The land of Sanitatum is said to be filled with magic, but it is also plagued by a contagious curse that threatens humanity's survival. It is the purpose of the heir to the throne, Simba Adofo, to inherit his father's crown and find a way to vanquis...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
There was a lovely gradient of color in the sky . The sun's head had begun to fall behind the mountains in the distance as the two boys rode along a barely identifiable trail that weaved through the trenches of the rolling hills.
They had been traveling for a day and a bit after they had freed the mother and child; Simba driving the carriage to where they needed to go while Hari quietly sat being driven to where Simba wanted. Hari passively followed along with Simba. He felt useless and idle. But Hari knew it was for a better future even if he couldn't see where it was leading him.
Hari wondered why he was so important to the King; which was incidentally the only reason he was still alive and safe. Hari had walked himself through everything that was significant about himself, and nothing seemed important enough to interest the royal family. It seemed so crazy to him that he played such an important and mysterious role in the royal drama of a kingdom he had never remembered visiting.
Despite his inability to see a reason or imagine himself beyond being the Prince's tool to a throne, the fact that he had been deceived his whole life about the world around him with the hollow projections of Nanna begged otherwise. They seemed linked, but there was nothing ideologically cohesive keeping the ideas together. She had isolated him from the rest of the world for a reason- presumably to protect him from whatever wanted to harness whatever he was useful for. Maybe it wasn't so complicated.
Perhaps it was just as simple as Nanna had said; all done to protect the world from his disease- there is a possibility that she didn't even know about the world and how it had already fell into chaos. Though that didn't explain Simba's father, or why she would condition his memory away overtime. The spider's web of dazzling lies was a beautifully crafted thing. There were holes in every web, but the only thing the flies caught in the web see are the silky lines that entangle them.
The phrase "birds fear lions" grew stranger again, as if it had no meaning at all after all that had happened. Hari was now teammates the very thing he should supposedly fear. Maybe he had even understood that simple phrase wrong. All he knew was that he knew nothing, and he felt powerless with an empty brain.
The carriage's sway was halted for a moment before he heard Simba's weight hit the dirt outside and his footsteps slowly making their way to the door before it swung open to reveal an exhausted face.
"It's getting late, and my father should only now be realizing his mistake. We earned a good night's sleep. We can set up a campfire and get some fresh air and rest."
Simba was talking to softly, like he had the day they met. Hari liked when he talked that way to him.
Simba extended a hand to help him down. The idea of touching Hari even with layers of clothing between them seemed worryingly normal now despite just a few days ago fearing the curse beyond anything else. But Simba knew that with the right motivation, Hari wouldn't risk afflicting him. It was a necessary relationship that, when broken, would kill them both.
