With the lights now dimmed, Malakai Midnight stands dead centre in the cemetery with candle lights illuminated around him in the sigil of the devil. His owls surround that, wearing dark red cloaks and chanting incantations softly.
“Welcome to the Midnight Hour, little owls. Are you sitting comfortably?”
Malakai lifts his head with a grin, his eyes piercing the screen, glowing red from the candlelight.
“When the day ends and night begins, that’s when the creepy crawlies come out of the woodwork to play. That’s when the owls sit in the sky above and perched on the ground below, watching, waiting and reporting everything they see and hear.
Those eyes on your back, Jackson? They might not belong to Jasper Redgrave. That eerie sound in the darkness that sends a shiver down your spine? That might not be just a bump in the dark.”
He laughs.
“That opportunity you hold so close to your chest, CJ, that may not be an opportunity after all. Because in the cold dead of night, what seems to be, isn’t. What isn’t, is. What looks like an opportunity to grasp a dream, in fact becomes a nightmare.
And when you look across the ring at Six Feet Under, and the lights dim and the darkness approaches, all sense of comfort will be lost to the void of pitch black that seeks only to displace your soul and invade your weakened mind.”
The chanters start chanting ‘weakened mind’, softly, humming almost.
“The gift of a father becomes a curse.
The gift of power a façade.
Because even power cannot halt the darkness. Even power cannot break the dominion of the dark tides when they wash over your being.
No… only light can do that.”
He picks up a candle and holds it in front of his face, the flame flickering.
“The Brothers Cade sit comfortably on their ivory towers during the day, gifted power over things they can control; the law, the OSW World Championship – but the day must end and when it does, the night begins.
The night is where you’ll find me. The midnight hour is the witching hour. It’s where your opportunities end. It’s where your power means nothing. Next week at Vendetta, when the day ends and the night begins, everything you know and love will fade away into the abyss of darkness.
Decaying before your very eyes, it will go effortlessly.”
He smiles.
“And like this candle, when the lights go out, that’s when the real fun begins.”
Poof. He blows it out. All the candles blow out. The screen static’s and suddenly, without warning, Gravedigger appears alongside Midnight in the devil’s circle.
“The short day is over, gentlemen.
Let the long night begin.
C’mon, join us. We’ll have a hoot.”