He sat, staring at the horizon.. at empty land. His figure was torn and bloody, gashes and open wounds constantly scabbing open and reopening with every movement. A chunk was taken out of his shoulder and flank, while several large wounds remained scattered around, the most painful being around his neck, where a large wedge was ripped out. It hurt to breathe and speak, the wound having punctured his vocal cords. Had it been any closer, and it would have killed him.

Asim, his name meaning protector.

What a joke.

He wasn't able to protect anyone. Not his brother nor his children. They were all dead. Shomari was defeated, his children killed, and Asim had watched it all take place. His three sons and two daughters all lay dead because of him. He failed to protect them and had failed to be a father.

Endana, Dafina, Kinyana, Darweshi, and Mbita.

Dead, dead, dead, dead, and dead.

He tried. Oh, how hard he tried. He fought as much as he could, the rage within him fueling him, but it wasn't enough. They were too strong. Even as his children screamed for help, Asim couldn't do anything. He failed them, and he failed Kijakazi. He told her that he would protect them all. That he wouldn't let anything ever happen to them, but he was a liar. Those males were unlike he had ever seen before. They were demons. Demons who bathed in the blood of cubs, he had seen it himself. He had watched as one male gnawed on his daughter's body. Watched his children's blood coat his body.

Demons.

Demons who lurked in the dead of night. The pride never saw it coming. He never saw it coming. His brother, the King, never saw it coming. Enver never saw it coming. They should have. Because they didn't, the pride suffered the consequences, and Shomari died because of it.

And Asim was furious.

"So help me, Enver, I'm going to return one day and kill them all." He was so angry. He was raging. He made a vow as he saw his children being killed, that he would return one day and end all of those males. He made a vow for his children, for his brother, and for the pride. It could be in a few months, or a few years, but Asim would go back and avenge them. He would kill them all for what they've done. "I'm going to creep up to them in the dead of night, just like they did, and I'm going to stare them in the eyes and ask them if they remember me, and then.." He trailed off, wincing as he spoke. It hurt to speak, his voice coming out as a wheeze. He was forced to gasp between some sentences, the pain being too much.

He watched as blood dropped onto the ground from his throat, and that only made him angrier. "..And then, I'm going to make them suffer." Finishing his sentence, Asim stared blankly at the horizon, never taking his eyes off of it. Had he gone mad? Perhaps a bit. He was once a happy and loud creature, but that was before. Now, he was corrupted by fury and vengeance, forced to lick his wounds while plotting the demise of the Ufuka males.

"They could have spared them. They should have sent them off with me. I should have grabbed them and run instead of fighting first," he continued, obviously speaking about his children. "I should have at least saved one. Maybe Kinyana, she was light to carry. I could have taken her and Dafina, or maybe.." A gasp. "..Darweshi. I could have.." Another gasp was sounded before he winced, more blood spilling onto the ground. He needed to stop speaking before he did more damage, but he didn't.

"Look at us, Enver. They even stripped me from my voice." It was true. Asim's voice was now squeaky and raspy, and he didn't think that it would ever return back to normal. "My pride, my integrity, my family."

Everything.

Izem || 4 || Ukufa Warrior || M : Acantha (Ind), Gazini, Kumar, Reth (NPC, Indirect)

Izem suppressed a heavy sigh, but he did roll his eyes. He hated lazing about. He needed to be moving, to be doing something. In charge of something, anything. He pushed himself up to his feet and flicked an ear to acknowledge Kumar's words, and he began to walk off before he heard Gazini's offer to find her himself.

A glint of teasing mischief caught Izem's eyes as he turned to face the two kings. "Oh? Just to see if she is a ferocious creature? That's your only reason?"

His voice had taken on a tone that could almost be described as playful. "Either way is fine. If you would like to find her, I would be more than happy to do something else. Perhaps Reth and I could patrol. Surely we don't need lionesses to do that."

Izem stretched his massive frame and licked his maw, then moved back into a regular standing position with a low grunt. He listened with half an ear to Gazini's questions regarding queens to his brother, but Izem didn't butt in. He was uninterested in their love lives; besides, he figured they'd be after more dominant females anyway. So... the Queen, and her former second and third, perhaps. Who even was that?

Izem couldn't remember. He didn't really care, either. He had hesitated in killing their cubs, hadn't watched, hadn't participated in the more heinous acts as Gazini had, but that didn't mean any one of them would want him as a mate. Perhaps there would be some wandering lioness he could take, someone who would be willing to wait a time before becoming Queen.

He shrugged a shoulder at his own thought, waving it away, before looking back to the two brothers stationed above him. His gaze was a mildly questioning one, but he'd already spoken his piece.

Adani || 3 || Huntress || M: Everyone (Ind)

The sun was heating her up rather quickly. She refused to move, though, having done so not long before. Adani licked her maw instead and stretched out further, watching as Izem began moving towards Acantha before pausing and turning back as Gazini said something. She narrowed her eyes slightly before closing them for a brief time.

When she opened them again, her eyes found Svarog. He'd been the only one to seem remorseful, but he felt... off. Then again, every one of the Ukufa males felt off, like there was some underlying plan each had that the others did not. She shook her head and released a long sigh, then got off her rock and settled in its shade instead.

Here, she was mostly out of sight of the males and could think without having their eyes on her for any reason. She was a subordinate, though, and they spent most of their time focusing on the lead lionesses, not their underlings. Adani noted Izula's expression with a small snort; she couldn't tell if her fellow huntress was disappointed at the lack of attention or angry at the males.

Ah, well, that was Izula's problem.

Adani's eyes found Crixus and his and Acantha's daughters. She watched them, then, almost wistfully, and zoned out.