Chapter 4 - A King's Doubt

Sub-Saharan Africa, Wakanda.

"Brother, I want to go. You know I can take care of myself?" a teenage African girl spoke in a clear African English accent. Black hair, ash-brown eyes & chocolate skin, she looked rather cheerful as she walked while half skipped her steps.

"Sigh... Shuri, please don't make it hard. Let father decide, you do know you have duties as a…" the brother's speech was cut off.

"Yes… I have the honorable duties of a princess. Polishing my nails or whatnot. I would rather spend my time in the lab." She said as she crossed her arms, determined to go there.

His brother shook his head. He had a muscular build, standing 1.84 meters (6') tall. His facial features resembled his sister. But was more serious in posture as he walked, radiating his confidence.

Soon they both arrived in front of a certain man, unlike the other two, who were wearing modern clothes. This person was wearing traditional clothes. It didn't look bad on him, though, rather it gave off a feeling of authority.

"We are here, my king." The man said as he knelled one of his legs, showing respect; the girl followed.

"Yes," the man said, smiling warmly as he faced them.

"T'chala, my son. How have you been?" the king said as he closed, hugging him. He was home after a few months outside dealing with a Water problem.

Being a King had its drawback, but he was proud of how well-mannered his children were. They loved him and respected him dearly. His son was a king in the making. Looked up to him as a role model.

But sometimes, this king doubted himself. Was he worthy that Bast gave him such a loving family? To a person who bloodied his hand with his brother.

The girl looked pissed; the king noticed it. "Shuri… I didn't forget about you." He said as he hugged her daughter. And she bloomed a smile.

"Father, before you say anything, I will go with you. You don't know what will happen on the outside." She said with a little bit of an intense tone, trying to scare her father. T'chala could only roll his eyes.

The King gave a hefty laugh. "Shuri… I would have brought you to come this time. But you will find something… more interesting." He said as he pushed some buttons, and a holographic video started playing.

The video showed a particular forest area. There were a few mountains. Nothing looked odd. But something unnatural was happening in the night sky. It was a star. The star was a little bigger than usual.

"Father, is that a Meteor?" Shuri was the first one to ask.

The King smiled at the quickness of his daughter. People would have rather thought of this as a falling star than an actual meteor.

"Yes, judging by the current speed. It will take a few minutes to land on the outskirts of the Volga Area… And Shuri, I want you to go there."

"Of course, father." She hastily agreed. She always had a love for Science. One could say that because of Shuri, the technological progress here has increased quite a lot. She was one of, if not the best scientist that Wakanda had.

T'chala couldn't stop but give out a small chuckle hearing his sister's response.

Shuri felt a little embarrassed, but she was still looking at the live feed that was playing.

Meanwhile,

"Shit… I am on fire. Ahhhhhhh...…"

CABOOOOOOoom

Max was feeling dizzy from the rough landing. And was sent flying several meters away.

As Max looked around, he saw the huge Meteor. It was now fully burning red. There were no flames. But it looked quite scary and majestic, lighting up the surrounding.

The Meteor left quite a bit of destruction along its trail. He saw that the Meteor was dragged through quite a lot. Destroying several hundred meters of the forest.

Max started feeling his body. He was sure that he wasn't a human because, he couldn't feel his body, no arms and legs.

'What am I? A Slime? Wait, I have read that Manga. And I am clearly not in that type of situation.' Max then felt something weird.

He felt hungry. Quite A amount of hunger was in his small body. He wanted to eat something or anything to satisfy his hunger.

So by instinct, he jumped to the nearby pray that he could find before losing consciousness.

When the meteor hit the forest, quite a chunk of the forest was burned. The Meteor stopped just a little far from the lake.

All animals started running away from the forest. They were terrified of seeing the giant fireball. Few trees have already caught fire. So they were terrified.

A little Black panther cub was quite curious about what the huge fireball was. And like any curious cat, it slowly made its way to the huge fireball.

After stealthily passing a few trees, he was there. He saw it. The Fireball was rather big.

It was still giving off smoke and red light in the surrounding area. Even in this chilly night, he could feel the radiating heat from the Meteor.

But then he saw the surrounding area. He saw the forest was devastated and was burned from where the big fireball dragged itself from.

The cub then saw a pool of black liquid. Unconsciously he was getting near the black pool. It looked like it was moving. Suddenly the blackish liquid came alive attacked the Cub.

He started running wield. And it hit a tree that was still on fire. Shockingly by the force generated by the little guy, the tree broke with a crack. And the burning tree fell on top of him.

Growwwllll.

The Cub was in pain as he got burned and jumped away from the underneath the burring log. He was now too weak to put up any fight. And he could only lie down on the ground whimpering in pain.