Songs-
Lost - Steffan Argus-
Overjoyed - Bastille-
It wasnโt always like this. Once all lions could gaze upon the heavens, able to see the moon, the sun and the stars from the moment they opened their eyes. It was a time that none in the pride could now remember. For them the Cuffs were all they had ever known and all they would continue to know unless Ascended. No one knew how it had started, or when but they all knew why.
The celestial gods were angry. Furious at how lions dared to stare upon their faces indiscriminately. No divide between the views of thieves, murderers, unworthy and those who had earned the right. They sent blights, plagues and famines, droughts and fires and then a cold frost. But for many even that wasn't enough of a sign.
Lions continued their errant ways, only a select few even beginning to doubt their ways. Sin and corruption all beneath the Triadโs gaze. It was too much. Blasphemy unable to go unpunished.
And so, one by one the stars stopped providing their light. Navigators became lost, bird migrations changed, the sky itself darkening. Brilliant scholars and inventors came together to explain the phenomenon, even as it got worse each night. They came up with multitudes of explanations, each more ridiculous than the last. Until Suno the knowledgeable finally offered his theories. Not in the restricted halls of the stuck up highborns and learned lions. Instead he spoke to all, telling us his wisdom not with arrogance but with the belief he could save his peers from the terrible fate that was to befall them.
He was laughed at, ridiculed for his ideas. But-Silence.
โBut what?โ Feric asked, head tilted to the side. There was no response and he sighed. That was the most he had heard at once but he still had no idea how the story ended. It didn't help that the story apparently had to be told from the top again each time Feric asked. He sighed. Perhaps as he got older it would be easier to focus for long enough.
โW-what were you doing baby?โ A shaky voice sounded from just behind Feric. He turned around and smiled at his mother, her slim face drawn tight, neck outstretched as she tried to see who her cub had been speaking to. There was no one there. There never was but her heart fell anyway.
There was something rather wrong with her cub. Every motherโs worst nightmare coming true just for her. Had she not prayed hard enough? Not worked long enough? Had the Triad remembered her indiscretions as a teen?
โMum? The lioness startled, before smiling softly at Feric. โI think we need to go see the healer again dear, remember mister Pofar?โ She nudged her cub to standing, but Feric just frowned.
โI dont want to go, he had sad and angry tools.โ
โHe needs those to help us to not be sick.โ She explained as they walked to the healerโs hut. Within the dark the healer could be seen, though that wasnโt was Fericโs attention was drawn to. There was another cub there, just a bit older than Ferric but sobbing.
They were being fitted with one of the collars his mother wore, one of the ones all but the youngest members of the pride and the leaders wore.
Ferric hadnt known it wouldnt be enjoyable to get it fitted. All the adults he had met had praised the collars. It was their saviour, what they deserved adn what protected them.
But right now it looked like it hurt that other cub, Ferric could hear the tools, the things the healer left around cooing to him. They whispered things Ferric didnt want to hear, and he covered his ears, wishing for them to be quiet. He hated it here.
โHuntress Liron.โ The healer said, nodding his head to Ferricโs mother. She shuffled nervously for a moment.
โFerric here is-โ She looked at her son who had now curled up on the floor with his paws pressed tight against his pointed ears. Lironโs shoulders slumped.
โHeโs still hearing things, talking to objects instead of other lions.โ
โHeโs just an imaginative cub maโam.โ He tightened something on the other cubs collar, making them whimper. โSorry, bud.โ He turned back to the lioness and her cub waiting near the entrance.
โFerric will grow out of it. There is no need to worry, it is simply a phase.โ
โA phase.โ Ferricโs mother repeated. She didnโt seem particularly impressed with the diagnosis, Ferric didnt care, he just wanted to leave.
Phase 2
But Ferric didnt grow out of it. He continued talking to necklaces, coins, rocks. Any items of value that presented themselves. His favourite was his fathers necklace. It was always willing to talk to him. To tell him of the fun adventures his father and father before him had been on. It spoke of the founders story.
He was ridiculed The necklace said. Ferric could relate, the other cubs teasing echoing in his mind. Just because he preferred to talk to the necklace didnโt mean he was crazy. He was sure he had heard others talking to seemingly themselves as well. He wasnโt the only one that could hear them, right?
โYou need to leave it behind you Ferric.โ Terron, another cub said. He was the only one who even sometimes talked to Ferric. The others just warded him off with prayers to the trinity. They didnโt want to catch the โcraziesโ.
โLeave what behind?โ
