I awoke this morning taken with a dark and dreary foreboding, a portent of terribleness to come written in the stars. And such was this pervasive anxiety that it nipped at my heels all day, indescribable but potent. Little was I to know that this portent would soon be all too real.

I tried to console myself by sitting under that night sky, my imagination giving flight to catalogue the sheer number and variety of sinister things lurking just beneath the periphery of normal human ken. Most people were like mere cattle, unaware of the midnight machinations of those who dwell in the dark. And of those who dwelled, there were few with a blacker heart than mine. I took stock of the people idling about below the main balcony of my resplendent manse….

We see Corey Smith wearing a cheap costume Victorian gentleman’s garb, a powdered white Washintonian wig atop his head. He’s leaning over the balcony of his hotel room, appraising the Italian citizens flitting between street lights below.

....and my face crinkled in disgust at the sight of them. So many bags of flesh. Meek, cowardly, and oblivious. Oblivious to the fact that I, Lord Sylvan von Bloodbane was their sovereign and master. Oh, how I wished to be amongst those dumb masses, ripping and tearing, pounding with my fists and bathing in their blood. Creating pain on a mass scale…..oh, oh! But I was getting ahead of myself. To create such a scene, as pleasurable as it would be, would be an affront to the clan, exposing us to the light of day and leading to our ruination. The masses were dumb, but they were plentiful, and how unfortunate it would be if we were to go the way of the vampires, persecuted and hunted into oblivion.

And besides, I was mere days from inking my XWF contract, one I dearly hope they will allow me to sign in blood! To see their faces as I prick my thumb and allow that sweet crimson ichor to dot the page. Hahahahahaha! They have no idea what they’re in for.

But then, my revelry was interrupted by the chime of the antique phone by my bedside. My insides curdled, and my ire soared. Something told me this was the portent I had been dreading. I returned inside to my chamber, and took the candelabra from it’s berth….

Corey goes back inside the hotel room, where he plucks a cheap plastic Spirit Halloween Store sale special decorative candelabra from a table. We see now that the interior of his hotel room is covered in equally cheap fake spider webbing. The walls are also decorated in Haloween decor, those painting replicas with the 3-d shifting faces. The phone next to his bed is ringing, and he picks it up with a resigned and pouty air.

Yes…..?

Hi, this is Bob down at the front desk. I hope your experience with us has been excellent so far!

Mmmmm….Bob, my most ANNOYING servant. Perhaps I shall have him drawn and quartered in front of his entire family for my own amusement.

But, I was just calling because there are some folks down here to see you. I was wondering if they could come on up?

What are their names?

You can faintly hear Bob hold the receiver away from his face, and some dim talking in the background. Finally, he returns. They say their names are Lord Grimsbane, Sir Damien , uhhhhh….and then there’s ANOTHER Sir Damien….and an Evil-Lyn, wishing to see you. Can I send them up?

Ugh! This was it! What had filled me with a mercurious dread all day. My back teeth set on edge, grinding together. But, I had to play the game. I had to maintain an air of civility with these tossers. So, I bit back my rising bile and spoke into the phone.

Yes….yes, you may send them up to my main chambers! And then flog yourself for interfering with my brooding!

Um…..what?

But I had already hung up the phone on his incompetence. Drawn and quartered was sounding better than ever. But, as they say, work needed to come before pleasure. And this was sure to be anything but pleasurable.

It did not take long for this insufferable lot to come pounding on my chamber door. Taking the candelabra again (and hoping against hope that I could restrain myself from dashing Lord Grimsbane in the face with it), I opened the door.

The hallway is, of course, a very generic upper class hotel hallway. Standing there are four more people in unusual garb. Three of them are dressed in the same Victorian manner as Corey aka Sylvan. The man at the forefront, bearing a long green coat and an even more huge and pompous powdered wig, is R.L. Edgar. Clearly, he’s Grimsbane. The female, Evil-Lyn stands just off to the side. She looks like this.



An Asian tourist couple looks at them in alarm and subtly scoots past them in a hurry, sputtering and chittering in Japanese.

My loathing only increased for the sight of them. Especially Grimsbane, with his smug self assured countenance. I forced on a smile, and gleaned a tiny bit of pleasure from the pain this forced act of contrition caused.

Well, Sylvan, aren’t you going to bid us enter? He cast his arm out with a flourish, causing his prodigious cape to flutter.

I wished to spit acid directly in his face and laugh as it burned down to the bone. This would be more taxing than I thought! Still, I mustered a polite response that was like a bitter ichor upon my tongue.

Of course, my liege.

I stepped to the side so they may enter, bending a bit at the waist in a slight display of servitude that grated on my every nerve. Evil-Lyn was the last to enter, those icy vicious eyes already appraising me.

Can I take your coat, Evil-Lyn?

SOON, ALL OF ETERNIA SHALL BELONG TO SKELETOR!

Her mad screech filled the room. Evil-Lyn had never been quite the same since her last alchemical experiment had gone a bit sideways. Nonetheless, the clan tolerated her because she had immense bossoms and an affinity for chainmail bikinis. She jostled my shoulder as she stepped through me. I did my best to take the slight in stride, affixing my face in a more neutral manner before closing the door and looking back at the group.

They all filed awkwardly into the hotel room, Sir Damien 2 looked around, a simmer of an indulgent smirk appearing on his face. Nice digs Sylvan. I bet you got this place waaaay below market.

There it was for the second time, their refusal to use my full title. The disrespect was on full display, but they knew full well I could not break the chains of restrained civility that governed us.

So are there chairs, or do we just sit on the floor?

I will bring some along presently.

I deigned to give them a bow that felt vulgar, before going to the antechamber and retrieving some gold gilded chairs I had purloined from a fallen King after I massacred him and his entire palace guard single handedly. The memory filled me with a temporary oasis of glee.

Corey starts to awkwardly drag some janky looking Ikea chairs out of the next room and into this one. Finally, with everyone a place to sit, they all do so in unison. Lord Grimsbane even lets out a satisfied sigh, as though pleased to finally be able to rest his powerful thighs after a long journey.

Naturally, I sat last, and folded my hands primly in my lap. It wasn’t long before the next passive aggressive barb was lobbed in my direction.

What? No beverages? Oh come now Sylvan, I thought you had been taught better manners than that.

Ah, of course, silly me. I shall go to the wine cellar post haste and return with refreshments.

Corey walks across the room and pops open the mini-fridge. He withdraws some boxes of apple juice and distributes them amongst the others.

I hope they are to your liking.

I hoped they were poison.

They all take a sip simultaneously, only Grimsbane shooting their host a subtle suspicious glance before imbibing.

Mmmmm…..not the best I’ve ever had. But not altogether terrible, I suppose.

BEAST MAN! MER MAN! TO ME! WE MUST CRUSH HE-MAN! Evil-Lyn curls her hands into fists and seems oblivious to the fact that her juicebox has spilled onto the floor.

Well, on that note, Sylvan I would like to thank you sincerely for having us in your QUAINT home. Now, as outlined in the clan charter, we will proceed to sit around, talk pointlessly and act vaguely bitchy.

Forsooth!

Indeed!

LET’S SEE HOW YOU LIKE AN ETERNITY IN THE EVIL HORDE’S SLIME PITS, MAN AT ARMS!! Hahahahahahahahaha!

I drew in a deep hot breath, my black heart thudding against my rib cage like one of my victims pounding pointlessly on the door to his cell, vainly expecting mercy but receiving none. I could tell from Lord Grimsbane’s deviant gleeful expression that he was prepared to lay another verbal trap for me. I must muster all of my mental defenses not to fall prey to it.

So Sylvan, why don’t you regale us with tales of this….what is it? Alphabet company you’re going to be working for?

Of course he knew more than he was letting on, playing ignorant for his own damndable amusement to cast aspersions on my recent career choice. Time to turn the tables a bit.

You are referring to the XWF, I presume? Yes, it’s a wrestling company. I seek to pit myself against some of the finest warriors in the land….and break them in front of thousands of horrified onlookers. Why, it’s a nightmare come true for me!

Wrestling, eh? You’ll really have to pull your punches though. Surely they won’t let you kill someone. Seems dreadfully BORING to me!

Not so! The XWF is the most extreme wrestling promotion on Earth. You’d be surprised the level of atrocity one can get away with there.

Sir Damien 1 leans in with interest. Have you, uh, considered what kind of atrocities you plan to commit?

Finally, I was in my element. A topic of which I could speak on for hours, days….weeks! The application of pain and suffering! The foundation of my very being and nothing else!

Oh, naturally I have…

I grin mischeviously, leveling my gaze at Grimsbane and vowing not to remove it.

I’ve had this vision of beating this awful little brat COREY SMITH to a pulp! He’s so smug and condescending, thinks he’s so much better and smarter than everyone else. Granted, he is EXCEPTIONALLY talented at word play and quite possibly the most attractive man I have ever laid eyes on. Sometimes I think I would allow him to ravage me before….

I had lost the thread! Time to bring this Demon Train back on its infernal tracks!

*Ahem* Anyway, I have entertained this fantasy, that after I have sullied and humiliated him in the ring, that I would take my blade and carve him open from stem to stern, drinking in every moment of his primal screams of agony. Thus, I would carve his very flesh right off his body, making sure to keep it whole and intact. Of course, he would die agonizingly over a number of hours as his bare sinew and muscle is exposed to the elements. I will further strip away any sort of propriety he may have by filming his pain fuelled descent into utter madness and posting it on TikTok, where I have already surpassed 20,000 followers.

Was that an impressed cant of the head from Sir Damien 2? Perhaps he wasn’t so bad after all. Sir Damien 1 was positively ensorceled by my tale. Evil-Lyn was….well, mostly just muttering to herself and staring at the ceiling. Grimsbane was attentive, but reserved. Of course he could not reveal too much, canny old bastard that he was.

And then, after he finally died, I would dump his body in a wood chipper that I had pulled up next to a day care center, splattering the little crotch spawn with guts and viscera when they went outside for an innocent day of play!

Wow, Sir Damien 1 was really, REALLY into my story. His eyes were wide as saucers, his jaw slack with pure rapture. A thin stream of drool had even escaped over the edge of his bottom lip. I withheld a disgusted shudder and proceeded.

And the flesh….of course! I would craft a human suit of it, and wear it as I would a fashionable gown. But that’s not all! I would then visit Corey Smith’s family, disguised in his own skin. Naturally the dumb sows would be unaware of their kin’s true nature. I would live with them for years, keeping up the appearances of their beloved son and sibling. Celebrating birthdays with them, suffering losses with them, being both a shoulder to cry on and one to relish their greatest joys with. Eventually, I would find a beautiful woman to marry! The wedding would be resplendent! A fairy tale occasion! Corey Smith’s entire family would be invited. And as the woman of Corey’s dreams stood upon that sacred altar, hand in hand with the love of the rest of her life, as Corey’s adoring family looked on, eyes laden with tears of joy…..I WOULD TEAR OFF THE FLESH SUIT IN A SPECTACLE OF GORE AND GAZE UPON THE HORRIFIED EXPRESSIONS OF ALL THOSE IN ATTENDANCE, TAKING SUCCOR FROM THEIR INSTANT SLIP INTO GIBBERING MADNESS! AND THEN, HIDDEN ABOVE IN THE RAFTERS, WOULD BE IMMENSE BAGS OF KNIVES! WITH A PUSH OF A BUTTON THE KNIVES WOULD FALL FROM ABOVE LIKE SO MUCH HELLISH HAIL, PIERCING AND IMPALING THE PANICKED AND PSYCHOTIC GUESTS! AND THEN, AS A COUP DE GRACE, I WOULD TAKE THE FRENZIED FACE OF COREY’S BRIDE TO BE IN MY HANDS, BITE DEEP OF HER FOREHEAD AND PEEL THE SORRY FLESH BACK FROM HER SKULL!

How’s that for a long game?! BOOYAH!

AH, SNAKE MAN, YOU HAVE ARRIVED!

I was stil coming down from the ecstatic high of my revelatory tale, and I admit Evil-Lyn’s senseless prattle caught me off guard, but then, when she pointed at Sir Damien 1, the truth of her statement was made evident. I gasped in horror, bringing my hand to my mouth. Grimsbane and Sir Damien 2 followed soon after, rumbling words of disgust and reproach!

Sir Damien 1 sat with an immense erection tenting his pantaloons. He displayed it without shame, even gesturing to it with some amusement.

By Beezlebub’s chest hair, an erect penis?! REALLY?! HOW DREADFUL!

Oh, you bring shame on us all, sir! How dare you interrupt this elaborate and horrifying tale of debauchery by flaunting your yet clothed turgid member?! It’s UNSEEMLY!

Have you no shame? There is literally NOTHING worse!

I demand you go...go take care of….of….THAT, post haste!

I admit, I took my fair share of delight in Sir Damien 1’s shame. It amused me greatly watching his erection topple over like a ravaged castle tower. My eyes followed him as he departed, exiting my chamber door without another word like a scalded beast.

Truly, a most vulgar and unnecessary display. He harumphed.

Sylvan, your tale was great however!

THE HOUR GROWS SHORT! THE DOORS TO CASTLE GREYSKULL WILL SOON OPEN!

Grimsbane nodded in Evil-Lyn’s direction. Yes, I agree, it grows late, and we must soon take to the night once more. And then, with a sharp cant of the head back to Sylvan. So perhaps it is time to make my intentions a bit more explicit.

Ah, here it was! The treacherous worm was finally pulling back his mask and dispensing with all the false pleasantries.

My true purpose here is to ensure that you’re still with us, Sylvan. We have heard tales of you being tempted by another, and that this XWF has something to do with it.

I could hold back a wicked smile no longer. Yet, I was still determined to drag out this exquisite game as long as I could.

Oh, I assure you my dear Grimsbane, my loyalty to the clan is still iron clad.

Is that so? So are you saying that these reports I’ve been receiving are nothing but deceits? He narrows his eyes. Where does your true loyalty lie?

Sir Damien 2 yawns openly and stretches. Hoooo boy, I’m getting pretty tired. Maybe we should all just turn in….

Grimsbane silences him with a glower and continues. You have not answered my question.

I crossed my legs primly, planting my hands atop my knee and adopting a posture of nonchalance.

I was not aware I was on trial.

Grimsbane snarls. Delicious! I was finally breaking through the facade.

Allow me to speak plainly! I know you are abandoning us for…..SPENCER’S GIFTS! He roars in fury, and a slight green aura starts to emit from him.

I like to take the knife and twist it. Oh, what fun! I chasten Grimsbane with a condescending laugh and go in for the metaphorical kill.

Oh you weak, pathetic man! So consumed by fear and insecurities! How I would kill you if I could….just like I killed your precious Larry!

Grimsbane’s eyes run red with fury! Sir Damien 2 skirts his chair back from him, trepidation leaking onto his features. FOUL DEMON! Larry was the best Junior Manager I ever had! He was Hot Topic born and bred. Store profits were through the roof when I had him, and you took it all away! Grimsbane starts to blink away some tears, and his hand rushes up to meet them. But it’s too late, his weakness has been made painfully clear. Larry…. His voice descends into a choked sob. ....ohhhhh Larry! I will forever cherish those brief but radiant Hot Topic days we shared! Grimsbane is wracked by open sobs now.

I’LL GET YOU NEXT TIME HE-MAN, IF IT’S THE LAST THING I EVER DO!

Suddenly, in a flash of smoke…..BAPHOMET APPEARS! Somehow it’s just Corey again, wearing the same Spencer’s uniform he was before. Grimsbane moves to lunge out of his seat!

YOU! HOW DARE YOU SHOW YOUR FACE HERE?!

Baphomet’s lip curls up into a cutting sneer. How was business this Christmas, Grimmy? I heard things were a little rough for the Hot Topic brand. Spencer’s on the other hand showed record sales! And we just inked an exclusive deal to be the sole retailer of My Hero Academia toys and merchandise. So put that in your uptight pipe and smoke it!

RAAGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! The ominous green aura around Grimsbane suddenly flashes into a blinding beacon of power!

Ummmm….maybe we should leave?

Yeah, you don’t to be with these LOSERS anymore anyway, right?

Sweeter words were never spoken. Without hesitation, I jumped into Baphomet’s waiting arms and he whisked me away from the conflagration. Surely, my future looked darker than ever now. And that was a very, very good thing.

Later….

We drop straight into Sunny Italy, a cobblestone square at noon, where a motley assemblage has formed. Motley, but familiar. They’re standing in front of a gorgeous fountain of godlike effigies and falling water.

Pinhead is there, hell, so are the rest of the Cenobites too! And then we see Evil-Lyn, and the Damiens, the saucy camera operator from Corey’s crypt adventure, the Asian couple from the hotel hallway...and is that Dolly Waters on an Ipad propped up on a tripod?! It is, all that and more. They’re all laughing, clapping themselves on the back and hugging. And then, R.L. and Corey step out from amongst them, drawing an applause from the group as they take a joint bow. Corey has mostly extricated himself from his last costume, but R.L. is still wearing most of his. The entire scene has a very “closing moments of Saturday Night Live” vibe.

Pinhead walks up to Corey and hands him a small lapel microphone. As he backs away, they playfully shoot finger guns at each other and enjoy a sound laugh. Corey puts the mic on, adjusting a bit, before speaking.

Was that a great time or what everybody?! They all hoot and holler behind him. Thank you all! And a special thanks to tonight’s musical act…. R.L. jumps in and whispers something in Corey’s ear. I have just been informed there was no musical act! I was...getting a bit….carried away…. Corey clears his throat and puts some pep back in his step. Biggest thanks of all goes to this big gruff teddy bear of a man, and my new friend, Reggie! Corey has to leap up a bit to snake an arm around R.L.’s neck. R.L. leans in to Corey’s mic.

It was my pleasure. But this costume is really hot and it’s turning my crotch into marsh land. Plus I got to put the finishing touches on my own verbal gutfucking of the Left Hand. So if you’ll excuse me.

Corey lets go of him and claps him on the back. Last training session bright and early tomorrow, ‘Reg! Don’t bitch out!

We see R.L. playfully flip Corey the double bird as he walks off. Moments later, a gout of champagne explodes into the air. The cheeky camera guy has opened a bottle of shaken bubbly and he starts pouring what remains into the performer’s waiting glasses. Corey winces a bit and takes this moment to silently sneak away. As he does so, he walks and addresses the camera directly.

Me and alcohol still don’t mix, but I’ll let them have their fun. He takes a deep refueling breath with a smile. Yes, yes….of COURSE this was all staged. For funsies. But also, for serious-ies. But we’ll get there shortly. Fun fact, the only part of this that wasn’t staged was me getting my nipples pierced. I’ve always kinda wanted to, and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Passing out only a couple times is decent, right? Even Corey doesn’t believe that.

He rounds a corner beneath some large vertical windows. An old woman shakes out a rug into the street and Corey steps around the falling dust just in time, attention never wavering from the camera. Yeah, this was fun. But the reasoning behind it, not so much. Lycana, Ash, Baphomet (because I know you’re listening too)...I said at the very outset of this thing that I knew people like you intimately because I used to be a lot like you. And despite the fact that you’re largely a group of nitwit Dunning-Kruger cases, as we saw with Alias, you can be dangerous. Stupid CAN be dangerous. Just look at what we’ve seen in the States for the last four years. And you have the potential to sway the naive, the insecure, or the just plan dumb, to your cause. So this wasn’t just an excuse for me to bust out all my first string toilet humor and waste a TON of Lane’s money on promo videos. No.

This was about EXPOSING you. It was about rolling you over to reveal those soft underbellies. It was about neutering you.

Honey Dew, you take issue with the fact that I got jokes? He uses both hands to gesture into the camera. I just work with what I’m given. And in this case, what I was given was a couple of try hard, oblivious, shamefully hackneyed, cackling, Snidely Whiplash motherfuckers like you. Two simpering dolts who play at being something too deep for us mere plebians to understand as you pat yourselves on the back for something Vampire: The Masquerade Larpers do all the time. And probably better I might add! Lycana, note how I was able to distill the entire tone and tenor of your utterly paint by numbers existence. I aped you with ease, and put my own spin on it to make it...oh….I don’t know….entertaining, perhaps!

And God forbid we entertain! God forbid I inject a bit of levity into your pouty, humorless world. Gotta hand it to you though, you did have one success. Princess Pain was dishin’ it out, because BY GAWD those promos were agonzing. Nothing but what felt like 10 hours of you and your clan folk acting like a bunch of catty queens until you suddenly remembered you murdered somebody Arcana (and Jesus fucking CHRIST that name) cared about. Like, why didn’t you play that card first dumbshit? Oh, I know why. Because then we wouldn’t have gotten the umpteen hours of bland Dark Shadows filler replete with a haughty band of assholes who had no real reason to be there in the first place.

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, DUMB!

And hey, do you know what my favorite thing about you is, Lycana? It’s how well you undercut your own group by proudly displaying how criminally STUPID you are. In fact, you’re SO stupid it actively makes me ANGRY. I admit, I am TRIGGERED, by your complete inability to apply even a shred of logic or foresight to your own existence. Case in point?

“Lycana’s not evil.”

Corey stops walking, and his hand goes to his chest. He looks dazed, and leans up against a nearby wall for support. Finally, with a shake of the head and a full body wriggle, he comes to.

Lycana says she not evil. Corey purses his lips shut, desperaely trying to hold back gales of laughter so he can finish his point. So let me get this straight. This woman, who publicly talks about how much she likes to hurt, maim and mutilate people...this woman who’s BFF’s with a guy who is literally named after a false God that is tied to Satanic Worship...a guy who also regularly threatens to MURDER people and runs a group called The Left Hand that, honest to God, has a FUCKING PENTAGRAM IN THEIR LOGO….Corey’s almost crying from the sheer hilarity of it all…..well, she’s just true blue neutral baby. Just wanting to open our eyes to the TRUTH!

Corey is just in absolute awe.

You are LITERALLY, the dumbest person in the XWF. And I don’t know which proposition is worse. That you’re a big enough window licker to actually BELIEVE that….or that your broke brain thinks that’s something we’ll actually swallow.

Ho-leeee SHIT.

Do you have aides that help you do basic functions? Do you wear special shoes with velcro? I bet that have cute little bats on them. How sweet!

Corey reaches out like he’s pinching Lycana’s nose as you would with a harmless infant.

Lycana, you say that this is all about making the world “as it should be”. See, I’m gonna do something now that you probably weren’t expecting. I’m gonna ask for your receipts and insist that you tell me what that means. What does a world of endless terror, and pain, and darkness, ultimately mean?

Corey suddenly looks solemn.

It means nothing. You, your entire movement, Baphomet...it’s all nothing. An absence. A sucking void. Because when you say things like that, it’s one of two things. It’s either just some spooky turn of phrase designed to shock and offend while ultimately meaning nothing….or it means that you truly think the true path is death. A desolate world, stripped of its humanity. Bathed in darkness forevermore. An endless succession of pointless destruction designed to titilate you like a toddler slapping their peer to see what would happen. You grand design is akin to a world wide temper tantrum of blood lust until the blood runs out and there’s nothing left.

Congrats Lycana, you're Queen Shit of a pile of Dust. And that’s only if Baphomet decides to share.

Your end game….is annihilation. And I know. I know. Because that was The Engineer’s end game too.

Corey’s face is laden with feeling, a cross between deep seated rage and determination. He points at the camera, finger trembling.

No.

He speaks the word simply, defiantly.

NO. No, none of that will be happening. You do not gain a foot hold in the XWF. I’m stopping your pointless cycle of blind, dumb, existential chaos and destruction before it even begins. And you cannot stop me. Because I am your worst goddamn nightmare.

I AM the golden boy, possessing parts both noble and vile. I have shared this body with the most strong willed, passionate force for good the world has ever seen, and with the most malevolent heart of darkness to ever be spat upon the Earth.

You want to talk neutrality? I’ve seen both sides of the fence. They are in me. The wicked and the divine. And that affords me a depth of understanding you cannot even begin to fathom. I will come down on you with righteous fury and the blackest of hates. And I will not stop until you are gone.

I know what you’re thinking. Hollow puffery. Still assured of your own victory. But let’s call a spade a spade. I’ve got you shook. I’ve stolen the spotlight from you and exposed you for the dull self serious joke you are.

Let’s talk partners too. You wanna run down R.L.? But are YOU really feelin’ Ash Quinn? You think she’s got you? What with her “diet Coke of diet Darkness” ass, she can barely string two sentences together in the face of us. “Hurrrr, The Engineer is a George Carlin looking guy on Thomas The Tank Engine”. Ohhhhh…BURNED ME GOOD! But you know what, she’s still smarter than YOU, Lycana. Because if her half assed efforts are indicative of anything, they’re indicative of the fact that she caught on early to a truth that still eludes you: that you’re already FUCKED beyond belief.

He sighs, and a small warm smile spreads across his face now.

R.L. Edgar. Reggie. It has been my honor to meet him and help him grow this week. It is my honor to now count him as a friend. And it doesn’t surprise me that you would be so cynical about the nature of my friends. That you’d try to gaslight me with bullshit aspersions about how they won’t be there for me when I need them. But that says, so, so much more about you than it does about them. Because your’re incapable of understanding things like love, friendship, or gratitude. You’re a broken toy. In this match, and beyond, I care about R.L. Edgar. I will fight for him and with him. My humanity is what makes me strong. And it’s going to be one more advantage we have over you. Hell, you and Ash haven’t even appeared in a shot together. You barely have a word to spare for each other. And that’s because people like you only see others as a means to an end. You’re dumb. You’re blind. And you’re selfish. And that’s why Reggie and I are going to run roughshod over you. We’re human. We’re complete people.

We’re whole.

Corey looks up towards the sun now, glinting off the many windows arrayed above him. His smile grows a bit wider. He returns his attention to the camera.

Wednesday is just the beginning. I’m officially declaring war on The Left Hand. I’m putting this hollow, purposeless farce out of OUR collective misery.

After all, the only things out there in the darkness, are the same things out there in the light.


fin