Nakala stirred in his sleep, trying to find the comfort to continue his sleep. But he only felt hotter and hotter. The lion grumbled, the sensation gradually growing from a slight warmness to a heat that spread throughout his entire body, making him feel almost suffocated. The lion continued to lie there until he just could not take it anymore. He gave an annoyed growl and pressed a paw down on the ground to lift himself. But it was the surface under his paw that made him feel..off. It wasn't right... And the heat would not go away, only sinking deeper into him. Feeling like his very fur might catch on fire, Nakala dared to open his eyes.
His breath caught in his throat and he lifted his paw from the ground to his face. He rubbed his eyes, the lion just could not believe what he was seeing. But he didn't just see it either but he felt it, too. Underneath him, around him, beating down on him. Nakala jumped to his feet and looked around him.
"What?" Nakala weakly asked. Just how did I get here? Nakala found himself outside of the caverns. In the Outlands itself. There was no doubt about it. The sandy dirt under his paws and the unforgiving sun that he should have recognized from the beginning. But the question of how he is in the Outlands once again came to the lion. The last thing he remembered was falling asleep in his den, right next to Janja.
Well, I'm not gonna figure this out just standing here, Nakala huffed to himself, determined to get back to the cavern and get some explanations.
Within just one simple step a strong wind kicked up in an instant. Nakala winced and attempted to shield his eyes from the dust being kicked up and blown around him, only growing stronger and stronger. Daring to open his eyes, the lion couldn't see anything farther than the whiskers on his muzzle. Though it felt completely ridiculous to do so, Nakala called out in the whipping wind, hoping that someone could hear him.
"Hello?!" Nakala couldn't hear his own voice in the overpowering wind, but he was sure that he made noise that someone else could possibly hear.
"Hello.." Nakala flinched at the voice that seemed to be talking directly in his ears. It was so clear like there was no wind or dust at all. Even stranger than that it sounded...just like himself. Eerily like himself, perfectly like himself. Nakala dared to look around to see that the wind and dust had all stopped. The ground felt different as well and as he took another look around him Nakala realized that the entire landscape around him had changed. The dirt under his paws had a stronger firmness underneath and the sky above his head was filled with gray clouds, dark and menacing.
"Nice place isn't it?" Nakala whipped around and felt his entire being go cold. Standing right in front of him was him. Another lion that looked exactly like him and sounded just like him, too. But there was something wrong with the other lion. It's fur was rough and wild. The iris' within its eyes were a striking green. The thing that struck Nakala the most was the fact that the lion's muzzle, fangs, and paws were all soaked in what Nakala knew was blood. The other lion began to circle around Nakala, looking him over.
"W-who are you?" Nakala growled at the other lion.
"Me?" the lion chuckled. Nakala flinched upon seeing the other lion's red-stained fangs. "Heh. I'm Nakala."
"You're... Nakala..?" Nakala asked in complete confusion.
"I just came here to congratulate you," Other Nakala grinned at the confused lion.
"For what?" Nakala had no idea why he even dared to ask that question but he did anyway.
"For using your powers the way you did. Um...Killing that leopard I mean.." Other Nakala simply answered.
"That was an accident," Nakala growled. Other Nakala simply tilted his head and narrowed his eyes in response.
"Who are you?" Nakala asked at the lion staring at him.
"I already told you, I am you. But really...I'm who you can be," Other Nakala gave a small smile.
"I would never be like you.." Nakala growled, taking a step back. "I protect others. I protect the hyenas and I'm gonna make sure they get out of the Outlands."
"Hmmm..." Other Nakala tapped his paw on the dirt. "Do you really think something like that can really happen?" The other lion once again started to circle around Nakala once again. "I mean... We- You are a Pride Lander right? I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before you do what Pride Landers do to Outlanders. After all you're a lion. You are a predator, it is our—your natural instinct to kill after all..." the alternate lion purred, flicking his tail against Nakala's leg. Nakala hissed and spun around to the sensation. Other Nakala just chuckled at seeing Nakala panicked, if just for a little.
"It's a real shame anyways," Other Nakala sighed, taking a moment to stretch in front of the lion. "You're slowly turning. I'm sure you've noticed the change. Soon you'll you'll be just like Scar was back then..." Nakala flinched at those words, he didn't want to admit it but the other version of him was making some points that he couldn't explain or argue against but that didn't stop himself from explaining himself further.
"Something like that can't happen. I have the Roar now and I'm the one in control, not Scar," Nakala denied with a firmness in his voice and confidence in his eyes. It only made sense to him after all. He knew for a fact that he was not doing anything in particular that would line him up to repeat the path of his great lion. The more Nakala began to think about it his thoughts slowly shifted form a solid confidence to retracing major events in his life since he got the second Roar, trying to pinpoint anything that stood out from the rest.
"Is that some doubt I sense?" Other Nakala snickered. He stretched again followed with a yawn. "I mean really think about it. You can deny it if you want to, but ask yourself this; was that fight against those leopards normal all the way through?" Other Nakala rose to his feet and strode towards Nakala.
Nakala attempted to take a step back but found himself stuck in place. Other Nakala snickered again and stopped just a mere whisker's length from each other. The mysterious doppelganger tilted his head and chuckled once again, placing his paw on Nakala's shoulder. Nakala was confused until he felt a fierce swaying sensation. His legs were shaking in an attempt to keep himself balanced and his head suddenly was pounding. Nakala winced and faltered for a moment. He caught himself and opened his eyes to find himself completely new. But not really. He knew the location, the path towards the caverns entrance. But what was he doing here?
"Do you remember this? Of course you do," Other Nakala's voice chuckled in Nakala's. The lion spun around to locate where the other lion could be but there was no sign of him. "Look just over there."
Nakala spun around once again in frustration and found what the whispering voice was referring to. Nakala was frozen in place at what he was seeing or more accurately what he was seeing all over again.
"This is..." Nakala said in a hushed voice.
Nakala somehow was watching the whole fight against the leopards Badili and Mapigano playing right in front of him. Somehow he was watching himself in that moment. He saw himself fighting against Badili and doing his best to defend Janja.
"Do remember how that felt when you did it?" Other Nakala whispered, Nakala knowing fully well what the voice was referring to. "Even after all that blood you lost..." Nakala was now watching Badili loom over him and turn towards Janja. "..you found the power to get back on your paws...and slice that leopards throat open..." Nakala's whole body felt ice cold having those words whispered in his ears. And just as the voice described he was shown just that. Nakala hadn't really remembered what he did to the leopard, but now he could finally see it for himself. Rising to his paw, still bleeding heavily. He took a step forward, then another and another until he was running as fast as he could towards the leopard. Nakala saw himself run at the leopard and without slowing down at all he raised a clawed-paw and mid stride swipe it across the leopard's throat seemingly in an instant. Seeing it for himself for the first time Nakala was equally amazed and horrified. Even Badili himself seemed to not realize what happened to him as it looked like the lion just ran right past him and just as quickly came to stop. That's when the blood came out, spilling freely out of the four slits in the leopard's neck, much too quickly for the leopard to stop. Nakala watched him fall to the ground, convulsing and seemingly choking on his own blood.
"You should have been reveling in that feeling! Feel the blood pumping through your veins, how powerful you felt! Tasting the blood that was still wet on your fangs!" Other Nakala encouraged as Nakala watched the leopard die right in front of him once again. He couldn't bear it anymore and closed his eyes as tight as they could be.
"No! I only did that because I had to. If I didn't Janja would have died and maybe the others, too. I only did it to protect them!" Nakala felt that intense swaying once again. Unprepared for it, Nakala fell to the ground. Shakily getting back on his paws, Nakala looked around to see he was back in the barren Outlands just as before.
"Why do you have to be so difficult?" Nakala growled in frustration. Nakala couldn't see him but a chill ran down his spine, an intense feeling that something was looming over him. "I guess it doesn't matter anyway. You may think you're in control but at this rate the Roar will take over and you won't be able to stop yourself!" Nakala felt two clawed paws slam down on both of his shoulders.
Nakala sprung up from his sleep, gasping and panting. He scanned his surroundings, feeling stone under his paws and seeing a stone ceiling above him. It clicked in his mind where he was but he was still in a panicked state, made even worse by the fact that looming feeling had not gone away. Amana rushed to his side and pressed close to him.
"Hey! Hey. It's okay! It's okay," Amana assured the panicked lion. She was not entirely sure what had happened but figured the lion had a nightmare. He drifted off to sleep not long after she checked and wrapped his wounds. Nakala took to deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself and felt the looming feeling going away. "It's okay. It's okay now," Amana told him gently.