Circle of Power

[twistedlion2003]

Story summary: A Lion King AU where in the middle of the night the ancient tree released a almost of pollen with mysterious properties into the atmosphere causing some to inherit super natural abilities but some lay dormant for longer. We follow Kovu as he wrestles with the philosophy of Scar.
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Notes:
Credit goes to Kiligami as the cover artist follow them on Instagram at @kiligami

Special thanks to author Toxikluvr for being my beta reader. Go check them right here on A03

[twistedlion2003]

Chapter One: Prologue

The void of black ruled the sky. Stars danced like their existence depended upon it forming shapes together to captivate their audience. 







 Alone, A tree with a thick,bottle-like trunk rising to support spindly branches was surrounded by grass that could cast a shadow over a male lion.







A beam of light touched the tree causing a luminous effect from the leaves to the lower trunk, as a strong gust of wind howled as it swept the leaves away like a leading man of a harlequin romance.







Their adventure had just begun.







The leaves traveled the Savannah guided by the wind before flying through the pridelands borders from Mbali fields , over Embamba canyon around the mapena rock barely being able to avoid getting wet by the stream between Lake Matope and Lake Kiziwa before a sudden upwards woosh made the trails of leaves in line with the Royal den.







They entered the den with a chill as some leaves landed, passing on thier glow to the royal family with Timon and Pumbaa. Kopa rolled over,Kiara shivered, Pumbaa farted and Timon held his nose as a natural reflex.







The leaves didn't overstay their welcome as they left no sooner than they arrived. They passed through the Rocky plains before curving left to Flat ridge rock,curving right to fly over the stream that separates the Pridelands and the Outlands.







Inside a hollow out termite mount. A snake with a combination of light and dark brown, pink and purple arranged in diamonds and stripes along its back looked down upon a Green eyed, Black,  brown, and cream fur cub, who was squashing his cheek against one side of his sleep quarters with his sun coloured eyes.







"Oh Great Ngai, I Mchawi present you the flesh of this Lizard '' The Snake hissed, placing a lizard on a spiken branch as the blood trickled down its body.







"I offer you this in exchange for the power to combine the souls of the great fallen King Scar with this Chosen one , Kovu , for they will become one and destroy the Tyrants of Pridelands that rule through fake smiles and propaganda making prey believe there equal with the superiority of lions and not mere food" He bellowed exposing his 2 inch long fangs.







"nafsi kwa nafsi" The snake repeated as it circled the smooth edged throne like tree bark that occupied the center of the den , speeding up with each lap.







Outside, many red upside down raindrop shaped things, upraised from the termite mounds.







Circling outside the young cubs' sleeping quarters that were deeply nestled between the mounds. The mystical raindrops gradually seeped their way through the walls heading for a vessel.







They latched on to the Viper long,hinged fangs turning them into a dark red. He gently scratched the young cub with his fangs going from the young cub's left eyebrow and little above. Another scratch mark from his bottom eye lid to ending in line with his nose. 







Suddenly the trails of leaves appeared, one resting on the recently scratched eye before meandering away.







"I wonder what that was about," Mchawi hissed.







"Sleep well, little Prince" He whispered before slithering away into the night.

[twistedlion2003]

Chapter Two: The Deal

"The lion with blood soaked mane, flaming paws and impermeable golden fur stalked our great king up Pride Rock" Zira slowly moved towards with slow and purposeful movements.

"Simba," the cub said excitedly and stood up.He sported a dark brown head tuft, green eye and green,large, leaf covering his left eye.

"Do not interrupt me when I'm telling the story" Zira raised her voice in annoyance stopping her threactrics.

"Sorry mother" Kovu pinned his ears to the side of his head and looked to the ground with his tail at a stand still.

"Are you telling the story" She asked with a sharp tone

The young brown cub shook his head

"Good. Now shut up and let me tell the story"

"Where was I" she tapped her paw on her lips while her tail swished left to right.

"Aaah, yes I remember" Zira spread her paw toes as she removed her paw away from her lips.

"The unforgiving jinn followed our benevolent saviour killing every hyena pup in his path as their mothers begged for forgiveness"

"A great ring of fire surrounded Scar. The monstrous Simba followed our noble leader with blood of pups pouring from his mouth and covering his chin.He walked through the the flames unfazed and unburnt.His eyes glowed an unnatural red, staring down Scar as repeated that one word.murder…..Murder…..MURDER"

The cubs huddled together while Nuka manically chuckled and jumped around.

As Zira was about to continue footsteps could be heard from outside.A grey furred lioness limped into the mound, blood streaming from her neck, front left leg contorted out of shape,ear hanging on to head by a thread of skin.

The two young cubs' eyes widened. Zira remained calm as she inspected the damage from a distance.

"Mlinzi are you..." Kovu started to ask.

“Silence" Zira interrupted

"Mlinzi where and what" Zira looked at Mlinzi.

"Near the log where Kovu implied the usurper daughter used to get to our lands" Mlinzi winced and coughed "I didn't get a good look at my attacker but he was a male lion"

"Male" Zira Snarled

Zira sat thinking, looking at Mlinzi watching the cause of a small red puddle on the ground.

"Nuka make yourself for once and go fetch Mchawi" Zira said with a raised tone.

Nuka rolled his eyes and huffed. Zira lifted her paw. The hairs on the back of Nuka's neck stood up as his back arched upwards.

Before Zira finished what she said she disappeared from in front of everyone.

"Mum?" Kovu looked around

"She will be at near the log, wimp" Vitani hit her brother in the shoulder before running off

Zira appeared near the log. She looked around and noticed her cubs, Mlinzi and Mchawi.

"Ziiiiiiiiiiiirrrrrrrraaaaaaaaa"

The camouflage wore off.

Tan eyes,tan fur, syrup mane and a large scar running down the right side of his face from forehead to right side of mouth between the lips.

"Zira, the forever whore of the tyrant Scar" The male grinned puffing his chest off.


"These my lands, leave my lands with your balls so you make bastards with desperate pride females" Zira unsheathed her claws,circled the male,giving low growls before sitting in front of him.


"Sociopathic as always Zira" The male put his mouth a centimetre away from her left notched ear "you need to get laid" the male unsheathed one claw running from the back of her neck down to her tailbase. Zira growled and turned around to face him.


"Get out of my pride" she shouted giving a warning swipe a mere inch from his face 


"Pride" The male looked around before chuckling "to be officially recognised as a pride you need to be a male with enough lions or of royal bloodline. Which one are you?"

The male got closer until their noses touched. "Submit to me Zira and you can have a pride" He nuzzled her cheek slowly.

Zira smacked his cheek with her paw before pushing him away with her front legs. She got in a defensive stance and gave him a piercing glare. The male licked the blood from his bottom lip before looking at Zira.

"You made your choice" The male iris began to twirl as unsheathed his own claws. The male started to charge Zira,jumped then tried to dig his claws into her shoulder,Zira rolled, She stood up and swiped, clawing at his cheeks. She drew blood.

The male growled and threw a fury of swipes. Zira ducked and weaved before she teleported away. The male started to have a saccade before Zira teleported behind him and slapped him with the back of her paw at the back of his head. The male stumbled forward. He turned around and then his claws made contact with Zira's cheek.

Zira touched her cheek. She saw the blood.


"Mum" They shouted in unison as they finally found her.


Nuka's eyes rolled back. He sat away from a few lions. They looked familiar to her. He noticed his mothers, two younger siblings. He also noticed his surroundings were in black and white. Nuka watched on as his mother stood calmly as his siblings eyes wondered standing shoulder to shoulder.

The lion emerges behind his mother unsheathing his claws and slitting her throat. The cubs looked up at their mother. The older male shows his fangs to the younger cubs. They scattered. The older male sat smirking for a few moments before pouncing onto Kovu,biting down into his younger brother's neck.


"Mum watch out" Nuka pounced on his mother, pinning her to the ground.

"You stupid ...."


The older male emerged from his camouflaged state, and went to swipe for Zira but missed.

"You cubs sure do love you. how lovely" The male chuckled tackling Nuka away from Zira,stood over her and licked his lips in his victory.

Kovu bit his ankle and growled. The small cub held on for dear life. The older male looked down at him with an intense stare but Kovu's courage did not wane. It only escalated the rogue issue when Kovu teeth sank deeper.


Zira teleported again.She showed up behind the older male, grabbed a chunk of male's mane with her teeth and dragged him to the ground. Zira teleported again. She turned up at his back legs,unsheathing her own claws into his back legs.

"Kovu stand in front of him"

"But mother" Kovu protested letting go of his ankle with a huff.

"No food for a week" Zira gave him a stern side eye.


Zira lifted the male head up by his mane with her paw.Kovu stood in front of male as the male made eye contact. The male chuckled then grinned. Kovu touched the leaf covering his eye and gulped.

"What are you hiding boy?" 

Zira dug her free claw into his shoulder.

"Show some respect to the hand chosen heir of King Scar, the chosen one that will bring me and my girls back to lustful lands"

"Chosen one, that thing,prove it"

"Two years"

"Six months"

"Deal"

"Mother let kill, he threatened you and the chosen one"


“Quite... you mindless Termite filled disappointment"

Zira let the male go. The male looked down at Kovu and smiled before bowing to the cub.

"You better not disappoint"


Earlier in the day


The sunlight rose into the den as the King rose from his slumber. Dark-brown mane with yellow fur that look like they are walking through a pollen field and unfortunately got caught in the middle of an explosion. He stretched his back legs while yawning. He smacked his lips, shook his mane and smiled as he looked back at his wife and cubs.

Simba started to make his way down. He noticed a Black, blue, and white coloured feather bird. The bird flew down and circled the King's head.

"Morning sire"


"Zazu" Simba smiled

'Would you like the morning report sire?" Zazu asked in a flat tone.

Simba nodded.

"Well..." Zazu rolled his eyes "that meerkat buddy of yours, scared a cow. In state of panic she hastily ran away and knocked over a tree causing a mother leopard with cubs trapped under the fallen wreckage"

"Cubs" Simba tilted his head

"Yes sire"

"Zazu fly ahead and says help on the way" Simba shouted as he started to run down Pride Rock.

"Certainly sire" Zazu flew away

A mother ran up and down alongside the
fallen side,scratching the bark and biting the smaller branches. Loud and frequent meows could be heard as the cubs kept trying to pull their heads back.

Simba appeared.

"Oh your majesty, I'm so glad you came" She said in relief when taking Simba over to her cubs

"Yay, Jabari look the King has come to rescue us"

Simba pushed his head through the gap and lifted the tree with his shoulders. The cubs got free and ran to their mother. The mother leopard nuzzled her cubs on the top of their head.


Simba lifted his shoulders a little more.

Whoosh. The tree flew high into the sky until it was just a dot to the naked eye before rapidly falling back down. Simba noticed one of the leopard cubs standing frozen in fear. Simba looked up. The tree was falling too quickly. Simba stood over the male cub and closed his eyes.

Crack.

Simba opened his eyes. The cub's right dark blonde and left blue eye full of awe met with his. Simba looked either side of him. Two parts of the tree, one part to his left and the other to his right. He stepped to the side of the cub and shook his fur, making a pile of wooden shards,giving his subjects a nervous smile.

"That was cool," Theother leopard cub near the mother said. All the surrounding animals laughed.


A tree measuring 60 feet tall and 40 feet across, The baobab tree has an enormous thick trunk and scrawny, scraggly stems and twigs.


Inside the hollowed out trunk. an old mandrill with a bald head and white hair. His fur is grey and his underbelly is white. He is a bit hunched over as he used his staff to write out a few words of wisdom. 

nguvu kubwa huja wajibu mkubwa.
(Great power comes great responsibility)

"Rafiki hopes so" the old mandrill held the staff with one hand at the top, the other a quarter way down as he closed his eyes to sighed.

Suddenly a gust of wind entered his tree. The wind trail was taking leaves and petals along for a ride. Rafki opened his eyes as the wind and co circled him before making his way towards his painting wall.

It danced around the Simba and Zira paintings before leaving him alone. Rafki squinted and stroked the fur under his chin. He pointed at the Simba then the Zira. He pointed between the paintings for a few minutes. His eyes widened until his forehead almost disappeared. Rafki fell to his knees and placed his hands together.

"De Kings of da past, want Simba and Zira to work together" Rafki dropped his staff,straightened his back,crossed his arms then pouted.

"Dis is impossible, Kings of past you had your head in the clouds too long" A Gust of wind blew aggressively in his face. Rafki used both hands to push the wind away with no prevail.

"Okay,okay,okay" Rafki repeated, stretching his arms using both hands to try to push back.

"Okay" he shouted at the top lungs shooing it away with his hands.

Rafki walked out of his tree, climbed up and sat down on a branch "Rafki is too old for dis" Rafki sighed.