Simba, Nala and Zazu were all alarmed to find that the day had suddenly turned into night. "What?" Simba exclaimed, staring up at the darkened sky in confusion.

"It's night," Nala gasped. "But… but how did that happen? It's not possible!"

"I would point the blame firmly in the direction of that putrid creature known as Death," said Zazu, shooting a fearful look at the direction in which they had come from. Not too far away was the awful creature who had murdered his father. Zazu didn't ever think he would see him again.

Not until today, that is.

"Simba, what are we going to do?" Nala asked, a desperate look in her eyes. "He said we couldn't beat him. But that can't be true – can it?"

Simba shook his head. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "All I do know is that we have to warn everyone. Death's gonna come after us, and before we know it he'll be trying to kill everyone else, too."

"We're doomed," Zazu said, looking down at the ground. "This is it. The end of everything. The whole kingdom is dead."

"Zazu, this is no time for giving up," Simba told him. "We've got to fight if we stand any chance of surviving. He has to have some weakness. Everybody has a weakness."

"Unless you're invincible," Zazu added. "Which perfectly sums that horrible, foul creature up. He killed my father, and now he's going to kill me – along with every other poor soul in this kingdom."

"Look, let's just get back to Pride Rock," said Simba, breaking into a light run. "It's not over yet."

"No," Zazu said under his breath. "But it soon will be."

"I'm back!" Hago cried, ecstatic. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes!" He started hopping up and down, unable to contain his excitement.

"Calm down, my eager little psychopath," said Death, standing in front of Hago. "Like I said – I've got an important job for you to do."

Hago glanced at Death. "You?" he exclaimed in surprise. "Since when did you show your face on this earth?"

"Excuse me, but I have a name," Death said, frowning at Hago. "I'd be very pleased if you would use it. After all, I did bring you back from the dead – again."

"Death, I offer my humblest of thanks for your gratitude," Hago said, bowing his head in respect.

Death stared at him, an unimpressed look on his face. "Uh-huh. Now, if you're done grovelling, then I'd like you to do me a favour."

"Anything, anything!" Hago exclaimed, taking a step towards Death. "Your wish is my command, master!"

Death slapped a paw to his face. I should have b rought someone else b ack, he thought. I'm already tired of Hago sucking up to me. But it doesn't matter. Soon a lot of people wil rought here… for the greatest war of them all.

"Look, just find Simba and Nala. I would like them to be brought here. They shall be the first to die – because they're the only ones who stand a chance of halting this little gig I've got going on here."

"But you're Death," said Hago. "Surely two meddlesome cubs are no match for your greatness?"

"They're special," said Death. "And for cubs, I can actually respect that. You know, it's not something you get very often."

"The question begs why you just didn't kill them straight away," said Hago. "And why have you chosen me for this duty? And how come it's night? According to my calculations, it should be day right about now. Did you eat the sun again, Death?"

"Oh, come on!" Death exclaimed furiously, breathing fire out of his mouth. "Pocahontas didn't complain this much when I fed her to some crocodiles!"

"Okay, okay!" Hago backed away, his eyes wide with fear. "I'll do it. I shall bring those two nuisances here straight away."

"And if you don't, then there'll be no place in my new Empire of Darkness for you!" Death threatened.

As Hago walked away, Death sunk to the ground, a frown on his face. "This is just ridiculous! I've never seen such an incompetent villain! I should have brought in Shere Khan – he was so much more delightful in his evil deeds. Good thing I helped him murder that stupid man-cub with the funny haircut."

"Dad!" Simba cried, running over to his father.

Mufasa, Sarabi, Sarafina, the rest of the lionesses and their cubs were all gathered below Pride Rock, staring with confusion at the night sky that had suddenly enveloped the day.

"Simba!" Mufasa said in surprise, looking down at his son. "Where have you been?"

"The better question would be: why the heck is it night?" Sarafina cut in. "Last time I checked, there hasn't been an eclipse in years."

"Dad, we've got a problem," Simba said, the utmost sense of urgency in his voice. "Death came back!"

All eyes were on Simba. "What?" everyone exclaimed at the same time.

"Sire, let me explain," said Zazu, holding up a wing. "You see, some kind of… unearthly being has blinked into existence from out of nowhere, and he's planning on taking all of our souls." The explanation wasn't the best, but it would have to do for now.

"This is absurd!" Sarabi exclaimed, outraged by the mere mention of such ridiculous things. "Zazu, how could you believe such an outlandish tale?"

"I witnessed it myself," Zazu told the Queen. "Good heavens, I'm actually sticking up for the cubs. What has become of me?" He shook his head, returning to the subject. "This... being is on his way, my Queen. And he's going to kill us all."

"Unless we do something to stop it, of course," Nala added.

"I don't think that will be happening anytime soon!"

Everyone turned their heads upon hearing Hago's voice. He stood in front of the Pride Landers, his magical staff aimed at them. "Long time, no see, everyone!" he said, grinning widely.

"Hago?" Simba became even more confused. "Okay, this is pretty messed up right now."

"Simba!" Hago yelled, his eyes glinting with eagerness. "I would make a big speech about how you killed me last time – but I'm afraid that would be a lie."

It took Simba a few moments to figure out what he meant. But by then, Hago's focus was already on Nala.

"Oh, Princess!" Hago said to Nala. "There's someone I'm dying to introduce you to!"

"What are you—"

Nala didn't have any time to finish her sentence. A red beam of light shot out from the end of Hago's staff. It struck Nala in the chest, and she cried out in surprise.

Before anyone even knew it, both she and Hago had disappeared.

"Oh, no!" Simba cried, a worried expression on his face. "Now what are we gonna do?"

"Simba!"

"Oh, what now?" Simba growled angrily, before realising that Haiba was running towards him. "Oh, Haiba, it's you."

"Simba! We've got a problem! Death came back!" Haiba said quickly, prompting Simba to look very unsurprised.

"Yeah, we've been through that part," he said. "But Nala's been kidnapped by Hago, and now that means I've gotta fight two big meanies!"

"Hago?" Haiba raised an eyebrow. "Wow, the guy just doesn't give up, does he? You'd think he was working for Death or something."

"Death…" Simba thought for a second. "That's it!"

"That's what?" Haiba asked.

"Death!" Simba exclaimed. "Hago's working for him! He must have… brought him back again!"

"'Again'?" Haiba repeated.

"Yeah, he's the reason Hago got brought back. It was Death," Simba explained. "Plus a whole lot of other things that I'll tell you about later. But first, we've gotta find Nala."

"Then they'd be at the water hole," Haiba told him. "That's where Death was."

"Come on." Simba ran off.

Mufasa opened his mouth. "Simba, wait—" But it was too late. He and Haiba were both gone. "Sarabi, remind me to teach our son about properly explaining things to his parents."

"Oh, I've had more than enough of this!" Zazu exclaimed angrily. "Never mind about your parenting techniques, sire – your

son is actually trying to help! Are you honestly so incompetent that you can't even listen to your own cub properly?"

Mufasa and Sarabi glared at Zazu angrily.

He looked down at the ground sheepishly. "Oh, I am so fired…"

"Get off me!" Nala yelled furiously, trying to slash at Hago with her claws.

But he just threw her to the ground, where she landed right in front of the one person she never wanted to see ever again. "Hello, Nala, my sweet little buttercup," Death said, smiling down at her. "How you doing?"

Nala screamed in terror, jumping to her paws and backing away, only to bump right into Hago. "You're not going anywhere," said Hago coldly.

Nala lashed out with her claws, slashing Hago across the chest. He cried out in both pain and anger, before whacking Nala across the face with his staff. "Impudent little brat!" he growled loudly.

Nala fell onto her back, grunting in pain. When she opened her eyes, she found Death's red ones glaring back at her.

"I would say that I'm sorry for what I'm about to do," Death told her, "but the truth is: I'm not. It's actually kinda fun!"

With that, he poked Nala in the chest with one of his long claws.

Nala gasped loudly, as the most horrible pain anyone could ever imagine rocked through her body.

The pain of her soul being sucked right out of her.

It felt like it lasted for ever, when in reality it was over within a few seconds. Nala closed her eyes, and she collapsed to the ground.

"One down, twelve to go," Death said with a smile.

"This is excellent!" Hago exclaimed, also smiling. "Now that one of my greatest enemies is dead, taking care of the next one shouldn't be too much of a problem! It won't be long before we're ruling this entire world together!"

He laughed evilly at the top of his voice – like he always did.

But Death, however, was not impressed. "Yeah. About that. I'm afraid this world isn't big enough for the two of us, Hago. I'm gonna have to let you go."

Hago couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What?" he exclaimed, eyes widening in horror. "But you said you'd let me live! You said I would become part of your Empire of Darkness!"

Death shrugged. "I lied."

Before Hago could say anything else, Death poked him in the chest.

Hago gasped loudly, and died, in the same way as Nala had.

"Like taking candy from a baby – something I've done several times," Death said, looking down at Hago's body. He wiped sweat from his brow. "Phew! I haven't worked this hard since I eradicated the whole kingdom of Atlantis!"

He smiled, as Hago's body slowly faded away, as if he had never been there. "Back into the darkness for you, my friend."

With that, Death walked along the water hole, humming a little tune to himself. "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, to killing lions I go…"

As Death walked along, he stuck his claws in the water, enjoying the coldness of it.

Slowly, the water began to change colour.

To red.

When Simba and Haiba arrived at the water hole, Death and Hago were nowhere to be seen. "Where did they go?" Haiba shrugged. "I don't know. Death was here when I woke up. I figured that he would stay."

"Great. So now he's hiding someplace secret." Simba glanced at the water hole, and his eyes widened in shock at what he saw.

"Whoa…" Haiba said, following Simba's gaze. "Check out the water."

The water had turned completely red. As if this was the site of some kind of ancient satanic ritual.

"It's turned red," Simba said in amazement, taking a step towards the edge. "The water has turned red!"

Haiba scooped up a tiny bit of the liquid with his paw, putting it in his mouth. He swallowed it, and grimaced at the taste.

"It's not water, Simba," he said. "It's blood."

"Oh, gosh…" Simba exclaimed, backing away from the water hole. "This keeps getting freakier by the minute."

"So what now?" Haiba asked.

"Just keep an eye out for—"

Simba gasped when he spotted the body on the ground.

No. This was just his imagination. Everything was fine. It was perfectly okay.

That wasn't Nala. It was just some other cub that Death had killed. They looked nothing alike. Okay, so their fur was the same colour. And their tails were roughly the same length. And her face shared a very similar resemblance to Nala's. But this was in no way—

"That's Nala!" Simba screamed at the top of his voice, racing to her side. He grabbed her body, and shook her frantically.

"Nala? Nala, it's me, Simba. Are you okay?"

He got no response. Her body had gone limp. She was completely motionless. Simba could feel that there was absolutely no life left in her body. In a very strange way, she looked eerily peaceful.

But the point still stood firmly.

Nala was dead.

"Nala, wake up!" Simba sniffled, as tears started to well up in his eyes. "Wake up! Please!" He started to cry, burying his face in Nala's fur. "Wake up!"

Simba continued to sob and cry. He had lost his girlfriend. His best friend. His future queen. She was gone for ever. All her hope, all her potential, and everything she could have been was snatched away in an instant. Simba had lost the single most important person in his life.

Haiba looked down at his deceased friend, then at the ground, tears falling from his own eyes. No… No… Not you, Nala…

Death was well on his way to winning.

But for Simba and Haiba, it felt like Death had won already.