Post by Bobby Ray Willis on Jul 23, 2023 22:29:53 GMT -5
Static.
Eventually, the picture finds its hold.
The last light from the moon is hiding away behind the clouds that slowly move past as the camera finds its orientation. The spikes of the iron gates jet like fingers reaching for the heavens, even though they have tasted rainfall already this evening they thirst for more. It is from these twisted rusted iron spikes that water drips from down… down…
‘Drip.’
‘Drip.’
‘Drip.’
…down into the muddy hands of a dark haired man who wears a pair of sunglasses even when the only light is from the moon. This is the KRAKEN Kazmerick, who stands like an usher at the gates of this cemetery. Kazmerick’s lips are opened in a devilish smile that shows off his pearly white teeth, he takes a moment to wipe those hands on his brand new WGWF Ragnarök t-shirt.
“And what does a cemetery have to do with anything, you ask? Stick around and you’ll find out soon enough the man said with a sick grin on his face. Oh wait, that’s me! The man with the grin on his face, I guess I said that then. How about this? Worry not about the path that led us meeting at such a place like this on a night where anything could happen, rather you should worry about where this path eventually goes, Ragnarök.
So, you aim to reach Valhalla? I can certainly help you with that. As you can already see, I’m a huge fan.”
He looks down at his t-shirt which is partially covered with mud. The sight of the mud causes him to give a big ‘oops’ expression on his face as he holds his still muddy hands up in front of his face wondering where it all came from. His exaggerated expression begins to fade.
“Okay, you caught me. I’m not that big of a fan, I just liked the shirt. In all honesty I was a big fan of the idea of Ragnarök growing up. I read all the books I could, from the ones with the pretty pretty pictures to the ones with the blocks of text and nothing to look at. The end of times, such a fun little concept to behold ain’t it? I mean, you should know Ragnarök… you walk around with that as your name.
Right?
Perhaps we should get back to the point at hand.”
Kazmerick seems constantly trapped between two thoughts in his mind and his mouth is only able to express one at a time. This frustration causes him to twitch strangely as he moves about with his hands and the sides of his mouth dance wildly. He licks his lips and nods towards the darkness.
“On this evening, Ragnarök, I bring to you a place somewhat like Valhalla. Now for some reason I can’t see Valhalla myself. I can only take from what I’ve read about the place that much like this cemetery it’s a place of resting peaceful souls.
Shhhh… listen to the air.”
Kazmerick puts his dirty finger over his lips and gives a second for nothing to be heard. Leaving a little dirt on his upper lip as he pulls his finger away a twitchy smile grows on his face. He nods towards the camera as he begins to move about towards the nearest gravestone. The stone reads ‘Alan Birchstreet’ and gives the dates of his life, it also informs us he was a loving father, brother and son.
“Let’s ask Al how Valhalla is treating him these days, yeah?
How is it, Al? Is Valhalla everything you hoped it to be?
What’s that?”
Kazmerick leans his head up against the gravestone and waits for something to respond as he knocks on the stone. But there’s nothing but silence, after a moment or two his smile fades to a look of disappointment.
“Well… ain’t that a thing. Seems like Al doesn’t have much to say about the afterlife, afterall. Maybe I’ll go ask another one, but honestly I’m not going to waste my time. In fact, I’m sure I can ask every last one of these peaceful souls about Valhalla and I’m sure they’ll all say the exact same thing… nothing. There is no great resting place for souls, Ragnarök. Your Odin is a liar and a fool. Think about it, what happens to Odin during Ragnarök? He charges into the open maw of Fenrir the Wolf.
Is that who you want to follow? Is that your mentor? A man who dies charging into the jaws of a giant dog! Go ahead, but between you and me? I wouldn’t listen to a thing a man like that has to say, in fact I’d be yelling ‘turn right, dummy!’ the entire time.
Right into the mouth of Clifford. Wow, and you think he’s the one to follow?”
Kazmerick kisses the gravestone and gives a chuckle as he stands up gripping the top of another stone right nearby. From the laughter he seems to be a bit out of breath, and so holds up a single finger asking for a moment. As he calms down the many thoughts in his brain iron themselves out.
“However, there is one part of Ragnarök that really brings a smile to my face. And that part? That’s the ending of it. After Odin is swallowed whole, after a series of catastrophic natural disasters and even after the burning of the world there is one final event. And that event, that event is the submersion of the world underwater.
In the depths. The black deep.
That’s my domain, Ragnarök.
Oh, what a lovely thought that is.”
The madness in his voice disappears, as does his twitchy movements as a calm rushes over him and his being as if he’s listening to some really good ASMR. His hands slowly dance at chest level as he takes deep relaxed breaths. He speaks in a quiet manner now, the mania has all but evaporated from the inflections of his voice.
“Where this path eventually goes. That is what I told you to worry about, wasn’t it Ragnarök? Yeah, I remember that now… you wanted to have a huge impact on Summer Madness. You want to shake the foundations of the company down to its core on that very night, leaving them all guessing as to exactly what’s next. Grab the beard of that bastard Odin himself.
Huge impact though, well guess what?”
His arms stretch towards the night sky, as the smile reappears across his wicked jaw in a celebratory manner.
“That’s what I’m looking to do as well! Let’s make that impact together, buddy! Huh? Me and you, rocking the foundations of this company down to its bones and making sure there is no doubt that each of us are here to make a name for ourselves. I don’t plan on leaving Madison Square Garden without anything less than being purely satisfied with what I show to the entire world what the Kraken is capable of doing.
Oh, they whisper with doubt on their breath in my direction in all the corners of the locker room. Trust me, I heard it all from below and how much satisfaction it will be to silence even the softest of whispers.
But know this, big man… When I wrap my tentacles around you, I will pull you down to the depths beneath the surface you will fight and you will struggle but I am the Kraken and once I have you in my grip there is nothing you can do.
Further and further into the abyss, past the depths that any human could possibly ever want to travel… but you’re no regular human, right Ragnarök? You can take the pressure, the crunch that comes as you are dragged into the endless black. I have to warn you, unlike up there in Valhalla there is no light at the bottom of the world. The sun will become a fading memory, just like the oxygen in your lungs.”
Bringing the camera as close to his face as possible with his mud-covered fingers, Kazmerick spits when he speaks due to the excitement in his voice and nearly sinking his teeth into the lens in the process.
“But fear not, Ragnarök. Just like Odin, you too will be swallowed whole by the massive beast that awaits you at your final destination. A fitting end for the fool and the one who follows that fool’s words.”
He pauses, his mouth relaxes and his frantic tone dies off.
“Oh, is that not how you saw this all ending for you? You envisioned a glorious battle and in that battle capturing some tin championship covered in gold or silver as your destiny. I am so sorry to disappoint you, but remember no matter how you die it all ends the same way.
In darkness.
Ask every last peaceful resting soul in this cemetery, and they will all tell you the same thing about death, it’s better to be alive. And there’s no better way to feel alive than to struggle as I pull you down into the depths alongside me. Fight, kick and scream all you want, it just makes you more alive than ever before. Before… before the end that is. I fear no end of times, because in the shadow of the world where I lurk the end has come and gone a long time ago.
Welcome to the bottom, Ragnarök.”
Releasing the grip with his muddy fingers the camera stumbles back for a moment, which gives Kazmerick a chance to duck behind one of the larger grave sites around and procure himself a shovel. This might have been your last chance to run, fam.
“And just like I said, everyone in this place was better off when they were alive. So let’s do that! Let’s wake the dead! Let’s bring every single person in this cemetery back to life and join us here at the bottom of the world!”
In a manic frenzy of action, Kazmerick spins the shovel around looking for someone’s grave to disturb. That’s when it suddenly hits him, an idea, not the shovel. He snaps his fingers and heads on over to the first grave stone he visited, the one occupied by Alan Birchstreet.
“We shall start by waking up Al first.”
Kazmerick plants his shovel into the dirt in front of the grave stone.
“I really hope you weren’t cremated Al, or this is going to be a real disappointment when we finally meet. But… we’ll figure it out when we get to that point.”
Kazmerick lifts the shovel up into the air and drives into the mud one more time lifting up dirt and tossing it to the side. With a huge smile on his face and screaming at the top of his lungs he drives the shovel into the dirt again.
“Look at me, bottom of the world ma!”
The camera begins to lose its hold on the picture.
Static.
Epilouge.
Wrestler Caught Digging in Cemetery
And in a bit of strange news.
A man was apprehended in the early hours of this morning after half digging up the grave of Alan Birchstreet. Birchstreet, a writer, gained local fame after publishing a book claiming that the mythical beast known ‘the Kraken’ was spotted by fishermen off the coast of Alaska in 1995. The book gained notoriety as one of the strangest account sightings ever recorded, and though mostly debunked, has continued to be circled around the internet among conspiracy theory websites. The man who was arrested was charged with ‘excavation without permission’ and is being held at the local county jail. We'll have more on this story in the later edition.'