The sun is shining at the morning sky as its light shines all across The Pride Lands, all of the animals are doing their normal routine of living in a peaceful and serene day.
“Panic and run, panic and run!”
Well, almost peaceful.
In the Chakula Plains, the zebras got to a sudden panic, thanks to Thurston who got startled by who knows what, and started scrambling everywhere. However, there is a certain danger that they didn’t took notice. Above the canyon they are close to, the clatter of their hooves had echoed throughout the area that can cause an avalanche to fall above them. And it is not made of snow.
From a hill not far from them, five lionesses stood out looking with bold expressions. At their left shoulder is a known mark of a roaring lion’s head, its mane blazing behind its head as it faces the left. There is only one mark that signifies this; The Mark of the Lion Guard.
Without hesitation, the lioness in the center let out a cry which is followed by the rest.
“’TIL THE PRIDE LANDS END,”
“LION GUARD DEFEND!”
They began rushing towards the zebras who are still not noticing the danger above them. One of the lioness, second to the middle one’s left, grayish fur with slightly brown coloration, light gray paws, underbelly, and muzzle, and pink, pointed nose, focuses her greenish blue eyes at the rocks above the herd as it flashes blue. Among the five, her eyesight can see things from afar and in the dark, giving her the title of the Guard’s Keenest of Sight.
“Vitani, we only have seconds to get them out of there and fast!” the lioness said.
The one in the center of the looked at her and nodded in understanding, her small tuft on her head moving through the wind. Looking at the two at her left then at her right, she began giving the commands to this mission.
“Alright team, herd them out as fast as possible. If it comes, I know what to do,” Vitani said to them, earning firm nods from them.
Back at the herd, they continued to run around in panic, still not aware of the situation they are in. All of a sudden, something run pass them and another started bumping them to a certain direction. Soon, the herd regrouped and calmed down once more, now away from the going to be avalanche which now they notice as well as the group of lionesses that they recognized.
But, one of the female zebras looked around the herd with worry, trying to find someone.
“Wait, where’s Kwato?” she said out loud, getting their attention as well.
“Mom!”
Everyone turned to where the avalanche is going to happened and saw far from it a young male zebra limping slowly towards them, his left back leg is wrapped with long leaves along with a sturdy stick to keep the leg straight. It is quite hard for the young one to keep up with the herd since he had to make sure not to go fast due to what happened to him a long time ago.
In the situation he is in now, he won’t make it out of the danger zone and the rocks are going to fall at anytime.
The mother stared in horror as the rocks started slipping. At this point, the rocks are going to crush him. Looking at Vitani who looked back at her, she said to her in desperation and distress as what a mother does.
“Help my son,”
Without a word, Vitani rushed towards the endangered young zebra. At her speed, she can only reach him in time but not enough to get both of them out. Some of the rocks started falling and barely missing the terrified foal.
“Looks like I have no other option,” the lioness muttered to herself. “Hopefully my training is enough for this,”
Then all at once, the whole thing topples and the avalanche is now falling above young Kwato who can only shut his eyes and wait for the rocks to fall.
“Roar!!”
The young zebra heard the roar mere seconds and didn’t felt anything heavy fell over him. Slowly, he opened an eye then opened the other with sheer amazement and confusion. Above him are the rocks, but what shocked him was they are floating in the air. Still hearing that roar, he turned around and saw Vitani continuously roaring, angled to where the rocks are.
“Kwato, get out of there!”
He was broke off his trance when he heard her mother and limped as fast as he can go. On the other side, Vitani continued the long, lung aching roar that held the rocks in place. Ever since she saw Kion demonstrated one of the Roar’s real power, she had been training to see what other secrets it holds. Apparently, she overworked herself that she didn’t had the chance to rest or have time to relax which worried her brother, the royal family, and the rest of the Lion Guard.
One day, the first leader, Askari, showed up to her and told her that it may be good to train her Roar, but focusing on it too much can cause unwanted occurrences, one being the instinct of ignoring those she is close to and those she love. Realizing this, she thanked him and apologized to his team and his family. They are glad that she saw her faults and forgiven her action.
Right now, she is trying to keep the rocks from falling over the poor young animal but with the urge to tiredness and the mild pain in her throat and lungs, she is close to her limit as she struggle. Fortunately, Kwato is finally out from under the rocky avalanche as soon as she stopped, making the rocks pile over to where the herd would have been splattered. Everyone cheered as the mother let out a breathe of relief while Vitani smiled even in her tiredness.
However, as they celebrate, they didn’t notice the large boulder on top of the rock pile tilting towards the young zebra. The grayish lioness turned her head towards the limping foul then saw the falling boulder with sheer terror in her eyes.
“LOOK OUT!”
All of them turned to her direction and gasped in horror. Vitani, turned her head above the foul and could only watch in fear due to her unmoving, tired body. Kwato turned his head up in time to see the boulder tumbling closer to him. No one needs an expert to know how much fear is coursing in his heart. He didn’t hear her mother cried out his name in distress and terror.
“Kwato!”
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a ball of flame whooshed past the young zebra and smashed into the boulder before it could got too close to the foal, creating a giant cloud of smoke that covered the whole scene. Those who are away from the event can only express with large amount of shocks, worries, and confusions.
Within the smoke, Vitani and Kwato coughed a bit before they tried to look around. Miraculously, they survived without a single scratch. Soon, the smoke cleared and what behold before them is unexplainable.
“Hevi Kabisa,” Vitani said, one of the times she would use Kion’s words at that moment.
“Whoa,” the young zebra breathed out.
In front of them where once is a pile of rocks is now nothing but scattered rubble and chunks of remains, all blasted away from the young animal. After a few moments of silence, the mother galloped towards her youngling with a mixture of relief and worry with the others behind her.
“Kwato!” she shouted, getting the young zebra’s attention as she slowed down until she is beside him and lowered her head to rub her cheek against his.
As they watch this, the lioness looked around the surroundings. She knows that something like a ball of flame wouldn’t just came out of nowhere, especially that the volcano in the Outlands hadn’t shown signs of eruption and is on the other direction. Cautiously, as she observed the environment before her eyes gazed at the sky and was surprised and confused of what she saw.
High in the sky, blocked by the sunlight, in a size of a humming bird, seemed to be a figure of a creature with, to her bewilderment, four large wings, a long neck and tail, and three horns above its head. Before she could inspect more, the creature flapped its wings and flied in to the thick clouds. She blinked a few times, still staring at where the creature went with hints of suspicion.
This isn’t actually her first time she saw something out of the ordinary.
“Tamaza?”
The lioness snapped out to reality and turned to the animal who called her. Calling her is a brown-grey lioness with lighter ones at her paws, underbelly, and muzzle. Her stripe on her head is a dark color as well as the tuft of her tail. She also has dark cyan eyes and a crimson nose.
“Are you alright? You hadn’t moved or said a word back there,” she said to her.
“It’s nothing, Shahaba,” Tamaza replied before looking back at the sky. “I just thought I saw something in the sky. What it is? I don’t know myself,”
“Well, we’re heading back to the lair,” Shahaba notified her as the others are now making their way.
Glancing at the sky one last time, the gray lioness followed beside the others. Behind the clouds, the same being watched from an unseen distance. Clinging behind it is a small, furry, brown creature that is the size of the big one’s palm. The small one watched the Guard with their big, blue, eyes and snickered in a bubbly, childish action. They then turned their head to look at the big being’s amber eyes and nodded.
With an loud screech, the enormous creature shot straight and flew towards a jungle that is close to the boarders of the Outlands. As the soared, the little one had a thought in mind that made them roll their eyes playfully.
‘They’re really going to be crowding me when they found out about my new friend,’ then, another came to their head that made them think deeply. ‘But how am I going to tell the others about this? Other than my sister, the royal family, the protectors, and my friends, the others, including my family, didn’t know about this,’
A grumble took them out of their thoughts and looked in front to see the creature they are riding on is glancing over, its eyes telling them not to think of it. They smiled widely in understanding.
“You’re right, Aster, one step at a time,” they said and with an optimistic and joyful smirk, the shouted “Hiya!” and Aster flew faster with the same emotion as the rider themselves.
It will be a moment in time before the truth comes out…
Just hoping it isn’t too soon.