Shadowland

Chapter 2

Judgment

I am not Walter Disney, nor am I related to Disney in any way, except for being a fan of his work. Shadowland, Chapter 2: Judgment is property of Troy Wong, a.k.a. Chookooblash, and is not to be resold or posted on any other site without my permission.

I hope you enjoy reading my stories. Long live the king!

"Ya think ya know a guy…"

–Timon, hero of the meerkat tribes, during the reign of King Simba.

Kiko woke to the sound of footsteps outside the den. The nightmares that he 'didn't have' were disturbing his sleep, and there was no chance of him returning to rest anytime soon, so he headed outside to see who it was. Maybe it was Torres. That would be good. In his mind, Kiko had always shared a special bond with the pride's leader. If it was Torres, then he'd be the first to know where he disappeared off to after the hunt, and why. He wouldn't just go off and do something crazy like that without a reason, would he?

Would he, really?

"Kiko…" a voice called from outside. Kiko's face filled with joy as he realised that it was Torres. He was finally back.

"Torres?" he asked, whispering under his breath, just to make sure that he was right.

"Yes, it's me." Torres whispered back. "I've got something to tell you… In private. Come out here."

The naïve cub ran outside on the tips of his toes, turning around the corner, seeing Torres, standing there. He looked somewhat different. Kiko couldn't put his finger on it, but something about Torres had changed.

"Come with me, Kiko." Torres told him, keeping his voice down, not wanting to wake up the other lions and lionesses. Kiko just nodded, and was lead away by someone who he thought he knew.

xxx

Meanwhile, in the cave by The Small Oasis, Sapphire slept uneasily, just like Kiko, haunted by images of things past. In her mind, the impossible was possible. When she told others about what she had dreamt about, they just didn't understand. She was different. She always had been.

"Sapphire!" her long dead father called to her in her deep sleep.

"Father!" she yelled back. The gales of wind that swept in with the approaching storm beat upon her face, making it hard to see, hear, and even breathe.

Water swept into to gorge, appearing out of nowhere. Sapphire's father hung on for his life, to the smooth, stone walls that made the chasm. This wall didn't have any dents or points that he could've gripped on to, and he was loosing traction fast. "Help me!" he pleaded to her. She would have, but she could not, however hard she tried. Invisible, grasping hands held her back, and however hard she screamed, however hard she pushed against that barrier, however hard she tried to fight them off, she could not break loose.

One fork of lightning spelled doom for her father. As it appeared, exploding from the vast, thick storm clouds that blocked out the moon, the sky instantaneously turned white. The flash blinded her for a moment, and when she could see again, everything was back to normal. The storm had stopped, she was no longer held back, she could see the moon again, and the water flooding the gorge had disappeared. She ran up to the wall where her father had been fighting for his life, and when she arrived, she saw that he had gone as well.

Then, she felt something tap her shoulder. She turned around, and there stood a dark figure, like a shadow cast on a wall. It was a male lion, with eyes that glowed red like the seasonal fires, only a million times brighter, and claws and teeth that were sharper than anything she'd ever seen. Before she could react, and without a word, it flung its claw at her, pushing her over the edge, falling, falling, falling down below, into the endless darkness.

Sapphire woke up in a cold sweat, panting, as we all do when waking up in the middle of the night from a disturbing dream. She uttered something under her breath before laying her head back down on the ground to rest again, though something else occurred to keep her from her rest. The sound of footsteps, outside her little den. It was Kiko and Torres. She watched on in silence as the walked past, keeping herself in the shadows.

"Can Sapphire come along, Torres? Please?" Kiko asked anxiously.
"No." Torres replied sternly, almost angered. He tried to sound calmer before he said anything else. "I must tell you what I have to tell you in private. This is for your ears only."

"But… She's just over there, in that cave!"

"No, Kiko…" she whispered under her breath, as if he could hear her.

Torres looked over to the cave's entrance with a piercing stare. His gaze was fixed there for so long that Sapphire didn't know if he could see her, or was just trying to make her panic. She didn't want to move.

"We shall leave her to her sleep." he eventually told Kiko, looking back at the cub.

Sapphire sighed a sigh of relief, though, still remembering to keep quiet. It was unusual that Torres would go straight to Kiko upon his return. What could he possibly need to tell that cub, that no one else could know? She decided to follow them. She felt more comfortable in the dark, and so would have the advantage. She couldn't sleep, anyway. After that dream, she wasn't sure that anyone could, but the effect of that vision would soon ware off.

And so she followed them to the Dark Lands, and to the Abyss, where Torres finally stopped, and said "We are here.", and with a swift slash, Kiko was gone. There was no time to scream.

"Kiko! No!" she yelled without thinking, giving away her position in a second. Torres turned to look at her, with a startled look on his face. He was sure that no one had been following him. He was obviously wrong.

Sapphire leaped out of her hiding place behind the rocks immediately. There was no going back now. "Kiko! What did you do to him?"

"He's gone now, Sapphire." He said with a grin, as, behind him, the fog stirred and rose up from the abyss, sweeping Kiko's lifeless body up into to air, then letting him go when he was just above the abyss. "What are you doing here? Isn't it past your bed time?" Torres continued, menacingly, forcing her backwards. "Your mother wouldn't be very pleased about this if she were still around…"

Sapphire was losing ground quickly. Before she knew it, be back was to the wall, and Torres was so close that she could feel his breath. "You killed her!" she yelled, ramming into him, clawing at his face. He fell to the ground heavily, but got up just moments after, seemingly uninjured.

"I wasn't the one who killed her Sapphire… Her foolish desires were what lead her to her downfall."

"She only wanted to keep me safe!"

"That was foolish indeed… But no worry." He grinned an evil grin. "You're joining her now." And with that, he charged back at Sapphire, knocking her to the ground with a well aimed swing of his paw at her body.

Head spinning, she opened her eyes to see Torres looking over her, his thick, slimy strands of saliva dripping onto her chest. He lifted his arm to finish her off, but she wouldn't fall so easily. All that he struck was the ground; Sapphire had rolled aside just in time. As she fled, Torres followed her, but she was young, light and fast, and Torres was old, heavy and slow, and so he could not keep up as she disappeared into the darkness, back to the Den to seek the safety of her pride, in Amber Valley.

xxx

"Look at these scars…" he said, showing off his wounds to his pride, each and every one of them gathered at The Small Oasis. "I was attacked last night as I returned from my journey."

"Where were you?" A voice yelled out from the crowd. She asked the question that everyone wanted to know.

"I took that wildebeest from you because there were other people out there who needed it more than us… Others of our kind. Other lions." Gasps and mumbles erupted from the crowd. Torres' pride always thought that they were the only lions in Amber Valley. He continued, "They were starving when I met them… I had to help, and I am sorry for any distress it may have caused you."

The pride didn't seem to be buying it. "What about Sapphire?" Orion yelled out. "She says that you attacked her in the Dark Lands, and killed Kiko!" he continued, trying to restrain himself from charging through the mass of lionesses in front of him and attacking Torres outright. He trusted Sapphire's word, and anyway, no one trusted Torres anymore. He'd ruined his name; his reputation.

"That's where I was." Torres replied. Every word he spoke was a lie. "These other lions live in the Dark Lands, where they suffer twice as much as we do every day. It was night, and just when I was about to leave, I saw you!" Sounds of disbelief came from the crowd upon hearing this. "Orion, Sapphire and Coyle were at the Dark Lands last night, and they were there for one reason: To murder Kiko! This cruel act will not go unpunished."

Sapphire tried to hold Orion back, with no success as he ran through the crowd, rampaging directly towards Torres, knocking him off the stone he was standing on, onto the dusty earth. "No! Why would I kill my own brother, Torres? Why? You killed him! We all know that!" he yelled down onto him, extending his claws. "You deserve to die!" Orion roared, furious, raising his arm to strike. Torres had a look on his face that could only be described as fear for his life.

Before Orion could act, he was dragged down by Sapphire, and several other lionesses. Torres hastily got back on his feet, shaking the dust off his body, still recovering from the shock.

"Torres!" Coyle called out, steeping in front of the pride to face him. "I was nowhere near the Dark Lands last night. You know that. Neither was Orion. I was talking to him. He couldn't have-"

"You're a liar, Coyle! I put my trust in you, and now you speak against me?"

"You're the liar!" he yelled back, angered. "I was nowhere near the Dark Lands last night!" Coyle growled, threateningly.

"As I have already said," Torres began, ignoring Coyle, furthermore, Orion, and the several others holding him back. "this crime will not go unpunished. For the murder of the cub, Kiko, denying the truth to me, and attacking your elder, your punishment will be…"

That moment lasted forever for everyone in the pride. All of them had grown especially attached to these three lions. Orion's mother, Taruwa, watched on, speechless, from the crowd. Daeon, Coyle's best friend, held his breath for the verdict. Sapphire's hunting partner, whom she had grown much attached to, Gharah, struggled to hold back tears.

"Exile!" Torres bellowed from his rock. His voice echoed through the valley. Birds that nested on acacia trees, scattered here and there across the ground took flight. Vast herds of herbivorous animals abruptly lifted their heads from the ground, stopped feeding and ran. All heads in Amber Valley turned to look at The Small Oasis.

On that day, at that very moment, Sapphire's, Orion's, and Coyle's lives all changed, and so would everyone else's, not just in Amber Valley, but in lands, far, far away. All in due time. The moment Sapphire set foot out of her homelands, a quest began that was destined to bring the long lost Circle of Life back into power, or plunge it back into the darkness for all of eternity, never to be seen again.

"And over the hills they will go, out of their home in the dark of night. Torres the betrayer will not have them stay any longer, and if he sees them in the Den when dawn breaks the next morning, he will kill them outright. Their paws will make contact with the black, ashy dust that will be the ground outside the Amber Valley, for the first time in their lives. Sapphire of the Night, who would have just been known as Sapphire, in those times, will be the first to step out, and at that moment, the Quest for the Circle will begin. Orion the Brave will follow after her, with Coyle; Second Shaman of Claw stepping out last. The Great Kings of the Past with look over them from now on, though you would not think it if you saw what they had to go through. These lions will do tremendous things for the good of the Circle.

-1st part of the 283rd prophecy of the Great Shaman Metutu, during the reign of

King Mohatu; Greatest and Highest King That Ever Ruled.