The sun making it's way over the valley, It's rays forcing its way into the dense leaves and branches of the tree where the royal family is sleeping, well apart from Rani who was taken and is now being held against her will at Kjuma Forest. Everyone knew she was going to see her brother but no one knows that she is now in the paws of an evil clan group known as Black Fire.

"Good morning your majesties", Makini said walking in with Nirmala, Kion immediately woke up, yawned and shook his top mane,

"Morning Makini, Nirmala", Kion said, nodding to Nirmala. The cubs yawned awake, still pretty sleepy from the night before, they couldn't fall asleep, their minds were filled with nerves and excitement, but they're awake now, ready to take on today's task.

"You guys ready to head off to your training?", Makini exclaimed,

"Yes we are", Karla said stretching her lower back,

"Good, go gather the rest of the guard and meet back here, Makini will then take you to the Cave Of Secrets". Kion said, giving them a hug as they walked out of the tree.

                        ......

Waking up in a vast dense cave full of vines and green slime, Rani felt angry at herself, wishing she could turn back the time and restart her journey to the area, her mouth was still dry, she needed water, looking around she found a crack in the rocks, a small waterfall was seeping through, relieved she rushed over, her head was still pounding from the hit she took yesterday but she pushed that aside and started lapping at the water, it tasted dirty but that didn't matter, she drunk as much water as she could take in, not wasting any drops, her conscious was coming back to her, after drinking she looked around and tried to gather her senses, there was no way out apart from what seems to be the front entrance which was covered in vines, running over Rani tried to claw her way out, but it was no use, the vines were thick and her claws weren't sharp enough to cut through, scoffing at the sight she looked up, she was trapped in a hole, trees over hanged the ledge, she was about ten metres deep into the earth, looking to see if she could climb out but it was no use, a faint sound of trickling water in the distance got her attention, a waterfall perhaps? She began to wonder about Baylio, did he turn to the dark side? No, not Baylio, he wouldn't do this, there must be an explanation? Circling the dungeon Rani tried to come up with a good reason for this, her thoughts came short lived when she heard voices coming from behind the vines.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?", Rani shouted,

"The majesty wants to see you now", one lion said opening the vines, how did he do that? Rani thought it didn't matter that this was her chance to escape. No. She needs to find out what is going on here, she couldn't leave Baylio here.

"Come", the second lion said, Rani didn't argue, keeping her head low she walked into the tunnel, small cracks allowed light to shine through from above, moving she could feel she was going uphill, up to the surface, the two lions were by her side, not showing any emotions at all, looking dead straight at the forest, it didn't look like Kjuma Forest at all, the last time she was here there was birds, animals all over the place, what happened to this place? Rani shook her head and continued forward. Soon they came to an opening where Baylio and Talia called home, Kion created it using his roar, his architectural skills made it look like Pride Rock, but again much smaller, designed to fit the two of them, but it seems their Pride has grown, she never met these lions before, they were a different colour as well, darker then she was, some were even black? Immediately she remembered Yassain, how black he was, could this be his Pride? No.

"Ahh, Rani, so glad you can join us today, welcome to my humble home", Talia said,

"Where's my brother Talia", Rani growled,

"He's sleeping", Talia said gesturing inside, the lion who walked her here shoved her inside, Rani kept her head low and continued in, the cave was darker, the gaps that once allowed light in were covered by leaves, why? It didn't matter, guards were positioned at every corner of the cave, lions of black and brown, Talia was a deep dark brown, her fur could possibly blend into the rocks if the sun shines on it right, whatever is going on here, Rani was certain it was no good.

"Here we are", Talia said gesturing to a cell, Rani looked inside; Baylio was sleeping, blood trickled down his cheek, her gaze travelled all around his body, cuts and teeth marks were evident.

"What did you do!", Rani screamed lashing out at her, Talia nodded to a guard who ran in and pushed her into the cell,

"Get comfortable, welcome to the dark side. We'll talk later".