Vexon the Vanquished

LORE!:

Every decade, the leader of the tribe retires from their duties, and a new lion is chosen to take their place, to lead them to their bright and prosperous future. The way a chosen is selected is by the way of the gods. By offering them the special talisman that had been passed down through all the generations of leaders to the gods’ altar of offerings a year before the leader retires, the gods will shine a light onto the next one to take their place, and the talisman would be passed down to them, as a reminder of their responsibilities for the tribe they will care for.

And just like the last leader, and the leader before that, it was the day of the offering, and the time for the gods to choose their next leader. Yet no one could imagine how wrong the gods were in that instance, as the beam of light landed on a small dark furred cub, Vexon, and the talisman was given to her. They had chosen, and thus it was time for the ritual of immortality. Every leader had gone through this, to protect their tribe, they must be invincible. Leaders of the past would lose this power once they retire from their duties, the effects slowly wearing off as the date of their retirement nears. Once she was bathed in the light of the gods, the ritual was complete, and there was no going back.

As the time slowly neared the time of the leader’s retirement, Vexon’s training had been completed, she was ready to lead, it was only a matter of time. However, something happened, something unexpected, lions had started going missing. At first, it wasn’t noticeable, a cub or two would die of mysterious circumstances, and no one would know what had happened. The mothers were devastated by their cubs’ departure, but it didn’t stop there. Every hunt, a lioness would start going missing, never to be seen again, not even a body, not even a breath of soul. When more started to disappear without any reason to, everyone began panicking, it didn’t make sense, it shouldn’t have happened.

But then, someone saw her, her bloodied paws, her sinister gaze, and her unremorseful grin as she slaughtered the cub right in front of them. It was her, it was Vexon, it all made sense, because no one would ever be able to fight her, to escape from her grasp, she had the blessing of the gods. Once the day of the retirement had started, it was all too late, there was no one that could stop her, and with that, the tribe had vanished. Only she stood, in the midst of pools of blood and bodies all around her. How freeing to finally release these chains.

When the gods had seen what she had done, they tried to remove their blessing, but it was too late, they were all gone, and she was about to find more. As darkness steadily crept through her heart and mind, her fur darkening, turning ashy grey from the paws up, and a slow char that had spread along her body, she could only think of what she had become. What would they think? The voices in her head. She had no regrets, and an evil laughter broke the cold dead silence as she departed to search for her next victims, fur of gold and ash blending into the night.

~ Credit: Nyra Zombie (#490644) ~