Post by Alice Harris on Dec 8, 2015 16:26:11 GMT -5
Loyalty, Souls and the Road I Travel....
Alice let the final words of Bohannon run through her mind, they were the ones which had resonated with her the most in his monologue ahead of the huge match they had at Holiday Fear. The fact he mentioned loyalty, the one thing which has been going around a lot in NAW recently - alliances which were fragile at best breaking apart, unit's who seemed tight rife with mistrust and contempt for each other over impulsive and foolish actions and self-awakenings which to the untrained eye or the uninformed observer, shown breaches of trust which had been placed in error.
The one thing which stood out the most was the final ten words of Bohannon's talk.
Alice repeated the words to herself as she sat there examining one of her handguns. Ensuring it was clean and fit for purpose, she eventually loaded the clip into it, disengaged the safety and chambered a round before gently squeezing the trigger, sending the 9mm round hurtling towards the glass bottle which she had left on the wall fifty yards away. Hearing the satisfying smash, Alice put the safety back on.
Alice paused as she leaned back against the wall behind her.
Alice ran her fingers through her hair, brushing some of it to the side as she took a deep breath.
Alice closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again.
Picking her gun up again, Alice chambered another round before taking aim and firing another shot at another empty bottle on the same wall.
Taking aim, Alice fires off another shot again. As the shell casing is ejected and clatters to the floor beside her, she puts the safety back on and places her firearm back in its holster.
Walking towards the wall where the targets once stood, Alice continues to speak, with a growing conviction in her voice.
Kneeling down at the wall, picking up some of the broken shards of glass, Alice looks at them in the early evening light.
Clenching the glass shard in her hand, breaking the skin, drawing blood, Alice drops it to the floor and looks at the crimson liquid which gently flows from the lacerations.
Clenching her bleeding hand into a fist, Alice causes the blood to flow quicker as it begins to drip out from the small gaps. As the red liquid gently rolls off her skin and onto the floor beside her, she smirks.
Alice unclenches her fist and looks at her bloodied hand. Raising it to her face, she spreads her fingers and drags them across her face like a commando would when applying war paint.
Alice smirks from behind her crimson warpaint.
Pulling the gun out one last time and disengaging the safety, Alice takes aim at the camera.
“Alice, you are right in saying that we are at a crossroads. But remember, there are four roads leading away from an intersection. My road continues on to the Horizon. Alice, you can crash and burn in the intersection with Corey. Or, you can turn and go into the future with me. The landscape of this company is about to change…and you can be a part of it. The decision is yours. Remember where your soul lies…and let your loyalty follow.”
-Bohannon, NAW Horizon Champion.
-Bohannon, NAW Horizon Champion.
Alice let the final words of Bohannon run through her mind, they were the ones which had resonated with her the most in his monologue ahead of the huge match they had at Holiday Fear. The fact he mentioned loyalty, the one thing which has been going around a lot in NAW recently - alliances which were fragile at best breaking apart, unit's who seemed tight rife with mistrust and contempt for each other over impulsive and foolish actions and self-awakenings which to the untrained eye or the uninformed observer, shown breaches of trust which had been placed in error.
The one thing which stood out the most was the final ten words of Bohannon's talk.
"Remember where your soul lies.... And let your loyalty follow"
Alice repeated the words to herself as she sat there examining one of her handguns. Ensuring it was clean and fit for purpose, she eventually loaded the clip into it, disengaged the safety and chambered a round before gently squeezing the trigger, sending the 9mm round hurtling towards the glass bottle which she had left on the wall fifty yards away. Hearing the satisfying smash, Alice put the safety back on.
"Since I came here, many have tried to sway me... Some have tried to steer me towards their agendas whilst others have tried to steer me away from maintaining my composure... But this is the first time where the subject of my loyalty has been brought up..."
Alice paused as she leaned back against the wall behind her.
"I only have two people who I have loyalty to... Myself... And Alice White... I hear people comment about this all the time, saying how my blind faith and trust in her is misplaced, will lead me to ruin, will be my downfall... Perhaps somewhere down the line they could potentially be correct... But at the same time, if you were in my situation... What would you do?"
Alice ran her fingers through her hair, brushing some of it to the side as she took a deep breath.
"I was a risk, a gamble, an unknown... And Alice White took a chance on me.... Look at me now... Once again, I am on the edge of the cliff, ready to jump into the abyss of uncertainty.... All because I was given that initial chance by someone who believed in me... If it wasn't for Alice White, I'd still be languishing in the lower card of PRW, stuck in a dead end run where I was there to enhance more than win... Alice White took a risk and that risk paid off, because of my determination to live up to the potential she sees in me..."
Alice closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again.
"And that Loyalty has been repaid... Alice trusts me enough to do what I have to in order to keep people invested in NAW... My Loyalty needs no further questioning, I have no loyalty to the fans or to anyone else but the person who put their faith in me, and in myself... If the fans choose to cheer me or cheer when I am left in a bloody mess at the end of this, that is their right to, as long as I stay true to my goals, it matters little in the long run"
Picking her gun up again, Alice chambered another round before taking aim and firing another shot at another empty bottle on the same wall.
"You talked about souls... How me and you, the two sides of the same coin both sold ours to do what we love whilst the hatebringer may not have one... Perhaps we did... It is a thankless job at times, it crushes more than it lifts... As soon as you are on top, there is always someone with the knife ready to plunge it into your back... You should know... You brought it on yourself with your actions..."
Taking aim, Alice fires off another shot again. As the shell casing is ejected and clatters to the floor beside her, she puts the safety back on and places her firearm back in its holster.
"To commit such a betrayal... To take a trust placed in you and to stab it in the back in the public eye, laying clear all intentions... It takes a certain heartlessness and callousness... Something someone without a soul would do... One would expect that from the Hatebringer, after all, Bull is a monster, one we are both all too familiar with... But whilst you have seemingly lost your soul to the point where it is unrecognisable, Bull seems to be getting his back... Because a soul isn't just something spiritual or personal... No... A soul is also what drives us on... That burning desire... That thing where we're lying there on the canvas under the spotlights, bleeding out, soaked in sweat... Feeling the sting of fatigue running rampant in all of our limbs... It is that thing which makes us get back up, look the referee in the eyes and deliver a firm and authoritative 'Fuck You' when he asks if we have had enough...."
Walking towards the wall where the targets once stood, Alice continues to speak, with a growing conviction in her voice.
"A soul is something which reminds us why we do what we do... It reaffirms our loyalty to our craft, it helps hone our focus and dedication on achieving what we set out to do... It is the fire inside which doesn't go out, no matter who tries to extinguish it... And whilst your fire may be burning bright with the darkened glow of infamy, it pales compared to the light of ambition or to the will to survive at all costs of the Bulls... Bohannon, you may think that selling your soul at the crossroads long ago was the foundation for getting you to where you are now, seemingly on an open road with little in your way but these crossroads we are all approaching... You are far from it... The moment you compromised what made you what you are... The moment you gave an irreplaceable part of yourself over in exchange for success... You gave yourself a handicap which not even the biggest of ego's nor reserves of talent could ever replace... And whilst it feels like I may have sold my soul... I have never compromised what makes me who I am to get to the top... Every single drip of sweat, every drop of blood, every bruise, every strain, sprain, fracture and break... Every rejection and defeat, every doubter and critic... All of It only made me stronger to the point where I can walk down to that cage, stand in it with two men who are willing to put me through hell and back and through hell once again just to say they are the best in the business... And come out of it still standing...."
Kneeling down at the wall, picking up some of the broken shards of glass, Alice looks at them in the early evening light.
"You see, we're all hurtling towards the crossroads... We hold the future of NAW in our hands... Corey Bull is on the path to immortality, he will continue on that road given his accomplishments so far have permitted him to head there.... He doesn't just stand on the shoulders of giants to see things from a different perspective... He himself is one of those giants... The giants who people like ourselves will one day become...."
Clenching the glass shard in her hand, breaking the skin, drawing blood, Alice drops it to the floor and looks at the crimson liquid which gently flows from the lacerations.
"You said you have the Horizon in front of you... That is true, regardless of what happens, you are the only person guaranteed to enter that cage and leave it with a title still around your waist... You have nothing to lose and everything to gain... You have that limitless expanse ahead of you which you plan to build your own legacy on... If you triumph, this will be the day your decisions will be justified... This will be the day when the decisions and actions you took can be empirically proven to have given results and it will affirm you may have made the right decision in giving away part of yourself in exchange for victory...."
Clenching her bleeding hand into a fist, Alice causes the blood to flow quicker as it begins to drip out from the small gaps. As the red liquid gently rolls off her skin and onto the floor beside her, she smirks.
"But you forget the road I am on... The road filled with adversity, filled with challenges, filled with obstacles everyone thinks I could not work around or get through... Since day one people have looked down on me because I am a woman who wants to be remembered for her fighting skills, not for her looks or the number of men who have had my legs up in the air... They look down on me because I am smaller than them, physically weaker than them... They look down at me because in an age of self-engrossed talentless whores who use their looks and their words to get ahead instead of their ability, I go against the grain... I am on the road with the most resistance, I am going against the current, beating the odds every time and even if I have hit the occasional speed bump or got a flat tyre, I've fixed the problem and carried on towards the crossroads..."
Alice unclenches her fist and looks at her bloodied hand. Raising it to her face, she spreads her fingers and drags them across her face like a commando would when applying war paint.
"I know the road I am on and it leads to the Legacy championship.... My loyalty to myself and those who shown faith in me has been rewarded by being allowed to keep moving on this journey... My soul lies firmly in the pursuit of greatness and no matter how bruised or broken it is... It remains intact, untarnished... It is complete... And once we collide at that junction, We will go our separate ways once it is over with... We will resume our journey, taking the routes we have chosen... And the one whose soul burns brightest... Whose ambition cannot be surpassed... Whose will cannot be bent or broken... They will be the one to leave the others in their wake... You say the Hatebringer will crash and burn at this junction... You say you will continue on with the limitless horizon in front of you and you ask me to join you on this road... These things may ring true... But you forget one thing... I follow the path I have chosen for myself and myself alone... And that path will lead me to my destiny... Fenrir spoke of me being a Valkyrie, someone who takes the fallen warriors to the great hall in Valhalla... On my road, I have enough room to bring two more with me... As Fenrir would say... I will bring Ragnarok down on you and take you to the gates of Valhalla myself..."
Alice smirks from behind her crimson warpaint.
"Two of us will leave with nothing or two of us will leave with something when the intersection we call the cage is finally passed... This isn't just a battle for the Legacy title and the future... This is a battle for the very things we are Bohannon... This is the battle which will show all those hopefuls just what it takes to reach the top and it will set the precedent for future generations... Just be wary, the bloodied knife you plunged into the back of Bull when he trusted you cuts both ways... You too have been marked by this and whilst your journey into the distant horizon continues, sooner or later, you will suffer the same betrayal and you'll be the wreck on the roadside"
Pulling the gun out one last time and disengaging the safety, Alice takes aim at the camera.
"My aim is true... As long as my bullet finds it's mark, I will get the result I want"