"The Lion & The Rat" [War Zone Promo - Vs. Dick Devereaux]

Scene I of I – “The Lion & The Rat”

The sound of the brisk winter wind whistling through a window is the first thing we hear as we fade into the view of that very same open window which seems to be on the top floor of a two storey house. It’s nighttime outside but the camera focuses on the window’s frame; the white wood is peeling back in most places revealing the old, molded wood that lies beneath the worn paint. A tattered, white drape that is separated, half of it to the right side and the other half to the left sways with the wind as a few snow flakes from the light flurry outside travel in under the drapes as they shoot up from a sudden gust of wind. The camera begins to pull back, showing the blue walls that we are beginning to see, have not escaped the same fate as the window frame. Not only is the blue wallpaper peeled back in certain areas but we also see holes in the walls, this house looks like it’s been abandoned for quite some time.

The camera begins to now move to the left, showing us an old, brown, wooden bookcase that is four levels high and scattered among it are various children stories, both thin and thick, long and short and for the day as well as bed time. The shelves are covered in dust, with cobwebs strung up along all the books. The camera keeps going to the left until we come to the far left wall and up against it is a bed, which is just as dusty as the bookcase. The frame is old and wooden, looking to be part of the same bedroom set as the bookshelf and the brown wooden nightstand on the other side of it. Sitting on top of the blue bed sheets is WarZone Pro UltraViolent Star and Union Battleground Champion, “The Alpha & Omega” Nemesis. He has black work boots on, with black jeans and a black leather jacket on, showing disregard for the bitter cold outside by going shirtless underneath the jacket to once again show off to the WarZone Universe the darkness that covers his chest, all the way up to his head with the markings looking like a demonic creature is protruding through his neck and face while his chest is covered in finger scratches that look like they are coming from within his body up to it’s exterior and phrases such as “IT CAN’T BE STOPPED”, “HE’S TAKEN OVER” & “RUN FOR YOUR LIVES” are littered among his chest as well.

“This story never gets old Richard…even as we add a new chapter with every encounter between us, it seems as though we are destined to be the protagonist and antagonist of this grand tale…”, Nemesis stops for a moment as another strong gust enters the rooms through the open window before he continues on

“But let’s not mistake it for a ‘fairy tale’ or a story you’ll be able to pass along around a table with friends, as few of them as you may have because what we have begun to delve into is a war which is destined to end with only one of us emerging from the flames and Richard, I fully intend to leave you burning in them until nothing more than a pile of your ashes REMAINS!”, Nemesis’ voice level escalates with the angry tone in his voice

Nemesis settles his emotions, leans over and begins sifting through the books on the middle shelf of the old bookcase, strumming his finger along the tops of the books until he comes to one in the middle of the shelf. Nemesis pulls the book out with the camera focusing in on the title, which is written on the book’s spine in a black font; “The Lion & The Rat”. Nemesis bring the book in front of him and proceeds to blow the dust off of it’s cover as it forms a cloud in front of the camera with dust particles drifting through the air. The book itself is thin indicating it to be a short story and the cover is yellow with an extremely aggressive looking lion beautifully drawn with a rat drawn crawling in front of it, with the title of the book above the picture on the cover as well. Nemesis proceeds to open the book and begins slowly reading it, page by page with the sound of him flipping the pages mixed in with the howling wind adding to this already eerie setting.

“Stories are such a wonderful thing for the mortal brain, they can activate language processing parts of your brain, activate your sensory cortex, your motor cortex and metaphorical stories are meant to activate the insula which helps mortals relate that metaphor to an experience they once had, whether it be joyful, painful or of disgust”, Nemesis’ head remains down while he talks knowing the viewer’s attention is fully on him

“You see, this specific story tells a similar tale to ours; it speaks of a Lion in a forest, HIS forest and along comes a little Rat who decides he’s going to run around and try to play all over the Lion, running up and down him, thinking he can do what he wants by his own will until the Lion shows it’s fierceness and roars towards the rat, sending him scurrying away out of fright”, Nemesis closes the book and looks up with the rage and fierceness he spoke of that Lion having burning in his eyes

“But that’s where our comparison to this story stops and turns from joyful to quite painful for yourself Richard because you see, the rat came back into the forest the very next day to find the Lion caught in a hunter’s trap and used his teeth to free the Lion to which the Lion thanked the Rat. Yet, in our story, after the Lion sent the Rat scurrying away in fright and defeat, the Rat has decided that he can come back and try to do what he pleases in the Lion’s forest…on MY turf where I AM the Apex Predator of the food chain and unluckily for you, I’m not in a trap waiting to be freed, oh no, instead I stand with thousands of souls whom I’VE FREED!”, Nemesis closes the book up and places it on his lap

“Fear not though Richard, I will not give you another crutch to lean on this time around, for it seems as though Viduus intervening in my Union Battleground Championship victory was your excuse to failing the first time and since I scored the pinfall victory over Rogan MacLean in our Triple Threat bout at Burning Hammer and not you, that was your excuse for failing a second time. But I assure you, I will not need a member of Salvation at ringside, nor will there be another body for me to score the pinfall on except your very own, so I must ask you Richard, when you lose for a third consecutive time to ‘The Alpha & Omega’, what excuse will you conjure up? Will you have something in your eye that obstructs your vision causing you to not fully see what’s happening? Will a hangnail prevent you from using your right hand, thus putting you at an automatic disadvantage? I’ve grown tired of your pitiful excuses as to why you can’t beat me Richard, it’s about time I give you yet another reason as to why I am the superior entity between the two of us by adding to my win tally over you…which seems to be growing by the week Richard”, Suddenly, a squeaking is heard that cuts Nemesis off from speaking due to it breaking his focus as he begins to look down towards his feet

Nemesis suddenly stomps down with his boot and we hear a squeal, followed by Nemesis reaching down forward in front of him. Nemesis begins to lean back as the squeaking we heard earlier has returned and is growing louder. Nemesis lifts his arm up showing us a small rat flailing around in the air as Nemesis holds it by the tail with his thumb and index fingers. Nemesis brings the rat closer towards his face and begins grinning sinisterly.

“My, what a perfect coincidence this is, as it seems I now hold the fate of Richard’s equal in my hand”, Nemesis begins tilting his head to the right and to the left surveying the rodent as it continues to try and squirm free

“Let this serve as a visual example of what awaits you Richard…”, Without notice the rat suddenly bursts into flames as the squeals of the rat fill the room with it’s life fading away faster and faster with each moment

“You are but a pest that requires extermination Richard but not until you too squeal for you life like this rat and then…and ONLY then will you have my permission to PERISH!”, Nemesis drops the lifeless burnt rat to the floor at his feet

Nemesis now stands up from the bed, places the book onto the bed and adjusts his coat.

“I look forward to the next chapter in our story Richard…”, Nemesis smirks sadistically and then begins to walk forward

The scene zooms into the cover of “The Lion & The Rat” as the crunching of Nemesis’ boot stepping on the burnt remains of the rat being the last audio we hear as we fade to black.