The Little Lion in the Gorge
Dark clouds covered the sky of the Pride Land, darkening the place that was once bathed in light. The herds were more fearful and alert than ever. For about a week, hyenas had also been living in the Pride Land and were hunting them without mercy. This could even be seen because many more bones were lying around in the grassland. Many even talked about leaving the land, and a few had already done so. However, hyenas were not the only things the animals had to be wary of. At the moment, a group of lions was on the move, looking after their pride.
A female led the four lions with beige fur that was light brown on her belly, muzzle. Around her eyes and ears. She had dark rims. Her eyes were orange, she was the largest and strongest lioness of the group. Her name was Sarabi, and she was once queen of this land, as well as the consort of the old king. With her head bowed, Sarabi walked through her land and felt as if her life was coming to an end. She had lost everything that was important to her. Her mate and her son were both dead, and all she had left was her pack. The other lionesses tried to comfort her as best they could, for which she was grateful. She wanted to be strong for the rest of the females, but she only managed to do so with difficulty.
"I hate bringing food for these hyenas," said one of the lionesses defiantly as she looked out for prey.
"Nia, please calm down. If one of the hyenas hears you, we'll get in trouble," said a lioness in an uncomfortable tone and looked around.
"Don't be so hard on her, Khari. We all think so, taking the hyenas into our pack was a mistake. The Pride Land will not last long, with these slobbering beasts that hunt the herds without holding back," explained another lioness.
"That's enough! We have to take care of our pride, that's the most important thing right now. If you three go together, I can hunt alone. We'll meet then," said Sarabi, the other lionesses agreed, and the group split up.
The older lioness sighed, knowing that the other lionesses were right in what they said. Crouching down, the lioness crept through the grass, looking for prey. And she found it, an antelope. It stood alone on the grassland and ate. Sarabi realized that the animal had either separated from her herd or strayed too far from them. Sarabi crept towards the antelopes on silent paws when she suddenly heard a loud cry.
"Food!" roared a hyena and ran towards the animal, along with two other hyena members of its species.
The first hyena, which made so much noise, jumped towards the antelope. The antelope had, of course, noticed the attackers long ago and dodged it's attacker with a jump. The first hyena had not expected this, and before it could react, it landed face first on the ground. The other two hyenas tried to catch the antelope from the left and right, both ran towards their prey at full speed. But the antelope made a turn and dodged. While the two hyenas looked after her in surprise, they did not stop until they ran into each other. Sarabi could not believe what she saw, such stupidity should not be possible.
"You idiots, now our food has escaped!" said the first hyena angrily and looked at his two colleagues.
"Hey, I'm not the idiot here!" the second hyena snorted contemptuously and rubbed his head.
"So you think I'm the idiot?" the third hyena asked and growled loudly.
Faster than anyone could believe, a fight broke out, and the three predators fell on each other. The lioness decided not to make herself known, the last thing she wanted was to talk to the three fools. Sarabi decided to follow the antelope quietly and sneak past the three hyenas. When she was out of sight, they started running, looking for their prey. She was able to pick up the antelope's scent and ran as fast as she could when she suddenly realized where she was. The lioness stopped and could no longer move, it was as if time had stood still.
A few meters in front of her was the ravine, the place where Mufasa died. With shaky steps, she walked towards the abyss until she could look down. Her whole world ended here, she still wondered how it could have come to this. Sarabi collapsed in grief and cried bitterly.
"Mufasa ... Simba ...", she whispered sadly as tears ran down her face.
Just the thought of her son was enough to make the lioness wonder what she should live for. Before she could continue the thought, Sarabi suddenly felt the wind blow across her face. So gently, as if it was trying to wipe away her tears and comfort her. The lioness wiped away her tears and looked up at the sky.
"Are you two watching me? I'm trying to be strong for our pack, for our kingdom. But Scar will bring both to ruin, and I don't know what to do. Is there still hope?" Sarabi asked dejectedly and stood up.
No answer, she hung her head dejectedly and looked into the ravine. Just as she was about to leave, she saw something at the bottom of the ravine. Black shadows scurried across the ground as if they were snakes. Sarabi wondered if she had just imagined it. When she looked more closely, the lioness realized that the shadowy creatures were chasing someone.
A dark brown lion cub with a light-brown mane was trying to escape the shadows but kept falling. The shadows began to rise from the ground and took the form of strange creatures that were about the same size as the lion cub. They had antennae on their heads and yellow, soulless eyes. These creatures surrounded the lion cub and drove it further and further along the walls of the ravine.
Sarabi had never seen such creatures before, but the fact that they were trying to attack a cub made her angry. The lioness looked for a way down and found an old path that was not in good condition but was good enough. She immediately started to descend and hoped that she would reach the cub in time. The black figures had now surrounded the young lion on two sides, and he could only retreat backward. They repeatedly jumped at him, and the young lion only just managed to retreat backward. But at the same time, he was aware that the walls of the ravine were behind him and that he would soon be trapped.
"Damn it, what should I do?" the lion cub asked himself fearfully when he suddenly heard a roar behind him.
Everyone immediately looked in the direction from which the threatening gesture came. Behind the young lion, a full-grown lioness jumped down the rock and threw herself at the shadow creatures. Sarabi had gotten into a fighting position in front of the cub and used her paws to knock one of the figures away, which then vanished into thin air. The lioness didn't even pay attention to this and immediately attacked the next creature. The lion cub looked at the lioness with awe and wanted to help her immediately, which was a bit difficult for him. For some reason, he couldn't walk properly, it was almost as if he had never walked on four legs before.
"Stay behind me, I'll protect you," Sarabi said resolutely and knocked away another black figure.
The lioness did very well but noticed that something was wrong. Even though she defeated one after the other of these creatures, a new one soon appeared out of nowhere to take the place of the previous one. They also seemed to feel no fear, as if they were not afraid of death. Again, two of the monsters jumped at Sarabi, who knocked her away in the air. When a third one tried to run towards her, the lioness crushed it under her front paws. Another one tried to attack her from above, but the lioness pushed it away with her head. As before, the creatures dissolved and were again replaced by other shadowy figures.
"This will never end, it can't go on like this," Sarabi thought to herself and asked herself how long she could hold out.
Just as she was attacked again by one of the creatures, and she knocked it away with her paws, she was attacked by one of the monsters from her blind spot. Unfortunately, she noticed her attacker too late and couldn't react in time. But just as the black figure reached Sarabi, she was protected by the young lion, who pushed the creature away. With a determined look, he stood in front of the lioness and growled darkly at the creatures.
"Stay behind me, it's too dangerous," Sarabi said in a serious and at the same time worried voice.
"I want to help, you ... you were almost hurt. I ... I don't want to stand there and watch others get hurt. I want ... I want to protect others!" the lion cub cried out determinedly.
At that moment, Sarabi was blinded by a strong glare, and a ball of pure light shot towards the shadowy creatures. The ball destroyed one monster after another, and when she had defeated the last one, it dissolved into a mist of light. Sarabi couldn't believe what she had just seen and watched with her mouth wide open as the lights disappeared. The lioness had never seen anything like it before, she was stunned and couldn't understand what had just happened. Above all, the female had never seen such a strange object as the one the young lion was holding in its mouth. The object was silver and looked like a key with a yellow handle, and on the handle was a chain with a mouse-like symbol. (Of course, Sarabi couldn't know anything about a key)
Sarabi was just about to ask the young lion what had happened here. When the strange object disappeared and the cub collapsed, exhausted. The lioness immediately went up to him and carefully turned the lion's head to the side with her paws. She was relieved to see that he was just tired. She carefully wiped the mane from his face, he was still so young. If she compares him to other lions, this cub was probably as old as Nala or...
"Simba," she thought briefly of her son, even though this lion cub didn't look much like him.
Even if you ignore the fur, the mane alone would create quite a contrast. Sarabi had never seen a cub with so much mane, perhaps at the age of a teenager. But the face of this young lion alone seemed cheeky and bright, just the way he had defended her. What also caught her eye was the strange thing around the cub's neck (Sora's necklace). She had never seen such a symbol (the crown) before, and she asked what it meant.
Sarabi smiled gently and carefully lifted the cub up by his neck to carry him. A thousand thoughts ran through her head, what kind of shadowy creatures were they? Where did they come from and why was she not able to drive them away? Of course, she had her questions about this lion cub, especially because of this strange object, and where did it come from? Unfortunately, questions arose whose answers she already knew. And most of them were about Scar and the hyenas.
But Sarabi put these thoughts aside, she had to find a safe place for the little one first. She couldn't go back to the King's Rock at the moment, luckily she still had time. Thanks to the hyenas, the hunt was already so difficult that they often couldn't get back to the King's Rock before sunset. All prey was now harder to hunt, and it took a lot of effort and time. Inwardly, the lioness had to laugh contemptuously at the irony, the hyenas had given her an advantage.