The Future King and his Shadow

Whoo this took a while! Not happy with all the frames but ah well. Instead of throwing text on this I wrote a story for it. Enjoy.


The Future King and his Shadow

Mufasa seemed to beam with pride as he descended from pride rock, his head and tail held high.

Taka ran up behind him, "Hey Muffy! What did father have to tell you this morning?" the younger cub asked ever curious since Ahadi had pulled Mufasa aside for something special that day.

Mufasa continued to walk a few more steps before sitting down in front of his brother, his chest puffed up with pride. Taka raised an eyebrow.

"Well?" he asked again, growing impatient.

Mufasa flashed a grin and stood, "Come on, I'll show you!" he motioned for Taka to follow and sprang forward onto a high rock ledge. Taka watched with annoyance but quickly tried to follow. His legs were shorter and not as powerful as Mufasa's were, so while the larger cub lept onto the rock with ease his smaller brother struggled to pull himself up. But at last both were on the rock.

Mufasa walked to the edge of the cliff, overlooking the lands.

"Taka, look at it..." he said proudly. "The Pridelands...I'm going to rule them!"

Taka stared out over the lands and tilted his head, "Rule them?"

"Yes!" Mufasa swelled up, "I'm going to be king! All of this will be mine! My kingdom!"

Taka's gaze drifted from the scenery outstretched before them to the cold rock the two stood on, "All yours, huh? Wow Muffy, that's just...great..." his voice trailed off as he noticed he was standing in Mufasa's shadow...quite literally.

Mufasa, too caught up in his moment, didn't notice the twinge of jealousy in his brother's voice.

"Mufasa!" a young female voice called out, causing the two brothers to turn around as two more cubs raced up to them.

"Hey Sarabi, Sarafina!" Mufasa called back with a smile.

"We couldn't help overhearing the news!" Sarafina said.

"You'll make a great king, Mufasa!" Sarabi said with a warm smile, giving her friend a nudge.

"The best!" Sarafina added as the two cubs surrounded Mufasa with congrats and praise. In their excitement neither seemed to acknowledge the smaller cub by his side.

Taka stood as the three started to walk off together, the two lioness cubs walking close to Mufasa and singing their happiness for him. He could have overflowed with pride.

"Hey..." Taka finally managed to squeak, but the others were too far away. "Wait..." his jaw could have dropped. He started to follow, but instead just sat down.

They didn't even notice me... he thought to himself, eyes starting to swell up. No one notices me... he let a single tear roll down his face as he let that sink in. His brother was going to be king now, why would anyone care about his little shadow anymore?

Taka opened his eyes again, watching the now far off silhouettes of the other cubs. Although his face was still tear stained a new fire was burning in his eyes.

I'll MAKE them notice me... he thought.

Someday...

___________________________________

There you have it. So, piece that together with the above storyboard and you'll have the visual.

PS: Pay attention to the very last panel there...that shadow was fun. XD