Written by Baron Vendredi
New Beginnings
Prologue: The Baron Vendredi is a fictional character inside the Ultimate Online Wrestling shared universe. He was created by John Bruske in 2012 for World Extreme Championship Wrestling on FedWars. This is his reinterpretation of the character for Ultimate Online Wrestling world. His reference to the multiverse and his "other selves" are his way as a writer of linking his old character with this new interpretation. The Baron was born New Orleans and resides in Detroit City. He has supernatural link to the spiritual world and ties to the power of Voodoo.
To learn more about UOW check out:
steemit.com/wrestling/@ultimatewrestlin/ultimate-online-wrestling-fictional-wrestling-rpg-for-creative-writersChapter 1
BaronV2.jpg
It was time for his weekly appointment. Baron Vendredi stood in his one-room apartment in Midtown Detroit, staring at a white wall, asking himself how he even got mixed up in this situation. All his life he thought his name was nothing more than a French translation that sounded cool. His mother always told him he was something special, but he hardly paid her any attention. That’s what mothers were supposed to say to their kids, right? His name had become Americanized – if he ever tried to correct someone on how to properly say it (Vawn-Dra-Di), he would be met with some sarcastic remark about being pretentious in the Midwest. Gotta love Michigan and its dry sense of humor.
But there he stood, staring at a wall. “Relax, Baron,” he thought as his mind began to wander. It wasn’t until his late teens that he found out why his mom had always hinted at him being more than a little ordinary. It was hard for him to describe it but he would have certain visions. At first, it was small stuff. A song would pop in his head right before he turned on the radio, only to hear it playing at the same exact spot he was “singing” it in his mind. He could visualize situations playing out before an event happened. He didn’t know what was going on until one day he accidentally let it slip to his mom that he had known two of his friends would start a relationship before they became “Facebook” official.
That’s when she introduced him to a certain man that went by no name. He had no set religion – some called him a guide, others a shaman. Baron didn’t know what to think of the man other than he seemed to have an aura about him that made you feel calm and uneasy at the same time. It was through these, what Baron would call, “Magic After-School Programs,” that Vendredi would learn there were other such realms than the physical earth he stood on.
All of these thoughts raced through his mind as he sat trying to clear it by staring at the blank wall. As he was about to give up, his mind went white and he found himself in familiar company. No longer was Baron standing in his apartment. Now he stood in a plane of existence that some would call purgatory. This place stretched on for miles with broken fog seemingly everywhere. As he walked through a patch of it, he had found himself in the company of very similar looking men. He had made it just in time to the meeting of the Barons.
“Ah, finally, I see we are all here, heh,” said a man in a top hat with a skull painted on his face. “We were afraid you wouldn’t make it but the fires reassured us you would be here, heh.”
“Yeah, I’m still getting used to all of this... astral stuff,” Baron said. He still couldn’t believe there were parallel universes with different versions of him. Even with seeing visions, if he was told by someone that this place existed, he would probably call the hospital and have that person committed. This was the kind of thing you read in an Isaac Asimov story.
“There is no need for excuses, we all understand. We all were once your age, heh.” The leading Baron said as the others nodded in agreement. It was a little bit unsettling seeing other versions of you trying to give their moral support. One thing that really seemed to stick out here was that Baron was the youngest in this group. It was a bit of a surprise for all of them – most told their stories to him about not finding their gifts until older. Others mentioned they weren’t allowed to reach this part of their learnings until they completed a certain practice. What Baron did know was that each of these men seemed to have a vast knowledge about the worlds they came from. And each one seemed to be the one that had to help keep that world from falling apart.
“We are all gathered here to discuss our current progress with. . . .” Baron began to look around him as the lead speaker was going on with the usual spiel. He already knew where this meeting was going – the introductory, some talking about what they have been doing in their worlds, giving small updates on how they are trying to keep their earth from ripping apart, etc., etc. Baron never had anything to contribute. As a matter of fact, his earth seemed just fine. After all, he was still just a college kid, trying to concentrate more on “Introductory to Eastern Art History” rather than figure out what was happening in the realm of politics.
As the meeting began to wind down, Baron found himself getting anxious to leave. With the lead speaker starting his closing remarks, Vendredi was doing his own spiritual clean up to get ready to go back to his earth and race on down to Mercury Bar and grab a burger before it closed. But before he was given the okay to leave, the lead Baron spoke up in his direction.
“Ah, young Baron, please, won’t you stay a while after everyone has left, heh?”
Vendredi’s eyebrows raised. “Uh, yeah, sure.”
“Delightful. Then everyone is dismissed. Thank you all once again for meeting with me. I am glad to see that we continue to be the glue that holds our worlds together, heh. May your fires keep burning and your visions continue to guide you.”
With those words, Baron began to see the other Vendredis blipping out one by one. Some would exchange goodbyes before leaving while others immediately went “poof.” It was weird seeing a being disappear like an old television set being turned off.
“You wanted to see me?” asked Vendredi as he approached the leader.
The older Baron’s lips curled and his toothful smile appeared. “It was not me that wanted to but the greater forces, heh.”
Vendredi threw out a quizzical look as he pondered this statement. He never knew the “greater forces” to talk with anyone lower on the food chain. There was something different about the lead Baron. The man had tattoos all over his body, a shaved head that looked like it was Bic’ed once a day, and irises almost as dark as his pupils. He came off looking as if Zeus was his father that took up human form one night to lay with his mother.
“Young Baron, I shall cut to the chase, heh. Your world could be in trouble.”
The older Baron continued telling his own personal story to the young lad. Vendredi gathered that they both lived in Detroit, yet their stories were very, very different. His was filled with a broken-up U.S. where the States had become countries, while everything seemed to be going smoothly in Baron’s world. Names and situations were thrown around that the younger Vendredi could not comprehend because he had not been there.
The older mystical figure finished his story with, “And that’s why I am here. My world is of no existence, heh.”
“Wait... you mean to tell me you do not have a physical location you can travel back to after we end these meetings?”
“That is correct, young Baron. For now, my world was put on hold. When this was done, all important beings had been sent to their place of origin, heh. My good friend, Takuma Sato, had vanished. I have tried to reach out to him but it seems to me that he wishes not to be found, heh. That is where you come in.”
Young Vendredi stared at him. “What does this have to do with me? Why am I needed for a situation that has nothing to do with me or my world?”
The older Vendredi just grinned. “Because, young one, methinks the Takuma Sato on your planet may be able to find his other self and can convince him to help me restore our own world, heh.”
He couldn’t believe it. “Why me? Why my planet? How am I even supposed to know where to find this Takuma Sato at in my world? Can’t one of the other Vendredis, one of the more experienced ones, find his own Sato and help you?”
“Ah, if only it were that simple, heh. Young one, there is an aura linked to your Takuma Sato that resembles that of my friend’s. Your planet is lining up to certain events that parallel what mine did, heh. If you are to find this young Sato, not only will your planet be saved from certain destruction but it will help to bring balance back to mine. I cannot tell you much more than that, heh. The greater forces forbid it. But look to your fires. Study them, heh. There you will find the answers to the questions you seek.”
“I’m not getting any of what you are saying. Like, I’m totally lost. Where do I even start at? Do I have to move? I’m going to college still, I can’t just up and leave.” Baron was starting to sound annoyed.
“I will leave you with this. You must go to a place called UOW. This will be the start of your journey. Introduce yourself to a man named Rich Relando, heh. The rest will start to fall into place.”
“Okay, but-” Before he could say anything else, Baron was facing the white wall in his living room. He stood there for a couple of seconds not knowing if this was some sort of prank or if him going to a place called ‘UOW’ would help save the world. Either way, he was soon about to find out. It was unfortunate that he’d have to do it on an empty stomach because Mercury Bar was now closed.