History
Born in the unknown lands Klay has lived a difficult life from the very start. During Klay’s birth his mother began experiencing complications. Already being worn and tired his mother Sariel was left with the choice of using her life element to save herself, or use it to save her newborn son. Without hesitation Sariel gave her life to save Klay by using what little energy she had left. This caused his father Arius to blame his own son for her death. Growing up Klay and his father were always distant and though Klay tried to reach out to his father he was often times put down by his father both mentally and physically. Because of this Klay had to learn how to survive out in the unknown lands by himself. He taught himself simple things like how to catch Amani as well as Bandite and what to do if there was a nearby skirmish between the pride and the rebellion.
Even though his father was cold and distant with him he still never strayed far from his father and would often times try to give him what food he had caught in an attempt to show his father he cared for him. Often times these attempts were meant with nothing more than hostility and aggression, though it some instances he would at least accept the food. Klay never even knew his own name growing up because his father would only ever refer to him as a monster, a mistake, a murderer, or anything else hurtful he could come up with. Though he tried and tried again to become close to his father he could never break through to him, his father never even told him his own name and would often times call Klay a murderer rather than son or Klay.
One fateful day, Klay was woken from his sleep by a strange presence. Still groggy from sleep but unsure if there was danger Klay sprung up clumsily to see a pure white lioness staring at him with cool blue eyes. Her long fur flowed softly though there was no wind as she continued to stare at Klay.
“Who… Who are you?” Klay’s voice trembled with confusion as he gazed at the lioness. She didn’t seem real and he could only see her with his blood red eye. “What do you want?” he asked sternly but with kindness and curiosity within his voice.
The figure smiled before turning and running into the distance only to stop and look back.
“You want me to follow you?” Klay said somewhat hushed as to not wake his father.
The lioness nodded and waited patiently for Klay to catch up before continuing to run with him at his pace. The two ran for hours before the lioness began to slow her pace to a trot before finally coming to a stop.
“Why did you bring me here?” Klay said as he looked around in confusion.
The landscape seemed barren with nothing more than a small dirt mount in front of him that the lioness stood on. Klay stared at the mound seeming to be mesmerized by it before the realization hit him. The mount was a grave. Slowly Klay turned his gaze to the white lion sitting upon it.
“Are you…” His voice nothing more than a whisper.
Deep down he knew this lioness and knew who she was, something about her just seemed so familiar and so comforting but before he could connect the dots the lioness lowered her head against his and nuzzled him.
“My dear son Klay…” the words that left her mouth didn’t sound real and seemed to have just fabricated out of the slow blowing air.
Klay stood for a moment in disbelief, but before he could calm the swirling storm within his mind she slowly began to sink into the ground she stood, her warm smile the last thing Klay saw before she completely disappeared. He stood there shaking as he began to realize that what he had seen was real and took him even longer to piece together what had actually just happened. Klay plopped to the ground as the pain of seeing his dead mother hit him. He wanted nothing more than to be part of a family, a normal loving family at that. Suddenly an idea began to manifest within Klay’s mind. Slowly he lifted his paw as a light blue aura began to emit from it. His father told him that his mother had given him her gift of life, but maybe, just maybe, there was a way for him to give it back. Motivation and hope carried him to his feet as he began to dig up the grave that laid in front of him. After hour of digging he felt something graze his paw, something harder than just soil. As he began pulling the dirt away he realized that it was his mother’s skull and with it he was able to quickly unbury the rest of her body. Suddenly an enraged roar filled the still air.
“What do you think you are doing you little monstrosity?” Arius’s voice carried over the long distance between Klay and him.
“Dad I think I can bring mom back. We can finally be a family!” Klay called back, excitement filling his voice.
“Your mother has been dead for over 100 years you fool,” Arius began “There is nothing left of her but her bones and the memories you ripped from me.” As he spoke his lips curled into a snarl and he began to trot towards Klay. “Just leave her at peace, you already took her life can’t you at least allow her that? Now step away or so help me I’ll make you.”
Klay began to shake in fear, he knew his father wasn’t bluffing but he wanted nothing more than to be part of a family. Unable to form words over the fear trapped within his throat he quickly turned towards the skeleton which laid in front of him and set his paw directly on the skull. He took a deep breath and with it his paw began to brightly glow pale blue. As he continued to take deep breaths time seemed to stand still. His father’s warnings and roars seemed to become more and more quite till he heard nothing besides his own heartbeat. As he breathed he could feel his energy flowing within himself and began to direct it to his paw and out of his body into the skeleton laying in front of him. As his energy left he began to feel weaker and weaker till darkness began to creep into his mind until his legs could no longer hold him up and he collapsed.
“Wake up…” a quite but frantic whisper entered his black mind.
Immediately Klay’s eyes snapped open and he shot up. His eyes were unfocused and he vigorously shook his head in an attempt to regain consciousness. There standing in front of him was the white lioness, though her fur was no longer flowing you could tell it was different. It no longer seemed dreamlike, it was actually real. Klay looked up in amazement at his mother who gazed at Arius.
“Sariel…” Aruis’s voice cracked in disbelief. “Is… Is it really you…” a faint smile grew on his face and a single tear fell from his eyes.
The lioness gave a warm faint smile and as she opened her mouth to respond her eyes flickered as she froze, her mouth partially open.
“Sariel?” Arius pressed as he saw the life drain from her eyes.
“Mom?” Klay looked at her desperately looking and praying for her to talk.
Instead all that came out of her mouth was a gargled exhale. Suddenly her mouth began to rot and her bottom jaw fell to the ground as her entire body began to rot in front of the two. Her eyes slid from their sockets and pieces of flesh fell to the ground with a bone chilling splat noise. The nightmare continued to get worse as she tried to scream out in pain but nothing more than a blood bubbled screech came out. In an instance the lifeless body was on the ground writhing in pain before finally laying still. Silence filled the air as both Klay and Arius looked in horror at the lifeless body. What seemed like an eternity both stood frozen in place.
“You…” Arius began, “You monster… You brought her back just to take her away from me again!” His rage bubbling over Arius shifted his blood red eyes to Klay standing in front of him.
“I didn’t mean to I’m sorry!” Klay cried out, tears streaming down from his face. “I just wanted use to be a family! I swear I didn’t mean-”
“Didn’t mean to do what? Kill her the time or maybe the first time? You are nothing more than a murderer and your mother deserves justice…” Arius’s eyes narrowed to slits as he spoke, “A life for a life seems fair does it not?” A wicked toothy smile grew on his face as his eyes narrowed in on Klay’s terrified face.
In an instance Arius’s claws scrapped across the right side of Klay’s face. A wicked laughter escaped Arius’s mouth as he moved in to strike again. Klay cried out in pain as blood ran down his face. Panic gripped him as he opened his eyes to see nothing more than blackness out of his right eye. In an instant Klay was hit by another blow sending him flying from the blow.
“I’m going to make sure you suffer like she did!” Rage filled his roar as Arius charged Klay once more for an attack.
In panic and desperation Klay sprung to his feet and began running, though he knew if he couldn’t find shelter soon his father would surely catch up to him on open ground. Klay looked around frantically using his one good eye to try and find anything he may be able to use to get away. Suddenly Klay spots a faint glowing out of the corner of his eye. An Umoya tree was off in the distance and though Klay knew that the toxic gas that it released could easily kill him he had no other options. He quickly changed his course towards the tree and as he got closer held his breath. As quickly as he could Klay darted between the roots till me made it to the tree itself. His lungs screamed for air but he refused to hear their plead for air. As Klay turned around to see how close his father was he felt what little bit of air was left in his lungs get forced out of him as his father rammed into him and flung him to the ground. Arius’s laughs echoes off the tree as his slit eye trembled upon his son. Stunned Klay looked around hazily to see a root sticking out that he could possibly fit under and use to possibly lure his father to trap him. Klay returned his gaze to his father who was approaching, his laughs no longer having any sanity behind them. It was obvious something had snapped. Looking back at Arius Klay knew it father was no longer mentally there. Quickly as he could Klay got up and ran towards the root and dove under it. Growling his father followed only to get stuck under the root inches away from Klay. Arius roared furiously as he struggled to get out. His growling turned to coughing as he inhaled the toxins from the tree. Without waiting Klay turned and began to run.
Running was the only thing he could do. Klay knew his father would have been able to free himself before the toxins from the tree killed him so nowhere was safe. He knew he only had one real option left. He had to find and get help from the pride. He knew they were at war and there was a good chance he could be killed coming to them but it was the only option he had. Klay ran for days with only a few hours of rest a day to try and get to the pride lands before his father found him. He had never actually been to the pride lands or the lake but his father had told him where it was and to stay away at all costs.
As Klay hit the fourth straight day of running his vision blurred and he began to fade in and out of consciousness until his legs finally gave midway through running. Klay skidded to a stop panting and crying. He felt hopeless knowing he couldn’t get away from his father, then he finally looked up over up. He didn’t realize but he had finally made it up the hill he was climbing and on the other side stretched out a glowing magnificent lake.
“This is it…” Klay panted out of breath as he pushed himself up to his feet once more. “I made it… I MADE IT!” his cries were full of happiness.
“Don’t you ever bother to listen to me? I told you to never come here…” Arius’s crackling voice echoes into Klay’s ears.
The black lion slowly approached his son with a wide grin on his face, “You almost got away from me…” Arius said raising his claws preparing for a strike.
“HAULT!” a mysterious voice cried out from the sky.
Klay looked up to a spot the lion that has cried out. It was a brown lion with part feathered and part flesh wings landed directly in front of Klay and his father. Klay laid there shaking in fear unable to tear his gaze away from his father and this new strange lion.
“Release the cub!” His savior roared out but Arius simply began laughing.
“I won’t have this moment taken away from me! I will avenge Sariel by killing her murderer!” His father said raising his claws once more.
The strange lion launched a fireball directly into Arius to prevent him from landing the attack. He cried out in pain as the fire singed his chest and he staggered back. With another roar the winged lion released a more powerful attack of swirling fire to finish the job now that Arius had backed far enough from Klay. Arius screeched in pain as fire the fire engulfed him and he was burned alive.
As his gaze began to glaze over in pain he looked once more at Klay to whisper one last thing, "You will always be a monster."
Klay stood there in horror watching the life escape his father's body. Though he had died, Klay watched out of his blinded eye in horror as he saw his father’s very soul leave his body. His piercing red eyes stared Klay’s very soul before he faded away.
"Are you ok?" the strange lion said his gaze shifting from the charred corpse in front of him to the small cub.
Slowly Klay turned towards him, still shaking and unable meet the strangers eyes, "Thank you..." he said trailing off.
"What's your name, who was that?" The stranger asked his eyes reveling his concern.
"My name is… Klay..." he paused briefly, "and he was... He was my dad... Arius…" Klay barely got the words out before he slide to the ground crying from what had just been witnessed.
"I'm sorry..." the stranger trailed off looking back at the corpse. "My name is Zenas. Come on though let's get you to a safe place."
Zenas then scooped him up and took flight towards the pride lands, towards a new start.