[1st POV]
[6 months later]
(2 years 8 months old)
For the first time in my life, time did not blur.
I was never comfortable enough not to notice the passage of time. Each day was followed by new challenges in the Serengeti. Not only that, every waking hour was spent with a purpose in mind.
I was back to building myself again There was nothing else in my mind except growing stronger, bigger and faster.
The roars of the Mbali brothers that echoed routinely in the afternoon were a great motivator. Their daily patrol reminded me daily what my goal was and what I was trying to achieve.
For six months, that is half a year, I spent my time like so. I hunted more frequently than ever before as I made it a goal to get fresh meat every three days.
My teamwork with Grim had also gotten better than before. Due to his help, I was able to catch prey whenever I wanted to. I did not waste time tracking them and could instead spend my effort solely to kill them.
But even then, hunting did not always guarantee success. In such cases, I would simply move to another herd of prey with Grim guiding me and try again on the same day. Therefore on the days that I would set out to hunt I almost always came home with a full belly
It was not just through hunting that I got my food either. Grim was my eyes in the sky. He reported injured animals that would die soon and old animals that were on the brink of death.
And my favourite, he would report to me when he found other predators making a successful hunt Most of the time it was hyenas and wild dogs so I could stroll up to these predators and steal their food whenever I wanted to.
Lucky for them I was not really into the habit of stealing as I wanted the experience of hunting prey myself. It was a good workout and training for the body.
Except when it was the hyenas of course. I always made sure to steal their food if they were nearby. It was nothing personal really, they were one of the biggest predators in the region and they actually put up fights to defend their food. This gave me a chance to train my fighting skills and keep my instincts sharp.
Heh, who am I kidding? The main reason was because I did not like them. Plain and simple.
Anyways, due to all these stacking reasons I never lacked food. Instead, it was the opposite. I had more food and prey than I could consume.
This was where Grim came in once more. After a few weeks of living life in abundance and waste, Grim started bringing his friends to feed as well.
It started off small, Grim told me that his friends would also like to come under me to have permission to feed on my abundant kills and finding no reason to reject I accepted them.
That began to snowball rather quickly and now you would often see a horde of vultures flying overhead whenever I went out to hunt. They would litter the surroundings, waiting for me to finish eating my fill so that they could feast on all the remains.
I voiced my concern but Grim assured me that he had everything under control. Once, I told them not to feast on the remains and all of them followed my order. That proved they were truly under my control so I let Grim do whatever he wanted from then on
So yeah, now I had an army of vultures under me I guess. However I kept in mind that most of them were not loyal and were only with me for the benefit.
For example, I could not just tell them to attack the Mbali lions. They obeyed my orders but they wouldn't die for me as I was not vital to their survival. I was only making their life easier and that was not worth dying for.
Speaking of the Mbali brothers I never encountered them again after what happened last time.
The Siringet Pride had a specific region where they hunted and stayed so they did not move elsewhere most of the time The three kings still patrolled daily but followed a pattern so it was hard to meet them unless you were looking for them.
Also I think Grim naturally guided me towards prey far away from the Siringet pride so I never had issue with them through the passing months.
And on their side of the story, they probably thought I was dead. Ruku was gravely injured during the fight and since it was a draw they assumed I would not have fared better. I did not have a pride to hunt or care for me while I was injured so it was natural to believe me to be dead
If they had returned to my home and on my side of the region I would've fought them but since they didn't return I was not going out to seek a fight either.
The area that the pride ruled was wide more than enough for one more lion to live unnoticed.
I was simply growing in their silence and ignorance.
It would be correct to say they were growing their own downfall in their backyard.
....
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[1st POV]
"How much longer?" I asked towards the vultures flying in the sky.
There were three of them in the sky. The other two fly a little higher while Grim flew right above me.
"Just a few more distance," Grim answered and continued leading me to a herd.
I was walking at a fast pace behind them, jogging would be the correct term. It was the dry season so prey was starting to get scarce. I had been jogging after them for almost three hours now, and no other animals were in sight.
The changing seasons in the Serengeti were weird. There was no monsoon, autumn, winter, summer etc. The seasons were just dry season, wet season, long dry season and long wet season/
And currently, it was the long dry season.
I've come to learn that the long dry season came with some complications. Like the land was dry during this time, as the name suggests. There was golden grass where there once was green.
Many watering holes have dried up and the remaining ones have shrunk dramatically in size. Even the small stream of pool back in my home was no more.
Every resource was scarce. This meant that the land was no longer suitable for most of the animals living here.
Many herd animals like Wildebeest, Zebras, Antelopes, etc have all migrated northwards. They were following the Mara rivers in search of greener areas to feed.
These herds were in thousands upon thousands. The region where we live which was once abundant with prey was slowly turning into a lifeless desert. Prey were disappearing at a visible rate.
This was the first time I experienced such things. The Pride Lands had no dry season, it was green full year round and prey was always available. But not in the Serengeti.
"At this rate, I will not be able to keep up with my diet," I said to myself thoughtfully. My current diet of a big meal every three days was not going to be possible anymore if I did not find a solution to this.
I was at a point in my life where I was growing very rapidly. I could not stunt my growth with a lack of food. I wouldn't allow it.
I had to find a way and I had to find it fast.
"Up ahead," Grim said and his wings flapped loudly before propelling himself higher in the sky.
I stared forward and I saw a small herd of antelopes at the end of my vision. The animals were disappearing quickly and these herds also seemed to be on their way to migrating.
But they were late than most.
It was the perfect opportunity. Who knows, it might be my last opportunity to have a full meal for a while with the way things are going.
I slowed down my pace and crouched low among the grass. My form completely disappeared as if swallowed by the land and I started stalking my prey.
The sky was starting to be filled with vultures. There were around ten of them and they flew high enough in the sky to not bother the prey
But they were circling the herd of antelopes like they were telling an omen.
The heat of the sun seemed to make the air vibrate with its heat. The antelopes were occupied among themselves, searching for any form of green on the yellow sand of the dry lands.
I stalked like nature's perfect design. After six months of hunting, I was a master of my craft. I glide along with the breeze, the golden grass works better than ever to camouflage my body.
As I was closing in, my scent got carried by the wind to the antelopes. They immediately perked their heads up and stared towards me. I quickened my pace, and my limbs worked magic to move me forward smoothly with basically no bobbing in my action.
I stepped on dried twigs and grass, and their ears faced me immediately. They heard it. Their eyes finally locked on mine and then they ran.
They flinched back in panic and moved away like driven by lightning. But by the time they saw me, it was already too late.
I explode forward. My paws slapped up a cloud of dust upon movement. I was able to reach my full speed faster than any of the antelope.
After half a year, the things that made me special had gotten even more pronounced. My shoulders rolled, my hind legs exploded and my front limbs pulled me forward.
Not like a lion, not like a tiger. My actions were a bit more ancient than that
I was the perfect ambush predator.
The antelopes fled and my eyes decided on a target fast. I ignored the smaller ones that I reached first and rocketed towards the biggest one among them.
He was trying to zigzag away from me but at this point, I was already way too familiar with the running pattern of antelopes. The fact that they move in herds was also a giveaway to the real direction he was trying to go.
A herd animal would run along the herd instead of running to an isolated open space. It was instinct to stick with the group.
I knew this, and so I used this.
I caught up to the antelope from the side, having perfectly predicted where he would go. I did not swipe my claws at him nor did I try to bite his neck, I simply crashed against him.
The force knocked him off his feet and sent him tumbling away. I chose the biggest among them but he would've weighed 90 kilograms at most. His small frame was nothing against mine, with a weight that had easily surpassed 200 kilograms.
It was a tiny prey against a giant predator.
The antelope struggled in vain. He had hooves for feet which did not really go along with balance or catching himself from falling. I ran up to him and before he had time to get back up, I took his life with a bite through his neck.
The death was suffocating. I trapped him under my front legs and bit down at his neck. The last struggle of life was always the most intense but it was nothing to me. I suppressed him like a father suppressing a baby's tantrum.
Instead, I used that time to breathe heavily and cool down my body under the intense heat of the savannah.
"A great hunt like always my lord," Grim was the first to fly down beside me.
"Tell the others to continue following the herd. If prey are going to be this scarce from now on, I might as well hunt them tomorrow before they move to a new land," I said
"Of course," he replied swiftly.
And so, I prepared myself to face another challenge in front of me once more. This one was a bit odd from my other challenges but would still prove a worthy foe.
The dry season was here.
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[IMAGE]
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