Night [Gebin CWC Night 3]

[The Nihilists]

~The scene is a dark hallway. We are in the empty arena where the third night of the Cruiserweight Cup will take place. The halls echo every sound. The air is still and stale without the bustle of even the covid restricted crowd. The chill in the air is palpable as the heat has been minimized to conserve energy. A the far end of the hallway is a faint light, the glow of LEDs, columns of light emanating from what look like gloves, and a starry sky of tiny lights in the shape of a face mask. The light begins to move towards the stationary camera. Gebin, hair flowing, is in his ring gear and pacing. He is mentally psyching himself up for the coming days. Unable to sleep, restless, he makes the arena his home, to discover what makes this place tick, to become one with the arena, to make it his home field advantage. Any advantage one could take after all.~

"There are many things that drive men like me and you Eron Hunter. We are not so simple as to be driven by victory or championships. We are multitudinous. We are complex organisms with machinations all our own to put us through our paces and make us give our all in that ring. One man with a shattered knee, the other with a crushed spine. One man hesitant to fly for fear of the knee buckling, the other hesitant to fight alone for fear of the stamina and conditioning drain causing the body to lock up again. Men who walked through the darkness in ourselves to emerge into this light of day. Men destined to clash in the ring with victory meaning advancing in the tournament and failure meaning a long trip home."

~He rubs his hands together and the excitement and anxiety are apparent in his hastened motions. He gesticulates with his arms and hands as he speaks and continues to move erratically around the camera focus area~

"Night. An appropriate callname for you at this point. People fear the night. The darkness, the unknown, the silence … but we have walked through that inky well of shadow and come out the other side. Changed men. Better men. Wily veterans reinventing themselves time and again to stay ahead of the ticking hands of Father Time and the encroaching night that goes on eternally. For night normally breaks with the dawn and renews those who fear it but are too reticent to accept its gifts. But we … purge our very souls with the darkness and become one with it. We use it as fuel. And that is what will happen again this coming match. We will unleash everything we keep within ourselves, no fear, no hesitation, and no regret."

~He moves to the camera and begins speaking directly into it~

"See neither of us will beat the other if there is any hesitation. Both of us are naturals at capitalizing on mistakes to make up for our size and style and recklessness … but when we clash it won’t be the first mistake that costs us. It will be the hesitation, the lack of confidence, the fading of the drive … the flickering of the renewed flames. I want to know if I can take you at our best. I am no submissionist, that is my best friend, so I can tell you your knee isn’t a particularly appetizing target for me to work over. If I can strike it … I’d be a fool not to. But I will not make this into a show of who can force that fear. You have overcome the internal darkness, the kind that we make for ourselves. And for that I will respect you by making sure that we have the match of the evening."

~He sits down cross legged in front of the camera~

"People … fear the night. They only see the darkness and the silence. They miss the life that exists within it. They miss the hustle and bustle of another world that exists while they sleep and rejuvenate. The transformative nature of being forced into the night within ourselves is something few have experienced and fewer have come out the other side. I have done it twice, spiritually first and now physically. My mission is to show the world that the night is not to be feared but embraced. To overcome it in the now, and be comfortable with the eternal version later. I do not fear the night. I respect it. I understand it. And I hope through this guided combat we can come to understand and respect each other deeper. Win or lose, in the end … I will be there in the ring with you, soaking in the admiration of the fans, celebrating our exuberant dance of darkness … and extending a hand in the light. I hope you take it."

~The arena lights click on as the cleaning crew is here to prepare for the event in a few days. With his final statements made he stands in front of the wall in the hallway of the arena opening his hands to the camera.~