End's Beginning

Rumpelstiltskin-"Listein one, listen all, and listen well! This is my telling of this sordid tale! The Gods convened to decide if humanity, well by humanity they wean all mortals, was worthy of existence. Considering the evils wrought by humanity... THE ANSWER WAS NO! However, humanity had one singular saving grace! One God believed them to be worthy of life! This God is none other than OZ, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL!"

A screen flashed, showing the "God" standing with his cane. Dorothy was there as well, planning to watch the fight with him. Oz tipped his hat before the screen cut off.

Rumpelstiltskin-"Thanks to him humanity was given a singular chance! 15 Humans! 15 Gods! That's Ragnarök! If humanity proves their might and 8 of their warriors prove stronger than the Gods, they get to live! If not, well..." He slid his finger across his throat before continuing.

Rumpelstiltskin-"Now prepare yourselves for the first Round! First, for the Gods!" He pointed to the God's side of the arena, where a figure could be seen standing in the entrance.

Rumpelstiltskin-"Of all the Gods, it is this man who knows humanity the best! He's seen their hopes! Their desires! What does he think of them? He thinks they are naught but FILTH!" The figure moved out of the entrance and into the arena. They were obscured by a storm of magic sand.

Rumpelstiltskin-"The true self, the sleeping self, he's seen it for eons. You can't hide your sins from him! The maker of dreams, he's now gunning to put humanity to eternal rest! For him, that's the kindest mercy the Gods can end, to free them from their cycle of sins! I give you Heaven's Strongest Dreamer, SANDMAN!" The storm started to clear, leaving the sand blanketing the arena and revealing the full form of the Sandman.

Sandman-"Hurry up and bring out my opponent. I'll put them out of their misery." The various Gods in the stands started cheering.

"Sandman will show you humans!" "Our Strongest Dreamer is unbeatable! He'll put your pathetic fighter to rest in an instant!" "You might as well lay down and die!"

Rumpelstiltskin-"Who could hope to match The Strongest Dreamer? How about a living NIGHTMARE! So feared is this man that in his world over legends are told of him! Was he a soldier who was decapitated? Was he a soldier whose head was destroyed by cannon fire? is he a Revant, unable to truly die due to his sins? Who knows?! Now, let me tell you what we do know!" At this the entrance for the human fighter flung open. Whoever stepped out was completely shrouded by flames.

Rumpelstiltskin-"When he appears, death follows! Just his touch can kill! The flames he commands rival Hell itself! Riding through the world on his trusty steed even the Gods know of his name, his infamy piercing heaven! I give you The Living Nightmare, THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN" The flames dispersed, revealing the full form of the Headless Horseman.

The Horseman seemed to look over his opponent despite his lack of eyes.

Headless Horseman-"So you are the one I'm to burn to ash." Despite the serious nature of their encounter all Sandman could do was blink in confusion.

Sandman-"How... how can you see?" The Horseman did not answer. As this was going on humanity stared on, wondering if they should even cheer for their terrifying champion. However, a bunch of children started cheering for him, as did the kid's parents. This slowly spread, until all of humanity was shouting for him.

"You can do this Headless!" "Go Mr. Horseman!" "Destroy that God! Burn him to a crisp!"

Rumpelstiltskin-"Now the battle of Dreams and Nightmares! Round One of Ragnarök, starts now! FIGHT!" As soon as the match started Headless shot a volley of fire at Sandman, who nonchalantly dodged. The Horseman then formed a sword-like construct of flames on two of his fingers. His black horse charged forward and he swung the blade at Sandman several times. Each slash was dodged with utter ease and the sword constantly scrapped the ground. The God didn't even bother to remove his hands from his pockets. The humans stared on in worried silence while the Gods were shouting jeers at the human warrior.

Sandman-"If you just surrender you could walk away with your soul intact. Even if you could hit me it wouldn't do any damage."

Headless Horseman-"Let's test that." Suddenly chains of orange flames sprouted from the ground where all of the Headless Horseman's attacks hit. The chains moved faster than the Horseman's previous attacks, quickly ensnaring the God's arms.

CHAINED TO HELL!

Sandman struggled against the chains, shocked that he couldn't just break them. The Horseman and his horse charged forward, moving much faster than they did previously. At the last second Sandman broke free of the chains and barely dodged, though the blade glanced his side and gave him a slight burn. Before he could counterattack a fireball came flying from where the Horseman's head should have been. The fireball sent Sandman flying to the end of the arena, slamming into the wall. The dust from the attack cleared to show a shocking sight. Sandman coughed up blood from the impact, and the God's left side and arms had burn marks.

Rumpelstiltskin-"Incredible! Despite not being able to land a hit earlier, The Headless Horseman lays a flaming beatdown on Sandman!" The humans were cheering while the Gods were shouting for Sandman to get up. A flaming jack-o-lantern flew from where the Horseman's head should be. Sandman noticed that the Horseman's hand had a mark of the Tower tarot card.

Headless Horseman-"So that man spoke the truth. This is the power to fell a God!" He launched another fireball at Sandman. Sandman did not move, he simply stared at the fireball and grinned, before grabbing something from some sand. The attack landed but when the smoke cleared the attack did no damage. Sandman blocked the attack with his divine weapon, an Umbrella. It was black on the outside, but the inside was emanating a bright light.

Oz-"Damn, this doesn't look good."

Dorthey-"How? The Horseman's winning! Don't know why the idiot God over down there is grinning!"

Oz-"Well, let's just say that with that Umbrella the real fight just started." Dorethy shrugged instead of responding.

Sandman closed his umbrella before both fighters rushed towards each other. Sandman raised his hand and a gust of sand was sent straight towards the Horseman.

Sandman-"Sleep!" The Horseman noticed that his horse had stopped moving. His horse was sound asleep!

DREAM DEPATURE!

The sudden stop caught the Horseman off guard, allowing Sandman to slam his Umbrella into him like a baseball bat, knocking him off the horse. The Horseman got up immediately, which was impressive as the single blow broke some of his ribs.

Sandman-"I'll admit, you caught me off guard but..." Sandman thrust the umbrella forward, stabbing the pointed end into the Horseman's chest. He then opened the umbrella, sending the Horseman flying forward.

Sandman-"If you don't have any more tricks, you could only beat me in your dreams!"