Post by Kyle Travis on May 21, 2015 6:13:18 GMT -6
::“The Canadian Legend” Kyle Travis sits in a folding chair in a darkened room. He is looking downward at the crowbar in his hands.::
“Ever since I came back, people have been asking me one question and only one question. Everywhere I go, be it the gym, the airport, a restaurant, anywhere; it is always the same question. It doesn’t matter who the person is, or what they do. They ask me the same question. It does not matter where I am or who I am talking to, the same question is asked of me.”
::Travis starts to slowly twist the crowbar in his hands, turning it back and forth. He looks up from the weapon.::
“The question they all ask me is a simple one, and I know it is the question everyone who has not had a chance to ask me wants to ask me. The question everyone keeps asking me is “Kyle Travis, why did you challenge the Children of Nephilim?”
“I walked into the back of the arena, two weeks after I beat Carnage at Tragic Engagement, weeks after promising that when I returned, it would be on my terms, for me, not because people kept asking it, or because they wanted me back. I showed up to the arena, walked through the parking area and right to the ring moments before I made my challenge to you. On my way in, no one asked me how I was or what I was doing there. When I challenged the Children of Nephilim, I walked to the back and suddenly everyone wanted to know why.”
“I am at home, and my children do not ask me for help with their homework. They ask me why I challenged the Children of Nephilim.”
“My wife no longer asks me how she looks in an outfit. Instead, she asks about my challenging the Children of Nephilim.”
“I order a pizza and they do not ask what I want on it, but instead ask why I challenged the Children of Nephilim.”
“I get into a cab to go to the airport, and the driver does not ask me where I want to go, but instead asks why I challenged the Children of Nephilim.”
“Waiters at restaurants do not ask my order, but instead ask why I challenged the Children of Nephilim.”
“Cashiers do not ask if I am paying cash, card or check, nor do bag boys at the grocery store do not ask if I want paper or plastic when I go through the line at a grocery store. They both want to know why I would challenge the Children of Nephilim.”
“Jehovah’s Witnesses do not knock on my door and ask if I have accepted The Lord into my life. They knock on my door and ask why I challenged the Children of Nephilim upon my return.”
“Telemarketers no longer call my house to ask if I want to change long distance providers or if I want to take a survey or to sell me something. All they ask about is why I wanted to challenge the Children of Nephilim.”
::Smiling, “the Once and Future King” leans back in the chair, his head leaning back, which allows him to look up at the ceiling.::
“Everywhere I go, everyone I meet asks me that question. Everyone wants to know the answer to that one question. Everyone wants to know why. That’s all they ask me. That is all they want to know.”
::Leaning his head back, that sadistic gleam in his cold predatory gaze is still as fresh as ever.::
“And deep down, in the back of your mind Danaka Bayne, you too want to know the answer, because you, yourself, have asked that same question.”
::Travis lifts the crowbar up a bit, looking at it as he twists it in his hands. Despite being his weapon of choice for many years, Travis is studying it like he’s seeing it for the first time. He twists the tool slowly, not all the way in circles, but back and forth, side to side in more of a 180 degree arch.::
“In the darkness you cling to like a scared child clinging to their mother’s leg, you have wondered what in the hell you did to attract my attention. Maybe you never asked yourself out loud in front of the minions like Miako and Bene Elohim, because you do not want to show them fear or weakness, even though that is all I see in the Children of Nephilim, but you have asked. Maybe you have even gone to your “master” looking for the answer, only to find he had none. You prayed to whatever it is you pray to for answers, but received none. Whatever dark Oracle of Delphi you consulted for answers had none.”
“Now you can try to play it off that you are not scared and that you do not regard me as a threat, and that’s fine. You have already shown that you are scared. Were I not a threat, or you were not scared, you would have walked out the second I challenged you and either accepted or send one of the minions to deal with me and hoped that was it, but you did not. Instead you did not react until I threatened you, and even then, you made a challenge to my challenge, as if trying to make it seem like I am scared of you, and not the other way around.”
“But you are scared Danaka. Whether you admit it or not, you are scared, because when you think about it, the only thing the Children of Nephilim have ever done to me was last year, when Joshua McBride, was, for reason that no one ever actually explained to me by apparently the right of abducting Georgio Oliver, somehow got to be in charge and put me in a triple threat match against Vince Jones and Fraser Freeman for, at the time, my North American Championship.”
“And yet, I never went after him. Unlike every single person the Children of Nephilim’s former “dark messiah” messed with, I only tried to beat him in a match, and never tried to hurt him like Broderick Montgomery III or Sentinel.”
::“The Once and Future King” stops twisting the crowbar.::
“That terrifies you Danaka.”
“I should have been one of the people trying to tear Joshua’s head off. Or so you would think. But the strange thing is, I do not blame McBride for costing me the UWA North American Championship, because he did not cost me the title. If he or any of the Children had interfered in the match itself, then yes, I would have already skinned McBride alive with my crowbar, because I would have held him responsible for their actions. Nor do I hold Vince Jones responsible, because he took advantage of the situation and won a title, something I myself would have done. And he did it in a triple threat match, which is a rare match to see me lose.”
“That terrifies you Danaka, because you can understand revenge but not why I called your out. You can understand someone that has been hurt wanting to hurt the person who hurt them. We can all understand that, because revenge and love are two forces people are powerless against. Yet, I have already stated I did not want revenge on Joshua McBride for placing me in that match last year, and even if I did, I feel satisfied by the fact I beat the hell out of him in a match, and would have torn his arm out if Arsenal had not interfered and caused the match to end in a disqualification.”
“And you can understand revenge. Aerynn Donnelly, Jeszika Gautier, Broderick Montgomery III and Sentinel went after Joshua McBride out of revenge. He had hurt them and they went after him.”
“So then why, why one God’s green earth did I return weeks ago and call out the Children of Nephilim?”
“Why am I making it my mission to break Bene Elohim so badly that they beg God himself to stop me? Why am I out to crush Miako under my heel and stomp out the black orchid? And why, why Danaka am I now out to take this crowbar, shatter every single bone in your body, forever silencing you and drop your broken corpse at the feet of your dark master before I tear his arms out of their socket and end him? Why, why did I come back only to seek the absolute destruction of the Children of Nephilim?”
“I was all set to walk away from the UWA, Danaka. I was going to. I had absolutely had it. I was honestly so damn sick of this place. I kept watching everyone do anything they wanted without fear of punishment or repercussion, unless it was me. I was tired of all the crap, all the disrespect, the lies Georgio told me. At Tragic Engagement, I was all set to walk away from the UWA.”
::Setting the crowbar on his lap, Travis slides his right hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his head and neck.::
“Three years ago, I returned to wrestling after taking a year off. People asked me to come back. They wanted me to come back. Everyone I talked to asked me when I was going to come back. Wrestling company after wrestling company tried to recruit me. People I had known for years tried to talk me into wrestling this place and that place. And finally, finally I gave in and I came back to wrestling, and rather than cheers and celebration, I was greeted with complete apathy and indifference as if everything I had done in my career did not matter, as if I was nothing.”
::His hand moves from the back of his head and comes around to his chin as he talks. He lowers his hand back on the crowbar.::
“And it continued in the UWA. Georgio Oliver promised me respect. He promised me the one thing, the only thing I had wanted my entire career, the one thing I was denied again and again; the respect I have earned and deserved because of everything I have accomplished in my career. And yet, I did not get that. Instead, Georgio decided I would be the UWA whipping boy. Anyone can do whatever they want, expect for me. Doesn’t matter if it is something as bad as attacking a pregnant woman, you get away with it free and clear, unless of course, you are Kyle Travis. Then and only then you are to face repercussions and to be punished for whatever it is you do.”
::Suddenly, Travis gets to his feet and swings the crowbar in his left hand into the chair, knocking it back and down on the floor with a loud clang.::
“I am sick of it. I was done. At Tragic Engagement, I beat Craven, and immediately after that match, I went to the locker room, took a shower, changed and walked out of the building. I was at the airport by the time Ashley Kenyon had successfully defended the North American Champion and was on a flight home to Calgary, Alberta, Canada before the main event even started. I was done. I had no intention of coming back to the UWA. I was just going to wait out my contract until the UWA made it worth my while to come back, because all those people who asked and begged and pleaded for me to return blew it when they decided to treat me like I was nothing upon my return. I was done.”
“So why come back? Why come back to the UWA just to challenge the Children of Nephilim? It is because I have to. It is because no one else will.”
“Jeszika Gautier, Broderick Montgomery III, Sentinel, K.I.S.S. and Aerynn Donnelly, all went after either Joshua McBride or the Children of Nephilim, but each of them seemed to have stopped as soon as they accomplished what they set out to do, be it beat the Children in a match or just beat Joshua McBride. Broderick set out to destroy McBride and beat him in a match, which seemed to satisfy his need for revenge. Arsenal and Donnelly beat the Children once, and then teamed with Broderick to do it a second time. Even Sentinel, a man who seemed hell bent on destroying McBride seems to have moved on with his life. And in there lies part of the reason.”
“The Children of Nephilim has endured and survived not because of its strength or its power, or the fear it commands. The Children of Nephilim have no strength. The Children of Nephilim have no power. And the Children of Nephilim command the fear of no one. The only reason the Children of Nephilim has been able to survive and endue is because it as been allowed to, because every single person who has gone after them has claimed the victory and then moved on.”
“Georgio Oliver claims that the Children of Nephilim are great for ratings and yet, they never seem to wrestle. Yeah, people may have cared when Joshua McBride was a member, because he was actually worth paying attention to and even then, he got boring because all he did was abduct people and leave cryptic messages. Miako has done nothing at all since coming to the UWA except joining the Children of Nephilim. Bene Elohim’s sole accomplishments in the UWA was a poorly timed betrayal of Arsenal and Aerynn Donnelly that would have been more of an impact had it allowed the Children to win rather than after, and beaten the remains of the Sin City Knights. Other than that, they stand around. All you have ever done, Danaka, is go on and on about your master. After Raising Hell, the Children did nothing but talk on and on about the same crap about being this great evil and the coming of this guy or that guy, and the agenda of the dark master. I honestly fail to see why anyone would tune in to listen to you people just talk. If you were good for ratings, the Children of Nephilim would be wrestling more than once in a blue moon.”
“I was one of the first people to actually get on board and express an interest in the Children of Nephilim. I looked at your group and thought that maybe, just maybe, they were the monsters everyone made them out to be. I am quoted as saying that no matter the dogma, no matter how insane the scripture, the Children of Nephilim believed the words of Joshua McBride as if it was gospel truth and that made them very dangerous.”
::Still holding the crowbar in his left hand, Travis throws his arms into the air.::
“Oh how wrong I was!”
::Travis shakes his head.::
“Now, you are not the part I actually pay attention to when I watch Tragic Engagement. When you speak, I leave the room to get a drink or a snack or use the bathroom because I know no matter what you say or do it’s not going to go anywhere and nothing will come of it. It’s been a year and for the love of God, the continents move faster than this slow build that you guys have been building to.”
“Yes, for a few months, the Children of Nephilim held the UWA in the grip of fear, with the mind games played by Joshua McBride. We watched them just up and abduct person after person, and go on and on about how evil they were and sin and what not. Slowly, we realized that McBride had one play and only one; abducting people and talking. And that seemed to be all we got out of the Children of Nephilim. Yes, Bene Elohim ran over Quentin Sharpe, and that was a bad thing. But what did they do before that? Or even after and since then? The answer is nothing.”
“The Children of Nephilim are not monsters. You are not the harbingers of doom. You are not the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. You are not the things that mortal men fear to challenge. You are not the things mortal men fear in the deepest, darkest depths of their souls. The Children of Nephilim had moments and chances to be all those things and each and every single time the Children of Nephilim blew it. Yes, Bene Elohim beat the Sin City Knights, but when you get right down to it, it was a meaningless victory that no one cared about, and did nothing for you. Here we are, a year after the Children of Nephilim first came to the UWA and it has been one disappointment after another.”
“The Children of Nephilim are not monsters. They are not the harbingers of doom. They are not the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are not the things that mortal men fear to challenge. They are not the things mortal men fear in the deepest, darkest depths of their souls.”
::There is a mix of anger, disgust and disappointment in his voice.::
“The Children of Nephilim are completely over hyped, overrated, and overexposed. Here we are a year later and the Children of Nephilim have done nothing to deserve any of that hype and exposure. The biggest thing the Children have ever done is when Bene Elohim beat the Sin City Knights, the abduction of Broderick Montgomery III, Joshua’s little power trip, and stealing the UWA Championship. And ultimately none of those things mattered. Broderick got over his need to destroy Joshua McBride after one match. Stealing the UWA Championship earned the Children nothing at all except two loses in huge matches. The power trip fell through when, once again, the Children lost a huge match. The Sin City Knights have moved on.”
“Do you realize that since Raising Hell, that last hurrah, where Joshua McBride somehow had complete control of the UWA by right of shoving Georgio Oliver in a sack and carrying him off to his abduction shed, which is a really bizarre bylaw to have, that the Children of Nephilim have become completely irrelevant? All that power, that potential, the hype and the build and you completely and totally wasted every ounce of it. No one cares about you any more. No matter what you do, no matter how terrible it is, no one cares about you. Two of your minions ran a man over with a car, and that guy’s friends went on with their lives. I laid out a whore and a guy spent months trying to kick my ass. His efforts were as pathetic as your entire cult and his rage was as believable as any of your threats, but still, he cared enough to try to kick my ass.”
“The Children of Nephilim are nothing more than a complete disappointment. You are like “The Song That Does Not End”, just going on and on with no end in sight. And unfortunately, along with that having no end in sight, there will also be no payoff either. When the Children of Nephilim debuted, there was interest, excitement and curiosity because no one knew what you would do. Now, you are like a Christmas where we’re all eager and excited and then we wake up and run to the tree only to find a half-naked Santa Clause under the tree dead from a drug overdose. When you get right down to it, the Children of Nephilim are is nothing more than a sick, mangy, dog that has been waiting far, far too long for someone to come up and end it, putting it out of all our misery. And I have every intention of putting that pack of dogs down.”
“I was all set to walk away, stay home, collect my checks and let my contract run out and only come back to the UWA when Georgio Oliver made it worth my while. And then, I watched Tragic Engagement. And do you know what I saw Danaka? I watched you and the minion squad drag Joshua McBride’s body out to the ring and dump it while you just went on and on about your usual crap. And it was right there, right then I had an epiphany.”
“In that absolute moment of clarity, I realized the Children of Nephilim have to be stopped. And the reason the Children must be stopped is not as revenge for all the terrible things they have done. It is not to prevent terrible things that they will do in the future. It’s not even to make the UWA a safer place, free from your reign of terror. Absolutely none of those things have anything to do with why I walked out almost a month ago and challenged the Children of Nephilim. None of those are the reason why I have decided that each and every single member of your group, from the lowest cultist in the background to your “dark master” all the way at the top has to be broken and destroyed with extreme prejudice. None of those are the reason why I will not stop until I have completely and utterly destroyed the Children of Nephilim, wiping it from the face of the Earth, never to rise again.”
::Nearly all the emotion drains from Travis’ voice, except all the pent up anger and hatred he’s had for the last few months. Those two emotions now seem focused less on everyone else and just targeting the Children of Nephilim. It is the same tone he used when telling Craven he was not walking into Tragic Engagement to win the match, but to hurt the young wrestler. There is no hint of remorse or mercy or even the slightest hint he will regret doing whatever he is about to do in his voice. His voice and eyes are cold.::
“No Danaka, the reason that you, Bene Elohim, Miako, and your master have to be left battered, beaten, broken and bloodied, with everything you have build laying in ruin is because I am so Goddamn sick and tired of the Children of Nephilim.”
“That’s it.”
“There is no other reason. There is no need for revenge. There is no desire to protect people from you. The only reason I am going after the Children of Nephilim is because you just bore me, and I am sick of listening to you go on and on while I keep waiting and waiting for the payoff I know will never come. I am going to tear the Children of Nephilim down and leave everything you have in ruins.”
::The fingers on his left hand tighten around the crowbar.::
“You think you are monsters? You have not seen anything yet. The difference between me and EVERY member of the Children of Nephilim is that we have all stared into the abyss, but when the abyss stared back, the Children of Nephilim blinked. I do not care how long it takes, or what I have to do, no matter how vile, evil and cruel my actions may be in order to get the job done, but I am going to end “The Song That Does Not End” we call the Children of Nephilim!”
“I did not make my challenge to get matches against the members of Children of Nephilim in order to beat them, to pin them their shoulders to the mat or hear them submit in the Pridebreaker. You forget Danaka, that Georgio Oliver has yet to officially rescind his edict banning me from competing for championships. It may have been stated to happen if I beat Craven at Catacylsm, but neither that stipulation, nor my condition that he leaves Sin City Knights upon losing were ever stated as official sanctions, meaning every victory I attain is meaningless because it gets me no closer to a title, and even if it did, it does not get me closer to the world title.”
“I have NOTHING to gain from pinning Ramiel, Ananiel, Miako or you that gets me closer to a championship. I have NOTHING to gain from getting Ramiel, Ananiel, Miako, or you to submit that will move me up the ladder of title contenders. I have nothing to gain except the absolute destruction of the Children of Nephilim. I will rip through each of your pawns like the cannon fodder they are, and then I am going to drive this crowbar into your throat Danaka, just so I do not have to hear you talk anymore, and then, if he has the balls to reveal himself, I will tear your dark lord apart. I am not coming to beat Bene Elohim, of Miako, or you, or your dark lord. I am coming to break you.”
“So send your twins after me Danaka. Send Ramiel and Ananiel against me. Let them be the first to try and keep you safe. Let them realize that I am tearing their wings off, and I will bring your dark angels down to Hell itself. Let them realize that not even Sariel is safe from me. Let them, and yourself, realize you sent them to die.”
“You may think you are monsters, but there is more blood on my hands, more shattered dreams, ended careers and broken bodies in my wake than you could amount in a thousand years. At Spring Slaughter, you will watch Bene Elohim fall as Lucifer fell, in flames.”
“Challenge and learn.”
::The scene fades out as Travis raises his crowbar and looks at it, fully intending to use it.::
“Ever since I came back, people have been asking me one question and only one question. Everywhere I go, be it the gym, the airport, a restaurant, anywhere; it is always the same question. It doesn’t matter who the person is, or what they do. They ask me the same question. It does not matter where I am or who I am talking to, the same question is asked of me.”
::Travis starts to slowly twist the crowbar in his hands, turning it back and forth. He looks up from the weapon.::
“The question they all ask me is a simple one, and I know it is the question everyone who has not had a chance to ask me wants to ask me. The question everyone keeps asking me is “Kyle Travis, why did you challenge the Children of Nephilim?”
“I walked into the back of the arena, two weeks after I beat Carnage at Tragic Engagement, weeks after promising that when I returned, it would be on my terms, for me, not because people kept asking it, or because they wanted me back. I showed up to the arena, walked through the parking area and right to the ring moments before I made my challenge to you. On my way in, no one asked me how I was or what I was doing there. When I challenged the Children of Nephilim, I walked to the back and suddenly everyone wanted to know why.”
“I am at home, and my children do not ask me for help with their homework. They ask me why I challenged the Children of Nephilim.”
“My wife no longer asks me how she looks in an outfit. Instead, she asks about my challenging the Children of Nephilim.”
“I order a pizza and they do not ask what I want on it, but instead ask why I challenged the Children of Nephilim.”
“I get into a cab to go to the airport, and the driver does not ask me where I want to go, but instead asks why I challenged the Children of Nephilim.”
“Waiters at restaurants do not ask my order, but instead ask why I challenged the Children of Nephilim.”
“Cashiers do not ask if I am paying cash, card or check, nor do bag boys at the grocery store do not ask if I want paper or plastic when I go through the line at a grocery store. They both want to know why I would challenge the Children of Nephilim.”
“Jehovah’s Witnesses do not knock on my door and ask if I have accepted The Lord into my life. They knock on my door and ask why I challenged the Children of Nephilim upon my return.”
“Telemarketers no longer call my house to ask if I want to change long distance providers or if I want to take a survey or to sell me something. All they ask about is why I wanted to challenge the Children of Nephilim.”
::Smiling, “the Once and Future King” leans back in the chair, his head leaning back, which allows him to look up at the ceiling.::
“Everywhere I go, everyone I meet asks me that question. Everyone wants to know the answer to that one question. Everyone wants to know why. That’s all they ask me. That is all they want to know.”
::Leaning his head back, that sadistic gleam in his cold predatory gaze is still as fresh as ever.::
“And deep down, in the back of your mind Danaka Bayne, you too want to know the answer, because you, yourself, have asked that same question.”
::Travis lifts the crowbar up a bit, looking at it as he twists it in his hands. Despite being his weapon of choice for many years, Travis is studying it like he’s seeing it for the first time. He twists the tool slowly, not all the way in circles, but back and forth, side to side in more of a 180 degree arch.::
“In the darkness you cling to like a scared child clinging to their mother’s leg, you have wondered what in the hell you did to attract my attention. Maybe you never asked yourself out loud in front of the minions like Miako and Bene Elohim, because you do not want to show them fear or weakness, even though that is all I see in the Children of Nephilim, but you have asked. Maybe you have even gone to your “master” looking for the answer, only to find he had none. You prayed to whatever it is you pray to for answers, but received none. Whatever dark Oracle of Delphi you consulted for answers had none.”
“Now you can try to play it off that you are not scared and that you do not regard me as a threat, and that’s fine. You have already shown that you are scared. Were I not a threat, or you were not scared, you would have walked out the second I challenged you and either accepted or send one of the minions to deal with me and hoped that was it, but you did not. Instead you did not react until I threatened you, and even then, you made a challenge to my challenge, as if trying to make it seem like I am scared of you, and not the other way around.”
“But you are scared Danaka. Whether you admit it or not, you are scared, because when you think about it, the only thing the Children of Nephilim have ever done to me was last year, when Joshua McBride, was, for reason that no one ever actually explained to me by apparently the right of abducting Georgio Oliver, somehow got to be in charge and put me in a triple threat match against Vince Jones and Fraser Freeman for, at the time, my North American Championship.”
“And yet, I never went after him. Unlike every single person the Children of Nephilim’s former “dark messiah” messed with, I only tried to beat him in a match, and never tried to hurt him like Broderick Montgomery III or Sentinel.”
::“The Once and Future King” stops twisting the crowbar.::
“That terrifies you Danaka.”
“I should have been one of the people trying to tear Joshua’s head off. Or so you would think. But the strange thing is, I do not blame McBride for costing me the UWA North American Championship, because he did not cost me the title. If he or any of the Children had interfered in the match itself, then yes, I would have already skinned McBride alive with my crowbar, because I would have held him responsible for their actions. Nor do I hold Vince Jones responsible, because he took advantage of the situation and won a title, something I myself would have done. And he did it in a triple threat match, which is a rare match to see me lose.”
“That terrifies you Danaka, because you can understand revenge but not why I called your out. You can understand someone that has been hurt wanting to hurt the person who hurt them. We can all understand that, because revenge and love are two forces people are powerless against. Yet, I have already stated I did not want revenge on Joshua McBride for placing me in that match last year, and even if I did, I feel satisfied by the fact I beat the hell out of him in a match, and would have torn his arm out if Arsenal had not interfered and caused the match to end in a disqualification.”
“And you can understand revenge. Aerynn Donnelly, Jeszika Gautier, Broderick Montgomery III and Sentinel went after Joshua McBride out of revenge. He had hurt them and they went after him.”
“So then why, why one God’s green earth did I return weeks ago and call out the Children of Nephilim?”
“Why am I making it my mission to break Bene Elohim so badly that they beg God himself to stop me? Why am I out to crush Miako under my heel and stomp out the black orchid? And why, why Danaka am I now out to take this crowbar, shatter every single bone in your body, forever silencing you and drop your broken corpse at the feet of your dark master before I tear his arms out of their socket and end him? Why, why did I come back only to seek the absolute destruction of the Children of Nephilim?”
“I was all set to walk away from the UWA, Danaka. I was going to. I had absolutely had it. I was honestly so damn sick of this place. I kept watching everyone do anything they wanted without fear of punishment or repercussion, unless it was me. I was tired of all the crap, all the disrespect, the lies Georgio told me. At Tragic Engagement, I was all set to walk away from the UWA.”
::Setting the crowbar on his lap, Travis slides his right hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his head and neck.::
“Three years ago, I returned to wrestling after taking a year off. People asked me to come back. They wanted me to come back. Everyone I talked to asked me when I was going to come back. Wrestling company after wrestling company tried to recruit me. People I had known for years tried to talk me into wrestling this place and that place. And finally, finally I gave in and I came back to wrestling, and rather than cheers and celebration, I was greeted with complete apathy and indifference as if everything I had done in my career did not matter, as if I was nothing.”
::His hand moves from the back of his head and comes around to his chin as he talks. He lowers his hand back on the crowbar.::
“And it continued in the UWA. Georgio Oliver promised me respect. He promised me the one thing, the only thing I had wanted my entire career, the one thing I was denied again and again; the respect I have earned and deserved because of everything I have accomplished in my career. And yet, I did not get that. Instead, Georgio decided I would be the UWA whipping boy. Anyone can do whatever they want, expect for me. Doesn’t matter if it is something as bad as attacking a pregnant woman, you get away with it free and clear, unless of course, you are Kyle Travis. Then and only then you are to face repercussions and to be punished for whatever it is you do.”
::Suddenly, Travis gets to his feet and swings the crowbar in his left hand into the chair, knocking it back and down on the floor with a loud clang.::
“I am sick of it. I was done. At Tragic Engagement, I beat Craven, and immediately after that match, I went to the locker room, took a shower, changed and walked out of the building. I was at the airport by the time Ashley Kenyon had successfully defended the North American Champion and was on a flight home to Calgary, Alberta, Canada before the main event even started. I was done. I had no intention of coming back to the UWA. I was just going to wait out my contract until the UWA made it worth my while to come back, because all those people who asked and begged and pleaded for me to return blew it when they decided to treat me like I was nothing upon my return. I was done.”
“So why come back? Why come back to the UWA just to challenge the Children of Nephilim? It is because I have to. It is because no one else will.”
“Jeszika Gautier, Broderick Montgomery III, Sentinel, K.I.S.S. and Aerynn Donnelly, all went after either Joshua McBride or the Children of Nephilim, but each of them seemed to have stopped as soon as they accomplished what they set out to do, be it beat the Children in a match or just beat Joshua McBride. Broderick set out to destroy McBride and beat him in a match, which seemed to satisfy his need for revenge. Arsenal and Donnelly beat the Children once, and then teamed with Broderick to do it a second time. Even Sentinel, a man who seemed hell bent on destroying McBride seems to have moved on with his life. And in there lies part of the reason.”
“The Children of Nephilim has endured and survived not because of its strength or its power, or the fear it commands. The Children of Nephilim have no strength. The Children of Nephilim have no power. And the Children of Nephilim command the fear of no one. The only reason the Children of Nephilim has been able to survive and endue is because it as been allowed to, because every single person who has gone after them has claimed the victory and then moved on.”
“Georgio Oliver claims that the Children of Nephilim are great for ratings and yet, they never seem to wrestle. Yeah, people may have cared when Joshua McBride was a member, because he was actually worth paying attention to and even then, he got boring because all he did was abduct people and leave cryptic messages. Miako has done nothing at all since coming to the UWA except joining the Children of Nephilim. Bene Elohim’s sole accomplishments in the UWA was a poorly timed betrayal of Arsenal and Aerynn Donnelly that would have been more of an impact had it allowed the Children to win rather than after, and beaten the remains of the Sin City Knights. Other than that, they stand around. All you have ever done, Danaka, is go on and on about your master. After Raising Hell, the Children did nothing but talk on and on about the same crap about being this great evil and the coming of this guy or that guy, and the agenda of the dark master. I honestly fail to see why anyone would tune in to listen to you people just talk. If you were good for ratings, the Children of Nephilim would be wrestling more than once in a blue moon.”
“I was one of the first people to actually get on board and express an interest in the Children of Nephilim. I looked at your group and thought that maybe, just maybe, they were the monsters everyone made them out to be. I am quoted as saying that no matter the dogma, no matter how insane the scripture, the Children of Nephilim believed the words of Joshua McBride as if it was gospel truth and that made them very dangerous.”
::Still holding the crowbar in his left hand, Travis throws his arms into the air.::
“Oh how wrong I was!”
::Travis shakes his head.::
“Now, you are not the part I actually pay attention to when I watch Tragic Engagement. When you speak, I leave the room to get a drink or a snack or use the bathroom because I know no matter what you say or do it’s not going to go anywhere and nothing will come of it. It’s been a year and for the love of God, the continents move faster than this slow build that you guys have been building to.”
“Yes, for a few months, the Children of Nephilim held the UWA in the grip of fear, with the mind games played by Joshua McBride. We watched them just up and abduct person after person, and go on and on about how evil they were and sin and what not. Slowly, we realized that McBride had one play and only one; abducting people and talking. And that seemed to be all we got out of the Children of Nephilim. Yes, Bene Elohim ran over Quentin Sharpe, and that was a bad thing. But what did they do before that? Or even after and since then? The answer is nothing.”
“The Children of Nephilim are not monsters. You are not the harbingers of doom. You are not the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. You are not the things that mortal men fear to challenge. You are not the things mortal men fear in the deepest, darkest depths of their souls. The Children of Nephilim had moments and chances to be all those things and each and every single time the Children of Nephilim blew it. Yes, Bene Elohim beat the Sin City Knights, but when you get right down to it, it was a meaningless victory that no one cared about, and did nothing for you. Here we are, a year after the Children of Nephilim first came to the UWA and it has been one disappointment after another.”
“The Children of Nephilim are not monsters. They are not the harbingers of doom. They are not the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are not the things that mortal men fear to challenge. They are not the things mortal men fear in the deepest, darkest depths of their souls.”
::There is a mix of anger, disgust and disappointment in his voice.::
“The Children of Nephilim are completely over hyped, overrated, and overexposed. Here we are a year later and the Children of Nephilim have done nothing to deserve any of that hype and exposure. The biggest thing the Children have ever done is when Bene Elohim beat the Sin City Knights, the abduction of Broderick Montgomery III, Joshua’s little power trip, and stealing the UWA Championship. And ultimately none of those things mattered. Broderick got over his need to destroy Joshua McBride after one match. Stealing the UWA Championship earned the Children nothing at all except two loses in huge matches. The power trip fell through when, once again, the Children lost a huge match. The Sin City Knights have moved on.”
“Do you realize that since Raising Hell, that last hurrah, where Joshua McBride somehow had complete control of the UWA by right of shoving Georgio Oliver in a sack and carrying him off to his abduction shed, which is a really bizarre bylaw to have, that the Children of Nephilim have become completely irrelevant? All that power, that potential, the hype and the build and you completely and totally wasted every ounce of it. No one cares about you any more. No matter what you do, no matter how terrible it is, no one cares about you. Two of your minions ran a man over with a car, and that guy’s friends went on with their lives. I laid out a whore and a guy spent months trying to kick my ass. His efforts were as pathetic as your entire cult and his rage was as believable as any of your threats, but still, he cared enough to try to kick my ass.”
“The Children of Nephilim are nothing more than a complete disappointment. You are like “The Song That Does Not End”, just going on and on with no end in sight. And unfortunately, along with that having no end in sight, there will also be no payoff either. When the Children of Nephilim debuted, there was interest, excitement and curiosity because no one knew what you would do. Now, you are like a Christmas where we’re all eager and excited and then we wake up and run to the tree only to find a half-naked Santa Clause under the tree dead from a drug overdose. When you get right down to it, the Children of Nephilim are is nothing more than a sick, mangy, dog that has been waiting far, far too long for someone to come up and end it, putting it out of all our misery. And I have every intention of putting that pack of dogs down.”
“I was all set to walk away, stay home, collect my checks and let my contract run out and only come back to the UWA when Georgio Oliver made it worth my while. And then, I watched Tragic Engagement. And do you know what I saw Danaka? I watched you and the minion squad drag Joshua McBride’s body out to the ring and dump it while you just went on and on about your usual crap. And it was right there, right then I had an epiphany.”
“In that absolute moment of clarity, I realized the Children of Nephilim have to be stopped. And the reason the Children must be stopped is not as revenge for all the terrible things they have done. It is not to prevent terrible things that they will do in the future. It’s not even to make the UWA a safer place, free from your reign of terror. Absolutely none of those things have anything to do with why I walked out almost a month ago and challenged the Children of Nephilim. None of those are the reason why I have decided that each and every single member of your group, from the lowest cultist in the background to your “dark master” all the way at the top has to be broken and destroyed with extreme prejudice. None of those are the reason why I will not stop until I have completely and utterly destroyed the Children of Nephilim, wiping it from the face of the Earth, never to rise again.”
::Nearly all the emotion drains from Travis’ voice, except all the pent up anger and hatred he’s had for the last few months. Those two emotions now seem focused less on everyone else and just targeting the Children of Nephilim. It is the same tone he used when telling Craven he was not walking into Tragic Engagement to win the match, but to hurt the young wrestler. There is no hint of remorse or mercy or even the slightest hint he will regret doing whatever he is about to do in his voice. His voice and eyes are cold.::
“No Danaka, the reason that you, Bene Elohim, Miako, and your master have to be left battered, beaten, broken and bloodied, with everything you have build laying in ruin is because I am so Goddamn sick and tired of the Children of Nephilim.”
“That’s it.”
“There is no other reason. There is no need for revenge. There is no desire to protect people from you. The only reason I am going after the Children of Nephilim is because you just bore me, and I am sick of listening to you go on and on while I keep waiting and waiting for the payoff I know will never come. I am going to tear the Children of Nephilim down and leave everything you have in ruins.”
::The fingers on his left hand tighten around the crowbar.::
“You think you are monsters? You have not seen anything yet. The difference between me and EVERY member of the Children of Nephilim is that we have all stared into the abyss, but when the abyss stared back, the Children of Nephilim blinked. I do not care how long it takes, or what I have to do, no matter how vile, evil and cruel my actions may be in order to get the job done, but I am going to end “The Song That Does Not End” we call the Children of Nephilim!”
“I did not make my challenge to get matches against the members of Children of Nephilim in order to beat them, to pin them their shoulders to the mat or hear them submit in the Pridebreaker. You forget Danaka, that Georgio Oliver has yet to officially rescind his edict banning me from competing for championships. It may have been stated to happen if I beat Craven at Catacylsm, but neither that stipulation, nor my condition that he leaves Sin City Knights upon losing were ever stated as official sanctions, meaning every victory I attain is meaningless because it gets me no closer to a title, and even if it did, it does not get me closer to the world title.”
“I have NOTHING to gain from pinning Ramiel, Ananiel, Miako or you that gets me closer to a championship. I have NOTHING to gain from getting Ramiel, Ananiel, Miako, or you to submit that will move me up the ladder of title contenders. I have nothing to gain except the absolute destruction of the Children of Nephilim. I will rip through each of your pawns like the cannon fodder they are, and then I am going to drive this crowbar into your throat Danaka, just so I do not have to hear you talk anymore, and then, if he has the balls to reveal himself, I will tear your dark lord apart. I am not coming to beat Bene Elohim, of Miako, or you, or your dark lord. I am coming to break you.”
“So send your twins after me Danaka. Send Ramiel and Ananiel against me. Let them be the first to try and keep you safe. Let them realize that I am tearing their wings off, and I will bring your dark angels down to Hell itself. Let them realize that not even Sariel is safe from me. Let them, and yourself, realize you sent them to die.”
“You may think you are monsters, but there is more blood on my hands, more shattered dreams, ended careers and broken bodies in my wake than you could amount in a thousand years. At Spring Slaughter, you will watch Bene Elohim fall as Lucifer fell, in flames.”
“Challenge and learn.”
::The scene fades out as Travis raises his crowbar and looks at it, fully intending to use it.::