Gentle Chieftains and Violent Kings
Scene One | On-Camera | 1st December 2022
“O’Malley. I’m beginning to think there is a sick cruel joke being played upon me. First Finn, then Lachlan and now you. The colour-blind mongrel, the little brawler, and now the Gentle Chieftain. Is it bad to lump you all in together? Sure. Do I give a damn? No.”
An open field, the rising sun creeping above the horizon. A gentle breeze rustling the long grass. Alexander Raven is standing in the grass, bare foot, and shirtless. His hair low and fluttering slightly in the wind. His head tilted to face the sky, hands in pockets and eyes closed. He breathes in deeply and slowly opens his eyes.
“O’Malley. It’s not lost upon me, all the connections that permeate this Sin City. I’ve only prattled on and on about the incestuous filth that permeates to the deepest recesses of this City of Sin. Everywhere I look, wolves baying for victims of ease. Friends of wolves looking for leftovers. Scavengers eating from the plate of the hunters. Yet the hunters are weakened. They lack the desire to fight, because the world has now been given to them. Control and subjugation of the masses is the name of the game. Gyms upon gyms, acting as little more than brainwash factories. They accuse me of being full of hot air and lies. They accuse me of speaking empty words, yet they cannot see the manipulation of their own minds. I act not as a Messiah of the Broken for the sake brainwashing them. I do not give life to false prophecy for the sake of bolstering myself. Every person who has once stood beside me, now stands on their own. To put the shards of their minds back together, not to subjugate them to my own beliefs. O’Malley, the former ‘gym-mate’ of the current focus of my ire. Someone who knows Fenris far more deeply than I. O’Malley, I want you to understand something. I’m going to talk, and you need to listen. Just as Austin James Mercer needed to listen. Just as Finn Whelan, needed to listen. I am going to paint you the world as it stands, and I will show you the truth behind the veiled lies that have kept you and your kin safe. I talk, you listen, you understand.”
“The Gentle Chieftain, think upon this for a moment. Do you believe yourself better than Fenris? Do you believe yourself better than King James? Do you believe that you could stand to our current monarch Finn Whelan. I’ve gone to war with these three men. One holds a victory over me. Only one. That is Fenris. I know very well the beast I am calling out. I know very well the dangers I put myself in, desiring the change that I do. To shatter the expectations that have been set upon those who do not conform to the juvenile, childish and obstinate behaviours and actions of the sickening wolves and those who ally themselves in name or action. King James put me through a table off the stage, broke my nose and went to war with me in that steel cage. I cost King James his chance at a world title, I denied him the reality he wanted and then I beat him. I took the man, and laid him out in the middle of the ring. Suddenly the detractors are silent. Suddenly, Fenris is silent. Suddenly nobody wants to talk about Alexander Raven anymore. So I make them talk. Arrogance, self-conceit, narcissism. Whatever you wish to call it. At the end of the day, there is a constant I’ve come to notice. I can say anything and people will always react. They react because they cannot stand that someone might change the view of them. That someone might change the view of those who watch, and make them see the truth. That the brainwashed Wolves, and those who stand at their side are nothing more than snivelling runts. More akin to rats than they are the wolves they wish to associate themselves with. I am nothing but truthful to myself, no matter the amount of vitriol that I receive as a result. O’Malley. Are you listening?”
Raven slowly slips his hands out of his pocket and settles them on his hips. He lowers his gaze slowly, tilting his head down. Staring off into the distance, towards the horizon, the sun continues to slowly creep up. The breeze begins to pick up making his hair whip wildly. The grass continues to rustle, the sound of birds chirping in the distance carried by the wind. He slowly raises his right hand to his temples, rubbing them slowly. Deep breath in, and slow controlled exhale out.
“Inherently, I don’t have a direct issue with you O’Malley. However, you serve a purpose for me. You serve to act as the example. The example that I intend to present to Fenris if he continues down this path of Blindness. If the Blind Wolf continues to stick his nose into my affairs, I will show him. I will show him that there is no fear in this bird. That I do not fear him, I do not fear the stories. I respect the fight that King James brought to me; but he served a purpose too. That there is no boogeyman. That there is no person, beast or anything in between that I fear. That attempts to put me out, break my nose, crack my flesh and make me bleed. That all of it, will not deter me. I will take the beatings, the bruises and the fights if that it is what it takes to shatter the stained glass lies that encapsulate this City of Sin. O’Malley, arrogance belies all and I am not immune to it. Arrogant, fractured and broken. In helping others find their clarity, I lose more of myself. The sacrifice I must make. Are you following me yet, Gentle Chieftain?”
“It doesn’t matter. It never does, for there is one truth above all others. That no matter what I say, no matter the truth as it stands, they will not listen. They will not understand and they will not follow. Acknowledgement of the truth defeats the reality they have painted for themselves. The reality that you have painted for yourself. I ask that you look beyond the arrogance of denial. I ask that you look behind the brainwashing that manipulate you, and all others that come out of those places of brainwashing and subjugation. I ask that you think for yourself, Gentle Chieftain. I ask that you take the time to analyse and think deeper. I ask that you look to the sky and shatter the stained glass lies that lie above you. I ask this of you, because otherwise.”
Raven sighs heavily, slowly dropping to the floor, sitting down. Crossing his legs he tears up a tuft of grass. The hand on his temples moving to the floor beside him. He grabs up a small stone from the floor, holding both hands up. He releases the tuft of grass which gets whipped up in the wind and flutters into the distance. The other he throws the stone up in the air and catches it. Then again, and again.
“The truth, Gentle Chieftain. I do not care for you. My eyes are focused upon the Blind Mongrel, and they will continue to be focused upon the mouthy mutt. Sticking his nose into my business for months. Constantly berating and battling. Arguing on behalf of others, and now that I have bitten back. Now that I have spoken out, he cowers. He mocks from behind a screen and hides. He will not ignore me for much longer, I promise you. If your bloodied body will make the difference, than in blood I will leave you. If he will not listen to the words as a result of his actions, I will make him. And so, Gentle Chieftain. It comes to us. It comes down to us, to make the noise required. And so, I look to you. A former king. A former holder of decision and future. A former holder of existence. And I do not see the future in you. A future you were too late to exist in, is now your present. I hold the key now. I am THE Internet Champion. I am THE king. As it stands, the colour-blind mongrel that is the Saint of this petulant class of children; stands as the known quantity above all else. The truth however is this. I am the one who matters. Alexander Raven is the voice to silence and in defeat of Alexander Raven a proving. It proves all the detractors right and gives them power to vitriol. In failing it matters not. Losing to the One True King is nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody will look poorly upon the man who fails to dethrone the champion as he sits upon his throne. Nothing to lose and everything to gain. I’ve spoke at length about it. I have everything to lose, and in defeat of you nothing gained. You have everything to gain in beating me, and nothing to lose. The truth remains the truth no matter the lies and fallacy that attempt to substitute it. But the dynamic is different now, isn’t it? Gentle Chieftain, do you understand?”
“I do have something to gain. I have everything to lose, but every defeat now gains me something. It gains me solidarity. I gain legitimacy. The idea of the slanderous, waxing poetic and frivolous ‘pretentious’ Alexander Raven will hold true in the mind of those who cannot comprehend a shift in the dynamic. But I wonder, O’Malley. I wonder what you think of it? Do you think me vainglorious, like the wolves that bay for my blood? Do you think me pompous like the runt who managed to clip my wings, if only temporarily? Do you think me cowardly for having no desire to fight the succubus that did nothing but squawk and screech in support of the runt? Or, are you of the same mind as Fenris. Happy to mock from behind the screen but thinking me not worth the time of day. I wonder, Gentle Chieftain. I wonder if you truly understand.”[/color]
Raven stops throwing the stone and catches it tightly in the opposite hand. His eyes fixate upon his clasped hand. The sun has now creeped fully above the horizon, casting light across the field fully. The grass green, the wind continuing to whip violently in the seemingly ever increasing wind. Strands of grass being torn free and flying through the air. Leaves, small stick and stones also fluttering in the violent wind. A smile tugs at the left side of his face, a twitching of the flesh.
“I told you, I was an open O’Malley. This is true, even if people may not believe it. I wear my heart on my sleeve, and despite all the flamboyancy of the language. Despite the hyperbole and the metaphor, the one truth remains. I hide not from the past that brought me here. The crack of a semi-pro boxers fist against a sixteen year old boy’s jaw. The woman whose forgiveness for the lies and betrayal of promises, I will forever seek. Departed from the world, but always in my mind. I will not forget, and will forever seek it. The crucifixion of my drunk of a father as a way of getting under my skin. There has always been gaps in the armour and people can find the ways through to the soft, fleshy interior. That is true. No person is covered in impenetrable steel. But, I will take the blade that slips between the plates of the armour, and hold the hilt of that life ending steel. If I must take the cut to ensure that I take out the wielder of the blade then so be it. I fear no man, for no man is as terrifying as the horrors that exist within my mind. I am an open book, no secret lays hidden. A man who leads the broken, must show that he too understands the depths, and in doing so. Honesty, truth and reality. The Conspiracy both old and new, know this to be true. Every person who cheers for Alexander Raven. Every person that asks for a picture, or an autograph. Every person that supports the kingdom of The One True King, are a member of my conspiracy. The Conspiracy is always coming, ready to show the truth. It seems the truth is something that plagues you too, Gentle Chieftain.”
“You wish to step to the station of the consummate professional. To be taken seriously and right the wrongs of your past. Surely, the Internet Championship and dethroning Alexander Raven is your end goal. Yet everywhere I look, your focus is shattered. On The fucking Troll. Do you intend to mock my time? Intend to mock my existence? Do you intend to mock everything I’ve spent a year working towards, by paying attention to a bumbling idiot that proves everything I said true. That all of these brainwashed and subjugated mutts and mongrels deny listening, refuse to understand but will always react. That they deny the existence of importance of a person in their mind but continue to react. Like a dog kicked far too many times. Do not insult me, by wasting my time for that bullshit. Do not waste my time when there is many who deserve my time and energy. Do not waste my time, Gentle Chieftain. Or I will make you wish that the Wank-stain was your opponent once again. I am not The Troll. I am not Fenris. I am not Mac Bane. I am Alexander Raven.”
Alex violently throws the rock. Everything plunging into black. The world no longer illuminated by the rising sound. The sound of wind suddenly silenced. The slow sound of dripping echoing off invisible walls. The croak of crows and the flap of bird wings taking off. Darkness extending every direction.
“I am Alexander Raven. The One True King, the Broken Messiah and the False Prophet. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The leader of The Conspiracy, and king to those who will feast upon the carrion I leave in my wake. I will be taken seriously. I will be understood, and people will listen.”
“Are you listening? Are you following? Do you understand? I need you to listen. I need you to follow. I need you to understand.”
Suddenly, all sound drowns out into silence. Only the dripping persists.
“I am Alexander Raven.
Silence.
Darkness.
Nothing.
