Post by Lantlas on Apr 1, 2006 16:57:44 GMT -5
The sun is fading beyond the horizon of the landscape. Lying on my back, watching the blue progressively get darker, I see the trees above my head becoming silhouettes amidst the sky. A slight wind stirs the branches, and the simple sounds of nature can bring you such an inner peace. A leaf blows across my chest. I bring a fresh flower to my face, closing my eyes, and taking in one of nature's most pure forms of happiness. The first star appears right before my eyes. I'm sure there are others, but it just happens to be the first gleam of light on which I've focused. So much has changed since the last time I saw the first star in the sky...
Suddenly, I'm in that moment. Trenton, New Jersey... A few months into the downward spiral TDWA career that almost sent us back to Germany. I open the back entrance to the building, and I see my brother facing at least five guys who are obviously pissed beyond belief. I move closer, being careful not to make them think they're about to be attacked. No sense in getting us both killed.
"Listen you punk," one of them angrily threatens, "Leila is my bitch. If you even look at her again, I'll tear out your eyes."
Neovan doesn't back down an inch. This is certainly a part of it I don't remember. "Must be a terrific life for her if you think of her in such a positive light." Neovan, my brother! When did you develop a spine like that? Moreso, why didn't I remember this about you?
"You've got an attitude, boy," another one of them cuts in. "I don't care if you are some big-shot wrestler in this place, we'll fuckin' beat you down!"
"How exhilirating. How long's it gonna be before you say that to her, or are you strictly post-marital abusive?" Big words and bold statements? Neovan, the lady killer, the dumbass who went pining for every girl in sight the minute he got to HHW?
"You're signing your own death warrant, boy." Wait a minute, where have I heard that before?
"I'll sign it in your own blood!" That one sounded familiar too.
"This is the real world, and it's harsh and bitter, just like we are!" Are these guys watching the same mob movies Anthony Douglas is or something?
Something kicks in, and I spring into action. I stand in front of my brother, and I grab the wrist of one of the thugs who has a broken bottle in his hand. I use his momentum to break it against the wall, not to mention his wrist at the same time. Neovan jumps in, but is quickly mammothed by two of those overgrown grizzly children. I kick back, knocking one of them in the gut, and throw the guy who's wrist I broke into the one who's left. With them out of the way, I dive into the two Neanderthals who are attacking my brother. I throw one of them into the wall of the brick alley. Before I can turn around, I feel something piercing my back. I look down, and can see my blood dripping to the ground, but for some reason the pain does not kick in.
I turn to face the thug who has just knifed me, and I see his face turn white as he realizes his attack has only added color to the alley floor. As he's backed into a corner, he looks me in the eyes. "You may beat me, but you better kill me. If not, I'll come back for you. I'll hunt you down, and I will send you six feet under!"
I hesitate, noting how oddly familiar this all sounds once again. Noticing my hesitation, the thug leaps forward with his knife. I manage to get out of the way, but his knife gashes my arm rather deep. I use his momentum to drive him into the ground, and I turn him over. The fear screams in his eyes, fearing his own mortality. As tempting as it is to end it for this undeserved attack on my brother, I grab him by the shirt lapels.
"Ich werde so niedrig nicht sinken, ein Leben zu beenden, als Sie zu heute Abend vorgehabt haben. Das ist nicht das Geschäft, das ich mache. Außer Ihren Bedrohungen für die, die sie befürchten. Ist verloren. Auf Wiedersehen"
(TRANSLATION: " I will not sink so low to end a life as you intended to this evening. That is not the business I do. Save your threats for those who fear them. Get lost. Goodbye." Remember, Lantlas hadn't been out of Germany very long at this point.)
Somehow comprehending what I said, the thug takes off like a bat out of hell. His friends, in likely severe pain, follow his lead and leave. I reach a hand around to my back, and my hand is covered in my own blood. I feel a bit dizzy, and I drop to my knees. The world is spinning, I can't seem to focus. I fall to my back in the alley, and I see the dark blue sky above me. I count my blessings, wondering if this will be the last thing I ever see. One star appears in the sky, and both my eyes lock with it. At that moment, I feel something within me... Something powerful, something strong... something almost not human...
I shake my head, and look around me. Nothing but trees and grass. I reach my hand around to my back, and though I can still feel the scar, there's no blood. I feel unsettled, and I lay back down, trying to pinpoint what got me out of that situation...
Feeling dizzy again, I see both lines of brick surrounding me. Although something dwells within me, I feel very weak. I hear a voice so pure and perfect that it must be one of an angel. Two pools of crystal blue eyes are in front of me, no longer the night sky. The voice speaks, though it comes through not just as words. I feel each one affect me with its power.
"A gift was bestowed upon you long before it was your destiny to discover it. Like no other human will you ever be, Lantlas Anduril. Your ancestry lies in places you have yet to understand, but the answers lie within your soul, of which you have many new things to learn about yourself. One day, you will know. We shall meet again, Lantlas Anduril."
The eyes disappear, and I feel my strength returning. My consciousness returns to the forest in which I lay. Putting the pieces together, everything began to make sense. I should've known about these things a long time ago, but at the time I didn't comprehend it because I didn't know English very well yet at that point! That voice, I knew that voice too. Having met this voice again, I had to wonder if it was someone close to me, someone I knew, someone maybe I loved. I focused on the memory once again, trying to pinpoint it. I knew those eyes as well, why wasn't it screaming out to me?
"One day, you will know. We shall meet again, Lantlas Anduril."
Those eyes, those blue eyes... Why couldn't I place them?
"Perhaps you are learning where your distrust of humans comes from."
I see something drop from the trees, and once again, I come face-to-face with my Elven self. How the hell he breaks away from me without telling me, I still haven't figured it out, but at least it's less tricky than with Devon and Kieran. They don't even look anything alike.
"Your hostility began when that mugging changed your brother, much for the worse. You didn't realize it, but because of what happened that night, a part of you became very protective. Internally protective, as if to shield yourself from feeling any sort of pain brought on by these creatures. Something that was awoken by one of your own."
"I don't understand."
My Elven side sighs, and looks up to the sky. "It's more than Devon that makes Kieran so familiar to you."
Familiar... Kieran... IT WAS HER! "It was Kieran who I saw that night?"
"Hallelujah, Elfboy. The pieces finally fit together."
"What exactly did she do?"
"Having been raised completely by humans, knowing not of any other race of beings, your mind became ignorant to the fact that there might be."
"How so?"
"Is it really all that unbelievable? Look at the movies, the imagination-spawned creations of these humans. At least one movie every year comes out where there are aliens."
"Yeah, and..."
"Haven't you noticed the aliens aren't really all that alien? They're like humans, but they have a metal eyebrow or something?"
"And that has what to do with me?"
"Wow, I really do have to spell it out for you sometimes. The human imagination is so egocentric and simple that it cannot comprehend anything other than what it knows. Your human parents couldn't have known what you really are. It wouldn't have even occured to them. Therefore, having been raised in that sort of environment, what you learned and where you lived influenced you in an overly-human way. Your true ancestry did not disappear, though it lay dormant for many years. At last, it was awoken the only way it could've been... by one of your own. By Kieran Evenstar."
At last, the questions of my past were finally being answered. Why I felt so different after that night, why my hair became blue, why the Elven blood influenced my ways, thus leading to the Elvish Tale, the Elven Path, and the Elven Warrior.
"Some things are still left undone."
"In what sense?"
"Your business this week."
"What, with Showtime? Or Douglas?"
"Both."
"Showtime... The one to whom I mean nothing, the one he is overlooking."
"Such a dangerous thing to do, is it not?"
"Indeed. His reasoning is that we have no past and he doesn't see us having a future."
"What, is he breaking up with you?"
"He's too focused on getting his revenge that he's blind to the fact that he may be getting damaged further for overlooking the most dangerous superstar in PCW."
"Not that we have a problem with further damaging the already injured."
"Especially if they ask for it. But speaking of injured, Anthony Douglas feels the need to mirror the true human idiocy yet again."
"The same shit as usual from a different mouth, no?"
"It amazes me that after spending so much time dwelling on his past, he has the nerve to turn around and try to trash the others, because as we know in this world, no one in wrestling has any bad past whatsoever, right?"
"No, of course not."
"It angers me beyond reason to hear him reference anything about me as fake."
"Especially when it just resides in his bitterness for having been defeated by you."
"For all he says about how bad his past is, how can he turn around and claim to be emotionless?"
"It doesn't work both ways."
"I wonder what emotions would spawn if I told him his past was fake, that his parents never really died, or if I spit on their name just because of my personal issues with him. For reasons no further beyond the fact of being a shallow shell of a man just because life is kicking his ass, he feels the need to attempt to tarnish the name of my brother."
"Of course, cause he's made such a name for himself."
"He's nothing more than a walking contradiction, not to mention more cliche than Neo Anderson's trend of the week."
"Sometimes I do wish I could put him out of his misery."
"That is not our way, and you know this. When I had that chance, when I could've sought the vengeance I believed to be in pure justice for assaulting my brother, it was not then and still isn't our way. He will learn that sometimes, staying alive is far worse than what surely painful ending awaits him."
"Like Showtime, he will know before the end."
I feel relaxed, as my Elven side disappears and there's no more confusion within me. The sky is dark now, as within this evening lies great comfort and solitude. A walk along the Elven Path, where so many have believed themselves superior and been proven wrong, now lies as a place of recluse. Deep within the woods, nothing around but the trees and the night sky, I've realized what I should've known all along...
The answer lies within.