Kael stood up, prompting Katari to sit up as well. A stark difference between the two was now made evident at the moment.
Kael was tall, for a one-year-old lion. He towered over Katari by half a head. An outsider would think that Kael was hoarding and eating all the food.
Kael felt this was just a perk of being a primordial lion. Even Bethel in the memories, was very tall.
Although he could not measure just how tall Bethel had been with that memory alone, he could tell when he compared his height to the other lions and lionesses. As a lion and as a humanoid, his height was indeed incredible.
Kael paced around, back and forth, to and fro. He contemplated and contemplated, thinking of how he could access this power he had just discovered.
Katari sat up, looking at this 'little' golden lion she had come to care so much about.
'Wait…' Kael held back his thoughts from wondering. 'Lion Heart..'
'What is a lion heart?' He turned to face Katari, but his eyes were unfocused. 'Is it the literal heart of a lion?'
*BA-DUMP*
Kael felt the faint beating of his heart. Like every other person, he barely paid attention to his heartbeat.
He noticed that his heartbeats were rhythmical. There was a certain pattern to it that gave Kael the feeling of listening to an incomplete song.
It was like a sound engineer had made a soundtrack. When played, it sounded good to the ears, but just when it was about to reach the climax, it abruptly ended.
'It's all wrong…' Kael thought, 'The pacing is all wrong.'
He didn't know how he knew but the sound of his heartbeat was just not working with him. It felt way too off.
'How would it sound like if it was corrected,' He asked himself, 'I would know once I hear it.'
To the ears of an ordinary person, there was nothing wrong with the pacing and rhythm of his heartbeat. But to him, it felt weird that something so erroneous was coming from inside him.
'How do I correct it?' Kael asked himself as his walking pace got quicker. He became excited at the thought of this.
Then he stopped. The only thing Kael could think of was to will his heart to beat correctly. This was logically impossible.
Still, there was no kind of surgery Kael knew about that could do to his heart what he wanted, nor was there a surgeon nearby. And he most definitely wouldn't think of placing his heart in the care of a surgeon so easily in the first place.
After thinking of all the possibilities, the only thing left was to will his heart to heat correctly even though it was technically impossible.
But alas, dying and reincarnating into the body of a lion should also be considered impossible, yet here he was. 'It wouldn't hurt to give it a try.
Kael sat down, sighing, he felt that every second that passed without him doing something that brought him towards success was time wasted.
He had a deadline to meet. No matter how much the lionesses could come to love him, it wouldn't change the stance of the pride leader, especially if he was not powerful himself.
Soon, he would have to face the pride leader and possibly uncle. He would either have to submit and become a subordinate to the pride leader, or leave the pride.
Kael was willing to leave the pride, and he had no intention of taking over this pride in the first place. But who is to say that the pride leader wouldn't kill him in the process of growing up?
Lions killing their male cubs was not something odd and it happened a lot in the savage lands. Anything to keep the competition away.
In order to start his own pride, he must first be alive to do that.
Giving one final sigh under the evening sun and the cool breeze. Kael walked to his boulder, and Katari silently followed.
They passed by many cubs and some lionesses who rubbed heads with him as a sign of affection. These were the few pride members that had grown to like him.
But once they greeted him, they went back to their own thing, sleeping or playing around. Katari was the only one who continued following Kael.
They reached the boulder. This large rock had a lot of tally marks on it that covered a section of its body.
When Kael stood before the boulder, he reached out with pale goldish-white claws. He used one claw to scratch a line on the surface of the boulder.
His claws were still different from that of the primordial lions in the memory space. Theirs were metallic gold, while his still looked like the sharp bone extensions that they were. The only difference between his claws and the rest of the pride members was the faint golden hue that was settling up on them
This was how Kael was sure that his transformation was not yet complete. But he couldn't wait for it to be completed.
He quickly jumped to the top of the boulder. There was only room for one if not Katari would have joined him.
After getting comfortable, Kael concentrated on himself.
*BA-DUMP!*
He concentrated on his heartbeat, the thing that was keeping him alive.
*BA-DUMP!*
He could hear that nagging erroneous beat once again. With nothing but his thoughts, he commanded the error to stop.
…
…
…
Of course, it didn't work. He wasn't doing any of this out of instinct or anything similar, he was being purely innovative. All the other primordial lions were born as Primordial Lions, they did not have to experience what Kael was experiencing so there was no other outside experience to learn from.
Kael tried a different approach, he would attempt to fix that last note of the heartbeat by forcing it to take a different rhythm. And by force, he meant to imagine.
*BA-DUMP*
The note came, and Kael hurriedly held his breath and imagined his heart beating the way he wanted it.
*BADUMP! BADUMP!*
The air seemed to solidify as a terrifying primordial aura leaked out for a split second.
Katari and all the lions immediately became alert. They looked around, wondering where that sense of danger was coming from.
The pride leader got up, panicking. He turned around, looking everywhere for the threat.
It was strange, he didn't hear anything or receive any strange smell, yet he was aware that a threat was near him. Even Uncle had become restless.
Kael kept his eyes closed, oblivious to all that was happening. He had felt his heartbeat get altered for a second before reverting back to its default. He was surprised as he didn't actually think it would work.
It sounded better to his ears, he wished it could continue like that. Now he knew what his heart should sound like when it was beating.
Once again, he waited for the right timing before he held his breath and imagined the rhythm being corrected.
*WHOOM!*
This time, the invisible ancient aura spread out in an omnidirectional pattern and it lasted a lot longer before disappearing.
Katari turned her head to stare straight at Kael. That aura gave her the feeling of standing before a timeless and powerful existence, that feeling was coming from Kael.
Not just her, The pride leader had intelligently tracked the source of the aura. His beady red eyes locked on Kael who still had his eyes closed.
The pride leader began walking slowly toward Kael. His steps showed he hadn't thrown caution away.
Seeing the pride leader move, the lionesses grew cautious too. Especially when they saw him walking towards Kael.
Nalii ran towards Kael, reaching him before the pride leader did. But she didn't try to touch him, she just faced the pride leader, ready to defend her child.
Some other lionesses and cubs were also slowly walking to Kael. They were mostly curious to understand what was happening, but their claws which were already out sooke of what hid at the back of their minds.
Katari looked at all this with her teeth bared. She was not even trying to hide her aggression towards the incoming pride leader.
The pride leader merely glanced at her, not halting his steps at all. Uncle followed behind him and at his farther flanks were the few lionesses.
*BADUMP BADUMP BADUMP…*
Kael heard noises but still had his eyes closed, he was completely focused. He felt he was close very close. The previous time, he could not keep the rhythm well, causing it to end after four seconds.
When the right timing came again, he held his breath and once more imagined his lionheart beating the way it should.
*BOOM!*
The aura wave spread out magnificently. The pride members were the ones to receive the full brunt of it.
They felt like they were in the presence of an ancient existence. They felt like this ancient existence was just a few actions away from tearing down and rebuilding the laws of the world. It was akin to an ant standing before an elephant.
This feeling was terrifying, but it was also exciting. The lions felt excited, they felt like something that had been lost to them had finally returned. They didn't know what they had lost, but they knew it had finally been found.
Kael was overcome by a deep desire to roar. Before he could put a stop to it, his jaw opened wide against his will and released an unholy sound.
*ROAR!*
It was a roar that commanded all to bow or be consumed. Short and straight to the point.
The pride members weren't the only ones who heard this roar though, for this roar transcended space and time to pierce into as many realms of existence as it could.