The sun baked the dry grass, promising no rain for several days to come. The dirt was crumbled, cracked from the lack of moisture, representing the thirst that all incautious animals faced, if not careful when traveling. A black lion with a red mane and intricate markings laid on his side upon that ground, breathing shallow, dried wounds prominent below his eyes and along his arms. Slowly, the lion opened bright blue eyes, blank and dazed. He kept them hooded from the bright afternoon sun, mouth open, panting.
Slowly observing his surroundings, he struggled to stand up. Muscles straining, he only managed to roll onto his front before collapsing, head falling back to the ground, panting. Again, he took in his surroundings, confusion settling in. Where was he? What had happened? He felt the scabs on his face stretch as he panted, a slight stinging sensation shooting from the wound; it couldn’t be too old. But how had it occurred.
He tried his best to think back but nothing came to him. Panic settled into his chest as he tried to recall anything. But he couldn’t… shocked, he placed a heavy paw over his head, concentrating with all his might. Nothing. Not a thing. What had happened?
And more importantly, who was he?
Letting out a growl of distress, he struggled to his feet again, barely succeeding. Now on his paws, he panted some more, thirst shooting through him. Water. He needed water. Grunting, he studied the area around him and saw no ponds or lakes. With heavy footsteps, he lurched himself in a random direction, eyes on the ground.
It was a strange sensation, not recalling certain things. He still remembered stuff that he didn’t expect. Like, looking for animal tracks and keeping alert for enemies. It was nearly instinctive. But he couldn’t recall how he came about these skills or if he ever truly exercised them. Blue eyes scanned the ground, searching for tracks. He knew they would most likely lead to a watering hole. How do I know that, he thought angrily, brow furrowing.
Energy still not revived, he had to take a break from his mindless walking, sitting down heavily; something thumped against his chest. Surprised, he glanced down, lifting a front leg to paw at the unknown object around his neck. Blue eyes widened then narrowed in curiosity. It was a medallion, crudely carved from wood with sharpened bones attached to the part the twine connected at. Below the medallion, a fang hung. Etched on the wooden surface looked like a sun being swallowed by a crescent moon. The rays around the sun were represented by dots, decreasing in size as they drew away from the sun. And then, there were dots in the moon, too, also on a size scale with the middle being the largest.
Staring at it intensely, once again he tried to recall. Where had this come from? Where?
A splitting headache suddenly swept through him and, with a roar of distress, he collapsed to the ground, paws on his head. Images flickered quickly through his mind, too fast to grasp. But there was a reoccurring figure, a reoccurring voice. A lioness. ”Miguu, come here!” ”Miguu, I love you!’ ”Help me!” Letting out another roar, this time with anger, the lion brought his paws down heavily to the earth, claws digging in with rage. He couldn’t understand the fury ransacking through him, just knew he couldn’t contain it. He let out another roar, not caring if enemies heard, nearly daring for them to approach.
Dropping his chin, he squeezed his eyes shut, attempting to push back the rage. He needed to calm down, needed to think. He needed to find water and then sort through his thoughts and feelings. Once he’s found water, he’ll figure out what to do next. As the anger ebbed away, clarity rung through him. His name… it was Miguu. At least, partially. A feeling stabbed through him that it wasn’t quite right, somehow wrong. But it was something and he certainly wasn’t going to discard the thought.
Pushing himself back to his feet, head still ringing with a headache, the lion, Miguu, began walking again. It took him quite awhile to find tracks, with many stops along the way. He nearly missed the indentions in the ground, exhaustion sweeping through him which was quickly followed by fierce anger. He hated the vulnerability, the weakness. When he did catch himself from walking passed the paw prints, he let out a growl of irritation before examining the tracks carefully. Decisively, he followed them west.
It was just as long to reach the water source; he nearly doubted himself and doubled back to follow the tracks in the opposite direction. Mentally scolding himself for the doubt, he quickly stumbled to the water edge, not bothering to stop before trotting right in. He threw caution into the wind over predators in the water, only craving the relief of the cool water. Greedily, he lapped up the liquid, cool water stinging his dry throat for a moment before quickly soothing it. He lapped for a few more moments until he knew he should stop before he got sick.
Full and satisfied on water, he threw back his head and panted, catching his breath; through his mad hurry to quench his thirst, he hadn’t bothered to breath. Content and still breathing heavily, he swam back over to the shore before walking out, shaking his fur out along the way. Settling down on a hot, flat rock, Miguu began to clean himself as his thoughts went wild.
The medallion… the lioness. Who was she? Whenever he recalled her, his heart ached tremendously. Blue eyes narrowed further. Was she important? Whatever the case was, he needed to get to the bottom of it. And his only clue was the necklace. There were many other things he needed to discover, as well. Why can’t I remember? he thought angrily, finishing his cleaning and standing up. There was no time for rest at the moment… he had to press on, to find answers.