Reincarnated As A Lion In Another World

"So," Kael said, "Do you feel improvements with every meditation session? I can feel subtle changes but I can't understand them very well."

Priya turned her head to look at Kael's face with unhidden admiration, from the corner of her eye, she could see the rising moon with its dim light casting a glow over the forest.

"No, but every meditation brings me closer to a state of mind that I can't explain. No matter how much I try to explain it in words, it's just not sufficient unless you experience it yourself." She said.

"Hmm," Kael looked down. The two sat near the edge so he was able to see the area surrounding the lower part of the mountain.

"Sometimes, I wonder if what I experience can be transferred, so that it can be understood by everybody," Priya said.

"What exactly do you always meditate on? Is it your powers? Your mind? Or something else?" Kael asked.

He had merely been sitting down cross-legged while emptying his mind of all thoughts, it was the most basic form of meditation. Priya's meditation however was purposeful, it had a direction and was forming a clear path to enlightenment.

Priya shook her head, "I meditate on as many things I can get my mind on, but I focus more on the topic of perspective."

"Perspective?" Kael asked, "Is it the reason your powers have developed in this direction?"

"It is," Priya answered.

"Explain it to me," Kael said.

Priya went silent, not because she did not want to say anything, but because she found it hard to start a sentence. She didn't know where to begin if she wanted to explain to Kael what was in her mind.

"Perspective…" She began, glancing at the trees and the corridors of darkness below the green canopies, "It's quite complicated, where do I start?"

"You can start from the basics, the very foundation of your path to enlightenment," Kael said, eager to understand her view. She had been meditating for so long that it had become a habit, he really wanted to open up her head and see what was inside, especially with the fact that he had completely lost all ability to read Priya's mind.

"The basics? The foundation for my path to enlightenment?

Kael, I AM the basics, my perspective is the very foundation on which my thoughts are built on…" Priya said as a glitter of revelation flashed through her eyes.

She continued, "I started my meditations with a confused mind.

I was confused, bewildered, and occasionally surprised at how different I was from everyone else.

Nobody thought about it, at least not to the extreme I had taken it.

It is so normal for everyone to go about their day, not caring about what others feel. You could wake up in the morning, freshen up, eat, work, consummate, play, laugh, and sleep, and not once would you try to look at the world from another person's perspective.

It's natural ignorance, not because we want to be ignorant of others and others want to be ignorant of us, it's because we never had the ability to.

How were we, mortal creatures shackled by our cursed bodies, supposed to look at the world through the eyes of another?

This realization came subtle, it caused me to see everything and everyone going about their activity as mundane, but it was just the beginning.

I meditated so that I could imagine the life of another. But imagination is never enough, never. Just for a moment, I wanted to take a look at the world from another angle and live life from another body.

With every level of mindfulness I achieved, the closer I got to what I wanted. I wasn't motivated by greed, neither was it power, I was simply curious." Priya paused again, turning her head to look at Kael to see if he was paying attention.

This was an instinctive thing, even though she knew no one could ignore a telepathic message unless they were unconscious.

Kael turned his head to look at her, "You succeeded, that is why you evolved into a tier 3 spirit lioness.

I never truly asked, what has it been like after your evolution?"

Priya sighed heavily, as though she was reminded of the heavy burden she was carrying.

"Ever since the evolution, it's been different…everything has been different. My perspective has changed. For better or worse, I do not know.

A simple surge of my power and I am now able to take over the mind of the nearest vulnerable soul. It feels so surreal, yet so normal.

Their thoughts become my thoughts, their fears become my fears, their hunger becomes my hunger, and their memories become my memories.

Only then do I fully understand the insignificance of perspective in the grand weave of reality. It is merely a platform to observe…"

As Priya spoke, faint grey power surges slowly erupted from her body, a manifestation of her emotions. Kael remained still, listening to her and ignoring whatever side effects this power surge could cause.

"No," Priya frowned and began shaking her head, "I am not explaining it well to you, you don't understand, you wouldn't understand!

If you cannot see the world through the eyes of others, how would you understand what I'm saying?

To be a predator but observe with the eyes of a prey. Kael, imagine what it is like to be a rat, or a deer, or a snake, or something that isn't a lion.

You can imagine it, yes, but can you understand it? No! ARGH!" Priya grabbed the sides of her head, feeling a headache coming up.

Even then, Kael remained calm, he still wanted to milk Priya of all she could muster.

"It feels so great to be connected to everything and everyone at the same time, I can see the world from different angles at once.

I, a lioness, knows the troubles of a measly rat. I know the sympathy of the deers that watched us eat their young, I know the worries of the birds who fear to land, afraid that we will catch them.

All these emotions, they are too much!" Priya said those words, her grey eyes glowed and tears began to flow from her eyes.

These weren't the tears that fell from uncontrollable power. Priya was genuinely crying, her emotions were all over the place.

Her power surge expanded further, covering the whole flat mountain peak. It seemed incredulous that the simple act of talking about how she felt could cause Priya to act this way.

This was just her nature, a blessing and a curse. As a spirit lioness, her emotions were strong and she had a level of empathy unrivaled by any other lionheart.

Just when it seemed like Priya was about to break down, Kael reached out to hold the woman in his strong embrace. He held her in a warm hug, her body pressed against his and her head resting on his chest. The sound of his heartbeat seemed to calm her down.

Kael looked down, feeling the stream of warm tears flowing from Priya's eyes down his chest.

He thought about Priya's words with a calm expression. He felt like he could also understand Priya, but he denied himself that opportunity.

Anything that would cause him to be a slave to his emotions was a deal breaker. It would be better if Priya was the empathetic one in the pride.

From his previous life, he could draw some illustrations to better map out what Priya was trying to say.

There were poor and rich people, this was a universal fact on earth. No matter how inequality had been villainized, it didn't go away, instead, it became more prevalent.

The poor people, those who drowned in poverty, those who couldn't afford a home or had to join forces to rent a space. These people were in the majority, and sometimes they would fantasize about being among the rich.

This was similar to the perspective Priya spoke of. A lot of people could imagine themselves being wealthy but unless they actually became rich, it would remain an imagination. They would never understand the life of affluence until they experienced it for themselves.

It was like how some poor people hated most rich people for their arrogance and their selfishness. They didn't understand that if they themselves were to become rich, they would probably become just like the rich people they hated.

And it was the same for the side of the wealthy. Rich people could say that they sympathize with the poor all they want, and drum it down the ears of the media.

But they would never understand what it's like to not be able to afford three square meals, school fees, bill payments, and peace of mind.

This was one of the reasons why poor people sometimes wished for the rich to lose their wealth and become poor. If only they could lose their fortune, would they understand what it's like to be in their shoes?

Of course, not all poor and rich people were like that but they accounted for the majority, the middle class was a little bit of both.

Was it possible to be rich, middle-class, and poor at the same time? No, it wasn't. You were either one of the three, or you were dead.

And there was nothing anyone could do about it except imagine.

That is the Law.

Kael sighed, caressing Priya's hair while thinking to himself, 'I didn't care about the perspective of that wolf clan before wiping them out.'