A lioness with a bright beige mane, that blended in perfectly with the mountains of sand, ran as fast as she could through the endless desert. She was breathing heavily, feeling almost completely breathless, and her paws felt heavy as she ran with what little strength she had left  in her sore limbs.

Her jaws were parted with her tongue lolling out as she ran. She was panting as though she had been running a very long time, when she just left the Pridelands, after dawn—behind Scar's watchful eye. She looked up to see that the sun had was at the top of the sky, indicating that it was the afternoon, and she could rest.

When she couldn't run any longer, she went over to a dead tree—and her legs collapsed beneath her. She flopped down beneath a branch that still had leaves. The leaves would provide a shady spot for her to rest so, having no energy to carry on with her search, she lowered her head onto her crossed forelegs and drifted off to sleep with ease—not feeling the sun beating down on her.

---------------------

She opened her eyes to see her mother and father flanking her left and right side. Her father, who she, for some reason, thought was killed by a rogue lioness pride—lead by Zira—looked very much alive, and her mother, who she thought was killed by hyenas, after attacking the one responsible for Mheetu's death—Shenzi—was alive too, carrying her brother, Mheetu, by the scruff of his neck.

She couldn't help but notice that her parents towered over her, and it took her a moment to realize that she was still a cub—not an adult, and that's when it hit her that she was dreaming of her past—right before her mother brought her to the Pridelands, but why? She looked at her mother, and noticed that her pelt lost it's solidity—and was pellucid. "Mom?" She asked her mother's spirit, just as she had when she was a cub, "wWhere are we going?" This time her father answered. "That's enough questions, Nala. You'll know when we're there," he said, but Nala wasn't satisfied with her father's answer.

"But dDad.." she whined, "my feet hurt, and I'm tired! Can't we stop to rest?"

"No." Her father replied sharply, picking up Nala by the scruff of her neck and placing her on his back. "Unless we take refugee in an abandoned cave, we're vulnerable to any rogue pride. They can see us but we can't see them."


------------------------------------------------------

Nala woke up, but even in the waking world, she could still remembered her father's words from her dream. She couldn't rest, but at least she was able to regain enough strength to continue on with her journey.

Journeying in the daytime was safer than at night. The night was brightened up into a new day, and she breathed the crisp morning air in through her nostrils. Her throat was sore from dehydration, but when she glanced around there wasn't a single oasis in sight.  Nala couldn't even remember which direction she came from, but guessed in was north, from her location.

The sound of her...



Her throat was sore from thirst, and her stomach growled. She hadn't eaten in days, and every rib was visible on her thin, frail frame. The land that had once been home to diverse species in the bovidae family was bare, stripped free from any water or vegetation. due to the absentce of rain, and the surviving herds moved on.