The Lion of Luisa

This year’s October scary story is a little different. The Lion of Luisa was never supposed to be a stand-alone, but rather a dream in another story I am writing (more information here). This dream just didn’t fit the greater story, so I decided to replace it with another dream. I still wanted to do something with the Lion of Luisa though. I worked hard on it, and it deserves to be read. So, here we are.

I will say this story isn’t scary in the traditional sense, but it does have a bone-chilling conclusion. I don’t want to spoil the rest of it, so let’s get right into things!

…I foresee a day when this statue will rise from its cement platform! When this giant lion will trample our enemies. When the mauve of his face, cobalt blue of his mane, and metallic gold body shall flex its gigantic muscles to lose its claws and devour our hated ones!

These words, carved onto the base of the great lion, were just as mysterious as the lion itself, as no one knew who wrote the words. There were great debates, sure. Some say the great and ancient Queen, Lesthia. Some say an unknown scribe or the concubine of Kontani the Terrible. Skeptics even believed the words were written by a priest, not to prophesy a great and glorious victory over the Choliria, but as a ploy to rally support for a dying religion. Despite the debate on who wrote the prophecy, most believed it would, someday, come to fulfillment.

The statue itself rose twenty feet from platform to head, and thirty-five feet from front paw to back end, with its tail neatly tucked to its left side. Its eyes were made of gigantic rubies and stood out of proportion to the rest of its body. A widely held belief is the statue could read one’s thoughts if one looked straight into the gigantic ruby eyes.

The statue’s angry, open jaw gave the illusion of saliva dripping from its teeth, as though it could not wait to devour the evil before it.

The statue’s platform felt out of place. While the lion had color – mauve, blues, and golds, the platform was just a slab of gray cement, three feet tall, and barely large enough to hold the lion. While the statue and the platform seemed like disconnected pieces, no one could separate the two. Of course, many had tried – be it with crowbars or strongmen, and even lasers – yet there seemed to be no way the statue could be separated from the platform. The lion almost seemed to be a prisoner of the platform. Perhaps the inability to separate the lion from the platform was the very thing that kept the people of Lusia believing in the prophecy. Still, some skeptics stated that the priests had developed a special glue to hold the statue in place, for until very recently, all scientific discoveries were known only by the priestly order. It’s probable and well believed that the priests held back at least some of their discoveries from the general public. Goodness knows that anyone else in their place would do the same thing.

The lion was never known as a god, but rather as an agent of God. The lion would devour the people of Choliria like a servant bidding on his master, the protector of Lusia. While the people of Lusia did not regard the lion as a god, they knew it to be the only thing of this world directly touched by God, so the statue was revered as sacred.

For decades, and maybe even centuries, the farmers would bring their first fruits of the season for the statue to eat. The fruit sat in the sun, rotting as the lion did not eat. The people of Lusia often wondered if the statue deemed the fruit unworthy. For countless seasons, the farmers strived to improve their crops, so as to feed the lion, but yet the lion would not eat. And then, one day a high priest Zebo theorized that the fruit was ok, but the statue could not reach the fruit. After all, the statue could not move. The people of Lusia began putting the fruit directly into the statue’s jaws. However, the statue still would not eat of the fruit.

After two seasons, it was deemed a fast throughout the land was in order. On the forty-sixth day of fasting, the high priest Zebo announced a “vision” from God! No one had claimed to hear from God since the prophecy. The vision was of the lion speaking to the eldest and most revered priest, Malevo:

Feed me not this fruit. It is lovely, it is tempting, it is indeed good. But the fruit is also wrong for me, the emissary of the judgment of god, to feast on anything but the flesh of the enemies of Lusia! Instead, feast on the first fruits yourselves in honor of the eminent victory over the enemies of Lusia! Feast in honor of their burned cities, of their flocks destroyed, of their gold, which you will use to build an eternal temple to the God who has sent me here.

Everyone, even the skeptics, rejoiced upon this new prophesy. Many of the elderly and weak had died because of the great fast. Many poor families could not afford the first fruits, yet they gave them anyways. But now the sacrifices were over, and instead, replaced with a great feast – benefiting solely the population of Lusia.

Much time had passed since the second prophecy. The Cholirians had requested a truce because of a great war between the Plasins of the Eastern seas. Because of the war, and the peace with the Cholirians, many of the Lusias believed the lion of the prophesy not to be the statue itself, but rather a symbol of the present time. Choliria was nearing defeat, and the lion had not sprung from his cement platform. Perhaps the cement platform represented the sea, for it was not till recently that the Plasins were able to build ships strong enough to free them from their islands in the East. But the faithful believed this was all in line with the great prophesy, and one of two things could happen. The lion might rise from his platform just in time to smash Choliria in the name of the God of the Lusias – snatching victory from the Plasins. The second option, the Plasins would be defeated, and the Statue would rise at a later date.

Six months more passed, and the Plasins had destroyed Choliria. The cities were burned, and the people were either dead or enslaved in crowded camps on the coast. Most of the country was uninhabited. It was decided by the priests of Lusia that a party should be sent to scout out the land. The road into Lusia led past the statue. As the small party trekked past the lion, they stopped to say a prayer…

“Oh great beast of Gold, oh, symbol and champion of the God of Lusia. See here, before you! The cities of our enemies have been burned, the people, gone – enslaved or dead! Oh, be merciful to us. If ye shall rise now, know that we, of Lusia, are amongst the ruins of the Cholirians. We enter to find what spoils we may, so we might build a great and wonderful temple to our God, to your master.”

An hour later, the party had crossed the border. It had been centuries since any Lusia had walked in the lands of the Cholirians, and they knew not what to expect. As they approached the northernmost settlement of Claeb (also known as Itgobde), they found a cement platform, almost identical to that which the statue stood upon. Near the statue base was a golden body, much like that of the lion, and a shattered head made of the colors mauve and blue. An exact duplicate of the statue. Destroyed.

“Surely, this must be some kind of joke!”

“No, it must be of the Cholirian god. He has been defeated, so his champion has died. Their wicked ways consumed by our god, by the God of the Lusias!”

We are not amongst those who should discuss this matter. Let us do what we were sent to do, and report of this to the priests upon our return.”

“Aye! It is the best plan. The priests are wise, and we are fools.”

The men, seven in all, agreed and moved on.

Most of what they found in Claeb was broken. The city stood in ruins and the Plasins had taken all they could carry back with them to their sea dragons. Still, the party found more than enough gold, jewelry, and fine pottery to carry back with them. They decided to grab what they could and depart for home.

Two days later, the party crossed the border into Lusia, and saw the cement platform of the statue, but not the lion.

Glory! The statue has risen! The prophecy has been fulfilled! Let us go inform our fellow citizens of Luisa so we might feast!

But, cautiously, one of the men approached the platform to find an inscription where the lion once sat. The letters read:

Beware of words spoken of this, the lion, the statue. They shall lead you to death and destruction. Verily, I say, there is another lion, and the two lions are linked; they are but mates. If one has been destroyed the other shall roam the ends of the world for all of eternity, for the two lions are linked. And the two lands on which the lions sit are linked. If one is destroyed, the other shall fall.

The End

I hope you enjoyed this story. Usually, I would link to some of my other stories, however, I am in the process of rewriting a few of them. For instance, I totally rewrote the story of the Purple T Rex. It’s so much better than the version that appears on this site. I’m not sure where I might publish it yet, but it’s coming.

Happy October everyone, and may it be spooky and scary, but not too scary.