VoK Prompts

Prompt S7 - Choose a song, and write or draw an in-depth breakdown of how it applies to your lion and their life, story, relationship,ect. Lyrics do not count towards word minimum.
Word Count - 1000/1000 + 1176/1000
Points: 8

Song: Already Home by for KING & COUNTRY

When Isihambi opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the sky. A light blue so bright it was blinding. The first thing he wondered was why the sky was so angry. What had he done? Why him? If only he knew how often he would be staring into that same, unfamiliar sky and asking those same questions. If only he knew how they would change him. Of course, he could ask those questions and stare into that lonely sky forever and never find his answers, so, of course, that's what he did. For most of the first day he laid in that spot, not a muscle of him moving, until a foreign ache formed in his gut, he felt like he had been doused in fire, and his eyes threatened to never see again. That dimming sky was near breaking, he could feel it, but he had to give in. He blinked, rolled onto his side, and vowed to never look at that angry sky again until it was in a better mood. Or, perhaps, until he was in a better mood. For the first time, he looked around. Then, be it from hunger, standing up too quickly, or shock, he passed out.

When he opened his eyes for the second time, all he saw once again was that sky. This time, though, it was spotted with white blobs. It was laughing at him. How rude. It's not like he had chosen to stare at the sky this time. Once again, he asked those same questions, why was the sky so angry at him, what had he done, and why him? Once again, though, the answers alluded him and he was filled with fury. He would show that stupid sky. He could find the answers on his own.

His gut was a roiling void now, and his whole body ached, so he was forced to stand up slower. This time, too, he knew what he would see, that is, if his eyes would adjust to the glare of that angry sky. It was a barren landscape, brown and arid, as if the real surface had been ripped off exposing this grotesque reality. Heat waves shimmered above the ground like serpents, and anything that had once been alive had now withered into nothing but brittle sticks and bones. Isihambi grimaced. This is not where he belonged. With a burst of adrenaline he broke into a run, but promptly skidded back to the ground as his hunger- and heat-stricken body protested. His lungs heaved as his parched throat cracked with the dry air. He wept, but no tears fell. Delirious but unable to do anything else, he slept.

When he opened his eyes for the third time, the sky was bawling. He drank the tears and let them wash over him. By the time the downpour ended, he had filled himself with water and felt at least partially renewed, although he has no gratitude for that sorry sky. Before he knew it, the angry sky was back, drying up any evidence of its own waterworks. After his heart cried out his hopeless questions, he stood, and began to walk. His mind was blank, his eyes trained on his feet. One step in front of another, going anywhere and nowhere as long as it was away from here.

Walkin' through a wasteland
You better keep your head down
Oh, you never raise your eyes
Oh, you never realize

Isihambi walked until he had no energy remaining, at which point he crashed and slept. Whenever he awoke again, he refused to look at that selfish sky, only watching his feet as he walked. He didn't know it at this point, but his body was still working on the internal clock from his previous life, and if he would only hold on, stay awake for a little longer, that "selfish," "angry," sky would show him mercy, as it did when he was sleeping. Every once in a while he would find a mutilated carcass on the ground one step ahead of him, and he would lick the skeleton clean by instinct alone. The first time he was horrified by himself, but as time went on he began to rely on these meager scraps. He no longer felt like he had that first day, strong and able, but instead as if it were only a matter of time before he, too, would be one of those carcasses. Stupid sky, if only it would help him.

This is how it went for some time, waking up, watching the ground as he walked, ignoring the sky, crazing over scraps of rotted meat, and sleeping. That is, until he saw the rabbit. As always, he assumed he was hallucinating at first, but only until he smelt it. Instincts kicked in, pulling his eyes from the ground. The only problem? He was still half starved, and he doubted he could run and couldn't risk making a scene. Slowly, he began to follow that rabbit. Every time it ran, he persisted, never taking his eyes off it. All day he followed it, and when his body told him to sleep, he kept going. If he would have been paying attention he would have noticed that the environment grew dark, but of course his vision stayed as clear as ever. If he would have been paying attention, he would have noticed the stars, perhaps the only familiar thing to find in this whole world, but of course his instincts held on to the control of his eyes. So what did he notice? He noticed that the rabbit was no longer afraid of him. He noticed that he could move however he wanted, but the rabbit no longer cared. He noticed that the rabbit's eyes seemed to look right past him. He noticed that he was close enough to see the rabbit's eyes. Afterwards, he noticed that the ache had left his stomach. Afterwards, he looked up at the no longer angry sky, and he noticed the stars.

Between the moonrise and the sunset
The answer's out there somewhere
If we were only listening
If we were only listening
The skies would sing

A thousand stars. A thousand fragments of memories so close but yet so far. A thousand hidden questions brimming at the edges of his mind. A thousand stories as loud as they were silent. He cried out in a silent voice, in joy and in agony, for he knew so much and so little. He shut his eyes, turned his face away, covered his ears, cowered. He wanted to know, but he didn't want to know. Did he want to know? The sky, even in joy, was still angry. What had he done? Why him?

Isihambi felt trapped, alone, lost. He had been stripped of his dignity and left for dead in this wasteland, wherever he was. What was the reason to go on? What had even motivated him to go this far? What was the reason behind all of this? Any of this? Question after question his hurting heart screamed at the sky, but the sky only smiled back. What did it know that he didn't?

"Show me, please," It was only a whisper, but it was so much more. One of the first noises he had heard in this otherwise silent place and by far the only from him. In that moment, he wasn't sure if he had ever spoken before, or if he had even been able to. Just another thing to add to his list of unknowns. It was as he was contemplating these things, though, that the sky finally answered him. A star flung from it's position, an arrow to his future. It was so quick he almost missed it and would later wonder if he had imagined it all along. The instant he saw it, though, he understood. Another first. It was as if a single piece of the puzzle had fallen into place along with that star, and Isihambi cursed himself for not trusting the sky sooner. Without a second's hesitation, he started off.

The skies would sing
You don't have to be broken
To see there's magic in a shooting star
When you're lost and you're lonesome
Let the heavens show you who you are

The desert fell away into prairie and the night gave way to day, but Isihambi didn't stop. He had found his motivation, and he wasn't about to lose it now. Even without the stars to guide him, he found that his feet seemed to know the way. At every crossroads, it was as if something inside him was nudging him in the right direction. Instead of slowing, he only went faster. With every step, he could feel that he was getting closer to wherever he was meant to be. Surely the stars would not betray him.

There's something in me calling
Across the rocks without water
It's telling me to hurry back
Oh, you better hurry back

Day and night he ran across the wilderness, through mountains and forests and streams, only stopping for nightly meals, water, and short naps. Like all good things, though, his motivation began to fade and falter. During the nights he felt sure and unstoppable, his eyes fixed on the heavens and running as fast as his legs would carry him. The joyful sky comforted him, encouraged him to keep going, but during the day, though, he struggled. He once again cowered from the angry sky, and the questions crept back into the corners of his mind. What had he done? Why him? And new ones, too: Would he ever find where he was meant to be? Was this all a wild goose chase based on something he had imagined? What was he even looking for?

To where the moonrise meets the sunset
You'll know it when you find it
Now that you are listening
Now you're really listening
The skies will sing

One morning, weeks or even months later, Isihambi couldn't go on. The highest highs always gave way to the lowest lows, this he now knew. The night before, he had thought he was close. The stars had shown so bright, and the wind had been at his back. He could almost hear the world telling him he was almost home. Home. Could that be where he was going? Was he going home? He was almost deliriously excited at the thought of it. Until, that is, the angry sky had returned in all it's fury, showing that somehow, somehow he had not gone anywhere. That sunrise had drained him of everything the night had secured in him, replaced the stars' sweet melody with those mindless questions. Now, all he knew was that he was lost, alone, and any pull the shooting star had put in him had left. He felt just as empty as when he had first opened his eyes, and the angry sky was practically laughing at it's own cruel jokes.

Indeed, looking around, all he saw was the same wasteland as before, no prairie or forest, no rivers and mountains. Just like that first day all over again, he found that he couldn't run, and he collapsed. He stared up into that angry sky, that selfish sky that held all the answers. It sneered at him, and he cowered.

When you're lost and you're lonesome
Let the heavens show you who you are

It was so much like the beginning, but so unlike it, too. This time, something inside him had changed. He knew that he was not just a shell of who he once was, but instead a new version of himself. He knew he was alive and strong, and he was here for a reason, even if he couldn't find it. He wasn't a slave of anyone or anything. He had a voice, a voice that could make the sky listen. Now he felt something inside him that had been there all along, waiting to be released. It had been growing all this time, mixing and strengthening with the voices of the stars. He would not be a slave to this angry, selfish sky. Slowly, he turned his gaze skyward, and lifted himself to his feet. Everything fell away, and he roared.

Up into the sky without a single fear
As everything that held me down disappears
Higher and higher and higher, I'm ten miles tall
I see it all

He wasn't in the wasteland any longer, but in the sky, carried on the song of the stars. He roared, releasing all of the questions and agony he had held inside until he was weightless, and the sky replied, filling him with the joyous stories of the stars and the wisdom of the sky. Every care was left behind and replaced with peace. For a moment that was an eternity, he knew everything. The saw the mysteries of the world and the wonders brewing at the edge of the universe. The stars hummed around him, and he heard every heart beating and every lung breathing in a perfect symphony. There were colors too brilliant to be named and words too wondrous to be voiced. Time didn't exist, and his being had no bounds. Even when it was all over, he felt as if he had released himself from this reverie and that it was still happening out there somewhere if he wanted to enter it again. It would always be there, hovering like a fog or a dream, and that he was only a breath away.

When Isihambi opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the sky. A light blue so bright it was blinding. The first thing he wondered was why he had ever thought the sky was angry. He didn't know what he had done, or why him, but he knew that he would never ask those questions, or any others, ever again, for he knew all that he needed to know. He knew, surer than the sun, that he was home.

Look up and you'll know
You are already home
Won't you look up into the sky
And see that you're already
That you're already home
Look up into the heavens
And won't you see that you are
You are already home
Already home