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 Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:38 am
Tired.
He felt oh-so-tired now a days; it had less to do with the land's development and more to do with his mate. She had vanished one day from the mistweaver's territory, and try as he might, Ushaufu could not find her. He'd looked everywhere withing the jungles and everywhere outside that he could think of. He'd overflown the lands surrounding the pride and even those far away; he'd trailed the desert and had taken the time to look at the neighboring Firekin prides in case they had taken her hostage, but he'd found absolutely no trace of her.
He'd roamed near and far before returning to his children, defeated. It wasn't like Kizuka to run away, and he thought it highly unlikely, if not impossible for the lioness to have abandoned them; her family and her pride were her life. The last option to consider had brought the large green lion into a state of depression; death was not something he'd have even wanted to start to consider, and yet he'd been forced to face the facts. Kizuka had gotten old and her health had taken a large blow during the drought. In all honesty, it had been a miracle the lioness had even been able to birth two litters of healthy lions in the first place.
His thoughts had driven him away into hiding, secluding himself from the rest of the pride, keeping himself to the shadows and his memories, in a deep state of denial, because he simply could not even begin to accept the possibility his mate could have died. As a being whose lifespan was much longer than mortals, to the point of near immortality, Ushaufu could not even begin to understand the implications that death had. He'd not faced death in a very long time... in fact, he couldn't even remember facing death. Had he? He wasn't sure.
Despite that, he felt as if his whole life had been sucked away during the past few weeks. He'd refused to eat and was refusing to take any water what so ever. Not that it was affecting him all that much for he didn't truly need substance to survive. He didn't sleep and he didn't dream; all what he did was lay there in the darkness of the cave, remembering... lost in memory for they were the only things that she had left him. Aliona had come in several times, sadness and worry marring her beautiful features... features that so reminded Ushaufu of her mother. Kimau, whom had escaped the Firekin had returned and also seemed worried, to the point the gruff boy had spent several nights laying down silently by his father's side. Zuri and the other girls were likewise worried but all of them had soon enough decided that their father was losing himself in the darkness and that it was a problem that they could not help him face. That it was something the God had to pull himself out of or perish trying to confront.
As days turned to weeks, it was becoming more and more clear it was something Ushaufu was not going to be able to pull out of. He'd lost the will to look, to talk and to live.
He shouldn't have, by all means. He still had his children there with him, all created with bits and pieces of his love for Kizuka and her love for him. However, he could not seem to be able to face them for all they did was remind him of what he no longer had. Even the younger lions, now juveniles, were worried for their father. They had not yet managed to assimilate the fact their mother was unlikely to come back... and now they were faced with the fact their father seemed to be withering from the inside out from sheer sadness.
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 9:07 am
Aliona had made her last attempt at dragging her father out of the hole he'd practically dug for himself one night; the young adult entered the cave and lay herself beside the large figure that still refused to eat, drink or do anything other than remember that what he had lost, "Dad..." she whispered into the darkness, "You can't stay here for ever. You really need to come out. Mom wouldn't want this for you... you know she'd be sad to see you here like this," the god's eyes remain unfocused upon the far off wall of the cave, his breathing even, indicating no change in rhythm as Aliona spoke.
After a long moment, during which she got no answer, the female let out a sigh and nuzzle her father's large neck, no doubt about to give up her attempt.
"I'm sorry," it was such a terminal claim, cracked out in such a hoarse, broken voice, that Aliona felt her very heart split in two, "I'm so sorry," that was all he said before he closed his eyes and turned away from her. It was all too much for him to take. He'd tried, time and time again... and yet he had nothing to live for. His domain did not matter to him, and with the loss of his own faith, Deception was withering away.
"I'm sorry too, daddy..." the female nuzzled his large neck once more before pulling herself to her feet. She padded away from him and towards the entrance of the cave, taking only a moment to look back at him over her shoulder, "I'm really sorry," she whispered as she slipped away; she could not bear to see him like that, broken and spent. such a powerful creature and yet so fragile in the end.
It came as no surprise to them when just a few days later, Ushaufu went missing. He had not left the cave, as far as Kimau was aware (for he had guarded the entrance to keep outsiders out), and yet when he'd gone in to check up on him, he'd found his father gone. All that remain were a few blood soaked feathers and a few broken bones on the floor. Kimau could have sworn there were claw marks on the walls, but he could not understand their meaning. No doubt, their father had withered away till he'd died of sheer sadness for their mother's loss. Either that... or something else they could not even begin to understand had happened.
While Ushaufu's disappearance had come as no surprise, the appearance of a strange, winged cub some time later, strangely reminiscent of the large god, had.
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