Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to the Johnny Cash song Hurt and I am not making any profit from using it in this fiction.
Tags: Game trailer, violence, song fiction.
There are excited murmurs of anticipation as the young brunette woman climbs onto the stage and smiles brightly at the crowd of gamers attending the E4 convention. The lights dim considerably as a purple company logo with a swirl appears in the big screen behind the smiling presenter. The audience starts cheering and clapping enthusiastically.
"Hello, I am Quinn Featherhead, game director for Screecher Cell Conviction."
The crowd goes wild and Quinn has to wait for almost a full minute for the cheering and the clapping to stop, before she can continue with the game's presentation.
"Once upon a time, my team and I dreamed of creating a game. Not just any game of course, but a real masterpiece that would shed light into what it truly means to be a predator, a vulture, a bird of prey. A graceful and beautiful, loyal avian assassin."
There is another wave of loud applause, but this time the young brunette politely motions for the audience to calm down and let her continue.
"The road to perfection was a long and treacherous one. No other company had ever succeeded or even attempted to introduce the freedom of flight to the degree that our development team intended to introduce with Screecher Cell Conviction. Fluid combat so intense and satisfying that would make you feel like a bird. Technical difficulties and other problems had to be overcome during those four long years we have been building this stunning masterpiece. A new game engine was created just for the purpose of bringing this breathtaking game to you. Without further ado, I present to you Screecher Cell Conviction!"
The audience draws a collective breath as the lights dim even more and Quinn steps aside so as to not obscure the game trailer that starts playing in front of the audience.
Cue Johnny Cash- Hurt
The video starts by showing a close-up shot of the striking amber eyes of a majestic blue eagle. Valor stares right back at the camera, his gaze heavy with bitterness, the burdens of life seemingly weighting down on him. The former fire that once burned brightly in the great eagle's eyes now looks to have been completely extinguished. Forever.
I hurt myself today
To see if I still feel
The scene changes again to present us with a close-up shot of Valor's spread wings in dark tones of grey. The majestic eagle lies down on the ground, unmotivated and motionless. Some of Valor's plumage scattered about his prone form. Valor's chest moves as he sighs.
I focus on the pain
The only thing that's real
The camera shows us a black puddle of blood with inky droplet falling in it from somewhere above. The plunging droplets creating ephemeral onyx ripples in the black liquid's surface.
The needle tears a hole
The old familiar sting
Back inside Valor's faded grey eyes, the shadows form animated shades from the distant past. A bird and a little girl playing together in a sunny green field. The young eagle happily retrieving the wooden stick that its owner throws towards the sky.
Try to kill it all away
But I remember everything
The camera shifts to a dusty photograph set on the table. It is the photo of a young woman, but the sunlight that enters the room is falling directly onto the woman's grinning face, creating a shiny refection that hides most of the girl's facial features. Only her innocent and kind smile can be seen in the shot. Valor's eyes solemnly move from the framed picture of his deceased owner to the hard floorboards bellow him.
What have I become
My sweetest friend
Valor sighs deeply. The grey eyes close, smothering the ghosts of his memories and the smile of the young woman in the frame behind his drooping eyelids. The viewer is left in the dark as the scene fades.
Everyone I know goes away
In the end
The tempo of the music rises dramatically. Another close-up of Valor greets the viewer, but this time when the camera starts moving backwards widening the shot we notice that Valor is flying, heading straight for a private jet. More specifically, towards the engine of the flying vehicle…
We briefly see an elderly man drinking wine inside the jet, his red-eyed raven perched on his shoulder. The man smiles sinisterly.
And you could have it all
My empire of dirt
Sudden shift to Valor tearing out the neck of a bodyguard with his talons, blood flying everywhere as Swain stares at the vengeful eagle in sheer horror. Another bodyguard rushes to intercept the angry eagle, gunshots ring as bullets open holes in the airframe of the private jet.
I will let you down
I will make you hurt
Swain begs for his life mutely as he stares into the murderous eyes of his feathery assailant. The crime kingpin's lips are moving, but only the music in the background can be heard for some reason. Valor slowly approaches the collapsed man and raises his bloodied talons to strike.
I wear this crown of thorns
Upon my liar's chair
The jet starts rapidly descending. One of the dead bodyguards had accidentally shot the pilot that bled out. Swain and Valor wrestle with each other, their bodies bouncing against the interior of the small airplane as the ground comes closer and closer. The private jet is quaking and groaning as it plunges down.
Full of broken thoughts
I cannot repair
Swain gains the upper hand in the fight and starts strangling Valor. The eagle retaliates by grabbing the crime kingpin's chin with his talons and pushing Swain's head backwards. The loyal bird takes advantage of Swain being distracted by the pain to grab the wine bottle that had miraculously survived the flight so far with a wing and break it against the mobster's exposed forehead. Swain lets the avian go with a howl of pain.
Beneath the stains of time
The feelings disappear
It is now Valor's turn to attempt strangling Swain with his feet. The dazed mobster starts frantically punching at the eagle's azure wings. Unlike Swain, however and despite the pain of the mobster's punches, Valor refuses to let go, enduring the onslaught of the crime kingpin's blows. A green plain is spreading underneath the falling airplane.
You are someone else
I am still right here
The small flying vehicle is now just a few hundred feet off the ground and it keeps diving lower. There is madness and hate in Valor's eyes and the eagle keeps squeezing at Swain's neck tighter and tighter. Swain's frantic movements are slowly ceasing.
What have I become
My sweetest friend
The elderly mobster finally expires with a terrible choked croak. The light in his eyes fades away, his arms drop at his sides. Valor glances at the cockpit of the falling aircraft only to realize that the airplane is about to violently crash into a plain.
If I could start again
A million miles away
The jet hits the ground with unimaginable force, the body of the aircraft shatters with a thunderous explosion. Fire and shards of hot metal rain down across the plain, the biggest chunks of the private jet being grinded against the hard ground, diggings crude brown lines against the green canvas of the mountain plain.
I would keep myself
I would find a way
A few azure feathers fall down from the sky, spinning and dancing across the sky, mixing with the black smoke of the plane crash. High up in the sky, Valor surveys the crash site with cold amber eyes. The logo of Noobisoft winks at the audience cheekily.
One by one the birds in the conference room get up from their seats and start clapping their wings together.
Writer's note: I was initially going to write about Assassin's Beak, but I picked a less dynamic and linear song than I should have for such a trailer, and then I was inspired to write this one. Assassin's Beak is the spin-off of Noobisoft's beloved and highly successful game series Assassin's Greed. That eagle in the series keeps getting ignored and so Noobisoft decided to be fair for once and let EZio GGWP step away from the spotlight and let the bird be the protagonist of the next game. In Assassin's Beak you play as a highly trained and cunning bird and your objective is to do everything in your power to help the goofy and clumsy assassin that is your partner escape from the Templars when he inevitably messes up. The character customization is the strong point of the series, you can pick from over a hundred different species of birds to create your own assassin. Arm them with a deadly arsenal of potential projectiles you can drop from the sky to distract or kill your adversaries, including but not limited to: smoke bombs, bird droppings, daggers, smaller birds, eggs, porn magazines, rocks, Quinn, arrows and RP cards. The subtitles on the other hand are terrible, they look like chicken scratch.