In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

The earth was void and empty; darkness was on the face of the depths; the spirit of God hovered above the waters.

God said, "Let there be light" and there was light.

God saw that the light was good; God divided between the light and the darkness.

God called the light "day" and the darkness God called "night"; there was evening and there was morning, day one.

God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide between the waters and the waters."

God made the firmament and divided between the waters below the firmament and the waters above the firmament, and it was so.

God called the firmament "heaven"; there was evening and there was morning, a second day.

God said, "Let the waters be gathered below the heavens to one place and let the dry land be seen," and it was so.

God called the dry land "earth" and the gathered waters God called "seas"; God saw that it was good.

God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation -- grasses which produce seed, fruit trees which produce fruit, according to its kind, in which is its seed -- on the earth"; and it was so.

The earth sprouted vegetation -- grasses that produce seed according to its kind and trees which produce fruit in which is its seed according to its kind; God saw that it was good.

There was evening and there was morning, a third day.

God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to divide between the day the night; they shall be as signs, as appointed times, as days, and as years.

They shall become lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth"; and it was so.

God made the two great lights: the great light for ruling the day and the small light for ruling the night, as well as the stars.

God put them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth,

to rule the day and the night, and to divide between the light and the darkness; God saw that it was good.

There was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.

God said, "Let the waters swarm with creeping living things and let birds fly over the earth, across the face of the firmament of the heavens."

God created the great sea-fish; all living beings which creep, which the waters had swarmed, each according to its kind; and all winged-birds, according to their kinds; God saw that it was good.

God blessed them saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the water in the seas and let the birds multiply on the land."

There was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.

God said, "Let the earth bring forth living beings according to their kinds: domesticated animals, creeping things, and beasts of the earth"; and it was so.

God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds, the domesticated animals according to their kinds, and all the creeping things according to their kinds; God saw that it was good.

God said, "Let us make humanity in our image, according to our likeness, and they will rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the domestic animals, all the earth, and all the creeping things which creep on the earth."

God created the human being in God's image; in the image of God, God created him; male and female God created them.

God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and conquer it; rule over the fish in the sea, the birds in the heavens, and all the beasts which creep on the earth."

God said, "Behold, I give you all the grasses which reproduce by seed which are on the face of the whole earth, and all the trees which have fruits of the tree and which reproduce by seed -- they shall be food for you and for all the beasts of the earth, for all the birds of the heavens, and for all the creeping things on the earth -- that which has life in it -- all green grass shall be food"; and it was so.

God saw all that God had created and behold it was very good; there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

The heavens and the earth and all their hosts were finished.

On the seventh day, God finished the work God had done and God rested on the seventh day from all the work which God had done.

God blessed the seventh day and proclaimed it holy for, on it, God rested from all God's work which God had created to do.

And on the eight day …

… there came Ember!

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. . . sorry, what is that you say?

A little on the egotistical side was I?

I suppose that you could be right there my friend, I mean it looks like I just compared myself to the genesis of the universe and this little ball of rock and mud that we lovingly call home.

Ok, yes you are right, it doesn’t just LOOK that way that is exactly what I did, you know it and I know it.

… but I thought that that was what was expected upon entrance into the mythical WWA.

Don’t you suddenly have to be the next best thing to the Messiah himself, or perhaps even the new and improved model, upgraded for the 21st Century?

Sort of like the small ads you see in the local papers, you know where it says single white male, good sense of humor, seeks single white female?

I thought that I was meant to come out with my own version of a wanted ad, or an MTV generation hype video.

Was I wrong?

… where did I get that idea?

Oh, that is simple, I simply looked around at some of the other people who have thrown their name into the hat over the years for this federation, and realised that I must not have got the memo with the guidelines on it, because all I saw was ego stroking, boasting and border line fantastical hot air blowing.

I looked at Aidan DeLaCroix and saw someone who has watched far too many late night movies and thought that I was expected to follow suit and come forth with my own delusions of grandeur on an epic scale.

In a moment of weakness my normally pretty healthy ego …or is it id, I never remember my psychology you know … deserted me and I turned into a lemming, basically following the path laid out before me by my so called peers.

Instead of telling the truth, instead of simply being me, instead of hoping that my skills in the ring, my experience, my natural talent and everything else that is REAL about me would be enough, I followed the herd and became the next J. K. Rowling and started down the path of fantasy.

I mean instead of just allowing my to enter this place I have to pass some sort of test, or is it perhaps an initiation … I just hope that it doesn’t involve hooded cloaks and blood sacrifices of course, because that would be borrowing too heavily from my much anticipated opponent, Aidan DeLaCroix.

… word on the street is that he is the second cousin of Pepe Le Pew …

Sorry, it seems that fantasy is not my strong suit and neither is a stand up comedy routine, I should perhaps leave that too people like Dave Harely or Mal Somers instead, and stick to what I do best.

… what is that?

Good question ... maybe someday you will find out, but don’t distract me, I was talking about Aidan DeLaCroix, so let me continue there.

So it seems that in order to get a place in the oh so vaunted WWA I have to prove myself against someone else … and it seems that this Aidan is one of those people, one of those wrestlers, that lives in a small town just the other side of reality.

Yeah, I know that it isn’t on any maps, but trust me on this, the place has to exist simply because there are so many people that reside there.

I mean it is fair enough to be confident, it is fair enough to believe in yourself, but DeLaCroix goes so far as to assume that he doesn’t even NEED to try to face me.

Is he really that confident in himself that he thinks that inane ranting that is more suited to a bad Hollywood horror movie than a wrestling ring is what the WWA is looking for?

I have to admit to being a tad confused though as I was told that I was facing Aidan DeLaCroix but now it seems that I am facing someone who seems to think that he is a Serpent Prince or a Tyrant King.

… for me I think that he has overdosed on far too many Raymond E Feist novels, and if the WWA aren’t careful Mr Feist will be coming looking for a payout for copyright infringement.

Maybe I am meant to feel somehow threatened by his name alone … I mean I will admit that I am feeling a little syllable envy here in that regard … because so far that is all that I have in front of me to work with, I don’t know anything more about this person apart from he and I will face each other in a few short days and his name … because I most certainly cannot make head nor tail of anything else he has said so far.

Hmmm ... maybe the WWA supply a dictionary or translator when one has passed their test. Must remember to look back and see if I can actually decipher anything Mr SerpentPrinceTyrantKingAidanDeLaCroix said.

For now though should I take a few moments here to feel privileged, perhaps even to stand in awe of his presence?

No, I didn’t think that I should either, but thank you for agreeing.

I have to be honest at the onset here, and say that I am not like other wrestlers.

God, now I sound like a teenage kid trying to get his first date with a corny chat up line don’t I?

… you don’t need to answer that one.

The point is that I really am not like other wrestlers though, I don’t feel the need to come out and state that I am better than anyone else, I don’t feel the need to belittle or put people down, I don’t even feel the need to make unfounded boasts about how good I am.

You see I have been waiting my whole life to do this, I have been waiting for what seems to have been someone else’s life to finally step up and LIVE my life the way that I want to.

To compete the way that I want to.

To step out of his shadow and …

… oh hang on I am getting ahead of myself here, I don’t need to talk about him anymore it is my time now all mine.

Well, mine and Aidans of course.

So while I am back on course and focussed on you Aidan I have to point out that while I don’t mean to shatter your whole faith, I think that it was only fair to wake you up and make you realise that in my eyes at least you are not someone that I am worried about facing in the slightest.

In my eyes you are not someone who is intimidating … though I have to admit that I am worried for your fragile sanity, and just hope that when you don’t end up in a lovely padded room for one when the shadows don’t actually eat me.

In my eyes you are simply the first step in the journey, simply another opponent, simply my first match in WWA

… you are nothing more than my stepping stone old bean.

Something that we DO share of course is that we are both debuting in WWA as unfamiliar opponents, unknown factors so to speak.

My first match in WWA and no other information known about me.

Oh dear I do seem to be fitting a stereotype in wrestling now don’t I?

Let’s see.

Mask?

… check …

Parts unknown?

… check …

No known history?

… check …

Damn it, and I was doing so good as well, but I suppose I will have to admit that perhaps I am not so different from other wrestlers after all.

Then again I can still hold true to some differences.

I prefer that my actions do the talking, I prefer to let the truth speak for itself, I don’t care about what people think about me.

That is one reason why I wear a mask DeLaCroix, that is why there is no history about me.

It doesn’t matter how many years I have been wrestling, how many titles I have won, who I am under this mask.

Do I really need to know about your title defences?

Do I really need to know about the people that you have beaten before?

Do I really need to know about you at all?

… do I even CARE?

The answer is no Mr DeLaCroix, to all of those questions.

All that matters is the here and now, the past is gone, the future unknown, the only time that we have is the present.

The only thing to think about is you and me … DeLaCroix and Ember … the deluded one and the unknown one … in the ring, fighting until only one man is still standing.

All that I need to know is already known.

My days have been long leading to this place, and for the first time EVER I am in complete control of my destiny and have no other voices telling me how to lead my life … trying to live MY life for me.

I know that in order to make it in the WWA I have to do one thing and one thing only.

Beat you.

It will be my pleasure, Aidan … welcome to the eighth day, welcome to my Genesis.