VoK Prompts

Write about a harsh lesson or major turning point/change one of your lions received in their life. As a cub, or adult. Explain why it impacted them, and how they changed as a result. What would they have been like if it didn’t happen? 500 word minimum
Word Count: 500/500 + 507/500
Points: 2 + 2

Amanzi ran blindly, tears blurring her vision and streaming down her face. She couldn't take it anymore. She wasn't good enough, strong enough for this job. They were supposed to save others, not let them die. This wasn't what she agreed to. She had fought it, but Laka made her stay, made her watch, told her she had to be stronger, but she couldn't. She couldn't just let them go like that. She wasn't like Laka. Laka said it was enough to be by their side when they died, but it wasn't. That was someone's parent, sibling, aunt, grandmother. That could have been Laka. That could have been Amanzi. She ran faster.

She didn't belong there. She wasn't a healer, no matter how much her parents wished she was. So she would run away. Find a place that was for her, or make her own. King Kuth said Ukusizana was for everyone, but what if she was a nobody? Worthless, no good. There was no job right for her, this she knew. She had tried them all. What was she supposed to do? What did they expect her to do? The Festival of Graduation was next month and everyone else already knew what they wanted to do. Not her, though. She was a failure, a defect. She didn't fit in, so she would find her own place, somewhere far from here.

Amanzi picked up her speed once again, hardly touching the ground. That is, until there was no ground to touch. Amanzi hurtled through the air, flailing but finding no purchase. She fell and fell for what seemed like an eternity, all thoughts gone from her mind but one: "How foolish of a reason to die,"

She fit the choppy waves below like a cannonball, immediately beginning to sink. The force knocked the breath from her lungs and filled her mouth and nose. She only struggled for a moment before remembering she couldn't swim and realizing there was no air to breathe. Now, a new thought hit her: "At least it would be quick, unlike that lion at Laka's,"

Amanzi went limp, letting the cold water fill her and drag her down. She breathed it in, pleading that death find her faster. She let all her worries go, adopting a type of peace that can only come in the moments before death. She knew about drowning, knew that her body would panic and she would start seeing spots, but she only closed her eyes, ignoring them when they appeared. Eventually, as expected, her world went dark. 

Amanzi opened her eyes and leapt to her feet in surprise. They only problem? She was still underwater, and her motion carried her up, over the edge of the drop off she had been resting on, and down, down, down into a dark abyss. She panicked, kicking her legs as fast as she could, but instead of swimming up, the water seemed to swirl around her, lifting her back to the ledge. Her heart was pounding, her lungs heaving, and then another revelation hit her. She was underwater. She had drowned. Her heart shouldn't be beating. Her lungs shouldn't be breathing. Her jaw dropped open, and a giant bubble floated out of her mouth and up, up, up to the surface, no more than a foot above her head. How had she not realized? She could have sworn she was sunk deeper, in fact, she knew she had. She had drowned, after all. Carefully this time, she floated over to the edge of the abyss. Gazing down, she saw no end to it. Yup, that was deep enough. But then how had she ended up on this ledge. No, more than that, how was she alive?

Suddenly, a familiar noise disrupted the silent water, but not an aquatic one. Looking up again, through the shimmering surface she saw the silhouettes of lions -- could it be? In an instant, the water swirled around her and propelled her upwards so that her head cold poke out of the water, and it held her there. Indeed, high above her, tiny from the distance, was a pride of lions. Her pride. They had come after her! 

"Down here!" She exclaimed, realizing that she could breathe just as easily above water as she could below.

A series of cries erupted, followed by a shout, "Hold on, we'll find a way to get you out!"

Amanzi looked around, doubtful. The cliff was a sheer drop, the same black slate as their home. From experience, she knew how slick it was when wet, and the monstrous waves that crashed against the cliff ensured it would be just that. If only some of those waves could team up and grow into a wave big enough to carry her to the top of the cliff.

The instant she had this thought, she felt the ocean below her shift. All the waves that had been heading towards the cliff shifted, heading back out. as they passed Amanzi, she found herself lowered back to the ledge, now completely dry and no longer underwater. Once again, frantic cries came from above her, and Amanzi's gaze followed their pointed arms out towards the horizons, and she gasped, for there was no horizon to be seen. A tidal wave, coincidentally just as tall as the cliff, rushed towards her, and she leapt to greet it. The wave, somehow as gentle as the air itself, lifted her higher and higher, until she was riding the crest. Turning to poke her head out, she found herself eye level her pride, who scurried and scrambled to get away. Amanzi, on the other hand, had no fear. When the wave reached the cliff, it deposited her on top as gentle as a butterfly landing on a flower. Amanzi turned to watch as it gracefully flowed back into it's normal position as if nothing had ever happened.

"What just-" Remembering the pride, Amanzi, now completely dry, whipped back around. At the sight of their dumbfounded faces, Amanzi could only smile.