A Memorial.
Ebony, a lioness, lived for 15 years and 1 month.
She will be remembered in our dreams forever.

༺ꕥ༻

ᴇʙᴏɴʏ ᴡᴀꜱ ʙʀᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴀꜱ ᴀ ᴄᴜʙ ɪɴᴛᴏ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍꜱᴄᴀᴘᴇ ᴘʀɪᴅᴇ ᴡʜᴇɴ ɪᴛ ᴡᴀꜱ ꜱᴛɪʟʟ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ɴɪɢʜᴛᴍᴀʀᴇ ᴘʀɪᴅᴇ, ᴜɴᴅᴇʀ ᴋɪɴɢ ᴀᴋᴜᴍᴜ, ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛᴍᴀʀᴇ ʟɪᴏɴ. ꜱʜᴇ ɪꜱ ᴄʟᴏꜱᴇ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴡɪᴛʜᴇʀ ʀᴏꜱᴇ, ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴋɪɴɢ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴀʟᴍᴏꜱᴛ ʟɪᴠᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴇᴇ ᴘʀɪɴᴄᴇ ꜱᴀᴛʏʀ ᴄʀᴏᴡɴᴇᴅ. ꜱʜᴇ ᴄᴀɴ ᴏꜰᴛᴇɴ ʙᴇ ꜱᴇᴇɴ ᴛᴀʟᴋɪɴɢ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʜᴇʀ ʀᴀᴠᴇɴ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ, ᴍɪʀʀᴏʀ.
ᴛʜɪꜱ ɪꜱ ʜᴇʀ ꜱᴛᴏʀʏ.

༺ꕥ༻

The first thing Ebony remembers is warm fur surrounding her, and her mother’s pink tongue grooming the top of her head. Then, a large figure, confusingly large and blurry in her weak infant eyes, looming dangerously over her. A huge paw grabbing her, pulling her away from her bigger, stronger siblings, and tearing her silky black pelt. Pain. Her mother’s devastated but resigned expression. And most of all, the content and happy expressions on her siblings faces. The first time she experienced jealousy, at less than a month old.

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“All these stupid lions. Can’t take care of their own cubs…” a voice muttered above her. Ebony blinked, opening her eyes to see a nimble grey figure with long, slender limbs. It leaped around her, moving unlike anything she’d seen before. To her alarm, the thing picked her up, walking over and dropping her in the hollow of a large, thick tree. Small, wriggling bodies were packed around her. It wasn’t so tight that they would suffocate, but it was uncomfortable. There were so many cubs. She growled to the other cubs to get out of her way, and clambered clumsily over to the opening of the tree hollow.
Ebony’s tiny paws scraped against rough bark as she scrambled out of the tree. She marveled at the scene. Hundreds of lions and lionesses gathered in the huge clearing. Adolescent lions tussled and played, cubs leaned close to their mothers, and lions argued and played around with shiny silver and gold insects. It was so loud and overwhelming. A little ‘caw’ caused her to look down. She leaned over the edge of the tree hollow and tumbled down onto the belly of a young raven. The crow let out a short huff of air in surprise. She sniffed the weird thing with feathers. It squawked and mumbled. Ebony rolled off of it and cocked her head. The crow cawed again.
I’m going to name you Caw, She thought, not in so many words, of course, with her limited understanding of language.
Caw? Oh come on, you can do better than that, a voice taunted inside her head. And weirdly, she could understand it. It wasn’t talking in lion, but something else… something deeper.
Fine, smarty-paws. What’s your name, then? Ebony asked the crow in her mind.
He hesitated. I’m Mirror. I gave it to myself. Just like you, Ebony. He cocked his head. It’s a nice name. Do you know what it means?
No, she said, interested. I heard old Long-Arms say it. Do you know what it means?
It’s a type of wood. Mirror explained. Ebony is very valuable to humans, especially when its black. They really seem to like it. Its tough and durable, difficult to break. Its also used to describe something that’s a beautiful color of black.
Oh, Ebony whispered, although it wasn’t much of a whisper since their entire conversation was silent. Mirror? She asked suddenly.
Hm? The crow mumbled. He cawed at a little beetle scurrying along the grass.
Can you- can we be friends? Can you stay here always?
Mirror was silent for a moment. He looked to the horizon, then back at her. He smiled, tilting his head. Of course. Always. He ruffled her fur with his beak and she mewed happily.

༺ꕥ༻

More than a month had passed at the tree, which they found to be called the Giving Tree. Small, disabled, or simply unwanted cubs were dropped off every day, and every day huge amounts of lions came to take a random cub. One day, as she was wrestling with an alarmed Mirror, the grey monkey scurried up to her and picked her off of his wing. He hopped back up immediately and cawed in distress. She growled at the monkey, batting at his long arms and showing her sharp white teeth.
“Now, now. Calm down, little lioness.” He chattered, his brown eyes twinkling. “Don’t ya want a new home?” Alarmed, Ebony just struggled more, but the monkey held on tight. As Mirror fluttered around her, cawing softly, she stopped squirming. The monkey flicked her gently on the nose and set her down in front on a huge, ash-brown lion. She looked up at his disapproving face. A long scar crossed one of his eyes, and his sharp teeth glittered menacingly.
“She’s too small.” He growled. “I said I wanted a good huntress.”
“Look, you ask for a female cub, you get a female cub. Besides, she may be small, but she’s quick and strong. You should have seen her wrestling with that raven there.” He nodded towards Mirror.
“The stupid crow doesn’t come with the deal, does it?” He sniffed disdainfully at the dark bird.
“Well, I wouldn’t advise trying to keep them apart.” The monkey said, to Ebony and Mirror’s relief. “Now, I’m giving you a female cub, like you asked. Take her or leave her.”
Akumu snorted, pawing the ground and upsetting a few plants. “Fine. I’lll take her.” At that, he gripped her in his huge jaws and carried her away. Ebony looked back at the Giving tree. This was the second time she would leave a home. She looked at Mirror and smiled. At least this time she had a friend.

༺ꕥ༻

“We hereby crown Wither Rose, King of Nightmare Pride!”
Ebony gave a roar of approval along with the crowd as Lord Rust gave the announcement. King Akumu had passed only a few days before, and though Ebony had been indisputably loyal to him, she knew that this pride would be so much better with Rose on the throne… even if Wither had to tag along.
Rose cleared his throat, straightening.
“Hello, fellow lions,” he said, blushing shyly. “I am honored to lead this pride, and will do everything in my power to lead it to prosperity. A great time of peace and security awaits us.” His speech sounded rehearsed and nervous, but he was doing a good job. He shook his inky black mane. “And to commemorate this transition into a new era, my first decree as king is to change the name of this pride; from Nightmare Pride, to-“ he held the suspenseful silence for a few moments, then said, “Dreamscape Pride.” The crowd erupted into cheering roars.

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“Hey, Rose!” Ebony called afterwards with a smile. “Or should I say, King Rose?”
“Aw, that sounds so weird,” Rose said sheepishly. Ebony smiled at him.
“I know you’ll be an amazing king, Rose. And I’ll be there to support you every step of the way.” Ebony said, giving him a nuzzle.
Rose smiled and returned the gesture. Suddenly, his entire body spasmed, and Ebony let out a small gasp as it went cold.
“Yes, yes,” Wither said with a growl. “Very nice, very mushy. Would you please like not talk to him as though I’m not here?”
Ebony snarled back. “Wither, get back into his head, you disgusting demonic flea-ridden parasite.”
Wither looked at her with an exaggerated injured expression. “I’ll have you know that we share this body equally.” He hissed. “Please just go learn some respect, or I will very likely kill you. Thank you very much, I will be handing this conversation over to Rose now.”
Rose’s body shivered, and he looked up.
“Heh, sorry about that, Ebony.” He said with an apologetic smile. “I will be a good king. One you’ll be proud of. I promise.”

༺ꕥ༻

ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇɴ, ᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴠᴇʀʏ ᴇɴᴅ, ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴘᴇᴀᴄᴇ ᴀᴛ ʟᴀꜱᴛ.
“ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ, ᴍɪʀʀᴏʀ,” ᴇʙᴏɴʏ ᴡʜɪꜱᴘᴇʀᴇᴅ, ʜᴇʀ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴡᴏʀᴅꜱ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇʀ ʙᴇʟᴏᴠᴇᴅ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅ. “ꜱᴇᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀꜰᴛᴇʀʟɪꜰᴇ.”