The College Playoffs
In the week leading up to the start of the college football playoffs, a palpable sense of anticipation blanketed the nation. All eyes were fixed upon Jamal Roosevelt Thompson, the Elemental Incarnate whose legend had transcended the mere mortal realm.
Jamal's dominance over the regular season had been nothing short of absolute. Entire defenses would crumble in the face of his relentless onslaught, their wills utterly subjugated beneath the weight of his cosmic fury. He was no longer seeking to merely punish and demoralize - his sights were set on the complete and utter annihilation of any soul brazen enough to stand in his path.
The visions had become a constant companion for Jamal during this time, flashes of battles across fields and stadiums that seemed to span the very cosmos itself. Great amphitheaters crafted from the bones and subjugated wills of the vanquished, their foundations mere footstones for the glory that awaited the Elemental Incarnate.
Jamal could feel the cosmic truth resonating through every fiber of his being like a shockwave. The gridiron had merely been an incubator, a crucible to forge him into an entity capable of waging war across eternity's battlefield. That hallowed arena that had once been the apex of his ambition was now little more than a shadow - a pale imitation of the conquest that beckoned from just over the horizon.
As the playoffs approached, the hype and speculation surrounding Jamal reached a fever pitch. Pundits and fans alike debated whether any team, any defense, could possibly withstand the onslaught of the Elemental Incarnate. Whispers of his true nature - that he was no mere mortal, but a sentient force of nature fused with the gridiron in a violent cosmic union - only added to the growing sense of awe and trepidation.
Yet Jamal remained an island of tranquility amidst the swirling maelstrom. His focus was laser-sharp, his consciousness split between the anchors of his humanity and the primordial power of the Elemental Incarnate yearning to be unchained.
With a deep, steadying breath, Jamal turned and made his way towards the practice fields, his footsteps echoing with a sense of finality. This was the last time he would don the pads and cleats of a mere mortal, the final moments before he would shed the last vestiges of his earthly form and embrace his true destiny as an Elemental Incarnate.
The path had been cleared. All that remained was to raze anything that dared stumble into Jamal's relentless march into eternity's hallowed realm. For the cosmic entity had been forged in immortality's crucible, and the world would forever be scorched by the footprints of his inexorable advance.