[1st POV]
The giraffe was already half gone by the time I lay down beside it. I began eating right after summoning my pride so I had a long time to eat everything I wanted while the rest of the pride came to the carcass.
By the time everyone had reached here, I was already quite done. Of course, I force-fed myself a few more kilograms of meat after that but that could barely be considered eating.
I released a huge breath after letting the earth embrace me, all the weight I carried was gone and that was physically relieving. There was something wrong with my body, even as I ate, I did not really feel like eating. I lacked the sheer hunger that I should've had in this situation.
But I still ate as much as I could and I hoped that would help me recover and fix whatever was wrong with my body.
In the meantime, I watched the rest of the pride devour the giraffe. Everyone was eating like a starved beast, tearing into the carcass with violence and ferocity. Growls vibrated through the air like constant sounds and small conflicts broke out here and there as everyone fought for food.
It was quite a rare sight since the pride had always lived in abundance. So I appreciated it and observed the small details that would slip most minds.
The sun was starting to set on the horizon, casting an orange brightness across the sky. The breeze that blew was starting to feel cool rather than feel like wind from an air dryer.
The air was thick with the smell of blood and meat. The parched earth was wet and dark where the carcass lay as flies buzzed around the fresh wounds. The sound of growling, teeth tearing flesh and bones snapping was the music of the evening.
On the side, there was a separate meat which I tore off and put there. Here, the cubs buried their faces in the meat and fought among themselves much like the adults. I gave them a separate portion to make sure everyone got their share.
I noticed Zuri keeping close to the ribs of the carcass. Her head was low and her ears were flat. It was clear she was not challenging anyone. She did not seem to have the best portion of the meat but no one tried to bully her due to her smaller frame, knowing that she was important to me.
Sarabi on the other hand was a bit different as the lionesses gave her space. She did not have to act aggressively; she simply carried herself with the dignity of an old queen and someone who had seen more blood than most. The older lionesses were especially welcoming and respectful to her.
Nala was… well, she had enough time to cement her standing in the pride. She was the most vocal and aggressive, along with the top hunters of the pride. She swam gracefully amid the chaos. She was respected and the respect was well earned.
Those three were the newest members of the pride and I was satisfied with how they were settling in the pride and how they were finding their own place in the hierarchy. Although Zuri would be my queen, I could not just hand it to her. She would at least have to work to stay by my side as well. That was how nature works; nothing was truly given.
I looked around at our surroundings after that. It was a dry open savannah with tall dry trees here and there. The lack of vultures was a strange sight but they were still full from their hyena feast. Even Grim was nowhere to be found, probably a bit down that I found a prey first and he could not be as helpful as he liked.
The only thing in the sky was the drone, which I just viewed as a bird by that point. It didn't fly close enough to really be noticed or headr so it just kinda blurred with the environment.
Also, Rafiki was gone. I did not know where he went but he disappeared soon after he cheered and bowed at me when I took down the giraffe.
A yawn escaped my mouth as I finally lay my head down. With a full belly and a fatigued body, sleep came like thunder after lightning.
Effortless and inevitable.
..
..
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[3rd POV]
(3 days after the battle)
The next morning, after we had the giraffe, I woke up feeling a little worse than the day before.
Now that was a little concerning to me. I just had a great meal yesterday but I was feeling worse than ever. It became clear to me in that moment that my body was fighting not just some surface wounds but something much deeper.
I did not wake up when the sun rose, even though I slept before sunset, meaning it has been at least 10 hours since then.
The pride cuddled up to me, after eating their fill, and everyone was feeling lazy in their own way. My sickness remained unknown to them because of this. I did not want them to know either.
As the sun climbed up the sky and the morning passed, none of us became active. The pride seemed to follow the example of the king and remained lazy.
It was only when the distinctive sound of a vehicle was heard that we became alerted. I pushed myself up and saw a jeep slowly driving towards the pride before stopping a good distance away.
The vehicle was not close enough to be alarming but it was still much closer than usual. That was unnatural; everyone knew it, but I knew it even more.
But after the vehicle was parked there, nothing much happened afterwards. The rest of the lions eventually got used to its presence and continued to sleep without care. On the other hand, I remained cautious.
When I saw humans stepping out of the vehicle and stalking towards the pride, it became clear to me that something was wrong and I needed to know what.
I got up from the pile of lying lions, my body protesting a bit at the movement. The pain had subsided much from yesterday but I felt more tired. It was like weights were strapped all over my body, making me feel sluggish more than usual.
"I'm going to see what's going on, you stay," I said and began walking towards the humans.
When they saw me approaching, the two humans who were stalking forward froze completely. And then, as carefully as they could, they moved backwards rapidly, picking up their footsteps.
I walked forward calmly, finding no need to scare them more than my appearance already did. One of the humans climbed back onto the jeep but another one paused and remained in place.
That was strange, I noted in my mind.
When I reached the human, I did not stop but I strolled right past him. He was in a crouching position so as I passed, his head did not even reach my shoulder height.
I walked past him and instead focused on the humans in the jeep. I looked for any weapons, smelled for any poison or gunpowder. But when I found none, I was left even more confused.
And here I thought they were trying to tranquilize me while I was weakened so that they could take scientific samples of my body. That would've been a reasonable turn of events.
After checking the vehicle and the seven humans on it, I circled back to the one human who was crouched behind me.
I finally acknowledged his presence, "Hello Mr Miyagi."
He did not understand animal language but he clearly heard the sound of my words, which sounded to the human ears like a deep grumble. He trembled a bit, before he took in a deep breath to calm his nerves.
The humans may know me for a long time but standing in front of a beast that could kill you with the most casual swipe was not easy. Especially when you were completely vulnerable, which the human was.
"Oh God, why did we decide the volunteer with rock, paper, scissors?" he said his thoughts out loud. When faced with a dangerous presence, thoughts and words often get mixed up.
I remember the human. He was an old man with Asian features. His hair had gone white since I saw him up close but he was still recognizable.
"You can do it, Dr Tonson!! Remember, Leo is not a mindless beast!" one of the humans on the vehicle yelled, a female.
"Easy for you to say," Dr Tonson cursed out loud, but he dared not shout in fear of surprising me. He whispered loudly to himself instead.
Now I stood in front of him, my giant face very close to his that he could probably smell the giraffe I ate yesterday. When we were standing this close, it was like a truck wheel facing a bicycle wheel.
His already quite small eyes became even smaller as he barely looked at me. He forced the most hilarious smile on his face as he tried to keep his cool.
"Hey there, you are just a big cat, right? It's not like you will kill me just because, right? We even waited until you eat to make sure you have no interest in eating me," Dr Tonson began, his voice shaken.
Rather than talking to me, he seemed to be mumbling to himself to keep his calm. But I found that absolutely hilarious; it was hard to keep a straight face.
"I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna..." he swallowed hard, "I'm just gonna initiate contact with the most dominant predator on the continent, no biggie."
His eyes looked everywhere but my eyes. At least he knew not to make eye contact with a dominant lion as that could be a sign of aggression. He eventually stopped looking at me altogether and he looked down at the ground instead.
His head lowered to the limit and he made himself look as small and as harmless as possible. This was to make sure that I had no reason to attack him. While his head was lowered, he put out both his hands to touch me.
His trembling hand flinched when my hot breath hit him. But he insisted on continuing. I could at least reward his courage so I moved a little and shrank the distance he had a difficult time crossing.
His hand almost flinched back again upon contact with my mane. But then he got more confident and he began caressing me. It was not some contact out of affection, more like an artist feeling a masterpiece sculpture.
His hand seemed to admire me as he felt the shape of my head.
Eventually, he was brave enough to look up again. My stoic face was what greeted him and due to panic, he met my gaze directly.
But I still didn't react to him. His hand began to move back and forth, gently grabbing a handful of my mane.
"See? You're not so bad. You are intelligent and I suppose just as curious as me," he said.
Fear was slowly replaced by awe in him. After a few seconds of staying in that position, he began moving with his knees around me. I remained in place as he measured up my length with his fingers, lightly tapping where he found hard muscles.
"Look at you. You feel so different than last time. I can almost feel the power inside you," he said, by now he was in his own world.
Eventually, he shook his head and focused on the main thing he was trying to do.
"Ok, remain calm, please. I am not going to do anything to harm you. I'm not stupid enough to do anything like that," he told me.
When I turned my head to look at him, he was crouched on my side. He felt my body with one hand, carefully searching for cuts and wounds which he realized were everywhere.
His other hand rummaged through the small bag hoisted around his belt, and he took out a bottle.
"This is a Betadine solution. We only had limited quantities so we had to add it to clean water. The effect might be a bit diminished but it will still be able to kill the bacteria and stop infections," he said.
He was talking to me directly now, as if I could understand him. I could, but he didn't know that. He was literally a crazy old man.
"You see, we were afraid that your last battle would cause you dangerous infections and even cause you to get a disease. Hyenas and scavengers in general are the dirtiest animals and prone to carrying diseases," he said and that was when it finally clicked in my head,
Infection.
Disease.
Of course! Those were the reasons why I was not feeling as well as I should. It has been years since I was reborn as a lion and I never faced such problems before, so I forgot to even consider them.
How could I not think of such things? Well, I would've figured it out eventually if my condition got worse but I was glad to be told before anything dangerous happened.
"Wow, look at that," he said while pushing away my fur and looking directly at my skin and my injuries. His medicine was set aside.
"There is no inch to spare; they really did a number on you. But look at the rate at which you are recovering? It's remarkable!! I guess the high testosterone really boosted your recovery rate,and not just made you more muscular and fuck a ton," he said.
"I think I should just..." he said and picked up his bottle before he began pouring it onto my body. He made sure to push away my fur so that the medicine could directly make contact with the wounds and not be absorbed by the fur.
I felt a stinging sensation across my body. It felt like heat was pressed on my skin, but it was bearable. Especially now that I knew what it was and how it could help me.
"But high testosterone can actually suppress the body's immunity. While you may recover faster physically, it can make you vulnerable to infections and diseases, which seems to be happening now," he said, "It's like trading physical defense with magical defense, you can't have both, one needs to be weaker for the other to be supernaturally strong."
"It's also why males are more prone to diseases than females," he said.
He continued saying such things, which I appreciated. He began applying the solution throughout my body, covering me with a distinct scent and a rusty stain.
But he soon ran out of the medicine. He clearly did not expect me to be covered in wounds.
He threw away the bottle in his hand and actually stood up. He was of average Asian height so when he stood, he could not see past my height.
That was how ridiculously tall I was, even while standing on all fours.
So he had to circle around me to look towards his fellow researchers on the jeep. He seemed to have gotten comfortable with me because he shouted.
"I need more!!" he said.
...
...
[Important image!! How I imagine Dr Tonson]
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