Karimu landed effortlessly at the canyon's throat, her fur ablaze with reality-shattering energy. The Uasian Queen surveyed her horizon, glancing through the thickened fog ahead with stern intrigue. So far, her time in this scarred realm had been harmless. Only a few Giza remained, the bare bone skeleton crews needed to enforce Scar's will on this stolen land. She marched forward, the will in her fur fading inward, illuminating her hazel eyes with rightful might.
The fog thickened. She imagined each particle, every string of dust in the air. With a single, focussed roar, she separated the strings, rearranging them to her whim. This new power, brewed through years of patience and care, energised the young lioness. She didn't understand why, but she felt powerful here, unshackled by the regular weights of physics. The fog faded, revealing a small cave carved in the side of the canyon.
She recognised it immediately. She had spent a fair bit of time in a cave just like it. She remembered the pain, the fear... the love. It was the exact cave she had given birth in, barely a year before. Even down to the pile of leaves in the corner
As she approached, curiosity enveloped her. The sound of her cubs giggling, humming and playing sank into her mind, sending a chill of nostalgia through her body. She barely noticed the resting lion sprawled out in the corner of the cave.
"Huh?" The male groaned, raising his messy manned head from the dusty rocks. His eyes sparkled with innocent youth, even if his body creaked with the weight of age. Her eyes widened as she noticed the scar across his left eye, dormant and darkened, burnt into his brown fur. Karimu arose, unsure how to approach the situation playing out before her. With uncertain trepidation, the Uasian queen stepped forward.
"Are... Are you okay?" The male remained sprawled out, his eyes flickering as he slowly awoke. It was only when she stepped within a meter of his face that the male quickly scrawled his way up. His heart raced as the strange lioness approached, a look of insecurity adorning her muzzle.
"Hey, it's okay!" Karimu reached a single paw out, her voice soothed with sweetness. But the lion saw through her heart. The lioness froze once more, with the lion noticing the swelling of fear in her eye.
"Hey!" Another voice called from outside. Before the Uasian Queen could turn, an almighty roar bellowed through the cave. She felt her legs give way; her body flung through the air into the side of the cave. As Karimu recovered, she glanced to the cave's entrance, on to find the muscular form of a lioness staring back, her body lowered in an offensive stance. "Who are you, lioness?"
Karimu struggled to her feet. Luckily, she didn't bang her head in the fall and was able to regain composure quickly. The lioness halted upon seeing Karimu's head, her eyes widening in surprise as the queen's markings glistened in the void light.
"Karimu?" The lioness inhaled sharply; her ear twitched down as the realisation hit her. She stared forward to Karimu, a push of regret weighing her chest. Karimu shook her head, refocusing her mind as the lioness slowly began to stroll towards her, anxiously swaying a paw to the strange male. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you would be here."
"You know me?" Karimu queried, her head slightly tilted whilst the lioness sat before her. The male slowly arose, cautiously strolling beside the strange lioness. She seemed familiar to Karimu, or at least to a description Kopa had given her once. The Uasian Queen's curiosity grew, shifting her head further horizontally. "Wait, are you?"
The lioness stretched her neck forward, her muscular form proudly leaning forward in a gesture of power. "Yes, I'm Potea..." Her cyan blue eyes glistened, peeking into the Uasian Queen's with welcoming appeal.
"Wow!" Karimu felt her body tremble. Potea was a founding member of the Uasi Pride, a pillar infused in the foundations that shaped Karimu's life from the moment she first felt the sun's gaze on her fur. Surprisingly, Potea glanced back with equal amazement, her heart racing with spectral energy as the lionesses shared this precious moment.
"Erm..." The male nervously buttered in, lowering his head in the presence of such majesty. "Pardon my presence, Miss..." The lion's eyes met Potea who immediately faced Karimu. A shallow growl echoed from outside, making the male cower in fear. The two lionesses glanced out of the cave, watching the shadows of Scar's realm stalk closer.
"Karimu, this is Mgeni." The elder lioness raised a paw, swaying between her younger cohorts. "From what I can gather, he has a connection to Scar." Upon hearing the demonic lion's name, Mgeni felt a surge of confidence shoot through him, forcing the lion to step closer.
"He's..." The lion hesitated; the pressure of their presence combined sent a flurry of fear into his heart. As his eye caught Karimu's face, the burning pulse clawing in his chest ceased, leaving behind but an ember of forgotten warmth. "He was... My lover..." The lion stared out to a corner of the cave, his mind regaining lost emotions of the time they spent together. The lush, wind-blown grassland, small strands of pollen clouting their furs. The sight of his beloved's smile. His eyes bulged, the weight of terror returning.
"Oh..." Karimu sighed. She knew the feeling too well. For almost a year she lived in a similar circumstance, in a similar cave. Her heart-melting every day as she thought of her lost beloved, of never seeing his handsome, sweet face ever again. All she had was her cub... Their love ... for company. A relic of his love, his sacrifice.
She wouldn't let another suffer as she did...
"It's okay, Mgeni..." She approached slowly, gracefully nuzzling up to the older male carefully. Potea simply smiled, before slowly approaching too. Both lionesses nuzzled up to him, letting the once scared male calm ever so slightly in their loving embrace. And yet, their affection for him would only entice the entities of this realm to them.
A beacon in the darkness of despair.
A reverberating series of growls erupted from outside, drawing closer, louder, and louder as every second passed. They were coming. The trio broke their nuzzling, stepping back to glance out of the cave's entrance. The shadows grew further inward, clawing the depths in its hunt for the light of their companionship. Karimu acknowledged Potea, who simply nodded at Mgeni, then herself.
"The Giza are coming!" The old Royal Mlinzi marched forward, the mark on her shoulder flickering with Uasian energy. She could sense their gnashing teeth outside, drooling with a need to eradicate the intruders. She tried to plan, to use every piece of knowledge she had gained. Their movements, their structure, the power running through her and Karimu's blood. As her eyes opened, a single tear rolled down her cheek.
"Potea?" Karimu noticed the lioness' sudden look of horror. As soon as the Uasian Queen's concern became obvious, Potea shook her fears away, refusing to let them shape their future. She smiled down at Karimu, who stood before her, one paw forward.
"It's nothing, your majesty." The Royal Mlinzi's eyes peered out of the cave, hungry for vengeance as the Giza's howls peaked. Karimu watched on in concern as Potea rushed out, immediately pouncing at the attacking Giza to the ground, destroying it instantly. Karimu glanced at Mgeni, who simply cowered in the back of the cave, forcing the two lionesses to fight on his behalf. With a heavy sigh, the Uasian Queen joined her fellow lioness, rushing into the brewing war outside, leaving the frightened male to cower and murmur in a curled position.
As the queen left the cave, the ground crumbled. A large crack split the canyon into two, collapsing the further side into the void lit depths below. Giza poured in from the edge, stampeding like a herd of wildebeests. Potea and Karimu stood their ground, their furs shimmering with ethereal energy whilst their minds focussed. If they were going to fall today...
At least they'd go out fighting...
The first wave charged. Potea quickly reacted, unleashing an unrelenting roar across the decaying canyon's depths. Their bodies flew, landing with a heavy crash just before the next charging wave. From the walls, slithering serpent Giza sneaked up to the lionesses, their fangs dripping with Scar's influence. They may have remained unseen by Potea, but Karimu was not as focussed, or busy resisting the onslaught. She locked her hazel eyes on them, her love for her king brewing in her chest, remembering all the pain these demonic creatures had caused, the lives they had taken.
With a single roar, she wiped the slithering specters from this reality. Another three waves of normalised Giza fell, leaving the horizon clear of Scar's forces.
But it wouldn't last.
Karimu collapsed to the ground, the sheer power of her roar had drained her, it always did. Unfocused, untrained, she barely stood, forcing Potea to rush to her side. The signature crawling and howling echoed on the horizon once more.
They were not done.
"Karimu! Stay with me!" The first Royal Mlinzi wept. Her vision had become true. The legends of Karimu's power, untamed and irregular at first, were correct. She nuzzled up to Karimu's barely conscious body, her tears weeping as the Giza charged closer, swarming their position from all sides.
This was it... The end...
If it weren't for his will...
A deafening roar blasted through the canyon from above mere milliseconds before Potea clenched up, expecting to die by a Giza's teeth and claw. She held Karimu's body tight, feeling the immense paracausal power sweep above them, laying siege to the demonic denizens with righteous fury. She opened a single brown iris, surprised she was still breathing. Her heart slowed, her mind regaining confidence as the Uasian King's roar blasted the Giza away. Shards of Uasian crystal slammed into the canyon's dry earth, halting the infinite assault on the lionesses' position. With a gentle thud, Kopa landed on the ground, his mane infused with paracausal energy, detangling the webs of its realm with his will.
Karimu's eyes opened. A stroke of light caught her eye in the sky, cascading down in front of her, slicing through the void lit nothingness that once occupied the horizon's embrace. It took her a moment to realise the feline form at its epicenter. Her heart warmed, fuelled with a loving inferno as Kopa landed, his gaze swirling around to meet hers. A smile grew across his face, relieved to see her still alive. She smiled back, arising to her paws once more, ready to join his side along with Potea.
"It seems the student has outdone the master!" The first Royal Mlinzi chuckled, admiring her old student with deep, cloaked affection. She admired the swirling reverberations of power in his fur. It had been oh so long since she had felt it, not since the Lioness Rebellions themselves. "It's nice to see you again, Kopa."
"With no help from your teachings, of course." Kopa smirked back, giving his former master a wink. "Glad to see you're both still alive." Karimu nuzzled up into his mane, humming gently as the Giza's growls disappeared into the horizon.
"I guess it was worth it after all, splitting up." Karimu smiled, inhaling his scent as she ruffled through his mane. Kopa remained still, occasionally glancing at Potea, who simply sat and smiled.
"I see you've met my old teacher." Kopa chuckled again, realising the paradoxical complications of their meeting. "I hope she didn't tell you about my antics."
"Oh, I know most of them." Karimu giggled back, her hazel eyes piercing her mane with loving glee. Potea broke the two lovebirds flirting with a single rough hum, clearing her throat before arising, standing beside her old friend.
A thick, dark smog lingered in the air above them, pacified by the crystals Kopa had formed. From these shards, corruption spread, terraforming the realm with lush grass and blue petal flowers. His corruption spread, taking the dead land for its own as Kopa's heart pulsed in time with Karimu's. Just as he raised his head to let his queen nuzzle under his chin, a familiar crystalised construct appeared above the canyon's walls.
"That's where he'll be, that fortress." Potea pointed out, her eyes brimming with concentration. This only broke as the slow stroll of Mgeni ruffled through the newly imagined grass.
"Wait...You're..." The older male trembled, analysing the king's scarred left eye. "You're scarred... Like Askari!" Kopa stared the lion in the eye. His heart sank.
"Askari?" The Uasian King's head pivoted. Surely he couldn't mean the lion god Askari? Mgeni fluttered his eyes at the king, before glancing up at the crystallised structure looking over the horizon.
"He's still up there, cursed by that... Thing!" As soon as he spoke, a void tendril swept from the structure, slicing through Kopa's growing influence in this realm. A large island flew over their heads, its freshly agonised boundaries still crackling with ethereal energy.
"He means Scar!" Potea explained. Karimu, too nervous to converse, simply nuzzled up to her mate. On the shallow breeze, a familiar series of cries called out to her. Young and frightened. She locked onto the structure, a raging fire burning in her chest.
"He still has Ulinzi and Amani!" The maternal lioness practically snarled, her eyes locked with a vengeful need. Their cries for help echoed in her mind, intensifying as her rage built. She wanted to kill him, tear his jugular from its spectral housing. A cackle split through her mind, slurping up her hate and fear with delightful glee.
"Karimu..." Kopa's sweet, concerned voice stilled her rage, the gentle loving rub of his mane against her cheek cooling the fires that burnt her heart. "Shhh, It's okay... We'll get them back..." Potea and Mgeni watched on, hearts warmed by the pair's strong emotive connection. More blue petalled flowers bloomed around them, sprouting from the now grass-laden canyon in a line, leading to its repaired edge.
With a gentle hum, Karimu departed her mate's comforting nuzzling. "Thank you..."
"Always..." Kopa replied, a heart-warming smile adorning his muzzle. The pair continued to stare at each other, lost in each other's presence, broken only by Potea swiping a paw at Kopa's gut.
"Can we focus on the demonic entity trying to hold onto this pathetic realm?!" The lioness' sudden panic was justified. The tendrils of Scar's desperate rage swiped at the reforming islands, sending fragments of the earth through the skies to regain control, to spread his chaos to all corners of his realm. Mgeni cowered, murmuring apologies to the short strains of grass at his paws. Karimu placed a paw on his shoulder, locking eyes with the older lion in understanding.
"Very well..." Kopa glanced up at the tower, its corrupted gaze occasionally blocked by the enshrouded horror seeping from its cracks. The king felt his body roar in retaliation. Every cell of his body pulsed with ethereal energy, desperately waiting to counteract the growing darkness. He placed a single paw forward, glowing bright hot with focussed crystallised clarity. "We'll form our way." Both Karimu and Potea frowned, unsure completely as to what he meant. Kopa refused to elaborate. He had more important things to focus on. He imagined every island, every spec of land in this destroyed reality. He brought them closer, within reach of his mind, soldering the cracked rock back together like a scar healed, made whole again. The lionesses and their weakened male friend all watched on, their jaws practically scraping the ground as the islands coherent, obeyed the king's will as if he had demanded them to. Potea especially looked on in shock.
How could he have so much power here?
As the final particles of rock fused, Kopa collapsed to the ground. Karimu and Potea rushed to aid him, but he arose sharply, gritting his teeth as his eyes remained focussed. "We'd better move..."
The lionesses agreed. Potea took the lead, strolling down the canyon's length to the mass of islands Kopa had formed into a ramp, leading high up to the corrupted tower at the center of this hell. At first, Mgeni was nervous, too afraid to step a mere foot forward. But Kopa approached him, whispered something in his ear. His eyes widened, followed quickly by a burst of energy from within the lion's soul. Before Karimu could comprehend these events, the lion had caught up with his protector, slowly marching by her side, conversing over the majesty he had beared witness to.
Karimu approached her mate curiously. "What did you say to him?"
Kopa marched forward, brushing up beside his mate. "I told him the truth." With a single hum, the king strolled past her, letting his tail stretched outwards. "Like how I know we will get our cubs back... unarmed." Karimu's heart flickered once more. The stupid, loving grin on Kopa's face said it all. A plan was in action, a means to win. A will to help.
If anyone was going to. It would be Kopa.
"Are you coming, my queen?" Kopa's smirk grew wider, blanketed by a sweet gush of wind from behind her. The rocky pathway ahead had begun to blossom, birthing shallow swarms of grass and moss over its once desolate foundations. She sensed his power resonating with the breeze.
With her heartbeat...
She smiled back, smirking with knowing intent. "Of course, my king!" Nuzzling up to him as she passed, the queen let her tail sway over his back, entwining with his as he strolled beside her. A flurry of blue flowers followed them closely behind, aligning their path with their wilful love.
A love that would end Scar's corruption... Once and for all...
...
Scar watched on from the halls of his crystallised monument. The sickly green walls and floor sank with his mood, cracking and splintering as he watched his realm snap from his control. With an aggressive growl, he began to stroll back and forth, gritting his spectral teeth as his claws dug into the crystalised floor.
It clawed back...
"Yes, I know he is coming!" The mad god snarled; his mane reignited with spite. Mere seconds later, he turned, cooled with a sense of dread. "But what if he brings him... I can't!"
"YES, YOU CAN!" The wrath returned, chipping away the floor with a vengeful claw. He collapsed to his knees, the pain excruciating as his soul seeped into the ground, repairing the claw mark he had taken from it.
With agonised grunts, the lion glanced up, admiring his small collection of captives. Two fully grown males, perfect capsules for his soul and will; and two cubs, his leverage when it came to the inevitable. His plan was still roughly in place, despite the Uasian King's will. He stared at the cubs, unconscious yet still alive, dreaming of their happy, perfect world by their parents' side. A smirk grew on his undead face.
With this focus, the pain ebbed away. The voices of his masters silenced. For now, he was free, unshackled from the chains of those who had taken all from him. An ensemble of Giza manifested at the room's entryways, snarling and drooling onto the crystal floor with a disgusting derogation. With a sly grin, he approached the cubs, looming over them before raising a single paw. A flurry of green light emanated from his claw, forcing the cub's eyes to awaken.
As the innocent balls of fur awoke, they were met with his demonic gaze. Both froze, their faces petrified, unsure of how to face their imminent demise. Scar simply smiled down at them though, showing his spectral teeth as the room around them dimmed.
"Life's not fair... is it? My little friends..."
