The Reign of Darkness
Story by:
Black Lion
Authors
Note: I wrote this story as a simple yet very long fanfic. Yes, it is about the
Lion King, and my own personal mixture to it. I hope you Enjoy! (All characters
recognized by Disney, as well as locations, are all there property. All other
characters are mine. Thanks.) xalanthas@yahoo.com
Warning: This story contains much graphic content. All
who are squeamish or just don’t like these types of stories please turn away.
Chapter 1: Undying Love
Kovu
smiled as he watched the sun tuck itself into the horizon, giving off its pink
profound tone. He felt the wind pass through his body, cool and fresh. The
scent of rain clinged his nostrils and he smiled again. Kovu loved the rain. It
had been only a few days since Kovu and the rest of the Outlanders had been
taken back into the Pride. Simba and Nala still retained their royal status,
but Kovu felt it wouldn’t be long until they passed it over to Kiara and him.
He looked up, and the stars twinkled in their glory, shining down upon him.
Tears began to fill his eyes, and Pride overwhelmed his accomplishment.
Hated outsider to king…to
KING…
Kovu was about to cry. What were
the chances of him being accepted as a member of the greatest pride the world
had ever known?
Kovu noticed that it was getting
late, and he should return to his chamber. Kovu got up and walked back to his
den, where he found Kiara waiting for him.
Kovu only smiled by her warm
presence, his breath taken away by the mere sight of her, her golden fur, her
eyes…
God, how Kovu loved her eyes,
the marvelous red orbs that, with a glance, could warm him for three winter
months.
Kovu walked over to her and gave
her a loving head rub. She suddenly rubbed her full length under his chin. Kovu
smiled, her rubbing releasing a fresh scent from her fur. At the end of the
body rub, Kiara ran her tail under Kovu’s chin, and gave him a little upwards
flick when she was done. She stepped and danced around him, then occasionally
would wander away from him purposely, as if to accentuate herself.
Kovu quickly realized the point
she was trying to get across.
Kiara stepped towards him again
with a seductive face, and rubbed her head against his. She bit him lightly on
the ear, and Kovu felt a shiver run down his spine. Kovu enjoyed the attention,
but had to hold back.
“Kiara…” He whispered into
Kiara’s ear, whose breathing began to get heavy.
“Shh…” she whispered in his ear
softly, “I’m here, and that’s all that matters…”
She ran her length under his
chin again, but halfway across her back Kovu turned away and walked towards the
corner quickly, and sat facing the reddish-bronze wall.
Kiara’s mood changed, and she
became very worried over her love.
She walked over to him and sat
beside him, head low, trying to see Kovu’s face.
“Kovu, what’s wrong?” She asked,
worried.
Kovu picked his head up and
looked into her eyes. His marvelous green eyes, reminded her of the most
beautiful of all crystals.
“Kiara, you know I love you with
all my heart…” He began to explain, “And you know we’ve never mated before…”
Kiara, jumping to conclusions,
“Don’t worry about that, Kovu…” and started to rub his head lovingly.
“Kiara…please stop…” he said
suddenly.
Kiara, shocked, looked at him
with a dropped jaw.
“Kiara…it’s not that, either…”
He said as he put his head down again.
“It’s just that I’m not…ready,
now…” He said honestly, hoping that Kiara would understand. He picked up his
head and looked deep into her eyes, thinking that he would find anger,
disappointment.
No, he didn’t.
Instead he met her
understanding, loving, soothing eyes. Kiara sat, and smiled warmly at Kovu.
Kovu turned from the wall to her direction, and felt a rush of happiness surge
through his body. Kovu loved Kiara beyond describable words, and he felt
comforted by her very presence. Kovu smiled warmly and deeply at her, and tears
began to fill his eyes. He began to sob, tears flowing down his cheeks, and he
let it out. Kovu cried, his tears wetting the stone floor, but not of sadness,
but of happiness. The very thought of Kiara froze him, and to have her as his
love was almost too perfect to be real. Eyes closed and still shedding tears,
Kiara got up and sat beside him, and rubbed his shoulder with hers. Kovu picked
his head up, his cheeks now soggy with tears of joy, looked into her eyes
again. She smiled, and said softly,
“Kovu, I would never want to
rush or hurt you in any way…”
“Nor would I…” he replied,
elation still great within him.
“And I understand that you need
some time to get used to me…”
Kovu looked at her shocked,
stunned that he directed her in the wrong way.
“No, Kiara, it’s not that
either…” He said as he got up and now head rubbed her lovingly, her fur giving
fervent feelings of love to Kovu.
“It’s not you that I need to get
used to…” He said, continuing the loving rub.
“It’s me…it’s me…” He whispered
as he stopped rubbing and looked into her eyes. Kovu began to explain,
“Kiara, it’s me. It’s not every
day that an outsider like me is bound to become king of the greatest lands of
the entire world. It’s also not everyday when you lose a mother and brother in
a few days. Furthermore, when you’ve been trained all your life to kill…”
Kovu paused, downing his head,
and tears began to fill his eyes again.
Kiara reached out with a paw and
lifted his head. His crystal green eyes shined with tears, and Kiara smiled,
trying to cheer him up.
“Kovu, I understand. I will give
you all the time you need,” She lowered her paw and licked him over his nose,
“…My Kovu…”
She walked over to the side of
the den and lied down, and beckoned Kovu to follow. Kovu smiled, and told her
softly,
“I have a better idea.”
* *
* * * *
Nighttime, before the rain.
Kovu led Kiara outside, and saw
the thundering clouds in the horizon. Kovu scanned the area for a suitable
location, while Kiara caught up to him. He found a nice spot, a large tree
surrounded by tall grass. He walked over to it and laid down in the shade.
Kiara followed, and lied down in the grass as well.
“Don’t worry about the rain,”
Kovu said, “The leaves on this tree are large and broad, and so they should
keep us from getting wet.”
She snuggled close, and rubbed
his head again, purring softly. Kovu rubbed her head back, and they both
stopped and looked lovingly at each other. They stared happily into each
other’s eyes for a long moment, and Kovu was the first to put his head down to
sleep. Kiara snuggled her head close to his, and there they slept, in peace,
for the night.
Chapter 2: Explanations
Kovu
woke, the sun behind him reflected off the dew of the tall grass. It rained
hard, much of the surrounding pathways of Priderock were littered with large
puddles. Kovu looked up and saw Kiara, her head propped up on top of his,
purring in her sleep. Kovu smiled, and did not have any intentions on waking
her up. He slid out from under her, and used his neck like an off-ramp so that
he wouldn’t drop her head on the ground. Kovu watched as she slept, ever so
peacefully. Kovu stretched himself out, bones popping comfortably.
“Ahh, a new day.” He said to
himself, and felt the wind of a new day pass through his mane ever so gently.
He felt the cool earth settle itself between his paws, giving him shivers.
Kovu remembered everything that
had happened to him, the death of Nuka and Zira, Simba’s thought that he had
betrayed him.
Kovu sighed heavily, the thoughts
tying a knot in his stomach. But, as Simba had taught him, the strange
Akuna-Matata phrase, to put your past behind yourself.
Kovu sighed again, relieved.
True, he may have been the almost certain demise of Simba and the entire pride,
but he also at least remembered that you can run from the past, or, learn from
it.
An itch developed on Kovu's
head.
He reached and began to scratch,
and whipped his paw back down when searing pain shot through the back of his
head.
"Oww..." he said as
the pain on the back of his head slowly diminished.
Slowly, he brought his paw up
again and rubbed the back of his head. He wondered where he had gotten the
pain, as the back of his head was abnormally tender.
Memory served quickly for Kovu,
and he remembered exactly where he had gotten it from.
"The ambush..." Kovu
muttered to himself.
He remembered Simba being
hopelessly outnumbered by the Outlanders, and Kovu had tried to help. He
remembered batting Sioka away, but as he turned he remembered getting kicked in
the face by...
Who?
Kovu tried hard to remember,
feeling that he had known the lioness, but the spark of memory just didn’t
ignite.
"Who was it, I should
know..." he asked himself, still rubbing his head, and he finally
remembered.
Vitani
Yes, it was Vitani. Kovu remembered
clearly now, clearly saw her evil grin when it happened, remembered flying
through the air and landing head-first on a stone in the ground.
"I think I'm going to have
to have a few words with her when I get back." He told himself.
Kovu stared out into the
horizon, smiling at how wonderful his life turned out to be. His smile
diminished again, remembering his past.
"Put it behind
yourself..." He told himself, putting the old memories away.
Kovu looked out into the horizon
again, and finally turned back to Priderock.
* *
* * * *
As he walked, he reached the
tree where Kiara still slept, and tapped her lightly on the head.
She moaned, and her eyes cracked
open.
"Time to wake..." Kovu
said as he looked closely at Kiara, his head near hers. She smiled, and gave
Kovu a lick on the nose.
"Mpmh..." Kovu muffled
as the lick tickled his nose and summoned a sneeze. Kovu lifted his head and
rubbed his nose, salvaging a sneeze.
Kiara stretched her spine,
popping as she did a wave-like motion on her back. She rolled her shoulders and
moaned slightly, and looked over to Kovu, who was smiling the entire time.
"What?" She asked,
smiling back.
"Nothing..." Kovu said
as he walked over to her, "Just admiring your beauty..."
"Oh, stop it." Kiara
said as Kovu began to head rub her softly, his mane tickling her neck. She
purred, and Kovu's muscles tensed at the sound.
They walked back to Priderock
together, walking up the stone ramp and into the main den. There, they found
the lionesses preparing for a new day, Simba and Nala speaking to each other on
the throne.
Kovu and Kiara walked up to
them, but they didn’t notice from their deep conversation.
Simba, at the corner of his eye,
spotted them and stopped immediately.
Nala turned and saw them both,
together again.
"Where were you two? We
woke and couldn’t find you anywhere." Simba started, asking them both.
"We were asleep under a
tree. Kovu decided to sleep outside for a change." Kiara said, and gave
Kovu a small head rub. Kovu smiled and head rubbed back.
"Didn’t the rain bother
you?" Nala asked this time.
Kovu looked up and said,
"No, the tree had large leaves, so we slept quite comfortably."
Kiara still head rubbed Kovu,
and Nala smiled at them both.
"So, what were you two
talking about?" Kovu asked.
Simba looked over to Nala
hesitantly, and she did to him. Simba sighed heavily, and began to speak.
"Kovu, we where talking
about..." Simba hesitated, but began again, "...When Kiara and you
will be crowned King and Queen."
Kovu and Kiara looked at them
wide-eyed, jaws dropping.
"I was questioning if you
two were ready..."
Kovu was the first to break
through the shock, and said sheepishly, "Simba, I...Am not ready."
Simba looked at him curiously.
"Kovu?"
Kovu looked up, and said,
"Simba, I have had some trouble, and I don’t think we will be King and
Queen yet, not in a while."
Simba paused for a moment,
smiled, and said, "I understand, Kovu. I will give you plenty of
time."
Kovu looked up and smiled, and
Kiara broke through the trance.
"Queen?!? But it’s only
been a couple of days!" Kiara exclaimed.
"Kiara, if you're not
ready, then just say so." Nala said calmly.
"What a relief! I don’t
think I could have handled it so soon." Kiara said in response.
The 4 simultaneously sighed in
relief.
"Thank goodness."
Kiara added, and turned to Kovu, "I guess I'm gonna have to go for now,
the other lionesses seem to be calling me."
Kovu looked over to his right
and saw a group of 5 lionesses huddled around each other. One, as he clearly
knew as Umi, waved with a smile.
Kovu smiled back, and a thought
filled his mind.
Vitani
True, he had to look for Vitani.
Kovu scanned the inside of the den, and she was nowhere to be found.
Quickly, he ran out of the den
to find her, when he ran into Sioka.
"Sioka!" Kovu
exclaimed, surprised.
"Hello, Kovu." She
responded dully, her tone low and disappointing.
"What?" Kovu said, and
he remembered what he had done to her.
As if on cue, Sioka turned her
head and displayed her left eye, blackened and swollen.
Kovu grimaced, and said,
"Geez, I’m sorry Sioka. I...I...I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do
to help?"
Sioka smiled seductively.
"SIOKA!" Kovu exclaimed.
"What? You said
anything...” Replied Sioka.
Kovu knew Sioka all too well.
Before the entire mess of Kovu and his plot to overthrow Simba from his throne,
Sioka had a mad crush on Kovu. Kovu never really paid attention to her, until
the time she tried to "Make Kovu hers". Kovu, of course, turned her
down and scolded her, shocked at her unreal behavior. Kovu had never really
liked Sioka, her seductivity too great for his affection.
"Please Sioka. I just
wanted to say that I am sorry for what I did." Kovu urged her.
"I understand. You’re just
trying to protect your girlfriend’s daddy." She wasn’t all too happy that
Kovu and Kiara loved each other, either.
Kovu ignored her last remark and
asked, "Sioka, do you know where Vitani is?"
"Yes I do. She's near the
water-hole, but she should be returning any time soon." She finished with
a smile.
"Thanks. See ya
around!" His last words trailed off as he ran down the ramp, and down the
dirt pathway towards the water-hole.
"Hopefully not..." Kovu thought to himself as he ran, scanning the horizon to
find Vitani.
Once Kovu was pretty far from
Priderock, he slowed to a walk, and still looked onward, searching for Vitani.
He scanned, and he finally found her. She was returning from the water-hole,
her head low.
Kovu picked up the pace and
stopped in front of Vitani. She lifted her head, and smiled. Her sapphire eyes
sparkled in glory.
"Hi, Kovu." She said
silently, "How are you?"
"Pretty good, considering
the kick you laid on me." Kovu said, lifting an eye-brow.
Vitani curiously looked at him,
her eyes squinted. Her eyes widened suddenly, and she blushed. She folded her
ears down, and hung her head low, placing a paw over her head, and turning away
slightly.
"Gee, Kovu. You caught me
on the end of the line. I’m sorry, I..." Vitani tried hard to explain, but
she couldn’t muster enough courage.
"Oh, please Kovu, I’m so
sorry, really, I mean, uh, well, you know how it is, when everything is
happening so fast, I lost myself and..." She stopped when she looked up
and met Kovu's smile.
She hung her head low with her
ears still folded down and said, "I’m sorry."
Kovu walked over next to her and
pulled her close. Kovu had grown very large, and very strong. He nearly tipped
his height over Simba. He easily pulled Vitani close, and lifted her chin with
his massive paw. He looked into her dazzling blue eyes and smiled. She smiled
back.
"I forgive you Vitani,
because I know that we are all not perfect." Kovu told her.
Vitani smiled, and gave Kovu a
small head rub on the shoulder. She began her way back to Priderock, and turned
back and smiled at Kovu again. Kovu smiled back, and she turned and trotted
happily back to Priderock. Kovu watched as she pranced away, and turned to see
the rising sun, on its long journey to the other side. Kovu smiled and decided
to watch the sun rise, all the while the happy thoughts circling around in his
head, over and over.
"Nothing can go wrong,
not anymore..."
* *
* * * *
Vitani finally reached
Priderock, and began her swift ascent up the onramp.
Thank goodness that weight
was lifted off my shoulders! She thought
to herself, as she was forgiven by Kovu. As she reached the top, she ran into
Kiara, who was surprised by Vitani's sudden appearance.
"Oh! Vitani! Good, we were
looking for you."
Vitani looked up happily at
Kiara, who was glad that she had found her so fast.
"The other lionesses and I
are going for the hunt. They say that there could not be a better time than now
to hunt."
Vitani smiled slyly and said,
"I sure would."
Chapter 3: The Finding
Kiara and Vitani led the way,
the three other lionesses, Kaisha, Sioka, and Mavi following closely behind.
Kiara walked a few paces ahead of Vitani, trying to be the first to find the
herd. They all picked up the pace to match Kiara's swift process.
As they walked, they all set
their eyes on Kiara. It was usually best to keep sight of the leader; she could
give signals which would indicate the precise moment to stop.
They were right.
Kiara stopped and snapped her
tail straight. She wiggled her right hind paw, indicating to stop. They all
stopped, and Vitani dared a peek over the tall grass. The antelope herd grazed
silently, sensing no threat to their cause. Oh, how they were wrong.
Kiara turned to the group, and
they all instinctively huddled around close.
"Okay, we are downwind. We
have caught them perfectly. Look, and see, they are in a dried lake bed, and it
will take quite some effort for them to leave it." Kiara said
informatively.
Vitani looked and saw that she
was right. This bed once possessed a large lake, and the beds walls were quite
high, about 5 feet. The antelope had walked through a small promontory that led
into the water that was once there. The lake bed was heavily surrounded by
trees, lush, green, and tall. The only opening was in the promontory, and the
hill in which the lionesses stood on.
"Okay, here’s the plan.
Kaisha, you’re going to take the left wing, which is covered by those trees.
Sioka, you’re going to stay here. Mavi, you’re going to take the right wing. I,
myself, will be north of the herd. Vitani, you’re going to cover that
promontory."
The lionesses all nodded when they
heard their position commands. Then came the important part.
"Ok. Now, when I signal
off, you will see the herd go into pandemonium. I will try my best to lead them
to you, Kaisha. Then, Kaisha and I will lead them over to you, Mavi. All three
of us will then lead them to you, Sioka. They should turn around, allowing us
to pick off some of them. When they turn, their instinct will tell them to get
to that promontory. That’s were you come in, Vitani."
Vitani turned to Kiara,
listening intently.
"When they approach, your
going to have to try to pick off as many as you can."
"With all due respect, why
me?" Vitani asked, puzzled.
Kiara looked at her and smiled.
Then she said, "You’re the most experienced of us. You should do
fine."
Vitani smiled shyly at the
compliment.
"We better get moving. We
don’t want them to change their position. Let's go." Kiara said, and all
the lionesses bolted off to their positions.
* *
* * * *
Kiara looked over the small
stream covered with boulders. She watched the positions she instructed all the
lionesses to take. Mavi, Sioka, and Kaisha and beckoned to her, signaling their
readiness. All but Vitani.
"C'mon, c'mon..."
Kiara whispered.
Kiara was behind a small stream
littered with algae covered rocks. She was upwind; however, the algae's stench
and the water's clarity shielded the antelope from picking her up.
Kiara stared at the promontory.
Her eyes narrowed, searching for any sign of Vitani. As if on cue, Vitani's
head poked through the foliage, and nodded. Kiara smiled. The time was now.
Kiara now focused on the
herd.
Kiara advanced, and focused
deeper on the herd. She watched as they grazed peacefully, and waited for the
right moment.
The nearest antelope grazed, but
every now and then lifted its head, sensing a threatening presence. After
smelling the air thoroughly, it put its head back down to graze again.
Kiara crept close, as did the
antelope. Kiara stopped at the tree line, waiting. The antelope neared the tree
line as it grazed, and just as it was before the tree line, the antelope froze.
It slowly lifted its head up and looked into the foliage. Its fearful gaze met
with Kiara's cold glare.
It froze.
Kiara leaped out of the tree
line, and landed square on the antelopes back. Unthinking, the antelope toppled
over with Kiara's weight. Kiara fell on her side and rolled to her feet. She
turned and saw the antelope, dazed and confused, trying to decipher up from
down.
Acting fast, Kiara ran over to
it and seized it by the throat, clamping down hard on the creature's throat.
Kiara heard the windpipe pop and the neck shatter, blood spraying on Kiara's
throat and maw.
She turned from the dead animal,
and saw the herd, staring wide eyed in fear at her and their dead member.
Slowly, they began to walk away, as if she had not seen them.
Kiara bolted in their direction,
sending panic through the herd. They all ran towards Sioka.
"OH NO!!" Kiara
yelped, knowing they were going in the wrong direction.
As if on cue, Mavi busted
through the foliage, and let out a marvelous roar.
The antelope, squealing, turned
towards Kaisha's position.
"GOOD WORK!" Kiara
yelled over to Mavi. Mavi only looked and nodded slightly.
As they ran, Kiara and Mavi
began to snap at the antelopes heels, prodding them to speed up. The soft earth
turned hard, suddenly. Strange, Kiara suspected, but ignored it.
Kaisha burst out of the foliage
a little early, but the results were just as planned. They tried to bolt back
to the left, but were covered by Mavi. The three then led them to Sioka, who
waited patiently.
Sioka watched as the herd
stampeded towards her, full of fear and amazement. Just as they were a few
yards away, Sioka jumped through the foliage, and let out the loudest roar she
ever mustered.
She roared long and loud, some
of the antelope tripping over themselves as the harshness of the roar
overwhelmed the antelope's sensitive ears.
As they tried to turn back
towards their last resort, the promontory, Kiara, Mavi, and Kaisha ran past,
swinging their claws wide and catching antelope by surprise as they turned
back.
Kiara caught an antelope on the
face as it turned, her claws raking across the creature's face. Blood trailed
from her claws as they raked past, the eye of the antelope was ghastly removed,
flying through the air. It fell, squealing and kicking because of its horrific
wound, and Kiara ended it's misery as he slit the antelope's throat.
Mavi, the largest of the group,
tackled an antelope that turned early. Jaws wide, she had seized the creature
by the throat, and slammed it to the ground. Biting down hard, she pulled and
ripped a gaping hole in the creature’s throat. The hole was so large, the
creature died instantly and its head went limp. An antelope was about to run
by. Acting fast, Mavi strafed and extended a single claw out to the antelope.
As the poor antelope ran by, Mavi's deathly sharp claw tore through its flesh,
leaving a laceration beginning at the side of its throat all the way to its
hind quarter. Blood sprayed like rain, and stained nearly Mavi’s entire coat.
The antelope hit the ground running. She pounced and slowly closed the
antelope’s air passage, biting down hard on its throat.
Kaisha, unluckily, had to jump
out of the way. The entire herd turned to her. She jumped out of their way,
avoiding nearly being trampled.
She watched as the herd ran fast
towards the promontory. Sioka and Mavi ran after the heard, growling and
nipping at the antelope's heels. Kiara came to Kaisha's aid quickly.
"Kaisha! Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I’m fine. How many
have we brought down so far?" Kaisha asked.
"Two by Mavi's and my
count." Kiara responded, now looking over at the herd fast reaching the
promontory.
"Let’s see what Vitani can
do." Kiara said as she smiled, and she looked down to Kaisha, who too, was
smiling back warmly.
* *
* * * *
Vitani saw the herd approaching
her fast. She dug her hind legs into the ground, and stood up on a tree for
balance. She was preparing for an old but strategic and wise maneuver.
Vitani felt the earth rumble
under her paws, and she tensed herself for the stampede. Separating her legs
for balance, she stood upright, claws extended, and waited for the herd to
pass. She saw through the dense foliage the stampede begin to rumble up the
promontory, and headed her way. She smiled, and she tensed up. As they passed,
they were very close to the tree line.
She watched, and waited.
They were only a few yards away.
"3..." Vitani began to
count.
4 yards.
"2..."
2 yards.
"1..."
Perfect.
Just as the first antelope
passed, Vitani extended her claws from the tree line. Catching them completely
by surprise, her claws caught one square on the face, ripping open tender flesh
and trailing warm blood. The first hit the ground. The second was cornered by
the others, and suffered the same fate as the first. The third, unfortunately,
had seen the demise of the earlier two and leveled out his horns. Vitani
snapped her paws back in, just in time to avoid them being impaled by the
antelopes horns.
For its effort, the antelope's
horns caught on a tree trunk. It would not have caused much damage, but the
stampeding antelope behind it pressed it forward, breaking its neck with a
sickly wet popping sound. The antelope fell to the ground limply, and was
trampled brutally. Vitani stayed back behind the tree line and watched the rest
pass by, and saw the last being chased by Mavi and Sioka. She smiled and walked
through the tree line, then ran after the three. Sioka and Mavi stopped when
the herd got away, and the trees lessened to the nothing but grasslands. They
both roared victorious, and Vitani aligned herself with them and roared as
well. They roared in unison, until they finally came back to their senses.
"WOOOOHH!!" exclaimed
Mavi.
"Now THAT was a GREAT
hunt!" replied Sioka.
"I'll say. How’s our
numbers?" asked Vitani, feeling the fervent after-hunt rush.
Mavi looked behind herself, and
saw the three mangled bodies of the antelope.
"Well, there was the first
that Kiara took down, the two I took down and the other Kiara did, and the
three that you took down single-handedly."
Mavi said, and she turned to
Vitani and gave her a warm smile.
"I’m impressed."
Vitani smiled back. The hunt had
gone well indeed.
"C'mon," pronounced
Mavi, "Let’s go home."
The two lionesses walked back
towards the kills, while Vitani walked towards the escaping antelope. She
watched dust rise as the antelope ran hard, their hooves could still be heard
from how hard they ran. Vitani smiled, and could hold it in no longer. She
roared loud, her throat tightening as she stressed her vocal chords. Her roar
resounded off the trees, and gave her an eerie sound. At the end of her roar,
she inhaled long and hard. She felt so wonderful. They would surely be celebrated
back at Priderock.
Vitani turned around, and began
to walk towards the kills. Mavi, being as large as she was, laid three of the
kills over her back (with the help of Sioka) and carried one her mouth. The
rest of the lionesses carried one each, either in their mouth or over their
back. They began their long (and bloody) walk back to Priderock.
Kiara led the way, Mavi close
behind her, Sioka trailing third, and Vitani walked slowly behind, still happy
from the hunt.
Suddenly, a faint eerie light flashed
dimly from the dense foliage through the trees. Vitani whipped her head around,
letting go of the antelope in the process.
"Um, guys..." Vitani
said silently.
The three turned around puzzled,
wondering what had happened.
"What is it Vitani?"
Kiara asked, as she walked near Vitani.
"Shh..." She
whispered.
"I saw something over
there." She said silently, crouching and extending her claws on all fours.
She looked up at Kiara courageously and said,
"I gotta check it
out."
Kiara looked at her worriedly,
and looked over to the dense tree line.
"Alright," She said,
never taking her eyes off the trees, "We'll stay here. Yell if you need
anything."
Vitani nodded, and immediately
walked to the foliage, still crouching. She sniffed the air, and the stench of
death, decay, and something horrible filled the earth.
Vitani grimaced, and continued
on.
She passed the tree line, and
began to walk in a slalom manner through the close trees. Vitani followed the
irritable stench until she could bear no longer.
Vitani gagged, covering her nose
with her paw. She had stumbled over the source of the smell. The heavy foliage
blocked out the sun, so she couldn’t have seen to well, if it weren’t for her
keen eyesight in the dark that she was born with.
The stench was foul. She didn’t
know how long she could take it. She dared a glance, and wasn’t shocked all too
much, but was still surprising.
The stench rose from the corpse
of a hyena, long decayed now, loose tendrils of fur and rotted flesh still hung
from its bones. Vitani wondered what happened, and also why the hyena was lying
in a burning hole...
A BURNING HOLE!
Vitani flinched, and jumped
back. The hyena was in a perfect, lightly burning circle, the fire giving off
an unnatural green glow. The Hyena's bones glittered red and Vitani stood
transfixed at the creature with awe.
"What the..." Vitani
began, as the hyena sprang to life!
Vitani shrieked, and the undead
hyena leaped forth at her, maw open wide. As it sailed through the air, it gave
a strange, grogging sound, As if the thing tried to breathe air through a slit
throat.
As it neared, Vitani extended
her forepaw and slammed the hyena on the side of the face with full force. A
dry breaking sound of bone rang through the dense, compacted trees, and the
hyena flew and slammed a tree hard.
Vitani panted, the question
ringing in her head over and over again,
What in the name of the kings
was that?
As if on cue, the hyena rose
again! It's neck was sickly broken, it's head lolling at its side, teeth falling
from the fleshless jaw. It walked slowly towards Vitani, limping. Vitani looked
down and saw that the impact from the tree had broken a shoulder, rendering the
limb useless.
The hyena tried to walk on the
broken limb, and for its effort succeeded only in severing it. It's weight had
cracked the shoulder, and leaning on it only worsened it, and it cracked apart,
and fell with a solid thud on the floor.
The hyena stared at the limb
with eye-less sockets, trying to adjust his broken neck. It turned back to
Vitani, and began to walk again. It made the odd sound again, and suddenly the
sound grew loud. Very loud. As it made the sound, it became contorted. It was
no longer the grogging, drowning sound, but a screeching, howling sound. Vitani
covered her ears, and now she had three problems: An undead hyena, a screeching
noise, and a deathly stench. The screeching became louder, and she backed away
and lay down, screaming. She thought her head was going to burst. She trembled
as the sound grew ever louder, and she felt a liquid begin to leak from her
ears. She removed one of her paws, wet with the liquid, and looked at it.
Blood.
The thing had desecrated her
ears. She almost couldn’t hear anything. Vitani grimaced against the sound,
until she could take it no longer. She got up and roared, running fast towards
the lifeless creature. She swung her paw with her extended claws in a wide arc,
and put killer force behind it. Her paw caught the hyena in the face, and
severed the neck and head from the body, and the clamor stopped immediately.
Granulated bone shot into the air, slowly falling like dust. The head flew
through the air, and fell somewhere in the distance.
She looked and saw the undead
creature fall over on its side. This time, it did not get back up.
Vitani grimaced as she ran her
paw past her ear, blood smearing her paw and the side of her face. She rubbed
more, and cleared some of the blood coursing from her ears. She looked over to
the nearest tree trunk and swung her claws at it. The wood splintered when her
claws connected to the bark, sending wood chips everywhere. She left a large
gash in the tree, but that didn’t matter to her. She was shocked at what she
realized. Vitani couldn’t hear a thing.
Oh no, please no, no no no...
She thought to herself. Vitani
had surely loved sound. She loved to hear the birds sing in the morning, the
drips of morning dew falling on the rock of Priderock. But now, she heard
nothing. Nothing.
Vitani had become deaf. All she
could hear was a ringing inside her head, a disturbing ringing. Vitani walked
back to the tree line three legged, her paw covering her ears.
As she cleared the tree line,
she looked up and saw Mavi, Kiara, and Sioka looking down on her.
Kiara, noticing the blood over
the sides of her head, ran down to her. Vitani still couldn’t hear a thing.
Vitani only saw Kiara running up to her. She stopped in front of her, and could
only see her mouth move. She could hear Kiara's voice, but so faintly it was
almost insignificant.
"Kiara...” started Vitani,
"I can’t hear you. I can’t hear a thing..."
Kiara's mouth stopped moving.
Her jaw dropped, and she slid her paw over Vitani's left ear. Blood smeared on
her paw, and Kiara returned her gaze from her bloody paw to Vitani.
"Oh my..." Kiara
began, when her head whipped around and called out to Sioka, "GET RAFIKI
HERE, NOW!!"
Sioka nodded, and quickly turned
towards the east, running towards Rafiki's tree, a runed tree.
The ringing in Vitani's head
strengthened and her vision narrowed. It began to blur and darken, and in the
next few seconds, all Vitani knew was darkness.
Chapter 4: Unexplained Events
Vitani awoke, the ringing still
in her head, though much less disturbing than before. Her vision was blurry at
first, then regulated to a normal view, and she saw Rafiki looking over her.
His large beard was inches from her face, his red eyes staring down at her. She
felt dizzy, hot, and cold all at once. She rubbed her ears, and felt that they
were stuffed with another one of Rafiki's shamanistic concoctions. She also
noticed that her head was wrapped with a large leaf, which also had concoctions
on it, which were shaped like symbols, as she traced the design of the symbols
with her paw. Her paw was slapped by Rafiki,
"Don touch da
Symbols!" He exclaimed to her, and she immediately put her paw down.
She realized her surroundings
finally, and saw that she was in a large den, possibly the main den where Simba
and Nala slept. She moved her head upwards, which was actually sideways, to see
the den entrance.
"Yep, this is it." She said to herself. She had her attention brought back to
Rafiki, who waved his staff in front of her face, giving off its distinct
rattle.
"Aye. Pay close attention.
I put da medicine on yo ears, so you gonna have to leave 'dem on until you heal
completely, ok?" He instructed her.
She shook her head, when her
eyes widened in surprise, and she asked excitedly, "I’m gonna hear
again?!?"
Rafiki crouched, and laid his
staff across his lap, and looked up at the ceiling ponderingly.
"To tell you da truth, I
don’t know, but the medicine should instigate the damage to repair. I really am
not sure." He finished.
Vitani put her head down, her
elated expression now reduced to a haggard look.
"Well, dats all I can do.
Oh well, I gotta go, I need to get back." He said, and with surprising
agility, exited the cave with a long leap.
And there Vitani lay, all alone,
or so she thought.
"Hey Vitani..." She
heard a familiar voice say dimly behind her. She looked, and saw Kovu. Her
heart lightened up, his very presence giving her a feeling of security,
comfort.
She admired him in every way,
physical and psyche. Kovu had become powerfully built, his legs tightly corded
with strong muscle, broad chest, rich, deep brown coat, heavy brown mane with
his distinctive downwards tuft of hair hanging low over his nose. But his best
feature was his eyes. Those piercing green eyes, shining with magnificence,
were his greatest attribute.
"Hey..." She said
silently, through a groggy throat, but nonetheless elated to see her brother.
"Come close, Kov, I wanna
talk..." She said silently again. Kovu acclaimed, and emerged from the
shadows. He approached slowly, and finally lay down near her, and looked into
her eyes with a smile.
"Oh, little sis, what were
you doing?" Vitani heard Kovu ask, very faintly through covered and
stuffed ears.
"You know me, always
looking for trouble..." She replied.
Kovu cocked his head down
chuckling, and looked up in his usual manner, with his eyebrows crooked. He
gave her a wide smile.
"Are you feeling all
right?" He asked.
“No, not really. I’m a little
scared. I don’t want to not become deaf. You know how I love to hear the birds
sing, the water run…”
“Yes, how could I forget?” Kovu
said to her smiling. He was laying down in his usual manner, his forepaws
propped one over the other, and his tail flinching up and down.
“I can still remember the times
you would yell in my ears when I was asleep. Geez, I hated you for that.” Kovu
said happily, and looked up at her, giving her another warm smile.
"I always did it in a
playful manner…" Vitani added
"Painfully playful. I'm
surprised I didn't go deaf!" Kovu exclaimed, when he realized that she was
not listening, but lying flat on her belly, eyes closed shut with thought.
"Vitani…" Kovu asked,
worriedly.
She did not look up until after
a long while, and then she opened her eyes and looked at him, her sapphire eyes
glistening in the darkness.
"What did you see?"
Kovu whispered, bringing his head close, squinting his eyes and perking his
ears.
Vitani looked at him
tentatively, and she put her head back down in between her paws.
"I don’t want to talk about
it. It was…ugly. I don’t want to remember it right now."
Kovu, cut down, hung his head in
disappointment, and got up to leave. Vitani's eyes followed him as he got up.
"Have a good night, Vitani,
sleep well." He said, and smiled. He turned and exited the den.
Vitani stared out at the den
entrance for a long while, and barely realized that it was nighttime outside.
How long had she been unconscious? Vitani stared at the stars. She put down her
head after a long while, among the cool rock, and drifted off into sleep.
* *
* * * *
Priderock rested in the night,
the cool wind blowing, all of lions and lionesses sleeping peacefully inside
the main den. But not all were at peaceful rest. Alone atop the wide trunk of
his runed tree, Rafiki stood alone, painting symbols on the wide trunk if his
tree, recording the past events as he had always done, as had the shamans
before him.
He stood back, the apothecary
bowl that had once been a large clam shell, he held in his hand with his arms
akimbo.
The entire tree was filled with
drawings and paintings, of past wars and battles, of new ideas and
accomplishments, of new kings and enemies. He had seen numerous battles in
these blessed lands, but he had never seen what he saw today.
As a shaman, it was his job to
keep the land clean from infestation. But a curse was hanging low over the
land. He could feel it in the wind, the very way the chimes high in the
branches of his tree shook, he could sense the difference. Something was
different in the Pridelands, and it was nothing good. He was sure of it.
He looked over his painting of
the event that had unfortunately befallen Vitani, and he jumped down from the
branch onto the large platform that was the top of his tree. Drawing a large
tortoise shell which lies on the side of a branch, his filled it with special
herbs and spices which he had prepared from a cupboard holding special
remedies. Grabbing the large medicinal fruit which he had always used, he split
it with his hands, and let the creamy, rust colored filling fall inside. He had
used this method before, just that this time, it was more serious.
He mixed the ointment until all
the herbs, spices, and creams were one. Then, he settled the shell down and
used his finger to trace a rune through the thick cream. As he described the
figure, he spoke words of shamanistic tradition, a tongue he had not spoken in
a long while.
"Id akenda, ey het
luze'…" he spoke. He finished tracing, and looked up at the night sky. The
heavy clouds parted, revealing the star filled night.
"Starlight." He
whispered, and he instantly felt growing energies in the shell grow. He left
the bowl on the ground, and stood back. Waving his arms upward, as if beckoning
the shell to rise. He spoke in his ancient tongue again, more fervent now.
"Sail lu tay, ya tu way, ya
tu way, Si lu tai…" he said, as his arms waved upwards.
A dim light began to radiate
from inside the shell. It was a dim flesh colored light, rays pointing skyward.
Suddenly but slowly, the bowl raised from the ground. It revolved slowly in the
air, and the rays began to increase their radiance, from dim to lustrous.
Rafiki saw this, and began to quicken and harden his chant.
“Mina dosh Pach ‘ell’e moc
dormina!” He exclaimed, nearly screaming.
The bowl, heeding his command,
spun at blurring speed in the air, and the rays coming from the opening of the
bowl began to pierce through the bottom, yet they did not move like the rest of
the bowl. They shone stationary, as they were when the bowl was not in a
spinning frenzy.
Suddenly, the bowl exploded into
a fireworks show of sparks, fire and beautiful colors. They hung in the air,
frozen, yet burning incessantly, as if with an eternal fuel supply of nothing.
They surrounded a huge transparent sphere, and inside the sphere was a smaller
sphere, roomy enough to hold one of the sparks in the center. Between the inner
sphere and outer shell was a creamy smoke, the same color as the ointment he
had made. Smiling with the success of the complex spell, he stepped towards it
until he was standing among the millions of brilliantly colored sparks and
spheres.
With one hand scratching his
chin and the other akimbo, he walked around the nova of sparks, looking for the
right one. Each color signified a different spell or summon, and white, the
most powerful, was the one he searched for. Lustrous blues, reds, greens,
yellows, and millions of other colors were littered all around him, yet he
still could not find that single white one. He walked around the revolving
giant sphere several times, searching. He tired, and sat down on a stump which
the branch he had used for his staff. He sat hunched over, hands dangling
between his knees, still searching for the single white spark.
Rafiki sighed heavily, and rubbed
his eyes with his long skinny fingers.
"Dis is goin' to take a
very long ti..." he spoke softly to himself as a familiar glint caught his
eye. Transfixed, he got up and walked towards it. Beaming with joy, he looked
in glee as he had found the white spark. It was an immaculate white, unstained
and shining as clearly as water.
Elated yet cautious, he slowly
plucked the spark from the others and admired its clean yet lustrous beauty. He
then looked at the slowly revolving glass orb, and stretched forth the white
spark to place it in. As his hand neared the glass orb, the smoke inside
shifted from the direction of his hand, as if the moving air caused by Rafiki's
hand had stirred the smoke inside.
Rafiki, just before the white
spark was near enough to touch the glass sphere's surface, hesitated. Ignoring
the feeling, he slowly moved his hand holding the white spark towards the glass
sphere. He suddenly shoved his hand towards it, but his hand was not stopped
nor did he disrupt its balance.
His hand had gone through the
sphere!
The glass around his hand was
like water, and he slowly let go of the white spark. It immediately began to
float around inside the sphere, never touching or nearing the smaller sphere.
The smoke around it shifted away from it as if it had an unseen shield around
it. After floating around inside the sphere for a while, it finally found its
place in the center of the smaller sphere. The smaller sphere contorted, and as
if it had a mouth, shifted and opened wide, swallowing the spark. It snapped
shut, the force causing ripples on it. Once the ripples subsided, the inner
sphere was perfectly round again, the spark burning seemingly happily inside.
Smiling, Rafiki replaced his
hand to his side, and stood back, allowing the sphere to do its work.
Suddenly, the sparks all around
the giant sphere were sucked into it and none were visible anymore. Only the
white spark in the sphere surrounded by the creamy smoke and the shell of the
giant sphere remained.
The sphere began to contort,
ripples running along the surface. The glass shell began to flatten, until it
was almost a dish. The spark inside was mixing with the smoke. The creamy air
was spinning inside, still separated from the inner sphere. It spun until it
was like water, creamy colored water. The inner sphere inside exploded, and the
spark was swallowed by the creamy water. The shell then turned paper thin. It
expanded until it was 10 feet tall and 10 feet wide, until it had finished its
final metamorphic stage.
Rafiki had created a portal.
It was now nearly 17 feet tall
and wide. He could see through the portal the other side, the creamy colored
center showing the other side in its color.
Smiling, he crossed his arms and
admired his successful spell. He slowly walked towards it and, setting one foot
forward, pushed it through the portal. it went through the portal, sending
ripples through the portal. He did not see his foot through the other side, as
if it had been cut off. He smiled as he had once again seen his spell was
successful.
Taking in a large breath, he
stepped into the portal, and was consumed by the portal. Behind him, the portal
shut closed, and all was silent.
* *
* * * *
Rafiki looked around, and he saw
that he was no longer in the Pridelands. He was probably not even on the earth.
He was standing on the clouds; some hanging low before him, some high in the
sky, yet the clouds which he walked covered the ground completely. He looked at
himself, and saw that he was ethereal, and could see right through himself. He
started forward, and began to look around. As he walked further, he saw clouds
forming foliage, much like the jungle Simba had escaped to so long ago. It
began to increase, and suddenly a lioness walked out of the foliage. She, too,
was ethereal, and she smiled at him. Rafiki smiled back.
"Hello, Rafiki." She
said in her soft, tender voice.
"Hello, Sarabi. It has been
a while." Rafiki replied softly.
"Do you know where-"
He began, but Sarabi interrupted him.
"He is in there, and he is
waiting for you." She said, and she jerked her head at the foliage which
she walked through. She smiled, and walked away. Rafiki watched her pass, and
then turned to the foliage. He looked back again, and she was gone. He fixed
his gaze back on the foliage, and walked through it. He was no longer in the
clouds, but on a cliff, surrounded with foliage. He was no longer in the
clouds, but as if he was back on earth and nothing had changed. The night's
stars were shining, and Rafiki looked out at the edge.
There stood a lion. A large, red
maned lion. He was looking over the scenery, but Rafiki could not see his face.
"I am here, Mufasa."
Rafiki announced, breaking the silence.
Mufasa turned his head slowly,
looking at Rafiki with sad, tear-filled eyes, eyes Rafiki had never seen
before. He said, sadly,
"My friend, we have much to
talk about."
Chapter 5: Painful Memories
The morning sun cast its golden
rays over the blessed land. The sweet warmth of the rays entered the den of
Priderock, and touched the soft fur of the occupants inside. A profound heat
surrounded them, but all stayed asleep, purring as the sun warmed their coats
and enthralled their already pleasant dreams. All but one.
Kovu emerged from his slumber,
from the side of his trusty and loving companion, Kiara. Exiting the den, he
stepped into the cool air outside mixed with the warmth of the sun. He
stretched out his back, as if to evince his almond colored chest. Sighing
heavily, he relaxed, and walked to the top of the promontory. At the very tip,
he laid down and eyed the beautiful horizon.
The green grass flowed like
water as the wind blew, the trees swaying softly combined with the mollifying
hiss of the leaves. The sweet scent of morning dew clung to the air, and Kovu
breathed it in heartily. He heard paw prints behind him, and turning slowly,
was surprised to see-
"Simba!" Kovu
exclaimed.
Simba was approaching him slowly, trying to make the least noise
he could. Apparently, he had been trying to sneak up on him.
"Once again!" He
replied, "Kovu, you are sharp!"
Kovu only smiled.
Sighing heavily, Simba laid down
next to him.
"I'm afraid the weight of
age is beginning to sew its fabric into me, Kovu." he said vacantly.
Kovu looked at him inquisitively,
and said, "Simba, you're not that old."
Simba acknowledged him and said,
"Yeah, I know. But, still, I am not as vigilant as I used to be."
Kovu noted this, and began to
look him over. Simba was still young, but seemed to have lost his youthful vigor.
Simba's red mane had waned in color, and his muscle mass had decreased
slightly. His eyes, although they still gleamed, were neither as bright as they
used to. Simba had also lost his playfulness as well. Since the birth of Kiara,
they say, Nala and he have seemed to mature more into parenthood.
Sighing heavily, Simba got on
his feet and said, "Well, better go off and do the morning patrol, Zazu
can't do it so well, he has been around awhile." Simba stretched, and
began his descent down the ramp until Kovu stopped him.
"Why don't I do it? I can
help. I'm still new around here, might as well get to know the place." he
asked.
Simba smiled at him and asked,
"Are you familiar with all the boundaries?"
Kovu nodded.
Simba kept smiling.
"Alright", he said,
"knock yourself out."
Kovu smiled, and bounded over to
Simba and held him in a tight embrace.
"Thanks, Simba." he
said.
Simba, a little surprised,
responded, "Uh, your welcome."
With blurring speed, Kovu sped
down the stone ramp and down the dirt road that led to the first checkpoint,
the Elephant Graveyard.
Simba walked to the tip of the
promontory and looked for Kovu. A small, brown figure was all that could be
seen, he had already gotten so far away.
Simba sucked in a large breath
and thought to himself,
He will be a good king, I
just know it.
An apparition of Mufasa flashed
in his head, and Simba smiled. He felt warmth inside his heart, and decided to
go back into the den and rest. Silently, he prayed to his father and the One
Spirit.
Father,
protect the young one,
as
you protected me.
Bring
peace to this land, your land,
so
that no evil
can
ever corrupt it.
* *
* * * *
Kovu ran and saw the blades of
grass pass by at a blurring speed. His spine fluctuated in perfect cadence with
his running bounds. The wind passing through his mane made him feel
exhilarated. He felt free. He became exhausted, and he slowed down his pace to
a slow walk. As he walked he admired his surroundings. He looked at the tall
trees passing by which stood tall over head. He admired the green plains grass
as it flowed like water when the wind passed through it. As he walked on a
little further. He came upon an interruption in the road caused by the bend of
a river bank. He stepped towards it, and looked into it. He watched the crystal
water flow by, its mollifying sound easing him. He saw fish of all colors pass
by, unafraid of his leonine presence. Kovu smiled and saw his fluctuating
reflection in the water. A fish leaped out and landed with grace back into the
water. It sprinkled the cool, sweet water on his face, and Kovu smiled even
more.
Dismissing himself, he began his
patrol. He spied over the horizon, into the green grass, and sometimes sniffed
at the air for some unknown presence. A few times he would even stop and hold
his breath, allowing his ears to scan everything around him. Thankfully, the
only intrusion was the wind hissing over the grass of the plains and the leaves
of the trees.
Kovu felt enlightened. He looked
back along the dirt road. The sweet, golden rays of the sun were laying their
touch on Priderock. Kovu felt a sudden rush of ecstasy burst inside of him. He
felt as if he was on top of the world. He felt like laughing and crying at the
same time. Kovu let out a gleeful roar and burst along the dirt road even
faster than he was before. Nothing could stop him now.
* *
* * * *
Vitani woke from her slumber,
and opened her eyes slowly. The golden rays entered through the den's entrance,
casting their heavenly touch on her fur. Her blue eyes glittered magnificently
in the daylight, and she picked herself up. She felt a disturbance on her head,
and with a single paw swipe, the bandage fell from her head, the ointment and
all, and fell to the ground.
"Whoops..." She said,
and was about to pick up the bandage until she realized that she could hear
again. Not only could she hear again, but she could hear even clearer, sharper,
and further than before. She heard the lovely chirping of the birds outside,
the rustling of the leaves on the trees and the plains grass as the wind passed
over them. She could even slightly hear the calming, slapping and wet sound of
the river's torrents.
She smiled, and she proceeded
outside, leaving the bandage there. Once outside, she felt her ears and head, and
the pain had ceased, as if it were never there. She looked up the pathway and
found Simba at the very tip of the promontory, smiling.
He seemed very transfixed on
something, so she though it best not to disturb him.
She walked down the huge stone
ramp and into the dirt road. She walked down the main path, which usually led
to the water-hole.
Vitani usually spent most of her
day alone. She was quite talkative, but usually the only ones she spoke with
were Zira, Nuka, or Kovu. Two wound up dead and the other was usually away
doing something else. Aside from Kiara and sometimes Simba and Nala, she never
talked to anyone.
She walked along the main path
until she heard a rustling in the trees. She turned her head just in time to
see a leopard fall out of the heavily leaved tree and hit the floor with a
resounding bonk. She smiled, realizing immediately who it was.
"Hello, Amyrza." She
said softly, and the leopardess picked itself up from the ground and rubbed her
head, where she had landed.
"Hey, Vitani..." Amyrza
said hastily as she tried to assuage the pain.
"Still trying to
learn?" asked Vitani.
"Yah. It's tough, I'll tell
you that right now." Amyrza responded with a sort of chuckle.
Shortly after the entire problem
between the two prides had ended, Vitani had taken a walk to see this new land.
While she walked on a road, she found Amyrza. Amyrza claimed to have been
separated from her mother when she was very young. Although still young, Amyrza
has proved herself strong by being able to survive on her own, with a little
help from Vitani.
"What were you trying to
do, anyway?" Vitani asked, a
little more serious now.
"I was trying to get a
secure footing on a small branch," Stated Amyrza, "turned out to be a
twig."
Vitani smiled, and said,
"How 'bout goin' to the water-hole with me?"
Amyrza smiled, and nodded. Even
though the two were separate species, they were close friends.
They came to the water-hole, and
Vitani quite eagerly took the first laps at the glassy surface.
Amyrza followed after slowly,
and began to drink next to Vitani.
Once Vitani had her fill, she
moved away from the water. Amyrza's tongue still slapped at the water
relentlessly.
A grin spread across Vitani's
face. From behind, she approached Amyrza slowly, crouched low. Then, balancing
out on her legs, she brought her fore-paws so that they were level with
Amyrza's rump. With a strong, swift push, Vitani pushed Amyrza end over end,
and Amyrza landed on her back in the cool water.
"GAAA!!!!" Yelped Amyrza
and she struggled to her paws and jumped out of the water. She then huddled
into a ball of fur and began to shake with cold as the morning air blew.
Vitani was laughing the entire
time. Amyrza was thin, the only reason she looked bigger than she actually was
is because of her puffy fur. She looked hilarious when she was wet.
She was cuddled up, her tail
brought around so it rested in front of her, her jade eyes wide and her white
teeth exposed. Her rib cage could be seen through the wet fur, rising and
falling with the quick gasps for air.
Amyrza looked Vitani's
direction. She was sitting next to Amyrza with her usual wide, toothy grin.
Amyrza shot her a cold glance,
and began to shake herself dry.
The two then walked off towards
the boundaries of the Pridelands, the sun reaching its culmination in the
center of the cloudless sky, signifying early afternoon. Once they reached the
border, Amyrza fixed her gaze towards the Outlands.
"What was life like over
there?" she asked.
Vitani looked over the border
and took in a deep breath.
"It was not glamorous, I'll
start with that. Every day you wake up hungry, you exit your den and have
millions of gnats circle around your face, trying to get into your nose, so you
spend quite some time trying to swat them away. Your throat is parched, theirs
no food or water around for miles..." Vitani sighed, and hung her head
with her eyes closed.
"Then there was my
mother..." she said sadly.
"You had a mother?"
Amyrza asked surprised, and Vitani gave her a questioning look, raising her
brow.
Amyrza gave a strange expression
on her face, and slapped her forehead with her paw.
"Duh..." she said to
herself, then quieted herself to listen, and sat.
Vitani looked back down towards
the floor, and sat down as well.
"She was...fervent. She was
strict on us, always teaching us what was right or wrong, never letting us fall
out of place. She taught us obedience, pride, honor. It was hard on us..."
"Where is she?" asked
Amyrza anxiously.
Vitani looked at her with a sad
face, and said somewhat deplorably,
"She drowned."
Amyrza gasped, and shamefully
bit her lower lip and folded down her ears.
"I'm sorry." she said
remorsefully.
Vitani smiled at her, but it
quickly faded.
"That wasn't the hard part
to witness. What was...?" Vitani paused.
Amyrza gazed at her wide eyed,
awaiting her answer.
"What?"
Vitani never looked up at her,
the voice inside haunting her soul.
If you won't fight, then you
will die as well.
Tears flowed down her cheeks,
and Vitani started again.
"What was hard to witness was
what she told me. She had, at times, shown some indifference towards us,
towards me, but I..."
Vitani stopped. She began to
choke on sobs, and her jaw shivered. Amyrza looked at her worriedly, and she,
although the smaller being, came close and wrapped her fore-paw around Vitani
and soothed her, rubbing her back. Vitani buried her head into Amyrza's chest.
"It's okay, V. shh..."
Amyrza shushed, and Vitani's crying began to soften.
Vitani suddenly clutched
Amyrza's shoulder with her huge paw, and squeezed hard. Amyrza grimaced at the
pain, but tried hard to keep it from showing.
Vitani began, still choking
under sobs, "I...I...loved her s-so...I really did l-love her...But
I never thought that....that...she would...say that...."
Amyrza thought to herself. An
idea filled her head.
"Vitani," she started.
"yeah..." she replied
softly.
"You said your mother was
fervent in what she did, right?"
"yeah..."
"Maybe she didn't mean
it..." Amyrza said softly.
Vitani looked up at her with her
beautiful azure eyes curiously. Vitani's grip softened, and so did Amyrza's
tensed muscles.
"Maybe she was just lost;
maybe she just did not know what she was saying. Surely she had to care
about you. How could she not? If she indeed had not loved you, why
didn't she abandon you as a newborn cub? Why didn't she send you off on your
own, as a nomad? Think for a while."
Vitani thought to herself. The
more she thought about it, the more Amyrza was right. Vitani, after all, was
Zira's 2nd in command. She was, after all, her only daughter. She would
sometimes even ask Vitani for advice on very complex and secretive things.
But the most comforting thought,
was all the small, seemingly unimportant things. Such were like when Zira would
allow Vitani the first bite of a fresh kill, before anyone else.
Or when Vitani was allowed to
sleep with Zira, a huge rarity (except for Kovu).
Vitani looked back up at Amyrza,
and smiled wide with grateful eyes. She took Amyrza in a tight embrace, pulling
the leopardess close. She squeezed hard, and Amyrza found it difficult to
breathe.
"Thanks, Amyr.
Thanks..." Vitani whispered in her ear.
"Your...welcome..."
Mumbled Amyrza with the little breath she had.
Vitani finally let go, and
Amyrza gasped for air. She coughed for air while she sat.
"I know!!! What do ya say
if I introduce you to the Pride?!?" Vitani suggested loudly, her mood
swinging like a pendulum.
The question caught Amyrza like
a vice grip. She stopped her relentless gasps and looked up at Vitani with a
tentative face.
"Well, I dunno..."
Amyrza said silently.
"Aww, c'mon, they're nice,
really nice. Don't worry about a thing. Your with me, remember?"
Vitani pleaded.
Amyrza still looked shy. She
thought about, staring at the floor, and finally responded quietly,
"Umm....okay...."
"GREAT!" exclaimed
Vitani.
"Jus' follow me!" she
said, and began to trot down the road towards Priderock.
Amyrza folded her ears down
sheepishly, and thought if she had done a deplorable thing.
Aww, c'mon, Amyrza! It's
Vitani!! What pranks has she ever pulled on you?
Amyrza thought that one over.
Okay, okay, ones that turned
out really bad?
Amyrza shook off her thoughts
and hurriedly skittered after Vitani, headed towards the glorious Priderock.
* *
* * * *
Kovu walked along the border of
the Pridelands, surveying the beautiful scenery of his new home. His legs ached
from his long run, but that failed to keep the smile off his face. He looked as
far as his eyes could see the green, rolling plains, acacia trees, lakes,
rivers, and meandering dirt roads. He turned his head and saw what lay behind
him.
The Outlands.
Kovu always wondered how such a
barren, desolate wasteland could exist next to a place blooming with so much
life.
Kovu continued onwards until he
reached the gorge, the great furrow in the ground setting the boundary between
the Pridelands and the burning desert.
Kovu remembered his mother, who
unceasingly following Scar's wish, gave her life trying to conquer her old
enemy.
Kovu stopped, and transfixed his
gaze on the rift. He slowly approached the gorge, now empty of water, hoping to
find something of his past mother.
Kovu slinked down the gorge,
dust-filled and untouched, not a single print ruining the plain of sand.
Kovu looked up, the two enormous
walls of jagged rock casting an eerie surrounding, as if the rock walls
themselves has caused the pain and suffering the Pride had suffered for so
long.
Visions and past memories of his
mother flashed and danced inside his head, and Kovu chose a shaded area in a
corner of a rock wall to settle down and think.
Kovu felt tears crease around
his eyes, and the tears began to slowly course down his cheeks and make dark
spots in the sand of where they dropped.
Kovu wished he could see her
again. How he wished he could have seen her future demise and how he wished he
could have been brave enough to confront her and force her to change her wicked
ways before her death.
Kovu remembered most greatly how
he had loved her. She very rarely showed deep love towards him, or towards
Vitani and Nuka.
Ah, Nuka.
Just like his mother, Nuka was
twisted, following his mother's orders unto death itself.
He had proved his devotion with
just that. Death.
Kovu still remembered his chase
after Simba on the logs blocking the river, Nuka barreling after Simba madly,
yelping with excitement. He remembered his poor brother slipping and being
smashed by the heavy logs. He remembered his last words escaping his crushed
lungs, aimed only towards his beloved mother,
At least...I...got your
attention...didn't I? Didn't......
Kovu covered his eyes with his
broad paws, laying his chin on the ground. He began to sob hard, dust puffing
up from his hard sobs.
Kovu cried harder, the visions
of his beloved kin disappearing before him, knowing that he could have saved
them from they're demise.
Kovu began to sob
uncontrollably, rolling in the dirt, waning the color of his pelt and mane.
Kovu got on his feet and roared.
He roared long and hard, the
loudest roar he could muster. So loud was it, that the loose stones on the rock
wall fell to the ground, and the roar rebounded off the walls, carrying the
clamor for miles.
Kovu lost his breath, panting
hard and crying at the same time. Kovu wondered why he was so foolish as to not
prevent them for their horrible deaths, wondering why he didn't object to their
evil, twisted ways.
Kovu was haunted by the word.
Why? Why?
Kovu felt the time to leave,
memories still running around his head.
He slowly stepped to the steep
steps carved into the stone wall, emerged from the crevice, and looked back
down for a single time.
He heard the dying, rasping
gasps of Nuka's punctured lungs, and the crashing water and mad attempts of
Zira struggling to keep her head above the watery surface.
Kovu wiped tears from his eyes
with his paws, sighed heavily, and continued his patrol.
The day was nearing the end of
morning and beginning of midday, and Kovu had almost finished his patrol. He
finally took the last road home, and began his approach to Priderock.
Suddenly, something seemed to
pull him back to the gorge.
Kovu ignored it, and proceeded.
The feeling became stronger, and
harder to ignore.
Kovu felt as if his scar was a
beacon, beginning to ache, beckoning him to go back to the gorge.
Kovu stubbornly tried to ignore
it, but it did not cease.
Suddenly, searing pain shot
through his body, burning his muscles and trapping his lungs.
Kovu fell to the floor, holding
his face. Throughout his entire body, it seemed as if most of the pain was
concentrated to his scar.
Kovu tried to scream, but could
not. Nor could he breathe.
He rolled around on the ground
in agony, as if his body had been lit on fire, which failed to die out.
He heard voices, whispering something
he could not understand. They whispered quickly and simultaneously, so Kovu was
unable to understand them.
Kovu did not know how much
longer he could take the torture. The pain had not ceased and was increasing,
and he was on the verge of falling unconscious from the lack of air.
Suddenly, it all stopped.
Kovu was lying on his back,
breathing normally. His body felt no notion of pain, nor any remnant of pain,
and he had full breath, as if it all had never happened.
Kovu stared up at the blue sky,
wondering what had just happened. He rolled to his feet, and shook off the
dust.
"What was that?" he
asked himself, bewildered.
He looked up at the sky,
expecting the answer to fall right out of the sky. Speechless, he ambled back
towards Priderock.
* *
* * * *
Simba stared up at the sky. The
sun was in the middle of its long journey across the sky.
"Kovu should be back by
now." he said to himself.
He lowered his gaze to the
horizon.
The Pridelands gleamed. The
grass was green, the rivers running crystal clear, trees growing tall and
healthy. Sometimes he wondered to himself how such a perfect and beautiful
place could have been....
"C'MON!!! You should be
faster than that!!" someone exclaimed.
Simba was interrupted over his
panorama, and looked down the rock path to see who it was. He saw Vitani
hopping happily at the top of the stone ramp, and behind her was a small
leopard, head hanging low, tongue dangling, tail dragging, trying hard to get
to the top of the ramp.
Simba inquisitively stepped down
from the promontory to see what was going on.
"Geez, I thought you were
faster than that!" exclaimed Vitani.
The leopard dragged on, and sat
down hard next to her.
"We ran....all the....way
from the......waterhole....." she panted.
"Aww, c'mon, it's only
about 20 miles away...." reasoned Vitani.
Simba stepped towards them, and
Vitani finally noticed him.
"Hey, Simba!" she
yelled, "This is Amyrza!"
Amyrza's head shot up, her
tongue sucking back into her mouth, eyes wide. When she saw Simba, her jaw
dropped.
"Are...are....you Simba?"
she asked quietly.
Simba cocked his head and said,
"Yah..."
"Wow...." Amyrza said,
amazed, "I have wanted to meet you all my life...".
"Really?" Simba said,
a little surprised.
"Of course! You're the sole
reason I came here!" she exclaimed.
"Came? Whadd'ya mean?"
Simba asked, confused.
Amyrza swallowed, and began,
"See, I never really knew
my mother and never even met my father. My mother left....somewhere when
I was real young, and she told me she was comin' back.
She never did. So, at my age, I
had to strive on my own."
Amyrza smiled at a thought, and
continued,
"You know how I
survived?" she asked him.
"How?" Simba begged,
eyes riveted on her.
She chuckled, and said,
"Hyenas."
"WHAT?!?" exclaimed
Simba, "How did you..."
She smiled shallowly and began
to trace circles on the floor.
"I will never know. They
found me as a small cub, and for some reason I will never know, they
took me in, fed me, and cared for me..." she said solemnly.
"But how
could...they..." Simba stumbled over words. He found it difficult to
believe that such savage marauders could take a leopard cub in.
Amyrza shrugged. "I don't
know either. They just always told me that I was...special in some way.
I don't know..." She shook it off, and changed the subject.
Amyrza turned and looked away
from Priderock. She sighed heavily and said in a woozy tone, "Ohh, look at
this place. It is so beautiful...."
Both Simba and Vitani exchanged
confused glances with each other, and both turned their gazes to the spotted
daydreamer.
Suddenly, the trio heard a
clamor from inside the den. Suddenly Timon and Pumbaa ran out from the den,
screaming and shouting. From their point of view, they both looked hilarious as
Pumbaa the Warthog ran on his thin legs with his mouth and eyes wide, and Timon
the Meerkat riding on the back of his neck, arms flailing.
"SIMBA!!!" They both
exclaimed, over and over.
"Hey, hey, guys, what's
wrong? What's goin' on with you two?" Simba asked, chuckling.
"Vitani's gone! I haven't
seen here since this morning!!" Timon exclaimed, panting hard.
"Uhmm..." Simba said,
and looked back at Vitani. She shrugged.
Timon finally noticed.
"Oh, THANKS! We were only
worried out of our skulls!!" Timon said, and the pair both walked down the
ramp, heads high. Pumbaa let out a snort as they passed.
"Well..." Vitani
started, "I just wanted to introduce you to Amyrza. She still hasn't seen
all of the Pridelands, amazingly..." Amyrza smiled shyly.
Simba smiled widely, and a
thought came to his head.
"Have either of you ever
seen the Jeweled Springs?" he asked.
Both Vitani and Amyrza's heads
shot up at him, riveted.
"It's beautiful. It's like
nothing else on this planet. It is quite far though..."
"Hmm, maybe Kovu would like
to see 'em as well." Vitani suggested.
"Speaking of which, he
hasn't come back. I wonder where he is...." Simba replied.
"Don't worry about me, I'm
fine." they heard. They turned to see who it was.
Kovu walked up the stone-ramp,
completely disregarding the newest guest, Amyrza.
"How was it, Kovu? Enjoy
yourself?" Simba asked.
"Just fine." Kovu
replied, and looked Simba in the eyes.
Kovu's eyes were red with tears,
and even though he smiled, Simba could see through them that something bad had
happened.
"Are...you okay,
Kovu?" Simba asked worriedly.
"Never been better."
he replied. Almost immediately, tears rolled down his cheeks. Kovu turned his
face away from him and wiped them off.
"Arghh, this dirt..."
Kovu said, and quickly walked into the den.
The three stared at him as he
walked into the den. Simba turned to Amyrza and Vitani and was met with equally
blank stares.
Vitani shrugged, and said,
"I guess not. Well, we'll be off now. See ya."
"Uhh, Vitani..." Simba
called after her.
"Yes?"
"Do you know where they
are?"
Vitani smiled shyly, and walked
back to him.
"First, from here, head
east. From there, you will encounter a desert. You will have to cross this, but
don't worry; there are quite a number of Oases there. You should do fine. Keep
following the Oases east until you come up against a thick wall of jungle
foliage.
Keep heading east until you come
up against a peculiar looking stone embedded in the ground. You shouldn't miss
it. It's tip protrudes from the jungle top. Anyways, when you reach it, head
north, and there you are." Simba explained. He smiled after his speech, as
he usually did.
"Cool" Vitani said.
"Thanks."
Vitani walked down the ramp when
Simba called after her again.
"Are you prepared to leave
right away?" he asked.
She shrugged, and said, "I
used to be an Outlander. I should be!"
She turned to Amyrza, he waited
for her. "Ready?"
"Well, I guess..." she
said, and Vitani saw she wasn't very comfortable with the thought of crossing a
desert.
"Don't worry, Amyrza. I'll
take care of you. I know my way around these things." Vitani tried to
comfort her.
Amyrza smiled, a bit assuaged.
"Thanks!" Yelled
Vitani to Simba. Simba waved and wished good luck.
"Let's do it!" Vitani
exclaimed, and both Vitani and Amyrza ran east, headed for the border of the
Pridelands.
Chapter 6: The Protector Found
Vitani and Amyrza traveled along
the trail that Simba once did. Although it was not the way he had entered the
jungle, it was the way he had exited it. Vitani and Amyrza had no trouble
crossing the desert from the Oasis's they had been told they were to encounter
by Simba. So far, they had already stopped and pass through three Oases, and
only one remained. That was where they were encountered.
* *
* * * *
Amyrza trudged behind Vitani,
the heavy sand clinging to her fur and burning at her paws. She looked up and saw
the burning sun, shining with radiance.
"Geez, Vitani. I told you
we should have waited till dark fall. Now we're stuck in this heat..."
Amyrza huffed. Vitani still trudged, and replied,
"Well...it's too late now.
We should encounter the last Oasis in a while."
Vitani tried to increase her
speed, but if she did, she knew she would use her energy for nothing. Every now
and then a cool breeze would pass, welcomed by the weary travelers in their
sweltering journey.
"Hey," Amyrza spied
something on the horizon. "What's that?"
Vitani looked ahead and saw a
small patch of blue surrounded by brown, with the almost welcoming green of
palm trees and bushes.
"The Last Oasis..."
Vitani replied.
"Finally. Fresh water,
Food, shade...."
Vitani and Amyrza continued until
they reached the much anticipated Oasis. Vitani began to look for a nice spot
in the shade.
"Ahh..." she sighed,
"This is all I need to be happy now."
Amyrza looked at her, puzzled,
and asked, "Aren't you thirsty?"
Vitani, lying on her back,
smiled widely and said, "Yeah, but I'm too lazy and comfortable right now.
You can go. Look around."
Amyrza smiled, and left to go
look.
After she was gone, Vitani
looked up at the palm tree she was under and said,
"Another reason I ain't
goin'..."
She gave the trunk a hard hit,
and a coconut fell from the tip of the tree. She caught it firmly in her paws.
"Why get up when I got
something to drink right here, he-he-he..."
She punctured the coconut with
her claws and held the puncture to her mouth. The sweet, cool milk flowed
easily from the holes and into her mouth. She sighed after a long drink, set
the coconut beside her, and purred off to sleep.
* *
* * * *
Amyrza padded along, the sweet
breeze of the Oasis passing along through her fur like water, soothing her
burned skin. The sand, although in the desert sun, was somehow cool, and felt
assuaging to walk on. Amyrza zigzagged throughout the Oasis, simply amazed at
how something so peaceful and undisturbed could grow in such a place like a
desert.
She finally stumbled across a
lake of crystal clear water, fed by a small creek, perfect and immaculate.
Amyrza lapped at the water, which proved to taste as good as it looked. Crisp,
clean, and refreshing. She suddenly picked up a scent from upwind. It wasn't
the smell of fruit or foliage, but the smell of something else, like another
creature. She looked up and saw something she had never seen before.
It was another creature indeed,
but unlike one she had never seen before. It was quite a distance away, lapping
at the water as she had been. From its body structure, she could tell it was
feline, but apart from that she couldn't tell what it was. A shocking feature
was its color, a solid, jet black. Its fur shone in the sunlight, met by an
underbelly of gray.
It suddenly looked up; it's
iridescent amber eyes landing directly on hers.
Amyrza gasped, and the creature,
with amazing agility and speed, spun around and disappeared into the foliage.
Amyrza, not wasting any time to
stand in amazement, made best haste back to Vitani. She prayed to the One
Spirit that Vitani hadn't moved from her spot.
She ran and ran and did not
stop, when suddenly she had the sensation that she was not going anywhere. She
stopped, and suddenly realized she had lost herself. She breathed heavily with
fear, and began to look around, hoping to see a least a single sign of the
black creature. She felt that something dangerous was close by, but she could
not see where it was.
Ye-he-he.
Amyrza froze. She knew that
laughter all too well.
Hyenas were present.
Amyrza cautiously stepped
towards the dense foliage and crouched down under a low bush. Her eyes darted
wildly, trying to sense even the smallest movement possible. She felt hot
breath on the back of her neck, and she slowly turned her head and eyes to see
who or what it was. With her parochial vision, she saw an eerily pale creature,
jaws open, staring back at her.
Amyrza yelped, and leaped forth
from the bush. As soon as she landed, she turned around quickly, knowing the
beast might counter-attack.
She was wrong.
The creature slowly walked out
from the bush, and Amyrza immediately knew that it was nothing normal. What she
saw before her was an undead hyena, yet not full decomposed. Sinew and muscle,
waned in color, still was attached to the things bones, and loose skin and fur
hung from its body. Its eyes were white, and only outlines of the iris could be
seen. It opened its jaws wide, and revealed its ugly mouth. Its tongue was black,
swarming with larvae. Its teeth held a tar like filth in between them. Amyrza
could clearly see through the throat that had been rotted away.
It began to walk towards her
again, and Amyrza backed up. The creature picked up speed, and so did Amyrza.
Suddenly, Amyrza bumped up against a tree. The creature stopped as soon as she
did. It opened its jaw again, but this time almost impossibly wide. It let out
a fierce cry that was deafening. Amyrza knew that this was the end.
"GOTCHA!!" She heard a
voice from behind her exclaim, and suddenly the black creature she had seen
earlier leapt from the foliage, landing on the hyena. The black creature moved
terrifyingly fast, and did a strange maneuver on the hyena. As it landed on the
hyena, it put its paws on the hyena's rump. Then, using it's momentum, pulled
itself under the hyena, so that it was lying directly under it on its back. It
then pulled in its legs, and shot them into the hyena's belly, sending it
flying backwards.
The hyena tumbled end over end
as it sailed through the air, and landed on its back. It tumbled over and over
on the dirt, sending plumes of clouds into the air.
The creature got up and shook
itself off of dirt. Amyrza finally got a good look at it.
The Black Creature was feline,
as she had estimated. It was generally thin, but well muscled. Its grayish -
black coat was not as glossy as it was before, so the creature must have been
wet when she saw it. She moved upwards along its body and saw the feline had a
mane, darker than its body color. A black lion? Sure, she had heard about and
even seen white lions, but never black. Its mane was generally short, and
reached his shoulders and stopped there. Its texture was strange, instead of
smooth; it was inclined a little higher, quite like a porcupine. His under
belly was a light gray, just like the endings of his paws and inner ear.
Another peculiar feature was the golden bands on each of his legs, near his
paws, which held strange inscriptions. She could have sworn that one of the
symbols was the one of the One Spirit.
The black lion turned her way,
and stared at her with those glowing amber eyes. They were as if he had golden
orbs as eyes. His muzzle was gray, as well.
He surprisingly smiled at her
warmly, and approached the hyena.
The undead hyena slowly got up,
and crouched low. It hissed at the black lion, and the black lion fearlessly
circled around it. The hyena began to do the same, and soon both were crouched
down, heads low, circling each other. They exchanged growls, and the black lion
suddenly attacked the hyena. The hyena snapped at him, but the lion easily
parried the attack, and smashed the hyena on the head. It violently snapped
down, and the lion began to viciously swipe at the hyena's head with blurring
speed. The lion then pinned the hyena's head to the ground, and raised his free
paw.
His free paw burst with white
flame. It did not seem to burn him, and he remained quite calm. He then brought
his paw down fast and smashed the hyena's skull into pieces.
The flame in the lion's paw
subsided after the assault, and he stepped away from the decapitated hyena. The
hyena quickly evaporated like steam, until there was nothing left of it.
The black lion turned around and
saw Amyrza. She spun and hid behind the tree, only peering out at him. She soon
realized that he was smiling at her. He approached her slowly and stopped at a
comfortable distance. He held out his paw and said,
"C'mon. I 'aint gonna hurt
you." His voice was as typical for a young lion.
She was going to step from
behind the tree, when she snapped her paw back beneath herself, as if it had
been slapped.
The black lion dropped his paw,
and said sarcastically,
"Aww, c'mon. If I had
really wanted to hurt you, I would have done it already."
Amyrza pondered to herself, and
thought it reasonable. She tentatively stepped from behind the tree, and sat a
few feet before him. She held her head up to him, and smiled shyly. He widened
his smile.
"What's your name?" he
asked politely.
"Amyrza..." she said
quietly.
"Amyrza, huh? That's a nice
name. I am Xalanthas, but I usually go by Xal. It's a whole lot easier to
pronounce." He explained.
They stared at each for a while,
and Xal finally broke the silence.
"Are you out here all
alone? It's a little dangerous, ya' know."
"No, I'm out here with my
best friend, Vitani." Amyrza said normally. She thought for a moment in
the back of her mind that she was giving up too much information. He was very
polite, but he was still a stranger.
Xal pondered to himself, and
asked,
"Isn't...isn't it a little dangerous
for two girls like you to be out here all alone?"
"Well, a lot of guys say
that. Then they see the way she fights." Amyrza said proudly.
Again there was another long
moment, and this time it was Amyrza's turn.
"Where you headed? I doubt
that you live here." she asked.
"I am headed towards the
Pridelands. I have...business there." he said suspiciously.
"You wouldn't happen to be
from around there, would you?"
Amyrza froze. She didn't know
whether to lie to him or to tell him the truth.
"Well, you don't seem very
talkative right now. Who would? It's not everyday you're attacked by a
shrieker..." Xal said. Amyrza picked up from where he left off.
"A shrieker?" she
asked.
"Ermm, yah. That's the
nickname I gave those things." Xal said with a smile.
Xal's face lit up. "I would
really like to meet your friend. Where is she?"
Amyrza again was troubled by the
question to tell the truth or lie. She thought it over, and it seemed that he
really was a good guy. First of all, no bandit would fight off a creature for
an innocent bystander, much less a creature such as the hyena. Secondly, the
strange power of white flame was something no bandit could come across.
"Well," she began,
"I would, but...trouble is that I lost my way. I have no idea where I'm
going."
"Ahh, that's easy to fix.
C'mon, I got an idea." Xal said, and began walking back to the direction
of the road she ran on. She quickly followed.
They came up to a familiar part
of the road, the water-hole which Amyrza drank from.
"Do you remember now?"
Xal asked.
Amyrza looked around, observing
the surroundings. Yes, it did help. She began to remember her old path.
"That way." she said
simply.
She and Xal arrived in the exact
spots Amyrza had arrived at before. They finally reached the border, were the
white sand of the Oasis turned to the burned brown of the desert.
"Over here." Amyrza
said, and pointed at the palm tree. Under it laid Vitani, purring peacefully.
"Ohh..." Xal said
suddenly.
"What?"
"She's a...lioness."
"Uh huh. And?"
"I thought she was a
leopard."
Amyrza looked at him strangely.
"Well, perhaps you should
go wake her up." Xal said. She heard a slight intonation in his voice.
Amyrza proceeded towards Vitani,
and Xal lost his interest to coconuts high in a tree. He licked his chops and
tried to devise a way to reach them.
Amyrza came up next to Vitani
and sat, curling her tail around her. She shook her softly, and Vitani drowsily
looked at her.
"What is it?" She
asked, half asleep. Amyrza nodded in Xal's direction.
She turned over and saw the
black lion clumsily climbing the tree.
"Who's he?" Vitani
asked, shocked. She was fully awake now.
"That's Xalanthas. He likes
to be called Xal. He saved me just a while ago." Amyrza explained.
"Hmm..." Vitani
hummed, and rolled to her feet. She approached the lion, and Amyrza followed
closely behind.
Amyrza and Vitani watched as the
lion was near the top of the tree, already swinging at the loose coconuts.
"Ahem." Vitani said
aloud.
Xal looked down and smiled upon
them both. "Hey! You must Vitani!"
"And you must be Xal!"
Vitani replied sarcastically.
Xal hastily jumped down from the
tree.
"I have heard...." Xal
began, but suddenly stopped when he looked at Vitani. There was a long pause,
and Xal stared at Vitani in an unusual manner.
"Helloooo?" Vitani
asked, and Xal regained his senses.
"I'm sorry. I lost myself.
I became distracted..."
"With what?" Vitani
asked.
Xal looked around nervously, as
if his environment held the answers.
"N-nothing..." he said
boyishly.
Vitani raised her eyebrows.
"Distracted with nothing?"
Xal only smiled shyly.
Vitani looked him over again and
noticed the golden bands around his legs and forepaws.
"What are those?" she
asked curiously
Xal raised one up and smiled.
"These are spirit bangles. They help me with my tasks and they also give
me certain physical enhancements."
"What tasks?" Vitani
asked
"Secret ones."
Vitani nodded.
"So", she started
again, "What are you doing here?"
Xal's eyes lit up. "I am
looking for the Pridelands. I have a very important message for whoever is king
there."
Vitani turned towards Amyrza for
help. Amyrza grinned, and Vitani looked back at him.
"We...are from the
Pridelands..." Vitani said tentatively.
Xal riveted his attention on
her.
"Why have you left?"
there was an unfriendly glare in his eyes.
"We left to see the Jeweled
Springs."
A twist of fear fell over Xal's
face.
"What?" Vitani asked,
aroused from his expression.
He lowered his ears and eyebrows
in a worried manner, raising a clawed digit to say something, but sighed and
let his head drop.
"I can't keep this a secret
anymore. If you live in the Pridelands, this problem involves more than just
me. You both are involved as well."
"What?" Vitani asked,
desperate. He was giving her more questions than answers.
Xal began to explain,
"There is..."Xal
stopped, and continued, "a Demonic invasion of the Pridelands that is
about to go underway."
Chills went down Vitani's and
Amyrza's backs. They opened their eyes wide, and could not deny his prophecy.
They had seen too much evidence from it already.
He continued, "I am afraid
you will not be able to see the Jeweled Springs."
"Why?"
"Because they are under
demon control already."
"How? Why would they?"
"Your guess is as good as
mine. That is why I am here."
Vitani decided to ask the
question she should have asked already.
"Who are you?"
Xal put a stern face and stood
straight.
"I am Xalanthas. Paladin of
the One Spirit, Savior of the weak and hopeless. I have been sent here by the
One Spirit to investigate why they are here, and to stop them once and for
all."
Vitani found this hard to
swallow.
"The One Spirit....?"
Amyrza asked herself, and remembered another question, "Are those the
symbols of the One Spirit on your bangles?"
Xal smiled at her, and said,
"Very good. Few know of those symbols."
"Alright. We'll take you
back. We'll leave first light tomorrow." Vitani spoke with a stern tone in
her voice. Xal nodded.
The sun was nearing the end of
its journey, the sky turning a warm orange.
"We better get some rest.
It's gonna be a long journey tomorrow." Vitani told them both, and Amyrza
proceeded to a tree, patting at the sand to form it into a comfortable bed. She
laid down and immediately closed her eyes. Xal was about to proceed to another
tree when Vitani confronted him. She was roughly shorter than him, but still
could look at him at eye level. She stared at him coldly, until she finally
whispered in his ear.
"Right now I don't know
what to believe. I will not allow you to harm us in anyway possible, and if you
try it, I will kill you. You understand?"
Xal eyed her oddly, but nodded
nonetheless. He was still a stranger. He proceeded to a tree adjacent to
Amyrza's without a word and laid down, closing his eyes in deep sleep.
Vitani stared at him coldly. She
found it hard to accept that he was a holy protector, so she had decided to
play it safe. If he was who he said he was, she could rest easy. But he hadn't
proven himself to her, so she remained ready for him, if he was really trying
to trick them.
She proceeded to Amyrza's side,
and laid down next to her. While Amyrza slept peacefully, Vitani's eyes
remained riveted and wide open on Xal, like a hawk observing its prey from far
away. Hours passed, and Vitani's eyes became awfully heavy, sleep beckoning her
to enter it's realm. Before she knew it, Vitani fell into a deep and peaceful
sleep.
Xal opened his eyes slowly, and
saw that they were both asleep. He grinned, knowing that his chance had come.
He breathed in a lungful of air.
"Hmm….the prey sleeps.
Excellent." Xal said to himself.
He got up from his slumber and
stretched. He grinned down on the pair slyly, and extended his sharp, black
claws.
Chapter 7: Hollow Heroes
He tumbled and rolled down the
searing hot chamber, his fur burning away each time he touched the surface.
Scar growled in pain as he
barreled down to the chamber he was summoned to. The opening came up, and Scar
was launched from the molten chamber into a world of fire, charred flesh, and
suffering.
Hell.
Scar hit the floor hard, and
slowly picked himself up from the ground. The patches of fur that were burned
away grew back slowly, starting at the roots and finally fixing themselves into
place with the rest of his fur.
Scar hated his surroundings. The
sky was as red as blood. Rivers of fire surrounded the land, spewing hot ash
and smoke and fire. The floor on which he stood on was hot, the clay burned
black. Few trees still stood, or what remained of them. They're branches and
trunks were burned black, their branches wickedly twisted.
Scar turned away from his
surroundings and called out, "I am here."
A black lightning bolt shot from
the sky suddenly, and struck the ground. Dust and clumps of dirt flew through
the air. A crater was left in the ground, and suddenly black insects crawled
out by the millions. They began to climb on top of each other, soon forming a
mound much taller than Scar. The insects began to shift form, and soon before
Scar stood a Demon Lord.
The Demon Lord was a large
creature that resembled a lion, only with different features. It stood at least
10 feet tall. It's paws were wickedly clawed, and its fur was blood red. It's
eyes were black, and horns stuck out from its head. It's mane was jet black,
and several spikes protruded from it. Small, triangle shaped plates ran down
it's spine. As if it were a type of macabre armor, the creature's rib bones
protruded through the fur. The Leonine Demon looked down on Scar and grinned
evilly.
"There you are." It
said.
"As always, Van." Scar
replied with temerity.
The Demon Lord's eyes flared.
Literally. Rings of fire burned in his irises, the trails of fire rising from
them. The Demon Lord advanced on Scar and clutched his neck. Scar grunted and
Demon Lord lifted him off the ground, bringing him to eyes level.
"I have told you thousands
of times never to call me that, fool. I am Vanthrok, and you will do well to
respect me. Is that clear?"
Scar squirmed in Vanthrok's grip,
and the Demon Lord let him fall to the ground.
"Idiot." Vanthrok
said, and Scar tried to catch his breath.
As soon as his temper cleared
away, Vanthrok began to explain to Scar his intentions.
"Do you know what you are
here for?" he asked Scar. He only rubbed his neck where the Demon grabbed
at him.
"You are here to play an
essential part in a plan for our Overlord."
Scar looked up at him, and said,
"Very touching. You still
haven't told me what I have to do."
"Stop being such a smart
ass. You're in Hell, and you are under my command." Vanthrok reminded him.
He began to explain.
"You know well of why we
are trying to take over the Pridelands. It's life energies are extremely
powerful, and if we were able to take control of those powers..." Vanthrok
said, and his paw burst into an orange flame as he held it before him,
"...we could control the entire mortal realm."
"Yes, but where do I take
part? What is my purpose for the summoning?" Scar asked like an impatient
child.
Vanthrok grimaced at him, and
said, "Unfortunately, The One Spirit has summoned his greatest warrior,
Xalanthas, to protect the land. Although just one, he can hold off thousands
off us on his own. He is one of great power."
"What must be done against
him?" Scar asked, enthralled.
At this Vanthrok smiled.
"Although a holy warrior, he is still a mortal lion. He can still..."
"...sin." Scar
finished.
"Exactly," Vanthrok
said, "And this is exactly what we must do. Even for a single moment, if
he turns away from the One Spirit, his powers will forfeit, and he will once
again be a normal, powerless lion."
"But he cannot fall to our
temptation! How will we do this?" Scar asked.
Vanthrok smiled evilly, and
said, "That my friend, you will see soon enough."
* *
* * * *
Kovu lay still in his den, the
only notion that signified he was still alive were his breaths, deep and long.
Kovu's mind was filled with his family members, now long passed. So interred in
his thoughts was he that he never noticed Kiara walk in.
"Hi." she said softly.
Kovu looked up and smiled
shallowly, and slowly put his head back down on the ground.
Kiara sighed, and asked,
"Kovu, what's wrong?"
Kovu sighed in response, "I
visited the gorge today."
"Kovu," Kiara started,
"I thought we talked about this..."
She went to him, and lay beside
him. She rubbed her head under his chin. She purred lovingly, but Kovu remained
troubled.
Kiara looked deep into his eyes,
and said, "Kovu, you must stop living in the past. I know what happened to
your family, but it wasn't your fault..."
"How could it not have
been?" Kovu interrupted.
"Sorry," He
apologized, "It's just that...it's so hard for me. I was so used to them,
it's like a big chunk is missing."
He grinned, and said,
"At least I still got
Vitani."
His grin disappeared, and
continued,
"I should have gone with
her..."
"Kovu..." Kiara said,
"You have to stop blaming
yourself for this. It's not your fault that they passed on. Yes, perhaps you
could have saved them, but they chose that path. They led themselves to that end,
you didn't."
Kovu looked into her eyes, and
she into his, and they gazed at each other for a long moment, when Kovu finally
smiled warmly at her.
He leaned in and kissed her on
the lips, and she licked him back.
"Thanks..." he said.
She smiled in return.
They rubbed heads together, and
went outside. As they stepped outside, the stars were out, the moon full,
shining its cold glare on them.
Kovu sat and looked up at the
stars.
Kiara came and sat next to him,
and tucked her muzzle into his mane. He never took his eyes off the stars.
"Do you believe they are
there?" Kovu asked softly.
Kiara removed her muzzle from
his mane and looked at him uneasily. He was acting quite strangely.
Kiara felt an unusual aura about
him. The way he looked at her, his energies, were all different.
"Of course I do,
Kovu..." She said uneasily, and Kovu interrupted her rudely,
"Why? Have you ever seen
them?"
Kiara was taken back.
"Kovu, why are you acting
like this?"
Kovu winced suddenly, as if a
putrid smell had drifted across his nose. He held his eyes closed tightly, and
reopened them. Kiara sensed the old energies once more. Kovu looked at her as
if he had never seen her before.
"What was that?" Kiara
asked.
"What was what?" Kovu
answered, confused.
Kiara eyed him suspiciously.
"You've been acting strange
lately. Have you been spending too much time with Rafiki?"
Kovu looked down at the ground.
"There's something I didn't
tell you, Kiara."
"What? What is it?"
she asked, growing anxious.
Kovu swallowed, and began,
"When I left the gorge,
something strange happened. Something....entered me. I don't know what it was.
It hit me like a lightning bolt, and it left me just as fast."
Kiara eyed him uneasily, and
tucked her head into his mane.
"Oh, Kovu..." she
said, she began to get worried.
Kovu rubbed Kiara's back, and
rubbed his chin over the back of her neck. They both purred softly, and later
on proceeded on to the den. Kovu allowed Kiara in first, when he heard a
whisper behind him. He looked back, and saw something staring at him from a
near tree.
He looked closer, and saw two
luminous orbs. They stared wide, until they frowned suddenly.
Kovu's head felt like it was
going to rip down the middle. He grabbed at his head, feeling the pressure
inside build.
Kiara heard clamor from behind,
and saw Kovu grabbing at his head, hissing.
"Kovu?"
She went to him, and saw that he
was on his back now, clutching his head in his paws. His eyes were shut
tightly, his mouth open wide with an empty scream.
"KOVU!!" Kiara
screamed, and held his paws in hers. His eyes flared open, and she saw that
they were no longer green, but red like wildfire. They burned inside his eye
sockets, flame encircling his iris. Kovu let out a scream, and it all ceased.
Simba, Nala, and the others ran to see what was happening, but arrived too
late.
"Kovu?" Kiara asked.
Kovu took in very heavy breaths.
His eyes were green once more. He slowly removed his paws from his head, and
looked at them. They were stained with blood. His claws had punctured his
scalp. Although not serious, they still bled.
"Kovu, what happened?"
Pumbaa asked, Timon and he just barely arriving.
Kovu breathed heavily, and
looked at them. He remained speechless.
"Are you going to be okay,
Kovu?" Nala asked worriedly.
Kovu nodded, and said,
"Yah, yeah I should be okay."
Kiara looked at her parents
uneasily, and Simba shooed them off silently. Now, it was once again only Kovu
and Kiara.
"Kovu?" Kiara asked.
"It happened again. It
happened again. I heard whispers..." Kovu looked up at her, wide eyed.
"Kiara, you don't think..."
"No, Kovu, no..."
Kiara said reassuringly. She held him close.
"We'll see Rafiki first
thing tomorrow, okay?"
"Kiara..." Kovu
started, "I'm afraid...."
Kiara held him close to him
again, and Kovu looked over her shoulder. Kovu could see that they orbs were
gone. He breathed a little easier. They both proceeded to the den, and Kovu was
the first to lie down. Kiara lay close to him, as to protect him from whatever
forces were at work. Soon, both fell asleep.
Chapter 8: The Dawn of Destruction
HA! Gotcha!
Sorry, but you got to the end…….of part one!!!! Stay tuned for part 2 (I
PROMISE not to take too long this time)