Kovu slowly stepped back, his breathing intensifying as Scar slowly crept up to him. He felt his back leg kick off the side, sending small pebbles off into the green-lit void below. The scarred young lion inhaled sharply, inhaling some of the land's choking, thick demonic smog.
"You belong to me, whether you like it or not!" Scar erupted before the frightened lion, spreading his demonic body out of its compressed state. After all, this was his land. Only his law would stand here. His spectral, unknowable form slithered in front of Kovu, who's mind started to burn as the fog entered his bloodstream. He grasped his head, hearing the whispers that plagued this corrupted, void-lit land.
Kovu's will was breaking. He could feel it, slipping from his grasps. The whispers sunk into his soul as Scar bellowed above. A thunderous applause of lightning strikes etching across the twisted skies as Kovu finally gave in, collapsing to the floor.
"Yes!" A triumphant roar blasted from Scar's muzzle as he seeped back into a feline form. He stood before Kovu, the darkness that created his body slithering up into the sky. The skies around him crackled with thunder, sending pulses of energy across the sky.
Kovu was his, and nobody would stop him.
Not now...
...
Potea held her ground, standing proud and firm before the gathered lionesses. "You all need to get out of here, RIGHT NOW!" She shot her eyes between the lionesses surrounding her, finally letting her focussed, determined sight rest upon Vitani's. The fierce leader flickered her eyesight to her sisters-in-pride, watching as they snarled at Potea.
"Okay." Vitani sighed before nodding at the others, silently ordering them to stand down. They calmed, easing their defensive postures into a cooled, if still nervous, unit. "But why should we-" Vitani's words were silenced by an almighty roar, bellowing huge, thunderous clouds above the charred, battered land. A familiar scream of agony rode the airwaves, piercing the young lioness' ears and heart.
"Kovu?" She whimpered, freezing in place. At this time, Potea had lept into action. Quite literally. She somehow leapt up the side of the crumbling canyon as if it were nothing but a small curb. She turned back around, just as Vitani's breathing intensified. Panic and worry ebbing swiftly through her fur. "Please! You have to help my brother!" A small droplet of tears dripped from her cheek as the others encircled her.
Potea only nodded, before sprinting off. Her deep, intensive grunts of strength echoing across the dead land as she leapt from boulder to boulder, island to island. She followed the storm's source until she came up to an opening with a far too familiar scene playing out upon its corrupted, decaying surface.
...
Scar stood above Kovu as the young lion's eyes watered. This was it, surely. Trembling with unimaginable fear, Kovu closed his eyes, expecting the worst to happen. The end of his life. Scar's cackling laughter etched across his mind, piercing his very being, his soul. He softly, slowly begged for death, to be relieved from this dreadful nightmare.
His prayers were answered. A ground shuddering roar boomed from an overlooking cliff edge, bellowing down at Scar like a tsunami. The lion demon's eyes widened as the roar overwhelmed him. Upon impact, his physical form dispersed, returning to its smoky, spectral state. He seeped through the sky, the backdraft of the roar affecting his form.
Looking up into the void lit sky, Kovu noticed a single lioness, standing tall and strong above the cliffside. Her deathly stare locked on Scar as she leapt off, landing on the broken, crumbling ground beneath her. She shot up a glance at Kovu, holding her body into an offensive position. "You! Move!"
Scar quickly recovered, staying within his spiritual, slithering form. As he did, Potea prepared herself, keeping a single eye locked on Kovu as he slowly, painfully arose. Scar's form started to convulse, preparing a retaliating attack upon the original Royal Mlinzi. She held her ground, turning to face the demonic entity. "Get out of here!"
Scar's corrupting, sparking roar trembled through the sky, towards a readied Potea. The original Royal Mlinzi let her roar blast from her muzzle, impacting Scar's as they both started their contest of power. Their powerful soul-powered attacks connected, crackling as the air around them steamed. The many islands and boulders that formed this cursed, dead land slowly moved closer, seemingly knocked out of their orbits by the paracausal conflict brewing between the two unprecedented lions.
As their roars weakened, Potea swiped her paw at the bombarding energy, swiping it into a nearby rock, annihilating it to dust. Scar's form morphed and warped, seeping through the sky as the lioness found her footing once more. Her head followed the demonic cloud, ready to strike when it did.
Scar had other ideas though. As his form contoured, returning to a lion form. He slammed his paw to the ground, sending an invisible force through the cracking, brittle earth. The wave hit the ground beneath Potea, forcing her body to crumble to the ground. The laws of the normal realms didn't exist here, instead all governed by Scar himself.
Potea struggled under the extreme gravitational distortion. Gritting her teeth, she struggled up, even as the rocky ground she had been on quickly fell into the choking, all-consuming fog, deep beneath Scar's twisted realm. She looked up through the thick hue, barely making out the sight of the chuckling, roaring presence above her. She shook her body, looking up with a firm, focussed look. Inhaling deeply, she unleashed yet another powerful roar, this time around her.
As she roared, a crystallised series of slopes seeped into the realm, allowing her to leap up, ascending back to the demonic lion. Scar's roars bellowed down towards her, but Potea had control, for now.
She leapt out of the way, continuing to ascend back up to Scar. As she clambered back to the demonic lion's position, she used her roar to stagger him, only for Scar to retaliate, whispering with a swift, painful burst. The energy that sipped from his lips hit Potea in her chest, sending her flying body upon a large, central island, swirling in the void.
Scar seeped down to the ground before her. Potea could barely move, her soul drained to extreme degrees. She worryingly looked up as Scar approached her. The demonic lion chuckled over her knackered body, placing a paw on her chest as he smirked widely down at her.
"Oh, Potea..." He dug his claws into her chest, causing the lioness to grunt softly, tightening her paw in hope of hiding the immense, soul-piercing pain that swept her body. Scar's twisted, green-hued eyes gleamed down at her as his muzzle lowered beside her head. His shallow, slithering breath sent shivers down her spine as he whispered in her ear.
"You're mine now, Your Majesty..."
"All mine..."
....
Kovu tumbled through the scarred land, jumping from boulder to boulder, island to island. His eyes caught a large rocky platform up ahead. Leaping over, he landed on top of a carved, crackling canyon. The weak, worried lion continued to trot towards the inner edge of the crumbling canyon. Looking down into the rocky passage, he recognised a small group of lionesses, moving close to a bright, blinding light.
"Vitani!" He called out, pouncing to the side before relaxing into a trot. A large, foreboding shadow gently spawned above him, growing with every second that passed. Looking up, he saw it. The large, foreboding boulder quickly moving towards him. The roars of the paracausal conflict far off in the distance pierced his chest. The boulder grew closer and closer as he shot his eyesight down at Vitani and her hunting party, who had just turned around. "RUN!!"
Vitani looked up as the shadow grew over her. Her heart sank as she watched Kovu leap off the canyon's edge. To her surprise though, his fall was slow, unnaturally slow. He landed with a soft thud, a small dust cloud exploding out from underneath his landing paws.
"Kovu!" The young lioness couldn't help but call out. Her heart raced as she sprinted towards her brother, ignoring the worried calls for her fellow lionesses. The boulder was close now, within striking distance.
As the rocky lands collided, Vitani pounced towards her brother, who continued to sprint towards her. The large boulder carved through the canyon's edge, forming a single, deep crack across the land. Within seconds, the canyon started to split, causing Kovu's side to fall into the cold, dark void.
He tried to leap up, clinging onto the rocky, crumbling side with his claws. Vitani reached down, stretching her paw out to her brother as his body trembled below, clinging on for dear life as he looked up at her, terrified. "Please, sis! Help me!!!!"
"Take my paws!" she reached out further, grunting in pain as the sharp, uneven edge stabbed into her chest. Her paws barely reached her brother's, gently grasping them. But Vitani's positioning was far from secure. The sheer weight of Kovu's muscular body was dragging her in too.
As they rushed to assist, the huntresses within Vitani's party shot a glance at each other. Imara took the lead, sliding across the ground to grab Vitani's tail with her jaw. The fiercest lioness roared at the sharp pain as her friend's teeth sunk into her tail. Tazama, Shabaha and Kasi all followed suit, grasping each other's tails until they all spread across the canyon's ground, clinging on for dear life as Vitani tried to grasp Kovu's paws securely. As she did though, a bright, blinding light bloomed from beneath Kovu.
The light pulsated with a strange energy, piercing the realm like claw puncturing flesh and bone. Small pebbles and rocks all convened around the light, orbiting its circumference as it solidified. It was a gateway. Looking in, she could see the signature outline of Pride Rock, seeped in a darkened hue. Vitani felt her grasp weaken, letting go slowly of Kovu's paws as he tried to grab onto her paws harder and harder, crying softly as he did so.
"Please, Sis... save me..." Kovu's voice had broken down to nothing but a croak. His eyes dripping with tears as he stared up at Vitani. The young lioness stared down beneath her brother, focussing on the gateway. Kovu's eyes widened as he saw shadows from above once more. The other lionesses gasped too, inhaling sharply on each other's tails as they watched more boulders fall from the sky, crashing on the many islands that dotted the void.
Vitani felt her paws slip again. She was only holding onto Kovu by the tips now. The sheer pain of this rushed through her body as her eyes watered. She couldn't do it. She couldn't let go nor pull him up. But she didn't have a say in the matter. Kovu looked up at her, inhaling sharply as their eyes met.
"Save yourself, sis..." A sombre, broken tone etched through Kovu's voice as he closed his eyes. His claws shot from his paws, stabbing his sister's paws, forcing her to growl in pain, releasing him from her grasp. Vitani recovered quickly though, but only to watch as her brother fell into the void, his body seeping through the gateway, before causing it to collapse in on itself.
"KOVU!" She reached her paw out, breathing intensely as the shock ebbed through her fur. He was gone. She failed him...
Imara, Tazama, Shabaha and Kasi all let go of each other, rising to their paws as they watched the heavens fall upon them. Boulders the size of their feline forms fell from the sky, crashing into the severed canyon they stood in.
As Imara pulled Vitani up, the others started to retreat. All but Shabaha that is. The brave lioness sprinted towards Vitani and Imara, leaping from impact to impact, avoiding them with perfect, elegant moves. Her sister, Imara, watched on as her younger sibling approached, swiftly charging at her with immense, if worried prowess.
"No!" Imara growled just as Vitani arose to her paws. Shabaha froze, halting her sprint before her sister. "Now's not the time for bravery!" Imara trotted up to her sister, gently speeding up into a full sprint as the boulders fell faster, crashing round them in fiery, cracking fashion. The two sisters continued to run, but only until Imara realised Vitani's absence.
Vitani stayed behind, her eyes dripping with tears as she tried to comprehend what she had just done, what she had just let happen. Could she even live with herself? She turned around to face the never-ending drop below, just as another bright light shone beside her.
"You've done well, Vitani." A calm, loving voice bellowed through her mind. Turning around she saw him again. Once forgotten memories flashed before her eyes as she glanced at the handsome, strong male before her. Her heart skipped a beat as her body trembled.
"K...Kopa?!" The young lioness could barely talk. As he approached slowly, she noticed the boulders above them had slowed to a crawl, as had her fellow lionesses who slowly moved closer, their muzzles inching ever more open, as if screaming. Tears continued to dribble down from her face as Kopa stood before her. The bright, spreading light seeped from behind him as if his body were irradiating it.
"Kovu is safe." His voice was just as soft and benevolent as always, never fading as it pieced Vitani's intensely beating heart. "Now, go." He stretched his neck out, pointing over to the original gateway. "The Uasilands awaits..." As his words faded, so did his body. Time slowly sped up, returning to normal as Vitani's mind burned. Why would he help her? Why would he allow her to just go straight to the Uasilands? These thoughts burnt in her mind until she blinked. Opening her eyes, she had forgotten once more, watching as her fellow lionesses rushed to her.
"Vitani! Come on!" Imara roared as he halted before her fierce leader. Vitani blinked more before realising where she was. She started to sprint towards Imara and Shabaha, focussed and determined. The boulders continued to bombard the split canyon, forcing it to tilt in the void-consumed, choking air. The young lionesses continued to sprint, fighting against gravity as they approached the gateway. They started to leap through the gateway as the canyon sank to a 90-degree angle. The killer, soul-consuming fog quickly seeping up as everyone but Vitani jumped through.
The fierce lioness looked down at the void below, hanging on to the gateway's edge with all her strength. She couldn't help but think of the lioness who had saved her. She seemed familiar. The scars across her right front leg, the marking on her forehead. Had she been a Royal Mlinzi and Uasian queen?
Taking a deep breath, she shot upwards leaving the scarred land behind for good. She had her own mission after all.
The Uasilands awaited her claws...
And it would feel them...
