Across the small pond filled with lilies and lotuses, sat upright a majestic lion with a magnificent mane. His apex hunter's eyes were focused on the newly risen Ascension flower in the middle of the pond, even going so far as licking its lips in the process.
It was almost an overwhelming feeling, that the impenetrable darkness of the night was broken by the light of the birth of a new Ascension flower. To a point where even the natural arrogance, and overbearing air of the king of the jungle seemed futile.
But there he was, staring in awe at a sight he'd seen one too many times over his matchless lifetime.
Until, a pair of fleeing figures entered the far corner of his line of sight, on the other side of the pond.
The pair stopped, upon witnessing the ethereal beauty of an Ascension flower rising in the middle of the lotus pond.
The three figures, separated by the still water of the pond, the darkness hiding their features, and the flower, all watched as the breathtaking moment unfolded in front of their eyes.
Rising from the pond of lotus, a single green stalk held a violet flower bud that was about to bloom in full. Light streaming down from the cloudless sky above seemed to give the World Tree's precious treasures a holy hue with starlight.
The forest fell into deafening silence, a reminder that one of the World Tree's greatest miracles was about to blossom anew.
The three figures, two currently human, and one lion… were stuck in a dilemma.
Draken was understandably awestruck by a sight he'd never seen before. Of course, in his decades of military service and expeditions, he'd seen countless flowers, but never not already in full bloom. Plus, he'd never seen one in the eyes of a shifter.
As for Mistress Cleo, she's already focused on identifying if that lion overlooking them was a cause of concern. If it was the one she's thinking, then… it's better to go.
Fireflies started dancing around the flower, while the water in the pond started rippling, making the lilies and lotuses sway in delight.
The Ascension flower slowly opened its bud, like a newborn opening its eyes for the first time.
Draken— or Harambe— was teary eyed. Of all the times he'd seen an Ascension flower before, it always evoked within him feelings of dread. But now, looking at it in a different perspective, an Ascension flower was a sight to behold. Within him, his base instincts as a creature beneath the World Tree has woken up.
He felt his hands twitch, like a trigger finger craving to fire the bullet.
On the other side, the lion started walking up the path to the flower. Since the pond was not that deep anyway, he made progress quickly.
"My luck! This must be a mythical Paragon flower."
What struck Cleo and Harambe weren't just the words that the lion uttered, but also the fact that he talked! The lion was a shifter!
The lion continued walking. His face slowly came into the view of both Cleo and Harambe as he neared the light of the purple flower. "Oh? What a surprise! One of my friend's dearest concubines, and his lone shifter son! Always knew you'd survived, after you murdered one of my rhinos."
"Uhuru, the Usurper." Mistress Cleo was shaking violently now, releasing her forked tongue every other second. "The World Tree is truly gracious for giving me a chance to avenge him."
Harambe's eyes darkened. Not only did Uhuru usurp the throne his current self should now have, but in Draken's past life, this lion had always been one of the late king's most reliable swords of combat. Meaning, he'd faced him in several pitched battles in the southern territories of Ubwiza. The two of them had almost killed each other on several occasions in the past.
"Oh, don't be surprised. I'm not here to fight, you see." The lion changed into his human form in the blink of an eye. He was at least a full head taller than Harambe— who by human standards, was pretty massive already— and with his long, flowing golden hair and a full beard, he was both ludicrously charismatic, and intimidating. "I'm just here for this marvel."
Harambe didn't say anything else to banter, to the surprise of Cleo, and walked straight into the pond instead.
'Could it be just his false bravado?' Cleo readied to fling herself at Uhuru if needed be. 'No, he'd always been this reckless.'
"It's strange." Uhuru was upon the flower, stroking his beard as he wondered. "The valiant Crown Prince of Ubwiza, son of Harambe the Great, forever reckless, and doesn't back down from a fight, had fled from a simple, backwater skirmish. It's just strange… Have you, for some reason, changed and learned something from your near death experience?"
Uhuru laughed haughtily, his unrestrained confidence oozing from every fiber of his being.
All of a sudden, Harambe sent a seething blade of azure auric energy towards Uhuru.
It managed to scrape his cheek before dissipating, as Uhuru's reflexes were exceptional despite being caught off-guard.
"You talk too much, uncle." Harambe released a second, faster, horizontal energy blade at Uhuru's direction, his intention as clear as day.
Uhuru ducked the whistling blade, which only managed to cut several pieces of his golden brown hair after it sliced the Ascension flower's stem.
"Shit!" Uhuru was too late. Cleo had already caught the falling flower with her two hands and sealed it with a small box before scampering away.
The energy blades kept on coming for Uhuru from different angles nonstop, as Harambe neared. With the flower gone from the scene, Uhuru used the wiggle room to duck, dodge, and evade in all sorts of ways, showcasing his supreme dexterity.
Harambe was unrelenting with his ranged attacks, with Uhuru being pushed back closer and closer to shore, while sustaining an increasing number of injuries. 'You oddball still not retaliating? Maybe there's a trap or two?'
As Uhuru neared the shore, Harambe had a bad premonition. He stopped attacking and watched as Uhuru blocked the final two slashes with his sturdy arms.
"I really love it when I'm wounded. It makes me feel alive, you know, especially with frigid water like this." Uhuru licked the wounds on his right hand after dipping it in the water as if he's having fun. "That's the difference between me and you two gorillas."
"Are you delusional?" Harambe felt something was wrong. He could feel the sensation of the water below him, but he couldn't tell if it was chilly or not. "If you loved the pain, you shouldn't have dodged anything."
"I live for the pain, you know it from the bottom of your heart." A curved, sickle shaped runic weapon previously stuck by the shore was now being rinsed in the water by Uhuru. "Unlike the both of you."
Uhuru took out a small ring, and threw it haphazardly towards Harambe, who caught it, before slowly whistling and turning around.
The string of events not only dumbfounded Harambe, but also stunned Cleo. The usurper king didn't attack, nor did he cause any trouble for the both of them after they got the flower from under his nose. If Cleo gave it a thought however, such actions were par for the course from this unreadable lunatic.
"Why the rush?" Harambe had adjusted accordingly. In his mind, an oddball like Uhuru was harder to figure out than even the old king, even after so many battles.
"You're boring to play with. You changed a lot however, so maybe there's a good thing that came out of your brush with death?" Uhuru grabbed a floating lotus and devoured it. "Hmm… this would've been good for a salad, what a waste. I'm going now, mistress, and godnephew."
He swaggered out of the pond with sheer confidence that no one would sneak attack him from behind. "Oh, but one last thing! Look above the trees because any minute now, you should be able to see the smoke rising from the fire that burned your base! See you soon!"
"He didn't even take my attacks seriously." Harambe was both impressed and annoyed. How this guy could just swagger out like that is beyond him. Maybe he really is just toying with him. After all, that lion just ordered the burning of their base.
Cleo's eyes were glued far above the treetops, almost on the horizon, when slowly… a pillar of smoke rose from around where they came from, as Uhuru said.
Their base...
Cleo collected herself. "Harambe, what's with that thing he threw at you?"