Lion King: A New Way

Where One Journey Ends and Another Begins

My name is Kesh. I am five years old and travel with my father to Africa a lot. After my mom died when I was too young to remember, my dad started taking me on his filming excursions about a year ago, whatever 'filming excursions' are, to see the wild life in real life and not on TV, like everybody else does. That's where I had gained a fascination with one type of animal. Lions, they were so mysterious and so amazing. At times when they hunt they are vicious killers, as is everything that hunts, but at other times they are gentle, as the girl lions, or lioness I think is what dad calls them, care for the little lion cubs as if they were too fragile to be roughhoused with, of course that didn't seem to stop the cubs from doing it to each other.

It seemed they were in ways like humans, but very different in other ways. Dad told me that if a new boy lion came to take over what he called a pride, they would make sure the cubs of the other boy lion would not stay around, and most likely, I thought that meant he made them run from their home. Anyways getting to what's happening now, we are riding in a jeep as my dad is trying to follow a certain lion pride that had caught his interest. It seems to him this pride is different from others, for reasons I do not know. All I see is a lot of little cubs playing around and then dad always covers my eyes at a certain point when the cubs head back to their mothers, for he says it's for only grownups to see. After a while he removes his hands and I see them playing again, so I have no idea what it is he keeps covering my eyes for.

After a while we were heading back to camp with the rest of the guys he brought with, as the pride we were watching seems to head off itself, always towards a mountain that I see, and I don't know why. As we were about halfway to camp I hear some booming off in the distance and I think it's just thunder. That is until *Wham!* Something hit our jeep and we were all sent flying as the jeep exploded in front of us. Once I hit solid ground, I rolled and then for a split second I felt a pain on the side of my head. All of the sudden things were starting to get blurry, but I could see that dad and the other guys were laying there and not moving at all. As I black out, I hear a voice say in my head, "Your journey does not end here little one. This is only the beginning for you. You have a new path that will await you, and you see life in a new way. Be brave once you wake, and follow your path."

I did not know what was going on, but when I wake up, it was morning and I was feeling groggy. Just then I start to notice something. Everything I look at seems to be a bit bigger to me and in more detail than I had seen before. I am confused at this and then I see dad lying next to the wrecked jeep, still not moving. "Daddy," I say and I try to walk over to him.

As soon as I tried to stand on two feet, I found it to seem impossible to stay that way. And my legs felt weird, as if they were bent funny, not broken, for I felt my toes, but my upper legs felt shorter and my feet felt longer and like the heal part wasn't meant to touch the ground when I walked like the rear legs of most furry four legged animals. That's when realization hit me and tempted me to look at my body, and what I saw, shocked me. I had paws where my hands and feet used to be and I felt and saw a tail on my back end, and brownish gold fur all over my body, even my face that had become a muzzle. I was a lion cub, just a bit older then the youngest one, but younger than the one the fully grown boy lion seemed to have favorites for. All I could think was, "What in world is going on here, what happened to me?"

I soon hear a voice in my head again and it says, "Little one, I this is the last time I am able to talk to you, you must run. I'm sorry but your father is no longer with you there, but he will watching over you down there."

"What I don't understand, what's happening?" I say.

"Kesh, you must leave where you are, the poachers will be there soon," the voice says.

"Let me talk to him," the voice of my dad says.

"Dad?" I say in shock.

"Yes Kesh, it's me, but listen to me, soon I will not be your father of that realm anymore, you will have a new family, the ancestors of the past offered you a second chance at a new life. I cannot tell you much more, but I will tell you this, know I will always be there in your heart and I will never truly be gone from you, part of me lives on in you, son, now you must run, while you have the chance," Dad says.

I began to cry a bit, know I would not see him again. "Kesh, please, run," dad says.

"But," was all I could say before I hear dad say, "Now, they are coming son, I love you, now go."

I obey my dad's last request and run away from where the jeep had crashed. It was a bit hard since it all felt weird, but I had to do as dad told me. I headed in the direction the pride dad had filmed was going, towards the mountain that sat alone on the savanna. It was my best bet, and when I had no energy left I slowed down to a walk as I headed for the rock. So many questions were going through my head at this point. Why had the ancestors let me live? Why was I turned into a lion? Where was this new family I would meet? Was it in that pride we saw? It seemed highly unlikely but I had to try at least. And what was this new journey, this…new path they talked about? Was I going the right way?

So many questions remained unanswered, but I had to keep going. I knew poachers were bad and undoubtedly wanted me, so I kept walking towards the mountain and hoped to seek refuge there. It seemed it was my only hope.

End of chapter one. Read and review please. For everyone who reads my other stories do not worry, they will be updated in due time. I had to get this Story out there, since it's been on my mind for a while. I do not own Lion King characters, only my OC, I give credit to Disney for The Lion King and the creators of the Lion King characters that were not in the movie. I'll update as soon as I can, tell me what you think.