Chapter 2: Kael

A few weeks later.

Kael, the human soul, had slowly begun to get used to the fact that he was now a lion cub. When the Council Of Reincarnation had told him that he wasn't going to be reincarnated as a human, a lion wasn't what came to his mind.

*Sigh*

He lay down on a large boulder, staring at the sunset with mixed feelings. 'What now?' He asked himself.

In his past life, Kael has been an antisocial person, always reserved and keeping to himself.

From the start, he lacked ambition, all he wanted to do was graduate from school, get a job, and be able to afford all his needs while living a comfortable life. It wasn't wrong to desire something like that.

But reality never really followed the will of man. When he graduated and began looking for a job, he realized that the hiring team looked at who he was connected to rather than his achievements in college.

And him being reclusive had almost no connections whatsoever. His friends were pretty much extinct and his family never tried bothering themselves with someone who wanted to be left alone.

Kael had to work extra hard to finally land a government job but his mistakes kept rearing their heads.

First, it was his lack of connections, then his inability to create any good long-term plan, and his complacency caused him to miss promotions and opportunities.

Most importantly, his lack of enemies was the biggest problem. He never had someone he wanted to surpass, no drive to be better. He was always trying his best not to offend anyone, and social mobility had to come with the willingness to offend the offendables.

He couldn't maintain a single love life. By the time he was forty, he had gone through multiple divorces, and no children, further ruining him.

In their words, he was spineless.

Kael watched his peers become more successful as time passed and it ate him up from the inside. He thought his life would be comfortable but it wasn't, it was everything but comfortable.

He spent his forties going through podcasts and reading self-improvement books, something he never bothered to do. It was only then that he realized all the places he went wrong. But it was too late.

He desired to start over again but age wasn't on his side. People already knew him for who he was and it wouldn't just change and his area of specialty was restricted to what he learned in the university. Kael could only slip into depression having come to terms with his fate.

He regretted not forming connections with friends in school, he regretted not being able to refuse things, he regretted that he was too afraid to offend anyone, and he regretted not being ambitious.

He drowned himself in alcohol and internet content to distract him from the mess that was his life as much as possible.

Eventually, while alone in his apartment as always, he drank himself to sleep and never woke up again. From there he found himself in the presence of the Council of Reincarnation.

Him trying to convince them to let him reincarnate with his memories was what brought him to this very moment, in the body of a lion cub.

*Sigh*

'How are the memories of a human supposed to apply to a lion?' He asked himself in deep thought.

He was a lion now, fine. He would do as the council had told him, make the best use of it.

'Didn't they say that the Highest Will or whatever was supposed to give me something to increase my chances of surviving…' 

As Kael thought of this, he stood up on the boulder to stretch his limbs and spine. After yawning and exposing his toothless maw to the world, he jumped off the boulder.

'...I haven't seen anything…'

"ROAAR!"

Just then, multiple roars came from ahead. The female lions had come back from their hunt.

In the distance, Kael could see more than ten lionesses walking towards the hill. About a hundred meters behind them was the figure of a majestic lion, casually strolling with regal authority and an aura filled with pride.

Among the lionesses, Kael could recognize one of them as his mother in this life. From the stains of blood on her nose, he could tell they had a good hunt.

*Para pata para pata*

Little footsteps were heard behind him as dozens of lion cubs rushed ahead to meet their mothers. Kael also picked up his pace so as not to be pushed down by the anxious little cubs.

As Kael and his lion mother got closer, he was flanked by three other cubs. One male and two females, his siblings.

Kael had another sibling, he remembered, an older brother. But the relationship with him was a bit complicated.

Kael's lion mother began licking them affectionately one by one. The three cubs ran around their mother playfully while Kael just endured it.

Although he didn't want to be antisocial anymore in this life, he found it demeaning of him, a grown man, to play around in such a manner.

He had a dignity and reputation to protect.

The lion's mother lay down on the soft yellow grass, exposing her breasts to her cubs.

The other lionesses who had cubs to feed also did the same thing while those who didn't have any cubs simply laid around lazily.

Kael stared at the nipples for a few seconds before joining his siblings in drinking their mother's milk.

He had watched a few documentaries on animals in his previous life, and even an idiot knew that cubs as little as he was could only take their mother's milk in the meantime.

Not that he was complaining though, his lion instincts always kicked in and prevented him from having any foreign feelings concerning it.

The majestic lion from before slowly walked past them. Kael raised his head to take a good look at the lion which was supposed to be his father.

In the past few days, he barely saw this pride leader and when he did, he was either sleeping or far away into his stroll.

This was the first time he could take a good look at him. The first thing he noticed was the lustrous mane that seemed to have been burnt at the edges.

Kael wondered if he was imagining things because he could swear that as the large lion walked by, the temperature suddenly seemed to increase a bit.