It’s burning, so low it’s concerning.
‘Cause they know that when it goes out,
It’s a glorious gone…
It’s only time before they show me
Why no one ever comes back
With details from beyond…
They know that it's almost over…
“I can’t do it, Trees.”
‘In Time I will Leave this City’, or City as everyone called him, was pacing back and forth in his cave.
“You’re our only hope,” the leopard-lion hybrid whispered, moving closer to wrap him in his embrace. Trees’ warm fur was a deep, brownish green. His kind, friendly face was tear-streaked and terrified. “City,” he breathed, his breath warm against City’s face. “No one can stop him but you.”
City’s face scrunched up as he tried to keep the tears in.
“Trees, I don’t want him to hurt you more.” He whispered into his friend’s mane.
“That’s what you’re going to stop!” The leopon stood and stared him in the eyes, flicking a tear from his cheek. His eyes were filled with righteous anger.
“Trees, you don’t understand!”
“Yes, I do!” Trees’ face contorted in frustration. “If you defeat him, you’ll save us all!”
“Trees!”
His friend went silent.
“Trees, if I fail, he’ll hurt you. I know it. He’ll hurt all of you to get to me and then kill me.”
City closed his eyes tightly. “I can’t let him do that. It’s better to stay silent and hope.”
“You are our hope,” Trees whispered pleadingly.
“I… I can’t. I’m sorry.”
———
“I’m sorry, your Majesty,” the leopon said stiffly, obviously terrified. “I’ll do better next time, I swear. I just– I couldn’t find–” He was interrupted by the lion glaring down at him.
“I tell you to bring back food, you bring back food!” Simma Hem, the king of the pride, hissed menacingly in his face. “There is no excuse for failure!”
“I-I’m sorry,” Trees whispered, going still. He always went still when he was scared, as if the bad things wouldn’t notice him if he looked like a rock.
City watched from the corner, staring down at his paws. Filled with terror for his friend, he took a step forward, but Trees looked at him out of the corner of his eye and gave a tiny shake of his head.
“You should be sorry,” the king snarled, his paw shooting up to encircle the leopon’s thin neck. “But sorry isn’t going to feed the pride.”
“Yes, sir. I will do better,” Trees choked out.
City’s breath quickened in anger as the king threatened his friend. He stepped out of his hiding place, when suddenly, faster than City could process, King Simma Hem snarled and arced his claws across the cowering leopon’s face.
Trees let out a yelp of pain and curled up on the ground. Bright red blood stained his fur, dripping onto the ground.
Abandoning all self-preservation, City burst out of his hiding place and rushed to his friend. Simma Hem glared at him, then shook his mane and left, leaving the two of them alone.
“Trees!” City whispered, cradling his friend. “I’m so sorry, Trees. I didn’t know he’d do that to you…”
Trees said nothing and buried his head in City’s mane.
“Trees?” City asked softly. “Are you okay?”
“Let’s talk in my den, later. At night, alright?”
“Alright.”
———
City waved and walked away from Trees’ den, his heart pounding. What they’d just discussed was treachery. His blood felt like ice in his veins.
Shivering, he snuck back to his den, laying down. He felt tired and dissatisfied, wishing he could be more. Wishing he could help.
I can’t, he’d whispered.
It was true. There was no way he could defeat Simma Hem.
He was strong and experienced and terrifying, and City was just… City. He was nervous and cowardly and weak. He couldn’t.
These thoughts swirling around in his mind, City laid his head down and tried his best to sleep.
———
City was awoken by a loud rumbling sound.
He jumped up, shaking apprehensively. Was Simma Hem here to kill him for talking to Trees last night? He turned in a circle.
No, no one was here.
Suddenly, the rumble grew louder. A small pebble fell from the roof of the cave right in front of City’s nose, and he yelped in terror.
Earthquake.
With a shout of fear, City flew out of his den, barely escaping as a huge crash echoed through she mountainside. The whole ground shook so much that City couldn’t stand. Everything blurred together, his surroundings moving so quickly that City could hardly keep up.
Yelping as a tree nearly fell on him, he scampered away, trying to find safety, when he suddenly realised—
Trees! He was still in there!
All of his pride members! He felt sick as he began to hear screams much like his own, echoing from the caves. Loud rumbling, followed by sudden bangs, the sound of stone crumbling, screaming, screaming, screaming.
He couldn’t save them. City was a cowardly nobody. He’d always been.
City was completely overwhelmed. Everything was moving far too quickly, a blur in his vision. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe.
Sucking in a breath, he raced back, stumbling over the trembling ground, shaking and breathing heavily.
“Trees!” He yelled. “I’m coming, hang on, please!”
His vision blurred as he was rocked up and down. Running into Trees’ cave, he grabbed the terrified, frozen leopon and threw him out of the cave.
City threw himself at the mouth of the cave, trying his best to keep standing amidst the chaos and screams around him. The cave couldn’t hold itself together as the ground moved under it and shook it through its core. It collapsed just as City ran out.
Time slowed down.
City leapt from the shaking ground, losing his footing at the last moment. He could feel every last detail, the sweat on his paws, the terror in Trees’ eyes as he stared at him, unmoving, and the air screaming past his ears. He fell to the ground, rolling away from the collapsing cave at the last second, and then let out a cry of pain.
A small rock had jammed itself into his leg, a bright red would blooming around the wound.
“City!” He heard a voice from far away— no, Trees was right next to him. “You were so brave,” he whispered. “We’ll get you to safety. One of the cliffside lakes collapsed. The area’s flooding.”
Flooding?
“Wait, no I can…” City winced and tried to stand, when the world around him blurred and spun. He fell to the ground, unconscious.
———
“City, are you alright?” An anxious voice murmured above him. “Please wake up, City. You can’t die.”
City opened his weary eyes. His body felt heavy, as if it had been glued to the ground.
“Trees,” he murmured softly, his voice cracking.
“Oh, thank heaven you’re not dead,” Trees whispered, hugging him close. “I thought I lost you.”
“W-what happened?” Trees sighed and buried his head in his mane. City could feel warm, heavy tears on his neck.
“There was a huge earthquake; all the caves collapsed, and everyone— they’re all gone. What’s worse, one of the cliffside collapsed, bringing a waterfall that destroyed the land.” He stood in silence, his head hanging.
City was speechless.
They’re all gone?
“W-who survived?” He croaked, wincing as a sharp pain in his leg re-emerged and began to throb.
Trees took a deep breath. “So many lions died,” he whimpered softly. If he said anything else, City didn’t hear it.
He forced himself to stand, taking a look at the destroyed landscape in front of him. It was all gone, all dead, everything destroyed.
His home, his hope, his pride.
All gone.
Just like that.
Like a tiny flame snuffed out too soon.
In time I will leave the city…
For now, I will stay alive.
They know that it’s almost over.
They know…
City stood at the edge of a cliff.
It was more of a canyon, or a ravine, a huge gap cracked open into the earth by the earthquake.
City felt like the earthquake had broken so much more than the ground. He felt like he’d been shattered into pieces, broken like the ground beneath him.
There was nothing left for him anymore. All his hopes and dreams, destroyed in an instant.
He could leap off, and everything could be over. All the pain and sorrow, gone in an instant. He could let the earth swallow him up, become part of it.
He just wanted to disappear.
City’s paw hovered above the cliff, hesitating.
“City!” A voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts. Paws dragged him away from the edge. City turned to find Trees, staring at him, terror in his eyes.
“City, what are you doing?!” Trees yelled angrily, wiping away tears. “You can’t go! We need you! I n-need you!”
City glared back at him. “You don't need me. No one needs me,” he snarled. “Get off me!” He pushed the leopon away, his face angry. Trees staggered away.
“City, please. You can’t leave us. We’ve already lost so many.”
“This pride is gone, Trees!” City yelled, tears stinging his eyes. His voice grew bitter. “What’s one more gone? You won’t even notice. You can pretend I died in the earthquake.”
“It’s not all gone, City,” Trees whispered pleadingly, catching his arm. “Please. Stay.”
“It is all gone!” City burst out, snarling. “There’s nothing left. Nothing left to live for!”
With that, he turned back to the edge, hunching his back. “Leave me,” he whispered tearfully.
“That’s not true, City,” Trees murmured, his voice so soft and loving that City turned back.
Beyond Trees, several lions were approaching, bedraggled and tired, but hopeful. They looked up at City with pleading eyes, as if he was their only hope left.
City stumbled back.
“See?” Trees whispered, turning his teary eyes to City. “These lions. We need you, City. We survived. We can rebuild. Please.”
City trembled, tears falling from his eyes.
“A-Alright,” he murmured softly. “I’ll stay.”
———
“And so, City saved us,” Trees finished. “We’re free of Simma Hem now, at least.”
City wrinkled his nose. “I wasn’t nearly so heroic, Trees,” he mumbled. “I was scared half to death.”
“You were amazing!” Redecorate insisted quietly. “You were so brave.”
“She’s right,” Levitate agreed, her eyes soft. “You’ve saved us all. Not just Trees.”
City sighed and turned away. He didn’t want credit for ‘saving the pride’, especially from Simma Hem. He’d been too cowardly to fight him, and in the end it was the earthquake and not him.
“I guess,” he said dejectedly, tapping his claw on the ground. He stood, stretching his injured leg with a wince.
“Either way, we need to rebuild our pride. And we can’t stay here,” he gestured to the broken landscape around them. “So it’s time for us to find a new home.”
The lions around him nodded, their eyes fixed on him.
They trusted him, and City was going to do everything he could to protect them.
“Let’s go.”
Last year, I needed a change of pace,
Couldn’t take the pace of change…
Moving hastily.
But this year, though I’m far from home,
In Trench I’m not alone
These faces facing me…
They know…
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