Post by Donzig on Aug 2, 2022 20:33:23 GMT -5
'All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.'
The book slammed closed, and something rustled in the darkness before the dim light showed Donzig sitting atop what seemed to be old gravestone. He tilted his masked head before he sniffed, and he sat the book aside before he rubbed his hands together. A shrug of his shoulders, and he leaned forward as he looked over the surrounding graveyard before he spoke.
'I come here, to remind me of what is really important. And the answer is nothing, nothing is important. You see whatever happens? It all ends in the same place, we all go down into the cold black earth alone. Nothing matters, not really, and the universe? Well, it doesn't really care about us does it? It doesn't want us to be happy. All there is? Is the Void, the Empty Dark, a cold bleak abyss leading into NOTHINGNESS!'
Donzig paused as his voice rose to a shriek, and he waved a hand.
'Speaking of nothing, and things that don't matter.'
Donzig reached up, and he spread his hand across the cold surface of the mask before his fingers tightened. And he slowly pulled it off, he looked down at it before he sat it atop the cold marble. Then his fingers raked through his beard, and those dark empty eyes narrowed as he shrugged.
'I want you to hear me, Esmeralda. I want you to look into my eyes, I want all of Reign, and beyond to look into the eyes of the Scourge. And I want you to remember, that to lie? To craft a believable lie? You have to care about people knowing it is a lie, that it is not a truth. I don't care about you people, I don't give two fucks about you or your feelings. So this is the truth, because facts are? Donzig always tells the truth.'
A finger lifted, and Donzig leaned back with a rustle of leather.
'What you won? Was NOTHING! You won some plates? You won a little title, Esmeralda? You're a king now?'
Donzig shrugged, and he lifted his hands to clap mockingly.
'Since the day Reign was born, since the day Reign came to this network, one man has done everything he could for it! One man walked down that ramp each and every show, and he came down to that ring from fucking Britain to Japan! And he crushed everyone, every opponent that the Reign Board of Directors threw at him. Every style of wrestling that those plates represent? He fucking mastered! This man beat fucking legends and icons, and he clawed his way to those plates! And how did you earn yours, O Queen?'
Donzig sneered.
'You got lucky and hit Sinclair while that fucking idiot Blaze had her distracted?'
Donzig laughed, a cold rasping noise in the empty graveyard. Like a machine trying to sound human, and he waved a hand as he slid to his feet. He paced slowly in the shadows before the pale stones, and he pressed his hands together before him.
'You see Esmeralda, you and I? We're kindred spirits, eh? What was it you said? The same blood? That maybe. But you see despite what the rest of these people say and fucking do? Despite what they all think? You know that everything I have in this business? I earned the old way, I earned it with blood and hunger! No one hands me anything, I fucking take it! But you? You're a fucking thief! And so Esmeralda you can have your fucking royal proclamation, and sit on your throne of lies with your little stolen crown? But we all know that ONLY ONE PERSON gave those plates any meaning, only one person made them worth the fucking gold they are forged from! And that person?'
Donzig lifted his head, looking skyward.
'Well, it isn't you? Is it.'
A shrug.
'Enjoy your hollow reign over a mockery of a kingdom, Esmeralda. You deserve it, and it? Deserves you. Because we all know that while you hold that fucking crown and title? You're nothing but a usurper. And one day? Someone will come and take what you have stolen, Esmeralda. That is your fate. You see like I said? We of Donzig-gun we keep the old ways, you have to keep what you steal.'
A hand lifted, and Donzig sneered as a finger was lifted before him.
'You see as a wise man once said? After a time, you may find that 'having' is not so pleasing a thing after all as 'wanting.' It is not logical, but it is often true.'
Donzig started to pace again, and he paused to stare up at the worn looking angel staring down at him.
'So the problem is this, you have stolen a crown you did not earn. You got lucky in one match, and now I am the uncrowned King. But the question is what do I do about it. Once, I would have roared and raged, I would have broken this fucking so called company down around you, I would have burned it to the ground. You see I can do that, I am nothing if not a destroyer. That is my gift, I have the Reaper's Touch. No, no, no, Esmeralda. That would be too easy, too easy, I want you to suffer. I want you to try and hold this place together as it flows like sand through your fingers. As every grain of it falls away into the ocean, I want you to see it all wash away.'
A hiss, and he looked over his shoulder.
'But that leaves me with a problem, your little hollow victory has left us diminished. Your betrayal that let the Pillars somehow squeak out a win? That left us diminished. Donzig-gun has been made less, and I have been made less. I hear them laughing, I hear them whispering! The Void carries their words to me, and it will not stand! A king needs a crown, an emperor needs his laurel leaves, eh? And so despite my disdain?'
Donzig shrugged, and he wiped a hand across his mouth.
'I will take the X-crown instead. And that means?'
A scowl.
'Rat Bastard. The living legend, the icon, arguably the greatest X-Crown Champion of all time. The first two-time X Crown Champion! Beloved by all! But to me? You're just another fucking victim, one more relic of a broken world that I have to send down into the dirt! So Rat Daddy with all due respect--'
The word dripped sarcasm.
'--I hear you like to shoot. That you're a bit of a shooter, eh? Well, I am not a Bastard, I am not a Bad Man! But I fancy myself a bit of a shooter myself, but you see all that shooting doesn't really matter does it? Because inside that ring, despite what some people may think! Despite what the Usurper may tell you? I am as a GOD! And you can do whatever you want, you can try whatever tricks you chose! Death Trap and whoever he is fighting? They can do whatever they want, and Blaze can maybe show up for once! But none of that matters, because you see?'
Donzig paused, and reached out to reclaim his mask. He stared down at it lovingly, his fingers drawn across the surface before he slowly lifted it to drag it back on. A shudder ran through him, and he closed his eyes before he growled again.
'The Event Horizon happens fast, so very fast. And it only takes one. I am coming Rat Daddy, I am the inevitable, I am the Great Dark. And I don't care about the X-Crown, what I care about is making the rest of this shithole bow down before me. And you? You're in my way, you're in our way. '
Donzig shrugged, and he lifted his book to stare down at it with a slow nod.
'The crownless will again be king.'
The shadows rustled, and the huge and silent forms of the Oblivion Death Squad stepped from between the graves. They stepped behind their master, and they glowered at the camera from behind their gleaming black skull masks. Mormo pounding a fist against his chest, as the other hammered a fist into his palm. Sinclair Godfrey stepped out to join them, smiling from behind her hood as she adjusted her long coat.
Donzig looked up, staring from behind that mask as a hand lifted to shove the camera away. The scene plunged into darkness, and his voice hissed.
'Rat Bastard. See you soon.'
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.'
The book slammed closed, and something rustled in the darkness before the dim light showed Donzig sitting atop what seemed to be old gravestone. He tilted his masked head before he sniffed, and he sat the book aside before he rubbed his hands together. A shrug of his shoulders, and he leaned forward as he looked over the surrounding graveyard before he spoke.
'I come here, to remind me of what is really important. And the answer is nothing, nothing is important. You see whatever happens? It all ends in the same place, we all go down into the cold black earth alone. Nothing matters, not really, and the universe? Well, it doesn't really care about us does it? It doesn't want us to be happy. All there is? Is the Void, the Empty Dark, a cold bleak abyss leading into NOTHINGNESS!'
Donzig paused as his voice rose to a shriek, and he waved a hand.
'Speaking of nothing, and things that don't matter.'
Donzig reached up, and he spread his hand across the cold surface of the mask before his fingers tightened. And he slowly pulled it off, he looked down at it before he sat it atop the cold marble. Then his fingers raked through his beard, and those dark empty eyes narrowed as he shrugged.
'I want you to hear me, Esmeralda. I want you to look into my eyes, I want all of Reign, and beyond to look into the eyes of the Scourge. And I want you to remember, that to lie? To craft a believable lie? You have to care about people knowing it is a lie, that it is not a truth. I don't care about you people, I don't give two fucks about you or your feelings. So this is the truth, because facts are? Donzig always tells the truth.'
A finger lifted, and Donzig leaned back with a rustle of leather.
'What you won? Was NOTHING! You won some plates? You won a little title, Esmeralda? You're a king now?'
Donzig shrugged, and he lifted his hands to clap mockingly.
'Since the day Reign was born, since the day Reign came to this network, one man has done everything he could for it! One man walked down that ramp each and every show, and he came down to that ring from fucking Britain to Japan! And he crushed everyone, every opponent that the Reign Board of Directors threw at him. Every style of wrestling that those plates represent? He fucking mastered! This man beat fucking legends and icons, and he clawed his way to those plates! And how did you earn yours, O Queen?'
Donzig sneered.
'You got lucky and hit Sinclair while that fucking idiot Blaze had her distracted?'
Donzig laughed, a cold rasping noise in the empty graveyard. Like a machine trying to sound human, and he waved a hand as he slid to his feet. He paced slowly in the shadows before the pale stones, and he pressed his hands together before him.
'You see Esmeralda, you and I? We're kindred spirits, eh? What was it you said? The same blood? That maybe. But you see despite what the rest of these people say and fucking do? Despite what they all think? You know that everything I have in this business? I earned the old way, I earned it with blood and hunger! No one hands me anything, I fucking take it! But you? You're a fucking thief! And so Esmeralda you can have your fucking royal proclamation, and sit on your throne of lies with your little stolen crown? But we all know that ONLY ONE PERSON gave those plates any meaning, only one person made them worth the fucking gold they are forged from! And that person?'
Donzig lifted his head, looking skyward.
'Well, it isn't you? Is it.'
A shrug.
'Enjoy your hollow reign over a mockery of a kingdom, Esmeralda. You deserve it, and it? Deserves you. Because we all know that while you hold that fucking crown and title? You're nothing but a usurper. And one day? Someone will come and take what you have stolen, Esmeralda. That is your fate. You see like I said? We of Donzig-gun we keep the old ways, you have to keep what you steal.'
A hand lifted, and Donzig sneered as a finger was lifted before him.
'You see as a wise man once said? After a time, you may find that 'having' is not so pleasing a thing after all as 'wanting.' It is not logical, but it is often true.'
Donzig started to pace again, and he paused to stare up at the worn looking angel staring down at him.
'So the problem is this, you have stolen a crown you did not earn. You got lucky in one match, and now I am the uncrowned King. But the question is what do I do about it. Once, I would have roared and raged, I would have broken this fucking so called company down around you, I would have burned it to the ground. You see I can do that, I am nothing if not a destroyer. That is my gift, I have the Reaper's Touch. No, no, no, Esmeralda. That would be too easy, too easy, I want you to suffer. I want you to try and hold this place together as it flows like sand through your fingers. As every grain of it falls away into the ocean, I want you to see it all wash away.'
A hiss, and he looked over his shoulder.
'But that leaves me with a problem, your little hollow victory has left us diminished. Your betrayal that let the Pillars somehow squeak out a win? That left us diminished. Donzig-gun has been made less, and I have been made less. I hear them laughing, I hear them whispering! The Void carries their words to me, and it will not stand! A king needs a crown, an emperor needs his laurel leaves, eh? And so despite my disdain?'
Donzig shrugged, and he wiped a hand across his mouth.
'I will take the X-crown instead. And that means?'
A scowl.
'Rat Bastard. The living legend, the icon, arguably the greatest X-Crown Champion of all time. The first two-time X Crown Champion! Beloved by all! But to me? You're just another fucking victim, one more relic of a broken world that I have to send down into the dirt! So Rat Daddy with all due respect--'
The word dripped sarcasm.
'--I hear you like to shoot. That you're a bit of a shooter, eh? Well, I am not a Bastard, I am not a Bad Man! But I fancy myself a bit of a shooter myself, but you see all that shooting doesn't really matter does it? Because inside that ring, despite what some people may think! Despite what the Usurper may tell you? I am as a GOD! And you can do whatever you want, you can try whatever tricks you chose! Death Trap and whoever he is fighting? They can do whatever they want, and Blaze can maybe show up for once! But none of that matters, because you see?'
Donzig paused, and reached out to reclaim his mask. He stared down at it lovingly, his fingers drawn across the surface before he slowly lifted it to drag it back on. A shudder ran through him, and he closed his eyes before he growled again.
'The Event Horizon happens fast, so very fast. And it only takes one. I am coming Rat Daddy, I am the inevitable, I am the Great Dark. And I don't care about the X-Crown, what I care about is making the rest of this shithole bow down before me. And you? You're in my way, you're in our way. '
Donzig shrugged, and he lifted his book to stare down at it with a slow nod.
'The crownless will again be king.'
The shadows rustled, and the huge and silent forms of the Oblivion Death Squad stepped from between the graves. They stepped behind their master, and they glowered at the camera from behind their gleaming black skull masks. Mormo pounding a fist against his chest, as the other hammered a fist into his palm. Sinclair Godfrey stepped out to join them, smiling from behind her hood as she adjusted her long coat.
Donzig looked up, staring from behind that mask as a hand lifted to shove the camera away. The scene plunged into darkness, and his voice hissed.
'Rat Bastard. See you soon.'