[Concept Contest]N'ezi-ozu |First Through the Pass : Closed

[Nezi-ozu]

An earthquake has shaken the region around what was thought to be an impassable caldera. In it's wake, a pathway has been formed. What brave souls might venture through to find what lies beyond?


Welcome to the first N'ezi-ozu joining event!

The characters below will ICly be the first to discover the opening into the N'ezi-ozu lands (besides the pregnant rogue from the Meta), and will be the first in a long while to join the ranks of the Death Keepers.

Rules

• Please familiarize yourself with the pride culture and customs before entering. Click the banner above to go to the pride subforum!
  
• While you may enter for any/all of the following lions, you may only win one and you may only enter once for each character.
  
• These characters may not leave the N'ezi-ozu after joining.
  
• No discouraging others from entering.
  
• Winning a character in this event does not count towards your entry limit to the N'ezi-ozu. You may apply for another character to join in the regular joining applications thread.
  
• At this time, evil or ill-intentioned lions will be turned away from the border. No matter how hard they try to hide any ill-intentions, they will be found out. As such, any entries with such characters will probably not do well.

Starts: Now!
Ends: Wednesday August 1st, 11:59pm PST

 

[Nezi-ozu]

It has been a long while since you were first brought word of death keeping lions living among the caldera. The word had come from birds and other creatures that could not be kept back by the steep and otherwise treacherous caldera slopes. You had not been so blessed. It seemed as though you had circled these lands countless times, yet found nothing. So when the earth shook beneath your feet and there came the sound of rocks tumbling nearby, your heart leapt with hope...

Prompt:
This lion is the first of the joining group to learn of the N'ezi-ozu. But what brings him to these lands? Why does the rumored culture of this pride call to him?

Entry form:

[b][color=purple]I Will Find A Way[/color][/b]

[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Lion Name:[/b] (And meaning, if applicable)
[b]Prompt Response:[/b] (IC or OOC, character personality or background or RP response or all/any of the above, it's up to you!)

 

[Nezi-ozu]

You have a life you are trying to leave behind. You have hurt others in some way, and have sought forgiveness. Your efforts to leave your old life have brought you to this place. A new home, a new life, a new beginning among the Death Keepers. (Note: Rehoming blank slate from oo DeD)

Prompt:
This lioness is leaving behind a lifestyle one might consider treacherous. What exactly might this mean? What has she done? And what prompted her to change her ways and turn a new leaf? (Note: She must truly be repentant. If in her heart she still seeks to do wrong then she will be turned away by Nchekwube.)

Entry form:

[b][color=mediumspringgreen]I am Forgiven[/color][/b]

[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Lion Name:[/b] (And meaning, if applicable)
[b]Prompt Response:[/b] (IC or OOC, character personality or background or RP response or all/any of the above, it's up to you!)

 

[Nezi-ozu]

Prompt:
Not much is known about this lion aside from the fact that death has affected his life in some way. How? Does it affect why he has joined the pride? (Note: Rehoming blank slate from oo DeD. He has a living twin owned by Kieko)

Entry form:

[b][color=goldenrod]I am no Stranger to Death[/color][/b]

[b]Username:[/b]
[b]Lion Name:[/b] (And meaning, if applicable)
[b]Prompt Response:[/b] (IC or OOC, character personality or background or RP response or all/any of the above, it's up to you!)

 

[Nezi-ozu]

The Intrepid Explorer

1. Midnightglow18 - pg1

The Repentant

1. Midnightglow18 - pg1
   
2. KasaiLoki - pg1

The Death-Touched

1. Midnightglow18 - pg1

 

[Midnightglow18]

I am Forgiven

Username: Midnightglow18
Lion Name: Lethe (Oblivion)
Prompt Response: Lethe has lived in the rogue lands since she was barely more than a cub, she has stolen from others who might have starved because of her choice. She has killed to survive and felt the guilt burn her heart. Her mother abandoned her leaving her to try and survive on her own. Her trust issues made it impossible for her to join a pride as a cub or adolescent. She now seeks a home where she can die and be reborn into a new life. She wants to forget everything she did to survive in her past and bury the bones of her past for good. Lethe heard about the Nezi pride from a passing vulture. She searched the area for weeks before the ground shook beneath her paws and the huge noise rumbled across the land. Lethe wants to become something else a protector or a healer, she wants to become the kind of lion others can look to for help, not for a claw in the back.  

[Midnightglow18]

I am no Stranger to Death

Username: Midnightglow18
Lion Name: Asklepios (Possibly means "cut up" in Greek. Asklepios (Aesculapius to the Romans) was the god of healing and medicine in Greek mythology.)
Prompt Response: Asklepios' mated died and he was heartbroken, he had been searching the rouge lands for a reason why his young mate was taken from him some reason for the cards he was dealt. In his travels, he met a young waterbuck who told him of a pride of lions who seemed to know a great deal about death. So he has been searching for the pride for a very long time. Upon learning more about the pride he wants to learn from the Di-anyi because the pride he once lived in had no healers which may have been why his mate had died.  

[Midnightglow18]

I Will Find A Way

Username: Midnightglow18
Lion Name: Indra (Possessing drops of rain)
Prompt Response: Indra has felt like a piece of himself has been missing since he was a cub, he was raised in a nice pride. Still, he kissed his family goodbye when he became an adolescent filled with a need to find the thing he felt like he was missing. Early on he heard rumors of a pride based on death and rebirth. So he started his search for this mysterious pride. Indra has been searching for years for the death pride. So many nights dreaming of another life where he was different and lived a different way. Bones and songs filled his head night after night. No one in his family could understand his dreams, he has felt for years that his only hope is to find this pride and see if they can help him.  

[KasaiLoki]

I am Forgiven

Username: KasaiLoki
Lion Name: Saido (Shadow, Punjabi)
Prompt Response:

Saido grew up learning the ways of an assassin.

She was given to the group by her parents in order to spare their life after a deal they could not pay on. The lioness killed without mercy, using the night and shadows to her ability, eventually rising in the ranks of the small band until she was trust-worthy enough to be second in command.

One day, she was given a mission to kill a pair of lions. One's that had failed to keep up their end of a bargain. To Saido, it was another mission. Quick, and easy. What she did not know, was the ones she was instructed to kill were her own parents. She wouldn't have known who they were, if it wasn't for the leader telling her that evening after he consumed one too many fermented fruit offerings from a small group of klipspringers, who gave the food items in exchange for protection.

Maybe it was a momentarily lapse, or the edges of her childhood memory starting to show, but that evening, the first time in years, Saido found herself guilty as ever. The blood of her parents on her claws. She decided; This was it. She couldn't run. They would surely follow. The lioness needed to kill.

So she did. It was a fight she was slated to lose, but she had the dark shadows of the night on her side. She could meld into them and hopes the lions were either too tired, or too drunk to notice her.

By morning, the land was watered with blood. The corpses of the lions covered the ground, leaving Saido living amongst the dead.


---

Saido does not want to take the lives of others anymore. That life (the only life she really knew) is behind her. She is trying to learn from her old ways to be better. In order to up with that, she travels with a small Klipspringer she met shortly after the massacre. She figures, if she can travel with a prey beast and not kill it, she believes she can withhold the urge to follow what she has been taught.

[OoC note: because she has grown up this way, she may be more prone to skirmishes, but her klipspringer bond is nearby, she will stop.]
 

[LadyPipen]

I am Forgiven

Username: LadyPipen
Lion Name: Wokovu - "Salvation, Rescue, Liberation"
Prompt Response: Wokovu began her life as a tragedy. One small, single cub to a couple's first litter, a runty young thing. Her father, he adored her from the moment she took her first breath, adoring his firstborn with all his great heart. By all accounts, to the lions who traveled with her nomadic parents, so was her mother. The picture of adoring maternal instinct, though to this very day, by Wokovu's word she was anything but. A lioness who wanted the perfect little family and the perfect little life, yes- but Wokovu far from fit this picture of perfection. Small, and frail, and sickly as a cub, it hardly matter how quickly she grew and how much strength she gained as she grew older, the damage was done the moment Wokovu opened her eyes.

Born small, prone to illness as a newborn cub and with incredibly poor eyesight, Wokovu was no fit for her mother's idea of the perfect little family... So long as she was the only cub, her mother tolerated her existence, playing the part of loving mother when there were eyes around, and merely making sure the idiot cub didn't kill herself when there weren't others about- but this all changed the moment her second litter was born, and this time, it was not a disappointment.

Two perfect, beautiful cubs. Twins, a boy and girl both, neither runts and neither disappointments, and this was the moment Wokovu's life, safely average, took a turn for the worse. Her father wasn't always around- her mother was so engrossed with her children, it fell to her mate to hunt as well as guard the patch of land they called home while she 'recovered' from birth, doting on her new cubs, her newly weaned Wokovu forgotten.

Two things remained the same- in the public eye, when her father or neighbors visited, Wokovu was no different from her siblings, her mother playing the part of the loving and maternal matriarch. Her father remained her ever loving confidant, as well, between his ever-lengthier absences- he always considered her discontent just the usual upset a young cub might have when she has to share her parents with new siblings, and perhaps in the beginning, it was. Very soon, however, Wokovu fell to the side, her mother paying mind only enough to make sure Wokovu kept herself looking proper for visitors, but ignoring her in favor of her siblings the rest of the time.

Wokovu hated this new mother- she hadn't known better before, that her mother's coolness was unusual, but now with her mother's attention stolen by these new siblings, a dark seed of discontent planted itself in her belly. In the beginning, she blamed her siblings- her mother's new lack of attention and harsh words, the cob believed, were purely their fault, and everything was fine before, and as they grew, and nothing went back to normal, Wokovu's discontent grew and morphed into anger, until the day her mother caught her snarling at her young brother, who had wobbled and fallen on Wokovu's paws.

She hadn't hurt the cub- it was a snarl of disgust and frustration, if anything, but all her mother saw was her disappointment becoming a threat to her precious child. It was the first time anyone had ever struck her, much less her mother, but it was not the last. Always sheathed claws, and the only mark the blows ever made were mental, habits developing nearly overnight as simple neglect turned to outright abuse. She was terrified of other lions- grew to hate raised voices and flinch when others moved too fast and, above all, learned to hide it all, putting on a face for the world out of a mix of fear, and desire to please and regain her mother's love, and through it all, her hate of her little siblings remained, long after she had grown into a young adult, and they grew into adolescents. To add fuel to the flame... the only pair to ever realize and learn her mother's bias, were her own young siblings.

It was a strange, hellish line, when her siblings grew old enough to understand their place in the world and join their mother's bullying- children a cruelest before they learn morals, when given the opportunity to do whatever they care to, simply because they could. And yet... Every creature has a breaking point. A young, abused, affection-starved daughter had a breaking point just a little easier to trigger than others- in this case, it was her brother smacking her, the first time anyone had struck her with claws. Before, her mother was incredibly careful to leave no physical marks to the abuse- for appearances, of course. The sight of blood dripping down her nose, the malicious smirk of the terrible, awful cub who stole her mother- who, in her mind, started it all- it broke Wokovu, and it broke her terribly.

The gap in their ages saved Wokovu- her brother fought hard, an adolescent hellion- but it doomed her brother. It was her sister who happened upon her first, limp body of her brother hanging from her jaws, and still in a fit of hate and hurt, Wokovu flung herself at the young lioness, as well, opening her belly for her mother to find, and waited... And the longer she waited, her rage subsided, leaving only hurt and sorrow and an empty place where the hard ball of hate and resentment used to settle, until her mother found the trio- dead twins, and a bloody, guilty Wokovu, and it was then she ran- the look of devastation, pure broken-heartedness that set across her mother's face broke her own heart- it was not something she would ever now or have, and not something she deserved.

Wokovu quickly became lost- as much now in actuality as she was mentally, without purpose, where pleasing her mother and keeping up appearance was once her reason for existence. Without the never ending need to gain her mother's approval, with the blood of barely-grown cubs on her paws, there seemed little enough reason to continue existence. She was not suicidal, but incredibly confused, alone for the first time in her life and riddled with hurt, grief, fear... and rage, now turned on herself, rather than her family. It was easier before, when she had someone to blame for her suffering- now, the hurt inflicted on her heart was all her own doing.

That she happened upon a pride, that was mostly accident. She was set to wandering- she had no interest in taking her life, nor any other, never again... Nor did she believe she had any right placing herself in the company of others, though she was and is starved for affection and companionship- she had scaled the mountain only because it was steep and dangerous, and likely to keep her safely secluded, and when the N'echebe found her on the boarder of their lands, she was too frightened to flee and too frightened to lie- so she told the truth, that she was searching for home... and for redemption.

She still searches for it- not entirely certain she deserves to be among the pride as one of their members, and she dare not breathe a word of what she has done, despite an intense desire to right her wrongs, to reset what she has done.  

[MangoMeow]

I am Forgiven

Username: MangoMeow
Lion Name: Kanika (which is Swahili for Black Cloth)
Prompt Response:

Kanika and her former mate had… a bit of a history. Kanika, herself, is a very timid person while her mate was... not all there, but he was fine! He got angry sometimes, would talk out loud to himself, and maybe hit at her a lot, but things were fine.

But that didn’t mean she was particularly proud of what they did...

Her mate came from a pride where females were enslaved… and it wasn’t uncommon to have multiple girls on the side. Violence in achieving this was also not uncommon. With only Kanika by his side, he was unsatisfied, and an unsatisfied mate meant pain. So despite her reservations, she not only went along with it - she helped.

Whenever they found a young girl, he would send her out to become friends with them. Pride lionesses or not, if they were young enough, they were often easy enough to manipulate when faced with a shy lady like herself. All she had to do was mention needing help with something further away from the border - "My cub needs help! I can’t do it by myself…" - and coax them further from their home. Her mate would do the rest.

It ended in more deaths than she liked to admit. The quiet ones, like her, usually survived at first, but the headstrong ones, the one who fought back… That said, there was a reason she was usually the only one left anyway. Some ran away when he wasn’t looking, some didn’t perform to his liking and well, he had no use for someone like that. This went on for a while, before Kanika could swear that her paws were red with blood.

But then came the day where he decided to force her into exacting punishment, into forcing a small adolescent girl to submit because she was refusing to mate with him. Broken and beaten and horrified that he was telling her to do it, Kanika snapped.

The incident was mostly a blur to her. All she really remembers is seeing red. As everything came back into focus, the first things she noticed were the blood on her paws, the coppery taste on her mouth, the pain from her fresh wounds… and the cooling body of her now-former mate. The adolescent lioness from before had fled, not wanting to be around either of them, and Kanika was alone. Like a good mate, she mourned for him, pleaded with him to wake up, but he was long gone.

She stayed there for days, partially out of fear of the unknown and partially because in their scuffle, she had ended up with a broken leg. Kanika would have died there… but the adolescent girl from before? She had informed her pride of what had happened, and they had come out to investigate it. Most wanted to kill Kanika - it was her fault their youngster had gotten caught up in this, after all - but there were a few who took pity. They took care of her enough to keep her alive, but not well enough to completely heal her leg. Let it be a lesson, they figured.

When the day came that Kanika was thrown out, she had a bum leg and scars to always remember what she'd done, and a new desire to seek forgiveness. From who, she wasn’t sure, but she hoped to find that someday.  

[MangoMeow]

I am no Stranger to Death

Username: MangoMeow
Lion Name: Thimba (Swahili for ‘He who hunts lions’)
Prompt Response:
His real name is actually Djimon (Swahili for ‘One who has a strong blood; powerful person’), but it’s because of his past that he’s choosing to go by a different name - and the meaning of the name Thimba is just fitting.

When he was young, Djimon was desperate to find a home after being separated from his family, and he found one in the form of a pride… that cannibalized on other lions. It was a strange thing to do, something he wasn’t entirely convinced was morally right, but he was fascinated by it at the same time. Not that he wanted to partake in that lifestyle - gross! - but it was interesting to see the cycle of death.

There was nothing forcing him to eat other lions anyway. They were fine with him traveling around in the roguelands on a frequent basis - he could be gone for weeks and no one would say anything - so it wasn’t like anyone would see him not doing it. Well, he did have to eat some of it when he first joined, but the taste was disgusting. He wouldn’t recommend it.

It worked out that he wasn’t feasting like the others, because they managed to contract a disease by doing so. It was by sheer dumb luck that he was out traveling when it happened. He’d been gone for a month and was returning when a guard at the border told him not to enter. Confused, he enquired as to why… and discovered that everyone was sick. Half the pride was already dead, and the rest were well on their way. The place had been quarantined.

With no home to return to, Djimon left to seek out a new pride. Unfortunately, all the nearby ones knew of the one he hailed from, and upon introducing himself alongside his pride, he accidentally sullied his own name. He was met with spat words and unsheathed claws wherever he went, and he discovered that a lot of these prides were allies with each other. So of course, they all knew to avoid him now. Frustrated and lonely, he decided to drop his old life entirely. From that point on, he would go by Thimba, as a reminder to himself of the mistake he’d made for joining them.

Wandering for a time, Thimba went from place to place before by pure happenstance, he was nearby when the earthquake hit. Curiosity brought him to the Nezi, his affinity for death what keeps him there.

((Note: No, he's not a carrier for the disease either. He managed to be away entirely when it hit.))  

[[Eskimo]]

I am Forgiven

Username: [Eskimo]
Lion Name: Sikivu (attentive)
Prompt Response:

"Three healthy white cubs," said a deep-voiced female, prompting a relieved laugh from an exhausted new mother. "And one...black," the deep voice added. The new mother balked.
"No," she said weakly, "no, I was sure...I was so sure..."

This was how all black cubs came into the world--how Sikivu herself had come into the world. If you were black, you would serve whichever family chose you. If you proved herself, you might one day be able to serve the royal family. And when you died, your death would serve as recompense for your ancestors' sins which you so plainly harbored in your stained coat. It sounded ridiculous now, but back then it was her whole world.

"It was good of you to help so last-minute," said a stately lioness as Sikivu helped to remove her resplendent jewel and chain veil. "I'm not sure what that poor girl would've done without you. But a black cub?" She seemed at a loss.
"It is surprising, my queen," Sikivu answered serenely, bowing to remove the queen's many bracelets. She hid her look of derision.
"Yes, I wouldn't have expected it at all from her family line. Unless she herself...? No, impossible.... Well," the queen cut abruptly, stretching her white tail as Sikivu pulled off the many draping pearls. "Soon you'll have my cubs to deliver, and that will be an infinitely more pleasant experience, won't it?" she said, tossing her servant a glowing smile. Sikivu smiled back.
"Of course, my queen. I look forward to it."
"That makes one of us," the queen laughed, "labor pains are not my favorite."

Sikivu used to spend many evenings with the royal family's other black servants, all gossiping, all joking. But contempt festered within her. They all often talked of unfortunate mishaps that could befall the royal couple--the gags, the pranks--just to ruffle their pampered feathers. Sikivu was popular during those conversations, for she was an imaginative lioness and easily came up with elaborate schemes. It was always just table talk, though. Until one night. It started small, but all seeds grow. A missing earring, an item moved to the wrong spot, "accidental" spills, a well-placed mud puddle without rain, fresh boar meat that "slipped" from Sikivu's jaws from the second floor and splattered blood. The queen, it seemed, was having quite the bad luck streak, but was none the wiser, much to Sikivu's amusement. But a bitter heart is not so easily sated.

"Can't you do any better with this cloth? I don't want to show too much," the queen demanded impatiently. Sikivu was indeed doing her best to drape the fabric so as to hide some of the queen's very pregnant belly. After the fourth placement attempt, the queen swatted her servant away furiously and eased herself down onto her leopard skin bed. "Make yourself useful and fetch me something for my head, will you? Ugh, I'm so ill...." the queen groaned. Recognizing a prime opportunity, Sikivu disappeared into the medicine alcove and returned with a small bundle of dried herbs, tied together by a rope which she carried from her mouth. She dropped it at the queen's side and encouraged her to eat it. Sikivu's eyes lit up when her queen quickly swallowed the plants with little chewing, clearly wanting to get it over with. Unbeknownst to the monarch, Sikivu had it on good authority that those herbs would cause all sorts of intestinal fun. If the queen was complaining about her head now, just wait! Sikivu felt more relieved already, though the bossy and frustrated voice of her queen still burned in her ears. She turned when she heard the queen sigh.

She hadn't meant for any of it to happen, hadn't meant for it to go so far. In truth she hadn't been neglected at all, hadn't been abused, hadn't been left wanting for anything--nothing except visibility. In truth she had just wanted to be seen. She had just wanted someone to see her. Maybe she'd wanted someone to find out she was behind all the pranks? To be found out, punished, ridiculed.... Maybe it was all for the sake of being noticed? But that type of thinking is selfish, and selfishness is never without its costs.

"Sikivu..." the queen began gently, looking up at her servant with surprising sincerity. "I'm...I want to apologize," she said. Sikivu's lips parted. "I know I've been hard on you lately. I haven't been myself since my--no, it doesn't excuse me. I should always act like...well, like a queen. I should always treat my subjects well, especially those most loyal to me..." she said, her eyes glistening. Sikivu continued to stare, her mind straining in every direction. "You've always been at my side, and I should acknowledge that...thank you, Sikivu," she said, her gratitude impacting Sikivu's heart. The black lioness didn't know what to say. She mumbled incoherently for some moments, embarrassed and ashamed, but part of her still doubting--still reminding her of her circumstances. But what part of her circumstances had been so bad? She had never been beaten, never truly mistreated...she had much to be proud of. She had helped others enter the world, and leave it. She had had helped to raise a queen, and she was a fine queen...a fine queen who acknowledged the worth of a black lioness. Sikivu's eyes grew wet with tears and she blinked them away. The queen's lips trembled and she smiled more sweetly still. Before Sikivu could say anything, before she could even summon the courage to admit what she had done, to grovel and condemn her own weakness of character, the queen's expression faltered.

What happened next seemed to last minutes sometimes, hours others, when Sikivu thought on it. And she thought on it often, willingly or otherwise.

Gasping...retching...shivering...blood...

"MY QUEEN!" she screamed through strangled sobs, "MY QUEEN!"

Sikivu shook her head with a sharp inhale, willing herself not to remember any more. She steadied her breathing, digging her claws into the earth to ground herself. When she regained most of her composure, she continued along the path. She didn't know how much time had passed since she'd left her home, or where she was going. She had faced many hardships on the way, yet she had been allowed to survive. Death continued to pass her up. Even the earthquake hadn't sought to take her life. She had stayed in this direction all the while, which had brought her to a caldera, and now to a pathway. To her, the path represented her choice to change. She had been walking the same figurative one all her life, never realizing she could've stepped onto a new one at any time. She could have been selfless instead of selfish. She had found out too late. No, it wasn't too late. She could live differently--would live differently. She had to believe it wasn't too late to change. It wasn't too late...

It wasn't too late.  

[Daffupanda]

I Will Find A Way

Username: Daffupanda
Lion Name: Chunguzi (Curiosity)
Prompt Response:

Life was hard. Life had always been hard, really, but mother had told him once that those things in life worth holding onto were gained through hardship and tears. That it was such emotions, trials and tribulations that made anything worth living, and Chungu knew the lioness spoke from experience. After all, it had been tedious work keeping his small three siblings and himself alive without a father or pride to help.

Her treasures, she had called them all. Up until the day that Death had called upon her and she had departed the mortal realm. It had been too much work, Chungu guessed; too much hardship, no matter how much the lioness had claimed otherwise, but her son knew. He'd seen the signs while he was still young, both weariness and the seeping of her strength, almost like an open wound, he could feel her life draining away when she gave her children food and took but a morsel to eat herself.

There had been no sadness in her eyes though, and Chungu didn't think she had left the mortal coil an angry, vengeful spirit, but rather... accepting of her fate. Glad her children would continue where she would not. Such was life, he supposed. Still, he vaguely recalled staying back with her corpse, even as his siblings nuzzled him their last goodbyes and left, sure that they would find peace elsewhere; he remain.

He wasn't entirely sure why. After all, his mother had passed away without guilt, rage or need for anything other than their health and happiness. Nothing really held him there, and he made no move to keep the scavengers from doing their work on her remains.

If he hadn't remained there that day, he would not be where he was now, he guessed.

Had he not kept vigil like a silent gargoyle at his mother's feet, perhaps the vulture would not have turned to look him in the eye. Perhaps the bird would not have whispered words of encouragement, and perhaps... it wouldn't have pointed him in this particular direction either.

It wasn't the last time he'd heard whispers of the pride, but it had been the first time, and Chungu guessed that one always remembers the first time that life actually made sense. He was unsure what exactly appealed about the rumors he heard on the wind, from the birds and the scavengers that managed to go where he could not; over the steep cliffs. Whatever it was that called to him about the words in the wind was enough to keep him in the territory, and during weeks he circled the cliffs, evaluating the incline and the height until he realized it was all for naught.

Yet just like with his mother's corpse, he remain. After all, anything worth living for could only be obtained through hardship, could it not? Whatever was beyond the cliffs could not have been considered a gift, a treasure... if he was not forced to work for it. As such, he allowed time to pass. He hunted, he drank and he rested, and eventually, the earth shook under his paws. The ground split like a wound, and as creatures ran, Chungu's heart leaped with joy at the sight of the cliffs that had denied him access crumbling in places; his reward for a lengthy vigil, he was sure.

It was only after the chaos that he finally succumbed to his namesake and marched within. If the rumors were true, perhaps he would find solace within... and an answer to why his mother's pale, dead face and her sacrifice haunted him so at night.