THE CITY OF REINVENTION

The camera fades in following the man in his frock coat and wide-brimmed hat walking the streets of Detroit. The sun is shining brightly, birds are singing and kids can be heard playing in their chain-link fenced in yards.

MAN: The City of Reinvention. Did you know we call it that? We used to, before the city fell on hard times and into the darkness.

He pauses briefly to take in his surroundings, coming in more clearly as the camera focuses. The houses are unpainted and uncared for, all in various states of dilapidation. Front lawns haven’t been mowed and grow high, gardens haven’t been weeded in a dog’s age.

MAN: I grew up in this neighborhood in a time when all things were possible. We were carefree and innocent, unburdened by responsibility to ourselves, to each other, to Him. Detroit, Michigan is where Don Winters found himself.

Don Winters turns right following the sidewalk, letting his right hand trail along the fencing, plinking sounds trailing as he goes.

WINTERS: The City of Reinvention. Where something broken can become something useful again. Where the maligned can work to become praised. It’s very difficult, however, to reinvent, when the city is actively fighting against you, holding you down. The City of Reinvention can tear you apart, leave you beaten, bloodied and broken, begging it to stop…

He inhales deeply.

WINTERS: …but it will never relent, not until there’s nothing left. The City of Reinvention will strip your agency, your being and most importantly, your faith from you. I found myself at the bottom of numerous places over the last 15 years. Rock bottom, the bottom of a bottle, as we all know those things typically go hand in hand.

Don Winters stops walking and looks up. Before him is a massive well-kept stone church, its steeple piercing the blue sky.

WINTERS: The City of Reinvention. When I was at my lowest point, the most lost I had ever been, I returned here to this church. It took years to allow myself to look up from the ground, then to look in the mirror and finally, to seek and find Him. From the Fallen Angel to the Angel Among Us, I was reinvented in this city against all odds…

Don Winters turns to face the camera, green eyes smiling beneath his hat.

WINTERS: …which makes it so fitting that PRIME has found its way here with another edition of ReVival. A company that had to reinvent itself, much in the same way I did. It is both commendable and noble that they would bring themselves to the City of Reinvention to give the hopeless a small night of respite from their sad, faithless lives. PRIME forgot to invite me to the party in my own hometown though. They’ve come into my holy city without so much as a hello? The PRIME roster is just as faithless and wayward as the people of Detroit.

The spark in his eyes is gone, replaced by a smoldering fire.

WINTERS: This not the City of Reinvention, but the City of Resurrection and I am the Angel Among You, I am the Revelator Don Winters and I am bringing all of you Absolution.

We then fade to black before cutting back to the ringside area.