King

6 - Unease

Walking with his head roped to the cold distant floor, Kion returned to his rightful home of Pamoja. After travelling to the panther's clawed village for several days, the boy managed to return in a single night. He didn't know how he did it, but what would usually take days to travel took a single night. The vast time exchange was most likely due to the lion's deep thought throughout the journey back, and planning ahead for the threat regarding water... Water. Why was such a fundamental resource this significant of an issue world wide? He couldn't figure it out no matter how many times he returned to the subject.

As the light of the entrance-cave bled through, Kion stood at the datum point of his home, marvelling at the work. Again, he continued thinking of how to deal with the month long threat that seemed to near closer in every second. Slowly, the lion turned left and jumped down a couple ledges to follow the great wall to an acacia tree, one with several bickering white-faced monkeys.

"Bembea! Bembea, you there!?" He shouted. The bickering stopped and the small faces turned to the King. Then out popped a monkey that shook branches as it sprang.

"King Kion, you're back! Would you like me to alert the Kingdom!?" She squealed.

Kion hesitated, "I- uh... No, Bembea. Do not alert anyone of my return." He said sturdily.

The monkeys, that before were getting ready to sprint into various directions to distribute the message suddenly started bickering once more.

"Kion?" Bembea concerned.

The truth was, the King didn't want any attention at the moment, either from his friends or his subjects. He had too much to think about, too much to deal with.

"Remain out-posted here and await further instructions, for now, I will rest."

The monkeys were even more confused now, watching the exhausted and tiresome lion practically fall towards the Royal quarters. He was usually so energetic, so fruitful, even after returning from one of his mysterious trips. Once the King approached his room, he suddenly felt a bit better. He always felt a presence, an aura guiding him from inside his very own cave, and when he got a look at it, he felt even better.

The thing was that only the Pamojan King was allowed to step inside his settlement. A rule not brought from the King himself but by the Pamojan subjects in respect for their leader. The room was large, larger than the other rooms laid out in a row after Kion's. From the entrance where the King stood, a large drop off hung several meters high to a small and shallow bioluminescent lake down below. Small tropical fish swam in repeating motions around the pool, and a stream, that was explored by small creatures, leads down to another, larger river that heads into a somewhat small watering hole. An overhanging path weaved around the wall that Kion followed to a very populated green area filled with several kinds of thermogenic flora, plants that can generate heat in harsh temperate conditions. These plants also generate a radiating pink colour, that seems to glow more the darker and deeper the cave becomes. These very same thermogenic plants also situate themselves around the edge of Kion's small lake below him, which has a narrow stream flowing down the wall from several cracks in the rocky ceiling, keeping the level of water constant. As Kion neared the greenery, his bed, made up of several layers of incredibly soft shrubbery could be seen. This bed was surrounded by rocky walls and these walls were littered with thick vines and several purple plants that dotted around the vines like lianas. Due to the constant wall of flowing water crossing over all the plants and shrubs, the plants never seemed to die or perish, but slowly degrade and move, seeming to maintain the concentration along the cave's volume.

The lion slowly approached his soft undergrowing bed, then gently pawed the patted material to check it's tactile nature is still there. He nods at the texture, then slowly trots to another side of the cave, one with several white markings and a shard of chalk laying on the ground. He looked at the cold wall, thinking once more.