Hello. Yes this is one of those kind of stories you've seen many times, I've tried my best throughout to make it as unique as possible.

I've been working on this story as a side project for quite a while to my main story in a different fandom, but don't worry about lack of updates. I've got the next 12 or so chapters written out, I'll be releasing them weekly/maybe quicker as I edit them and tidy them up. Depending on how much time I have. I'm trying to stay ahead of the story with my chapters unlike the rest of my stories I post as I go along, makes it much easier if I choose to change plot happenings and such.

Either way I'm sure you don't care much for my ramblings and came here to read. If you like the chapter I really appreciate follows/favs/and reviews. They put a huge smile on my face haha.

Rated T, dark themes, blood, violence. Please take care of your mental health friends. :)

Enjoy.

Chapter 1

"Fire Against Dusk"

I've always felt like humans were more of a detriment than a benefit. And most people wouldn't mind, choosing to shy their head away, or ignore the problems we cause. And while the occasional person or two well and truly cared, I personally believed it never made up for everything that we do. War, crime, destroying the earth with toxic waste, cutting down rainforests? Ugh… Humans are an awful species, quite literally the worst to befall our planet we like to call home. Nevertheless I am one of them. It's not like I had anything I could do about it realistically.

"This is exactly why we moved here! Aren't you excited Daniel?"

Going on a tangent in my mind, I had completely zoned out as my father gushed about our up and coming safari trip. "Of course dad. I can't wait any longer to get out into the wild and observe." Though I used some sarcasm, I still smiled. I loved going on safari trips, today would be no different.

Me and my father had been living in Africa for the better part of three years now. He was a doctor, and there is always a high demand for doctors in Africa. I can't handle working with humans like that, so In my best efforts, I've been studying to become a zoologist. And I was quite the natural at it, finishing high school by the age of eleven, and being an ace during my college work which I was doing at the same time as my research in Africa... It was pretty easy to convince them to let me come on this safari trip.

Lots of people think I'm just an overachiever, for already trying to become a zoologist, which has been my dream since I was a child. Or that when I say things like "I hate humans." it's because I think I'm better than them. That couldn't be farther from the case, I just like animals more! I wanted to learn about and study them as much as I possibly could. Animals don't talk back, or have any inherent malicious intent really. It was all instincts, and I felt the most at home when I was with the animals. Nevertheless, when you're thirteen it can be hard to convince people that it isn't just my imagination.

"I bet we'll even get to see your favorite animal!" He said in between bites of his breakfast.

I chuckled, "Like clockwork, I guarantee she will be there. Bets are unneeded."

He nodded enthusiastically, finishing his plate extremely quickly, "Come on, get ready after you eat."

I chastised him, "We've got time dad." He merely ran off in excitement.

My dad was a doctor, not a zoologist. But he shared a lot of that same excitement with me when it came to animals, I'd tried to convince him to join me in being a zoologist. He'd turn it down every time, stating that helping others was where his place in the world was.

I finished my food in a timely manner, scrounging together my pack of research items first, before doing my personal items as an afterthought. Packing things like trail mix and protein bars, along with bottles of water. Than putting in my favorite pass-time. I liked to fire dance now and again, and my father and the other researchers loved the act. I slipped a green shirt over some brown cargo pants, setting my necklace my father had given to me around my neck, a leather necklace with a white lion's claw. He gave it to me the day we released what had been my best friend back into the wild.

I put on a canvas hat over my nearly white blonde hair, and stared at myself, at my green eyes through the mirror. "I'm coming Miri." I said happily.

Going outside of our rather humble shack, I greeted my father again. He was with two of our good friends, fellow researchers as well. Ryan spoke up, "Hey little Daniel, ready for another trip?"

I rolled my eyes, "You three look like you can barely contain yourselves in comparison to me." I smiled.

Taking the teasing in stride they chuckled, and the other one, Jared leaned down took my hat off teasingly and ruffled my hair, "Come on we all know you can't wait to see Miri."

I couldn't disagree with them, as I unloaded my packs into the back of the Jeep. Along with my father's stuff. A few kids from the village we were staying at ran up, "Are you leaving Mr. Connor?" They asked sadly to my father in Swahili. I hadn't fully learned the language yet, but I could vaguely understand regular conversational words.

My dad thought for a moment, and replied, "I'll be back, no worries."

Sadly, they allowed us all to load up into the Jeep, and with some waves we made our way out into the savanna. "Oh! After we do the usual spots, I've got a good few new ones lined up!" Ryan said excitedly as he drove.

My dad shrugged, "Hey, why not! We've got days to spend after all."

The morning sun rolled over into the afternoons as the excessive heat bore down on us, we had seen a few mild things like zebras and elephants from quite far away. It began to dampen my mood slightly. Usually we would have to force ourselves to our safe camping areas, it would take the whole day taking the route due to how many animals usually roamed. But there was something off about the savannah today, as if there was something keeping them away from here. After a few hours and not much to show for it, we finally came over the first usual observation spot.

"Alright, here we are." Ryan called out.

He stopped on a small ridge, with a wide open Savannah's below and a medium sized pond at the center. I stood up in my seat excitedly, gazing out over the landscape. Very disappointingly, I didn't see a single animal, not even a zebra! "This is odd," I said, "Migration shouldn't happen for another couple of months… Surely there should be some animals around."

Jared chuckled, "Eh, probably just knew we were lookin' for 'em. We'll see 'em at one of the spots."

We continued monitoring the area for about another half an hour, before finally giving up on the spot. Something was definitely off about today, the sun was out bright and shining, so the animals should've definitely been grazing and such… If I'm being honest, I hadn't even heard a bird so far today…

An hour of quiet conversation and general boredom for me led to us arriving at the second spot, "Second time's a charm eh?" Jared said.

We arrived at the second spot, a small lake with a sizable savanna. There was a jungle on the other side of the lake, which led to many different types of animals to be seen here. One time we were lucky enough to catch glimpses of lioness hunting around here, obviously we kept a very safe distance.

Though once again… not a single animal. I stared in hope for many minutes, just hoping it would somehow change and they'd appear before me, but nothing happened. I groaned, "This is stupid. This makes no sense!" I aggravatingly yelled as I sat down again and crossed my arms.

My dad looked over at me sympathetically, "Hey bud, not every day can be a winner. We've still got a few spots left. Besides, you don't wanna be in a bad mood when you see Miri do you?"

I shook my head and sighed, "Of course not. You're right."

Ryan sighed as well, rubbing the back of his neck, "Sorry Dan… if I had known these spots would be busts I would've avoided them today."

I smiled, "No worries Ryan!"

Heading back into the road, I honestly began to feel unnerved. The entirety of Africa seemed… dead… like the life had been drained from the entire place. What could've caused such a vast shift in animal habitation? The weather has been perfectly average… Maybe it's an off season? We may have reused the rodes too much, the animals might have felt threatened and needed to move.

The silence in the savanna grew eerie. And Jared shrugged, "Hey, might as well have a bit of fun eh?" He put some music on, and him and Ryan began jamming out to an embarrassing degree. I couldn't help but laugh as they sang terribly and air guitar'd. Not much to be embarrassed by, when it's just you and a wide open empty Africa.

Finally arriving at the usual last spot, my favorite one. I immediately stood up, scanning around. My eyes widened disappointingly as I saw nothing once again. Usually Miri was nearby, so I hopped out of the vehicle and ran up the edge of the ledge. Looking around and making sure that I saw no animals whatsoever, I called out, "Miri!"

I sat in silence waiting, and felt my heart drop as nothing came. I turned around to the Jeep sadly, and sat back in my seat silently. My father seemed to try and salvage the situation, "Hey now…" he put his arm around me, "It's still only a few hours 'till sundown. Ryan, you said you had some new spots right?"

He nodded, "Yeah uh, they're quite a bit farther inland."

Jared laughed, "Perfect! Maybe they're all hidin' away from us inland. They wouldn't expect us to come too 'em."

Making agreeance, we all buckled up and prepared to go off road a bit. He drove up the path, taking a right to go farther. There had clearly been tracks from previous drives through here, but they weren't very well worn. I looked around in great interest at the new scenery.

We parked at the edge of a savannah I'd never seen before, a great jungle in the distance on the right, and to the left, the hints of a mountain in the distance,though I was probably seeing things. And a water hole right in the middle. This savannah was much more arid and dry, making only patches of grass every few feet.

I stood up, surveying around. "Wow, very nice area Ryan! Is it safe?" I asked.

"Yup," He said whilst unbuckling and hopping out of the driver seat, "Surveyed it for a few days, no animals path through here. We're free to observe!"

I excitedly jumped up onto my seat and looked out, immediately my hopes came true and I was met with the sight of probably hundred of different animals strewn across the savannah. "They're here!" I said loudly, before covering my mouth to keep myself from scaring them off.

All three of them chuckled, and we continued to observe and make notes for multiple hours. We even witnessed two elephants having a dispute and fighting! It was everything I had hoped for.

As if the wind changed for the worse though, the daylight slowly turned into a beautiful sunset. And the animals started to disperse, mostly going in the opposite direction of us. I groaned, "Really? They all leave in the same direction?" I said annoyed.

Jared shrugged, "Maybe we were too loud."

My dad popped open the trunk, "Nevertheless, I think we should set up camp for tonight."

Agreeingly, we all pitched in helping to set up a four person tent. It was a reinforced tent specifically for safari's, the only thing that could possibly break in would be an elephant, or a stampeding wildebeest maybe. We hung up lanterns, and started a small fire out front of it. We sat around it, eating some campfire food and talking.

I wasn't quite a people person, but my father and his friends… I had known them my whole life. I couldn't imagine doing my research without them. They shared alcohol and told stories, and I laughed so hard for the better part of the evening. Jared had all the craziest stories.

"Oh yeah!" Ryan said excitedly, "Dan, didn't you get some new fire dancing things?"

I laughed, "It's called fire dancing, but yes I did! Wanna see them?"

A sound of encouragement from all three of them gave me confidence, and I went back to the truck pulling out the two batons. I changed my pants to ones that allowed me more freedom to dance, than carefully setting them on fire I began to dance.

It was something I did for relaxation, to me, fire dancing was almost therapeutic for me. The wind whipping around me, the heat from the fire, I could close my eyes and dance like this forever. When I was fire dancing, it was just me, and the elements of nature. Even though I was one mess up away from a bad burn, I'd never felt more at ease. I started to go faster, and swung the fire harder, and just as I began to get tired I stopped.

I let out a large content filled sigh, and came to a stop. They cheered for me, as I put the fire on them out, and my dad ruffled my hair. "Jeez. Where do you get all the talent Daniel?"

Jared laughed, "I know right? It certainly isn't from you Will."

Ryan smiled, "I could watch that show for hours! Bravo Dan my man."

After that we all turned in for the night. Which surprisingly wasn't very hard, as there weren't many sounds outside. The next morning was dull, and dry. What would usually be a nice sunny day, was instead cloudy and it looked like it might rain.

That day, we would have no luck either with any of our usual spots we drove back to observe. Each and every single one nearly seemed more dead than the day prior. I became worried, "Dad, what if… Miri is hurt? Where could they all have gone?"

My dad smiled reassuringly, though I could tell he seemed unnerved as well, while we drove back to the campsite. Arriving back at the campsite in late afternoon once again. The animals seemed to have dispersed from this new camp area as well. "Well," Ryan started, "We might want to head home first light tomorrow…" he said sadly.

We all seemed disappointed, but agreed, Jared hummed, "Seems like it's not our week fellas."

I frowned, "I don't wanna leave yet… I haven't even seen-"

As I said that I felt a furred head nuzzle against my left cheek. I yelled, falling backwards off the log I was sitting on. I panicked as I looked towards my father, and they all held back chuckles. I looked up to my left and there she was, an albino lioness, with a grey tuft of fur on her tail smiling down at me excitedly. "Miri!" I yelled happily.

I sat back up and hugged her tightly. Miri was a rescue, my father had essentially raised the lioness who was abandoned by her parents for what we thought was being an albino. I grew up with her, so when we had to release her back into the wild I felt so sad. We would come on safari's, and she would recognize us every time.

"Miri, where have you been girl?" I said, scratching behind her ear.

She was happy to see me, but seemed worried about something as she nudged me. My dad laughed, "See? Told you she wouldn't miss a chance to see you."

She purred, and at that moment I felt so much happier. To see my best friend again. The night continued as normal, however this time I got to lay against the lioness, and she accepted me openly. I was happy she always remembered who I was, as I laid against her stomach listening to Ryan's songs she began licking my hair. "H-Hey, Miri, cut it out." I said laughing a bit and shying away from her relentless cleaning.

Ryan shrugged and continued to play guitar, "Let her clean her little lion cub. She hasn't seen you in months."

I blushed deeply, "That doesn't even make any sense." I grumbled as she seemed to lick me even more.

My dad chuckled, "Maybe she wants you to dance for her?"

Jared smiled, "Yeah, you dancing to Ryan's music would be amazing."

I nodded, turning my head to meet Miri's bright green eyes, and she seemed excited, "Sound fun girl?"

I got up excitedly, pulling out the dancing items before lighting them ablaze. I began dancing slowly, and Miri seemed to join me as she wove around me, I felt more at home than ever. The wind whistled past me, as we danced and danced. Until all of a sudden my dad grabbed my shoulder quickly. I stopped my batons abruptly looking up in annoyance.

My fathers face was ridden with fear, as he stood in front of me. Ryan and Jared stood up, staring down the same path in annoyance. Another Jeep, it looked like maybe two, were coming our way. Miri stood in front of me as well, growling rather scarily.

My dad pushed me rather forcefully to the tent, "Hide!" He said in a loud hushed whisper.

"But dad-"

"Now!"

Miri followed me as I sneakily made my way over to the tent, and hid behind one of the cots, while Miri hid under it. A large blanket draped over us. I heard the jeeps slowly drive up, and stop. I heard multiple car doors slam shut, and my father's voice starting in Swahili. "Gentlemen. What can I-" his voice stopped abruptly by the sound of what seemed to be him getting bashed. My body went rigid, and I felt ice cold.

Jared and Ryan yelled, "Hey what the hell is wrong with you." Jared said.

"We don't care about whatever you're here to do! We're just sightseeing!" Ryan said.

I heard the sound of a gun being loaded, and my heart skipped a few beats. My fear reached unexplainable heights, 'Poachers?' I thought to myself.

I heard my dad again, "Hey whoa whoa, we can come to an agreeme-"

Before my dad finished his sentence, I heard a resounding bang. As both my dad and Ryan yelled out, "Jared… You bastards!" Ryan yelled.

My eyes flickered over into rage… was Jared… dead? Just like that? I peaked my head up over the cot, and saw the outline of at least six men, and What I assumed was Jared's… body...

They started laughing and shouting in Swahili, words I couldn't hope to understand at all. The sound of the gun cocking again, Ryan yelped in fear, seemingly shoved towards the ground, "Please… I don't want to die… please…" And with another shot, Ryan was gone.

"Oh god, Ryan!" My dad said, clearly sobbing.

I needed to run, either away from here or to try and save my dad… But… What could I do? I began packing together my bag rapidly once again.

"Please… don't do this I have a little boy he… he needs me…"

The men's laughter heightened, and I heard one of them speak some English, "You see him again, one day."

Miri bit down on the back of my shirt as I tried to sneak towards the men, but I eventually broke free of her desperate grasp. Sneaking back over to the fire, I picked my fire batons back up. I stood up rather foolishly, or bravely depending on how you see it, and charged them desperately with immense anger. I swung my fire out in front of me multiple times, and to my credit, I did catch the men off guard.

My dad yelled, "No, Dan!"

I hurled one of my batons at the man holding the rifle, and missed by a mile, hitting our tent in the process which slowly went up in flames. He scoffed at me, though I did distract them enough to where they had to move, I held my other one. "Go away!" I yelled, grabbing my father's hand. I tried to run, dragging him with me but he stopped.

He shook his head down at me, gave me a hug. "I love you, please, run." He gently took my other baton from me. And shoved me away as he charged at the men with a yell. Miri dragged me quickly as we began making a retreat.

I heard multiple things go on at once, but the sound of one final shot echoed through the savanna and my mind forever. I didn't… I couldn't look back. But as if fate wasn't cruel enough another shot echoed, and I heard Miri next to me whimper, and she nearly fell to the ground. "M-Miri?" I said horrified, "N-Not you to… you and dad?"

She growled, grabbing me on the back of my backpack in her maw, and she began running as fast as she could. I could see the men behind us, they laughed, choosing to carry on. The entire campsite was ablaze, a smoke pillar rising high into the dark sky.

"Dad!" I yelled out of desperation.

Not even five minutes later, the campsite was out of sight, save for the giant fire that grew higher into the night sky. Miri finally dropped me from her maw in the small dirt outcropping we were hiding under. As soon as she dropped me, she fell to the ground with a thud, losing her balance.

"Miri!" I yelled. I went to her quickly, looking at the wound. It was right above her right front leg, it surely had entered her chest area but hadn't come out the other side.

I sobbed, scrounging through my backpack in a panic, "D-Don't worry girl! I-I can bandage it!"

I pulled out the bandages, wrapping them around her frantically but the blood just kept pooling more and more. I sobbed and broke down, "No! Not you too- I-I can't be alone!"

She licked my cheek gently, and put her forehead to my own weakly. I felt a surge of power, like electricity pass through my body. And she laid her head back down, "It is my time. You must live, cub."

I froze after hearing her voice, "W-What?" Her eyes began growing dull, "Wait come back! Please!..."

It was no use, she was gone…

I bawled, wrapping my arms around her neck, begging for her to come back. My father, oh god my dad was dead too… My friends… Dad is-...

Why… Why did this… No. I knew why this happened, I had seen all the signs of poaching, but blissfully ignorant me decided to ignore them. Stupid, stupid stupid! You could've saved them. What if you had done more? You got Miri killed as well!

After a few minutes of sobbing, I felt something warm and comforting. Opening my tear stained eyes, I saw what looked like an ethereal form of Miri, leaving her own body. It stopped, then looked at me lovingly, before breathing some dust looking material which seemed to sweep into my body and felt warm and fuzzy. And just like that, the projection smiled returning to the heavens above. Like a shooting star.

I was… seeing things now… And if I wasn't seeing things, I'm the first human to see a ghost get taken to the afterlife…

I had no will to continue left in me… I curled up next to Miri's body. And cried myself to sleep. Why was life so unfair, what did I do to deserve this?