Aztec Knight Ocean Star

Ocean Star was born a rogue in a territory surrounded by many lion prides at war. Mother was almost always away whilst father was absent in their life. Morning to night, Mother brought food to the den and kept watch of what little safe space they had. Mother taught Ocean to do what he must to survive and "play his cards right". This meant killing his own kind to eat, leaving others to fend for themselves or help them if it meant he got something out of it.

As Ocean grew older, most of the lion prides left, the war had come to an end and a small pride moved in. It grew bigger and stronger, and he kept hearing that this was a pride made up of only piebalds. Mother's words echoed, play your cards right. He returned to his mother with a half-eaten calf carcass and dropped it at the den. She hadn't moved since this morning, and he peeked closer. Was she ok? He stepped closer and into an invisible horrible scent cloud of death. She was dead. Mother never showed much affection, but he had much for her.

The day ended with Ocean standing at a fresh mound of dirt, birds echoed, the slowly sinking sun peeked through lines of clouds, and it grew darker.

Do what you gotta do to survive...even if it makes failure for others...play your cards right.

Ocean stood and looked West which was where Cloud Pride lived. The only problem was the cub chosen to lead Cloud Pride when its leader had passed. "Always play your cards right..."