Post by OZYMANDIAS on Jun 1, 2021 22:28:45 GMT -5
Their words, carried over the plains by the winds of time. Sharp on the tongue, cruel on the ear, doubtful and hateful words.
Their thoughts, spoken aloud and spoken assuredly. Their plans, notions and ideals seeking glory and grandeur, at the behest of others.
Their actions, brave and bold. Brash motions ensued with arrogance, greed and perseverance, their desire for greatness matched only by their own self-absorption.
Champions.
Fools adorned with golden belts, fake idols to represent a meaningless and wasted purpose. An accolade of forgotten times, an achievement of meaningless merit, a goal of utter foolish greed. No warrior cherishes gold, no fighter seeks jewelry. No true Champion would grab their golden prize, and reprieve themselves of their duty.
The fight. The battle. The war.
This is the prize a real warrior seeks. The small victory from vanquishing a foe, from defeating a lesser challenger. To stand triumphant over a series of clashes, and know your fight and your endurance brought you to this point. To stand overlooking the battle field, the proving ground before you adorned with blood, sinew and fallen foes.
A Champion is not made by what they wear, how they dress, how they talk or how they act. A Champion is only valued by how they fight. How they achieve their victory. How many lives they take, and how little they spare.
Keep your golden belts. Your fancy title. Your expansive community, your large payouts, your Grand titles.
I only ask for their blood.
OLD HARBOUR
“You will fall in line, and prepare for your next round.” Meredith’s voice is sharp and shrill, the opposite of her normally poised and deep demeanor. As she lashes out, her words roll and become foreign, almost guttural in sound. “His arrival comes soon, we cannot be caught off guard. We must prepare his bounty.”
The clear night sky above them, and the expansive grassland around them, Meredith and her followers. Forming a circle on the open horizon, they are gathered in a congregation unlike anything that can only be described as a ‘fight circle’.
“Your bodies will succumb to his presence far easier than your minds will. To avoid his gaze, to withstand his madness requires far more than strength of the mind, it requires a full offering of body and soul.”
She lifts her hands and points at two random folks from the circle, who quickly break formation and meet in a brawl in the middle. A couple dozen or so are stood around, none robed or hiding their appearances. Tonight they show who they are, truly and entirely.
“You must prepare for a fight, but expect a war. Even the strongest amongst us could fall at a moment's chance, nothing is certain and nothing is guaranteed.”
Some of the gathered hold up torches, lit with bright flames to aid the moonlight in casting shadows and light to those brawling in the center. After a minute or two of hard, untrained punching and kicking, Meredith commands them back in line.
“We have been blessed to live among a true fighter, a veritable champion. Did none of you stop to observe Ozymandias in battle? Have none of you paid him any mind to what he is capable of in the ring? In a fight? When he is permitted to let his inner beast out?”
Again she signals and two more step forward, no reluctance. Just straight fists and hard punches immediately.
“He will rise from the depths to find us, He will look to reclaim these lands as his world above the surface, He will need an army of warriors to do his bidding. We are fortunate to have me as your Priestess and Ozymandias, as your Champion, but what of you? What will you become? Fodder to his madness, or soldiers to his future.”
She signals a third to join in, and the fight quickly sprawls out of control and three go at it, circulating between who is unfortunate enough to get two on one.
“Soon our champion fights for a golden belt, a false title and a meaningless accolade within Project Honor. However, to defeat those who sit at the top of the mountain, to break their chosen warrior, to topple the hierarchy of Proving Ground itself… it will truly be a moment to rejoice!”
Meredith halts the fight, and tells those around to step back. As they do the lamps flicker in the wind, and Meredith next two step forward and their faces become visible. A woman, young and innocent looking. A man, old and frail. Neither are fighters, neither are warriors.
“Begin.” The two are reluctant, neither a fighter naturally and neither are keen to harm one another. “I said, begin… fight!”
The two begin to circle one another, pitting on a show but neither take their first strike. The man ushers the girl forward, not in a moment of bravado but in a moment of mercy, to offer the first strike to the young woman. She shakes her head, worried.
“Cthulhu shows no mercy, no reprieve. He will not be prejudiced on the goodness or innocence of your lives, when He builds his army he will seek only strength. To fall before His gaze is an endless death, eternal suffering in agony. If you do not wish to join us as we awaken the Great Old One, if you are too afraid of what might come of tonight… then you should walk to the sea and end your suffering post haste. The Slumbering City needs soldiers, or sacrifices. You need to choose which one it is you will be.”
Again the pair circle, trying to get into it. The man steps forward to allow the girl a moment to strike, taking a couple of swathes onto his face. He swings wildly, never close to the girl, never within danger. The pair dance for another moment before Meredith stops them both.
“My children… that will be enough. You show a lot to me tonight, under this pale moon I see fire inside you, both of you. Love, compassion, respect. You do not wish to fight one another, you do not wish to fight unless provoked. Perhaps you are not fighters at all, and should drown in the seas on this very night.”
The look on their faces speaks volumes, and the tears now trickling down the girl's face echoes that fear in her eyes.
“Let me tell you the story of the Bear, and the Snake.” She begins to pace, a smile on her face and her arms folded behind her back, her black silken dress always dancing in the light air, like a shroud of smoke. “The Bear was large, formidable, and angry. None in the forest would dare cross his path for they would get the bear's wrath. He was to be avoided, to be ignored. But being a bear, he needed to eat. To gather food, and eat his prey.”
She continues to pace, circling the gathering in the inner circle.
“This bear wanted to gobble up every animal in the forest, every single critter and creature he saw. From birds to bugs, from foxes to ferns, everything would be his supper. He thrashed and mauled, and gobbled everything up! But one creature decided to trick the bear… the snake.”
She walks to the center to the pairing, the old man shaking and the girl now sobbing.
“The snake wanted to fool the bear, to make the bear think he was weak and scared like the other forest creatures. So the snake played dead, let the bear growl and stomp, and when the bear tried to eat the snake… he had a poisonous apple shoved into his mouth instead. Oh, the bear was so, so angry, he would rip the snake in half, but not before the bad apple made him unwell. The bear quickly fell asleep, and the snake escaped with a funny story for all his friends.”
She walks around the couple so that both of them are looking directly at her.
“The snake thought he could live his life carefree, use his cunning, use his wits and he would never see trouble again. He thought he could always outsmart the bear, because he was faster, smarter and full of tricks. So the bear woke up, chased the snake… and do you know what happened?”
She looks to the duo before her, expecting an answer but not getting one.
“Let me tell you… the bear caught the snake, broke the snake in half and left the snake lying on the floor of a cellar. Ozymandias saw through the innocent guile and cunning jokes of Warstein, and broke the Tyrant. Smarts and speed alone are not enough to stop a bear, a killer. And for this world we are about to reawaken, for this new life we are about to begin… we need to be more than brains, looks, charm and wit. We need to be strong, formidable and dangerous.”
She steps backwards, and motions for them to begin again. Once more they are reluctant to start, so she signals two more to join, a younger man and bigger woman. Quickly the fight becomes one sided, as the old man and young girl are easily beaten to the floor. The beating continues however, and Meredith allows it.
“You two are the new snake in the grass. The new little pest that must be stomped out, much like this Lil Petey. If you paid attention to what our champion does, you would know of what I speak. Ozymandias must play the games of Project Honor once more, as they pit a bear against a snake yet again.”
She turns to the rest of the gathering, ignoring their pleas of mercy and the cries of pain from the couple being beaten down.
“Ozymandias is our champion, our warrior. For our numbers to grown, for our power to grow he needs to be the worlds champion. He needs to command more than Old Harbour, ore than the mainland's of Alaska. When the Great Old One rises, we need a true champion to lead the army right to him. A fighter of no mercy and no grace. Just blood, violence and fury.”
She turns around to command the circle to spread apart, and allow the beaten down couple a moment to catch their breath.
“Lil Petey is doing just what Warstein had done before, snaking his way into our affairs. Trying to delay or disrupt our progress, to usurp our victory and place rightfully at the top of the food chain. A snake, a fool, a coward. His desires to be the greatest are admirable, but in a war there is no room for jesters and clowns. There is no mercy for the weak, they either get up and fight on, or they die where they are standing. Lil Petey is a fool for getting in our way, but as his luck would have it we failed to end him before and it has cost us. Now he stands the chance to once again interrupt our plans… a scheming snake.”
She motions for two other followers to help the old man and girl to their feet, both bloodied and beaten, shaking on their legs.
“Lil Petey desires the golden light, the praise and admiration of the fans. The fame! The notoriety and ego that comes with a title! But his vision is skewed, his sights and goals futile. He will get to feel what it is to be a champion soon… as OUR champion tears his head from his shoulders.”
She smiles, looking around her to make sure her words sink in.
“So, we know what happens to snakes, good or benevolent. And we know what happens with the bear. Do you continue to live as snakes in the grass, or do you wish to stand by the bear, strong and fierce; you decide… Now.”
The old man looks over to meet the girl's gaze, her face streaming with tears from before. She whimpers, but puts her guns up without hesitation. She throws the first few jabs to stagger the old man, but falls to the floor to one of his kicks. As they now brawl, Meredith stands before them watching on, a sickly sweet smile across her face.
The Priestess of a New World.
Ready to watch everyone and everything burn around her for her goals. Culling the weak for her God, for her goals, for her Champion.
