My friends, life has taken the most terrible turn for me and someone I love. This is a short flashback on Simba's life. Please read it to the end, my very personal reasons and troubles will be clear at the bottom. ------------ A life's end ------------ He was aware this was his last walk, the last steps he would take, seeking Mano and Minshasa. Once he was the great Lion King and the clouds and the savanna's grass whispered his name. Simba. Lion. To the many ears who listened to this neverending song it sounded like Strong. Beautiful. Even whose life was ended by lions praised him. But now the lion's soul searched for Mufasa's gentle embrace. Warmth and comfort in a night that seemed to trigger all forces of hell, cold winds that were reaching for him, frantically attempting to freeze him like a rose just to crumble his body to dust and memories at the end. But his heart was at a place where darkness would never be. His thoughts went back to the past. Once he was a cub in deadly danger, fear drove him. Despair made him push his father. And darkness that braced the heart of his once loving uncle exiled him and marked the moment when the cub Simba ceased to exist. Then the day came when indecscribable love was shining in Nala's eyes and everything changed for him. Once a baboon hugged him. "It is time." It really was time and it would be time soon again. Simba still felt the wet stone under his pawpads, the load on his shoulders, the responsibility for the pride. The burning fear in him to disappoint his family faded when Mufasa spoke to him from high above illuminated by the golden light light of hope, still the burnt bushes and clouds of smoke rose from the grey into the heavens above to add to the glory of the moment. But life went on tempting Simba, he remembered the hungry face of a young lioness too well who was frantically digging for a hare in the ashes that had been eaten long ago by termites, and the deep despair when she ralized it. Then regret filled Simba. Pity takes his soul, and shame for what he did to Kovu once. Deception, disgrace they shouted. Chased off an innocent young lion who was so much like the king himself and grew to be a true son for him. How certain Simba had been to be right about exiling Kovu, so much it proved to be a cruel mistake. Simba never dared to ask if Kovu had ever forgiven him. Theplace was close where Simba would find rest and peace. He stepped through a last line of bushes, and in the middle of all the darkness that surrounded him he found the waterfall that once marked the place where happiness came into his life. His legs began to shiver, the old body demanding toll for the long way to this one last place. Sleep gently began to cover him like a lioness' love, like the moments when he was closer to Nala than anyone else could. He was a king, but his wealth was the his power to rule, but all the feelings he experienced. Love, regret, despair, faith in Aiheu and the onces he loved, care for his daughter, and even the bad times he went through. An even more powerful and seemingly even younger lion stood faced him when Simba woke up. It was a Herculean effort to wrench the eyelids open. The lion spoke: "You have done well my son. Come with me." "We are one, aren't we?" Mufasa nodded thoughtfully. "We are. Now, in the future and forever." Simba's eyes closed and he was with his father. Dedicated to my mother who is going to die of cancer. I need you all, my friends on the TLK-L mailing list, in the hard times that will come. Kublia, 11/20/1998 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Mirco Zacher Member: FCOS-Cleaner of Nala's Claws ICQ: 1572258 Shingi and Elsa live on! IRC: Kublia/Amurtiger Nalaholics Anonymous Homepage 200 MB TLK data: http://kublia.lionking.org Visit Chakal`s Lair: http://www.lionking.org/~tgk -----------------------------------------------------------------