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( would recommend waiting to read further into animalia till Chapter two is live. It's my fault and I'm sorry for the mix up.)

Mubarak stood quietly in the twilight of the hell in which he lived. Past the gate and in the sun he could see crowds of furry spectators. All cheered, howled, squawked, or roared for the blood of the combatants. The gladiators.

Two leopards were tearing at each other with their claws. Neither looked in very good shape. The bigger of the two was on the ground and took a slash to the face. He crawled away and gave the submissive sign of surrender. The smaller one took a few steps over and retrieved a spear and aimed it at his opponent. Both stopped and looked to an unseen force in the audience. Pause. The crowd could be seen making motions with their thumbs, pointing them towards their chests or towards the ground. Suddenly the bigger leopard looked back to his conqueror with unmistakable fear. Without missing a beat the victor put the spear through his defeated's heart.

The smaller leopard marched towards the gate, shaking his paws into the air in the ecstasy of victory. He passed by Mubarak, grinning arrogantly.

"Watch your back, Human."

"Good fight, Nigel."

"They always are. Just wait until we are out there." Mubarak let this one go, knowing that Nigel was the best fighter in the pit.

The crowd unanimously booed the dark-skinned human as he entered the arena. Mubarak wiped his beard and smiled. They hated him, making the pleasure of winning even sweeter. He lifted his large round shield as if receiving acclaim, only to solicit more venom from the anthropomorphic audience.

Mubarak turned to the king. Hadrian sat on an opulent thrown next to his new skin bride who was heavy with child. Mubarak couldn't recollect her name. He bowed then saluted.

"May I live or die in honor or blood." Mubarak recited, and then let out his own roar. A very weak roar, but mighty by human standards. Hadrian chuckled and motioned his approval. Hadrian walked to the center of the 100 meter arena. Behind him out of the pit came Brutus. The bear stomped to the king. His bright white fur reflected the sun violently. In a deep voice he recited the gladiator pledge. Brutus then dropped on all fours and roared with all his ursine might. He pulled himself back up once he had the king's approval and produced a single spear, turning to his puny human opponent.

Mubarak unsheathed his blade, a gladius. It was a short blade that harkened back to ancient Animalia when her legions marched across Aporue without equal. Brutus grinned, finding the tiny blade almost whimsical, like a fairies' wand. His spear was probably longer than the human he fought.

"You're going to die today, Fairy-man."

"Brutus, don't tell me this is what our kinship has come down to."

"We will never be friends." In the background a cheer was rising from the audience.

"Brutus. Brutus. Brutus." The crowd's cheer of the name quickly formed into something not unlike an earthquake, repeated by most likely everybody. Gladiatorial events were one of the few things in Animalia that were forbidden to the skins. Most didn't mind, but it was still a contentious issue in some territories.

Brutus smiled at the audience and flexed his fist in the air. Unlike Mubarak he reveled in the glory of the crowd's admiration. He was indeed one of the more popular fighters, having come in 3rd in the last gladiatorial tournament.

There was a sudden gasp from the audience. Brutus turned back to see what happened. His opponent was only feet from him, rushing at Brutus with his shield forward and his blade poised. The bear stumbled back and fell unceremoniously. He grunted and gasped as Mubarak leaped on to him and held his sword against Brutus' ursine throat.

Brutus couldn't believe it. This human out stepped him in a matter of seconds. The angry screaming in the bear's head was polar to the audience's dead silence. He was flexing his muscles, ready to bring his spear to bear, when...

"Ah ah ah. Brutus you move another inch the blade goes in. Guess who's going to win that race." Mubarak's voice rang with an unmistakable grimness. Brutus felt the blade press harder and instantly ceded. They both turned to Hadrian, who was out of his seat and staring in amazement at the ‘battle' he just saw. He needed to speak.

"Mubarak you never cease to amaze even me. Your speed is undeniable. I would say even the cheetahs are jealous! Brutus. Your pride has once again left you blind. Your punishment will be living with this shame. What would your father, a former Grand Champion of this arena, think?" Hadrian stepped back and took his seat next to his pregnant queen.

His word was the final judgment. As much as Mubarak would like to finish his rival, he stepped off the bear and raised his sword high for the acclaim he would never receive.

Brutus stood, contemplating his next action. He had the moment. He had the opening. Mubarak wasn't looking. He picked up his spear.

"Fighter," Brutus called. Mubarak turned to his rival and looked up at him. Brutus was easily 7 feet tall. The bear thought for one more instance, and then handed his spear to his conqueror. Mubarak contemplated the weapon, looking over its fine details. It was indeed much taller than him. It was more of a trophy than any real tool of death Mubarak could possibly use. "It was one of my father's. Till we meet again, fairy-man." Brutus turned, knowing he had done the honorable thing and walked back to the pit. After a few more moments of soaking in the ‘boos' of the crowd Mubarak himself turned and walked into the pit, stepping over the corpse of the large leopard.

In his meager and insulting quarters in the gladiator pen, Mubarak contemplated his victory that day. A wrap on the door caught his attention.

"Mu, you have a present for your victory." Mubarak stood up and walked to the door. It was one of the trainers. The kangaroo stood next to a slight cloaked figure. "It's a present from THE Hadrian. Take it or leave it because somebody else will want it." He opened up the door to his cell and pushed in the figure. She stumbled in and almost fell to the ground, revealing herself to be the vixen Claudia. Mubarak was taken aback, surprised at the sight of a woman who wasn't among a crowd jeering at him.

"She'll stay with me." said Mubarak quietly.

"I bet she will." laughed the roo trainer.

"Stay your tongue, Rock, or I'll take next we meet." The kangaroo just laughed as he walked away. Mubarak stared at his gift with more confusion then lust, though the latter was present.

"What is your name, girl?" Without a word she reached out and slapped him. Mubarak took a deep breath, seething. He paused for a moment before regaining his composure. "You don't look like a Lion, but you act like royalty."

"I simply won't be talked to like that from a lowly skin." She spat at him.

"We appear to now be on the same rung of society. What did you do to fall so far down here?" Claudia stared fiercely at Mubarak, too embarrassed to say. Too embarrassed to reveal she was embarrassed.

"I am nowhere near you. You only wish you were anywhere near me." She said with powerful anger in her yellow orbs. Mubarak breathed her in; he could tell from where he was standing she wasn't one of the peasantry, just by the smell.

"What is your name?"

"Claudia," She softened, but only slightly. He obviously cared because anybody else would have ravened her by now. "What is yours?"

"Mubarak." He took a seat on his meager cot. After a moment of appraisal she sat next to him, clutching her cloak.

"Where are you from?" Claudia could tell from his dark skin and curly hair he wasn't a human from Aporue.

"I'm from a land east of here. We called it the Middle Republic. Mostly desert except a stretch of the most arable land one could imagine. It was beautiful," Mubarak looked at Claudia. Her sultry yellow eyes were full of interest and curiosity. "I was a mercenary. My company traveled here by boat, looking for work. Before we could reach your shores a storm annihilated us. One of your gods must not have been pleased to see us. I think I was the only one who survived. I managed to get a bit of drift wood and float to the shore. When I arrived I had nothing, I was nothing. There was only one job here that would have accepted a man like me."

"Fighting in the arena." Claudia whispered. Mubarak nodded.

"That's my tale. I'm curious to yours." Claudia took a deep breath.

"I-was caught stealing-"

"No, stop. Speak the truth or I will have no sympathy for you." Mubarak interrupted. Claudia scowled, and then took a long pause, staring at the wall of the cell. She slowly let her cloak drop off of her shoulders. She wore a tunic that bulged at her stomach. It wasn't obvious, but she was with child.

Mubarak realized what this was. Why would the king bother to send him a gift? That wasn't a particularly common practice. He sends this girl to a viral gladiator and absolves himself of the guilt and the child she carried. Mubarak looked from her belly to her face. She had tears in her eyes, but she had a small smile on her face.

"You're the only one who has shown me the least bit of kindness. Ever since I

started working at the Royal Manor I've been treated like a skin. No offense." Mubarak raised an eyebrow, but Claudia continued, "I was a daughter of one of Hadrian's father's most loyal nobles. We foxes are native to the Island, so we are just as important as any lion. But Hadrian's father reduced our people's position in favor of all those damn dirty mane-wearers. And now I'm just a toy for men. To be played with then discarded. I imagine you will do the same to me eventually." The gladiator gave a small smile.

"In my land, we do not have a word for ‘adultery' or ‘promiscuity'. We're natural monogamists. It was the strangest thing I had ever heard of when I first came here. Men leaving their wives, or simply bedding other women without even telling the one he is actually promised to. While we might not have the pretty buildings, the wealth, the culture, or even the manners you have, I will forever look down upon this culture for their ‘usage' of women."

"There is truly no adultery where you come from?"

"None."

"How is that possible?"

Mubarak shrugged his shoulders. Claudia looked down at the ground, trying to see such a culture. A simple, agrarian people.

"Are their furs in the Middle Kingdom?"

"We get some trade from The Land of The Giants from the south and some from

the Stepps to the north, so nothing besides Tigers, Horses, and Elephants."

"Are elephants as really big as they say they are?" asked Claudia, wide eyed.

Hadrian chuckled, having heard this question often.

"No, their only about the size of bears," A long and silent pause filled the room. Mubarak placed a hand on her back and caressed her gently. There they sat. Two souls that in any sane world would never had met. But in Animalia, stranger things happen.

Claudia stayed with Mubarak, growing larger with each passing day. He took care of her, making sure she would never be harassed by another fighter. They lived as though they were married, but Mubarak pledged not to touch her until she had given birth.

That day came soon. Claudia safely gave birth to a baby girl. She named her Zsvi, after a famous female fox general from folklore. The tiny vixen softened even the hearts of the gladiators who became something like her foster uncles. Mubarak would come to raise her as his own daughter, but vowing to relate her regal heritage once she was ready. He and Claudia wedded and the two managed to live peacefully, further contradicting their pleasant family life with the hellish conditions it inhabited.

Zsvi's birthday came exactly one month after the birth of the first prince of Animalia. His name was Mark.

Mark's birth was celebrated across the nation. Everybody who saw him loved him, but no so more than his mother and father. Hadrian threw opulent games in celebration for his first son, while Anne refused the services of all but one nurse to take care of the boy. Mark was the most famous skin in the entire kingdom.

Exactly three months after the birth of Mark, he was taken to the Wolf druid Eoin, the same druid that married the babe's parents. He was to give the mystic foretelling of the boy's future, said to be handed down from the God's themselves.

Eoin, Hadrian, and Anne sat around a small fire. The wolf chanted slowly, his arms slightly raised and relaxed at his side, his snout pointed towards the heavens. Anne held her baby, excited at what the prediction might bring, with Hadrian next to her, his arm around her shoulders. They were in the Rex Horto room of the Citadel, a small yet opulent garden meant for kingly ceremonies and rites.

"The gods are speaking to me. Leo, Gekko, Lupus, Pan, Ursidae, and Sapiens. What will become of this child?" The wolf cried into the clear dark night. A pause. Everyone held their breath.

Suddenly a bolt from the heavens struck the fire itself. Everyone leapt back and Mark started crying in Anne's embrace. The fire enlarged and turned bright green. Out of the fire stood the patron deity of Animalia, Leo, God of the lions. His lines were hazy and he was ghost like. Hadrian could see Eion clearly through the god himself. Leo stood as the perfect example of a proud lion. His naked figure showed off the definition of a perfect body. His arms were crossed and his face was stern. He stared down at Hadrian, his 15 feet overpowering the king.

"Hadrian. You disappoint me with your infidelities and incompetence." The king was taken aback. To be criticized so harshly by a god struck him to the core. "You have brought me a human child? What would your father think? This human boy will bring the premature end of your reign and the destruction of our race. You know what you must do."

With that the mighty god vanished into nothing and the fire receded to its normal level. The only noise came from Mark, who was screaming uncontrollably. Anne rocked him gently, but stared at Hadrian, who had nothing but shock and despair on his face. Eion didn't know what to say. This was their matter and he had done his part in the rite. He quietly made his exit, leaving the queen staring at the king staring at the prince.