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Shawn Warstein · (04-12-2020)

As the fire fizzles out, I stomp on it to make sure the embers are fully out. I break the fourth wall for a moment as I smile and wink at the camera. Soon thereafter after Thannasi rolls over and stretches. A large yawn and deep breath cause him to cough. I’m not sure if it was from the smoke billowing from the smoldering pile or not. He stands up and begins packing his things into his rucksack.

“So Mr. King where are we heading?” He smiled as he continued. I look around and see a path on the other side of the grove.

“Well you said it’s a day's walk to the next major town, so I figure we can start heading that way.” Thannasi nods in agreement as he chucks the sack over his shoulder. “I mean unless you had somewhere else in mind?”

“Nope. We better get moving, if we want to reach that town.” We slowly make our way through the grove. Thannasi stops every so often to grab a few berries off of some bushes, or some wild herbs.

“So this town we are heading to, what’s its deal?” As we continue towards the end of the grove, we reach the path. I begin to step out into the path, when Thannasi holds a hand up and stops me.

“Hold on one second. Do you see those grooves there?” He bends down and runs a finger over them, knocking some of the dirt into the groove present. “These are fresh tracks. This is the path I took here, and just yesterday these weren’t here.”

“So what man, let’s just get moving.”

“You don’t understand. We were there all night. We would’ve heard a chariot run through here.” Thannasi looks both ways down the path, and begins to head the opposite direction. “It went this way…” He wasted no time in rushing down the path. “Look!”

He rushed ahead of me, and as I came up to the peak of the small hill, there it was. A white chariot, tipped over on its side. Wooden wheels are still spinning. As we both get up towards it we can see a man is trapped under it. His leg is pinned, as he is writhing in pain. Thannasi drops his bag and attempts to lift the chariot.

“Shawn….” He grunts as he tries in vain. “Help…”

I shake my head and walk over to help. We both get our grips. “On three.”

“One….two….three!” We both lift with all of our strength. I’m struggling mightily with my ribs, but slowly the chariot begins to lift off of the ground. Inch by inch, until the man was able to gingerly scoot his way from underneath the large wooden chariot. Thannasi and I both drop it to the ground and collapse against it. We both look at each other and half grin. You could just tell the man was in immeasurable pain and was clearly suffering from shock. He just kept looking down at his leg in disbelief, only occasionally muttering under his breath.

I stand up and begin to inspect the wreckage. I’m tossing debris aside, until I come across a piece of wood about the length of the guy's leg. I grab Thannasi’s bag and pull out some rope.

As I approach the man I reach for his leg and he instinctively pulls away. I pantomime what I’m going to do on my own leg and it seems to put him at ease. I grasp the leg just below the knee and above the ankle.

“This is going to hurt like a mother fucker… on three.” The man takes a deep breath, as I tighten my grip.“One….two….” SNAP. With a quick twist and jab, I set the leg in place. Well at least closer than it was. To his credit the man didn’t pass out or scream in pain. I grabbed the wood and quickly tied it to the leg.

“Don’t put any pressure on that. It’s only temporary, but it should be enough to get you home.” Thannasi lifts the man up as he steadies himself and hobbles towards the chariot. We follow him to make sure he doesn’t fall, or hurt himself any more than he already was.

The man reaches the chariot and begins to dig into one of the side compartments. The man turns around with a smile on his face and begins to hand me some gold coins. “Ευχαριστώ...Ευχαριστώ”

“I don't know….” Thannasi steps in and grabs the coins from him and tosses them in his bag.

“Παρακαλώ” Thannasi smiles and grabs me by the arm. He drags me away from the man, while never taking his eyes off of him. “Hurry now….” There’s a look of worry that has washed over his face. “We need to get out of here now.”

“What? Why?” As I yank my arm away from him. I brushed myself off and Thannasi quickened his pace. I keep up as we are out of the eyesight of the man. “Man slow down…. what’s going on?” I reach out and turn Thannasi around. He looks like he’s seen a ghost.

“We have to get to the town, I’ll explain when we get there.”

Several Hours and Miles later

Just on the horizon a small town started to become visible. While on this walk here, nothing much was said, just Thannasi muttering the same thing over and over again.

“He can’t be the King.”

Repeated over and over until it became white noise to me that eventually I didn’t even notice it anymore. We walk up to the town entrance, and Thannasi tosses a blanket over me to cover my face.

“What the fuck man?” I questioned as I tried to pull the blanket off of my head.

“Stop it!” Thannasi grabbed the blanket and pulled it over me once again.“I’ll explain when we are inside, just for now these people don’t need to know who you are…”

“....fine….”

Resigned to my current state we approach what seems to be a local inn. Thannasi talked our way into a room, and they led us to it. We get in and I pull the blanket off, and toss it aside. Thannasi was busy locking the doors, and constantly checking out the window. He eventually relaxes for a moment and finally sits down.

“Have you ever heard of the Dying God?” I must’ve portrayed a look of pure confusion, as Thannasi nods. “Well it’s been told that a certain god dies and is resurrected. It’s happened before with Adonis, and we all thought that was the end of it. Now seeing you and that traveler, is making me think it didn’t mean GOD, but more like idol or KING.”

I just sit there holding up my hands, palms facing the sky, and a quick head shake.

“The traveler, he had a mark on him.” I roll my hand as if to get him to continue. “It wasn’t a man made mark. It was the mark of the Gods. I think they are testing you.”

“Is that why you took the coins?”

“Yes. We can’t allow them to see you do any good deed for profit. We need to show them a righteous King, willing to sacrifice everything for his people. They won’t even allow you at the foot of Olympus if they think you are impure.”

“Well I am. I’m not what most people would call a ‘good’ guy or man. I’m trying to change, and I’d like to think that I’m changing for the better, but those thoughts are always right underneath the surface. So suffice to say...” I stated in a matter-of-fact tone as I glanced out the window. Looking at Olympus in the moonlight and the pale glow of the peaks poking through the clouds. “I plan on going up that mountain and getting back what is mine.” Thannasi falls back on the hastily made bed and stares at the ceiling.

“This is going to be tougher than I thought.” I give him a side-eye and plop down on my bed. Left staring at the ceiling as well. Thannasi was once again quick to fall asleep.

“Just leaving me here all alone with my thoughts is a dangerous game to play. There are so many things flowing that it’s hard to keep track of all the moronic things that have been said about me, it’s honestly difficult for me to even wonder where to begin.” I rub the bridge of my nose, and take a deep breath. “There are so many different asinine things that have been said, mostly in a dialect that most people can't understand, but I’m going to start with the person who has been eerily silent.”

“That would be Grif. I watched as you put forth a minimal effort to beat Peter on Warfare, and to be honest the effort you put out was too much for such a task. Alas you did win and that is… something, I guess. Sure you can’t take it easy on anyone in this industry, and sure Peter isn’t the exception, but it is what it is. I can only take the silence towards me for so long. It’s as if you don’t even want to be in this position. Nary a word said in my direction.”

“Is it fear? Is it ignorance? Whatever the cause may be, the silence tells a much louder story than you’d care to imagine.” As I roll over to my side and prop my head up on my hand a smirk comes across my face.“ It’s not fear. It’s not ignorance. It’s futility, you know know as well as I do that anything you could say, would be categorically wrong. There isn’t a single thing you could say that would even make me doubt myself for one second. Not a single word in the ENGLISH dictionary that would make me go, ‘Hmmm You know what that Grif guy has a point’. So while I’m sure I could go on and on about how you don’t deserve to be here in this position, You already know that don’t you?”

“You know that an easy win over Peter doesn't mean you earned your spot here. So you’re just going to be content taking this shot in silence, knowing that this is the pinnacle of your miserable career. Soon in short order you’ll be back to scraping with the likes of Red X and Jimson.” A shoulder shrug and I roll over to my back. “I guess the old proverb is right.”

“Better to be considered stupid and say nothing, rather than open your mouth and remove all doubt. Oh but it looks like you decided to finally show up? Well I’m going to pretend that I didn’t see that to keep the metaphor in place.”

“I guess that would transition me perfectly to the man who has since opened his mouth, and removed all the brain cells of anyone unfortunate enough to have to sit through one of his rambling promos. So many places to start, so little time. So many broken and rambling thoughts that need to be dissected and broken down. Well there isn’t anything left other than to just do it i guess.”

“Allow me to pick up right where I left off last time before I was so rudely interrupted, stupid sunrise bullshit. I was saying how Everything you’ve said has not only been categorically wrong, but just ignorant to boot. Like you said that Fuzz was a failure? How so hombre? The fact that I held every title in this place under that Moniker? Or is it the fact that I came back, and still…. Dominated that makes you somehow perceive that as a failure? I don’t understand. The route you SHOULD’VE taken is that SHAWN was the failure and couldn’t get it done WITHOUT FUZZ, but instead you chose to attack the one thing about me that is impenetrable. The history of Fuzz.” I glance up towards the ceiling as my face is covered in a look of bemusement.”You literally called a LEGEND a failure. I don’t get it, I really don’t. Even if I came back and fell flatter than you did in March Madness I’d still be a Legend. Tarnished ending or not, still in the Hall. So to say that Fuzz failed is not only a testament to how fucking stupid you are. It’s a blight on your reading comprehension. Open a fucking XWF history book, and you’ll know just how wrong you actually are.”

“Then again I rebranded myself, didn't I? I mean maybe it doesn’t mesh with how you think, but hey not everyone is the sharpest tool in the shed. Trust me bro you are a tool. If you even for one second think that just because my name has changed that anything else hasn’t, you are sadly mistaken. I told you that Shawn was always Fuzz, but Fuzz was never Shawn. What does that tell you Chico?” Rubbing my temples in an attempt to somehow make sense of anything Carnes has ever said about anything. “It tells you that Fuzz isn’t gone. He’s right here.” As I slap the inside of my elbow in a manner in which would mimic a needle entering a vein. “He’s always with me because he’s the reason I’m here now. He is a constant reminder of all the bad shit I did to get to this spot. The name Fuzz may be gone, but his essence still flows through my blood. Every time someone wants to bring him up. I’ll gladly oblige, but remember…”

“You might not like what you wish for.” I kick my feet over the edge of the bed. My feet landing softly on the floor as I lean both elbows under my chin. “That right there is the problem with wishing. It comes with all of these little strings attached. Your wish…”

“Oh Dios Mio, pleese allow me to competes for De Title de Universe.”

“And your wish was granted. You were ready to fight the Engineer. You were ready to prove yourself to the best in the world… Then the first string was cut. Oh… It’s not Engy, but Shawn. That right there is where you should’ve questioned everything. All your preparation was for Engy. You were ready to show the world that you were capable to stand up to the man that was running the place. Then SNAP!” As I loudly snap my fingers I check on Thannasi, and he wasn’t disturbed at all. I take out Engy and now you KNOW you can’t stand up to the man running the place because that man is now ME. Then they also throw in Grif because of…. Reasons I guess… and now all of a sudden all of these doubts begin to creep in. Can I do it? Will I do it? Am I capable of defeating a Legend?”

“The short answer is No.”

“You’re not capable and I think you know it. That’s why you are yelling so loudly. You are putting up a false bravado, to make yourself feel more important than you really are. To make yourself seem like more of a threat than you really are. You know that you’re not going to win. I was going to allow you to get it all out of your system, and allow you to continue on your braggadocious ways, but you have nothing to brag about. You are no more of a threat to me and Peter Gilmour is.”

“It’s all in your head. You are the Big Bad Wolf. You’re the apex of this company. That’s where you are categorically wrong.”

“I am the Universal champion. Atara is the Face. You are nothing more than shit stain cascading around as a wet fart in this company. You are nothing to me, and from this point forward anything and everything you say regarding me, will be used against you. I’ve overlooked some of the more egregious statements you’ve said because I felt bad for you. Well, hombre, the kid gloves come off. If you thought what I’ve already said was bad. Woo boy you better look out now.”

“I don’t need to constantly remind you who I am. You think you know that already. I don’t need to list everything that I’ve ever accomplished, others will do that for me. I don’t need to remind you that I’m the peak of this industry, you know it. You think that I’m sleeping on you?” A quick shrug. “Well I am. You can only hope to beat me in your dreams, so I figured I’d come down to your level. Just know that even in your own dreams you’re still a failure. You can only talk about how you’re going to change my career. You’re not even going to register on the top thousand of opponents that I’ve faced before. DO you really want to know how little I think of you?”

I lean forward and whisper quietly. “In an Elimination match with Kid Kool, Mungbean, and Peter Gilmour… It wouldn’t be shocking for you to be the first one out.” I hold my hands up to my side in a surprised fashion. “It's shocking but the truth. At least they know who they are. They aren’t running around telling people that they are better than they really are. All of them know what they are about and you don’t. So are like a lost puppy wandering about. You can’t see the forest through the trees. You can’t see what is about to happen next.”

The pale blue glow shines through the window. Curious I stand up and make my way towards the light. A sweet song is heard faintly. The figure is back, beckoning for me to come outside. Weary of the situation I grab the makeshift curtains and close them tight. A strong wind blows them open again, as the song is no longer heard and the figure’s color has transitioned from a light blue hue, to a deep crimson. Panicked, I stumble backwards. Suddenly it feels as if a hand has grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. I’m pulled forward through the window, creating a loud crashing. As I struggle to free myself, I notice that I was being dragged behind the crimson figure. Sticks and dirt are covering my face, and as I try to clear them we begin to slow down.

I was dropped in the middle of a field. The air was crisp as my eyes slowly opened, the blue figure was hovering above right in front of my face. As I take a deep breath and ready myself for what’s about to happen next, the only thing I can smell is the faintest aroma of ivory and rose.

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