So much was on his mind, Shumusi had found himself having trouble sleeping at night and it really was beginning to get to him. The lion was having trouble traveling long distances and he found himself needing to rest more and more. Shumusi was curled up inside a cave that he had discovered earlier today and his body craved rest. The encounter between Namir and Karatasi had left him unsure and confused about his current lifestyle. There was a lot that he needed to figure out and he hated being so indecisive about everything. He basically was going against everything that he learned and the experiences that he went through his entire life. Shumusi relaxed as he felt himself drifting into unconsciousness and even though his mind was still abuzz with distractions, his body was too exhausted to try to remain awake any longer.
Everything was hazy and cloudy. Shumusi felt very... strange and tried to figure out exactly what was going on. He kept seeing flashes of a red and black pelt but everything was moving too fast for him to discern what was going on. And then he saw himself. Under any other circumstance, Shumusi would have been freaked out beyond belief but somehow... he knew he wasn't dead.
Dream Shumusi was panting heavily as he crouched low. There was another lion circling around him and they were in a small clearing with tall grasses surrounding them. What was he doing? He didn't recognize the other figure and then she yelled out to him, "Is that all you've got?" It was a lioness? He was being bested by a female? Bewildered, Shumusi yelled at his dream self trying to get him to move faster and get back into this fight but nothing he said seemed to reach the other lion. The female seemed to be panting a little bit but she seemed relatively rested and ready to take him on. "You call yourself a Firekin?" Oh god. That name.
It was all becoming clear to him and Shumusi realized that he must be fighting a duel. Many of the rogue lions he had spoken to about the Firekin had said that the pride was kind of like a warrior pride where they dueled each other to keep their senses sharp and to move up in rank.
He watched himself duel the female lioness and he watched himself slowly grow more and more weary and unable to counter her advances. The lioness was strong and knew his weaknesses well and she showed no sign of weakness when she was dueling. There was something about the way she moved and everything she did almost seemed... elegant. Watching himself go more into defense, the lion was appalled that this female could outwit him in strategy and strength. Females were supposed to take care of the home and the cubs, they didn't need to know how to defend themselves or fight. Shumusi had a horrible feeling in his gut and knew that his dream self needed to summon up some hidden strength and bring her down in one final attack because there was no way that he could keep this up. He could barely watch as he knew that the end of the battle was coming near and it would be all over for his self confidence.
The only good thing that he could see from all of this was that he hadn't given up. Giving up would have been the worst thing he could have done, Shumusi would have never forgiven himself even though this was all just in his subconscious. It was hard to believe that he was dreaming all of this and it seemed too... real. Then it finally came to an end and Shumusi knew that he was done. He watched his dream self bow slightly towards the female and then watched her grinning widely at him. Something was off though... Shumusi looked at himself and he looked neither upset nor mad. Surprisingly, his dream self had a huge grin on his face too. How could he not be upset about losing to this lioness?
Then everything began to get hazy and cloudy again. He watched as the two lions disappeared into the distance and could feel himself slipping back into consciousness. This dream was all too strange. There was so much he wanted to know but the most striking thing that he could remember was the look on his face after they had finished the duel. Somehow, he was happy.
If Shumusi chose to believe this dream of his, this meant that he was destined to go to the Firekin whether he wanted to or not. This was the little push that he needed and that female was driving him crazy. What was his relationship to her and why was he content with losing? It was hard to believe that he was watching himself in that dream and it correlated too well with what had been on his mind recently. He knew that he needed to get these questions answered and that meant that he was going to the Firekin. He knew that all of this was a dream but something about it felt real. Did this lioness actually exist or was just just a figment of his imagination?
Shumusi felt the sun hitting his eyes and he blinked rapidly as he came to the realization of what he had to do. No more second guessing or thinking about this. It was time to search out the Firekin and solve this once and for all. Honestly, once he got there, he had no idea what he was going to do or what he had to do to join. He guessed that he would figure it out on the way and now he just needed to get there. The dark red lion couldn't help but sigh when he felt the weight of his decision being lifted off of his shoulders. Now that he knew what he was going to do, everything seemed so simple and right now, he was going to keep sleeping. His body needed to recover from the past few days before he headed out for the Firekin.
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