Post by Gerard Angelo on Aug 12, 2019 22:59:18 GMT -5
I let out a growl as I slapped my neck, hopefully killing one of the pesky mosquitos that had been feasting on the buffet of my blood that I had been presenting them for the past hour. It was hot today in Kentucky, and I had gone the way of comfort from the heat in a pair of basketball shorts and an old merch shirt of mine from a company that hasn’t existed in around a decade. Unwittingly, I had become a feast for every skeeter and gnat that flew by. I stopped near a large oak tree and leaned on the large walking stick I had procured when I first entered Daniel Boone National Forest. I swung my backpack off my shoulders and set it down on the detritus, pulling my canteen out of the black bag. I unscrewed the metal cap and leaned against the the moss covered trunk of the oak, taking a deep drink of water. Wiping excess water from my beard with my wrist, I stared out into the rows and rows of trees, searching for something, anything, of what I was looking for.
It had been quite the up and down year for me. Both professionally and personally. Professionally, I went from never getting a chance in PCW, to winning the Deadly Rumble and forcing myself into the main event picture, to beating the most dominant World Champ in PCW history in Kyle Shane, to losing my title to the man I gave a championship opportunity and being in a ridiculous downward spiral career wise. Hell even in my acting career I’ve taken my fair share of haymakers. My TV show got canceled, the movie I poured my heart and soul into was released to very little fanfare.
My personal life was an even bigger joke. I lost one of my good friends, who was also my agent, because he had a terrible gambling problem and my father is an opportunistic piece of shit. I haven’t spoken to my brother in months because he was off dealing with his own issues. I didn’t even know where he was on top of the fact he hasn’t answered nary a phone call or text, and that was another issue I had to deal with. The cherry on top of all of this was learning that the one woman I ever truly loved had given up on me and moved on. And trust me when I tell you that hurt worse then any chop block to my knee or losing a championship. Not to mention apparently I’m being haunted by the forces of evil.
I took another guzzle of water before screwing on the cap, and putting it back in the pack. I slung it back over my shoulders and grab my walking stick, looking around to see which way was the best route to get deeper into the forrest. This wasn’t and easy hunt, but the prize at the end was worth every second of it. I walked carefully through the woods, stepping around broken logs and rocks, fallen leaves and twigs crunching under the soles of my boots. The thing was, I wasn’t hunting an animal. I was hunting a person. Well a person in a place. The problem was finding the place because it wasn’t on any map. Hell, it was possible the place didn’t even have a set location. Knowing all of this I still set out to find something that probably couldn’t even be found. But I still had to try.
“You know, you’re never going to find it.” said a high pitched voice behind me. Startled, I spun around, swing my walking stick like it was a Louisville slugger. A small figure easily ducked my errant swing as the make shift club banged hard into the peeling bark of a sturdy tree. The impact made my hands hurt and I dropped the stick, shaking my hands out as I turned to face the figure that appeared. Leaning against the trunk of another tree with her arms folded across her chest was Amanda. She was dressed inappropriately for the woods in a navy blue pants-suit and bare feet. Her typically messy brunette hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
“I think that’s what you humans call a swing and a miss, no?” She asked with a giggle. I gave her a scowl as I flexed my hands.
“Why do you always fucking try and give me a heart attack when you show up?”
“Why are you so jumpy for a big, tough, professional wrestler?” She asked with a wry smile. I scowled again.
“I think you just like messing with me.”
She gave a hearty laugh at that.
“I’m not going to lie, giving humans a scare never gets old. Even after eight hundred years.”
I bent over and grabbed my walking stick and planted it in the ground, leaning on the end as I stared at Amanda.
“So, if you’re not human, what are you exactly?” I narrowed my eyes at here and she gave another giggle. I shifted my weight so it only looked like I was leaning on the stick for support, ready to spring into action if needed.
“I guess I can answer that. I guess I’m what you humans would call an Elf.” She looked around and gave a shrug as if it was an obvious answer, “But we don’t call ourselves that.”
I raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. I was skeptical but after all the weird nonsense that she was up to along with those terrible nightmares that kept persisting, it seemed to be a logical answer, as crazy as that sounds.
“So I’m guessing you’re not actually named Amanda either?” I asked. She responded with a hearty chuckle.
“No, but my real name is too long and hard for you humans to say and pronounce so I picked Amanda because I liked the way it sounds when I say it.”
“Fair enough. So what are you doing here?”
“You’re never going to find it. It’s impossible for mere mortals to find alone.”
“And what is it that I’m looking for then?” I said as I raised another eyebrow. Amanda looked at me for a second before her painted lips curled into a slight smirk.
“Why, Hangtown, of course.” Her brown eyes sparkled as she whispered it. The forrest seemed to take notice of her words. A cool breeze blew through the woods, rustling the branches, making the trees speak. An erie feeling fell upon me, making me clutch the walking stick tighter in my calloused hands. She seemed to notice and gave another giggle.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t come to stop you. I came to ask why.” She said, moving her body weight off the tree and walking towards me. Her feet didn’t make a sound, as if the fallen leave and twigs were supporting her weight impossibly. She stopped right in front of me and looked up. “Why are you searching for Hangtown? What good could come of this?”
“Why?” I asked, looking flabbergasted that she would even ask. Why? Because I wanted to show Grimm, whether he was a man or creature, that I wasn’t afraid of him. Because I would show him I wasn’t going to just lay down just because he’s the infamous Grimm. That I was going to fight back. “Because, I’m going to hit him where it hurts. I’m gonna find this mythical town and burn it to the ground.”
Amanda rolled her eyes.
“How do you plan on doing that?” She asked, crossing her arms over her modest chest again. I shrugged and let go of my death grip on the stick and it fell to the ground. Lines from the bark were embedded into the skin. I slung my pack off my shouldered again and opened it. She peered in seeing the canister of gasoline I had brought him me. She looked back up at me an scrunched her face. “So, you’ve just been trucking through the woods, with a single jug of gas, looking for a place that no mere mortal can find on their own, to burn it down?”
I looked at her, then at the back pack, then back again.
“Well, when you put it that way, it does sound kinda dumb…” I said. She laughed.
“I’m glad we agree on something.” She said and then snapped her fingers. The back pack in my hands vanished. I looked around frantically for it while Amanda just giggled.
“HEY! Give it back!” I exclaimed. I reached out to grab her but she easily avoided my reach.
“I thought you said it was a dumb idea.” She said with a giggle as she kept dipping and dodging my wild attempts to grab her. “So you really think it’s still a good idea to walk into Hangtown and try to light it on fire? And then on top of that have to deal with Grimm where he is the MOST powerful? And that’s all if you could even happen to stumble across it. I thought you were suppose to be smart.”
I finally got tired of trying to grab her and stopped, resting my hands on my hips as I panted a bit. She smiled at me, seated on a fallen tree like a bench. I ran one hand through my hair and gave out a frustrated sigh.
“What would you have me do then?” I asked. She laughed and patted the spot on the log next her. I shrugged and walked over, sitting down on former tree trunk. She took my hand and patted the top of it.
“I would have you wait until your match. Face him at the Pay-Per-View in a neutral site. Not at the source of his power.” She gave me a knowing look. “He’s already proved that he’s more then enough to handle outside of Hangtown. It’s foolish of you to even attempt to go there.”
I wanted to protest but deep down I knew she was right. Going to confront Phinehas on his own turf was basically a suicide mission. But what else was there for me to do? I’ve been haunted by dreams and visions for months. This great evil or whatever it was wouldn’t leave me alone. Hadn’t slept through the night since the loss. Amanda looked at me, her eyes saying she knew what I was thinking.
“You know, Grimm isn’t the force of darkness that’s been tormenting you. Well, he’s been tormenting you but still.”
“Well, what is he then?” I asked with a bit of anger in my voice, wanting answers as I was getting sick of cryptic nonsense. She shrugged.
“He’s not evil, but he’s certainly not good, either. He’s just some kind of personification of an ancient entity. As old as the Earth herself, just taking whatever he fancies at the time. Right now he seems to be interested in professional wrestling. And you just happened to be a casualty.”
I took my hand away from her and rubbed both of them down my face, feeling the rough stubble of my beard.
“If Grimm isn’t the thing that’s after me, then what is?” I turned my head to look at her, expecting an answer. She shrugged again.
“I honestly don’t know. I’ve searched through every ancient book at the library and even my bosses don’t know.”
“Bosses? Library? I don’t know what’s going on, but you need to either give me answers or leave me the hell alone.” I said, my frustration leaking out into my voice. She sighed and smoothed out the jacket of her paints-suit.
“I guess I can tell you since we’re going to be working together. I’m a Deputy Inspector for the Department of Magical Protection. Our duty is to protect both human’s and magical entities from each other. My job is to investigate certain things that happen in the non-magic world. Like I said to you before, pro wrestling is a hot bed for such things. I have to investigate these things an assess a threat level to it. And to be honest I think what’s happening to you is som…. Hey! Where are you going?!”
As she was speaking I had gotten up from the fallen tree and had just started walking away from her.
“I’m leaving! I’ve heard enough. If I wanted to hear stuff like that I’d go read Harry Potter. Have fun riding your hippogriff. Say hi to Dumbledore. I’m out!”
“You can’t just walk away!”
“Watch me.”
I kept walking for a bit before I turned around to see the small woman/elf following me, her bare feet not making a sound. I turned around and kept walking.
“Where are you going?” She asked.
“I’m going to walk in one direction until I either hit a road and wind up walking into Hangtown. I’ll deal with whatever happens when it happens.”
“I gave you an answer. Just because you think it’s a lie doesn’t mean that it is!”
I still just kept walking. I heard her sigh behind me.
“Fine. Come with me then. I’ll bring you to somebody that can give you some answers better then I could.”
I stopped walking and turned around. I just stared at her. She put her hands up.
“Hey. Listen, just come with me. It’s just a little ways down from here. If you don’t like what you hear, I’ll leave you alone to do whatever stupid things you want. Like burning a town down for one guy.”
I pondered it for a second. I did really want some clarity on the situation. It would maybe help me figure things out before Sunday. I rubbed my chin before nodding.
“Fine. Let’s go.” I said. She clapped and smiled.
“Excellent. Follow me.”
And then she took off, running through the woods.
“Fuck.”
I took off after her, trying to keep up as I maneuvered through protruding rocks and roots, almost tripping over a few of them. Every now and then I’d look up to see where Amanda was. She was way ahead of me, zooming through trees and over rocks as if they were moving out of her way. I tripped over one of said rocks, stumbling a bit before catching myself. I looked up and she had disappeared from my line of sight. I groaned and took off running as fast as I could while still looking out for the boobytraps from the woods. Finally, after it seemed like an eternity of running deeper into the darkened woods, I caught up with Amanda. She was standing in front of a massive pile of stones. They were different colors and had various amounts of moss on each stone. Bushes and small trees grew out of the cracks. I stood next to her, hands on my knees as I panted. She looked at me in this state and laughed.
“Took you long enough. This is it.”
I looked around quizzically. Aside from the pile of rocks, there was nothing around. I pushed off my knees and stood up straight, looking around once more before looking down at the elf.
“Unless your guy is invisible, I don’t think anyone is here.”
Amanda rolled her eyes when she looked over at me. Nice to see women have still have attitudes wether they were human or not.
“He’s here. We just need to wake him up.” Amanda said, matter of factly. I was about to ask another question when I saw her reach over and knocked against one of the stones. Nothing happened for a bit. As my mind was formulating a snide comment to make, the earth beneath my feet start to rumble. I looked down then at Amanda as the shaking intensified, causing birds in the trees to squawk and fly into the air. Then the rock pile started to shift, causing me to crouch, covering my head from the impending rock slide. I opened my eyes when I heard Amanda’s giggle. The rocks didn’t fall but they were twisting around each other, more of them rising out of the ground, making the dirt crack. I looked up in horror as a face appeared in the pile of rocks and dirt. Amanda looked at my face and had a nice chuckle because of it. I didn’t care, my eyes were locked on the huge golem that pulled itself out of the earth.A beard of moss and twigs adorned his stone face as it stared down at us with dark empty holes where I assumed his eyes were supposed to be, looking like bottomless sinkholes that opened in the ground. Loose dirty and pebbles fell the the ground off his body. I turned to Amanda.
“Is this your man?” I asked. She smirked and nodded but flinched slightly as one of the golem’s huge arms slammed into the ground next to us. It was a solid pillar of packed earth and stones, gnarled roots protruding out from various places. He leaned his monster head down to look at us closer with its baseless eyes. I froze in place when it’s maw split the green beard on it’s face.
“Who dares interrupt the slumber of Grudor?” The golem asked, his voice deep, slow and ancient, like the sound the tectonic plates sliding against each other. I stood frozen, not knowing what to expect. Amanda though, stepped forward and bowed at the waist.
“Great Grudor,” She said, still bowed, “I am a Deputy Inspector for the Department of Magical Protection. I’ve come to ask you some questions.” Grader looked as annoyed as a living land slide could.
“I have done nothing.” said Grudor, his gravelly voice thundering. “No earth moving, no anything. I have been asleep for over nine hundred years. IF you want to go talk to someone, go ask those damn Dillingers! Always up to something, I say.”
Amanda looked up from her bow and shook her head.
“No, no. Nothing about earth moving. I need to ask you questions about my friend over here.”
I silently cursed the elf in my head as Grudor’s massive head turned towards me. The stones ground against each other and cracked, causing a cascade of dirt and rocks down on to the undergrowth.
“A human?” The golem asked, more to himself then anyone. “It’s been centuries. Now I am seeing an elf and a human together. The more the world changes, the more it stays the same.”
I wanted to ask Amanda what the Grudor meant by that, but the golem cut me off.
“What is your name, human?”
I swallowed and looked up at Grudor.
“I’m… uh.. Gerard Angelo.. um.. your majesty?”
The golem stared at me for a moment before his stone mouth opened, letting out a sound like rocks smashing together that seemed to be laughter. Mud fell out to the ground around the jagged rocks that were acting as teeth in his mouth.
“The human thinks I am a King! Being woken for that laugh was worth it!.” Grudor turned his head and looked down at Amanda again. “Go on elf, ask ye questions and I will answer them to the best of my ability.”
Amanda straightened out her jacket as I stood there, still waiting for the creature to get bored and smash us both into bloody stains.
“Have you heard or felt anything about something ancient and powerful awakening?” Amanda ask , look back up into the abysmal eyes of Grudor. The golem gave a growl and lifted a massive hand of soil and stone, stroking his moss beard.
“The last hundred years us golems had been feeling something. Around the place the humans call the middle of east? I think.” Grudor said, pulling his hand away from his beard, pulling chunks of plant life away with it. Gerard looked at Amanda. The color had drained from her face from the golem’s words. Grader didn’t notice as he continued.
“And I am assuming that has something to do with your human friend, Gerard, here.”
That made Amanda snap out of it.
“Yes, how did you know?” she asked in surprise. Grudor let out a sound that was a like a snort.
“Child of Gaia,” he said, his stone mouth twisting and cracking into a wry smile. “A human that is able to understand the speech of the rocks. One that is being bothered by an ancient entity? He is one of the Electi. The Chosen. Is it not obvious?”
Amanda’s eyes went wide an her jaw fell open.
“Of course! It’s so obvious now!” Amanda exclaimed. I wanted to ask what was going on, but Grudor cut me off again.
“I am glad I could be of help, child. But, I have been awake far too long and I need to slumber. I have gotten less then a thousand years!”
Amanda nodded and the golem looked down at us as he pushed himself back into the earth.
“Good luck, Inspector. And good luck to your, Gerard Angelo. You may need it.” Grader said before closing the pits that were his eyes and the rock pile collapsed back into formation, causing another flock of birds to scatter into the sky. I took my chance and turned to Amanda.
“What does he mean by the Chosen? What is going on in the Middle East? I need some answers.”
Amanda snapped out of her trances and turned to look at me.
“Gerard, There is no time to explain.” She stepped over to me as she said this, grabbing both of my hands. “I need to get back to the DOPM and report this. And you need to get back home and focus on Grimm.”
I went to protest but she cut me off.
“I promise, when I learn anything and have more clarity on the situation, I will let you know.” She looked into my eyes. “You have my word.”
I sighed but gave a nod. She smiled.
“Alright, time for you to get home.”
“How?” I asked. “I have no idea where I am.”
She just giggled.
“Time to wake up.”
======
I snapped awake in my bed, my body covered in a cold sweat. My sheets were soaked as I panted on top of them. I looked over at the clock. It read 6:05 AM. I groaned. There was no way I was going to be able to go back to sleep. Not with just what happened in my dream.
Wait.
Was it a dream. I ran my hands through my hair. Maybe I was losing my mind.
Maybe all this pressure was getting to me.
Did I really just run into elves and golems in the Kentucky woods? Or was I legit going insane?
I didn’t know anything about that. All I knew is that at Return to Glory, there was going to be a fight.
And wether I win or lose, or even die for that matter. Grimm was going to respect me.