Post by Rotten Mark Keaton on Mar 28, 2024 3:50:35 GMT -6
Sierra Navada
California
Mark pulled up in an old, black Camero to a log cabin near the edge of a lake. He slammed the door as a Raven landed on the hood of the car, pecking away at something. He made his way to the back deck facing the lake with Mount Whitney dominating the background. The Collector was leaning on the back rail, watching the view and humming a tune to himself.
“Nice place, old man.” Mark nodded as he leaned on the rail next to the black suited nightmare, “I'm leaving for Puerto Rico here soon for Prime 120, fighting Candy and Justin in a triple threat. Thing is though dude, I can't seem to find Morden Crypt yet again. I want him to watch my back for that match and share some news I have with our branding for Screamin Demons. Happen to know where he is?”
“Morden is at the top of that mountain. I may have informed him of a powerful totem that's been untouched for centuries up there,” The Collector let out a little laugh, “but it was a lie of course.”
Mark lit a smoke as he eyed a black cat walking by them ten feet down in the brush, “Sure! I understand. Listen, this Candy is the original Prime legend, she's won The Undisputed, The Indy and FSW titles and held them for a combined 500 plus days, she's won awards, had twins and now she's back, stronger than ever and I need that giant masked boy watching my back! On the other side of the ring is this Justin Paige dude who's back after years of being out of the game, better than ever. I watched him beat Phoenix Winterborn in Alaska on the same show as Screamin Demons, it was wickedly impressive. He's a strong dude.”
“I'm SURE you'll be fine on your own, Mr. Remarkable.” The Collector continued to stare at the lake, his words like a harsh whisper.
“But there's something in the air, isn't there? You can FEEL that something just isn't right. Perhaps it is just your opponents that are about to conspire against you?”
“Nah old dude, that's not it. I'm barely a blip on the radar to them. Either one can win a championship without really trying. But there's totally something else. There's this unshakable, unnerving feeling of impending Doom. Like a cloud of dread surrounding Prime 120. Isn't that weird?”
“Not weird at all, Mark. It is quite a normal, human emotion to be nervous about a contest before you travel, even if nothing is on the line. You want to win, no matter what. Your performance with Morden Crypt on Prime 119 was quite admirable in fact. I've never seen Morden work together with someone so well. A fine victory. You should be proud of yourselves.”
Mark sneered but thought that the entire response sounded mocking in some way. Like he knew something far more important than the match that he wasn't telling him.
“I don't know, you're probably right. Well, I definitely don't have time to swim over there, cut through the woods then climb that mountain to get Morden. About an hour drive to the airport for my flight that leaves two hours from now.”
“Has Morden ever talked to you about The Hell Dimension? Has he mentioned anything at all about it?” The Collector continued to look at the lake.
“Not really man,” Mark looked back at his car briefly, there were six ravens on it now, “the subject kind of gives me the creeps though, so I'd rather he didn't mention it at all anyway.”
“His name was Wrath there, a pretty high ranking demon. It was a competitive position. Still higher than me and his many followers. There was one particular demon that rose past him and was his arch Nemesis for power. The Ensnarer ruled and has been granted access to this world a few times. But his services were needed too greatly in the Hell Dimension so he returned there. A luxury Morden Crypt never experienced until you came along and the conditions were right. Now Wrath is so focused on sending souls down that he often misses what is happening right in front of him.”
“Well, tell Morden I left.”
Mark turned and walked towards his car. Over his shoulder, The Collector turned his head towards Mark, his smile extra wide showing his rotting yellow teeth, his eyes completely white.
“Good-bye.”