Author: Daggermouth
Lion King 4
Chapter: VI –The Knights at Vulcan Rock.
Vulcan Rock, situated to the furthest south border of the Prideland, is a circular monument of black rock which stands almost as high as Priderock, the rock itself was jagged and blunt spikes perturbed out from the main structure. It stood near the Outland situated close the southern mountains. The surroundings of Vulcan Rock were barren, even more dry and desolate than the Outland but the unique thing about Vulcan Rock is that inside its many caves are underground lakes. They were cold to touch but around these underground lakes plants and other foliage grew around them. It seemed like a black rocky tower on the horizon to the hornbill Zazu as he flies his merry little way above the filthy Outland. But for once he was nought on the king's duties; this trip was rather more of a personal visit, for you see Vulcan Rock is Zazu's home, the many hornbills had perched and made their nests in the top most parts of Vulcan Rock the blunt spikes extruding outwards from the tall rock were the perfect shape for the hornbills nests, the Outland served as a great place to get the twigs and sticks need to create the nest and food was plentiful in the cave below ground there was no need to hunt this far south, the only creatures which reside in the Outland now were the Ethiopian Wolves and they obeyed the Circle of Life in all its splendour, never killing for sport, only to ever feed. The constant dusty hazy full of grit of sand served as the perfect protection from the sun which was rather dim in the daylight sky. Zazu swoops downward slightly to catch the stream of wind below and he thinks back to Priderock, while Simba finally has his family together his Pride was devastated, but like all things Priderock has its way of recovering as with the magic and magnificence of the Pridelands. 'But rather better to look to the future rather than the past' Zazu always thought to himself, Zazu remembers the time Mufasa once saved him from Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, who were trying to cook him in the ''birdie boiler'', it was Mufasa's first act of kindness to the hornbill, and that moment in their lives sealed how loyal they were to eachother. His mother Zuzu was the first hornbill to take the role of the kings majordomo, she helped the king Ahadi until his last breathe, it was during Mufasa's coronation that Zazu took over from his mothers role, she retired to Vulcan Rock and whenever Zazu has the free time he flies to visit her regularly just like he is now as he sores leisurely towards the south. The kings majordomo had seen most of the Pridelands history and had recorded most of it but alas only in his mind, the hornbill quickly snaps out of his deep thought as he now approaches Vulcan Rock, flapping his wings upwards to make his decent down to see his mother Zuzu, she was slightly bigger than her son but almost exactly alike with purple wings and lengthy eyelashes. No sooner than his claws touched the rock did he realise something was wrong, Zuzu and the rest of the hornbills looked as if they were about to leave,
"What the devil is going on?" Zazu asks his own mother who was flustering her wings.
"The lakes have dried up, the lakes have dried up!" Another hornbill screeches while flying in a circular motion around Vulcan Rock. While the hornbills get reacquainted another species living in Vulcan Rock seem to be moving around below.
This black rocky tower did not only serve as a home for the hornbills but it was also the home of The Knights. While the hornbills settled above in the various terraces The Knight made their home in the caves below, inside the structure were an elaborate set of hand crafted tunnels and stairs leading up to the various levels. Several lions are bustling around their home in the caves on the ground level, lead by a pale lion, he has flaky fur with a slight golden tint, his fur was dirty and this was the rouge lion Ni. Ni was feeling sorry for himself, laid in Vulcan Rock his tail bashing against the rock in detest, the rouge lion had being here ever since he left Priderock when Kopa returned. The Knight's were not welcomed in the Pridelands and it's for that very reason they remain on the borders of the southern Outland. The Knight's were a large group of many rouge lions, there duty was to secretly serve and protect the Pridelands while at the same time remaining unseen and undetected. Mufasa was the first king to create this law and Ni was the first Knight to break it by helping his best friend Nala during her son, the successor's untimely return. It is true that The Knights have secretly saved the Pridelands more than times than any creature can count. Ignoring the hassle around him Ni lays quite content with himself, The Knights were many, but the news that the lakes below ground have dried up is causing havoc. Suddenly Vulcan Rock ominously shakes, dust particles from the roof of Ni's cave and onto his already dusty fur but the rouge lion just shrugs it off, During the hassle a younger nameless lion Knight approaches the unwashed Ni lying in the shadows of Vulcan Rock.
"Hey Ni, you've seen our leader right? What's he like?" The young lion tilts his head in confusion; the mysterious leader of The Knights has never shown himself not even to his own colony. Ni looks up at the young lion with a depressed look,
"You shouldn't be talking to me young one, I broke the first law," Ni sighs but continues, he felt obligated to answer the youngling's question,
"Whenever you see bird blues, he'll be there," the rouge lion answers before turning away as the younger adolescent lion jogs down to below ground. Suddenly Ni's ears perk upwards as he hears the hornbills flocking away with loud screeches, he rushes to the entrance of his cave and looks out to see them all flying away in a triangle formation lead by the chief majordomo Zazu and presumably heading to Priderock. Suddenly another shake of Vulcan Rock this time more violent, enough to make Ni almost fall off his paws. This reminded the rouge lion he had a duty to complete; he rushes off down a long sunlit tunnel towards the lower levels where the lakes are presided.
Ni was alone, the caverns beneath Vulcan Rock were dusty and cold, there were several openings above ground where the friendly hornbills would swoop down to get water from the lakes and collect their share of the food which grew around the water's edge, it was a closed ecosystem, the water fed the plants, the cave served as a greenhouse to keep the plants growing, it was like an underground sanctuary. Carefully treading down in the cavern where several worried nameless lions and lioness gather around the dried up lake, one of the lions holding a dead plant in his hand, Ni approaches as one of the elder lions he investigates the problem and steps forward to talk to his fellow Knights.
"Then it is true, it seems the lakes have indeed dried up, someone has stolen the ice crystals we used to make the water cold and the warm sun has dried up our lakes, search every Knight! If those crystals are not found then we have no other choice, we will have to leave Vulcan Rock." Ni says stridently as the worried younger lions and lioness rush off to tell the others. Vulcan Rock relied on the ice crystals to keep the lakes cold and fresh, but with the crystals stolen the burning Outlander sun shining through the holes in the cavern roof above has dried up the lakes. Ni stays in the cavern a little longer to investigate the holes where the lakes used to be, he goes down into one of the crater like holes to see a small trail of venom was all what remained of the lake and this was the first clue.
"In the wrong hands those crystals could wreak havoc in another warmer climate." The rouge lion speaks to himself dipping his paw into the venom and getting a closer look, the trail leads off down one of the tunnels which lead into darkness. The tunnel the trail of venom leads down towards the Dry Forest, the Dry Forest being the place where Afua a fellow Knight resides with his friends. But Ni's investigation is cut short as another more violent shake of Vulcan Rock shakes the cavern violently causing the cave to quake. Suddenly loud thuds are heard above ground and Ni wipes the venom from his golden furred paw and runs towards the entranceway above ground. Suddenly the rouge lion as a massive boulder suddenly falls from the cavern roof to fall right onto Ni's paw crushing it under the boulders heavy weight.
"Gah!" Ni roars noisily in pain as the boulder lands on him, instinctively he grabs the boulder and with all his might he pushes it off his back paw. His paw was in much pain, growling loudly he crawls across the cavern floor a tear streaming from his eye from the pain. Dust and dirt fall from the roof of the cave, surely an Earthquake doesn't have this many aftershocks, thinking only of his best friend Nala, Ni gets up on his three paws which are uninjured and limps toward the tunnel leading upwards, but once again he is stopped. He hears a high-pitched laugh down one of the longer tunnels, the laughs echo across the cavern. Tilting his head to look in all directions around the dark rocky cave, Ni struggles his way towards the source of the sound. Going beyond the call of duty he weaves his way down until he is directly beneath Vulcan Rock, here a another larger cavern lies. Ni looks up to see before him are several small but ancient temples. Several large rocks made up the interior. The Ancients must have been here before, underneath Vulcan Rock. The Ancient were creatures which lived before the Great Earthquake almost everyone knew their names but nobody knew much about their past or what they did before the Pridelands existed the only thing Ni knew was that were all killed during the Great Earthquake. The temples were weaved into the cavern walls and consisted of old yellow stones thrown or rolled together into a square pyramid shapes, from the top of these pyramids were large pillars of stone which hold up the roof of the cavern. While looking around at the great structures Ni realises some of the large pillars of stone are destroyed, just recently infact—
"So nice of you to join me," A female voice of a lioness echoes in the cavern alerting Ni who immediately draws his claws. Quickly turning his head in all directions Ni but cannot see the source of the voice, the echoes seemed to be everywhere.
"Welcome to the cavern of The Ancient's Ni, or should I call you...Mheetu." The cheery female voice speaks again.
"Who are you?" Ni growls in fear for his life, suddenly a dark grey furred lioness with red eyes appears behind Ni.
"My name is Solta, don't you remember me Mheetu? We met in the Forest That Time Forgot," Solta replies her voice was constantly taunting and for some reason she knew everything about the unwashed lion before her.
"Stop calling me that, my name is Ni!" Ni turns around and takes a strike at the lioness but she quickly grabs the rouge lion's paw with little effort deflecting his strike in the process, Ni was in no state to fight but he gets a good look at Solta. Her red eyes shine and gleam in the darkness of the cave, but the grey lioness was sad, Ni could see the unhappiness it seemed as if her eyes has seen much pain, the rouge lion glances down to see that wrapped around one her right white paw was a grey scarf weaved together from old forest undergrowth from the same forest Solta just mentioned. Ni had never seen the lioness before in his life, but before Ni can speak once more Solta was off, she was fast, quicker than anything Ni has seen, she jumps out of sight and up onto of one of The Ancients pyramid formations jumping to the very top with little effort.
"I cannot fight a lion whom is injured now can I?" Solta mocks teasingly,
"All these tunnels beneath the Pridelands and these stone temples were all built by The Ancients. These tall stone pillars must be hundreds of years old, so what if I accidentally knocked one?" Solta says before purposely kicking one of the stone pillars with her back paw, from where she kicked it the old delicate stone slowly starts to crack and before long the entire stone pillar is crumbling causing the cavern to quake again just like before. Solta smirks to herself and turns to face Ni with an evil look on her maw,
"Better start running," Solta laughs provocative as the cavern start to fully collapse now with the stone pillar to keep it stable, Ni turns quickly and runs for his life as the cave slowly starts to fall apart the foundations of Vulcan Rock crumbling around him, the whole cavern was shaking and Ni was wounded running on only three paws now dragging his wounded one behind him. Solta's laugh echoing behind him as massive chunks of rock falls right beside the rouge lion smashing into hundreds of pieces when they land and sending explosions of dust all around Ni as he runs towards upper tunnels. Huge piles of dust explode into Ni's face as the particles fly into his eyes, but he doesn't stop, stopping would mean certain death, behind him the cavern caves-inward, huge cracks in the cavern floor rip outward, revealing pools of molten lava behind Ni, the walls slowly start to decent around him, but suddenly a flock of blue birds zoom past Ni and flutter through the destruction of the cave and back to where Solta flee's in the opposite direction, the stone pillars in The Ancients temple room fall like dominoes each crashing into the next, the blue birds flutter around Solta and peck her head and body confusing the lioness and causing her and stop and attempt to claw them away. One of the small blue birds grabs Solta's ear and bites it hard she eventually grabs one of the small birds and throws it with all her might across the cavern into the wall ultimately and mercilessly killing it on impact. She frantically claws the rest of the blue birds away as The Ancient's temple fall all around her and the floor cracks open beneath her, Solta flees down the tunnel toward the Shadowland.
Meanwhile Ni is struggling to run on only three paws, the tunnel leading upward was just a few moments away, the destruction behind him exploding and causing the cave to quake violently, there was a wave of destruction which wasn't going to stop, Ni had made some distance away from it now as he enters the cavern which used to have the cold lakes. All Ni can think about is Nala, and if these were to be his last moments, they would be thinking about her, his best friend, whom he broke the law of the Lion King just to see again, suddenly Ni feels the weight of his wounded paw disappear, behind him short twitters of the blue birds which help Ni by lifting up his back paw helping him keep weight off it as he ran, with the birds help Ni made it out of the tunnels just in time as a huge boulder blocks off the tunnel behind him.
Vulcan Rock was breaking up above ground, without the foundations holding it up underground the monument was slowly crumbling. Ni was safe for the moment, taking little time to gather his breathe he heads into the Outland to see the majority of The Knights had fled and scattered into the dusty barren Outland, suddenly the blue birds fly off and swoop back into Vulcan Rock back to their master, his leader who was still inside. Ni turns back and he looks frantically in all directions,
"Get out of there, Tojo!" Ni shouts the name of the leader of The Knights, the keeper of the blue birds who was still inside, but it was too late. The tall monument Vulcan Rock suddenly falls the bottom part of the monument collapses in on itself and the top part breaks apart directly downwards crumbling into a pit of dust and ash which ripples outward knocking Ni off his paws. The smoke hurled upwards for miles into the Outland sky, the roaring of crumbling had stopped, Ni gets up out of the dirt, there was a black haze and smoggy clouds filled the air with poisonous gasses, there was a slow whistle of wind the rouge lion squints his eyes to see a silhouette emerging from the dust and rock pile which remains of his home. As the dust passes and the destruction calms itself, walking from the ashes a tall especially muscular lion with a red maine and dazzling crystal blue eyes walks forward, a small blue hawk resting on the lion's right bicep muscle. Miraculously he survived, the leader of The Knights, the one who has been touched by the Great Spirit herself; Tojo.
Vulcan Rock is lost...
End of Episode VI.