Kion led the guard up Pride Rock, assaulting the entrenched Giza and Outsider lionesses that stood guard on the ancient monument. They had fought their way halfway up, bravely pushing forward to their old lair where Jasiri and her clan were supposedly being kept. As Kion ripped the rocky jugular from one of the demonic entities, standing tall on its corpse as the rest of the guard broke through the horde. The skies above them gleamed with a green hue, cracked and splintered with their occasional lightning blast.
"Kion!" Fuli's sweet, soft voice chirped, roughened by fear. The young lion prince glanced over to his cheetah friend, who swiped a paw beside him, eliminating a slathering demon with effortless ease.
"Thanks!" Kion nodded. They were so close now. The lair's entrance remained bare, uncovered from its rotten vine cover, bare to the elements. A series of soft, sorrow-ridden hyena cries echoed from deep inside.
They were here...
Beshte and Ono held the rear, keeping the feline and canine Giza from cutting off their exit point. Bunga being Bunga charged onward, swiping the creature's throats with his claws, occasionally releasing a potent cloud of gas, cracking their bodies to nothingness. Before they knew it, the guard had arrived. Stepping into the lair, Bunga somersaulted, landing in a martial arts stance with brave, aggressive exclamations.
"Ah-ha!" The honey badger bellowed. His fellow guard members followed not far behind, slowly filing in. The lair remained barren, a few piles of dust and embers scattered the ground, still humming with faint ethereal energy. Someone had beat them here, or something. Before they could comprehend the situation, A series of hyena growls and grunts ruffled from a nearby cave offshoot. Kion glanced around the guard, signalling with his tail for Fuli and Ono to follow him. Beshte flopped his ear, affirming to his fierce leader that he'd hold the lair. Bunga simply raised a single claw, acknowledging his friend's plan. Without a single murmur, the guard got to work.
Kion led Fuli and Ono deeper into the cave. The two feline's eyes glimmering in the dark, scanning every crack and crevice in the walls as the scuffle ahead continued. Kion lowered his posture, sneaking into the shadows as two canine figures pounced from the corner ahead. One seemed familiar, his dirt coated fur scraping across the ground as the other gleamed with ethereal corruption, struggling to eliminate him.
"Janja!?" Kion tensed. Watching the hyena struggle sent a string of conflicting shudders through his body. Janja was an enemy, a bane on the Circle of life... And yet... To see him in such a position, to literally be facing death in the face, the corruption of said circle... Kion's mind won over his heart. Before his friends could say anything, the lion prince charged forward, desperate to save the hyena from the jaws of demonic death. What he didn't realise was that Jasiri wasn't far away, swiping the Giza off from her mate's struggling body. The walls began to slither beside him as the two hyenas recovered from the attack.
"Kion!" Jasiri shouted, her eyes sharpening in fear as ther shadowed walls swayed faster. Small strains of rock began to fall off, revealing themselves to be Snake Gizas. Fuli and Ono froze, watching the slippery soul hungry serpents slithering up to their fierce leader. Within a blink of an eye, one of the serpents attacked, digging its void lit fangs into the skin surrounding his left eye.
"KION!" Fuli rushed to her fearless leader's aid as did Janja and Jasiri. The many snakes held their ground, forcing the survivors to fight. Fuelled with rage, the young cheetahs tore through their numbers, making sure to evade their venomous heads with caution. Kion simply rested on the ground, holding his paw to his face, growling and roaring in agonising pain. Ono fluttered down to his side, placing a wing on the lion's paw.
"Kion! Are you ok? Stay still..." Ono comforted his friend, watching as the cheetah and hyenas destroyed the spectral assailants. As the dust settled, Bunga and Beshte rushed in, halting as Kion's agonised body came into view. Bunga rushed to his friend's side as Jasiri approached Fuli.
"Why are you guys here?" The hyena's voice reeked with fear. "This whole place is surrounded with death and despair!" Janja wrapped a paw around his mate's, glancing down the cave's length as a familiar grouping of shadows slowly approached. The rest of their clan, or what was left of it, hesitantly approached the guard, their eras folded downward as Fuli turned to Jasiri.
"We're here to get you out!" She marched past the hyenas, approaching her fallen leader, who had slipped into unconsciousness. "Kion..." She lowered her muzzle to his head, her ears folded down in grief. With tensed claws, she tried to hold back the pain.
She wouldn't lose another...
"We need to get out of here!" Jasiri whimpered. The guard flicked their attention between themselves before focussing on Fuli. The cheetah raised her head, her eyes intense with the appearance of command. Pacing a paw forward, Fuli glanced down at Kion's body. "Agreed." Lowering her muzzle once more, she turned a single eye to Bunga and Beshte. Help me get Kion on Beshte's back."
A crackling rumble of laughter echoed deeper from the cave. Jasiri and her clan inhaled sharply, knowing the horrors that lay deeper in pride rock. Ono fluttered up to the cave's ceiling, focusing his stern gaze deep into the dark. Multiple green, flickering eyes met his, screeching out in agonised growls as they began to charge.
"Hapana! We need to move!" The egret fluttered back down to find Fuli and Bunga just securing Kion on the hippo's back. His paws loosely grasped his skin for support. With a flick of her tail, Fuli signalled for Bunga to take the lead.
"Jasiri, you and your clan go first, we'll hold them off." The cheetah dug her claws into the ground as her egret friend fluttered on ahead, closely followed by Bunga. The hyena leader simply nodded before turning to her fellow clanmates.
"Very well..." The hyena matriarch sighed, turning an eye to her nervously huddled nephew and niece. "Tunu... Wena... Lead the way with the guard, Janja and I will hold the rear of the pack.
"Of course, Jasiri..." Tunu replied, slightly bowing in his aunt's presence. His sister remained silent, her body shaking as she relived the horrors of recent events. The two hyenas led their clan out of the cave system, closely followed by the guard. Fuli and Jasiri held the rear of the pack, strolling hesitantly out of the Lion Guard lair.
The flicker of battle glistened on the horizon. The Savannah resistance had fallen back, pushed by the infinite ranks of Scar's army. His power was too strong. The guard stood at the edge of the path wrapping around Pride Rock, their mouths agape with terror.
The Savannah Resistance was failing...
...
Kuwinda strolled through the Tower's antechamber, the walls flickering, darkening and illuminating as the chorus of ritualistic chants hummed through the air. Her scarred eyes wiggled in her skull, imagining the sprawling crystallised palace around her. She felt all of it, humming through the ground, the scent of its many occupants, the cubs and mothers that hid in its depths, awaiting their king and queen's return.
She would not just wait around like them.
The huntress marched into the throne room, the ground reverberating faster and deeper as she felt their presence. The Sisterhood of Mponyaji...
"Jua's reinforcement of the western border has failed." One of the sisters spoke, her eyes closed, the marking etched in her fur glowed faintly, flickering just like the walls surrounding them. "The corruption grows, sisters."
"We have failed..." Afya replied, trembling as her eyes opened. Her cyan irises glanced around her gathered sisters before catching Kuwinda's, standing firm and strong despite her crippling lack of sight. Kuwinda? What are you-"
"You can't just abandon them!" If the huntress' eyes still had visible irises, she would have practically been staring down the sisterhood's leader like a predator to its prey. Her claws scratched across the crystallised ground as she approached. "They're still out there, fighting for us all!"
"We know, Kuwinda...." Afya's tone levelled off, returning to a neutral level of concern. The remaining lionesses kept their eyes closed, the ground sparking with bolts of energy, arching between them. "We're barely able to keep Scar's corruption at bay!"
The walls flickered once more, followed closely by a unison of agonised growls. The room dimmed, a shallow green hue cascading down from the ceiling, surrounding the lionesses. Afya clenched up, tightening her eyes shut as Kuwinda stood mere feet away, her ears folded back as the corruption took root.
"No!" The sisterhood's leader roared, casting the vile filth of Scar's will from the tower's presence. She collapsed to the ground, along with her fellow sisters.
"Afya!" Kuwinda rushed to the lionesses' aid. Her vision cleared, a series of swaying shades of blue filled her mind, the pulse of her heartbeat bouncing off the walls as she passed the threshold of their ritual hexagon. Her blinded eyesight intensified; the blue, paracausal glowing remnants in her eyes burnt brightly into her mind.
It had awoken.
Visions swept through her mind. A dark, broken land. The same land mere moments later, filled with life and light. Another, a kingdom resting at the edge of nothing, slowly falling to the final destruction. A dark, towering shadow, sweeping through, destroying everything in its path, consuming... scarring.
"Kuwinda!" A familiar voice bellowed. The lioness's vision began to slowly wade, her body pulsed with a strange, thudding power in her chest. Her unborn cubs wiggled, warming her body with pride as her mind cleared. She sensed the other lionesses, their minds rattling away alongside hers.
"Is she ok?" One of them asked. Kuwinda felt her concerned glance through her fur. She simply hummed in return, causing a rumble through the tower's foundations.
"Wait? Can she... hear us?" Kuwinda's ears perked. The lionesses around her mumbled, conversing with each other in a frequency the huntress couldn't quite comprehend. She saw their figures through the bright, cyan light, their heads swaying side to side as they conversed just out of reach.
"What? I can't- Ahhhh!" Her ears rang, deafened whilst they reconfigured themselves, transcending the barrier that ther sisterhood possessed. Surprisingly, the light dimmed, revealing the lionesses' form to the blind huntress.
"There, that's better." Afya replied, nodding her head faintly in acceptance. "Welcome Kuwinda, Daughter of Mwindaji." The head sister stared directly at Kuwinda, smiling pleasantly as the huntress' senses became aware of her new surroundings.
"What? How did you-"
"We've been watching for a long time, Kuwinda." Afya's voice reverberated through the huntress' mind, sinking deep into her soul. Her spectral vision suddenly cut between different visions. The same from before. Kuwinda's mind flashed back to the gathered sisterhood just as Afya continued. "Your path has been treacherous, but now... we know its purpose..." The head sister smirked just barely, catching Kuwinda's curiosity. She tried to move forward but couldn't. The vast swath of paracausal energy bound her in place, channelling through her body in union with the other lionesses surrounding her.
"K...Kopa..." The visions intensified. Kopa and Karimu's struggle through a crumbling, corrupted realm, the remaining members of the Pridelanders, along with their allies, holding their ground at the edge of the surviving world. The corruption closing in along with its demonic horde. A tear rolled down her cheek, remembering every inch of land that had been lost. Her home. "No..."
"Yes!" A voice called from within, pulsating with warmth as her kicking sensation hit from within her belly. She thought of their future, of the perfect land she had dreamt of her new home... The sisterhood felt the growing power pulsating through the huntress' body. With a single nod, Afya commanded them to take hold, channelling said power back into the crystalised tower they stood in. All seven minds hummed with ethereal energy. Ready to bring her will to fruition.
"Kuwinda!" Afya's mind clung to Kuwinda's, barely breaking through as the lioness held onto her heart, reliving memories rooted in her. "Show us the way, show us his will!" The huntress' eyes opened, flashing a beam of cyan light as her iris solidified. The scar that once blinded her remained, but her eyes were far from broken.
The seventh sister of Mponyaji had been born...
...
The Pridelanders held their ground, encircling the remaining herds with help from their savannah allies. Simba, Nala, Rafiki and Makini all stood strong, resisting the onslaught of Giza, and awaiting the fall of the Pridelands. The corruption had spread from the Outlands, seeping into the Pridelands like a cancer, consuming and twisting the earth as it grew in strength. Makini watched as a large swath of land fell into the abyss. The final screams of animals echoed in her mind as they met their fate.
"Makini, look out!" Rafiki's voice croaked as a shadow spread over the two mandrills. The old male rolled out of the way, raising his staff in defence as a lioness Giza pounced at them. It shoved the younger mandril to the ground, digging its rocky claws into her arms as her staff rolled off into the abyss.
"Not again..." The mandrill's mind sighed, helplessly watching as her staff departed this realm. The Giza pinning her and roared into her face, forcing the Mjuzi in training to freeze, locking her eyes closed. Her heart erupted from her chest, beating faster and faster; louder and louder. A darkness eclipsed her sight, talking any chance of survival away from her.
Until she swooped in...
A slash of cyan light flickered past the mandrill's eyes just as a howling scream erupted above her. The light of day slowly broke through the crumbling remains of the Giza. The flurrying light swayed around, resting in the sky as it dimmed. A familiar eagle rested at its core, her eyes sharply analysing the battle ensuing around her.
"Jicho! Ah ha ha!" Rafiki bellowed, waving his hands outwards as a flurry of various birds encircled the skies above. Everything from eagles to flamingos, occasionally taking turns to dive bomb the charging Giza entities below. The swarm was broken occasionally, assaulted by a swarm of winged Giza. A battle of two fronts was being waged. In more ways than one.
Just as the skies and ground erupted in war, the ground shook, a strong wind beckoned from the skies, dissipating the clouds, revealing the light of day. Every creature, both alive and corrupted, glanced up at the heavens just as seven beams of light shot through the sky. They crashed into the ground, leaving a small shard of Uasian crystal and seven lionesses, formed of rock and fire.
Recovering from eliminating a Giza, Nala raised her eyesight to the almighty flash. Her eyes only bulged as she realised who one of the spectral lionesses was. An old friend, a pride-sister.
"Ku...Kuwinda!?" The Prideland's queen gasped as she noticed the Ex-Pridelander staring down the growing source of the corruption. Her fellow Pridelanders and survivors of the savannah all stopped or glided, a sea of trepidation washing across the land as the seven spectral lionesses held their course. In unison, they began to usher a series of roars, altering the corruption, bending it to their will. All the animals watched on, horrified yet intrigued as the ever-hungry corruption seemed to... depart?
"Impossible..." Simba slowly stepped forward, closely followed by Shujaa. They watched as the sisterhood roared back at Scar's forces, trapping them at the edge of the Pridelands, returning the land taken to its normal state. The Prideland's king turned to his allies, a relieved, re-energised look adorning his face. "This is our chance, Pridelanders! Push forward!" He gave an almighty roar, commanding his forces to push back Scar's retreating forces. Shujaa's roar followed., echoed by the roars of the other lion leaders. The savannah resistance had the Giza on the run.
The balance had been shifted...
...
He collapsed to the ground, his scarred eye burning, sizzling as the energy escaped his body. He struggled to move his head up, gritting his teeth. It had been so long... But the voice..."
Yes... Yes!" A familiar tone in a strange voice bellowed from across the room. Regaining his eyesight, the old lion glanced across the crystalised room. It's hue shimmered with a greenish glow as one of the lions arose. "Such a stronger form!" The lion locked eyes with him, grinning with mischievous intent. "Ah, poor little 'Skari..."
His heart roared, forcing his body to cower backwards. "You! ... G... Get back!"
"Oh, I have no intention in touching you ever again, you pathetic weak runt!" The lion's snapping words shifted through the ground, forcing the crystal to splinter and shatter, forcing a sharp blast to rush towards him. He rolled out the way just barely, struggling to his feet in the aftermath as the lion approached the other unconscious male, "But this one... He might prove useful... eventually..."
"Askari!" A familiar yet strange voice called from the room's only exit. A lone lion charged into the room, his thick, dark red mane swaying effortlessly in the shallow dead breeze. His eyes fixated on Askari's. Their hearts beat in unison for the first time in oh so long.
"Mgeni!" Askari pounced forward, only halted by the seething growl emanating from the possessed lion strolling around the room's centre. The large, glistening crystals hanging above etched with strange runes, illuminated, the ground rumbled. Mgeni tried to rush towards his love, only for the corrupted lion to roar him away, flinging him across the room.
"No!!!" Askari rushed to his lover's aid, only to be roared at in a similar fashion. Both lions collapsed together at the corner of the room. Askari huddled up to his long-departed beloved as the crystalised walls around them hummed and reverberated faster and brighter. "I'm sorry, my love..." Both males nuzzled up to each other, just glad to be in each other's company once more. They barely noticed the salty liquid rolling down their cheeks.
The possessed male, the true Scar's new form, simply sat at the centre of his new domain. Kovu's unconscious body remained at his paws, resting peacefully as a bolt of Uasian energy rocketed towards him. It rested mere inches from his muzzle, whispering to him. A smirk grew across his muzzle, just before he raised his eyesight to the only exit to the crystalised tower.
"Yes... After a millennium..."
"This is it..."
"The end of things..."
