A Kingdom Reborn: The Legend of Mohatu

Chapter 11: The Void

Mari began tossing and turning in her bed in the sand. As the early hours of the morning passed by, the sand below her paws grew hotter. She knew had been sleeping in the badlands, no doubt, just from the scorching heat of dawn. The dry heat boiled any remaining trace of moisture from her coat of fur.

It was nearly hot enough to fry an egg, and it was only the beginning of day three.

With an exasperated yawn, Mari glanced slowly at her surroundings. On the western horizon, nothing could be seen but hills of sand.

To the east, it was equally hot and arid, but much rockier. Several enormous boulders extruded from the sands, which had been carved into rather odd and unstable-looking shapes by many years of weathering and erosion. The shadows left by the rocks seemed rather inviting, but the lioness could not bring herself to move.

Instead, she continued to lazily inspect her surroundings. Farther north, there were a few random, scattered patches of dry grass, which looked a bit more promising.

Promising, not because of the grass itself, but because a dark streak moved through it. The lioness blinked her eyes to refresh the image, but it was gone. She could only wonder if she actually saw something, or if it was just her imagination.

Mari looked back at the sleeping lion beside her. Although the lioness was weary of suffering the same fate as Riza, she did not want to wake Mohatu. This was the desert; the chance of being caught by one of Rex's patrols was slim to none. It was rare for any lion to ever venture beyond the gorge.

Slowly, Mari rose to her paws and walked over to the grasses, after her curiosity took over. With a closer look, she identified several dark stripes.

The creature she saw was a zebra.

Naturally, the lioness unsheathed her claws and began creeping forward. Although her body was not hidden beneath any grasses, her fur color alone was enough to keep her hidden. Only her shadows could be seen; her vibrant, tawny coat blended with the bright yellow sand almost perfectly.

She continued to creep forward, silent and hidden, until she was within pouncing distance.

Swiftly, the lioness leaped toward her unfortunate prey, wrapping her teeth and claws around the Zebra's throat.

Although Mari was never the best huntress in a group, she had the uncanny ability to hold her own. Very few lionesses could bring down a medium-sized prey without the assistance of a pride—but, like her mother, she was an exception. Although she was neither as quick nor as brutal as many other lionesses, she was quiet enough to have the element of surprise on her side.

After a brief struggle, the creature lay dead in the grass, with several chunks of the striped equine's flesh dangling from Mari's teeth.

Mari did not usually feel any guilt during her hunts, unlike when she fought other lions. It remained true even during and after the kill, as she watched her prey struggle for survival.

While she regretted terminating the zebra's life, she had not killed the creature for pleasure, or even out of blind, misguided hatred. Like defending herself in battle, it was for her own survival.

After a few delicious bites of meat, the lioness began dragging the rest of the carcass through the grass with her teeth. Since it was not far, she decided to bring it to Mohatu.

However, it did not take long before Mari started questioning her actions. There was another reason why she was bringing Mohatu the kill. It was not because she wanted to drag a dead animal across a hill of sand.

It was not because Mohatu was incapable of walking to the carcass, either. Heck, there was no reason why he couldn't hunt on his own. More than likely, he would have had even better luck than the lioness.

The true reason was because she felt guilty.

Even after all Mari had done for him, she also had to consider what she hadn't done.

Everything she did for the lion, she did with only one intention: to make Mohatu like her. She needed him to like her, but not for the right reasons. She needed him as her weapon, and she loved him, as a weapon. Her friendship with Mohatu was the key to understanding, overthrowing, and eventually abolishing the lion kingdom, but hardly anything more.

Yet, somehow, her actions only began to prove that the line she had once drawn was being blurred. She was no longer acting nice because she wanted to use him. She was acting nice because she felt guilty for using him as well.

As Mari dragged the carcass beside her original resting position, she observed the lion carefully as he breathed in and out every second. Despite her rather loud struggle with the kill, Mohatu remained asleep. He was quiet, and, oddly enough, the atmosphere was incredibly peaceful.

Mari stood still, suddenly being absorbed in her own thoughts. She had acted very unusually the night before, and she truly did not understand why. Perhaps she felt more than just guilt...

Meanwhile, a large, muscular, brown lion stepped slowly into an expanding field of darkness. Simultaneously, a heavy metal door, nearly the size of an elephant, began to make a low-pitched grinding and clanking sound as it closed slowly from above.

The bright, yellowish-orange light of the outside desert fell beyond the door, as the lion enclosed himself in the shadow. The big cat stepped forward, unintentionally pressing down on a square tile on the floor. He could not see where he was going, for there was not even a hint of light.

Suddenly, with a strange mechanical flicking noise, several torches began to ignite along the walls of the structure. They were spaced at equal intervals along each of the four walls, with about a dozen on each wall, except the door behind him.

The lion shifted his gaze to the side, until his eyes met another lion, very similar in appearance.

"What is this?" the other lion asked in a state of awe, as the giant door slid down behind them. His voice echoed off the walls and hard floor, while his face held an emotion of curiosity with the intensity of a youthful cub.

The two lions were both much older than cubs, of course, but their insatiable thirst for knowledge had never changed.

"I don't know... it's even weirder on the inside. Who knows what secrets our ancestors have buried beneath our paws," the larger lion replied.

The two felines gazed around at the empty room, simply admiring the architecture around them, despite its apparent lack of complexity.

With a rush of fascination, the smaller of the two began looking at a nearby wall, which was decorated with strange markings and patterns. "Wow... who could have done this?"

The lion gently slid his paw across the wall to rub away a thin layer of dust. Simultaneously, the same stone that he touched moved farther into the wall, without any external force.

Immediately, a second row of torches suddenly illuminated the pyramidal ceiling of the temple. Even from the inside, the structure appeared massive, perhaps even big enough for a herd of elephants.

To the lion's surprise, what he saw was only the beginning of the tomb. Whatever it was that his companion did, the switch also caused a gaping hole to appear in the once-polished stone tile floor. The center tiles had slid open in a rotating, circular pattern.

The curious lion lowered his head into the hole. From his viewpoint, at least three more chambers occupied the space below. "Rex..." he began, barely able to speak from the surge of awe flowing through his blood. "You're not going to believe this!"

Before his brother could take a look, Leo attempted to leap down to the level below.

As the heavy lion landed, his claws slid off the floor of the lower room, and he struggled to pull himself up. He was going to fall farther down, and he knew it.

In his state of panic, Leo tried to throw his paws out farther onto the smooth, glossy surface, but to no avail. "Rex! Brother! Help me!"

The lion's grip was slipping. Inevitably, he was going to fall.

He had to let go.

"Ugh!" the lion exhaled heavily, dropping onto another hard floor below. It was too short of a fall for him to orient his body in the air, but too long of a fall to keep the wind inside his lungs.

"Leo?" the other feline called out, looking down into the hole.

Leo attempted to speak, but could not for several moments while he tried to catch his breath. While the lion rested on his back, Rex made an enormous leap down to the bottom to assist his brother.

"I... I'm fine," Leo began to speak. Quickly, the lion pushed himself back up onto his paws. "Do you really think after all we've been through I can't take a fall like that?"

"Yeah-yeah-yeah, fine," Rex replied jealously. "It's a wonder you could even fit inside here with an ego that big."

"Ahem," Leo forced a cough, and nudged his brother. "I killed Musashi's clan, did I not?"

"With me," Rex corrected.

"That doesn't mean I needed your help. I could have killed them all myself."

Rex flattened his ears. Clearly, he was getting annoyed with his older brother's shenanigans. "That's bullcrap and you know it."

Leo grinned. "Heh. You only wish you could be as awesome as me."

"Stop deluding yourself," Rex spat.

"Just admit it," the lion smirked. "You're jealous of my abilities."

Swiftly, Rex jolted his hindleg into his older brother's knee, causing the lion to wobble and eventually fall to the ground.

"Seriously, Leo?" Rex attempted to feign disappointment. "Stop making a fool of yourself. You can't even walk without falling over," he said condescendingly.

Leo scowled, before climbing back up onto his paws for the second time. The lion's tail swatted at the air behind him, as he began to plot ways to exact his revenge in the future.

Meanwhile, Rex walked forward, directly into a long and narrow passageway that he had found. Without warning, he left his older brother behind in the dark.

Instead of following, Leo began walking in the opposite direction. On the other side, there was yet another passageway, very similar in appearance. As Leo stepped closer, a row of electrically-lit torches flickered on to illuminate the path.

After a few paces, the path terminated orthogonally into another. At the end of the second path, there was little to be seen other than darkness. Yet, Leo continued walking anyway.

As he approached the room at the end, nothing happened. There were no lights that somehow magically turned on, no doors that opened, or no walls that shifted. It was just a dark, empty room.

The lion paused for a moment, to consider his next move. Yet, in the silence, he heard something moving. It was approaching him.

Instinctively, the lion drew out his claws. He lowered his weight into a comfortable fighting stance, scanning into the dark void for any sign of movement.

After a time, he heard another sound, emanating from the shadows.

In an attempt to scare the creature, Leo breathed out a heavy roar that shook the entire structure. As the sound echoed and amplified throughout the tight confines of the passageway, it even managed to hurt the lion's own ears.

Two small, vertically-slit eyes emerged from what sounded like water. Whatever the creature was, it emitted a deep growling sound as well.

Bravely, Leo walked right up to the creature to face his fear eye-to-eye. After all he had been through, he was ready to fight.

Suddenly, a grid of lights ignited around the roof of the room, revealing the creature to be a crocodile. It was swimming beneath a weird, underground, and artificial riverbed of some sort, which ran through the chamber.

As the reptile stared at Leo for a moment, the scaly creature's aggression faded.

Leo's bravery alone had defeated the crocodile's morale. The creature began turning around, returning to his home in the darkness, and as a result, it became apparent that the reptile had been defeated and put in his place.

The long, thick tail slithered around in the mud before disappearing completely under the water. Without even fighting, Leo was victorious.

Yet, this did not stop his younger brother from running towards him. Having heard Leo's roar, Rex wanted a piece of the action as well. Seconds after the reptile fell back under the surface completely, the lion joined up with his future king.

The eyes of the two lions wandered off to the other side of the river, which glittered with gold and various other shiny metals, protected from the elements for thousands of years under the tomb.

"No way..." Rex spoke with his jaw hanging halfway between his muzzle and the floor.

Leo backed away, before getting a running start and leaping across the stream. Once he reached the other side, the lion glanced around at every golden nook and cranny.

One object in particular stood out to the leonine warrior. It was a gold-plated box, slightly larger than the size of an average adult male lion. In the center, there was an obvious, but strange marking.

It looked somewhat like the sun, but inside the circle, it was a spiral.

Leo placed his paw over the symbol. Immediately, the top of the box twisted open, connected only by a hinge on the other side.

Curiously, the two lions peeked inside. What they found was the preserved skeleton of a lion-like creature. Yet, resting on its mummified chest, was a large disc. The symbol 'δ' was embossed on the top of it.

"What are you doing?" a strange ghost-like figure suddenly asked from behind the two lions.

"Well, we... ugh... we were exploring this thing..." Rex turned around, answering hesitantly. Struggling to find his words, the lion turned to his older brother and whispered into his ear. "Holy crap, do you believe this? We're actually talking to a ghost!"

"Get out of my tomb," the ghost demanded rudely. "I'm not going to ask again."

"Wait... so this is your tomb... and that means you're dead?" Leo asked curiously. Being the brave lion he was, Leo was hardly afraid of any threat the ghost would throw at him.

"I was a king," the ghost retorted. "I cannot die. I have only come here to rest."

"So, what's all this?" Leo continued gesturing at all the elegant decorations surrounding the room.

"It's... God dammit, just get out of here," the king retorted in frustration. "It's none of your business."

"I found my way in here," Leo smirked cockily. "I think I deserve to know."

"But..." the ghost mumbled.

"I saw your little traps," Leo nudged his paw toward the ghost. "If you're going to try to keep me away from your treasure, you're going to have to try a little harder than that."

The ghost stepped back. "You mean to tell me you're the prophet?"

"Prophet?" Leo smiled. "I like the sound of that."

The ghost shrugged, seeming mildly surprised that the lion in his tomb was not alone. Although the king's prophecy did not specify their savior to be a lone lion, he had assumed that the true prophet would not keep company around with him on a journey of such importance. "If you're the prophet, who's this idiot you've dragged along with you?"

Immediately afterward, Rex growled his teeth at the ghost. "I'll show you who's the idiot," he threatened.

"He's my little brother," Leo replied, patting his paw above Rex's head playfully, but with a hint of condescension and sibling rivalry.

"Hmph," the ghost snorted. "Well, if you think you're the prophet..."

Leo's eyes shot open as he heard the old king speak again. "Huh?"

"If you think you are the prophet, then I suppose I should give you the information you seek," the ghost said quietly.

Both lions sat still, listening intently to the ghost's wistful words.

"Regulus, Algieba, Denebola, Zosma, Algenubi, Chertan, Adhafera, Jabhah, and Rasalas: we were the great lion kings. For many centuries, we ruled all across Africa. We built tombs such as this to leave our mark in history, and emphasize our superiority. But, now, they also serve another purpose."

Leo nodded, while the ghost paused for a moment.

"In each of our tombs is a disc. If you are truly the prophet, you must find the tombs, survive their traps, and take the discs."

"Is there some reason for this, or-" Leo began to ask.

"Each is a key. Find all eight keys and bring them to the tomb of king Regulus at Lea Halalela. If you can open the tomb of our last king, you will have earned your right to become one of us."

Rex cocked a brow. "And become immortal like you?" he asked curiously.

"Regulus hid all of our knowledge in his tomb—it is a nexus of power and a paragon of wisdom. If you are truly the prophet, you will be able to retrieve it, and restore our kingdom to its former glory. Anything you seek from us, you will find at Lea Halalela."

Suddenly, Leo's imagination began to fill with thoughts of conquest and power. He certainly liked where the conversation had headed. "A kingdom, huh?"

"Yes," the ghost nodded. "You have already found my disc, the key of Zosma. Find the others, and all our power will be yours."

Leo and Rex stared at each other, while the ghost faded away.

It was at that moment, precisely, when Leo began to consider himself the king. He always knew he was destined for greatness, but he had no idea it would be of that magnitude.

"What makes you think you're the prophet?" Rex asked bitterly, showing considerable amounts of both annoyance and jealousy in his voice.

"Who else would it be?" Leo asked, smirking slightly.

The other lion coughed. "Ahem... me?"

Leo scowled, hardly even able to believe his younger brother would make such a comment. Between the two, it was simply a well-known fact that Leo was the strongest.

Rex looked down, scratching his forepaw across the muddy tiles. "I could be a king too..." he muttered angrily.

Mohatu mumbled in his sleep, thrashing around from side to side. Eventually, his sudden movements grabbed Mari's attention.

"What is it?" She asked, knowing that he was obviously awake.

Her question seemed to bring the lion back into consciousness. He stood still for a moment, absorbing the enormous dump of information he had been given by his subconscious.

As Mohatu looked back at his dream, he only noticed that the facts lined up with reality. It made too much sense to be a dream. He knew what he saw in his mind was what actually happened. "Another weird dream," Mohatu replied curiously.

Mari shrugged. "Mhm? What was it about... if you don't mind me asking?"

"I don't know... it almost seemed real," the lion added, yawning slightly. "But, before I forget, are you sure you don't know of any ancient temples out here?" Mohatu asked, cocking his head to the side in bewilderment.

As Mohatu's consciousness was brought farther into reality, he noticed the lioness looked quite different from the night before. It was almost as if something had happened to her since he last set his eyes on her.

The fur around her muzzle was a deep red, not too different from the long, red scar across her back. She looked absolutely exhausted, although she wore an unusually large grin across her face.

"Nope," Mari admitted. "It doesn't surprise me that you dream of such things, but I really don't know."

"I just don't get it then. Why am I seeing this? Is there something you're not telling me?"

"You just have to trust me," Mari said wisely.

Of course, the lioness's clever choice of words obscured whether Mohatu had to trust that she was telling the truth, or that he had to trust her despite telling the truth.

"I do trust you," Mohatu replied, though something strange about the situation was beginning to make him feel uneasy. She hardly trusted him, and she was asking him to trust her?

"Believe me, I'm just as confused as you are. But I have no doubt that once we find this... temple, things will become much clearer. So that's what we need to do."

Mohatu sighed. Undoubtedly, that was almost exactly the same thing Mari had said the night before. The whole situation was just confusing, and Mari's ambiguity wasn't making it any easier to deal with.

Of course, as soon as the lioness backed away, revealing the zebra carcass, the lion's perspective changed a little.

"Maybe you'll be able to think better on a full stomach," Mari beamed at the lion.

Mohatu's eyes widened. "Is that a-" he asked with a grin.

"Yes. I found a Zebra today."

"That's great!" Mohatu exclaimed. "How far away was he?"

"Right there," Mari motioned with her head. "I'll let you enjoy your breakfast," she nodded afterward, as Mohatu stared at the dead animal.

"You didn't have to bring me this," Mohatu said with gratitude before he bent down to grab a mouthful of dead zebra.

"It was nothing," the lioness replied, her tone of voice slightly reflecting her guilt for all she had been putting him through. "We've got another long afternoon ahead of us, so enjoy the meal while you can."

Mohatu muttered something with his mouth full of delicious meat, but his words were not easily understood.

"What?"

The lion cleared his throat before trying to speak again. "I assume you scouted around this morning?"

"I've hardly been awake for an hour," Mari confessed. "And, honestly, I'm not sure where we are. We're north of the old boundaries of the Pridelands, but that's about all I know."

Mohatu ceased eating and looked up to Mari with concern. "We really don't know what we're doing, do we?"

The lioness sighed deeply. "No, I'm afraid we don't," she responded, looking at the sand below her paws.

"Then why don't we just assassinate Rex and put an end to this conflict? Seems a lot easier than this..."

"Because I'd be killed on sight, and so would you," Mari replied bitterly. "That's why we had to cross the Pridelands under a field of cacti."

"But you killed Leo."

"We've been through this before," Mari retorted. "I'm lucky to have survived my encounter with Leo," she explained. "I'm not doing anything like that again."

Mohatu looked back up at the lioness after swallowing another chunk of flesh. "But I'm with you now. It would be easier."

Mari pushed a mound of sand away with her paw nervously. "That's... beside the point. We can't just kill Rex. Some lion will take his place, and we'll be back where we started."

"But how is finding Lea Halalela going to help us?" Mohatu asked.

"Look, I don't really know..." Mari replied hesitantly. The lion's bombardment of questions was beginning to get the best of her.

Although Mohatu suspected something was suspicious, he did not want to annoy the lioness with an interrogation. He chose not to say anything, but his facial expression easily revealed his true feelings.

Mari sighed. "You don't trust me, do you?" she asked sympathetically, totally understanding how the lion felt, to Mohatu's surprise.

"Yes I do," Mohatu answered, suddenly realizing how stupid it was to doubt Mari's knowledge, after all she had done for him. Of course he trusted her; he had no reason not to.

"I know this is all confusing, and I know it doesn't make any sense," Mari continued. "But, the truth is, there's someone—or something—out here that changed Leo and Rex."

"And?" Mohatu begged the lioness to continue.

"Leo was never the real threat, and neither is Rex. Those two are just the shadow of something greater... something... I don't even know what."

"The ancient kings?" Mohatu asked.

"Perhaps, yes," Mari nodded. "Whatever it is out there... that is what we must confront. Everything else is secondary."

Mari began pacing in circles, impatiently, as she thought aloud, while Mohatu continued to eat his lion's share. "When they returned, I wanted to think something happened to them when they left the Pridelands," Mari explained. "But what we've found so far is only convincing me that I was actually right. There is some sort of catalyst of evil out here... and we'll probably find it at Lea Halalela."

"Okay, that makes sense, I guess," Mohatu nodded. After finishing his final bite of meat, the lion licked his chops. "Is there any water around?"

"Nope," Mari replied. "This is the Badlands. If there's any water, it's a mirage."

"Great," Mohatu sighed sarcastically, rising to his paws.

Mari turned away and began walking north. "Leo and Rex made it through... there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to as well," the lioness tried to convince herself. "It's just not going to be easy..."

Mohatu closed his eyes and shook his head, before following the lioness. Although it was nice to eat a zebra, and he enjoyed spending time with Mari, he would have been lying if he said he wasn't worried. With each passing step, the future only looked a little bit hotter, a little bit drier, and a lot more confusing.

A/N: I have to say, this chapter was a hell of a lot of fun to write. Leo is such an amusing character; I'm beginning to wish I hadn't killed him off. :P