Aimless

[Baya]

It has been days since I've had any water or food. Hunger and thirst began to eliminate my need for sleep as I scavenged these brutal sands for scraps or an oasis. I could not tell how long I've been alone, as I'd stopped keeping track of every day. Somehow, not keeping track of the time helped me cope with all my ill fortune and suffering. After all, I was no more than an adolescent lion.

I managed to grow out of cub hood by waiting, and scavenging what others would not finish. Those buzzards were cowardly things, so even if I approached they thought I was danger and retreated to the cloudless skies. So much were they paranoid, that a little lion cub would throw them into a frenzy of confusion and despair! I found it a little amusing as a cub, but now there wasn't a hint of amusement in my eyes.

What drained my innocence? Was it being abandoned by my mother, or realizing I would never know my father? Was it the lack of compassion I had from other lions and lionesses? Was it the sun's scorching affect on my mind? Did it literally melt away? Could it have been all the blood shed and violence I experienced? No. It was none of these. It was a realization I came to as a cub.

The buzzards scavenge. The rabbits bred, and raised their families. Some lionesses became mothers, and lions went off to start prides. Though what was he to do in such a world? What was his purpose for even having survived his orphan cubhood? Was there any particular reason that he survived and others simply withered away in the hot sand? Purpose. This term brought his psyche to its' knees. Everything had purpose. Water; to quench thirst, the Sun; to warm and light the land he walked on, Rocks; to be shelters and defense to creatures that would otherwise die. What was his? What did this damn term entitle him to? He wondered aimlessly, watching bloodshed. Watching cubs weep for their mothers, or mothers weep for their lost or dead cubs.

I finally made it to a small watering hole, it's water almost brown with unknown filth. I didn't care, out in the desert you could never be picky for something like water. I looked at it, like it was some sort of demi-god or omnipotent entity. It was the difference between life and death, so it governed the bleak world he lived in. I looked at my reflection, as I had not in quite some time. The scar across my eye hadn't been changed to the least, and my muzzle had just gotten a bit longer. The tuft of a black mane I had before was now growing outwards more along the back of my head and right below my chin. I was growing up, and yet I still didn't have the one thing I desired. Purpose.

I dipped my head into the dirty water for a drink, ignoring the odd tastes that entered my mouth. I chugged it to avoid gagging on the water, and stopped when I heard a low growl nearby. I lifted my head slowly to be met eye to eye with an adult lioness. Her eyes were tired, and her muzzle looked very dry. Her teeth, that were bared, looked oddly shaped and some broken. Her ribs were showing beneath her gold pelt and it seemed as though she wanted to drink.

"Move aside child! This watering hole belongs to ME!" She hissed as she approached me with no hesitation. I just stared into her amber eyes with my green ones, having no expression on my face. I didn't budge either. What could she do to me that would make my life anymore difficult? I've faced injury, and pain time and time again.

"I said MOVE!" She snarled as she slashed me across my cheek, the force of it knocking me onto the sandy ground. She let out a roar of triumph and went for a drink.One of my eyes remained open as I watched blood drip from my cheek. It was going to scar, I knew. Though I felt something that I could not explain. I felt happy that she struck me. I felt happy that I was challenged. I felt happy, that I had some meaning to this lioness.

I stood slowly, and smirked as I let out a low growl. The lioness lifted her head up from her drink, and glared at me like I was the most filthy creature in the desert. Though I saw something else in her eyes. Was it fear? Perhaps it was. I was only a few stages from being an adult, and I was just about three quarters her size give or take. This was a gamble, but I did not care. I wanted to test something out.

"Don't wound what you can't kill." I muttered, in my semi-low tone. The smirk on my face did not fade, despite the pain it brought to my fresh facial wound. The lioness let out a snort as she turned her attention to the young male before her once more.

"That's a clever saying. Here's another; Choose your battles wisely..." She snarled. It was then that fear struck me. Perhaps it was the fear that drove me to react in the way I did. She leaped at me, her filthy claws extended. It seemed as though she would tear me apart, but out of instinct I ducked and slashed at her stomach.

When she fell to the ground, hollering in pain, I could not help but chuckle. Moments ago, she was sentencing me to death, and now she was writhing on the ground in the pain that would consume her into death. The wounds were large enough to spill lots of blood onto the hot sand. By the time of the sun's set, she would be dead.

I looked at my bloodied paws and then at the dying lioness. What was in her eyes now? Despair. Fear. Surprise. Regret. It amused me to no end. This was the first battle, of many. This was when I understood my purpose.

[Woeler]

a really good read, pleas keep going!

[Baya]

Thank you kindly, but this was more of a one shot. I don't think I need to explain who's perspective it's from ^_^