Deo

Story: Deo was Artic's first son, and destined leader of their previous pride of lions. After Artic settled as the new queen of Sundown, Deo's destiny was changed, for the worst. No longer was kingship in his future. Instead, the cub was to become a subordinate male to King Cyi's son, who would rule with his royal blood line. The young cub was disturbed and bitter with this news, but decided to stay strong for his mother's sake. No one truly wanted a 'bastard' cub as a king anyways. His title as 'prince' would simply remain forever, but his spirit will linger on further.

Deo's name means 'God like', a compliment to Artic's icy blue markings passing onto her son. His teeth are fang like and covered in a cold and hard substance that looks a lot like ice. He is genuinely respectful to the lionesses of the pride, but acts as cold as he looks towards Val, the future leader of the pride.

In his competitive spirit, Deo practices hard and long, day and night to try and heighten his chances at becoming the strongest male in the pride when he ages. Adhara encourages him to keep up his practicing, telling him "at this rate, you'll be the one to train the young cubs when you get older!", to which he feigned a forced smile. Training the future generation wasn't exactly in his agenda. Despite this, he thanked her and trains non stop. Callista seems to like hanging out with him a lot, despite her encouragement to spend time with the younger prince instead.

[Adolescent]- At long last, the young prince had been born. Under a hail of harsh zephyr winds and a powerful artic fog, the young cub is lifted into the air for all of the highland creatures to gaze upon in his glory. Artic smiled proudly, and bowed along with the other creatures, thanking them. King Cyi had never looked quite so happy, and the young adolescents and cubs cheered and jumped around excitedly at the news of a new future leader. All except Deo, who sulked hatefully at the prince's celebration. Another simple reminder that Deo was nothing but a bastard, an outsider with no real power in Cyi's kingdom.

With a snarl, the teenage lion sharpened his claws against an icy tree in the corner of the cave. By the end of the celebration, Artic nuzzled down with young Val, inviting Deo over to meet his little brother. Deo walked over to him, reluctantly yet always respectful to his mother, and sniffed the cub hesitantly. Val laughed, swiping at Deo's nose, causing the adolescent to jump back startly and sneeze. Artic joined in the laughter, just as King Cyi walked in to check on them. Deo glared, rubbing his snout. ''That's the last hit he'll ever land on me.."-- Deo whispered, darkly.

The day after the young prince's celebration, Callista had decided to keep Deo company. She knew the toll it took on his heart, and sat back quietly as the bastard prince growled and shook his short mane frustratedly. He had muttered the most despiteful things under his breath, saying he should have been the rightful heir. That he would kill before the 'little mut' took his place as king.

Callista, not quite as confident in herself to oppose her friends words, nodded and agreed with him feveriously. She even suggested that he try and confront King Cyi directly. Deo had looked to her with a shocked expression, never seriously considering it. The King, although sophisticated and elegant, could have a heart as cold as ice. He wouldn't hesitate to rip Deo to shreds, even to the outcry of Queen Artic.

Deo simply shook his head at her, giving her a slight smile. Callista swooned, and carried over to Deo, giving him even more ideas for a rebellion against the king. Little did she know, her ideas would only stoke the flames of an already heated internal struggle. One that Deo would have a hard time controlling in his adolescence.

[To be updated as he ages]