Post by RAM on Sept 18, 2024 21:18:38 GMT
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Stage 3
"Acceptance ~ By Inferno's Light"
As RAM lied face-down on Emiko's massage table, his mind hearkened back to the most painful day he had ever experienced in his life. Mentally, he found himself feeling the searing heat and intensity of flames burning around him as his thoughts drifted back to that day, mid-December of 2021, and the loss of his girlfriend Rydia.
{ "...I...I didn't WANT to bring myself back to his...this DAY..." }
Emiko, applying some bio-freeze on RAM's body from head to toe, shook her head as she tried to reason with him.
{ "...Marshall-san, you CHOOSE to be there..." }
As the special cream was starting to take effect, RAM's subconsciousness envisioned his younger self kneeling over his love's lifeless body and studying the gunshot wound that claimed her life. RAM began twitching on the massage table, tensing up as the shouts of the lead fiefighter on the scene could be heard.
"YOUNG MAN, SHE'S GONE! THE WHOLE PLACE IS COLLAPSING!! YOU GOTTA GET OUT, NOW!!!"
RAM found himself struggling mightily to blot out the traumatic memory, but the spiritual flames that licked around him began to course through his veins in the physical realm.
{ "...a part of your soul exists inside that house..." }
{ "...no...no!...NO!!..." }
{ "...search your feelings, you know it to be true..." }
RAM's lips quivered as the foggy vision of his younger self being dragged out of the scene by the firefighters played out in front of him.
"GOD DAMMIT, YOU JUST CAN'T LEAVE HER HERE...!! GOD...FUCKING...DAMMIT...!!!"
At that moment, RAM began to see himself being bathed in a cold, dark void as the cooling effects of the bio-freeze took hold on him.
{ "...every fuckin' time..." }
Emiko gently patted him as he trembled, trying very hard to keep the memory of that fire buried in his soul. Yet he sighed, and his body stopped shaking as he realizes that he could no longer keep his mind closed.
{ "...every time I sleep at night and close my eyes, in the darkness! Every blink of my eyes, I see her like this..." }
RAM envisioned himself in that aura of darkness, on his knees and crying. Emiko, in the real world, managed to sit him up on the table and did everything she could to console him. He eventually allowed his mind to snap back into the physical realm, but he was still traumatized by the events of that winter's day five years ago.
"Marshall-san, it seems to me like none of your past experiences -- good or bad -- could have prepared you for this consequence..."
RAM could only nod as he used a white cloth to wipe away the water from his eyes.
"I've been pissed off about that day for a long time. I...I don't think I've figured out how I'm gonna live without her...without Rydia..."
Emiko sat down next to him, listening to his every world.
"This past event has led you to turn the anger you feel inward, creating an unconquerable enemy..."
RAM took a deep breath, closed his eyes once more, then nodded solemnly. He resigned himself to the fact that nothing he ever did -- in the past, present, or future -- was going to bring Rydia back from the grave.
"To accept death is just as important as accepting life. That is the way of the bushido, the way of the warrior..."
RAM, with a large white tower covering certain part of his body, stood up and headed towards the private changing room. Before heading inside, though, he turned around and gave Emiko a respectful bow. She smiled and bowed in return.
RAM smiled from ear to ear. He knew he had nothing to lose, and so in his mind he made a solemn vow. He vowed to channel the anger and hurt he had felt through his past experiences into taking out anything and anyone who dared stand in his way.
No longer burdned by his mental scars, he spoke clearly and with great vigor.
"Way of the warrior?! You're goddamn right it is..."
To be continued...
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Stage 3
"Acceptance ~ By Inferno's Light"
As RAM lied face-down on Emiko's massage table, his mind hearkened back to the most painful day he had ever experienced in his life. Mentally, he found himself feeling the searing heat and intensity of flames burning around him as his thoughts drifted back to that day, mid-December of 2021, and the loss of his girlfriend Rydia.
{ "...I...I didn't WANT to bring myself back to his...this DAY..." }
Emiko, applying some bio-freeze on RAM's body from head to toe, shook her head as she tried to reason with him.
{ "...Marshall-san, you CHOOSE to be there..." }
As the special cream was starting to take effect, RAM's subconsciousness envisioned his younger self kneeling over his love's lifeless body and studying the gunshot wound that claimed her life. RAM began twitching on the massage table, tensing up as the shouts of the lead fiefighter on the scene could be heard.
"YOUNG MAN, SHE'S GONE! THE WHOLE PLACE IS COLLAPSING!! YOU GOTTA GET OUT, NOW!!!"
RAM found himself struggling mightily to blot out the traumatic memory, but the spiritual flames that licked around him began to course through his veins in the physical realm.
{ "...a part of your soul exists inside that house..." }
{ "...no...no!...NO!!..." }
{ "...search your feelings, you know it to be true..." }
RAM's lips quivered as the foggy vision of his younger self being dragged out of the scene by the firefighters played out in front of him.
"GOD DAMMIT, YOU JUST CAN'T LEAVE HER HERE...!! GOD...FUCKING...DAMMIT...!!!"
At that moment, RAM began to see himself being bathed in a cold, dark void as the cooling effects of the bio-freeze took hold on him.
{ "...every fuckin' time..." }
Emiko gently patted him as he trembled, trying very hard to keep the memory of that fire buried in his soul. Yet he sighed, and his body stopped shaking as he realizes that he could no longer keep his mind closed.
{ "...every time I sleep at night and close my eyes, in the darkness! Every blink of my eyes, I see her like this..." }
RAM envisioned himself in that aura of darkness, on his knees and crying. Emiko, in the real world, managed to sit him up on the table and did everything she could to console him. He eventually allowed his mind to snap back into the physical realm, but he was still traumatized by the events of that winter's day five years ago.
"Marshall-san, it seems to me like none of your past experiences -- good or bad -- could have prepared you for this consequence..."
RAM could only nod as he used a white cloth to wipe away the water from his eyes.
"I've been pissed off about that day for a long time. I...I don't think I've figured out how I'm gonna live without her...without Rydia..."
Emiko sat down next to him, listening to his every world.
"This past event has led you to turn the anger you feel inward, creating an unconquerable enemy..."
RAM took a deep breath, closed his eyes once more, then nodded solemnly. He resigned himself to the fact that nothing he ever did -- in the past, present, or future -- was going to bring Rydia back from the grave.
"To accept death is just as important as accepting life. That is the way of the bushido, the way of the warrior..."
RAM, with a large white tower covering certain part of his body, stood up and headed towards the private changing room. Before heading inside, though, he turned around and gave Emiko a respectful bow. She smiled and bowed in return.
RAM smiled from ear to ear. He knew he had nothing to lose, and so in his mind he made a solemn vow. He vowed to channel the anger and hurt he had felt through his past experiences into taking out anything and anyone who dared stand in his way.
No longer burdned by his mental scars, he spoke clearly and with great vigor.
"Way of the warrior?! You're goddamn right it is..."
To be continued...
--------
Well, well.
The time has come, Nate -- and the clock is tickin'.
Jason Hathaway couldn't figure it out and pissed his l'il redemption story away. On one hand, I'll give you credit where credit is due -- you didn't stick your nose in my business durin' the course of the actual match. On the other hand, however...you STILL managed to make the biggest mistake of your pathetic l'il livelihood. Oh, did you even think that I was gonna sit there and ignore the fact that you tried to take me out with an STFU and two middle fingers?!
Nahhh...pffft! I may be only 20 years old, not old enough to have my first cold beer yet, but I don't forget shit like what you pulled. If anything, despite your best efforts to be fair and impartial, you STILL managed to take the bait and be a bad l'il solider. So now, I'm fixin' to take great delight and sayin' that I simply ain't plannin' on takin' your Gladiator title usin' the old-fashioned method of wrestlin'.
Fuck, I'm gonna make this moment into your funeral.
And there ain't a goddamn thing you or your crew's gonna be able to do about it!
The message I want to send to you, Nate Harris, is gonna be loud and crystal clear: Pax Stormcrow shoulda taught you to NOT take the bait. After all, you spent years and years believin' in a man who claims to be everyone's moral superior, only to turn out to be an oppressor himself. It's like, shit...you'd rather play second fiddle than actually steppin' up and takin' charge! Oh, sure...Pax might give you a World title shot someday, but honestly...do you think he's got ANY shred of faith that you can overcome him in the distant future?!
The smart money oughta say fuck no!
He doesn't believe in you.
And neither does anyone else in this stinkin' joint -- includin' ME!
Did you think I was also gonna just sit on my fat ass and forget that you, Nate, called me Lightweight Gilmore or somethin' to that effect?! Then you must've been hidin' under a rock 'cause I beat that man within an INCH of his life and put him out to pasture. Where were YOU, bub?! Why didn't YOU step up to the plate and do what I did?! I figured you were out there havin' all kinds of wild parties and shit like that in celebration of your assured victory over that dotin' daddy of two spawns of the devil.
Yet I know the real truth:
Team Diversity Hire has made you soft and weak.
Unaware that you're fixin' to lose EVERYTHING that is most precious to you -- includin' that Gladiator title.
Let's face the facts, Nate. When I look at you, I don't see the nepo-bitch star quarterback of my high school's football team. Nahh...I see you as nothin' but supportin' cast, a l'il foot soldier that'll do anything and everything to impress the alpha male of the bunch. Oh, don't get me wrong...you're gonna wind up wantin' to fight for power and prestige on your own.
Do you think you have that ability to evolve and grow?!
Do you think that you can actually march into that ring and hold nothin' back?!
I don't think you can -- and I don't think you will.
{ RAM snickers, grinning from ear to ear as he does so. }
Newsflash, Nate...you're fixin' to get a crash course in evolution -- an excercise in bein' a REAL top dog!
'Cause frankly, you're in MY yard now.
In my yard, I play for keeps. I don't half-ass nothin'! I don't make compromises! Fuck, I don't even cut corners. When that bell rings, there's only one gear I operate at -- and that's fast and loose. I ain't got no goddamn legacy to bear but MY OWN. I ain't got a fuckin' shadow around me to jack off my ego and tell me that I'm good enough to whip your ass from corner to corner.
I'm a one-man show, bitch.
I plan on pyin' that Gladiator title from your battered and bloodied corpse.
And if I must, I will do whatever is necessary.
I've been abused and tortured my whole fuckin' life. I've been told by people like YOU or the ex-porno star Nicky Knight that I wasn't ready for this shit. But lemme tell you somethin', spanky...the ONLY person that's gonna tell me that I ain't ready for the big time is ME! Despite all the nepo-bullshit, despite the fake-ass god complexes and YouTube personalities, I'm a survivor. I live and THRIVE on bashin' dicks and gettin' mine bashed in myself in the name of learnin' how to grow.
You?
Forget about Gladiator title reign and beatin' that wannabe spooky dude Abraxes twice. Forget about bein' a former tag-team champ with your boy Nick Hunter. You'll be nothin' more than a memory that I can post on social media. So do me a favor, okay? Keep that Gladitor championship belt nice and shiny -- 'cause it's comin' home to Texas where it belongs.
And you can take that shit to the bank.
See you soon.
PROMO WORD COUNT: 868