The Lions' Den

Paine Lionray: The Cub I

The city of Lauv, the heart of the universe, the biggest city in the world, and yet I feel so lonely here. It is hard to be a prince in this royal dynasty, shouldn't it be easier to be someone like them down there? I like to stand on this balcony and watch, observe, and study. Watch, how life in the city goes on despite everything because they need to work to survive. Observe, how they interact with each other and lions. Study, how society lives in harmony and everyone has their status and place like in clockwork.

"I heard, the cub was in the cage!" My brother, Calhoun says from behind, coming closer to me and stands next to me.

"Firstly and technically I am not the cub anymore, and secondly, so what?" This is one of the problems with everyone, they think I am the youngest, so I am still the cub, but I have equal value as Amir or Calhoun, I would even say that I am more valuable than Amir, but my age is considered first and then only my abilities. "Lord Tau told you?"

"No!"

"Then who? Has he told someone else?"

"No, don't worry, the lions told me!"

"Nonsense! Tell me who?" I don't like that they will also think that I am the thief now.

"Wow, calm down, I already told you - lions! I speak to them! I am actually one of them!"

"Are you kidding me, then I am one too!"

Calhoun looks at me suspiciously like he heard the sarcasm in my voice and understood the meaning of it. "Are you?"

And this was it, he always finds the most suitable words to say and questions to ask, deep inside I knew I wasn't, but I was too afraid to ask me that question and to face the truth, now I know what I have to do. I look back to Calhoun and I see in his eyes my answer to his questions, so he tries to save the situation. "We are the dynasty of lions, which means everyone," he looks to the city, "...in this city is a lion!"

"Then why I am feeling like an outsider here?" I somehow manage to shock him with my direct question, although we are always open with each other.

"You are not the only one! Except for lions and mother, everyone feels like a stranger to me! Even..."

"... father and Amir, I know!" I finish his sentence as we always do because we are somehow thinking and feeling the same, perhaps because we are related or because none of us is the oldest son in the royal Lionray family.

"But speaking about our father! Do you know what is this meeting about?"

"No, Scar interrupted my training, he said it is something important! Do you?"

"No, but Lord Tau was acting weird! So either it is something in our favor or not at all! One thing I know for sure, that it's not the boring kingdom affairs again!"

"I asked Scar, what it is, but he refused to reveal, the father wanted to deliver the news personally, he said!"

"The same with Lord Tau! He also said that I cannot forget that I am a lion, and I will be asked to do? To act the opposite? ... I don't know exactly!"

"You are in the city of Lauv, home for thousands of lions! Why you would need to be something else!"

"I know, but I like the idea of not being a lion, I just don't feel like one!"

"How do you feel like?"

That is the question I need to find the answer. "I don't know yet, but something more. Lions have their own territory, and they are just defending it, I want to discover the world, I want to go far far away, where no man has been!"

"But the world is full of danger! You don't know what's out there!" That is exactly what we were told when we were little.

"Exactly, no one knows, how can you live without knowing, what's out there!"

"Sometimes I wonder too. Allowed books only tell us about The Great Six, but they never describe them, only four are described - Ari, Karhu, Harimau, and Duma! But what it is like in the others, is there really a dynasty, who have blue whales?"

Imagine, people living with blue whales, they are huge! Where their houses are? On water? Ari, Harimau, and Duma kingdoms all are the element of light-controlled territories. Ari - lions, Harimau - tigers and Duma - cheetahs.

"So, would you like to explore?"

"Yes, I would like to see the rest of the world!"

Great, so I know what I need to do, what we need to do. "Okay, then we are leaving tonight!"

He looks at me, thinking I am joking, but he sees my serious look, so he understands I am playing no games. "What, no!'

"But you just said!"

"I meant, I would like to visit officially these lands, not going into the unknown!"

"You just said, you are also feeling like an outsider here, what do we have to lose?"

"Lions! Mother..."

"That's it, I am tired of being mistaken with a homeless boy, I am tired of being alone, I am tired of my life here!" It is done, I finally said it.

"But..."

"But what? Amir will get the throne, and then what, you will play with lions all your life?" Let's be real, we are not little kids anymore, so we need to speak directly.

"Of course, not! He will take me as his general of Fangs and you as his adviser!"

"What a great life ahead of us! All of us together, serving our stupid brother!"

"But that's what we are meant to be!"

"Who decided it? I don't remember when I agreed to it!" It is the most stupid thing I have heard, we are meant to live our lives and be whatever we want to be because no one can choose our destiny, but us.

"No one asked your agreement, we are a royal family, the God has chosen us - Lionrays, to rule this kingdom for generations!"

"There is no such thing as God! The element of light chose us!"

"But who created these elements?"

"It all started with these elements! Nothing was before!" I actually don't know that, but we shouldn't be worshipping anything else than The Great Six. Calhoun heard about God from some people in the city, I think they are really wrong about this one because The Great Six created Earth and everything on it and there can't be anyone sitting up in the sky, it is impossible.

A/N: If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a vote :)