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...
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Simba sat in the carriage as they drove their way to the gates. The situation weighed on him, and he was rendered idle by his disbelief and disillusionment. Hari had never seen him like this. From the moment they met, Hari saw Simba as a figure of action, setting off to his next mission without a moment of hesitation. Yet they drove closer and closer to the gates and the baby lion sat still in a daze.
Darwin perched himself on Simba's shoulder, grooming his feathers as the broken Prince stared despondently at the wagon's floorboards. They needed a plan to flee the city, and Hari couldn't possibly conjure one up with his limited knowledge of the kingdom. He needed Simba to act, or they would both end up in flames.
"Simba..." Hari lingered, unable to figure out what to say.
"I'm sorry," the Prince suddenly interrupted, a veil of tears sitting under his eyes.
Hari blinked in confusion, unsure of what he meant. "What do you mean?"
"I'm sorry for what I did in the forest," Simba sputtered, darting his eyes away from Hari's gaze. "I was prepared to kill you that day. I would have driven a sword through your neck to prove myself worthy of a destiny I was told was my birthright to claim. But now I know that I would have killed you for a future that I never had a chance of inheriting in the first place."
Hari held his breath, remembering the day they met. He remembered the fear Simba had once instilled in him. Birds may fear lions, but Hari no longer saw a lion before him, but a baby cub licking his wounds.
"Who was I to think I could outsmart generations of order?" Simba spoke callously, spitting each word out like a rotten piece of meat. "I wasn't even worthy of the destiny bound to the very blood that flows in my veins. In the end, I've let my hubris walk us to death's door."
Simba wiped his tears onto his sleeve before flashing Hari a set of empty eyes.
"I'm sorry that I wasn't strong enough to save us."
Hearing the pain of the prince's words, Hari was overwhelmed by the familiar sensation of the forest. He recalled the pain in longing for a better life, so he had resigned himself to believing in nothing beyond rotted pegs driven into the ground.
"You know, I once believed I was destined to die in that forest," Hari recalled, feeling his thoughts flow as naturally as a river when he spoke.
"I was told from the moment I can first remember that my purpose was to shoulder the burden of my affliction alone so that the world may live peacefully around me. I stayed there for ten years believing that was my destiny. Then one day, I met you"
Warmth briefly sparked back into Simba's eyes remembering that moment they shared under the colorful air.
"I can't say it was a... wonderful way to be taken out of the forest," Hari smiled, letting an amused chuckle escape him. "But if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have known how truly seeped in darkness my world had become, what truths were merely just shadows of something real. I finally let myself believe I deserved to reclaim the life that was robbed from me. You made me discover my own destiny, and gave me the will to leap into an unfamiliar world to go find it."
