Post by Dathyn on Nov 22, 2015 22:47:17 GMT -6
Dark Matter: The End of All Light
“The scariest monsters are the ones that lurk within our souls.”
-Edgar Allen Poe
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Only a little bit further…
“Climb.” The devil whispered in my ear, as a I propelled myself up the mountain. Struggling to pull each inch, armed with only my bare essentials – but with the only tool that mattered: knowledge. Knowledge that failure to retrieve this information and guidance could be the death of me, quite literally, that is what I was armed to the teeth with. You know this world is going to shit when the immortals fear death.
Have you ever written your own eulogy? I don’t believe that anyone can have a true appreciation for death if they haven’t written their own eulogy. I wrote mine, despite the fact that I’m not likable, and let’s face it: the only people coming to my funeral will be coming out of obligation – my last terrible deed. But death is a funny thing; it is a gift that can be bestowed upon many by so few. All it takes is one person to decide to end another’s obligation of living. I find it humorous that the absolute most important thing in each of our lives is perhaps the least predictable and controllable. Besides me, of course.
But you see, that’s the problem. Recently, I haven’t been moving as quickly, I feel slower…perhaps older. The days are getting longer, and my body is getting weaker. I feel my life slowly draining away, like a tree getting chipped away by a storm, or each grain of sand in an hour glass falling. As a man who is a magician, I know that misconception and ‘magic’ can help evade many things – death may not be one of them. It’s the age old saying: you can run, but you cannot hide. One can evade death for only so long. Immortality and agelessness seem to be more elusive than myself. This all would come to a head last week when I was defeated by the youthful and skilled Heath Williams.
But is any of that true? Did Heath really defeat me? Or did he save my career? Is immortality achievable? The answers are as follow: no, no, yes and yes. Heath Williams defeated me, in a sense. He helped further perpetuate the same lie I have been telling the world: Judas Dathyn is very much mortal, very much human – there’s nothing to see here – nothing more at play. Clearly, that is most definitely not the case, but after last week, only the most delusional of critics would doubt my ability to be defeated. So did I throw the match? Absolutely not, it was just a well time coincidence. In doing so, Heath has made it so I can infiltrate even deeper into the wrestling world, which is very ironic considering the history he and I share. I doubt he has the capacity of memory to remember me and what I have done for him, but if he did, I’m pretty sure our match would have gone a little differently.
I continued to pull myself up the mountain, inch by inch, foot by foot. The wind gusted across my face, causing me to wince as if I had been lashed by a cat ‘o nine tails. Climbing is perhaps the greatest test of human resilience and will. It is man versus the elements, and there are only two directions he can go: upwards – to safety, towards his goal, or downwards – plummeting to his doom. To climb meant survival, and anything other than progress meant death.
He wasn’t the only member of VoW that I have been watching for some time now. I’ve been keeping tabs on Katie Moicelle since the young age of seven. I understand just how creepy that sounds, but let me continue. Again, I have my reasons for doing so, but the contrast between her and Heath is quite interesting. Heath is an interesting character, curious and jaded. Whether he likes to admit it or not, he has his dark side, and it’s nasty. Katie, however, seems not to be so much curious, but more defensive. She has yet to embrace the darkness inside of her. That will be her downfall. You see, we all have darkness inside of us. The weakest individuals are those who either deny it’s there and try to suppress it or unleash it all. In both of these extremes, it is impossible to use the darkness to your advantage. Instead, channeling this darkness for good, to kill when you need to, to do the dastardly deeds for a greater purpose – that is how you find strength.
My philosophies throughout life have changed drastically – the most notable being that of my definition of honor. I’m not a good man, nor do I pretend to be. I’m not a hero, but that is because there are no heroes in this world. Every act that anybody does is a selfish one. There’s always another agenda; whether it be increasing one’s moral standing, or a material value – it is all the same: greed. The difference between somebody like myself and a Matt Slater, Patrick Jones or Katie Moicelle, is that I’m honest about the monster that I am. I’m not a product of my environment, I’m a product of human greed. I understand how to win and how to get ahead, that far surpasses honor.
Katie is naïve, and I couldn’t blame her. She lives in this bubble where men can’t be immortal, where people don’t just ‘disappear’ in the middle of the night; she lives in a bubble where the company she works for isn’t being infiltrated. Yet, I’ve threaded enough clues for her to know that there is a little more at work than meets the eye. And to think – this all started with a smile. I guess you could say that I am an angel – of sorts. She would have to have a terrible memory not to remember the incident where she went swimming at such a young age. Was I guardian angel, or was it just another well timed coincidence?
Destined for greatness since a young age, Katie has shattered state records in sprints as well as other track events – a skill which is deemed useless in most wrestling, except for this match. You see, Katie has a leg up on most of my opponents – she can run away if she is still conscious after our initial lock up. All jokes aside, she brings a mentality of a champion to the ring, and that alone is a great quality she possesses. However, once again, as we have seen with so many of my victims: it is her benevolence which will slow her down. There is a quality that she possesses that I like, however, and that is why I may not choose to paralyze her, but rather, pin her.
My thoughts come to a screeching halt as I reach the top of the mountain. I pull myself over the edge and stumble to my feet, tripping once or twice, but finding my balance in the process. Inhaling, I take in the scene, processing every inch of it.
There are places on this Earth where time does not exist; a place where the elapsing of time means nothing – and the laws of time are not obeyed. There are places that are unspoken and untraveled by the ignorant. This is one of them. I found myself looking upon a very simple temple, covered in snow. Exhaling, I see my breath as I lumber forward, fearing what lurks in this temple. I had read about it in my travels, but I had never contemplated visiting. This isn’t a place you visit; it’s a place you enter and never leave. It may as well be a coffin.
Reaching the entrance, I push open the stone door and am immediately bombarded with the smell of smoke. The assault on my nasal passage acts as a catalyst for the visual aspect of this attack. Ten men surround me, swords drawn to my neck as I raise my arms in defeat. Well, I guess the whole being immortal thing was all for nothing.
“The man who defies death. The man who cheats mortality – yet he finds himself here. Welcome to my home, Mr. Dathyn. I have been expecting you for some time.” Looking up, I make eye contact with the man I have come all this way to see. Very few know him by his real name, but he is called by many by one name: Tao. Originally a monk, he retreated up here with many of his followers to achieve immortality; it is said that there is something extraterrestrial about the waters on this mountain. It’s a little to science-fictiony for me to follow. Now, Tao is one of the most feared shamans on the planet – the equivalent of being the world’s tallest midget. However, if someone knows about immortality, it would be him.
“Let him go. Allow him the honor to kneel before me and ask his questions. I know he must have many of them.”
“You’ve been expecting me?” I spoke, still on my own two feet. Tao took notice of this and motioned one more time for me to take a knee. When I refused, I received to swift kicks to the back of my knees from his guards – kneeling position: achieved.
“A year ago, your friend Niles came for guidance recently. A man who was once magnificent in stature has withered away to nothing, I knew immediately what was wrong. I take it you two are not on the greatest terms since you killed his wife.”
“I did what had to be done. And now, once again, I’m doing what has to be done, tell me what is happening and how I can stop it.” Rage filled my body at the mention of my former associate; I clenched my fist and bit my tongue, only pumping more rage throughout my body in doing so. Tao’s finger inched up and down his bald head, scratching it. Before answering, he took out a small slip of paper and pen and wrote something down on it.
“Judas, my friend, your potion has stopped working. I think we both understand that. Your body probably has built up a tolerance, though, I’m not positive on how. Your very creation that has kept you alive this long, is now what’s killing you. Congratulations, you or your friend will be the first victim of your serum. I understand you wrestle, no? And this will surely conflict with that. So let me help you. I have a permanent solution, and a long term one.” Tao handed one of his guards the slip of paper as well as a cup filled with some liquid. I was handed both and looked down and the paper read: Grace Garcia – University of New York.
Before I could speak, Tao interjected. “Find her. She is the best at what she does.” Yeah, because finding a woman with the last name of Garcia in New York City is going to be a picnic in of itself. “Let me ask you this though, Judas. Maybe it’s time for Judas Dathyn to die, in order for someone else to take his place. Maybe you need to allow someone or something else to emerge from your demise.”
And my eyes fell upon Tao, and we both knew without saying a word: this was the last time he would be seeing Judas Dathyn. Sipping the water, I reached in my back pocket, clutching the Krisis mask.
Soon. Soon everything I have been working towards shall come to fruition. Because in our darkest hour, we can find our brightest light - but far too often is that light too dim to overcome the overwhelming darkness that engulfs and plagues the time we live in. Soon, that light shall be a mere speck in a universe of dark.