The King
“You again?” one of them hissed at the frail male lion you’ve stalked with. He only retorts in spatting.
“We were hunting here.” You say to the lion.
“Yeah well you followed them right into our territory.” she nearly cuts you off. The other lions now circling around you. They begin talking among themselves picking on you and your partner.
Suddenly a magnificent roar cuts through the banter and quiets the lot, they step aside to make way for a large dark male lion, with a flowing black mane and dark brown fur. His muscular frame towers over you and your friend, though a look of kindness is on his face.
He sniffs the two of you, realizing that you’re both foreign, though a glimmer in his eye lets you know that there's something he understands the others may not. By his appearance, you can clearly tell he’s the king of the pride, paired with the obvious respect that he receives from the group.
“Let them be.” he says. You and your friend hop up quickly to your paws to meet the larger lion. “What have I told you all about over hunting?” he clearly knows what’s going on. “This has been a big problem lately. The pride has grown so much you all feel as if hunting has become a sport. That’s not the way it should be.” he sternly disciplines his subjects. They all cower in submission to his dominant stance. The two of you stand guarded as the larger lion sits patiently. “You look to hunt?” he asks the two of you
“I’m just trying to feed my friend.” You say to him, the smaller male lion slinking behind you. “I just need…” the king interrupts you.
“I think I know what you need.” The group of lions lead you back to the pride. Anxiety prickling at your stomach, maybe you made the wrong decision? Your partner still silent behind you, not daring to say a word, he holds his head low as if he knows that he may not walk away from this one.
You all enter the home of the pride where they separate you and your friend. A baboon walks up to you and looks over your body, noticing something really particular about you. You follow him into a large room within a tree, you find yourself surrounded with smokes, dusts, bones, feathers, and all sorts of paints adorning the various trinkets with a rainbow of hues.
“You’re another one of those creatures?” He asks you? You look confused. “If you were anyone else you would have been killed.” He continues. “They don’t take kindly to trespassers.”
“What about the other?” You ask. “No worries about him, we focus on you.” he says as he paces around the room, you think to yourself how you can kill this creature right now. But then how would you save your friend, the gears in your mind grind as you try to figure out a way to at least check in on your friend. The primate turns around to grab something. His fur sways as he turns around, holding some loose skins in his hands, you immediately realize what this means for you. Shock spreads across your face, you think to yourself ‘this may be it!’ a way to not only help yourself, but maybe even help your friend in an indirect way as well.
Without thinking, you slide on your next outfit, partially trying to escape your heated situation, and partially to attempt in assisting the male lion. The cloth slides over your tense body, hairs still stand on end as you pull the material tightly over your skin, laying down the hairs; trying to relax yourself. The next transformation begins.
Written by Driftingdragon on 21 December 2019
The end (for now)