FAMILY TREE

[Dust swirls around the candlelit room as an old book opens, nimble fingers searching quickly for a page within the tome that it has seen before. After a while, the searching ceases, and on the crinkled, yellowing page is an illustration of a big oak tree, splendid in stature. Reading avidly, we now see in the flickering glow, is Ordell Terminus.]

“There once was a mighty oak tree. It bore glorious acorns and many people flocked to see it. They were curious of how this great oak came to be. They wanted to see with their own eyes how majestic it was. And for those who got the honour of resting in the shade of the tree’s canopy – well they were ecstatic above all others.”

[Ordell turns the page, and another illustration of the oak is seen, with gold belts wrapped around it’s trunk.]

“The mighty oak won contests. Tree contests, you know. It was renowned across the land because it had grown from nothing, and now the tree roots were killing off the other trees in the area, making it seem even more overwhelming before. For a while, the tree reigned supreme over the flora and fauna, remaining strong despite weathering some serious attacks.”

[Ordell turns again, and now the illustration is a close up – we can see that each branch is engraved.]

“The branches on this tree were wide and broad, and the tree only needed three branches to remain strong. The branches had carved into them three names, the largest branch was named DTR, and the two supporting branches were named Jenson and Max.

Soon, after months of strength, the tree began to suffer. A virus worse than any other in the land began to affect the tree. Oak Wilt attacked the trees wounds. Slowly but surely the tree began to die. It lost its titles one by one to newer sapling trees. The branches creaked and groaned and so the tree decided to try and maintain itself. The tree wrapped its branches up in chains labelled Crowley and hoped that this would provide the strength to keep it together, but no matter how tight the chains were wrapped, there was no stopping it. The supporting branches cracked.”

[Ordell turns and the drawing is black and broken, showing cracks along the branch joints and the chains slipping off.]

“Jensen, you and your precious Family are at breaking point. You no longer hold the tag titles, you no longer hold the Rewind championship, and many people are fighting the Virus you’ve inflicted. It seems the final cure will be created very soon and that must worry you Jensen, because once you take out the Virus from the equation, there’s really very little else keeping you in the position of power you’ve found yourself in. The Virus is acting like your roots, anchoring you against the storm of opposing forces, all battling to see you defeated. Once the cure shrivels your roots, you will fall to the storm, and The Family will be no more.”

[Ordell slams the book shut, causing a second flurry of dust and causing the flame on the candle to dance wildly on the wick.]

“Your Family tree has Oak Wilt, and whilst your Virus will soon have a cure, Oak Wilt has none. It is only a matter of time before the wilt tears your Family tree apart, and this week I will take a running jump, grab at your branch and swing until there is no more I can give. Let’s see if I can take down the first branch of the ailing tree and start the wheels in motion for the storm that is coming to rip you out of the ground and toss you to one side. You could call my decimation of your branch the gateway to the final destruction. This week it begins…and I always finish what I started.”

[Ordell blows out the candle, and with that…]

[Darkness.]