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Post by Lochlyn Cade on Aug 11, 2021 15:53:10 GMT
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Wolf In Sheep's Clothing
08.13.21 | Action Wrestling | XIII vs El Diablo Blanco (1WM, MHW)
He was small, somewhat frail, and one might even say sickly as a young boy. His hair was a certain shade of red, like that on the end of a match, and his temper was just as quick to fan into a flame. It was for these reasons that his mother always attempted to pull him away from his fathers business of professional wrestling. For all the hours that he would play wrestler with his friends or sit in front of a television screen watching his heroes defeat the villainous bad guy, she silently suffered. She couldn’t bare to see her only son hurt, or worse, taken in by a sport that’s destroyed the best of men. She ultimately failed her son and in many ways he continues to break her heart.
He still keeps those old action figures on a shelf in the den of his London home. They show the signs of wear with scratches and dings having fought the battles of imagination. It was there in those moments of fantasy that he became the man that we now see standing at the edge of a quiet and dusty room. His imagination still hard at work as he stares at the ring where he learned his craft. It’s become known in small circles around London as Lochlyn Cade’s NecroCore Auditorium.
It’s the kind of place where those with a faint of heart mindset are weeded out early and often. Only those willing to sacrifice everything, devote themselves fully to the cruelty of their labors, and those that possess an inner devotion to become their best when between the ropes; only these individuals are truly forged in the fire of NecroCore.
The Promethean, as he often times refers to himself, was determined to create a world of reality from childhood dreams. He’s not surprised in the least by the small domain that he has begun to build in the world that once belonged to his father.
He wouldn’t deny that it was nothing more than an old theatre converted with wooden benches, exercise equipment, and a ring without much give. The place couldn’t occupy anymore than two hundred people, maybe two hundred twenty, if it was standing room only around the ring. The reality is that this room, that ring, is ultimately the road he traveled to the roster of Action Wrestling’s CruiserClash. You can hear it in his introduction to the ring on a weekly basis, a constant reminder that the road he traveled, it’s paved in his mother’s tears and words of pain.
Despite those dreaded fears and concerns of his mother, he did grow from being that sweet little boy, into the cruel and merciless man she was afraid he’d become. He has, himself, questioned at times if he could be driven by passion and remorseless abandon. Ultimately he made the sacrifices that he needed to make and now he’s standing on the cusp of Corey Blacks XIII in Oslo, Norway.
“Did you bring the mask?”
Lost in thought he didn’t hear her footsteps until she was already standing near him. Her touch gentle as she places one hand on his shoulder while handing him the mask he requested with the other.
“I did.”
The eyes are dark, hollow, void of emotion, and in a strange sense told the only real truth he’s ever known about humanity. We all wear a kind of mask every single day and in our own ways we fear that somebody is going to figure us out, they call it the impostor syndrome. Fear that you’re simply posing as somebody that when left alone, you aren’t. A good husband or father, confident, or that of a positive role model; such as that of El Diablo Blanco. The man who preaches positivism to his Little Diablitos.
A mask can also bring out a more expressive, authentic, and less self-conscious side of a person.
He, more than most, understands why his opponent wears a mask even if he were to deny it if asked. It’s called maskenfreiheit it’s the feeling of freedom when wearing a mask. It’s something that Lochlyn Cade unexpectedly experienced during his initial days as Reo Raijin, the LuchaVillain.
“Are you sure that you want to look through those hollow eyes again?”'
Vivian Rae’s words are of concern, fear, that reminds him of his mother in the way she cares for him.
“I know you feel like you have no other choice. That this event demands this side of you. I just don’t want you too go back to that dark place and loose yourself…” Nodding towards the mask. “...to that thing again.”
“El Diablo... will be wearing his.”
Vivian Rae Jade has experienced the guy behind the hollow eyes, the thing, that lives inside of the mask. You put on a mask or two or ten, then take a few off, then put a couple more on. It’s exhausting. Worst of all, you start forgetting who you really are. She’s lost him to this thing before and she fears losing him again.
“His mask, his persona, it’s different than yours. It’s a symbol of hope for his Little Diablitos. Yours is something different…”
“Violent.”
“Cursed…”
She once explained it as such;
He always talked about the mask as if it were it’s own person, with it’s own thoughts, and without boundaries. Somehow along the way the mask created a persona of it’s own and Lochlyn began calling it Serpentis Redd.
Serpentis has a near religious significance to a clan of vampires who believed that their founder was the Egyptian god Set. Although kindred scientists presume a relation to the shape-shifting powers of Protean, the discipline that gives vampires the ability to change form. It was for this shape-shifting analogy and his customary red hair sticking out from under the mask that he chose the name.
“I’m no more a vampire than El Diablo Blanco is a demon.”
“I don’t think you’re a vampire and I don’t believe that you’re actually fighting a war of demons, not figuratively anyway.”
Vivian Rae’s internal conflict, between staying quiet or struggling to simplify her feelings, forces a few moments of uncomfortable silence. Despite the voice sitting at the back of her thoughts, she settles on the decision of explaining herself.
“El Diablo Blanco has significance for you that most people just aren’t aware of, yet. They don’t know you’ve already wrestled him once during the first Roth Invitational. The tournament that after victory propelled him into a viable global brand. They don’t know that he hosted his own backyard charity event, the Backyard-O-Rama, that garnered all of ten fans. People don’t know that your father, the founder of Omega Championship Wrestling, also wrestled at El D’s event before selling his company to Action Wrestling.
They don’t know that Michael Cade, your father, teamed with your self imposed nemesis J.C. Keeton at El Diablo Blanco’s backyard event. The same J.C. Keeton who was solely responsible for your coming to Action Wrestling. The same guy you drove out of the division, the entire company, he once graced as a Champion.”
Lochlyn Cade’s loathing of J.C. Keeton has been well documented over the past year. Vivian Rae may be the only person who recognises his disgust of El Diablo Blanco’s virtuous goody two-shoes act nearly as much.
“Blanco defeated Daniel Dream when both men graced the ring of Epic Wrestling. The same Epic wrestling that AW acquired the rights too earlier this year. The same Daniel Dream that you walked thru like he was nothing.
That your Dark Dynasty brother, Eli Hix, teamed with Graham Baker and the two of them defeated El Diablo and some nameless hack not worth mentioning while they were in Epic. The company that saw Blanco as it’s World Champion.”
The speed at which she talks doesn’t slow but he recognizes a look of disgust upon Lochlyn’s face.
“You’re careers have crisscrossed so many different ways that you were bound to step into the ring together at least once more. You all but demanded it. That’s when Corey Black presented the perfect opportunity, the perfect arena, the one place that can truly showcase the savagery that you’re becoming known for. It’s an event that you’ve competed at previously and Corey Black knew that you couldn’t turn down the opportunity, XIII.
It’s the event that has helped shape your entire identity in this business.”
Vivian Rae Jade is referencing the NecroCore style of wrestling that Lochlyn Cade has innovated and pioneered for himself. It’s the style he teaches to the students of the NecroCore Academy Project. He’s built a brand of wrestling that lives behind the mask he on occasions still wears. It’s remorseless in it’s violence, feral in it’s thirst for blood, and grotesque when compared to the socially acceptable form of today’s sport.
“I’ve never been known as a pacifist, someone who avoids physical confrontations, not even as a kid. I, however, never wanted this throne or crown of violence that I’ve become accustomed too. I never set out to build a wrestling legacy of spilled blood. I never imagined my opponents referencing themselves as victims or survivors of Lochlyn Cade.
I can’t imagine a world where Nikki Vaughn would have admitted that was a possibility and look at her now. She’s sitting on the sidelines indefinitely because she didn’t expect to dance with the fire, quite literally.”
The mere thought of this act brings about a small flicker of joy in his eyes and an arrogant smirk that’s plainly written across his face.
“If El Diablo is smart he would pay close attention to that fireball I threw at Nikki’s face on Monday. I didn’t have any ill feelings towards her but I tried to permanently blind her regardless.
What is a guy like me willing to do to a guy like Blanco? He should really think about that and contemplate stepping onto that plane headed to Norway. I don’t know what’s going through El Diablo’s thoughts or even if he’s fully grasped the situation he’s gotten himself into. He’s acquainted himself with wrestling for championships and charities. He’s engrossed himself with being the industries best role model.”
He allows his words hang in the air momentarily.
“How does a guy like that respond to being thrust into the fire and having to learn how to dance amongst the flames? I don’t know. I’m not sure he even knows if I’m being honest. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I think he’s going to be a bit frantic at first. He’s a top tier athlete though and has overcome the odds more than once. So he’ll settle down as things progress or he’ll be faced with the horror and futility of a losing war.”
Vivian Rae noticed that as Lochlyn talked his grasp upon the mask intensified. His fist clenched so tightly that his knuckles became nearly white in contrast of the leather of the mask. For Lochlyn Cade this isn’t just a scary disguise, but rather a means for him to become a different person. Or rather, to remove his humanity altogether.
On the surface Lochlyn Cade is very normal or so he seems. You can’t see a lack of empathy in the way someone combs their hair or even the way they smile. It’s not a tangible thing. A guy like Lochlyn doesn’t present the ice in his veins to the outside world. He doesn’t terrorize society on a whim. It’s more of a plaything for him to pick up when he chooses. It’s persevered, for those he chooses, in a methodical way. The very definition of a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
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© 'The Promethean' Lochlyn Cade | 'Blood Harvestor' Serpentis Redd
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