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Lore by Vance_ (#262547)!
The lioness that resembled the lapping flames of the sun awoke with a jolt, but her vision was hazed and a repetitive thumping pain came from her head down to her sinuses. Her vision was poorer than usual, anything in the distance was too blurred to see and Flame That Drowns The Sky struggled to keep her rose-ebony eyes open. Then a thumping pain came from her joints, finding she was unable to move her extremities no matter how hard she tried.
Her surroundings were vaguely familiar, but she couldn't quite put her paw on it. The sense of unknown panicked Flame That Drowns The Sky, and she attempted to make a yowl for help. No sound. It was like she was trapped in her own body, but in a nostalgic setting.
A squeak came from her side, and she craned her neck to see what it was. Near her abdomen were a bundle of cubs, no older than a quarter-moon. The cubs had not even opened their eyes and they yawned happily as they rolled and climbed over each other. They looked similar to Flame That Drowns The Sky, but with a sense that they were not fully hers. Her impaired vision did not help either, she was unable to recognize any majorly different markings other than that a few of the cubs had the same colours.
Flame That Drowns The Sky had no recollection of before this event, just that she had some weird, blurry cubs nuzzling against her body. She managed to lift one of her aching paws and lazily grazed it over the cubs. They squealed as they were forcefully moved out of the way, but they were unable to do anything about it.
There was then a hot breath down the fiery lioness's ear. It was rapid, short and happened every few seconds. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out. Turning her head, she was met with the presence of a large lion. He, too, was familiar in a sense that Flame That Drowns The Sky knew him, but she didn't know him at the same time. The lion had a face of dread and rage on his muzzle, and the scent of blood laced his hot breath.
`` Flame That Drowns The Sky. `` He boomed, his voice loud like he was announcing something to the ENTIRE savannah. `` These are not my cubs. `` The lion continued. `` I cannot believe you would grace our pride with these abhorrent creatures of an affair. `` He pointed a claw to the helpless cubs, like they were aliens from another planet. The feline then lapped his tongue lightly over his muzzle, expecting an answer from Flame That Drowns The Sky, but no words escaped her throat.
Flame That Drowns The Sky was pushed out of the way in an instant, she was sent tumbling off the moist nest she sat upon and damned to the cold ground. The lion began to rip at something in the nest. Then.. Blood. No one could've guessed that from the bundle of cubs that once nuzzled up to the lioness came almost litres of blood. She could do nothing but watch in horror as the pure, innocent lives of what was, presumably, her cubs was ripped away from them (figuratively and literally). A lump began to form in Flame That Drowns The Sky's throat, a lump of sorrow. It could not be swallowed down and pushed away, but instead it grew until..
`` Stop! ``
But it was too late. Many moments too late. Her cubs were left in a pile, unrecognizable - like the place she was at. The lion who had attacked Flame That Drowns The Sky's cubs walked away, but then turned around a couple of tail lengths away from the scent and began to speak.
`` You are hereby exiled from our pride. Go. `` He jerked his head towards the vast savannah. This was her life now. Lonely. Without a pride, and filled with revenge.
She was in the savannah for many weeks, on her journeys she attempted to befriend many prides. But word spread fast in the flatlands, she was shunned and chased out. This was her destiny - to die alone and never bare or raise cubs for that matter. Or was it?
From a bush came a few squeaks and squeals, similar in fashion to the noises that Flame That Drowns The Sky's cubs made. As the lioness pushed away the brush, a pair of tufted ears emerged from within. It was the runt cub of a Caracal.
`` A baby..? `` She mewed. `` You're.. You're my child now. Orchid. ``
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