Overrated / Embrace your new god.

[Sabin / Madjinn]

The Mad Prince, Madjinn – Sabin – strolls down the cobblestone walkway with waves of people walking on either side of him. Topped with a beanie, and his protruding from around the edges of the cap; he has one arm to securely hold the leg of Mikaela Jade who sits proudly atop her father’s shoulders; she leans forward grabbing almost mindlessly at the beanie, leading to Sabin occasionally fixing it. He glances to the side where an array of people are waiting in a line to enter another ancient structure that still stands to this day… The Pantheon.

Sabin can’t help but scoff at the thought of it, and mutters under his breath, “Overrated.” He rolls his eyes up to try to catch a glimpse of his daughter who remains hunched forward, “Don’t you think so, Mickie?” He says with a sly smile. “Not worth the stop…” Sabin says, and with a pep in his step, he continues his stroll forward as the scenery slowly fades on the father and daughter duo walking down the cobblestone…even as the screen fades to black, you continue to hear the resonating footsteps echoing louder as they transition from an outside venue into an enclosed space. The footsteps repeat in cadence as the scenery fades back into place.

Just as the imagery comes back into place, you see a quick glimpse of coattails disappearing behind a door right before it slams shut…and the footsteps from the cameraman continue underneath, alternating it’s glance from side to side, and then eventually to the ceiling which appears as if it were illuminated in gold – all the care and details that were put into the craftsmanship shining through throughout all of these years. Eventually, the cameraman does make it to the end of the hallway and carefully pries the door open, inching in until you are greeted with the famous imagery of the Sistine Chapel. The room that would typically be filled with a sea of tourists was empty – for the exception of several ladders that had been set inside of the holy capital. The natural light is flooded out with an eerie red glow, as the camera scours the room momentarily.

However, easy to spot in the center of the room…sitting atop a ladder that had been placed in the exact center of it was none other than The Mad Prince himself, Madjinn, as he holds his arms out as if to put himself on full display, “Come in, come in! Don’t be shy!” His voice resonates off of the walls, echoing several times as a low chuckle escapes from under his breath, “WELCOME! To my world.” He takes a momentary pause, cocking his head to the side while allowing the cameraman to venture further into the Sistine Chapel in order to get comfortable.

He keeps his seat atop the ladder as if the ladder were a chair, and hunches forward to rest his elbows on his knees before continuing, “Sit tight, ‘cause I have quite a bit to get off my chest… The path that brought us to this point, and so… I should probably start you off with my own journey that brought me here. The Roulette. When the Roulette was coming up this year, there were a lot of people that were asking me why– they were asking me why I had no intention of entering the annual event to stamp my ticket to Night of the Immortals and challenge my brother for the world championship! They were asking me why I had no desire to step into the ring with twenty-nine other men to be able to stand tall at the end of the night…and the truth is: I just didn’t care.” He shrugs.

Sniffling and pouting out his bottom lip, Madjinn continues, “None of the people entering the Roulette this year interested me. I mean, seriously, you had the usual people: Pax Stormcrow, coming back from injury for the umpteenth time to prove that his time as champion wasn’t a fluke! Cyrus – argh, what a bore!” Madjinn licks his lips, and slides a little more forward, “I’m pretty sure Vee is faking. Do you think she likes being slapped just so he doesn’t know she’s falling asleep?” He wags a finger into the air as if to gesture for it to be something to think about before continuing, “Vee, if you’re ever in the mood to find someone you won’t have to fake it with, I’m sure Brandy won’t mind sharing with you. We’ll be in the penthouse suite.” He says with a wink before finally sitting back a little, and getting back to serious business, “The only person that really interested me at all was Allen, but the moment just… it just didn’t feel right…” he shakes his head.

“Last year, though – I had the opportunity to share the ring with my ḵáahúnx̱w. That excites me! ‘Cause he and I–” he sucks in air heavily through his teeth, and shakes his head with some excitement and flair, “He and I get into the ring, and we know that we’re going to bring the best out of each other! We know that we’re fighting to be… the best… we know that we stand as the best, but because he was the champion this time around, I truly looked at everyone else, and thought… not interested. I wasn’t interested in winning the Roulette where I would be told when I am having to fight for the championship… I saw something else, another opportunity: Joker. In. The. Pack.” He states slowly, as the corner of his lips curl into a grin.

“Y’see, I don’t like when people try to tell me when I’m going to do something… When I was teaming with Father, it felt like I was constantly under the thumb of someone else’s decisions! He– made the decisions, and I, like the good son, just went along with it. It’s liberating to make my own decisions, and that is exactly what I saw when I thought of Joker in the Pack – I thought of freedom! I thought of a chance to cash in my shot at the championship WHEN I AM GOOD AND READY! Now – what could I do to get myself into Joker in the Pack?” Madjinn asks rhetorically, and taps his finger against his chin.

“Let’s just say that I dropped some dead weight, and that’s all it took! A little manipulation, and lo and behold, Roberto Verona graces me with the opportunity to be exactly where I wanted to be… And now–” Madjinn slips down from the ladder, holding carefully onto the ends as he slides down to the ground below, “–I’m looking at the five other people that are in the ring with me, and I’m wondering: how badly do they want the briefcase over me? Aren’t there some little…rivalries…happening in the midst of this battlefield? I mean, seriously, Pax Stormcrow– Pax Stormcrow! I remember the last time that we were in the ring with each other was the finals of Heir to the Throne, and I know that you’re going to use that as your little bit of fuel…but I’m going to go ahead and remind you that you may have won that fight, but I’m the one that kept showing up for work! I’m the one that kept coming in and carrying this company on my back ‘cause you couldn’t cut it! I’m the one that broke your record as the longest reigning IWF World Television Champion, ever, and I had more defenses than you… while you moped at home. I’m the one that has become the longest reigning tag team champion, all while you moped at home, so do I have something to prove to you?” He tosses out the question and holds his hand out as if to grasp for the answer.

“NOT A DAMN THING! I’m here–” Madjinn holds his hand straight at the top of his head, “And you’re here.” He lowers his hand down to about waist level.

“Cyrus, the guy is too busy planning a wedding…I do hope he gets some comfortable beds, because his vows are probably gonna contend with the Gettysburg Address. We don’t have that kind of attention span! Wrap it up!” He says while motioning his hand in a circle. He rolls his eyes heavily, “In case you don’t understand, I’m RSVPing no. Tytus? Bring back Barrick! At least when you had a mouthpiece talking for you, you actually seemed interesting. Roberto Verona? Honestly, I find it – hard to forget about what happened in my first year in this industry… But, you know what? I’ll let bygones be bygones. It’s water under the bridge! But I know–” Madjinn wags his finger again, “I know that Roberto isn’t too thrilled with my future uncle’s behavior as of late, and I just have a feeling that the briefcase is just… the least of his worries… That does leave Allen, though, and what do I have to say about him? ‘Cause we do have some history. We do have history that we were supposed to bury back in October, and you’re engaged to my ḵáatláak’w, but you also have Roberto’s attention, and so… umm…”

Rolling his eyes upward, Madjinn seems to contemplate the entirety of the match happening within his mind. He bobs his head from side to side periodically, mumbles to himself, and finally continues, “The rest of you have some ulterior motive to be in this match! I am the only one that is walking in with one thing on my mind, and that is taking that case down and being named as the twenty-twenty-four Joker in the Pack winner! That’s it. That’s all that matters to me. That’s all that matters at the end of the night! The rest of you can fight all night…you can fight into the crowd, you can fight your way to the back, you can even take the fight to the Colosseum, but I– am not interested in doing any of that. Don’t get me wrong! I love the idea of chaos. I love the idea of violence. I love the idea of hurting all of you, but I’m going to do it in a different manner… I’m going to take the case, and you are going to walk out with nothing. Years from now– no one is going to remember that you guys even participated in this match, because years from now, all they’re going to remember is that I won it. Your names will fade to obscurity.”

Madjinn pushes himself from the ladder, and still sports a sadistic smirk on his face as he lowers his jaw keeping his gaze fixated on the audience, “You’re going to fade to obscurity. Heir to the Throne is going to come and go, and you know the best part about it? Probably none of you are going to win that, either. And so you’re going to continue to exist, and I– am going to reclaim my place at the top of the mountain. I– am going to reclaim my title! I– am going to ascend to the top of the business, and–” he chuckles under his breath, “–it’s going to end up being just like all of my previous title runs. All of you are going to be too fucking scared to get into the ring with me! All of you are going to pray– PRAY– that I lose the title! All of you are going to pray that someone else takes the title away from me… ‘cause you’ll all know, deep down, that you are not good enough to beat me.” He pauses momentarily, letting the words sink into the minds of the people that would challenge him at the annual event, and the audience as a whole.

“The dominoes are all set… and they’re all about to fall into place. Joker in the Pack is mine. And the title is mine. Embrace your new god.”

As Madjinn takes a step forward, out of view of the camera, the camera starts moving upward to showcase the Sistine Chapel one more time before the scenery finally fades to fucking black.

[Cliff Cook]

Bump.