A smart man once said that time is like a river.
When you dip your hand down into that river, whether you know it or not, you’re taking in a special moment.
That water touching your hand is the last of that which has passed and the first of that which is coming.
Forgotten past and anticipated future.
Some people avoid the water, as if ignoring the current makes it exist less. Others leap into a boat, and try to outpace it.
But all the water wants to do is keep moving, a constant in a world of chaos. It sparkles with anticipation of where it will go next, guided by the invisible hand of fate to its inevitable breaking upon either a natural wall or a manmade dam.
There are those who wish to maintain that invisible hand. They submerge themselves in the river, letting it carry them where fate decides.
The destination in front of them is all that matters.
It’s destiny, right?
That’s your whole thing, isn’t it Chronoa?
What’s fated must come to be?
You’re one of the ones who think that if they go skinny dipping in the river, that it’ll take them to what they deserve.
When you dip into the river, you’re comforted by the feeling of that invisible hand of fate pushing you forward. It’s your mission, your destiny.
All I hear from you is how certain things must come to be, yet somehow people keep ruining that. That’s why you’re in OSW, right? Because people keep building dams in front of your precious river of time.
Is it really fate if it doesn’t come true?
We both know the answer to that.
The truth is that while time may be a river, it’s a violent bastard river. Glimpsed once and already carried past us.
That’s what you don’t understand.
The flow of time isn’t something to be taken into, it’s something to savor. To enjoy.
To exploit.
When your hand touches the water, you have to realize that you are at the perilous intersection of past and present.
Will you manipulate the river in search of personal glory?
Or will you let it guide you where it will, World Championship be damned?
We both know which one you’ll choose.
But what about me?
I don’t ignore the river. I don’t try to sail it. And I sure as fuck don’t let it carry me away in the current.
I do the same fucking thing I’ve always done. I forge my own path, make my own rules.
Fuck the river. Fuck time.
And fuck you.
It’s why I’m the Champ, and why you’re the Challenger.
So look around you, Chronoa. We’ve come to a special moment, haven’t we?
Take it in. How it feels, how it tastes.
It’s the closest to greatness you’ll ever be. Time may flow on forever, but your journey is at an end, Chronoa.
Because there’s a dam blocking your river of fate and destiny.
There’s no going back now.
Fate has delivered you what you deserved.
That dam’s name is Pyre.
And there’s no promised land for you.
Just a bitter breaking.