Fear Itself


That is the grand motivator. Isn't it? That push. The drive. The unseen force that induces someone to do something... anything, in order to make that feeling go away and restore the harmonious sense of safety. There really is nothing that can inspire greater results. History is chock full of the frightened, just striving to make that sensation disappear. The unified vast, coming together for one common goal. Feeling safe. Really it is the most significant stimulation that can be produced, based on the reaction that it will summon. It can make the best of us do some of the worst things and vice versa. All on the spur of the moment, incitement of fear.


As a child I was tremendously afraid. More often than not, my own mother being the source of that fear. The root of evil as it were. Where all my anxiety stems from... the terrors of childhood and what one crazy bitch is truly capable of doing to her own offspring. A past that I've tried desperately to put behind me, yet still manages to push itself to the surface in my most weakest of hour. Reminding me that no matter how far I've come, it's always right there behind me, to haunt me in my review mirror. Always present and everlasting. The dark secret specter of my tragic youth.


With that in mind, I must confess, standing near the front door of the cabin, staring out at a large group of what I could only describe as dirty, deranged hillbillies. Wielding torches, various pieces of farm equipment and who really knows what else? I didn't exactly take a proper inventory, I was merely judging from what could be perceived from my place on the porch. Anyway, gazing upon this spectacle before me... I have to admit, I haven't been quite this terrified in all of my life. And I fought off a hostile alien invasion alongside my father. So that's really saying a lot!


A million thoughts ran through my mind in that instant. First and foremost, what firmly established itself was that I had to protect Abigail, at all costs. Would that consist of alerting her to the situation at hand or dealing with it myself? Alone? Well, in that moment I didn't hesitate for a second when making that decision, instead I assumed the role that I've taken on since I was very young.


I put myself between the aggressor and the one that I cared for most. With the exception that this time it didn't simply mean that I was stealing the attention, drawing it away from the original intended target and getting my ass beat. This time I would be protecting my beloved with powers that proved, I was definitely not one to be trifled with. Stepping forward with a steely eyed gaze; that never once faltered or wavered from the direction of the slowly advancing herd of hillfolk, I slightly raised my hand and sent just enough force to topple a few of them down. This would serve as a warning.


"Might I help you with something?"


I asked, my voice heavy with sarcasm.


"Yes, you can."


Filthy, demented and clearly agitated, an elder female that seemed to take on the part of the vocal chords for the group of backwoodsmen, emerged out in front of them.





"You can get the hell off our land or suffer the consequences."


"Your land?"


"That's right. Our land. These forests have been our home for many a year. You and that whore inside the cabin are trespassing. We're going to need you to leave. Your presence soils the ground in which you stand and defiles the very essence of the earth. Poisoning the foundation of the place that we call home."


"Really and you can simply sense this with what? Your magical woodland power of intuition?"


Damn straight I was poking the bear. I literally can't help myself. When a threat presents itself, I push back and establish a perimeter. I make myself the object of attention and maintain that focus. No matter the risk. It's who I am.


"We are the Folk of the Forest, we feel what the forest feels. Hear the words of the trees and sense the vibrations in the energy of the very land itself. You bring nothing but corruption and disease to these parts. If you will not leave, we will cleanse you from this place. One way or another, the contamination will be removed. Regardless, if it's done of your own freewill or not. We will revoke your disgusting presence by force, if need be the case. Or if it comes to it... we will wipe you out completely. If it means ensuring the sanctity of these sacred grounds at the cost of your deaths, than so be it. We will protect the purity of this place, by any and all means necessary."


"Is that so?"


Eyes locked with the begrimed, unkempt hillbillies', hag leader, I couldn't help but laugh.


"Then you all, really need to start taking a better personal inventory of yourselves, cause you look like you actually crawled up out of the earth that you're trying to keep pure. And that stink... whoo boy, that's some powerful stuff. I'm a good ten... twelve feet from you all, and I feel like I'm standing down wind from a landfill. Maybe that urge that everyone is feeling from the forest, that undeniable sensation that's taking you over... maybe that's nothing more than, common sense kicking in and telling you that you need a bath. Cause the only foul, unsanitary sight that I can see is the lot of you and... your kin? Tell me is inbreeding part of the code of being 'folk of the forest' or is it something that you resorted to because there isn't anyone desperate enough to procreate with you and your tribe? Because from where I'm standing that's really bending the rules on what's considered to be clean and otherwise saintly. I mean, nothing screams unholy, sinful debauchery like keeping the fucking in the family."


Gasp. Done in a highly exaggerated and mocking sense.


"You know what I realized right now? Maybe the forest wants you gone. You just got your wires crossed when the message from the trees was received. Pretty sure the woods were trying to break ties with you."


Oh my words did not amuse the crone, not one bit and as I spoke her face twisted and contorted with rage. Till she resembled a vengeful, vile witch. Barely human. With burning red coals for eyes and a demon's snarl, firmly affixed upon her lips. Her hair dropping down in the breeze that began to pick up, releasing itself into loose, straggly, disheveled tangles. I have to be honest, seeing this transformation gave me the chills and made me rethink a couple of my statements but this shit was already in full effect, it wasn't like I could change my course now. So I mentally battened down the hatches and prepared for what promised to be an awful storm.


"You disrespectful, lowlife, scoundrel! You dare mock my kind and our devotion of upholding the righteous virtue of our lands!"


"If it involves you and your grubby, grimy, disgusting hillfolk family, waking me up in the middle of the night. On the pretense of forcing me and my wife to leave. Threatening to kill us if we don't comply. Then you're damn straight I'm going to mock you. Consider yourselves lucky that's all I've done. So far."


This is when the old woman's eyes fluttered closed and she began whispering to herself. As this occurred, the winds picked up even more and the angry backcountry people, started advancing towards me at an alarming rate. Furious villagers storming a castle to rid their homeland of an imposing, immoral abomination speed. The fact that some of them were equipped with torches, made it resemble that all the more. During this juncture, I couldn't help but be momentarily sympathetic with Frankenstein's monster. Hmmm... curious. I wonder if Azrael ever felt this way when he incurred the wrath of enraged townspeople? Raising my hands, I sent a colossal wave of force and the "hayseeds" went flying. Rolling and tumbling over each other when they eventually, met with the ground. I had essentially swept the area of them and cleared everyone back away from the cabin. Everyone except the unsettling old hag. Still she held her position, whispering to herself.


Eerie was definitely an understatement. Those chills I mentioned earlier, transformed into a straight up bucket of ice water, dumped over my head. I've taken down gargantuan, behemoth, muscle bound men, with no more than a flick of my wrist. I just sent her whole entire flock flying off into the trees, tumbling over each other like human shaped tumbleweed and yet, this old woman stood her ground. Muttering and mumbling to herself. Though it wasn't long before those murmurs soon began to grow louder.


Gradually the witch's words increased in volume, climbing the scales of sound, slowly but surely. While they did, the ground beneath my feet started to shake. A distinct rumble could be heard permeating from down below. The trees also appeared to be effected. Entire trees, swaying and groaning. Deep moans that echoed throughout the entire forest, came from all around and everywhere. Then as I watched on in horror, the earth began erupting. Directly in front of me. Sort of like a volcano spurting forth, except instead of lava, a gigantic amount of dirt shot up from the terrain. Followed by thick roots that instantly started wrapping around my ankles.


The roots steadily climbed up my lower torso. Needless to say I was freaking out. Oh but it was about to get so much worse, because that's right when I heard a loud snap accompanied with a deep, mournful wail and several branches reached down from above. Ensnaring both my arms. It wasn't long before I was completely overtaken. Trapped. Arms and legs utterly entangled. I couldn't move but it didn't stop there because these roots and branches were most assuredly on a mission. They were wrapping themselves around my entire body and it was rapidly becoming hard to breathe.


With every breath, they grew tighter and stronger. Constricting far more than movements, I was suffocating as the rest of my insides ached from the pressure. I could feel several of my ribs verging on a break. Broken bones, ruptured organs and suffocation, were all possible horrors for my future. If I didn't do something quick. This wasn't the kind of shit that I was used to though, this was spaceman insanity, I wasn't powerful enough to deal with what was happening.


That's what I told myself anyway. However, with death looming in my very near future, I knew that I had to do something. Focusing my frantic thoughts, I tried to desperately anchor my mind, to the core of my very essence. Centering myself, thus gaining control over mind and body. Then channeling every bit of that energy, I pushed outward with all my might. Used every part of my body to send out an intense wave of force. I imagined myself like an atomic bomb. Exploding from within my tree limb tomb.


First there came multiple snaps and cracks. Branches and vines breaking around me, all at once, simultaneously. Then came the boom. And I mean BOOM! As everything, both rhizomes and boughs alike, burst away from my body. Sending it all soaring from me. In pieces. Exactly like a bomb was detonated, without the appearance of smoke or fire. Just the extreme force that would follow. Fragments and bits of wood went flying everywhere. The debris of the attacking trees was now littered all around me and I was in the dead center of it all. I was free! It took several seconds before that understanding hit me and that's when I heard the screaming. Dropping to my knees, I realized that the screams, came from me.


That realization allowed me to grasp enough control to silence them. Still I was in no condition to be considered "fine" at that point. My vision was hazy, head splitting in two as my eyes darted wildly about within my skull. I may have been alive, yet I couldn't manage to pull myself from off of the ground. I was stuck, my attention fixated on the dirt in front of me. A fierce tremor consuming my body. I fought to catch my breath, pull myself back from wherever I disappeared off to and regain some type of composure.


"What are you?"


The old crone's voice lifted my focus from the forest floor as I gasped.


"Let me ask you something, is your father not from this world? Not of this Earthly plain? An alien? About seven feet tall? Long raven hair, with a touch of fire that burns within his eyes, that can become an inferno in an instant? Depending on whether you cross him or not."


Wearily, I nodded.


"Shit on a fucking shingle. You're Azrael Erebus' boy."


Once again, I nodded.


"Well why didn't you say that? Us Folk of the Forest owe an insurmountable debt of gratitude to the man from the stars. He has always kept a watchful eye over our lands."


"You... have... got to be... fucking kidding me!"


It took everything I had within me to struggle out those words as I glared up at the witch.


"We thought you and your girl, were simply some lousy city folk. Fornicating, disrupting the land with your sickness and unscrupulous ways. When you used those powers, I instinctively assumed you were one of those advanced humans. They're popping up everywhere nowadays. Last week my Ethel got to messing around with some sort of... frog boy. Naturally, I couldn't have that, so I turned him into the full, real deal. Made him all frog. Mmmm. Mmmm. That was some mighty fine eating. Best frog legs I ever ate. We would have never bothered you, if we knew you were the son of Azrael Erebus. Why that's just terrible etiquette on our part. Also he scares the bejeezus out of me."


She shuffled in place and looked at her feet nervously. It was apparent that she was afraid. Seeing this was somehow strangely, satisfying.


"You think you could maybe keep this whole misunderstanding between us?"


An inquiry that stirred my need to speak and summoned my voice. Every word felt like sandpaper, scratching its way out.


"Sure. On one condition."


"Anything."


"Leave the people that come to this forest alone."


"But they're all so disrespectful and noisy. Scandalous creatures, spreading nothing but filth."


"Leave the people that come to this forest alone."


"Oh, alright. I won't like it but I'll respect your wishes and mind the heathens."


On shaky legs I rose to my feet, turning away from the witch, I walked forward, towards the cabin.


"So then we're square? We're good? You won't speak a word of this to your father?"


She sounded so desperate, pleading to me in the hopes of avoiding the fury of the spaceman. It was funny. I would have lost it right there and started laughing as loud as I possibly could, if I didn't feel like I was going to collapse. It was a real wonder that I was standing upright and moving of my own volition at all. So I simply said this. Never ceasing my gradual, painfilled trek to the cabin's front door.


"I'll think about it."

---

"Well, here we are again, Sarah Lacklan."


"Me. Responding to some more of your words."


"Replying to the rantings and garbled logic of a mentally defunct airhead."


"So apparently, I'm a fraud that's been living a lie,'eh? Is that the story you're trying to sell? Put on a big fancy production number and show the world how easily it all can be done? Naturally, if you can't perform astounding, unbelievable acts yourself, without the help of special effects and the use of a sound stage, then I can't either, correct? Really? Is that your argument there? That's the one you're going to use? Wait a minute. Didn't you claim that you're original and unique? If I can't do something because you can't, doesn't that make us... equal?"


"No, that's crazy talk, right there. In it's finest. I'm beyond you in every way possible. You're like the nasty gunk build up in the trap of a deep fryer, compared to me and you process thought the same way that stuff does too. Way to sound like Peter Gilmour again though. Completely contradicting yourself like that. We're different but the same. Brilliant stuff. Bravo. I have to applaud that. The way that contradicting yourself comes so naturally, shows the world just how marvelous you and Peter will truly be when you've joined forces. Sarah and Peter. Together at last. Riding a tandem bicycle into the sunset. It'll be so beautiful."


"Anyway darling, it really doesn't matter if you believe that I have powers. Lots of folks don't and then, they find out they were wrong. That's going to be you on Saturday Night. Silly me, and here I wasn't really going to use any of my abilities in our fight but now... NOW, I'm going to bust out something special, just for you."


"Like toss you up in the air and leave you suspended and hanging there. Waaaaaay above the ring. Somewhere near the rafters. Sure there will be some people that'll think it's an act and all done with wires but you'll know the truth. Then I'll let you fall. Let you think that you... Sarah Lacklan, are going to be the next Owen Hart. Only to catch you at the very last second. Right before the... SPLAT! Face inches from the floor. Won't that be fun? I think it'll be a real riot. It's a 'work in progress' idea though, so I may go with something different. I like being spontaneous and sporadic. Get that impulsiveness from my father."


"Oh hey, you have a father in the wrestling business, so do I. What a coincidence. Quite the established and popular wrestler, my father was... back in his time. Won almost every title in this company. Some he even obtained more than once. Retired a belt too. His name is Azrael Erebus. Both well known for his wrestling prowess and his amazing, otherworldly abilities, Azrael is an alien from the planet Ozuul and widely accepted as that. Everyone in this company knows him as the spaceman. Fans, wrestlers, managers and crew members, alike. He's garnered enough respect within this industry that people don't even question his authenticity anymore. They simply believe that Azrael Erebus is the man from the stars."


"Huh? Tell me something, if he's my father, what does that make me? Seeing as my mother was human, that makes me, half alien. Half Dareikar Navaar, to be precise. So you're right, I'm not an omnipotent god capable of destroying planets with a blink of an eye. Then again, I never claimed to be that. Not once. In my entire life, let alone in my whole career, here in the XWF."


"Doesn't mean I can't do things beyond your grasp of comprehension though. Which isn't really saying a whole lot because you are as close to being brain dead, as a living person can possibly be, without being hooked up to life support. You're like a walking, talking vegetable. A zucchini that can function on its own."


"You really demonstrate that when you actually back track and contradict yourself. AGAIN! When you say that the existence of unnatural abilities could very well be a real thing. Oh but don't take my word for it."

Quote: “You MAY have something there. Like, this one time? Josh Kennedy hit me with a Flaming Dragon Uppercut, right? And I mean, like, literally flaming. Like, his entire arm was on fire, right? Because I set it on fire? And he was all WAAAAA! DRAGON UPPERCUT and knocked my squat booty right out of the NGIW tourney last year, right? And, like, two days later, I didn’t even have a freakin’ SCAR to show for it! I asked Lisa Seldon why that was, since she’s a legit deathmatch master, but she just kinda shrugged her shoulders and told me not to ask too many questions. So maybe some of us DO have cray-cray healing factors?”

"All hail. The queen of contradictions has spoken. Your entire argument, everything that you previously stated was called into question when you said all that. You put a shadow of doubt on your very own claims. That isn't the best part though. Oh no. The best part is that you return to your original argument and end it on that. You got a verbal ping-pong match going on with yourself. I don't know what the fuck to believe. Obviously you don't either. You simply open that mouth of yours and let the words fall out. Without paying any mind to them whatsoever. Who the fuck cares what's being said? You don't. You clearly put zero effort into using your brain. For anything besides occupying the space between your ears. Not a surprise since the thing's dead anyway. Please. Do the human race a favor. After this match is over and done with. Have your tubes tied. In fact, go right ahead and get your whole damn uterus removed. The world will be a better place without your offspring. Trust me."

Donovan Blackwater
Former 1x...