Kondu's Den

It was hot. Oh, it was always so hot. The only sources of shade were the few crooked trees that somehow survived in the scorching heat of the Sahara. A few sparse cacti scattered across the place, and that was it. There was barley any life in this area, and yet their king had moved his pride here.
But they knew exactly why.
See, he was evil. He always has been, and always would be. He was born into a three cub litter, but grew up alone. He was abandoned early when his mother found the bloody corpses of her beloved daughters, just so few months old but destined to never grow older, and her only son staring at his gruesome work, a crooked smile splitting his face. Despite his evil, he gathered together a small pride as he grew up. The lionesses were too afraid to leave, too afraid of their fate if they ever decided to rebel against their tormentor. And yet, when Moonflower got pregnant, she feared.
She feared the lives of her children, and she feared that they would inevitably have to endure the same horrible life she faced every day. So she rebelled. Her rebellion was small, she was afraid of the consequences, but during hunting trips, she’d ignore any prey and search the area for a stranger, any potential saviour that could free her and the others from the monster reigning over them. But her fruitless hunts invoked his rage, and soon she was banned from hunting, and her punishment was gruesome enough she didn’t dare to sneak away again. So she resorted to watching the horizon. Days, weeks went by, but no saviour ever came, and deep down she knew, that no saviour would ever come.
She fought against the realisation, her heart too kind to be able to accept that she couldn’t do anything to save her family. Time went by, and inevitably, she gave birth. And as her king stood above her litter, an insane grin splitting his face, she knew she couldn’t save them. She couldn’t save her friends, she couldn’t save herself, but what finally broke her completely was that she couldn’t save her children.
Sunbeam was the firstborn, and a bundle of energy and joy. But whenever Moonflower looked at her baby, a horrible guilt washed over her.
She couldn’t save her.
The pain was so overwhelming it became physical, she had to hold back screams of agony whenever she laid her eyes upon her cub, happily chasing insects around the cacti, knowing that this joy couldn’t last, that her baby would inevitably be broken too, broken by this monster that called himself a king.
So, she did the only thing she knew would stop her pain. She couldn’t take it anymore. She couldn’t be a saviour, and with every day, with every night she watched the horizon, it became clear that no saviour would come. Ever. Her family, her babies would never be saved.
So when night fell, she snuck out for a last time.
It didn’t take long for her to get lost in the desert.
It didn’t take long for vultures to start ripping apart her limp body, still alive, but too weak to act or scream after wandering underneath the burning sun for ages until her muscles gave out.
And as the sun went down a last time, she directed her dying vision to the horizon. And she took a final shallow breath with the knowledge that somewhere out there, Sunbeam was looking back at her, watching the horizon, waiting for her mother to return.

King Dynasty

Pride Dynasty

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