[1st POV]
I'm a father.
Yo, check it out, I'm a father. I have children and shit, or cubs in this case.
My new title as a father was an identity I thought more of and was more proud of than being a king in that moment. It was like when I became a new king all over again.
"Please, Zuri, let me see them again," I asked in a whine.
I was sitting in front of their nest. The size of me was almost the size of four of them when they were crumpled up like that. I was sure it looked comical, especially since the humans took a plethora of pictures.
But I didn't give a shit.
I want to see my cubs.
"Just for a while, okay, they get cold quickly," Zuri said with a fond smile and rolled her body to reveal the three cubs she had under her.
I leaned down really close to look at them. They seemed like powder, milk and young blood. A lion cub in their first week was these tiny little critters that were completely blind. They were so vulnerable that they should not be exposed to outside factors for a while.
I wanna lick them.
But Zuri growled at me the moment I opened my mouth even a little. I looked at her.
"Sorry, instincts," she said with a sheepish smile.
I nudged the small cubs with my nose and licked them. They were so small that my tongue was nearly the size of their whole body. They fell over when I licked them, releasing cute cries as if to ask for help.
"Ok, ok, that's enough," Zuri said and pushed me away with her head.
"But I was just getting to know them," I said, but allowed myself to be pushed away.
"Shoo, go patrol and hunt or something," she said. Female lions were extremely possessive and even more protective at this stage of their cubs' life. "You'll play with them all you want after they grow."
"Your father will leave you alone now, babies," she said and softly groomed them. The cubs tried to dig their way inside her underbelly once more. They were still blind so they searched for nipples with their whole face.
It was adorable.
God, I think I was going to love them too much. That was not a good thing at all in the cruel world we live in. Especially since we were lions.
What if they tried to take over my kingdom and challenge me after they've grown? It was not rare for lions to challenge their father. If that time ever came, I might just lose on purpose and let them kill me.
Perhaps that would be a fitting end. Leo the mighty king, beaten by none. His only defeat came from his love for his cubs. Or something like that.
"Go," Zuri said and pushed me with her head again.
"I'm going, I'm going," I said with a laugh.
Although I was not going to harm them, I fought a lot and could be carrying a disease harmful to the cubs. So honestly, it was best that I was not too close to them.
After bidding the lionesses a final goodbye, I set out to patrol.
..
(Some time later)
"Do you know what you've done?" I asked the lion who had fallen beside my feet. His body was in mingles, his limbs were all broken. The shards of his own bones protruded in some places.
"Now I can't get near my cubs until I have a long grooming session," I said. There were two other dead lions around us.
A coalition of three had managed to survive the lions and actually came to the pride. Well, they didn't come to us but they came to the largest watering hole in search of water and prey. That place was reserved for my pride and me.
The only remaining lion released quiet whimpers. I decided not to finish him off and let him bleed out. I turned and walked away from the battle scene.
After leaving the scene, I analysed the injuries I sustained in the fight. It was more hurt than I would've liked. Perhaps having kids had softened me a bit. Any other time, I wouldn't give them the opportunity to even leave a mark. But now I had a small bleeding wound on my right shoulder and my forearm.
The dry season was coming to an end. I could already smell the rainclouds in the air. It would rain soon, and the wet season would begin once more. Not that it made much difference to the pride anyway. I actually preferred the dry season in terms of our diet. It was the climate that was the problem, plus the challengers.
I contemplated for a bit whether I should continue my patrol. I looked at the sky, and it was still afternoon. It would be a few more hours until nightfall.
In the end, I decided to continue my patrol. Actually, I think I would expand on my patrol area for today. I had nothing else better to do anyway, not like I would be able to play with my cubs after just having a fight with outsiders.
Coming back to the pride was fun but the females could be unbearable sometimes. Everyone wanted cubs inside their belly. That was fun most days but sometimes, a man needs his alone time.
"Grim," I called out while walking through the savannah.
"Grim," I called out again and a vulture eventually flew down beside me.
"Expand our range. I'm working overtime today, Grim," I said.
"Where do you want to go, my lord?" he asked.
I hummed before saying, "North."
"On it, sire," he said and took higher into the sky.
I made my way to the lake. I intentionally enjoyed my surroundings while on my way there. The dry season had bleached everything golden and brown. The odd season had its own charm that contrasted with the green wet season.
Looked more African if you get my drift.
When I reached the watering hole, I noticed quite a lot of other animals in the banks. But contrary to expectations, none of these prey animals ran when they saw me.
The smaller prey, especially the antelopes and the gazelle, knew that I would never bother to hunt them. My main prey were buffalo at this point.
I drank the water first. But while I did, the other animals actually came closer to me and decided to drink beside me. I lifted my head and looked around curiously before I shrugged and continued to drink.
But I eventually figured out why they wanted to drink beside me. I saw a movement in the water. The log-looking things that floated on the surface of the water slowly turned and moved away from me.
The crocodiles knew to give me space whenever I came to their lake. And the animals knew the crocodiles feared me, so they were taking advantage of my presence to get a safe drink.
"Boo," I said to the antelope that was putting his head too close to my side of the water.
The antelope flinched but never pulled his head out of the water. Instead, his round eyes just stared at me, unimpressed at my attempt to save him.
I laughed.
"Come on, you can drink as much as you want while I'm around," I said while looking around.
The animals heeded my call and came even closer to me. They sought out the safety of my vicinity. In the end, the space was getting tighter and tighter so I walked into the lake instead to go for a swim.
The prey animals quickly filled my absence and drank there. The other animals on the other side of the water came over to our side as well, and they took their turn to drink.
I laughed at the ridiculous sight and began washing myself in the water. The crocodiles eventually returned cautiously when the other animals came to our side of the lake. But they did not know how to get through me as I swam in their water.
Some tried to swim around me but I headed towards them, and they quickly turned away.
"Come on, let's go for a swim," I said and put my paws on a giant crocodile that was closest to me.
The crocodile exploded in the water. His jaw was moving at a frightening speed, but he never bit down. He was too afraid to bite me and was simply trying to scare me off.
But I didn't even react. Even if all the crocodiles in the water tried to fight me, I was confident in coming out alive. The bottom of the lake was still under my feet.
"Don't do anything stupid," I said and pulled the crocodile towards me and used him like an inflatable tube in a swimming pool.
I put my weight on him a bit and began moving to the deeper waters.
But the crocodile did not tolerate me for long. It quickly dived into the deeper waters and escaped from my grasp. They were armoured and slippery, so my claws did not hold them.
After my toy was gone, I staggered on my feet and slowly moved towards another crocodile. But it quickly ran away before I got close. I headed towards another and it ran too.
Looking back on shore, I even saw a giraffe using the safe spot to bend down and take a drink. I thought if I wanted to have a giraffe for dinner, but in the end, I still preferred buffalo meat.
So I ignored them and continued to swim.
...
I went out of the lake after I'd had enough water. I was very clean by that point, so I shook my fur and decided to continue my patrol.
I headed toward the North of my territory.
The North was the closest region to the Masai Mara which was experiencing wet season right now, so the land was greener than even the Central region. It was not hard to distinguish between the two lands and know where I am.
I saw interesting animals here as well. For example, the ostriches and the elephants herded something I stopped and watched for a while.
I continued my patrol until late afternoon came. The sun was starting to make its descent in the horizon and that was when Grim flew down to me.
"My Lord, I found something that interests you," he said.
"Lead the way," I said and followed him.
After around half an hour, when the sky was bleeding orange, we finally reached the thing that Grim wanted to show me.
I knew it immediately because there were many vehicles in one place. The humans had also gathered around something.
Curious now, I made my way towards them.
There were screams and panicked shouts when the humans saw me, but I did not react or show any signs of aggression. The humans ran back to their vehicles, while some did not go back and simply decided to move away from what they were all gathered around.
When I finally saw what it was, I paused.
I did not know what I was feeling, but I felt something big rising in my chest.
I walked closer to inspect the body, and there, I confirmed that it was a male white rhino that was lying dead on the ground.
"What... what killed him?" I asked but I got my answer when I saw the head of the rhino.
His horns. His horns were cut off.
My frown deepened.
I stood in front of the giant carcass. The rhino must've easily weighed above 2 tons. It was a gigantic beast which I would hesitate to take on even now.
But here he was, lying dead. His magnificence, power and dignity were ripped from him.
I smelled the body and quickly discovered the wounds all over his body. And when I sniffed that, I got the scent which I'd never smelled before in my life but knew exactly what it was.
Gunpowder.
..
..
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