Things were good, really good, for the young lion. He was surrounded by friends, had his mother, and a pride of extremely supportive anything and everything he did. Of course, there was a lot riding on his shoulders, if the general belief was to be accepted as truth.
Saba’Minhaj was growing into a handsome adolescent. He had a solid frame, everything pointing to him being a well muscled adult, and his mane was growing in just fine, although he was hoping it would hurry up and settle into one style or another. He felt as though he had perpetual bedhead. Height and weight-wise he was already bigger than his mother, and many of his friends, even some of the adult males as well. His mother, ~~~~, explained that most of the pride stayed on the smaller side. It was because of his father he was growing into such a strapping fellow. The general belief was that his father was either one of the sea monsters of the pride’s lore in the guise of a rogue male, or that Saba was imbued with the essence of said mighty beast when he was still in his mother’s womb.
That, in the opinion of the pride’s belief system, made him worth honoring and brought his mother higher status than she had before his birth. It also put the young Saba firmly in the middle of everything that went on in the pride. He was expected to be a great leader one day, and that it was foretold that he would be the one to summon the great sea giants from their inky black ocean trenches to rise and meet the pride that so honored and worshipped them. He didn’t understand exactly what that meant when he was a cub and even some into his juvenile days. But now as a teenager, he was beginning to think on what was being expected of him.
It seemed like such a tall order to fill. He was just one soul, a single adolescent living in a small pride on the coast. What made him so special? Sure, he was already larger than the average teen within his pride and was still growing. Pretty much everything about his appearance mirrored what was considered to be part of their primary ‘deity’. Everything from his eyes to the banding over his velvety black coat to the yellow ‘light’ spots on paws, face, and mane marked him as special, different, selected by a higher power. Personally, Saba didn’t feel so different than any of his other playmates growing up. The whole thing seemed sort of silly. Why did it have to be him? There were a few other monsters that were held in high regard in the pridal belief system. Was it a council of sages or a skillful seer who decided that he was to be the long sought after leader of the pride? It had been before his own time that this had been decided.
Things were different than when he was younger. When he was a cub, everyone made sure he had anything he could possibly ask for, but as he grew, he had to undergo training and lessons with the various elders of the pride, pounding the pridal lore into his head, telling him of the great feats he would accomplish as an adult. It made his head spin! While he did go through everything to make his mother proud and keep his elders happy, it felt as though he was just going through the motions. Saba didn’t really fancy being the foretold one who was to raise the beasts from their slumber to rise from their deep ocean chasms to come up looking for the one who had disturbed them. No. He wanted a simpler life. The young male wanted to see the world, or at least what he could explore of it. He didn’t want anyone to take care of his needs. Saba wanted to take care of himself. He knew how to. He could hunt pretty well on his own, and the things that were giving him trouble could easily be taken care of with practice and persistence.
Now as he grew ever closer to adulthood, the lad spent a good deal of his time thinking, thinking on what he would do if he stayed and tried to fulfill the role that was expected of him, thinking on running away to forge his own path in life and leave all those whom he was so familiar with behind in confusion. Perhaps he should leave whispers that he was taken in the night, drawn down into the dark waters so that his essence could rejoin that of his ‘father’.
The day had been a quiet one, a majority of the elders had been preparing for an upcoming festival honoring, who else, their monstrous ‘deities’. Now, as night rolled on, the quiet of a pride slumbering was all there was to be heard. He lay next to his mother, head on his paws, gold eyes narrowed in thought. He didn’t want to have to do this anymore. He wanted to be free, to forge his own life as he wanted to live it. Saba wanted to experience the bad as well as the good. Staying here, that would never happen, if he was good at being the foretold one, anyway. He stretched and looked to his mother. She would probably be disappointed in him… He shook his head and carefully rose to his feet. He would stick to his plan. He would whisper in several sleepers’ ears that in the night an emissary from the depths came and summoned him to go into the water. Hopefully, they would take it to heart and believe it in the morning. First, his mother, she was always a sound sleeper.
Saba drew close, speaking a whisper into her ear. “They’ve come for me, mother, an emissary of the lauded ones. They’re calling me to go with them, join them below. The waves, they echo whispers of the deep. I can hear them calling my name. I must go. I shall miss you, mother. You have cared for me well. I will think of you often. Take care of yourself and be happy for your boy. I love you and goodbye…” He nuzzled her head, taking in her scent for the last time before whispering similar, if less personal, things into the ears of several others. Having that taken care of, he weaved his way out of the sleeping area and fled, running as quickly and quietly as he paws would carry him. Saba ran until it felt as though his heart would break free from his chest and his veins pumped fire through him. He ran until the morning light washed over him. The sounds of the waves had faded into the silence of plains around him, it was only then did he come to a stop, exhausted and exhilarated. The scents of his pride mates had faded away. He was alone and he was free. He was his own and nothing would stop him from enjoying everything life had to give him. The skies were the limit.
[Word count: 1,200]
