Heroes of Disney #1: Rise of the Firebird

Ch. 5: Hellfire

Timon rode on top of Pumbaa while he walked next to me. Zazu was gliding in the air a few feet away from me.

"A couple of days ago," began Zazu, "Everything was going swell in The Pride Lands. The antelope were prancing in the grassy fields, the rhinos were grazing in the grass, and the lions, well, most of them were either out hunting or basking out in the sun on top of Pride Rock. I was taking care of my daily duties, flying around the land and observing for anything out of the ordinary, and then reporting to Simba my findings."

"We were out hunting for grubs." Timon volunteered.

"Yes. Anyway, to sum up, things were normal. But the circle of life was too good to last. All of a sudden many animals came stampeding from the east of the land. Simba and I were watching this from Pride Rock, and we could see a blazing wall of fire consuming the grass. Now, normally, this would not be hugely out of the ordinary, considering fires get started in The Pride Lands all the time. But this was no ordinary fire. It was spreading way too fast. It was covering a mass expansion of land within seconds. Normal fire wouldn't move as swiftly. Soon, the fire reached Pride Rock, but by that time, Simba had evacuated all the lions and we were running along, trying to escape the flames. We, along with Timon, Pumbaa and many of the other African Animals managed to escape past The Pride Lands border, but we just barely made it. We never found out what had caused the fire, but once it cleared up, Simba and I went to explore the land."

Zazu stopped talking for a minute, as if he was trying to figure out what exactly to say. "The....The Pride Lands, was burned. All the grass, well, the grass that survived the flames, was blackened. Bushes and tress were destroyed, burned up, consumed in the flames. Even the rivers and ponds were dry. The heat from the fire had evaporated the water. But the most terrible sight was Pride Rock itself. Normally, fire wouldn't be able to hurt the great rock, but as it was, the rock had collapsed. Its outsides were quite blackened, and it just looked like a huge pile of boulders."

No one said much after that. What in the world could have caused that must destruction, enough destruction to destroy Pride Rock? No natural disaster could do that. It must have been caused by some Disney Villain of some sort. Or at least, that was my guess.

I racked my brain to try and figure out what Villain could have the magical capability to cause this much chaos? Jafar? Maleficent? These were some of the more powerful villains, but I wasn't even sure either of them could do THAT much damage.

I was too busy thinking about this that I didn't even notice where I was going, so I ran straight into Razoul, the chief palace guard of Agrabah.

"Whoops...sorry." I told him.

He leered down at me. "And who might you be, stranger?"

I gulped. He looked a lot less scary in the movie.

I glanced down at the sword clapped to his waist. "I'm, uh, Jamie Herinson. I'm an Earthling, and I was brought here by Mickey Mouse. I'm looking for Princess Jasmine."

"And why do you need an audience with the princess, Earthling?" He said menacingly. He leaned down and got in my face. His breath smelled of.... apples, strangely. I noticed out of the corner of my eyes my companions backed up a step.

"Well, it's a long story....and I don't think you have the time for long stories." I told him, hoping he would get the hint.

He didn't get the hint. He stood back up and crossed his arms. "Oh believe me, Earthling, I have all the time in the world."

But before I could respond, Zazu fluttered up in front of me. "Pardon me, Razoul, but we really need to get inside the palace. It's perfectly fine, the boy is with me."