<h2>TWELFTH INTERLUDE - THE LIONESS</h2>


    Through a chaotic channel of fate and luck the most miraculous outcomes can occur. This was what drove the world to new frontiers. It didn’t take long for Gabriella to return home from Compis Falls. The only problem was what the lioness returned to. The Serengeti burned before her eyes. She did her best to seek out the remaining lions of the Pride.


    There were not many prides left throughout the Serengeti. Even the royal bloodline of Zepathorum had dwindled to two, her and Maximus. If they were to perish it would sever a crucial link between the countryside and its avatar. Once she found as many other lions as she could from Arunidawa up to Cubbet Downs they made there way to Zepathrum.


    By the time Gabriella and the lions returned to the city it was completely under siege. They used the treelines and savannah glades to sneak past the retreating Golden Company and their column of catapults. The lioness could sense the Arkenoir heir within the city walls, her instinct to keep the prides alive told her to avoid the city. Her lioness brain made simple calculations. She roared and called forth all the oldest males. The rest of the prides would head back east towards the Woodlands.


    The lioness was willing to give up the end of an ancient bloodline, the last descendents of Magnanimous, in search for Maximus and to aid the Arkenoirs. Not even twenty lions, as well as Gabriella approached the east gate of the city, already demolished by the behemoths. Chances were they would’ve made quick work of infiltrating the city, but they would never get the chance.


    There, waiting for them, were a pack of berserkers, the dark wolves sent out by the Emissary before his fall. The demons had originally set out for Commander Cel’a. The scent of the lions on the wind distracted the berserkers from their mission.


    The vanguard pride came all this way just to fight to the death before getting a chance to even enter the city. The lioness’ survival instinct outwitted her predatorial senses. Another, roar and the lions shuffled into retreat formation. They weaved together with a couple doubling back to intercept the rapidly approaching berserkers. Lions feel no fear, and so the berserkers’ spells were useless. They would fight each other beast against beast.


    The lions and the dark wolves both went for throats. The lions’ bite did a lot more damage. As much prowess that the lions had over the wolves, they were barely wolves at all, but supernatural demons, and not so easy to kill. The lions carved chunks out of their mange hides with tooth and claw until they were brought down and devoured. Gabriella escaped with all that were left.


    The sacrifice of the few lions mattered not. They fed the beast. The bloodlust made them crazed. With glowing red eyes, they caught up to Gabriella and the last of the vanguard pride. One by one the male lions fell behind her. Every time they went up against the berserkers it would end in their ultimate demise, no matter how valiant the effort. A lion could bite a dark wolf’s throat clean out and shadows just swirl in, materializing its flesh around the throat like it never happened. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    As the last fell, Gabriella knew it would soon be her turn. The end was nigh. The rest of the prides escaped, and Maximus could still be out their protecting the Arkenoirs. As a champion of the Pride and the Serengeti, Gabriella did her part to preserve the lions from extinction. Just by getting Mitakahn to safety in the first place, she ensured the survival of the Arkenoir bloodline.


    A bluish haze slipped into the air. It looked like it was being caught in the sunlight but there was no sunshine. The dark clouds still ruled the skies. No, it was a gold shine on the bluish haze, messing with its appearance. Gabriella did not have time to notice, running for her life. No morsel of awareness aimed at the haze approaching her face. The lioness inhaled the remnant essence of Magnamious and embodied the golden shine in all its magnificence.


    Once fully integrated she ran faster, gliding across the rolling grasslands, outmanuevering the berserkers, outpacing their every attack. Something else felt off to her. She was no longer herself, but a different form. Something was changing inside her. She ran for a greater purpose now.


    The head wolf cried out a grevious howl and the ones falling behind cried back in tone. They all fell into the shadow winds and merged together with the lead berserker. The dark wolf sped back up. Gabriella would have to fight after all.


    The lioness turned to face her pursuer. She radiated light. With her breast out she roared into the air, shaking the clouds above her and grew larger in size and fierceness. The lioness used the light of MagnaThora that now embodied her to push on the dark clouds above. Everywhere her essence searched to bring forth the light. Finally, it chose her eyes.


    Just like the shine her fur was giving off, a purified version poured from the golden rings of her irises. The rings drummed forth, expanding vertically in rows around the berserker. It did not cower from the rings of light but attacked them, bit them, chewed on them. This was not the end of the fight but a distraction. Gabriella watched as the rings of light perished, just like her lions. Darkness devoured all. But not her!


    Two of the last rings of light stopped and reformed. The light magic transformed from rings to wings and attached themselves to Gabriella as she pounced through them. Soaring through the air, she dove at the berserker. Her claws sunk into its hide, tearing it to shreds, while she bit its throat. The dark wolf was stripped to peices, but the shadow brought it back together. That’s when Gabriella took it up into the sky.


    As the berserker healed in her grasp she flew them into the dark clouds, her wings of light cutting through the artificial clouds like butter. The berserker regained full health and slashed Gabriella right in the gut before they made it through to the other side.


    The lioness flew above the dark clouds dooming Zepathorum and burned the berserker to dust in the sunlight. The wings of light grew larger in the sun. The split in two and covered her in a cocoon. The lioness had suffered a mortal wound. She was dying, but that was not all. The essence of Magnanimous would not be trapped in death with her.