Darling's Den

He couldn’t remember how long he had been here. Couldn’t even remember where he came from anymore. Maybe it was the pits of hell, but in the end it doesn't really matter. When it came to himself, the mystery was just as prevalent to him as to anybody.

But they say you are what you do in the given moment and he surely did what was right, didn’t he? At least… for himself.

The lions that fell into this hole that, what he knew, had been here as long as him - which was a long time - would die anyways. Without food and water, they would wither away in the depths of the darkness that always surrounded the sky, even if he knew, that as soon as he stepped out of the fog, it could be bright daylight.

So he claimed anything that wandered into his home.

Not only lions, oh no. Rabbits, antelopes, sometimes an elephant. And even humans had ended up in the darkness, but they had all succumbed to the void. Van just had to wait.

***

The stars seemed more familiar today than usual, that meant someone knew was coming. The first in many, many months. None of the lions that he had gathered were still alive. Died of old age or by his own claws.

But today? Today would a new one arrive. And he would be his.

Like all of them.