Ascension 129: Mayhem Champion Harald Var Krigare vs Lynx

[Hyorinmaru]

RP Deadline is Tuesday July 24th at 11:59pm PST

**EXTENSIONS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST**​

 

[Hyorinmaru]

**Deadline Extended By 24 Hours**​

 

[Dan Severn's Moustache]

A small mountain of golden cans lay beneath the champion’s head, serving as a discomforting, yet still serviceable cushion to nurse his battery. The cider cans numbered close to a dozen, their total former contents equating to about 5 litres, serving as a tombstone for all things moderate. Draped across Harald’s bare, hairy chest was the Mayhem Championship, his name having newly been imprinted onto the title. At last, he had what he had always wanted.

Belonging.

Jacob: Hey, Soda Popiniski!

Harald murmured groggily, half-awake, in an effort to rebut Jacob, but the words could scarcely leave his tongue. Through his hung-over incoherence, something about never being able to pass Bald Bull came out, leaving Jacob close to horrified.

Jacob: You never beat Bald Bull?

Harald: No…I…Tyson…he was in Hangover…haha…

Jacob: Yeah, speaking of hangover…

Jacob kicked the empty cans resting Harald’s head away in an effort to bring his client to his senses, to little success. Searching for available resources, Jacob found a pair of unopened cider cans from Harald’s binge session and poured them across Harald’s face to fully resuscitate him. Instinctively, the inebriated Harald raised his hands to shield himself from the flood, but it was in vain. He spluttered and regained consciousness, finding himself lying on a dreary, decayed wooden floor, drenched in cider in a darkened domain. Due to his girth and inner strength, the alcohol hadn’t left him too hung-over, but combined with general fatigue, Harald was not as astute as he normally was.

Harald: Awoken with a golden shower. Beautiful.

Jacob: How much did you have last night?

Harald: You can count, can’t you?

Jacob: It speaks a bit more when you can admit you’ve got a problem, Harald.

Harald: Jacob, did I hire you to be judgmental? You and I both know there’s enough prejudice in the world.

Jacob: You hired me to help you out. And if anything, I’m probably the most qualified person to offer you advice, given our friendship. Don’t throw vague accusations of prejudice at me.

Harald chuckled at this and raised his head from the floor, lecturing Jacob in a sardonic tone.

Harald: Your advice? The last time I took your advice, I lost to Randy Studd in a match I should have won! When I chose to stand and surrender my self-doubt, I won the Mayhem Championship. I think I know what’s best for me, thanks.

Jacob: I don’t think the fact you’re Mayhem champion is such a good thing though…

Harald: What?

Jacob: I don’t know what happened in that church a few weeks ago, but ever since then, you’ve become…self-destructive…borderline apathetic to your own needs. And for what? The Mayhem Championship?

Harald: Yes, the Mayhem Championship. I’m not daft, Jacob, I know this title is looked down upon as nothing more than a consolation prize. In fact, that’s exactly what it was at Kingdom Come, a consolation prize for the losers of the Elite League. Even Tony Mancini realized that. But you and I both know that I abhor these preconceived standards of value. They breed stubbornness, intolerance and a demand for subservience from those who dare question them. And that’s what I want to change, Jacob.

Jacob: But you don’t need to drink to make a change.

Harald sighed, and turned to look at the crumpled cans he once rested upon. He knew Jacob meant well, but his naivety made it impossible to understand why he needed to drink. It was the only way he could feel truly free, unburdened from his temperance.

Harald: I do need to drink though. Without this, I can’t achieve my true potential. I’ll be nothing more than a statistic unless I can release my true potential. The Mayhem Championship deserves better than it’s been treated, and I’m going to make sure of that. No bullshit, egotistical platitudes like Mancini, but actual action and self-determination is what is needed.

Jacob: No, Harald. You’re burning yourself out. This is what the Mayhem Championship has done to everyone else, and you’re going to fall victim to the same thing. You need discipline if you want to keep that title.

Jacob paused for a moment. Harald was unmoved.

Jacob: And if you want to keep me as your agent.

The urgency of Jacob’s declaration hit Harald like an arrow through the chest.

Harald: Jacob…don’t…

Jacob: Just give up the booze, please.

Harald began to panic, his bloodshot eyes beginning to flicker rapidly as he tried to think.

Harald: …I can’t Jacob…I need you...help.

Jacob looked visibly draught at Harald’s plight, as the behemoth before him began to gaze at his own hands, contemplating his own rash actions. Jacob felt guilty for using a lie to leverage some kind of strength over Harald, but it was for his own good.

Jacob: Just for a bit. Just for this one match with Lynx at least, then we can evaluate the situation. You need to grab the steering wheel again, and then accelerate, not the other way around. Discipline is what you need right now.

Harald had not caught onto Jacob’s well-intentioned deceit, and nodded solemnly, giving a final, elongated glance at his cans of alcohol before standing up.

Harald: I’ll give it my best…for you, Jacob.

Jacob: Thanks, Harald. You know deep down that I want the best for you.

Harald: I know, Jacob…I know…now please give me a chance to dress, being in my underwear makes this seem awfully homoerotic.

Jacob: Righto, plane’s leaving in a couple of hours. I’ll see you at the airport.

Jacob turned and left the blackened room that housed Harald, as the Mayhem champion stretched, groggy from his drinking session, his belt across his shoulder. He turned to look at his latest possession, and, ensuring Jacob had left the room and could no longer hear, suddenly threw it across the room, in a moment of fury.

Harald: Is this what you want from me? Chaos? Anarchy? Ruin? Are you to be the albatross round my neck, as you have been for everybody else? Are you to corrupt me as you have done everything you touch?

He stormed towards the belt and raised a foot in preparation to stamp on the belt, but hesitated. If he disowned or destroyed the belt, mayhem would triumph over perseverance. Harald shook his head, disappointed with his own outrage, and picked the belt up, observing it closely once more.

Harald: I’m not going to let you win. I know that I’m fighting a war of attrition, and that it’s only a matter of time before temptation rears its head once more. But I will not be swayed any further by your attrition.

Harald placed the belt on the table, and gazed into the mirror, observing a more scraggily figure than usual. He reached for a comb and began to neaten himself to appear more presentable, if only slightly.

Harald: If anyone’s on borrowed time, it’s Lynx, not me. Trapped within an hourglass, its metric the sands of time, he struggles, writhes to keep his head above the surface, as his future seems more and more bleak. He does not deserve to be burdened with my curse, and it’s my obligation to keep him away from the Mayhem championship as much as possible. Only I have the determination to wrestle both the physical and the metaphorical, and it is my duty, as Mayhem champion, to save him from himself.

Harald looked at the mirror once more, looking adequate enough for him to crack a smile.

Harald: I chose this path. Now I’ve got to stick by it. And that means stomaching the conviction to hold this curse.

 

[Dagger Dias]

July 5th, 2018
10:30 AM​

It was the morning after Kingdom Come. Callie had won the war. Looking back on it now I should not have made the decision to come along with Theron's team for that two week excursion before the biggest match of my career at the biggest show of them all. There was no way I would have made it back in time and I nearly missed Kingdom Come for that. I hated being so rushed with that promotional statement before the match. Going on the excursion is what cost me the win, I am sure of it. Never again. My career has to come first. As I sat there on my couch this morning the memories of my first full season in WZCW raced through my mind. My rivalry and then alliance with Vox, the feud with Triple X, and my battles with Callie over the Elite Openweight Championship. It's time for a new chapter. Doreen had begun checking all those unread emails from when I was away so I decided to check on her and see how far she had gotten.

Lynx: Doreen, how are we doing on the emails?

No response. I walked into the office to check on her progress. Ah, no wonder she did not hear me. She had headphones on. Cousin Willy was sitting on the floor in a corner eating a plate of fried rice and watermelon. Ignoring my cousin and his meal, I walked over to Doreen and tapped her on the shoulder. She paused her music and turned around to face me.

Lynx: I'm guessing you didn't hear me earlier?

Doreen: No she did not. Doreen is sorry, Lynx.

Lynx: It's been 2 hours and 11 minutes since you started. Any important emails that I missed while I was on the excursion or after my Kingdom Come match?

Doreen: When she logged in there were a grand total of 3,494 unread emails. It will take Doreen a while to get through responding to each, but she did try to tag the ones you need answer yourself.

I leaned over and noticed her tagging system. It was color coded. Several greens, a few reds, and some blue ones with a distinct "Lynx" tag on them. Helps keep them organized, I guess. I had never thought to use a tag system with emails but then again, things like this are what I hired Doreen for in the first place. I turned around and noticed Willy was staring at us with an odd facial expression. Like he had seen a ghost or something.

Lynx: What is it? It better not be some fourth wall breaking joke about how Doreen is back to talking in green again after only one RP.

Willy: No, I was just surprised at the number of emails you had. Dang, man.

Lynx: Shut up and eat your food.

He had a point. I had never gone so long without having contact with my fans. My discipleship relationship with Theron had been taking up more time than it needed to and my career had begun to suffer instead of improve. I needed to cut back on our meetings. It's not like I could rely on using face-time since he only uses apps that are encrypted to help keep his long-term teammates safe. We always had to meet face to face. This is not going to work.

Lynx: Doreen, pull up the messages tagged for me.

She filtered out all messages except those that I had to handle on my own. Only 175 instead of the full 3,494. Much better. I sat down to begin answering them. After three hours of emailing, there was one that stuck out above all the rest and it was a question from Dylan in Milwaukee. Dylan had asked something that I was surprised more fans had not asked. He wanted to know if there was any way I could tell him more about what it is like in the future, without breaking the time space continuum. I wrote Dylan back and told him I would try to come up with something that I could share. Sometimes I wished I could just ignore the time space continuum and share all I knew. There's so much about my birth era that the present world knows nothing about. I wish I could tell the world all about it! Little did I know, I would soon be able to do just that!

July 17th, 2018
20:51 PM​

Well, the day had gotten off to a rough start. We were going to make the drive from Phoenix to Charlotte to prepare for Ascension 129 but no less than two hours after we were on the road, we had to stop at a gas station due to strange noises coming from the van we had rented for the road trip. Turns out the drive shaft was having major issues. Lovely. I opted to try flying instead while Doreen and Willy stayed behind to get the van fixed. A guy named Connor who I bumped into at the gas station gave me a ride to the nearest airport in his hummer. Doreen booked me a flight while she was waiting on the van to get fixed and I am now sitting on the plane ready to fly to Charlotte. I had plenty of time to relax and gather my thoughts. There was a lot on my mind even before the van broke down. By this point, not only did I know who my next opponent would be but I also knew it was safe to begin sharing information about the future with my fans. Before I could continue unpacking these thoughts, a girl in her 30's with dark blonde hair sat down in the seat next to me on the plane.

Hayley: Oh wow! It's not every day I get to sit next to a wrestler on a flight. You're Lynx, right? I saw you at Kingdom Come 9 when I watched it. My name's Hayley.

Lynx: Yep. On the way to Charlotte for my next match.

Hayley: Neat! I am on my way to see my family. We are going to the beach for my brother's birthday.

We talked a bit making some small talk and I told her about the chaos with the van breaking down that morning. She shared about herself as well. Turns out she used to be a big fan of WZCW but had stopped watching due to the actions of Titus. She boycotted the product until he lost the Eurasian Championship. She watched Kingdom Come 9 on the WZCW Network after she heard about the results at the show.

Lynx: I'm glad you began watching again. Make sure you watch Ascension. I'll be facing Harald Var Krigare.

Hayley: The Swedish guy?

Lynx: Yeah. I know a bit of Swedish myself. My mentor Theron Daggershield taught me some ealrier this summer, though he of course referred to it as "Elven".

Hayley: Say something in Swedish.

Of course that was coming. The most annoying part is that people never tell you what to say, just to say "something". I never know what to say.

Lynx: What should I say?

Hayley: Ummmm.... I dunno? Say something about your match with Harald.

I knew enough to speak, so I gave it my best shot, hoping to not butcher the accents too badly.

Lynx: Harald kommer att forlora emot honom fran framtiden.

Hayley: Whoa....! That's crazy! What was it you said?

Lynx: I said Harald's not gonna win against someone from the future.

She didn't seem to believe me, judging by her facial expression. I suppose she is right. With how the last few months had gone I would not be surprised that fans may doubt I can pull it off. It's time to turn things around and I'm hoping to with this match.

Hayley: You sure you can win? He's a scary guy. He won the Mayhem Championship at Kingdom Come!

Lynx: I'm not scared of him. So what if he's the Mayhem Champion? I've been a champion before too. I was the Elite Openweight Champion. I've got a message for Harald as well as for my fans, so be sure to check my WZCW Network channel in the next few days. I'll be sharing something important next week.

After a moment of neither of us speaking, she took out a book to read. I leaned over to see what it was. The novel version of "Ready Player One". While I like both the movie and the book, they were incorrect in some of the aspects of how they portrayed the future. How could they know though? They didn't live it like my family had. I didn't mention any of this to Hayley though. I began unpacking my thoughts again as she read her book. I was excited. I had decided to share some facts about the future to educate the people of this time period. In one week I would share the first of these futuristic facts about the time period I came from, now that it was safe to do so. Wondering why it's suddenly safe to talk about the future now? I will address it in my message to Harald and the fans.

July 24th, 2018
12:24 PM​

Doreen and Willy had made it safely to Charlotte. Most of my time for the past few days was spent working out with Willy. We were able to get so much more done with just the two of us given that I fired Masamune right before Kingdom Come. I should have fired him months ago. Doreen was in meetings this week with Becky Serra and Chuck Myles to get a match set up for me at the next major event. Much to my relief, the next major event is NOT an Apocalypse event. I finished the meal I had ordered through room service and then went to the pool to wait for Doreen to arrive. The pool at the hotel we were staying at was where I would record my message. I was wearing a Kingdom Come 9 shirt, a pair of swim shorts, and sandals. This pool being outdoors would provide a great view of the city in the background behind me. It also wasn't too windy so I wouldn't have to worry about my hair getting in my face which can be a major hindrance to filming outdoor videos. Doreen walked out into the pool area within moments after I laid down in a long a patio chair to the left of the pool.

Lynx: Any luck with negotiations for my pay per view match?

Doreen: Not yet, but she thinks the video we are about to film might help.

Lynx: Ah, yes. I have been waiting for this.

With excitement I leaped off the patio chair and gave Doreen the thumb's up to begin the video. She took out her iPhone and pointed at me when it had started recording.

Lynx: Hello, friends. I come to you tonight with major news, as well as a historical announcement. Let's begin with the major news. The cursed event that was the catalyst for the world entering the brink of destruction was in fact, a WZCW Apocalypse event that would have been the pay-per-view following Kingdom Come 9 on the original timeline. It would have gone down during a match between....

I caught myself mid-sentence. Could I really say the names of the two wrestlers who were in the ring when the disaster struck? No, it would not be fair to those two competitors.

Lynx: Well, maybe I shouldn't go into full details just yet. Those two individuals are indeed employed by the WZCW as we speak. Let's just refer to them as "The Merchant" and "The Soldier" for now, to preserve their identities as the two who would have been in the ring when it happened. While the dreaded WZCW Apocalypse 2018 event now might not take place, I still must watch from a distance to make sure The Merchant and The Soldier do not meet in the capacity that they would have during the fated hour. After all, I am still in this time period. My job is not fully over yet.

Relieved that I did not break the time space continuum with this revelation, I decided to move on to what the fans tuning in were surely more excited about. The futuristic facts.

Lynx: So, now for something else. By now everyone who subscribes to the Grand Dream Newsletter knows that tonight's message is a groundbreaking historical one. You read it correctly in the newsletter. You've been waiting for it.... Drumroll please....!

Cousin Willy does a legitimate drumroll behind Doreen on a drumset he had managed to sneak out to the pool.

Lynx: Now that I have prevented the Apocalypse, my next goal is to educate the people of this time period about the way of the future. How things are in the time period I came from. I'll be doing this through some of what I call "Futuristic Facts". They will tell you enough about the future's culture without risking damage to the time space continuum. I present to you now, the FIRST of these! Straight from my ancestors' journal that was sent back in time with me....

Lynx's Futuristic Fact #1
Everyone speaks Al Bhed.​

Lynx: In the 21st century the most common language is English. In the time period that I come from, English is the 2nd most common language. The most commonly spoken language in the future is none other than Al Bhed. For those who have no idea what Al Bhed is, it is a language spoken by various characters in Final Fantasy X. It all began on the 100th anniversary of Final Fantasy X's release. At what originally started as a suggestion by a Rikku cosplayer and her many followers, everyone spoke in nothing but Al Bhed at a major convention held in the game's honor on the night of it's 100th anniversary. After the convention, the cosplayers began talking in this language in all of the other areas of their lives as well. Their workplaces, out in public areas, with their friends, and with their families. Instead of of being just spoken for fun, the cosplayers formed an army and began to demand others only speak to them in their language. Arguments turned into battles that then turned into wars. The Al Bhed speakers emerged as the winners.

I waited before speaking again to allow for this to sink in for anyone watching.

Lynx: Fear not, I will not force my people's language on you. I do, however, want to take just a moment to speak to my people watching this in the future. So, citizens of the present, bear with me for just a sec.

I cleared my throat and spoke, hoping that this message would reach my family and my people in the future through either the WZCW Network or some other form of media.

Lynx: The fated hour has been prevented, for the time being. However, I am still here. If I was still sent back by you then something must still be wrong. Maybe we entered some kind of 3rd timeline or something due to The Merchant and The Soldier no longer being scheduled to face each other at an Apocalypse event in 2018. I have the notes from my ancestor that you sent back to this time period with me. I will begin sharing what is in the notes, to educate those of this time period. They deserve to know what happens.

I had never tried to use WZCW media to communicate with my people before. There had to be someone in my birth era in the future capable of watching. Maybe they could track my progress and know if I still need to be sent back.

Lynx: Thank you. What comes next concerns my present and the very immediate future.

I took a deep breath as I changed the subject.

Lynx: This brings me to my opponent at Ascension 129. Harald, you're not the only one wrestling in WZCW who is proud of their heritage. You talk about how great Sweden is. Sure, they are a great country. However, I too am very proud of my heritage. I come from Times Unknown and my purpose that drives me is to prevent my ancestors from having to send me back in time. I fight in the ring each show knowing that if things align properly then I might fade out of existence. I'm the future of WZCW and I have to make sure that my people HAVE a future!

I took off my sandals and my shirt leaving only my swim shorts.

Lynx: You talk about releasing The Kraken. I'm not scared of The Kraken or any mythological sea monster. On the contrary....! I will WILLINGLY dive in to the deep waters that your so-called Kraken is being released from. So, go on. Release your Kraken! All of the paths on this timeline show The Kraken getting caught in a Dimensional Vortex.

Cousin Willy walks over beside me. He is holding up a piece of paper that says "Harald Var Krigare" on it. He shows the piece of paper to the camera to where it can be read and then stands next to me.

Lynx: A message for the real Harald, in my people's language! "Cunno, Harald, ouin desa'c ib!" That's Al Bhed for "Sorry, Harald, your time's up!"

I hit Willy with a Dimensional Vortex sending us into the pool. The cool water felt amazing after being outdoors a lot in the heat wave this week. I swam back up to the surface as quickly as I could and then I faced the camera.

Lynx: Stay tuned for next time. After Ascension 129 I'll share Futuristic Fact #2! Subscribe to The Grand Dream's Newsletter to find out even more!

Doreen turns her iPhone off to end the video recording. Willy resurfaces in the water by me.

Willy: What the heck, man!? You didn't tell me I would end up IN the water!

Lynx: Oh, you'll be fine. Can't say the same for Harald though.