Post by Thomas Uriel Bates on Jun 8, 2017 18:16:31 GMT -6
The Second Saga of Thomas Uriel Bates
Part II: Take Flight
Part II: Take Flight
Europe, the 6th largest continent, but perhaps the most influential in all the world. It was Europe that separated the hemispheres, Europe that established national borders, Europe that dissolved them. It is here where you can find Kings and Emperors, Monarchies, and Republics. Democracies, and Dictatorships. Here, a small child can pull a sword from a stone and rule the world.
As small as this continent is, it looks so big from a mile in the sky. Two brothers in North Carolina took their bicycle building knowledge and gave wings to humanity. Though it’s features are scorched from the fires of war, of misuse, of anger, and of hatred, it still ascends towards the heavens in such awesome majesty.
No matter how many times our kind giant has embarked on this journey, he is always taken back by the grand view of it all. As a lover of history, his mind wanders as his body soars above the clouds. He envisions Napoleon’s La Grande Armée marching through France, and the furthest extensions of Rome, as he peaks a view towards Italy.
Very briefly, our troubled giant allows himself something he has missed since the death of his friend. A fleeting moment, gone as if it never was. If you blinked, or looked away even for a moment, then you missed the smile upon his face. The despair in his soul is quick to steal the moment from him. As with Napoleon at Waterloo, his spirit has been crushed. La Grande Armée of his own heart crushed beneath the feet of his foes, overwhelming in their numbers.
So, his thoughts turn towards the task at hand. His heart, burned by the fire of damnation, commences to building that wall between itself, and love. The wall is made not of hate, for few can incur such emotion from our hero. Rather the wall is built with menial tasks, distractions meant to fill his mind, and rob him of joy. When will they land? How far from the airport is the hotel? Will he have problems with customs as he enters the country? Small tasks not worthy enough of deep thought.
His mind drifts to the most distracting thought. What will he do once he gets there? Not Dortmund, though that is his technical destination, but rather what would he do when he gets to the EWC? What will he do when he gets in the ring? His last competitive match was last December, how will he perform? How will he adjust to the changes of the styles from the WCF to the EWC?
Would our gentle giant be able to separate the two companies, keeping WCF rightfully in the past? The concept of real combat sports intrigued him, but he did have his fair share of real combat, how would it influence him? His mind knew that the combat in the EWC would be sport, a true test of people’s abilities, and not some writer in the back making up stories. No, the stories were supposed to be fake in the WCF. The fights were supposed to be scripted, rehearsed, and in some sense of the word, fake. Yet this was not the fate that befell our distraught mountain.
The stories were supposed to be fake, but never were. People wanted to take over the business, and their backstage politics spilled out to the ring. They wanted to punish anyone that wasn’t them. They wanted those people gone, and no one to stand in their way. The biggest thing in their way, was a six-foot, nine-inch strongman with the blood of warriors in his veins, and the beating heart of the Paladin Roland himself. Of course, they would come for him. Of course, it would be real.
Power causes people to do things to stay in power. If they lose it, even briefly, they must gain it back. Napoleon was no stranger to regaining power after having lost it. When he was placed under house arrest in Nice, he talked his way out of imprisonment and was quickly assigned to formulate the plans for an attack on Italy. He was then removed from the rolls of Generals, and sentenced to career execution, but he craved power. Only weeks later he was placed in command of the defense of Tuileries Palace. His failures in Egypt, his defeat in Russia, all he came back and seized power. Even his exile to Elba, he raised an army, a navy, and escaped. Even up to his declining health, and eventual death, he attempted to escape. Till his dying breath, he sought power. He would do anything for it.
That power, of course, can be corrupting. It eats away at one’s soul. Far too often the quest for the Throne finds one at the feet of the Devil, who himself is resting upon his own Throne, earned by his casting from Heaven while seeking to gain the power of God Himself. When you have power, you know that everyone else wants that power, and they will stop at nothing to gain it. You know this, because you have done this. You stop at nothing to keep it. That is why absolute power corrupts absolutely.
There are, of course, exceptions to the rule. While his enemies sought power for the sake of power, he earned his power through steadfast determination, and adherence to his Code. He used that power to defend against them, and protect the innocent. It was only natural that they would throw everything they had at him. He was their biggest threat.
Let me tell you something about the real world, dear reader; the good guy doesn’t always win. Superman doesn’t always catch Lana, Batman doesn’t always solve the crime, and Wolverine doesn’t always walk away without a scratch. The real world is mean. It will chew you up and spit you back out again, just to bury its teeth right into you. It is cruel. It will give you love, and happiness, friendship, and the joy that only true lovers can embrace, and then it will take it right back. The good guys lose. They get beaten, they get tossed around; they die. Life is a cruel mistress, but like an obedient servant we come crawling back, licking her boots.
The distraction worked. The great bird which has carried our protagonist across the skies has now landed, and rests its tired wings. She has nested in Dortmund, where only a few days from now, Thomas Uriel Bates will witness an EWC show live for the first time. He would be in the audience for EWC’s Monday Night Brawl.