Chapter 175: Pontionne Seeks the First Lion

Chapter 175: Pontionne Seeks the First Lion
The palace did not return to celebration after the sky closed.
The music stopped.
The laughter faded.
Even the guards spoke in hushed tones, as though the air itself demanded reverence after what they had witnessed.
Pontionne walked alone through the inner gardens of the Western palace, his footsteps slow and deliberate across the stone path. The moon hung high above, bathing the gardens in pale silver light. Tall baobabs and acacias cast long shadows across the ground, their ancient trunks whispering with the night wind.
He had seen many things in his lifetime.
Wars between realms.
The rise and fall of rulers.
Prophecies fulfilled and prophecies broken.
But never — not once — had he seen the barrier between realms respond to living beings.
Not until tonight.
The twins had not forced it open.
The sky had answered them.
Pontionne paused beside the sacred lion pool at the center of the garden. The water within it was perfectly still, reflecting the stars above like polished glass.
This pool was not merely decorative.
It was older than the palace itself.
Older than the Western Kingdom.
It had been brought stone by stone from Badosa centuries ago when the alliance between realms had first been sealed.
Pontionne rested both hands lightly on the stone rim.
“I know you are listening,” he said quietly.
For a long moment, nothing happened.
Then the water trembled.
Not violently.
Just enough to disturb the perfect reflection of the stars.
Golden light rose slowly from the surface of the pool, forming thin spirals that twisted upward like mist touched by sunlight.
Pontionne lowered his head slightly in respect.
“I seek counsel,” he said.
The spirals of light thickened.
Shapes began to form within them.
Not bodies.
Not fully.
But impressions.
Lion forms made of luminous gold and ancient memory.
They circled slowly above the pool like silent constellations.
The first voice came not through sound, but directly into Pontionne’s mind.
You have come with questions.
Pontionne did not deny it.
“Yes.”
The golden shapes moved slowly, their presence calm yet immense.
You felt the sky open.
“I did.”
And you believe it signals a challenge to your authority.
Pontionne lifted his gaze.
“No,” he said quietly.
“I believe it signals something greater than authority.”
The spirits stilled.
For a moment, silence filled the garden.
Then another voice spoke — deeper, older.
You have always understood more than most who ruled before you.
Pontionne remained still.
“The twins,” he said slowly. “Matthew and Lilian. Their power did not merely echo through the realms tonight. The barrier acknowledged them.”
The golden lions circled once more above the water.
Yes.
Pontionne exhaled.
“Then the prophecy was incomplete.”
Another ripple of light passed through the spirits.
It was never incomplete.
Pontionne frowned slightly.
“Then it was misunderstood.”
A pause.
Then—
Yes.
Pontionne closed his eyes briefly.
For centuries the prophecy had been interpreted the same way by priests, rulers, and seers alike.
Lion and flame united.
The barrier between realms would thin.
The First Lion would awaken.
Most believed it meant the return of a divine ruler.
A being who would reclaim authority over all lion realms.
Pontionne had once believed that too.
But what he saw tonight did not resemble a throne being reclaimed.
It resembled something else entirely.
“What are they?” Pontionne asked quietly.
The golden lions slowed their circling.
When they spoke again, their voices carried a tone of quiet certainty.
They are not extensions of divine rule.
Pontionne’s brow tightened.
“Then they are not successors to the First Lion?”
The spirits’ light pulsed softly.
No.
Another voice followed.
They are evolution.
The word settled heavily into Pontionne’s chest.
Evolution.
Not inheritance.
Not replacement.
Something new.
Pontionne looked down at the pool, watching the ripples spread across its surface.
“For thousands of years,” he said slowly, “the lion realms have followed the same order. Kings rise. Kings fall. Power passes through bloodlines.”
The spirits said nothing.
Pontionne’s voice lowered further.
“But tonight the sky did not answer a king.”
He lifted his gaze again.
“It answered them.”
The golden lions glowed brighter for a moment.
Yes.
Pontionne remained silent for several breaths.
Then he asked the question that had lingered beneath every other thought.
“What does that mean for me?”
The garden seemed to grow even quieter.
The spirits gathered closer above the water, their light merging until they formed a single enormous lion silhouette.
When it spoke, its voice carried the weight of ages.
You are not dethroned.
Pontionne’s shoulders relaxed slightly.
But the voice continued.
You are surpassed in purpose.
The words did not sting.
They settled like truth.
Pontionne had ruled Badosa longer than most civilizations existed.
He had guided kingdoms through peace and catastrophe alike.
But he was not blind to time.
Every era eventually belonged to someone new.
He looked toward the palace, where the twins slept beneath guarded roofs and unaware stars.
“They are still young,” he said quietly.
Yes.
“They do not yet understand what they are becoming.”
The golden lion lowered its great head.
Neither did the First Lion when he awakened.
Pontionne absorbed that slowly.
Then he asked, “Will they rule the realms?”
The spirit’s answer came without hesitation.
No.
Pontionne’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Then what will they do?”
The golden lion began to dissolve slowly back into light.
Its final words echoed through the garden.
They will change them.
The pool grew still again.
The golden light faded.
The spirits were gone.
Pontionne remained standing beside the water for a long time.
The night wind returned, stirring the branches of the acacia trees.
Somewhere in the distance, a young lion cub roared playfully in the royal enclosures.
Pontionne finally straightened.
For the first time in centuries, he felt something unfamiliar settle in his chest.
Not fear.
Not uncertainty.
Anticipation.
He turned toward the palace.
Because tomorrow he would have to tell Kenneth.
And Lucy.
And the council.
That the future of the lion realms would not be ruled by tradition.
Nor prophecy.
But by two young beings who had unknowingly awakened the attention of the First Lion himself.
And the world would never return to what it had been before the sky shifted.