THE LION KING: THE HEART OF ZION

PROLOGUE

A/N: A bit of backstory is I run a TLK RP based around this plot I started a long time ago. But have never written. While it's in a slow period, I decided to write out the story it originally started as!

This is liable to be a bit of a longer story. And was sort of influenced by another Disney classic, Atlantis. I hope you all enjoy the ride and enjoy the tale I intend to spin for you!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own The Lion King, only my OCs.

PAIRINGS: SimbaxNala, KiaraxKovu, KionxRani

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It is said, in the time of the Great Kings - the Pridelands were home to the mysterious creature, Human. Together, they and the Kings formed an alliance that spanned centuries... Until one day, humanity vanished.

From the land and from memory.

In the human world, the only record of such an alliance was an ancient lost civilization known only as "Zion". A place of wonder and magic - somewhere no man had seen for thousands of years.

Brave men and women have spent centuries searching for it... And the mysterious, powerful treasure hidden with it. None ever returned successful...

And then... It's said, three birds fell from the sky - and the Pridelands would never be the same...

THE LION KING: The Heart of Zion

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JANUARY 1942

Samuel Irons woke with a parched throat and seething pain all over his body.

He'd told David something wasn't right about this... When he'd signed up a year ago to be his research assistant he hadn't expected the older man to be this spontaneous. If anything, he'd expected him to be a bit of a laid back old guy, studying lion mating patterns and taking little notes...

But what would become known as World War II scared everybody. And when a man stepped into their little office with an offer of big money to travel with him to Africa - as a wildlife expert, David couldn't pass it up. He'd told the fourteen year old it would be an adventure, a strange new land with lots to explore. In search of some sort of treasure...

They'd been on a plane with thirty or so other men when the storm had hit. Unlike anything Sam had ever seen in fact. Sam didn't remember much after that, only the feeling of fear - of the inevitably of death. Then David had shoved the last parachute on the transport into his hands. With soft brown eyes he stared into his own blue ones and said the last words he'd ever hear from him:

"Be strong. I'm so sorry, Sam..." He pulled the chute before he could argue; sending him into the whistling air.

He'd flown some time before hitting a tree and being sent plummeting.

And then. The pain. Sam rubbed the back of his head and sat up, the pain in his leg almost unbearable. As someone David had found scrounging around dumpsters, he had his fair share of injuries. But there was nothing quite like falling from the sky and crashing through a canopy of trees...

He was acutely aware of several things: there was no sign of the plane, no sign of any other humans, and he was totally alone.

A quick assessment of his leg showed that it had been gashed open, maybe broken. Sam was a lion researcher trainee after all, not a doctor. So he'd had no choice those first few, horrible days but to rest there and pray to God that no animal got to him.

It was almost too quiet he told himself in those first few days. What animals he did see seemed scared of him, and though he heard what sounded like voices, no humans made themselves known. So, when he'd regained some of his strength, he brought himself to crawl...