THE LION KING: RANI'S MAGICAL STORY

CHAPTER II: DEJA VU/ THE PRESENTATION

"Daddy, we're home!" Rani said as she, her sisters and friends from school stopped in after a long day of tests and talking about strange dreams.

"Dad's not home. I wonder if he went to get some more gluten free food?" Alex, the fifth oldest of the Williams children said. Like her youngest sister and her father, she too shared a gluten allergy.

The three oldest, Jamie, Jocelyn and Jessica were all from Japan, and were adopted by Joshua and Victor. Jessica had a mild form of autism.

Alex had Down syndrome, was from India, and adopted as a baby by Joshua and Victor. Her older twin, Adrienne who had a mild form of autism, was also from India and also adopted. They both had brown skin and dark hair and eyes.

"Hmm, that's odd." Their friend, Rachel said. She had a slim and short physique, and long dark brown hair and dark blue eyes, and pale skin.

"He'd usually be greeting us on the sofa." Destiny, an African American girl with cornrow braids and beads said. With her were her siblings, Aliah, who had a bun in her hair, Brandon, who had his hair in cornrows too, but his braids didn't have beads; and Tony had his hair in an Afro.

"There's obviously got to be a reason why he's not here. It's not like he vanished into thin air." A boy named Adam said. He was gangly and had glasses, red hair and blue eyes, and he seemed to be a whiz. With him was a girl from India who had long dark hair and black eyes, and she had a red bhindi on her forehead. Nirvana was also a genius, but she was sweet. She was also his adopted sister.

"We know that, but where could he have gone? Let's hypothesize." his sister said.

"Unless...maybe there's something he had to go do and that." Jessica found a green leaf with her father's name on it.

"May I see it?" Rani asked.

Adrienne gave her the written leaf.

"It's a letter inviting him and us to something! I think a royal presentation!" Rani said after she finished reading.

"Oh wow! Really?! Cool!! Let's go!" The kids all simultaneously clamored with excitement.

"One question, though. Where is it and how are we going to get there?" Adam asked.

And right on cue, as if answering his question, a portal suddenly appeared and on the other side, it looked like an African savanna. They all went in, even Adam who was skeptical of the mystical side of things.

Rani's eyes widened in shock as she recognized the landscape in the predawn night from her dream. She beheld the humongous rock up ahead, and on top of the rock, was a powerfully built lion, and beside him was her father, dressed in the same important outfit. She also saw that he had the same glowing golden stick that she had reached out for in her dream.

Rani saw that her father was coming down the huge rock to meet them, and the lion with him followed suit.

"Welcome to Pride Rock and the Pridelands, everyone!" Joshua greeted. "All of you are officially invited to greet the newborn future king along with all of the animals. Here's someone I'd like all of you to meet, Lion to human. This is the current King of the Pridelands, Mufasa."

The kids all gasped and clamored in awe of this majestic lion beside Joshua. Mufasa was a powerful lion with a fantastic red mane and red tuft on his tail, yellow fur and red eyes, and his look practically screamed regality.

All the kids bowed, while Rani stood transfixed, staring at Mufasa with a mixture of awe and nervousness. She noticed her family and friends bowing, and she bowed quickly.

"Welcome," Mufasa's rich deep voice startled them all.

"T-thank you, your majesty." Rani said, still very much awestruck.