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Tuesday, September 2, 2014 – 10:41 PM EST – The Compound – Old Saybrook, Connecticut

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This is the first time I've been home since my father sent Jacob to kill me. I'm not the kind of man that lives with regret. Very few instances in my life have I been able to look back and say that I regret doing this or saying that. The death of my son, that's one regret. Stopping Jacob from killing me... I kind of regret that as well. Don't misunderstand me. It's not that I'm ready to die or even that I want to. It's just that, now that I'm alive and back here, that leaves me with the unenviable task of dealing with my father.

He's a well-intentioned man that has seen to it to create a large rift within the Illuminatus. His idea was to basically eliminate me from the equation. Not only did that not work, but that unfortunately gives me the disconcerting duty of ripping the reigns of the Kingdom from his hands.

A knock at the door to my office interrupts my thoughts.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Enter.”



Jacob, my brother from another mother enters my office. A worried look on his face. He sits in the chair across from me as I watch and replay old footage of previous matches I've had with Azrael Erebus.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Why are you watching these?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Homework.”



It's no secret that Azrael and I have blazed a similar trail through the Xtreme Wrestling Federation. We've both held every title there is to hold. We've done it all. It's also no secret he's bested me both times we faced each other.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Homework for what?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Madness.”



The current match on the television is from our first encounter. High Stakes. Las Vegas, Nevada. May of last year. I've just beat Azrael from the top of the arena to the bottom.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Are you intentionally keeping your answers short?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “No.”



Actually I was. If I stay around him too long, I'm libel to end his life where he sits for even thinking about killing me. The way I see it, he's likely to get the hint eventually and move on and out of my face.

I just caught Azrael mid air. He attempted a springboard moonsault but I caught him and planted him into the arena floor with a tombstone pile driver.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “I remember seeing that on the plane on the way out there. I thought you had it in the bag right then.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “So did I.

“Hell, he probably thought it, too.

“As it turns out, we were both wrong.”



We're near the grave now and he's retaken control of the match. Now he's beating me with the backhoe.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “I remember the reaction on the plane. We were getting ready to land. The guys were furious. But then you still survived.

“Sometimes, I think we forget how awesome your power is, Sebastian.”



That's when it happened. I was betrayed by my friend. I guess in reality, we never really were friends. Still aren't. John Madison hit me over the head with the shovel and helped Azrael Erebus bury me alive. Effectively stealing my United States title.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “I never understood that. You gave them legitimacy as a dominant faction. The Black Circle that is. Madison had to behead so many other members until you came along. The addition of you into that group started an all too real dominant run that saw all of you run through Gauntlet City.

“No one could stop any of you.

“You beat Flynn, took the United States title.

“John became the King.

“The bag carrier, I forget his name...”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Luca Arzegotti.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Yeah, that's it. He won the Xtreme title.

“You guys were unstoppable.”



High Stakes leaves the air. I switch off the television.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “That whole thing... It gave birth to me as The Messenger. They're no doubt some fond memories.

“I was a thorn in the side of The Black Circle until you returned and took John's crown.

“Remember Arzegotti running around wearing your cape?”



I don't answer. Instead, I just nod.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “That thing was giant on him. He looked like a cabbage patch kid wearing a bathrobe.”



I stand up and walk over to my trophy case. Every title I ever won rests inside. On the top, lit by very dim lighting is my King of the Illuminatus crown. Something I've not worn in several months. I take it out and place it upon my head.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “You've not worn that in quite awhile.

“What's the occasion?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Just sending a message.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “To who?”



I start for the exit, initially ignoring Jacobs question. I stop myself at the door. Without looking at him, I decide to answer.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “My father.”



I continued through the door and started for the main entrance to the Compound. I never turned back but I definitely feel Jacob's presence. Once outside on the property, Jacob runs to catch up.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “You're not going to hurt him are you?”



I don't answer. Instead, I walk faster and faster until I'm just feet away from the entrance to my fathers cottage.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Sebastian, I beg you to stop. Think about this for a minute.

“Don't hurt him.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “I think you've forfeited any right you ever had to request my conservatism on any act.

“Whether or not I hurt him isn't up to me.”



I barge through the front door and my father is startled from whatever book he's reading by the fire place.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Father, I tried to stop him, but...”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Jake, I want that to be the last words I hear from you.”

FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “It's okay, Jacob. I've been expecting this.”



Jacob takes a position against the wall. I slowly and steadily make my way over to my father. I tower over him. I grab the book he's reading, 'The Grapes of Wrath,' and toss the book into the fire.



FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “Damn it, Sebastian! That was autographed by Steinbeck!”



He leaps from his chair and grabs a fire poker. He tries to retrieve the book from the fire. It's pointless though. The pages were so old and the leather so worn that it was nothing more then flames in just a few seconds.

He gets to his feet and brushes off his knees, before sitting right back down in his favorite chair.



FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “I see you're wearing the crown.”



I say nothing. I just continue to stare at the man that seeded my very existence.



FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “Are you here to warn me? Threaten me? Kill me? Whatever the purpose of you being here, I insist you get on with it. You've ruined my night already. Now I'm ready to turn in.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “You tried to have me killed.”



He says nothing. Instead, he only wipes his reading glasses on his shirt before placing them on his stand.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “As I told you on the phone, that's treason. High treason, in fact.”

FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “It is not treasonous to save what I created from a mad man.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “I'm pretty sure that no matter what I've done, I never tried to kill you or have you killed.

“You on the other hand did want me dead. Probably still do.”



Asmodeus gets to his feet once again. This time he goes over to his liquor cabinet and fixes three tumblers of Bourbon and Branch. He hands one to Jacob, and sets one beside me before taking a gulp of his.



FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “It's time I've been honest with you, Sebastian.”



He looks over at Jacob. I look back at him and catch them nodding at each other.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “What the hell is going on here?”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “What?”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “I'm pretty sure I saw the two of you nod at each other.”

FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “Relax, Sebastian. I was just getting confirmation.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Of what?

“Look, someone better start talking or I'll kill both of you!”



Jacob advances toward me.



JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “There's no easy way to tell you this. And I don't think you'd believe us anyhow. So...”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “So what?”

FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “The reason I was having you taken out, Sebastian, is I needed you out of the way.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “You might want to sit down for this.”



I'm not sure why, but I feel like I'm about to get some bad news. I oblige the request to sit.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Will somebody tell me what the fuck is going on!?”

FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “You would never let me do it any other way, Sebastian. So in order to secure the Illuminatus, I thought taking you out was the best way.”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “We've only broken the encryption within the last half hour. That's why I was not with you when you released your first promo earlier tonight.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Broken the encryption? Of what?”

JACOB, THE MESSENGER: “Someone's been hijacking our Wi-Fi and sending encrypted files, documents, whatever the case is to a location in Italy.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “In other words, what you're saying is...”

FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “We have a spy in our midst.”



Just then, my fathers phone rings. He answers and acknowledges that its Matthew.



FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “Get down here right away.”



The call is ended quickly.



FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “If you couldn't tell, that was Matthew. He's confirmed our suspicions.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Who is it?”

FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “Sebastian, I'm sorry I did what I did. And I know Jacob is as well. But we're in crisis mode here. I'm too old to fight you any longer. We must unite. Our very survival is at stake and we can no longer afford to be on opposite sides.

“The Kingdom is yours.”



Well, that was unexpected.



FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “A house divided, can not stand. We must stand, Sebastian.

“Together.”



I'm equal parts satisfied and confused.

Matthew enters and its time for somebody to tell me what the hell is going on here.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “It's time for somebody to tell me what the hell is going on here!”



Did I just think out loud?



MATTHEW, THE COMPUTER GENIUS: “Father, the files sent are still encrypted. But I did get the destination and traced the whereabouts of the IP. Both the sender and receiver.”

FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “Your conclusions, son? Tell him what you told me.”

MATTHEW, THE COMPUTER GENIUS: “Everything was sent to the same location.”

SEBASTIAN DUKE: “What's the location?”

MATTHEW, THE COMPUTER GENIUS: “It's all traced to a single computer within the Vatican archives.”



Those rotten bastards. I wonder if that Cardinal is still alive downstairs. That could come in handy to send a message.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Is the Cardinal still alive?”



What the hell? Am I thinking things? Or am I saying things?



FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “Yes, he's alive.

“Matthew, where are the files being sent from?”



Matthew looks at me.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Matthew looks at me.”



Now he looks confused.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Did I say 'Matthew looks at me' out loud?”



He nods.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Did I say you looked confused?”



He shakes his head.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “How much Bourbon is in this?”

FATHER ASMODEUS, THE HIGH PRIEST: “Can we get back on topic here?

“Matthew, the source of the leak, please?

“Does it confirm my initial suspicions?”



A great amount of hesitation comes from him. He stares at me intently.



MATTHEW, THE COMPUTER GENIUS: “Your Highness, it all comes from your private quarters.”



He need not say anymore.



All of us look around at each other. There's only one possible person it could be.



SEBASTIAN DUKE: “Caitlyn.”



Fade to Darkness.