Ohitekah was dreaming. Or at least, he thought he was. You know what though? He was pretty awesome, and it would totally make sense that he had just learned to fly one day. Big, cushy wings held him aloft, and he was soaring over the pride's lands, looking and calling and waving down at all his friends and pride-mates as he flew over. They were, of course, in utter awe, all cooing and pointing and cheering at him... Then, ahead on a tall hill, one that was nearly as high as he was flying, a single lion appeared. The sun was rising behind her, golden light glittering on her deep maroon fur. She was beautiful, and way more lioness than he could ever handle (only in his dreams could he admit that, she was WAY outta his league) but still she reached out a paw, calling for him to come down and join her. He swooped down, a huge smile on his maw... From behind her sprang several tiny, screeching balls, and it was too late to fly back away, the lioness had snagged his wing, plucking out feathers. They leapt at him, squalling, swarming him, dragging him down into the dirt and trampling him. Tiny paws...so many tiny paws!! And all just screaming, so high pitched, just screaming! "Dad! Dad! DADADADADADADAD...!!"
Zim'torga did not much enjoy being kicked awake, especially in the middle of the night, when she'd been deep asleep and wonderfully comfortable. It was particularly rough when the one kicking her awake was her own mate, hollering and whining in his typically boisterous way (which was endearing enough, in a simple sort of way...in the daytime) with his paw digging into her side as he thrashed. She couldn't make out what he was on about. Obviously a bad dream, from the look of it, and she reached out, gently nudging his head and murmuring into his ear to try to wake him. He might have battered her awake, but that was no reason to let him suffer. "Awake, Ohitekah. You are a strong lion. Stronger than your dream. Wake up."
The sky had turned dark, and he couldn't get up! The tiny monsters combined somehow weighed far more than himself, despite being so small. For one moment he thought he'd be able to pull away, but then his sweet, terrifying Zim'torga had him by the sides of his face, her (stunning, radiant, terrible) golden eyes staring deep into his. "Ohitekha," She crooned, caressing his face with razor-sharp claws. "Come, my love. See the wonders we have made? They...are strong. Stronger than you. We must give them all, my love," He could feel himself being weighted down by the figures—cubs! they were cubs! marked with his colors and her golden eyes!—as they grew. Before his eyes, Zim'torga was growing thinner, older...wasting away! The cubs were draining the life from her, despite her lasting grin. "N-no! I'm not ready!" He wailed as she held him. He could feel the feathers in his wings falling away to nothing, and in the reflection in her eyes he watched himself grow dull and wan. Atop him, the bundles of fur became huge lions and lionesses, rejoicing, not noticing the plight of their parents.
In the waking world it was all Zim'torga could do to hold her mate down, to keep him from hurting himself as he thrashed. He wasn't crying out anymore, which she was glad of, but his tossing and writhing made the bones strung about their den rattle ominously. "Please, my heart. Awaken...!" She leaned close, nipping at his ear, hoping the pain would startle him out of his slumber.
He was being crushed! He was being crushed and he was dying and there as nothing he could do! A sharp but small pain lanced through him, and suddenly the cubs (long grown into adults now) sprang away, leaping into the sky wearing his cast-off feathers as wings of their own. He was left, crippled and aged, to cling to his lioness. Despite the fear, the pain, and the loss of his life and hers...he felt strangely at peace now, watching their creations cavort through the clouds. Her clutching, clinging claws had changed to gently cradle him. She bent to whisper something to him as he felt himself slipping away...
He woke in his den, in Zim'torga's paws, almost exactly as he had been in his dream.
He stared for a long moment up into her eyes, and she gazed back with a mix of relief and amusement. Her fur was mussed, like it usually was when she woke up, making her look less mysterious and more...adorable. "Awake now?" She asked, quietly as always. He could hear crickets outside the den; was it still night? His dream had felt hours, days, years long...He reached up to gently pap her face with his paw. Knowing himself...he'd probably kicked her at least once in the night. She was really too good for him; she wouldn't mention it, or would say it wasn't his fault, for sure.
"Awake, yeah. Sorry Zim. I know it's late." Already the details of the dream were slipping away from him. They usually did, long gone by the time he came fully awake. Something about flying, and then...he sighed. He almost never remembered his dreams. It mush have been pretty scary though to hake him react strongly enough to wake Zim up. Just another example of how awesome he was, obviously. Even his nightmares had to be extra crazy.
"Think you can get back to sleep?" She let him slip out of her paws, moving back to the pile of pelts she usually sprawled on beside him. A yawn interrupted his attempt to answer, and she chuffed at the sight as she got settled in. "Looks like it. Well, my dear. Remember that I am here to watch over your dreams. And your ancestors, back to the beginning. You can be strong too."
He sighed as he rolled over, getting comfortable against his gorgeous lady's side. "Yeah..." He was already dozing off. "You guys keep my dreams safe," Eyelids fluttering shut. "And then one day we'll keep our cubs' dreams safe too." Her golden eyes blinked open again to regard him, even as his breathing was turning mild and even in the start of sleep again. "They're really gonna be something special..."