StarShine

[FlipMode]

If I speak with human eloquence, and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s word with power, revealing all of his mysteries and making everything as plain as day. And if I have faith to say to a mountain “jump” and it jumps but I don’t love, I'm nothing. If I give all I own to the poor or even go to the state to be burned as a martyr but I don’t love, I've gone nowhere. So, no matter what I say, no matter what I believe and no matter what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. - 1 Corinthians 13

Chapter One

I remember my own birth quite well, even though it was eighteen years ago. I remember all of the gory details and the pain that a mother goes through when giving birth, all of the things they tell you about in most stories (the good) and all the stuff they don’t (that will be the negatives, then).

Most lions don’t remember the birth, in fact most of my “family” to use the term loosely, barely remember the past weeks because they are all too busy looking forward to the next job. And yet here I am, asleep on the eve before my eighteenth birthday having visions once again of my mother and my birth.

I emerge from my mother and the first thing I say is her face, her eyes reflect mine as I look up at her. It is not a pretty sight though; she is in pain and struggling to keep her breath. It is almost as if one side of her psyche is focusing on the joy of giving birth, while the other is trying to tell her lungs to continue to function as lungs should.

I feel as though what happens next was planned to happen later, but she places a nearby stone shaped object onto my neck. The stone is small and glows white in the sun and it is attached to a piece of small and thin rope with a knot tied in the back. She places it around my neck and the stone rests against me.
“Keep it safe. And it will keep you safe. I love you so much.” She speaks softly, kissing me lightly as she does. The last of the light leaves her beautiful blue eyes.

Her body slumps to floor, exhausted but finally at rest. My father comes into view as her body falls. A single tear rolls from his face, it hits the stone wrapped around my neck and the stone shines again, brighter this time. He notices it and looks down at me, in disgust.

What follows for the next eighteen years is my father reluctantly takes me in and forces me to look after myself. He hated me for causing the death of my mother and to be honest, at times I would agree with him.
He set an example though as all father figures should. Over the years he trained me to be a vicious killer, I already had a head start after all, causing a death on my day of birth and all, it seemed to be something I would be good at.

It wasn't all bad though, I had friends I made within the clan of killers he raised. We became mercenaries, or as close as you could within the wild. My father loved everyone but me, at times I thought he would kill me, Heavens knows why he hadn't. Me and my friends, who over the years became as close to family as I would ever get would go on missions for the highest bidder. My father was in charge of getting us the contracts, we just did the dirty work... Stealing, killing, viciously attacking for no reason other than we were told to, you know the kind of thing that lions should be doing.

And as images of the years rolled past my head in a flash, I woke up. Most would wake up panicking after a nightmare, but I was used to it by now. Luckily for me this was the last time I would be sleeping here anyway. As a rule, when we turned eighteen we were allowed to go out in search of our own contracts. I would be going out but not for a contract. I would be going out for answers. I wanted to know what this stone my mother gave me was really for, there had to be a reason for it.

The only person here who might know is my father, Zack, Who everyone abbreviated to as “Zee” but as if he would have ever told me anything about it. I had asked once and needless to say, I never dared to ask him again. The only way I would get answers was to go out and search for them.

“Your paw was twitching.” Zee’z voice echoed across the cove we were in. “Another dream?”

“Yeah...” I answered. I didn't want to admit it to him but I was afraid of him, everyone was. He was strong and quick, no one had dared to challenge him in our pride yet.

“You know until you get those thoughts out of your head. You will always be weak.” My father liked to belittle me like that, you see.

I sighed. Taking the stone roped necklace which was still in good condition after the years, placed it around my neck and turned to face him. His mane was quite bushy and dark black against his brown fur colour, it did a good job of hiding the scratches on his face.
“Eighteen years ago today I was given this.” I said to him, pawing the back to make sure the knot was fastened.

“You really should forget about it you know.” He said back, his voice deeper than my younger somewhat higher pitched tone. He sounded wise almost all the time due to his deep and murky voice. It was hard to tell if he was putting someone down or just speaking neutral sometimes.

I shrugged. I had more important things on my mind than him and thought I’d change the subject.
“In any case, da-“ his left eye squinted at me. The one which wasn't concealed by his mane.
“Father...” the eye returned to its normal position. He hated me calling him dad, he always said too childish. “ I'm eighteen today.” I carried on.

“That you are. Eighteen years of bringing death and misery onto everything you have ever touched. Quite an achievement.” His sarcasm annoyed me to no end.

I smiled a cunning smile, making him believe his words meant anything to me still. “So I can carry out my own contracts now right, by myself?” I knew the answer of course, but it was worth reminding him.

“My, my. Less than an hour after awakening and you are already wanting to go out and cause suffering.” It was when he was speaking about how much pain I bring to everyone that he seemed almost loving “ I'm proud. Almost.” I knew it wouldn't last long.
“But yes you are right, today is the first day of the rest of your life. However if you don’t know what you are doing then it will be your last. For that reason, I want you to take Three with you.”

Three was one of my closest friends; he was months older than me a little bit tougher if I am being honest too. He had a real name of course; Three was his name here though. You see father gave us all numbers based on our ability and that was what we referred to each other as. Father was Father to me, Zee to everyone else whom he had adopted into the family. The rest of us referred to each other by number only. We used our real names when we were out of Father’s ear shot though. He hated it, thought that simply by using real names we would become too attached and reliant on one another. I remember the one who was caught breaking that rule, number six he was, distinguishable from the rest of us by the scarring in his tongue where Father had tried to prevent him from ever speaking again.

Everyone was numbered in relation to when they joined, except me. I was four. Have you ever been to Asia, more specifically China? Four is an unlucky number there; many numbers are because they sound similar to words in their spoken language. There the number four is considered unlucky because it sounds similar to the word “death”. More you know.

“Fair enough.” I said to him and nodded. “I’ll go get him and be on my way.” I said.

“Be back here by the time it starts to get dark.” He replied sharply. That was fine by me, it didn't get dark here until late anyway and the stars and moon often shone so bright in the sky that the lands were constantly illuminated. Even in early hours they were in a comatose between light and dark.
“I will be.” I nodded. I wouldn't be.

“And one more thing.” He said as I turned my back to leave to the exiting tunnels. I turned my head back to him. “Forget about that thing.” He motioned toward the stone around my neck. My suspicions were right. He was worried, I could hear it in his voice. He knew that if I were out on my own too long, he wouldn't be able to ensure that I never found out what it was for. It felt kind of nice to hold that little bit of power over him for once.

I held the stone in my front left paw. Glancing between it and him. “It’s just a bit of jewellery.” I assured him.

“Good. Keep it that way.” He said to me. He instantly regretted it of course because he had just hinted that it could possibly be anything more.
I searched for a witty response but I stopped the words from escaping my mouth. Instead I turned them into a half baked smile and left him in the room to work on his own. Which he often did, organizing assignments for us and making sure we were functioning properly as a unit.

Three was outside the room already. He was cream coloured and didn't have as many distinguishing features about him, not like a big mane or anything like the rest of us. Still, not like he needed one, he was strong, had a broad build and was the only cream coloured lion in the family. Ah the joys of adoption, all my brothers look completely different to me. Once we were outside I would explain my intentions to him. So that was the plan.

[UncoordinatedPisces]

Interesting read so far. The father's way of numbering the lions is original, I haven't seen that before. I like your style Tom, and I can't wait to read more!

[FlipMode]

Thanks, I intend to write more lol. It may feel a little slow paced due to the first chapter being largely about back story and setting things up bit I promise things will speed up once the story starts going

[AdAstrα]

Wow, that was great! Very well-written. I can't wait to read more!

[Regulus]

Cool story, bro. No sarcasm intended.

[FlipMode]

Thanks for the positive feedback, I am glad to have finally found a plot that people seem to be interested in. Probably because I have been reading books like in nearly all my free time recently and found my muse thanks to that I think.
Again, glad to hear it and I will aim to update with a new chapter at least once a week or more!