"Welcome to this land, my little one. You won't understand my words, but from a bereaved mother to her newborn cub, I just want to say…. I’m sorry. I wish your beginnings started under happier circumstances. However, I promise my unconditional love and protection, sacrificing anything to shield you, from what will lay ahead…"
It's a cruel, challenging, dangerous, and brutal place. If you turn your back at the wrong moment, it kills you. One wrong decision, one bad move, can cause a chain reaction making your life a living catastrophe. It's truly where the quickest, smartest, strongest, or largest survive. It is host to several thousand forms and species of life. From the endless bush, flora and fauna painting the low grounds, to the almighty Baobab trees towering over the lands. From the tiny, helpless African wild pups poking their heads out from their burrow, to the lions patrolling, tracking their many prey that majestically sweep across the land. This also makes this one of the most beautiful and diverse places in the world. This is the wilds of Africa.
If you imagine yourself as a buzzard, flying high above the lands, watching the world go by down below, what would you see? What events could unfold?
A lost lion cub perhaps? Chased away by a grown rogue male lion and now alone, defenceless. You as a buzzard would take interest in this because you know what could happen. Soon enough the cub is being stalked by a hyena, it didn’t take long for the hyena to ambush it, quickly sinking its extremely powerful jaws into the cub's neck, breaking it like a twig. You wait patiently for the hyena to consume what parts of the cub its belly needs to survive. After all, a hyena has every right to survive as any other animal in these lands. The same goes for yourself, who would swoop in later to pick off what flesh remains.
It reminds you of a cub that was a lot luckier in the life it was dealt so far. You had landed on a branch and could see movement in some dense bush below. There lies a lioness, cradling and curling around her little fluffball of a cub, giving it tender licks with the proudest of smiles. You watch with a sense of awe at the sweet playful interactions between the mother and her cub. Then after a short while, she stretched out, exposing her belly for her cub to have his morning feed. That was your queue to turn around and fly away, giving her some privacy. Still, it makes you ponder on how precious life is, and how precious that moment must be for her, being the sole life support for something she had created.
You then remember you have seen this lioness before back when she was pregnant, you could tell by the abnormal sway in her stride. She was straggling behind her group and being stalked by a lion. It soon pounced towards her, claws bared with a killer intention. Maybe she had crossed his territory? Luckily, another lion had come to her aide, protecting her just in time. Thanks to that lion, she had lived to see another day, including her cub snuggled up inside.
Not all fights end well though. You remember when you saw a lion laying on the ground, motionless, covered in scars, blood, and battle wounds. This one seemed to have not only lost but had been made sure he was finished. His body now lays at the bottom of the food chain, ready for you and any other scavengers to feast on. What was his life like before it ended? Full of love, friendship, family and honour? Or was his death justified? Imagine all the things he had done or could have done in his life. But all that now…just gone. Nothing more but a body. Still, more food for you though.
All these happenings lay a story behind them, more so they all share one crucial thing, this is how nature works. It gives and sustains life, but can just as quickly take it away.
However, something not so natural has been cast over this land. It's living in such a fear that is unbalancing all animal’s way of life.
Fear cannot be touched, seen or heard, and it lives inside, controlling you. Fear can only be felt and, like a virus, can be spread, shared, and absorbed effortlessly. Fear is the most potent weapon for an animal to wield if you desire power over these lands. If animals fear you, then you are untouchable.
'Legacy' is that fear. A lion of mass proportion. Ironically, nature gave him the gift of everything that makes a lion a king predator, even deadlier. His claws are twice as long as they are sharp. His jaws bear teeth that can sink deeper than any other animal, even that of his own kind. His mane is extremely thick, giving complete protection to vulnerable areas such as his neck and chest. In his self-twisted mind, his extra ‘gifts’ were given to him for a reason. To not only be the dominant lion of his pride but to make sure every other lion and pride in these lands, only answer to him.
In the past, many brave lions and lionesses have tried to overthrow him only to suffer a terrible fate. The more lions that died, the more others feared him. This in turn, fed Legacy's self-confidence that he was undefeatable. Legacy's pride, influence and fear spread across the land like wildfire, consuming it piece by piece. If he came into your territory and you gave what he needed, be it food, a worthy lioness or a lion, then he would let you surrender and live under his rule. If you refused, you would be made an example of.
Legacy had one issue that had to be dealt with, which was 'wanderers'. These were lions or lionesses that had no pride, no territory and no future. He saw them as lowlifes with nothing to contribute to the land. This also meant they had little collateral to give to him, this for Legacy was a problem. Furthermore, they were scattered and dotted all over the land, like annoying flies that are impossible to swat. They could easily vanish, only to re-appear. So, he used a spy, his son, for his twisted idea to cleanse this 'problem'. To him, it was all a hunting game.
His son had the opposite demeanour of his father. He looked extremely friendly yet could hold his ground. He had partially inherited the gift of his dad's claws and jaws too. Legacy in his dark twisted mind did sometimes wonder if his son's inherited gifts could be the only ones ever to be able to kill him! His son would travel far across the lands, finding and gaining the trust of these wanderers by posing as one himself.
He would gather them up over time, with the promise of comfort and defence in numbers. When he felt there were enough, they would all by 'coincidence' come across a perfect place to live and settle with a substantial shelter, good vantage points and an abundant water source nearby. This was his den but to them was 'their luckily found home'.
Soon after, he would convince them he had 'sighted' Legacy and they all needed to flee, instead he led them right to him. Legacy would give them an ultimatum, they either work for his pride to contribute to his cause, or be killed.
This is where we meet Sukari, a wanderer, along with her partner and a group of others. Unfortunately, their fate two months prior was almost sealed by the same scheme Legacy trapped them with. Her partner, Sheek, fought hard but unfortunately lay defeated and motionless from trying to protect them. He gave enough of his life for them to escape.
Without Sheek, Sukari travelled bearing their unborn cub, with the only company she could trust, the remaining group. She had the comfort of protection in high numbers, but deep down she knew it couldn't last.
A lioness close to giving birth has the instinct to be alone and far away from others. If anything, she should already be alone, but she was fighting hard to delay it. However, she felt conflicted and concerned about many more instincts that could endanger her cub. Not instincts of her own, but of others that surround her. She soon needed to make choices that would change how she lived her life forever. Though she knew she would have to tread carefully.
She questioned her past, present and future, she needed to survive and search this land for her answers. She knew all too well that this dangerous yet breathtaking place had every ability to give herself and her cub a forever home. However, it could just as easily kill her.
For the future of her cub, it was worth fighting for.
Though Legacy was relentless
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