Elsewhere within this time period.... The Darkspade vomited a dark pod which contained a surprise- a thing that resembled the face of Ricky as an infant...
Disgusted, and in utter shock, The Unholy One moved as back as he could from the filthy tub and what was born into this world.... eyes buldged as then a whimpering sound emerged from the tub....
"Wh... wha... what the ACTUAL HELL IS THIS THING!!!"
Again, the heavy ghostly sound echoed from within the tub... and then, just like that, two sickly, pale, baby fingers curled out from the rim of the tub followed by just the very tip of the sickening baby's black hair....
This freaked even the hell out of Darkspade... HE SCREAMED... and scream he did!! The walls even vibrated with his cries.... Then the rumblings outside of the bathroom were both heard and felt- Charon pounds at the locked door, "Dad!!! DAD!!!! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! OPEN THE DOOR....
She saw just her father, cowardly, screaming on the floor.... he takes his right hand and points at the tub.... but there was nothing in it....
Perplexed, and with frown lines tightening as she contemplated what was actually happening to him, she kneels beside her dad... and tries to place his hands in her own lap... maybe a gesture of safety is needed here... Charon softly hummed while rubbing her father's sweaty hands... And then, when it was made clear any threat here was over... Charon helped ease her father up from the ground, and they approached the door —Darkspade turned slightly to have one last look at the empty tub....
The scene then cross-fades to Darkspade lying on his back in his room, atop his bed, staring at the ceiling. In his bedroom, Charon, Obed Marsh, and Brandon... all three discuss Darkspade's drastic change in behavior...
Whispers pass between Charon, Obed Marsh, and Brandon—fragments of a truth none wish to name aloud. Darkspade has soured on the waking world; Charon's thoughts lie splintered since the moment silver glass parted reality and admitted her elsewhere.
Charon’s temper flares at the mention of Obed’s hand in summoning the mirror. Obed bows beneath the blame, insisting no malice guided the act—that the silver only magnifies what already hungers within. Yet even then, something in Darkspade rang false from the first note, a discord Obed failed to hear.
At last, the question is spoken: where does the mirror sleep now?
Charon answers coldly—the glass was not broken. It was claimed. Carried into the keeping of the Technocracy, where minds are weighed, and broken things are studied… to see whether what was unmade can ever be made whole again.
And so, with that, the scene fades to dark...
And just like that, almost like something seen/experienced in a blockbuster movie, in layperson's terms... the world went to shit after that night with MWE's first event in many years- a hellish night in Central Park- and The Reverend's cryptic message to the Detective, who used to serve the Death Family for many, many years. A couple of days later- it is "daylight"- technically, challenging to tell since the sky was blackened from the intense burning... the streets of New York was unrecognizable.... bodies both Mortal and Creature a like where littered everywhere... maybe on occasion a rogue group of either side appeared but almost always it was for scavenging for any remains of substance- water or food.
The sadest and most sickening thing of it all- as if that can be even true- was the only apparent evidence of civilization running anything were marquees showcasing the return of MWE- video footage of Reverend Jones in the limelight and being interviewed over capitalizing on the entire Creature Wars and televising atrocious matches pinning Mortals and Creatures a like in gruesome, deathmatches.... shots of Deadblood, the regained champion of the MWE title belt, was seen as well through a montage of wrestling propaganda... what was apparently interesting absent in all of this was the renown involvement of the infamous Creature Wrestling Entertainment currently ran but The Promoter: Cadmus and Richard Arcane (the reincarnation of Red Spyder).... with that said, this scene crossfades now inside of Cadmus' promoter office.... Cadmus is not there —missing; however, Richard Arcane is watching from the gigantic window in the skyscraper ivory tower of CWE... watching... watching the streets still ablaze even during daylight —his face —fixed and emotionless at what he was witnessing....
Richard Arcane ponders that night with The Employer and the duty he is to fulfill.... (taken from: https://creaturewrestling.com/megaverse ... cane#p1586)
With pitch black all around Red Spyder- did he feel unease. Then, in the distance, a haunting purple light emerges, showing the outline of a figure draped in a long black robe.
Red Spyder: "So. We meet again."
"Do you accept the job to protect Angel and your children from an evil beyond imagining?"
::Red Spyder smirks::
Red Spyder: "Sure. And do you accept my one condition?"
"..... yes. To cease, no more, once this evil is irradiated."
Red Spyder: "Then, I accept."
::The Employer merely waved its right hand and chains which Red Spyder did not see before, wrapped around his entire body, fall to the floor...... The Employer turns to leave but then Red Spyder continues to talk::
Red Spyder: So. Who are you, really? Are you Serin?
::The Employer stops in its tracks and then turns their head slightly to its left::
"Nice guess. But, no. Serin is long gone. Your first mission is to find and identify 'the problem in terms of itself'... I have gifted you the power of time travel, your physical appearance will be masked, and, you will be known under a new name as Richard Arcane."
Red Spyder: "Where... where have I heard that name before?"
"Anything else you wish to ask me?"
Red Spyder: "I guess it does not matter WHO you are.... just wondering. When will I know I defeated this evil?"
"Just remember to define the problem in terms of itself... once you have, the evil threatening your loved ones will be known, and can be destroyed."
Before Red Spyder could say anything else, instantly, he wakes up in his apartment, drenched in sweat from a long, tiresome nights sleep..... his alarm clock is ringing... he turns it off... gets out of bed... enters into the bathroom and looks into the mirror....
Richard Arcane: Defining the problem in of itself, fuck, whatever that means....
Red Spyder understood then that he was Eddie, and that Serin’s death bore his own shadow.
He did not mourn. He summoned.... The Employer... and it answered Richard's desires.
Red Spyder offered himself without hesitation to The Employer: the final contract, accepted not for power, nor absolution, but to stand as a bulwark between The Employer-- his lost love, Angel, her children, and horrors yet unnamed. One condition bound the pact—when the work was finished, Red Spyder would be erased, not dead, but unmade.
The Employer consented without any hesitation.
The first directive was spoken softly, like a riddle meant to wound:
“Find the problem… in terms of itself.”
No enemy was named. No time was fixed.
Then the gift was given—
not a weapon, but time, folded and pressed into his hands like a living thing.
Yet Richard Arcane—the reincarnation of Red Spyder—was given no manual, no sigils carved into stone, no whispered rules. Time obeyed him in theory alone. It bent, stuttered, recoiled… but never explained itself. Each attempt to grasp it left him more uncertain, more enraged. Power without understanding became torment.
That single directive echoed endlessly in his thoughts, a splinter he could not remove:
Define the problem in terms of itself.
The words refused clarity. They lingered, circling his mind like vultures. And with every passing second, it became clear that even wielding time, Richard Arcane was still running out of it—out of answers, out of options.
His mind returned to CreatureMania XV.
He had believed, once, that intervention might have changed everything. That if he had allowed The Employer full access—if Darkspade and the others were maneuvered, deceived, guided into summoning Lilith only so she could be destroyed—then Darkspade would have agreed. He told himself it would have been enough if it meant saving the world. But that belief burned away as the fires spread.
As screams rose in volume—from city streets, from distant continents, from the very spine of the planet—Richard finally understood the truth. Darkspade does not care about this world. And not because he is an asshole...... not because he is incapable of love.... But because, even drowned in corruption, even poisoned by the Unholy Darkness, Darkspade still possesses a single, dangerous fragment of light. He loves.
He will never offer his own daughter—
Lilith—
to The Employer.
Not for salvation.
Not for victory.
Not even to save everything else.
And in that refusal, Richard Arcane saw the actual shape of the problem— not a demon to be slain, not a timeline to be corrected, but a love of a father that time itself could not bargain with.
Richard Arcane slammed his left fist against the bulletproof glass- it rippled and vibrated. Richard's deep breath covered the glass- making it fog up... the answer still a mystery.... How can he ever define this goddamn problem?... and fulfill his obligation?... his job?... to The Employer.... and at that very moment of lingering thought- did the large, heavy, mahogany doors to the elaborate Promoter's office creak open... the camera angle then was at the ground level. You see the black leather shoes with black slacks enter through the door.... Richard could feel the presence of the soul entering.... and with a sudden turn of the body- Richard Arcane was within feet of the presence of the owner of the MWE... Reverend Jones!!!!
The Reverend, at first, did not say a thing- the two locked gazes- how did The Reverend enter here? did that matter? What does matter, is the purpose....
Reverend Jones: "Before you say a thing, let it be known that this day prophesied!... the LORD has answered our prayers... and with the LORD as my shield, I come to you, Richard Arcane, with a message, and an offering...."
**Richard was not lost for words- he just did not give a damn. With an eye roll, Richard crossed his arms to hear the rest**
Reverend Jones: "... either we accept the reality of this divine intervention, and SAVE the righteousness, or we suffer in the flames of hell for all of eternity with the damned. I would imagine that you, a man of honor, would choose the first offering as you should. So- Richard Arcane... accept my hand in the grandeur of GOD's divine work... and help lead the world into a NEW era of enlightenment... where we ALLOW nature to take over and we seed the flock- both Mortals and Creatures- against each other in the wrestling ring. That is the ONLY way we can save them... cleanse their sin... and present unto GOD their children..... Richard... [kneels to one knee and looks upward towards Richard's gaze]... walk.... as a prophet."
.... we await Richard's response....