My Last Night on Earth, Part Two (Hostile Intent 2022)
May 26, 2022 16:20:16 GMT -5
Dave D-Flipz, Seth Dillinger, and 2 more like this
Post by Phoenix Roost on May 26, 2022 16:20:16 GMT -5
We open on darkness. There is a ring of fire, about five feet in diameter. There's nothing in it.
Another ring starts to flicker into life, about thirty feet away. We watch it go from a few embers to a full ring, also five feet wide.
A third and a fourth ring light up, at points that describe a square with the first two.
Two more rings light up in the interior of this square, right next to each other such that where the two touch is the exact center of the square.
We sit on this image for a few moments before there is the rushing sound of oxygen molecules burning en masse as a huge ring containing all six smaller rings roars into life, the flames cast up several feet whereas the others are low enough that a person could step into the circle.
They all flicker for a moment, the light cast by the flames vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Make no mistake. It would be less of an ordeal for us to be fighting in the actual Seventh Circle of Hell.
The flames flicker back into life and Keahi is suddenly in one of the smaller circles that is inside the square. She is sitting cross-legged and not looking anywhere in particular. Occasionally her gaze lingers on one of the smaller rings, but it always goes back to the huge, roaring tower of heat and eruptions.
Keahi: I don’t have a lot of time. I know this is my chance to respond to my critics and weave a fine tapestry of reasons why I am going to be the one standing at the end of Hostile Intent, but if there’s one thing I can’t do right now, it’s lie.
Keahi chuckles bitterly at this for a moment before taking a deep breath to set herself, making sure she’s centered properly so she doesn’t breath in exclusively fumes.
Keahi: I’m sure Nate will have his thoughts about that, if he’s still coherent enough to string them together. Something about how I don’t know who I am, or who I want to be, or who I want the world to see. Maybe some of you agree with him. Maybe you think I know exactly who I am, but I’m just a grubby gold digger, only in it for success and accolades and not for the love of the game or violence or prestige or sport or whatever motivates zombies to come back from the dead to wrestle some more.
I asked about that once, Fox. You never answered me, that I know of. Not that you have any reason to. You don’t owe me anything. I’ve beaten you a couple of times, but you outperformed me massively at the Rumble, and you have tenure while I’m just an upstart with no sense of self. And you have your own shit going on, so it’s not really fair to ask you to go into the philosophy of existence and life versus death.
Spike probably wants some measure of revenge for my cheeky little maneuver at the Super Scramble. I didn’t expect that chamber to just be hanging out there, like a portal where we can peek into the future, but I took the opportunity as I saw it. Sapphire gave me a real earful about it when she got back. I know she can take care of herself, but she’s suffered enough. That’s no reason to let a dead man increase his ranks. Pick on someone your own state of being.
Seth also outdid me at the Rumble, and may have done better if not for whatever lingering history there is between him and Fox. I’m not going to pretend to understand what the two of you must be thinking or feeling, but I hope whatever it is can survive (unless you want it to die, in which case I hope it is killed by) your time in the Seventh Circle. If you can come out of this friends again, I would like that. This hellhole has enough animosity and hatred already.
Speaking of co-operation, Thespian and I have to go right from the Chamber, assuming we survive, and fly to the devil’s asscrack to prepare to get our asses kicked even more by the best of the best in the whole XHF. He had a hell of a run as Southern States champion, and frankly, if I can’t win, I want it to be him, and not just because we’re on Team NLW for Call to Arms.
Keahi steps out of the circle for a moment to pace around the two inner rings. There is a fair amount of space where she can walk and not be inside a smaller ring, and she eventually comes to the spot where the hard camera would be peeking into a wrestling ring surrounded by a large circular structure, the large wall of flames dipping for the moment, leaving her visible over it.
Keahi: I said I wouldn’t lie, so I have to admit that I find it difficult to imagine the lengths to which I’ll have to go to get any of these five men to say they quit. If there’s one thing that connects them all, it’s an astounding amount of pride.
Not that I’m any different. Though it’s been damaged, I’m still a prideful creature. Perhaps too much. But not so much that I can’t see when the odds are against me. All else equal, there’s only a sixteen percent chance for any one of us to win. Obviously we’re not equal, not exactly, but one of us will survive without saying those damning words. I don’t know who it will be, but I do know this...
Keahi takes a deep breath as she stares into the hypothetical hard camera, flames rising up to obscure her from view as she finishes her thought.
Keahi: I am going to fight like it is my last night on earth.
Another ring starts to flicker into life, about thirty feet away. We watch it go from a few embers to a full ring, also five feet wide.
A third and a fourth ring light up, at points that describe a square with the first two.
Two more rings light up in the interior of this square, right next to each other such that where the two touch is the exact center of the square.
We sit on this image for a few moments before there is the rushing sound of oxygen molecules burning en masse as a huge ring containing all six smaller rings roars into life, the flames cast up several feet whereas the others are low enough that a person could step into the circle.
They all flicker for a moment, the light cast by the flames vanishing in the blink of an eye.
Make no mistake. It would be less of an ordeal for us to be fighting in the actual Seventh Circle of Hell.
The flames flicker back into life and Keahi is suddenly in one of the smaller circles that is inside the square. She is sitting cross-legged and not looking anywhere in particular. Occasionally her gaze lingers on one of the smaller rings, but it always goes back to the huge, roaring tower of heat and eruptions.
Keahi: I don’t have a lot of time. I know this is my chance to respond to my critics and weave a fine tapestry of reasons why I am going to be the one standing at the end of Hostile Intent, but if there’s one thing I can’t do right now, it’s lie.
Keahi chuckles bitterly at this for a moment before taking a deep breath to set herself, making sure she’s centered properly so she doesn’t breath in exclusively fumes.
Keahi: I’m sure Nate will have his thoughts about that, if he’s still coherent enough to string them together. Something about how I don’t know who I am, or who I want to be, or who I want the world to see. Maybe some of you agree with him. Maybe you think I know exactly who I am, but I’m just a grubby gold digger, only in it for success and accolades and not for the love of the game or violence or prestige or sport or whatever motivates zombies to come back from the dead to wrestle some more.
I asked about that once, Fox. You never answered me, that I know of. Not that you have any reason to. You don’t owe me anything. I’ve beaten you a couple of times, but you outperformed me massively at the Rumble, and you have tenure while I’m just an upstart with no sense of self. And you have your own shit going on, so it’s not really fair to ask you to go into the philosophy of existence and life versus death.
Spike probably wants some measure of revenge for my cheeky little maneuver at the Super Scramble. I didn’t expect that chamber to just be hanging out there, like a portal where we can peek into the future, but I took the opportunity as I saw it. Sapphire gave me a real earful about it when she got back. I know she can take care of herself, but she’s suffered enough. That’s no reason to let a dead man increase his ranks. Pick on someone your own state of being.
Seth also outdid me at the Rumble, and may have done better if not for whatever lingering history there is between him and Fox. I’m not going to pretend to understand what the two of you must be thinking or feeling, but I hope whatever it is can survive (unless you want it to die, in which case I hope it is killed by) your time in the Seventh Circle. If you can come out of this friends again, I would like that. This hellhole has enough animosity and hatred already.
Speaking of co-operation, Thespian and I have to go right from the Chamber, assuming we survive, and fly to the devil’s asscrack to prepare to get our asses kicked even more by the best of the best in the whole XHF. He had a hell of a run as Southern States champion, and frankly, if I can’t win, I want it to be him, and not just because we’re on Team NLW for Call to Arms.
Keahi steps out of the circle for a moment to pace around the two inner rings. There is a fair amount of space where she can walk and not be inside a smaller ring, and she eventually comes to the spot where the hard camera would be peeking into a wrestling ring surrounded by a large circular structure, the large wall of flames dipping for the moment, leaving her visible over it.
Keahi: I said I wouldn’t lie, so I have to admit that I find it difficult to imagine the lengths to which I’ll have to go to get any of these five men to say they quit. If there’s one thing that connects them all, it’s an astounding amount of pride.
Not that I’m any different. Though it’s been damaged, I’m still a prideful creature. Perhaps too much. But not so much that I can’t see when the odds are against me. All else equal, there’s only a sixteen percent chance for any one of us to win. Obviously we’re not equal, not exactly, but one of us will survive without saying those damning words. I don’t know who it will be, but I do know this...
Keahi takes a deep breath as she stares into the hypothetical hard camera, flames rising up to obscure her from view as she finishes her thought.
Keahi: I am going to fight like it is my last night on earth.