The Queen's Pillars, Chapter 3

Morning came, as was the natural course for any day, truly.  For many of the inhabitants of Aurox, this was the beginning of their day, when most of the men, and some of the women, whether human or monster, would start heading their way to work.  For others, those younger, it meant schooling, and quite a bit of it, however they knew how important knowledge was, for some of the greatest beings in the world were also some of the smartest.

This, of course, was no different for the Queen’s Palace.  The night guards left their shift to be replaced by their day counterparts, happy to finally have their rest.  The Pillars, too, would soon be waking, beginning their day.  Some wondered why they slept at all, for they were supposed to be the queen’s first and last line of defense from all threats to her.  However, Alexi was also a lilim, and thus was quite capable of protecting herself from anything short of one of her sisters.  She knew this, and they as well knew this, though Hisako had asked a guard this same question, and gotten the same answer.

Hisako woke early into the morning, so used was she to sleeping far shorter and far less comfortable.  She rose from her bed, already wearing her bodysuit, happy that it was insulated as it was to keep heat in now that it was becoming winter.  She donned her armor, and gave a small smile at the feeling of its familiar weight.  She never truly liked taking her armor off, and were it not so uncomfortable to sleep in, likely never would.  She grabbed her halberd from the rack it stood in, and walked out of her room.  Then, thinking that it would make her seem more amiable to her comrades, she knocked on the door of the room next to hers.

“I’m coming!  Just give me a minute!” came Jehona’s voice after about five seconds of silence.  Hisako decided to assume that she was just getting dressed, and pointedly ignored the faint smell that told her just how soon Jehona would be ‘coming’.  So, to the next door.  She knocked, and when no response came, she went to the next door.  The same happened then, and for the next door as well.

With only Jehona awake, though otherwise occupied, Hisako walked to the opposite end of the hallway, sat on both her knees, laid her weapon out in front of her, closed her eyes, and began to meditate.  When the dhampir exited her room, Hisako didn’t open an eye to see who it was; the smell was still present.  “That was a long minute.”

“Indeed,” Jehona said, her voice unbetraying.  “Usually, I’m the first to wake, ironic as that may seem.  You caught me starting my day on a high note.”

Hisako hummed at this, her eyes still closed.  Only when the next door opened did she open them, to see Belial exiting.  The baphomet blanched slightly at the sight of Hisako’s somehow unmaliciously cold stare, but shook it off.  She was soon followed by Aquilina, then Vapula, who both got the same stare, and reacted similarly.  Once the last of the Pillars were in the hall, Hisako stood, and noted with petty annoyance, now that they were so close together, that the amazon was slightly taller than her.

Belial was the first to speak, ever the mood changer.  “So, uh… why are we just standing out here?  It’s around breakfast time, isn’t it?”
“Eating together is a good way to bond,” Hisako said, as if it were obvious.  “People generally do not move, or do not want to move when they are eating, and it is off-putting to stay silent around someone so close to you for what is likely an extended time.”

The four others nodded at this, yet still felt like there was something missing from that explanation.  It was almost like information was being omitted that would change the otherwise simple answer.

“I also don’t know where the dining room is,” continued Hisako, sounding surprisingly sheepish.

There it was.

--------

A quick walk later, and the five arrived in the dining room, to see that a great deal of food was already cooked.  Assorted meats and vegetables, all grilled, smoked, or baked, were laid out on silver platters on a table at the center of the room, and despite the few dozen knights currently eating, there was still much left on the table.  Their smells mixed into veritable wall of scent, yet everything was distinguishable, at least to Hisako.  This was far more food than she had ever seen at any one time, and for it quantity, there was obviously great quality, too.  This made sense the more she thought of it, though; the queen did deserve the best, and the most of it, after all.  And indeed, she could see the queen indulging in the food, though the liberal coating, and cup full of what Hisako could tell was raw spiritual essence let her know that Alexi was still bound by some things.

The sight of the food caused her stomach to growl, reminding her of her single ‘meal’ of 4 ounces of jerky from yesterday.  That, on top of the fight and the light show she performed, which burned most of the energy from that meal, left her feeling peckish.  So, to the food she went, grabbing a fork, knife, and plate, and piling on as much meat as she could onto the platter.  She made note to grab the boiled squid that was left completely untouched.  She could guess why, but the cephalopod reminded her of home.

When her plate had enough food to equal her head in size, she sat down by the other Pillars, who were visibly shook by the amount of food Hisako was carrying.  One of them went to ask a question about it, but it went unheard to the raiju, who began wolfing down food like the near starved woman she was.  Hisako took pleasure in the fact that everything tasted seasoned to perfection, another luxury she had missed for quite some time.  And yet, despite how voraciously she ate, not a single piece of food missed her mouth.

Hisako’s mauling of her food was halted when a bone nearly made her crack a tooth.  Then, she noticed how silent the room was, and as she looked around, she noted with a rather small amount of embarrassment that the entire room was staring at her.  But she was not yet sated, so back to her food she went.  The same could not be said about the majority of the room, who could only continue to stare in mixed horror and amazement.  It would not be for a while when their collective stupor had passed, and someone else was willing to eat.

--------

“My powers?” Hisako asked.  The Pillars had been sent on a simple enough mission: find out why one of the largest farms in the country had missed a date of sending crops to the castle.  When Hisako had asked why this was worrisome, as the farmers might have just forgotten their due date.  When informed that they had not missed a date in fifty years, it let her know of how much of an issue this was.

Thus, they needed to travel to the farm, which was apparently some 2 and a half hours away even by carriage.  Hisako knew that she could easily have gotten there, dealt with whatever problem there was, and came back to the castle in that time, but understood the other four needed to be there to assess the situation, and evaluate her on her performance, as she could already guess.

And so, to pass the time, Jehona, the most sociable of the lot, decided that a great idea would to toss questions between the veteran Pillars and Hisako, to better learn about each other.  Which is where the question, or rather, Hisako’s restatement of the question, came from.

“Well, yeah,” Belial said, as if it was obvious.  “I’m probably the oldest one here, and in all my life, I’ve never seen raiju with your abilities.  Even most thunderbirds can’t do what you can.  So, how do you do it?”

Nodding, Hisako answered her question.  “Unlike most lightning monsters, I can absorb lightning, and contort it to do whatever I need it to.  For much of my powers, I simply discharge the electricity that I have absorbed.  However, when I increase my speed, I ramp my metabolism up to extreme levels, effectively making me burn through whatever energy I have charged or absorbed.  Overextension of this can cause burn out, which can, among other things, kill me.”

Blanching at that last part, Belial nodded.  “And, how do you make it kill?  Because I don’t think that any of what you did is made to leave survivors.”

Hisako blinked.  “Ah,” she said simply, then continued, “Well, for that, I can only tell you that what I know was not made by any monster you’ll ever meet.”  She leant forwards.  “Any more questions?”

“What’s your armor and weapon made of?” Aquilina asked as politely as the rough sounding amazon could.  “It is obviously not demon silver.”

Hisako near imperceptibly tensed, not knowing a way to word this without issue.  Still, she answered.  “A material that only the leader of my old Order knew of.  Though it is tougher than even the strongest metals in the world, and would make quite a bit of money selling it, she refuses to do so.  Why do you ask?

“Just wondering,” Aquilina said, her eyebrow raised.  “Because I was with our Queen when she first tried to depose her mother, and she wore armor almost identical to yours when we fought.  In fact, I don’t know why she didn’t mention that when she saw you.”

Each person in the cart now had varying levels of shock upon their face, even Hisako, though she hid it well.  ‘She… she what?’ she thought.  ‘But that would mean that she was one of us… no, I would have be told of that.’  Still, she could reason this.  “It is possible that she was once part of my Order, as it is older than even her current rule.  Perhaps she disguised herself as a human, and joined their ranks before she took over as Demon Lord.”

Aquilina was glaring at Hisako, trying to find any tell that Hisako might have been lying.  The raiju, however, had become quite effective at hiding such things, and thus, none were found.  But soon, another question did come about.  “So how’d you join if they only accept humans?”

“They let anyone in who could fight properly, after we became more human-like,” Hisako answered quickly, already making something that sounded reasonable up.  Aquilina relaxed, and sat back then, satisfied with her answer.  At this, Hisako chuckled, a noise that was far warmer than anything expected from the known killer.  “You remind me of my brother, Minato.  He was always trying to protect us from danger, even when it could have killed him.  It never did, though.  He was a tough one to crack.”

“That what you called members?” Aquilina asked.  “Brothers and sisters, I mean.”

Hisako shook her head.  “I’m first generation, and when I was turned into what I look like now, my two siblings, which include my brother, were changed too.  So actually, Belial, unless you too are first generation, I am the oldest being here.  In fact, I suppose I’m older than the Queen.”  There was no hunt of smugness in her voice as she said that; no, it seemed more like she was just stating a fact.

However, none were paying attention her lack of mugging, and instead the Pillars each sat in silence, slack jawed at their senescent member.  Jehona was the first to respond.  “I thought you were thirty!”

Once again, Hisako chuckled.  She felt like she would be doing that more now than she had in years.  “Well, now I have my own questions.  First of all: What do you think me?”

“Scary motherfu-ow!” Belial began, cut off from being smacked by Vapula’s tail.  “What?  We’re all thinking it!”

“Crassly as she may have worded it,” Vapula began, “many of your abilities, and your willingness to kill, if the blood Jehona smelled on you says anything, give us reason to worry.  And we’d much rather not find out if we could deal with you if worse came to worse.”

Hisako hummed.  “Next then.  Belial, would you kindly stop staring at my armor?  You will find few weak spots in it.”

--------

Within 2 hours of this, the Pillars had reached the farm, to find it completely undamaged, unlike what Hisako had believed.  It was what made sense, for someone who was apparently so loyal to break that trust.  However, a lightly tanned man in expensive looking clothing, the owner of the farm (as she had been told), sat on the porch of a small house, likely where the actual farmers worked.  He looked distraught, slumped over in his seat with his head in his hands.  This, at least, meant there was a problem he may have had.

When the cart stopped, the five stepped out, first Jehona, then Aquilina, then Vapula, Belial, and finally, Hisako.  The owner perked up when he saw the familiar sight of the first four, and was only mildly surprised by their newest addition.  “Pillars!  I’m so glad to see you here today.  I assume you are here to deal with my stolen crops?”

“Stolen by who?” Aquilina asked.

“The Black Dogs,” the man said.  “I thought you had dealt with them, but it seems that they are more like roaches than dogs.  Can’t seem to just stay dead.”

“You gotta be kidding me,” Belial muttered.  “We put all of them into the brig, and they still had members willing to do this.”

A sigh, then a response came from Jehona.  “I know this mentality.  Before I became a Pillar, when others would get caught by the guard, I and many others wouldn’t just put a certain place off as a hotspot.  We just thought we needed to be better than them.”

“You were a thief?” Hisako, the only one who couldn’t have known this, asked.

“I’d still be one, if I hadn’t been ratted out,” Jehona said, anger very plain in her voice.  However, she sighed again, calming herself.  “But then, if whoever did it hadn’t done it, I never would have met any of you.  Silver linings, I suppose.”

“I’m assuming that wherever their old base was, they haven’t taken it back up.”  Hisako said.

Jehona shrugged.  “We should check, just in case.  When I was still a thief, we did that all the time, hoping the city guard would assume just that.”  She then looked at Belial.  “Besides, we don’t want another Havermire.”

“Will you ever let that one go?”

“Don’t plan to, no.”

Hisako blinked, obviously not understanding this, but assumed that she would learn at some point.  She did, however, still ask a question.  “Where is their old base?”

“Three and a half miles northeast from here,” replied Aquilina.  “At an abandoned silver mine.  Why…” When she turned back to look to Hisako, she was gone from sight.  Not a second later, she was back, crackling with diffusing electricity.

“It is empty,” Hisako said.  At their slowly quirking eyebrows, she realized how that could have been interpreted, and disabused their worries.  “When I arrived, I mean.  It was empty before then.”

The farm owner stood in awe at her.  “I’ve never known of a raiju that can teleport!  Tell me, how did you learn such magic?”

“I didn’t teleport,” Hisako said simply.  “I ran.”

His eyes widened at this.  “That is even more impressive!  It seems that the Pillars have a very interesting new member!”

Hisako simply nodded in response.