The Severed Exile

Location: Everfree Forest (?)
Time: Unknown

Kaffir landed perfectly on his hooves as he took a few steps forward, taking a moment to rest finally as he felt himself calm down from his adrenaline-induced rage. At least, he would have if he needed to, the zebra oddly not feeling tired at all now. Nor did he feel pain. The only thing he did feel was cold. He looked around for a more, the dense forest dark and foreboding around him as he moved forward along the open path in front of him.

As he walked along, he felt as if something was right about it all. The further he moved, the colder it became. Was it the weather? He looked into the sky for a moment to see, however there was neither moon nor a single star in the sky. He quirked a brow at this as he looked forward again, only to be looking into utter darkness from where there was a forest path before him. He turned about, suddenly realizing that darkness was now all around him. He was now lost. Completely.

"Hello!?" Kaffir suddenly calls out. "Anypony out there!?" he said, but his words only traveled. They did not echo. The cold around him began to grow more and more, causing him to shiver beneath his coat. He began to trudge forward once more, occasionally calling out when he could, to anyone he could, but to no avail.

"Useless meat..." he heard a voice suddenly, a familiar voice. He turned around and readied himself, only to realize there was nothing there. "Was it worth it?" the voice continued to speak as Kaffir looked around cautiously. "Was it worth fighting to your last breath for such a pointless cause?"

"Where are you, coward. Show yourself!" Kaffir called out.

"I'm dead, you imbecile!" Lionotus's voice responded. "All because of your petty vengeance. All because you wanted to get back at us for the deaths of your people and your family. When is it that you're going to realize that whether you fight us or not will do ill to stop the continued unrelenting onslaught we will have upon equine-kind?"

"Fool, I have stopped you from killing innocents. They do not deserve to be tormented by the likes of you."

"Who said anything about who does and doesn't deserve whatever is coming to them!" Lionotus barked out in rebuttle. "It's funny how you fail to realize that this isn't about that. It's the circle of life. We live to feed, and you live to die. That is your purpose in life. That is your overall meaning, your reason for existence. To die so that the rest of us can live!" he roared.

"Liar! We have a greater purpose!" Kaffir snapped back but began to crumble as the cold began to get more and more bitter.

"Your so-called 'greater purpose' would be to be spit-roasted to perfection over an open flame should we have the patience to wait that long to devour you!" Lionotus's voiced snarled. "Your meat-wads have no perception of what's right and wrong, selfishly fighting back when you know full well you cannot break the cycle of life. Your people died because they were meant to die. And now you're going to rot pointlessly. Good riddance, I say..."

"Screw you! I'm n-not going to rot!" Kaffir called out, shivering from the cold as he tried to struggle back to his feet. His body was shivering and shuddering hard from the biting cold that enveloped him mercilessly. He took a step forward before suddenly...

Bright flash...

Kaffir blinks as he suddenly feels his body lock up, every muscle in his body tensing up as he crumbled back to the ground, panting and shivering from the sudden strange burst that coursed through him. "Wha- what was...th-that..." he said, shivering, a little perplexed now. Still, with what resolve he had left, he rose to his hooves once more and began to pad forward the best he could.

"Cycle of life, my flank...we don't deserve to die. We don't deserve to live in fear like that...nopony does..." he muttered to himself as he trudged forward, forcing himself to go despite the bitter, unrelenting cold that only became harder and harder to resist. "...but...what if he's right...what if our purpose in life is to be food..." he began to think as he looked forward. In the distance, he could see a small glint of light. He began to trudge forward, making his way toward it.

"What would be the point in living if our purpose is to be killed and eaten? What sick plan is in that? Is that truly how the world intends to work?" Kaffir continued to mutter as he moved closer and closer to the light, the brightness of it growing larger and larger, almost engulfing. He squinted his one good eye as it grew blindingly bright. "Perhaps...perhaps I should have just died..."

"No." came another familiar voice.

"...f-father?"

Bright flash...

"Agh!' Kaffir said as he crumbled again, his muscles tensing up like before as he shivered, panting out. "F-father? Was that...you?" Kaffir called out as he looked around, the bright light now gone, he now plunged back into a perpetual darkness.

"Yes, my son." came the voice again as a tall zebra appears from the darkness, approaching Kaffir.

"Father! But...but how!? I thought..." Kaffir shook his head in disbelief.

"I heard what you said, my son." Olwenyo interrupted. "What have I taught you?"

"Huh?" Kaffir tilted his head.

"I pray you did not forget..."

"No, of course not father. I just..." Kaffir bit back his words as Olwenyo narrowed his eyes sternly at him. Kaffir looked at the ground and began to repeat his father's words: "No matter how long it takes to perfect things, make sure you never stop. You may be discouraged by how others treat you, but do not let it bother you. In order to be strong, you must be strong within yourself. Believe in yourself."

"Good." Olwenyo nodded. "So tell me, within that should you harbor any thought that you should lay down your life for someone else?"

"...nowhere, father." Kaffir said, his head hanging dejectedly.

"Nowhere. Except in your own heart. You must banish such thoughts, my son. You must be strong within yourself. Do away with what that monster tells you. It may be his understanding of life, but it will not be yours as well. We have lost too many of our kind to such prying thoughts, but I'll be damned if I see my son succumb in the same way..."

"I'm sorry father..." Kaffir sighed.

"There is no need to be. You fought valiantly, for me, your family, your people. You bested the pride-master and sent them packing from which they came, and that is enough for me to be happy. I have never been more proud to call you my son." Olwenyo nodded.

"Th-thank you father..." Kaffir smiled as he rose to his hooves. "...but...where are we?"

"We are in the unknown lands, my son." Olwenyo nodded. "This is our new home. Your family eagerly awaits your return."

"My family? Mother? Sister? What about Allambee?" Kaffir said excitedly.

"They are all here, and cannot wait to see you once more."

"Hai!" Kaffir said excitedly. "Wh-where are they? Why are they not with you?"

"Because, my son, it is not your time to come home, just yet." Olwenyo shook his head. "You still have a life to live."

"Huh?" Kaffir said, tilting his head. "What...do you mean?"

Olwenyo lifted a hoof and placed it on Kaffir's shoulder and began to gaze into his eyes, they beginning to glow brightly. "Go. Live once more, my son. We will be waiting for your return one day..." he said as his eyes grew brighter and brighter suddenly until...

Bright flash...

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep-beep

"We have a response! We have a response! Pack it up, bring me the surgical tools. Stat!"

Kaffir groaned as he opened his eye, grunting as the pain began to slowly come back to him, his lifted his head and looked down at himself, seeing the grievous wound across his chest and side as he slams his head back against the gurney he was laid upon, whining out in pain as it began to surge through him thrice-fold now.

"Calm down there, pal. We'll get you something for that. Nurse! 20 ccs of ketamine, stat!" a masked pony standing over him barked out as another one moved away, a clattering of metal, shuffling and clopping of hooves and melodious electronic beeping filling the air. The masked horse suddenly had a view tools in his hand as he began to work on closing the wound in Kaffir's side and chest, weaving a through to connection the sides of the open wound, each pierce causing Kaffir to wince out.

"Ketamine, sir." came a feminine voice from the other masked pony.

"Good, give him a shot. He needs it badly, and fast." the pony responded as he continued his work. Soon Kaffir felt a needle jab into his claw-punctured leg as a numbing rush began to flow through him. In the next few moments, the beeping began to slow down and he quickly felt himself becoming drowsy, the pain washing away almost instantly just as before but he was still aware for the moment as the pony worked on closing his wound.

"It's okay there, buddy. You're in good hands now. You can rest." the masked pony said reassuringly, but Kaffir didn't need to be reminded twice, his head flopping back and to the side as his eye closed, drifting off into a deep slumber, a rest he could never have before.