was lucky enough to finish this tournament, and arrive intact, he continued the litany...
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
Now, Luca and the most imminent threat Death Trap
Duke leaned up against the giant tree as he slid down it looking at his mother's headstone still you could see the years of built-up emotions ready to escape. Duke had never been here, never has seen his mother's, his real mother's final resting place, nor did he even want to. He placed all that behind him, that was until he arrived here in Belfast, and was introduced to what could only be known as the biggest skeleton in anyone's closet or for better terms the biggest betrayal of his life.
Duke's throat grew tight, and his voice began to shake as he finished his litany of nightmares with the one doom that certainly awaited him in the end, yet he could never escape. He resisted saying that name for a long as he could. Fear, love, gratitude, and despair joined in his final fear. His hands quietly shook from emotions as he recited that name.
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
"Duke Kosloff"
He guided his nightmarish thoughts toward's his upcoming opponent Death Trap, he slowly stood up passing quietly over the damp grass and onto a rutted two-track road in front of the graveyard. The road seemed to welcome his return. The only sounds that came from the surrounding woods were soothing and called to him to let down his guards just this once and breath in the free air. Duke always enjoyed the first few weeks before the End of Days tournament. Each day as he felt his nerves loosen a small measure. Subtracting distance between his fragile opponents and the monster within him always helped. Once the Order of the first round of End of Days is posted, Duke knew his opponents were never truly as far away as they thought. It has always sounded like a good idea, joining the tournament. Duke would devote himself to eliminating each and every person to be unlucky enough to draw him as an opponent in the tournament. All of this came true, but so did the part that he had seen in his nightmares where he would fall to an opponent not worthy of beating him, this year he believes he knows will be different as he has yet to see the nightmare where he falls.
But that was where the horror lived his opponents crawled within those cracks, within those nightmares. They sometimes snapped open, releasing nightmares into the world that the small people lived upon, ignorant of their danger. The ability to travel into these cracks took a toll on a Duke's mind. But this time Death Trap isn't upon one of those who will be able to feed on the nightmares and manage to slip by "The Russian Nightmare".
Duke knows about this madness, about living in a nightmare first hand. His time with adoptive mother taught him much about cruelty. He still wakes up hearing her laughter, sweating with rage, yet yearning for her company for just one more night, ashamed. as she was a sadist, she was evil and worse yet, she was chaotic and unpredictable. Duke had no idea how he ever became lucky enough to leave get away from her and become what he is today. The politics of the Soviet Government were mind-boggling. He suspected some deal-making within the Government and the Kosloff family had a lot to do with why he ended up becoming a Soviet Weapon. He was never informed or consulted until the decision had been made.
As Duke walks down the road light fall rains decorated the sky as he moves through these unfamiliar lands where he has refused to walk upon for years. Early in the evening, as the moon began to rise, painting the horizon in a welcoming orange, he felt the call as his cell phone vibrated in his pocket.
It pulsed with the warning he had embedded into its memory. Duke was preparing to contact him, to expose his inner hidden thoughts, and to speak directly to his awoken mind. He will scare the hell out of Luca. The call was an old employee of the Soviet Connections as Duke reached out to him to find out about this mirror image calling himself Luca Kosloff.
Leon Savage
Duke, this Luca is legit as far as I can tell. His name is Kosloff and always has been and I even looked up old pictures dating back twenty years or more. Duke, it's like looking at your personal photo album, he has always looked like you. The next step is to get DNA from him and check that out, but this guy has money and I mean lots of it.
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
Well. if he is a true Kosloff someday, he will go mad just like the rest of us!
Leon Savage
Anything else you need before I hang up Duke.
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
Yeah, what's his connection to MCCW, or Death Trap? What's his connection to the wrestling world and why is he all the sudden in my life? Find out and find out fast.
Leon Savage
I'm on it, as always I can expect payment on time and upon completion right? At the rate we discussed?
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
Yeah, yeah who the Hell do you think your talking too, have you forgotten exactly who I am Leon? Do I need to remind you? Do you need to FEEL THE BURN?
Leon Savage
No, just making sure you're going to pay.
Duke closes his phone as he places it back into his pocket, the rain has become more steady as the clouds move in turning it darker almost into the night, as he walks down the road now a couple of miles from the graveyard. Only a few cars have passed him while he walked he never even looked at them nor has he paid attention to the extremely expensive Benz that has been behind him ever since he left the graveyard.
Duke continues to scuffle along as the winds pick up now blowing leaves and limbs around, the rain starting to feel like needles as it hits him. You can barely hear Duke talking as if he was chatting with someone next to him.
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
End of Days round two, 2017 my debut within the XHF Network I saw the outcome of that match against the self-proclaimed God Hyperion coming. I saw the nightmare of me falling and Hyperion standing above me bloody and beaten but victorious. That nightmare came true. Then the End of Days round three 2018, was no different as I flew through my first two opponents leaving them in a heap of waste just to find the nightmares return showing my downfall yet again, but this time to a man I was familiar with, Bobby Barratt.
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
I saw the "Prodical Icon" and his smug smile looking down upon me as if he had really done something as if he was better than me. Yet I could not or did not change the outcome and found myself sitting in an electric chair FEELING THE SHOCK as Bobby Barratt takes yet another victory from me.
The car is now about three hundred feet behind Duke as it tries to keep a steady pace behind him as Duke continues his walk back to his Hotel.
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
Now, I find myself back in round two of the End of Days tournament facing a man who should have retired long ago but keeps on trying to hang on to the glory of old, Death Trap. But this time is different I am not having nightmares about my fall, I am not going to be losing in the second round or the third Hell I'm not losing this is my time, my tournament.
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
Death Trap will be the one having nightmares, he will be the one who falls from glory, he will be the one who will learn to "Believe in Nightmares!!!"
As Duke finishes his sentence he can hear the sounds of tires squealing he turns around just in time to see the Benz speeding towards him. Duke Manages to move in time while getting a shot off and smashing the passenger window with his fist as it passes by him. Duke stands there with his hand dripping blood all over the ground, he gets a look of serene happiness on his face as if he just had an epiphany. He stares at the Benz as it speeds away Duke begins to shout out at whoever is in the car.
"The Russian Nightmare" Duke Kosloff
Death Trap, will not win, Luca will not win, I am the last of the Kosloff bloodline and soon the whole world will know I will never FALL!!!! I WILL NOT FALL!!!
