When Dwa finally came too, he felt like he had gotten trampled. His head was fuzzy and pounding and his body felt heavy. Nothing seemed real as the male got to his paws, wobbly as he was. It took him a few tries, falling and landing in a cloud of dust only to try all over again. Getting out of the crack in the ground he was in was another story. It might have only been a foot to get up, but when your whole world was spinning that was a trying task.
Finally he got up and took a minute to catch his break and try to get the earth to stop moving and making a wave of nausea sweep through his entire body and whatever was in his stomach made it’s way to the ground below him. Darkness closed in on him as he fell on his side.
The next time Dwa woke up it was night and there were vultures hopping closer to him. He let out a growl and swiped a paw at them, claws extended, but they just fluttered off a foot or two. With a great, hard twist, he let out a warning growl that was a lot more forceful than before and he lunged. It sent them off with a squawk and he ended up collapsing on his face and he just rolled over again and got back to his paws. Stupid vultures, they could just buzz right off.
Now that he wasn’t going to throw up again because of dizziness, Dwa finally looked around and memories came flooding back.. The giant crack had opened up and he’d seen lions fall. What happened after that? Where…. Where was everyone?
He found the crevasse he’d climbed out of and looked in but couldn’t see much with how dark it was. Blue eyes squinted, but it was useless. He wasn’t even aware of the blood caked onto his mane from a gash that happened from the rock he’d landed on.
No one was around, and the scents were so mingled together. How long had it been since they moved on? Dwa swallowed thickly as panic was starting to engulf him.
With a great deal of hesitance and confusion, Dwa set out to look for the pride that had been so unlucky that day. Going by paw prints was impossible. There were so many going in every direction from his pride trying to stay alive, so he had to just pick a direction. There was no telling how many were still together.
And so the injured male walked for a few full days with no sign of anyone. He still had blood on him, dried and caked into his light mane, and he could smell it was starting to get infected, but what did he do?
And so the large male found himself sitting next to a watering hole where he smelled other lions. Was it his pride? Were they new lions? He didn’t know, but he did know it wasn’t terribly warm here.
Maybe he’d just rest here for a minute. Of course that turned into Dwa just sleeping in the grass just off to the side of the water, where a small sapling curved to the male’s back, his paws sticking straight out in front of him.
