Aasb received his name the moment he was born. As Above, So Below became the symbol of his free spirit and love for the mountains. As above: his spirit was connected to the highest elevations he could reach. So below: as a leader, he was made to look down on his pride and lead them to glory. Aasb understood his roll within his pride very well, and he knew it was imperative that as the king, he would need to guide them. But that didn’t feel like the case the night of a full moon when Aasb announced an idea that would forever change his pride.

Under the moon, Aasb’s pelt glistened like sharpened diamond. He straightened his back and looked among his lions. “As you all must know, I am a child of the mountains. Currently, we inhabit the swamp, however I had a certain epiphany last night. Us, lions of the Dark Swamp, shall relocate to the mountains I once ruled.”

There was an eerie silence among the lions. They exchanged confused glances, and finally, they began murmuring to each other. Aasb clenched his jaw and watched the pride members whisper and tut. They seemed… puzzled and frustrated. But for what reason, Aasb wondered. The mountains were glorious. His lions knew that because there was a certain point in their swamp where they can see the snowy mountain caps beyond the trees. The white against the pale blue sky looked like a masterpiece painted by the best shaman. However, Aasb’s lions seemed unimpressed with his declaration from the way their eyes shifted, and they muttered.

“But,” spoke on lion who Aasb recognized as a hunter, “we’ve lived in these swamps for generations. We can’t just… move. We have too many possessions and memories here.”

“That’s the greatness in it all,” Aasb commented. He puffed out his chest and smiled. “We will start anew. We will become stronger by peeling away the past and embracing the future.”

“My king,” the same lion spoke in a low tone. She bowed her head in respect, but the fact she had the gal to interrupt the king exhibited her disrespect toward his voice, his name, and his role. “Forgive me for my brashness, but this pride has rooted itself in these swamps for nearly five generations. Moving us would upset the balance of the lions here and imagine the dangers in the mountains we’re not equipped for. The cubs would never experience the swamps, the hunters would have trouble-”

“Enough!” Aasb roared. The lioness quivered and sauntered behind her camaraderie. “If this is how you all are going to act, then this discussion is over.” The king sighed incredulously, then swept away in a heap of hindrance.

Now, the funny thing about the morning is that it never seemed like the morning in the swamp. The sun rose in the is the east, where the mountains peaked at their highest. Until noon, the entire swamp was still enveloped in sweet nothingness.

That sweet nothingness was the demise of Aasb’s pride.
During the crack of dawn, there was a rumble beneath the marshlands. The lions woke up in haste, and frantically gathered the cubs and met at the pride’s emergency rendezvous. Aasb was already there, his eyes wide as the earth trembled under his paws. He commanded his pride to silence themselves and listen to the quakes.

They listened.

They were quiet.

That’s when they heard a crack. A loud crack as if a whip was slashed against the rough terrain. The earth shook and the lions stumbled, struggling to keep their balance.

“Earthquake!” yelled a lioness. The lions started panicking and faltering among themselves. They skittered around, searching for the cause of the earthquake. But they all knew it was nothing they could see, as the source was deep beneath the earth. Aasb always thought it was ironic how living beings were much akin to the earth. Just like the earth, there was so much inner turmoil within lions that there comes a time when all the pressure releases, and lions have no other choice but to erupt. It's both metaphorical and philosophical that the very planet lions inhabit is much alike the living beings themselves. It was hard to put into words, but that’s what Aasb believed.

The lions of the swamp have never experienced an earthquake as strong as this. The trees ripped from the dirt, the ponds sunk into lakes, and the greenery was tossed around like mere rag dolls. The trees were beginning to fall around the lions, and they knew that if they stayed for a minute longer, this pride wouldn’t live to tell the tale of the earthquake that destroyed their home.

“Lions!” Aasb yelled over the cacophony. “Calm yourselves. Gather the cubs, as much food as you can, and pack up all your belongings. We’re moving to the mountains!” The mountains were the only solution. If they stayed, they died; if they went north or south, they entered enemy territory; west was in the direction of the ocean.

East. That was their answer and savior.

The lions didn’t complain. They ran, gathering their pride and belongings, and began making their way to the path that directed them to the mountains. The same path that Aasb walked when he first took control over this pride. The quake never ceased, not a minute. By this time, trees falling in heaps were the loudest noise in the wetlands—louder than the trample of lions, louder than the tremors, and louder than the swishing waters. If the lions weren’t careful, there was a high chance that one would get stuck in quicksand, or worse, get crushed by a falling tree.

The king was the last in the messy line of lions. He watched, making sure there were no stragglers or dangers threatening his pride. He yelled, “Move with diligence, but be careful! Keep going, I’ll meet you at the base of the mountains.”

A hunter trotted beside King Aasb and replied, “My king, where are you going?”

“I just need to retrieve an item I forgot. I won’t be long.”

She nodded. “I’ll watch the pride in your place… be careful,” she added. Aasb replied quickly, then broke away from his pride.

He found satire in this situation. The day after the pride disagreement about moving, there was a sudden earthquake that destroyed the lions’ home, demolishing it until no living being could reside there. Aasb couldn’t fathom it nor push down the rising suspicion growing in the darkest parts of his mind. He would always put his pride first, however he yearned for the mountains. It was quite coincidental all this happened, and in his favor.

Aasb ducked into his cave and went straight to the bone pendant hanging on one of the low stalagmites. His mother gave him the pendant when he was an adolescent, and nearly ready to leave the comfort of his home. She said the pendant was embedded with the spirits of his ancestors, and as longa s he had the pendant, his ancestors would watch over him, and protect him at all costs. At first, it seemed like mere superstition, but now, it appeared as if his ancestors were the ones that created the calamity in the swamps.
As the king sauntered out his cave, and traced his steps back to his pride, he looked down at the pendant hanging around his neck and whispered: “Ancestors, you were the ones who did this, yes?”

Of course, no answer.

Aasb looked back toward the swamp, watching the trees fall and the ground shake. To the naked eye, it looks like a natural disaster. But he knew better; something more supernatural brought disaster to the wetlands. Be his ancestors or not, something did not want him or his pride there. Hopefully, for the better.

(Written by solmeansun#6591 on Discord, #302922 on Lioden.)