Crown Prince Harambe II was close to losing consciousness.
His exceptional facial features had already been contorted by bulging black veins, and his eyes have taken on a harrowing purplish hue. He was experiencing waves upon waves of attacks from the poison inside his bloodstream, making him tremble for moments at a time.
However to him, death was a beautiful release the World Tree afforded him.
As a gorilla born heir to the throne of a feared kingdom at the height of its powers, his life had already been dictated to him from the day of his birth.
Now, with the poison encroaching within every inch of his body, he could feel as if everything he did to cater to his royal father's whims were just a lame, cruel joke played for him by fate.
It was then that a rhinoceros hybrid entered the periphery of his dimming field of vision.
You wanna deal the final blow, huh. How thoughtful of you.
With his eyes closed and a reckless, aggressive smile plastered on his face, he channeled the last remnants of his prodigious strength to his already transformed arm for a last act of defiance.
The rhinoceros shifter carried a dagger dripping with a pitch black substance, much to the ire of the near death heir.
Is this how rhinos fight now? With a lousy dagger? Use your horns, big man!
The horned man scorned the weak and pitiful appearance of the would-be king. A smirk appeared in his eyes before he hacked at the heir's heart with an exaggerated downward motion.
I will die on my terms!
Harambe II delivered a straight punch from a sleeping position to his assailant's irritating mug right as the knife cut open a shallow wound near his heart.
The punch not just bruised the rhino's face, and screwed his aim over, but it also flung him across the wall on the left side of the prince's room.
Harambe II didn't let up. Not caring about the new dose of poison in his body nor the wound, he rushed the stunned rhino while wearing a demonic, almost taunting smile. He gave him several more punches to the face, until it completely caved in.
The rhino's punching at his sides seemed nothing but vague, desperate flailing. However, Harambe II had none of it, as he held the pointy horn of his assailant with a vice grip, and manically ripped it apart from his head in a shower of blood.
Harambe had always been this brash, but had never been this savage.
He took the dagger— that was still dripping with poison a few steps away from them— and slit the rhino's neck with unparalleled decisiveness and calm, before slumping to the side as well due to his grievous wounds.
He spit out a disgusting amount of boiling black blood with a cough, and said: "Fucking bastard can't even finish the job. What a waste. Weak fuck."
An almost maniacal laughter filled the crown prince's bedchambers, his every pause meant more blood vomited. Pain was a feeling he could never understand after all.
Crown Prince Harambe II wore a victorious smirk through the two pools of blood he laid in.
He's ready for death now.
Maybe his father won't dictate his life anymore.
"May the world forever spite you for your transgressions." After saying those to seemingly no one, he looked up to the ceiling and slowly lost his defiant smile. "What a great way... to go…"
The sounds of yelling, and storming troops reached the Crown Prince's room from afar, however, as the first enemy soldier reached the kingdom heir's bedchambers…. the squallid stench of blood harassed their noses, and the lone corpse of a rhino shifter welcomed them…
"Your Majesty, you're awake!" The woman at the front with slits for eyes and a forked tongue said with tears streaming down her face. "This lowly one's wish had been granted!"
"How could this be?" Tears continued to flow out of his eyes, still not recognizing the fact that there were people with unique features kneeling in front of him. "There's no way… that fucking voice…"
Some more people entered the now cramped tent, all of them also kneeled afterward.
"Wish granted my ass!" He aired his grievances out with a loud yell that made a few of the kneeling people look up a bit.
"Don't look up unless His Majesty tells you so!" The woman at the front harshly said with her commanding tone, completely disregarding what Harambe said.
Seconds turned into minutes, however Draken was still in his own world, or rather, the world of Harambe II's memories. The snake-eyed woman was starting to show signs of irritation, willing herself to not abide by what she said herself and stand up.
She touched Harambe's forehead, and then his neck, before shaking her head. "His Majesty is still unwell, but at least he's gained consciousness… I just don't understand why—"
"I hate you!" A low growl came out of Harambe's mouth. "Why a gori—"
An almost heartless slap roused everyone from their kneeling.
"Mistress Cleo!"
Draken, or Harambe, was roused from his stupor by the cheek reddening slap.
"Wh— who the fuck slapped me?" Harambe sat up on the bed with difficulty after the painless slap. His breathing was still uneven, and the bulging veins on the temple of his head showed signs that the poison was still rampaging through his system. His eyes still had the same purplish hue…
Mistress Cleo was stupefied by what she'd done to the now supposed-to-be king of Ubwiza. She always was a woman who kept her emotions in check, but after hearing the cruel words that may or may not have been directed at her… she lashed out.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry… I lost control of myself… please forgive me…"
The people that were stunned by the slap behind Cleo laughed almost in unison. The sounds in the room became a cacophony of a lot of different noises… one was like chickens choking, the other was like a frog croaking, another was like a buffalo stepping on a rock… it was chaotic, but it felt pure, carefree…
For the first time, Harambe took in his new surroundings the best he could.
There was now ample lighting in the tent, a lot more than the single light source he saw earlier. He felt that the bed was more comfortable than it was earlier, and his new body looked even more muscular than what he first thought. Oh, the things he can do with this frame.
There was a crying woman beside him with snake-like features, surely, she's a snake shifter right?
And in front of him, he accurately matched every single bit of laughter to the animal shifter that owns it. There's a chicken, a frog, a buffalo, is that a deer? At the far back was a female jaguar, and a male hyena. Harambe felt like he was inside a human zoo.
"Am I really an Ani-shifter now?" He muttered in wonder.
"Your Majesty! Is everything alright?" The snake woman was hissing at the end of every sentence.
"I can't remember any of you, but please brief me about the current situation." Draken had always been proud of his uncanny ability to adapt on the fly. Since it's a gorilla shifter, could he have been reincarnated as the Ubwizan Crown Prince Harambe II now? But as a member of the Sunset Legion High Command, who doesn't know him?
'Game on, Voice in the Abyss! Whatever farce this is you're playing, I'll unravel it!'