The Place every thing changed

If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

From the darkest depths of the blackest abyss I shot upwards, spinning, my body nothing more than a listless trail of smoke. I soon came into light, and thus into form, a man with wings soaring through the clouds and into the sky on a dark summer day.

Higher and higher I went, faster, and the light got brighter. I felt so alive, so free. However, my sentiments of redemption and freedom were expunged as my wings started to burn, searing my arms, my flesh. I couldn't stop myself. I was being consumed. I screamed.

I shot up from my bed in a jolt, a cold sweat trickling down my forehead. My breaths were short, sharp, a pain aching in my chest. Every day I got up feeling like shit, barely able to breathe, wondering if this was the day that my life was finally going to end.

And every night I went to sleep silently praying that I wouldn't wake up.

The year was 2041. It is a time of great innovation and technological advancement. It is also a time of chaos and conspiracy.

There are no countries anymore. The world as we know it has been divided up into paramilitary states or zones that are effectively ruled and locked down by global corporations. They are the government. They are the law. Privacy has ceased to exist.

After I came to the conclusion that my dream was just another side-effect of my heavy mechanical augmentation, I started to wonder when this nightmare would end. I started looking for the legendary Dragon's Tear thirty-one years ago. It has eluded me ever since.

Using my mechanical arms, I pulled myself out of bed and made my way to the kitchen. As I walked by, the blinds on all three windows automatically started to rise, allowing for the tangy sunlight of a late-afternoon to spill into my apartment and across the wooden floor. I shielded my one real eye and looked out into the smoggy haze that had permanently scarred the sky. I shook my head.

It wasn't always like this.

Our rapid consumerism and ridiculous need to spend, an insatiable demand, gave birth to companies that wielded more control then the government. Everything here is about more, everyone wants more. Our greed gave birth to a monster.

I used to be somebody, you know. I had it all. The talent, the moves, the look; I was the fiercest fighter out there. Looking back on it now, I can see where my life took a terrible turn:

The day I joined HCW.

I was unstoppable. The total package. But for some reason, the owner didn't like me. I was hired by an investor, a man who later became my manager, Tony. Cruz didn't like that. He resented me, I could tell, I could feel it. That son of a bitch never liked me and never gave me the chance to show off how truly great I really was.

Not once in my entire tenure was I recognized for my hard work and dedication. I was doing things that no one else was capable of. But no, Cruz held me down. I never won 'Star Of The Week'. Cruz didn't even have the humility to come out for a scheduled match with me, embarrassed to show his face.

My blood started to boil as I thought about it, so I sat down and lit up a cigarette. Hover cars and flying advertisements whizzed by the window to unknown destinations somewhere in this corrupt city. I breathed in deep, feeling more machine than man, letting the smoke tingle and flirt with my senses. The aroma was entrancing, my anger fading away.

It was just one thing after another. I got together with a group of guys who were tired of all the shit. Then, one by one, they started to drop like flies. Boom, gone. Taken out. Nightmare. Tony Trivello. When all was said and done, I was left alone, my heart torn asunder. To further add insult to injury, Cruz had the guts to give Brian S. Michaels a title shot, the last remaining member of our group that wasn't me. I was choked.

Tall buildings rose up from cityscape and for miles, it was all you could see. Gigantic advertisements. Holovision, holographic television plastered on the side of every other building. The cameras were there, too. Every inch of every city was monitored and secure. They know what you're doing before you do. This is a scary time, a scary place. They told me I'd never find it.

I told them I'd never stop looking.

All those years ago, the final nail in the proverbial coffin was the arrival and subsequent disappearance of the man they called "Mr. Showtime", Michael Wright. He was the one who first informed me of the legendary Dragon's Tear, and the unlimited power contained within.

It was an ancient crystal, and within it contained waters from the legendary Fountain of Life, the holy grail. Immortality. Young forever. More power than you could possibly imagine. If I could find it, I would be invincible, a force, an entity not to be reckoned with.

Michael Wright was supposed to help me find this relic of a forgotten time. He was my mentor. He was my superior. Before I came along, he was The DA. I was his replacement.

The DA lives forever because it is not one person. Only the best of the best are chosen, and you are trained your entire life to become this force, not as a man but as a symbol.

Before me was Michael Wright. After me there was someone else. I'm not The DA anymore or am I.

Shortly before the Supremacy tournament I was stabbed in the back and left for dead. I recovered, but by that time someone else had taken my place as The DA, and not-surprisingly went on to win the entire thing. That was the end of my tenure in HCW. But The Real DA lived on, fighting and defeating Brian S. Michaels in the Match of the Year to become a two-time World Heavyweight Champion.

My life was saved by augmentation, mechanically infusing technology into my body to keep me alive. Now, I have two robotic arms, and embody every sentiment that is to be a cyborg.

I will keep going.. I will find the Dragon's Tear, somewhere buried in this corporate wasteland.

The riots on the streets were continuing; angry protesters kept in line by police with energy batons and laser guns. A throng of angry citizens dancing with fire under neon signs and bright lights was a fascinating site. They were that the little flicker of hope in an otherwise sinister and breathing, consuming world.

I fight against the government. It is in my belief that they have in their possession what it is I seek. This would have been so much easier years go. I never found out who tried to kill me, but I always suspected it was the one who replaced me as The DA. I should have been stronger. I should have been more prepared.

I should have seen it coming.

[TBC...]