Once Upon a Time.

In a town called Elkhorn.

A revolutionary rose.

Dolly Waters united the miners against their corporate masters…

Overthrowing Baron Nicklesworth’s totalitarian regime…

And the workers lived harmoniously forever after…

…Or so Dolly dreamed.

---

”...Deal’s getting worse all the time.” Mark McCoy mutters from the room’s rear…

”Shhhhh.”

At the room’s center, Emilia of the BlackMountain raises a glass of pure darkness.

A swirling vacuum of liquid obsidian…

”tonight…  we usher Maræth’s descent upon this plane. Infecting world in darkness so complete, light cannot survive.”

The BlackMountaineers each approach, supping the black goo.

…Chills traverse McCoy’s spine, watching them…

BlackMountaineers? Cocky assholes individually…

But, the light of humanity leaves their eyes when Maræth comes up.

The Eater-of-Dreams.

…

The final BlackMountaineer approaches for this…
communion.

Magdalena.

A recent convert.

Once McCoy saw in her hope for Elkhorn’s future…

Another hope BlackMountain extinguished.

Magdalena sups blackness… Her eyes blacken.

…Elkhorn’s miners… break into hushed whispers…

Dolly raises a fist. They immediately quiet.

”now. we invite… guest… to taste Maræth’s dark knowledge.”

…McCoy’s squints confused.

…Until Dolly pushes off the wall beside him.

Reflexively, defensively…

McCoy grabs Dolly’s arm.

…The room falls deathly silent.

”...Don’t.”

“...Please.”

”Trust me.”

…McCoy releases his friend.

Dolly approaches…

”may Maræth grant you… fate you deserve.”

Dolly drinks blackness.

…

”Thank you.”

”We’re one Union. Stronger together.” Dolly grasps Emilia, hand-in-hand. ”All of us.”

…The miners applaud their leader…

McCoy shakes his head, exiting…

---

”It revolts me to my fucking core.” McCoy drops another log on the fire.

”Gaaaaaaaaah…hehehehehe…” Beside the fire, McCoy’s toddler, NK, grips his crib’s rim.

”Necessary.” Dolly’s hands hover above the fire… ”BlackMountain comprises more of Elkhorn every day. We need their loyalty. A house divided falls.”

”A house built on the BlackMountain? BRIMMING with toxic fumes.”

”You say that because you don’t know them.”

”I know exactly who they are.”

“I’ve devoured every scripture.”

”Absorbed EVERY sermon.”

“I know EXACTLY what they promise.”

“The world? Consumed in darkness.”

“Light? SNUFFED OUT.”

“Endless torment under Maræth’s gaze.”

”Religious allegory. They’re peaceful.”

”...Vanderlay desecrated two company graves.”

“Replaced with a shrine to himself.”

”Creating space for their culture! Progress!”

”They’re converting our miners to Maræth’s teachings.”

”Sharing their beliefs!”

”The ones that reject Maræth?”

“Missing.”

”Coincidence! The Corporation’s attacking ou-!”

”STOP DEFENDING THEM.”

…

”Mark.”

“You’re blinded by what has been. I’m seeing what can be.”

”NO.”

"YOU’RE BLINDED… by hope.”

“You think, because we’re closer to the dream than ever before?”

“That everything else’ll fall into place…”

“Everyone’ll fall-in-line….”

“THIS?”

“Is the most dangerous time to compromise.”

“Right now? Is when movements get corrupted.”

“And YOU stand-by, allowing this… corruption.”

“The virus consuming its host.”

“BlackMountain doesn’t want to Unionize. It’ll devour… everything.”

“SEE THE OBVIOUS.”

“What they’re TELLING YOU THEY’LL DO.”

“...If we can’t unite different peoples? The dream’s already dead.”

Dolly squeezes her friend’s shoulder.

”I have a vision.”

“Candy Mountain.”

“BlackMountain talks darkness.

But the Union’s future is bright.”

…McCoy’s eyes drift to his son.

”…Fine.”

---

The pair patrol Elkhorn’s woods. Looking-out for Nicklesworth’s thugs…

”60%. S’all we need. Then, the Union’s permanent!”

”Sixty percent’s attainable without BlackMountain.”

”Margin’s too tight. Ten BlackMountaineers? Almost 30% alone.”

”...Heheh, sounds like the math I’ve taughtcha’s paying off…”

”Learned stats from the best.”

”…What’d that goo taste like?”

”Black licorice?”

…

”...Dolly?”

McCoy side-eyes Waters…

Her eyes… unfocused.

”...Cold.”

…McCoy squints, concerned…

…But behind Dolly…

Black smoke.

”FIRE!”

---

The pair sprint through town. The miners collapse in the streets, sputtering!

”Where’s the fire?!?”

…Despite the all-consuming black smoke…

No fire.

No light.

Elkhorn’s smothered in darkness.

…Emanating from…

”NO.”

McCoy’s cabin…

---

McCoy boots the door open…

…Inside…

Magdalena…

Holds NK.

”Drop him.”

”NOW.”

A hand squeezes his shoulder.

”S’alright, Mark.”

Dolly side-steps past McCoy.

…She meets Magdalena.

Who surrenders NK.

…McCoy exhales.

”He must be given.”

Dolly turns.

Her eyes…

BLACK.

”To fulfill Maræth…””

”…Your eyes….Dark…”

”I only see light ahead...”

From Dolly’s mouth…

Blackness flows…

Consuming NK….

---

”NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

…Flynn wakes in cold sweat.

”Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah…”

HIs scream awoke his son.

Reflexively, defensively…

Flynn reaches into NK’s crib.

Squeezing his boy close.

…NK returns to slumber.

…Flynn doesn’t.

---

‘Graves’ sits amidst the rubble once called “Jim Norrick Arena.”

”Ozymandias’ gravestone read...”

Look Upon my works, ye mighty… and despair.”

”But only desert remained.”

…

”Dolly.”

”The FUCK you thinking?!?”

”I bought in, Doll.”

“Hook-line-SINKER.”

“FOR THREE-HUNDRED-AND-THIRTY DAYS, I’VE REPPED REVOLUTION.”

“Syn tried to obscure it.”

“Peter Principle tried to stamp it out.”

“But I kept the flag flying, Dolly.”

“To make my dream reality.”

Quote:“…to make the future better…  and hope it reaches him.”

“A BRIGHTER future for my son.”

…

“And what do YOU do?”

“Trade friendship lanyards with BLACK RAINBOW.”

“WHO PROMISE NO FUTURE BUT DARKNESS.”

“HOPELESSNESS.”

“DEATH.”

…

“I had a premonition, Dolly.”

‘Graves’ gestures toward the destroyed arena.

”That we walked together amidst the ruins of the XWF.”

“My son’s future? Stolen from him.”

“That B.R. destroyed…”

“Not just the Revolution.”

“Not just the XWF.”

“But this world.”

“...Know where that premonition came from, Dolly?”

“Their fucking mouths.”

“They promise to take EVERYTHING.”

“They stole James Raven *and* Lee Stone’s Hall-of-Legends spots.”

“They brainwashed Aurora.”

“And now? Maræth returns to poison us anew.”

…

”You’re young.”

“Blinded by misguided… hope.”

“You think people are good, deep-down.”

“I’ve broken enough bodies… Looked at their insides…”

“They ain’t.”

“I want your dream realized, Dolly.”

“But Maræth? Will CONSUME that dream.”

“And my son’s bright future?”

“Will be smothered in Black Rainbow’s darkness.”

…

”What comes next?”

“Tough love.”

“We’re brothers-in-arms, Dolly.”

“I take no pleasure in breaking you physically.”

“But, sometimes dreams?”

“Must face reality.”

“And if you’re shutting your eyes, blinding yourself to the danger before us?”

“I’ll rip them open with my bare hands.”

“Jam my thumbs in your sockets, scraping away the blackness obscuring your sight.”

“Snap your legs off… FORCE you down the path we must travel.”

…

”I’ve gotta do this, Dolly.”

“Darkness corrupts our shared dream.”

“I must show you…”

“The light.