[3rd POV]
They ran.
Chased by the most worthless creatures of all, those that live off the scraps of others. But they ran anyway, for those considered vermin had the backing of the king.
Their annoying laughter had never sounded so frightening, their awkward gait never so terrifying. It was the lions that ran from the hyenas.
Even when they got the last of his brothers, Morani, the only thing Scarface could do was run without turning back. He was absolutely exhausted; he did not have it in him to fight off a dozen hyenas. Especially when Leo might just get back up and chase after them too.
They ran.
They left everything behind. Their brothers' corpses, their enemy, their dignity, and the awful ridicule spewed by the hyenas.
They couldn't do anything. Nothing at all.
For the first time in his life, Scarface experienced what it was like to be outclassed, outsmarted, and outnumbered all at the same time.
They only stopped when they were far away from the forest and from the hyenas. Baraka and Scarface decided to rest in secrecy, slowly regaining their strength.
They were not wounded badly, especially Scarface, who only had bruises here and there. After an hour of rest and allowing themselves to cool down, they oveturned and headed back to the forest again.
Now, they were finally ready to fight off those hyenas and get their revenge. But at that point, it was all too late.
The forest was empty.
There was nothing. They didn't find the corpses of their brothers as they were devoured by both the scavengers of the land and the sky. Forget about corpses; there was not even a single bone to be found. And the blood on the trees and the earth was the only reminder of the horror that transpired there.
The two lions left the forest once more, this time still earning nothing. There was no conversation, no talk in between as the two lions acted in absolute silence.
Their thoughts on the other hand were loud.
Both had lost everything. But with every loss came a lesson of some kind. It was the brutal way nature taught her children.
But this time, the lesson was harsher than how it was taught.
They learned what it meant to stare at the face of absolute. They learned that in front of the might of that lion, they were nothing. No, they were less than nothing.
It was a hard lesson for lions so proud, so egotistical. But perhaps that was exactly what they needed.
"What do you want to do?" Baraka asked. It was the first sentence spoken in hours.
The two lions were walking slowly, dragging their shameful asses back to their pride. But right now, they were not sure if they even had the nerve to go back. They had been defeated, and in such a shameful manner.
They lost in a fight against a single lion, and afterwards they were chased away and shamed by hyenas.
How could they call themselves king and rule over others at that point? Their confidence was completely crushed.
Scarface paused after thinking about the question. Baraka too stopped his walk as he awaited an answer.
Scarface was looking down, his proud head never greeting the world again ever since his brothers died. But for the first time, he looked up once more.
Baraka reeled back when he saw Scarface.
Red eyes were crying tears. But the eyes showed no sadness, no grief; they only held within themselves unbridled rage.
"I'm going to kill that thing," Scarface said.
Baraka didn't know how to respond. Scarface spoke the opposite of his thoughts. Baraka wanted to do nothing but run away from the territory and never encounter Leo again.
But here was his only remaining companion, and he was so determined to give another try at Leo. And it had not even been a day since the fight happened.
"That thing should not be allowed to exist. It is a flaw that wrecked the very balance of our world," Scarface said, "I will correct it."
"How are you going to do that?" Baraka asked with visible teeth, "Didn't you see what he did to us? He beat us six to one."
"Then next time we will make it twelve to one, a hundred to one if we must," Scarface roared, "I will do whatever it takes."
The memories of him and his brothers flashed in Scarface's mind. It was frightening how the present can become a past you can never get back. Frightening how fond memories turned tragic.
"I will. I will. I will," Scarface mumbled as more tears flowed down. But he was not really crying. No, he was raging more than he was crying; he was planning more than he was mourning.
"I promise."
In the cruel world of nature, all animals have no purpose in their heart. The only thing they did was eat, sleep and survive. Their only purpose was the one imprinted in their body, to survive and breed.
Nothing else.
If one really thought about it, even the lions fighting each other were only driven by this purpose. To eat and breed.
It was the cycle of life.
A king with no purpose is no true king. And Scarface and his brothers were one of them. They had no other purpose than to take more lands, to breed and eat.
But now, Scarface had evolved beyond that.
Now he had a purpose and that was to kill Leo at any cost. This purpose became more priority than his primal purpose.
He wouldn't kill Leo just to get his land or take over his pride. No, this was deeper and more personal.
Scarface had already concluded in his mind that Leo should not exist in this world. So he had given himself the grand purpose of erasing him from this world. Not just Leo, he would massacre every cub of his, nothing related to him should even exist.
"Then I will help you," Baraka said, convinced by the determination in Scarface's eyes, "That monster took my father, my family, my brothers. He had taken away everything."
Scarface nodded, "And I'm sure we are not the only ones with this feeling. Every lion that had ever come across Leo should share our sentiments."
A lion, the king of the Eastern Pride that abandoned his pride and ran away from Leo would share the sentiment. A lion, a rogue that once fought against Leo with a coalition and became the sole survivor would also agree.
And every lion that Leo had encountered in his life, those that managed to get away from him and were on the run since, they would all agree.
Leo needs to go, not only for their sake but for the sake of their species entirely.
When Scarface returned back to the pride, his head was held high again. He was not a coward, he was not just an animal anymore.
He had a mission.
"Get up, everyone, we lost the battle and we need to move out of the Serengeti quickly," he declared boldly, no longer feeling shame at losing to Leo because at this point, Scarface considered him no longer as a lion but something else entirely.
But this is not the end of the story.
Scarface would return, and he would have his revenge as a complete king.
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[1st POV]
"God, what happened!!" Zuri and Nala were the first to greet me.
They had been waiting for me. They were the most worried and hence had moved away from the pride to wait for my return with eager and concern.
I flashed a smile.
"I won, that's what happened," I said as the two lionesses walked around me to check my wounds.
"What are these?" Zuri asked as she licked where they stitched my wounds.
"Something the humans gave me to help heal my wounds," I said.
Although all my wounds were treated and were stitched up, you could not hide the injuries I had sustained.
The rest of my pride probably were not as worried as them. They saw me as their invincible king. I came to their life as a victor who could take on three kings by myself.
On the other hand, Zuri and Nala knew me from when I was a weak cub. Hence the image of invincibility was not there, so they were always worried.
And that's also why I treasured them both.
"It must've been a hard battle," Nala said and bit her lips, "How many were they?"
"I went out expecting four, but the Central Pride had formed alliance with the Northern Pride so my enemies were six," I said.
"You should've come back then, not fight them anyway," Zuri said in a scolding tone.
"I'm fine aren't I?" I said and pushed them away with my head. I did not want them to tear out the stitches. "I know what I am capable of and six lions was just not my limit."
The three of us walked towards the rest of the pride.
"What's for dinner?" I asked. "I'm expecting something, since I know you two worked together to hunt."
"Buffalo," Nala said immediately.
I paused, surprise shaking my pupils, "You hunted a buffalo? You know hunting those beasts without my presence is dangerous."
"Ah, it was Zuri's idea," Nala said once more immediately.
"Nala!!"
I turned to look at Zuri with a frown.
She nervously looked away, her face coloured in embarrassment, "I- I wanted to hunt something impressive for you. And don't act so tough!"
She huffed, "We both did something dangerous so we will forgive each other."
I laughed, the arrogance of these bitches. But hey, love had brought me down to their level. I couldn't even get mad.
"Okay, we will call it equal," I said.
She smiled afterwards.
When we reached the pride, there was indeed a buffalo carcass in the middle. It was a female, so not as big as a bull. But that should be enough to feed the whole pride tonight and for me to eat as much as I wanted.
The carcass remained untouched until I ate first. The pride's location had also changed since the buffalo was too heavy to drag back.
I made a beeline to the carcass and dug in immediately. That's not all, I pulled Nala along with me and put her under me. I mounted her while I ate. When she gave out, I pulled in another female and enjoyed every bit of it.
There was nothing quite like a victory meal and sex.
And if I can fight six lions at the same time, I can do both pleasures at the same time.
The cleanup was over.
The Serengeti was wholly mine once more.
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