Museum Studies

The Warrior's Tale

"Being fierce makes you stronger, and being fierce and warlike makes you smarter." Esidisi added. "So both of you get back to your battle training!"

Wamuu eagerly got up to go and train, but Santana shook his head. Esidisi looked down with concern, as Santana was a bit... Slow. The didn't know what it was, he just thought and saw everything differently.

"Being kind.... Makes smart." He rasped. The boy couldn't even speak properly.

"What a load of crap!" Esidisi laughed. "What, should I just "politely ask" a sabertooth cat to not rip my arm off?"

"You're being fanciful, San Tan." Kars replied.

"My name not San Tan... Is Santana."

"When you give me proof that being kind makes you stronger and smarter, then I'll believe it. Now get back to training."

60,000 years BCE. Some humans, fearing their wrath, had built a temple to honour the pillar men. It was wrought out of obsidian and volcanic rock, shaped like a huge pyramid, surrounded by a lava moat and a forest of cacao trees. Huge racks of human skulls surrounded it, and inside, two young boys prepared for bed. Pillar Men reach maturity at 20,000 years old, and then stop aging until they're in the high millions. So Kars, despite being 170,000 years old, was in his early thirties by human standards. A 70,000 year old, for contrast, was 27 by human standards. The two boys, despite being 10,000 and 8,000 years old, were 5  and 4 by human standards. They were preparing for bed, with Wamuu pulling a jaguar skin over his body to shield from the deadly sun.

"Goodmorning, don't let the humans go de-horning." He said to his brother. Santana was still hung up on the kindness/fierceness debate, yet he didn't say anything. As the two slumbered, something deadly slithered through the halls of the temple. The giant constrictor slithered ahead, searching for a meal, when it heard the sound of a child's snoring. The beast slithered into the boy's room, where it reared up hungrily. Santana twitched as he felt the thing slither over him, but didn't register what was going on until he felt it's coils around his throat. Then, he screamed.

"Santana!" Kars was jolted out of his slumber, and shook Esidisi awake.

"Something's wrong!" He gasped. The two ran out of bed, blades and veins being extended- only to find that Santana was in no danger at all. Although the redhead was weeping on the floor, Wamuu stood triumphant, strangling the snake to death with his meaty fists. The child dropped the dead snake onto the floor, and grinned.

"I killed the bad snake. Can I have a honeycomb for being good?" He said with childlike innocence.

"Wamuu, you champion! You saved your baby brother! You can have all the honeycombs you want!" Esidisi cooed, pulling Wamuu into a piggyback.

"You can have them tomorrow, you've just sharpened your teeth." Kars said with an indulgent grin. He turned to Santana, who was huddled away in a corner.

"What was all that screaming about? Why can't you be more like your brother?!"

And from that day on, a seed of envy was planted.

Years passed. Humans grew clever, very clever, and soon built a city called "Rome." Wamuu was now an adult, as was his younger brother, and the four pillar men travelled there. The emperor was overjoyed at the prospect of a visit from four "Laestrygonians" as he called them, and gave them the best seats in the coliseum.

"Isn't it a wonderful show?" The little man said, sipping his wine. "Executions, lions, all sorts. The people of Rome crave blood, and I bring it!"

Kars and Esidisi laughed, but something about it rubbed Wamuu the wrong way.

"Why are those people in the cells? They are not warriors, there's no honour in killing them."

"They are heretics who do not follow our great Roman gods!" The emperor laughed. "We found them trying to start an uprising in Judea."

"They're just humans." Kars said, pulling a glazed quail off a tray and eating it.

"There are children there!" Wamuu growled. "Emperor, in return for the freedom of these innocent people- I will become a gladiator."

The emperor spat out all his wine in shock.

"WHAT?!" He gasped.

"If you free these people, I will fight in their place as a gladiator. For every person freed, I will fight a battle, using my Divine Sandstorm. I'll do chariot races, animal fights- anything but letting innocent humans die dishonourably."

"Do you look good in armour?" The emperor asked.

"Reasonably."

"Then it's a deal. You'll fight in their place, and to prove your honour. Now, get me some more wine!"

Wamuu could not end the unfair, dishonourable deaths in the empire of Rome, yet he fought in the place of over a thousand people, and let them walk free.He gained honour, strength, fame, and the trust of the people who he stood up for in the name of his warrior's code. They even gave him a nickname- "Nephilim", after the creatures from their stories. Kars wanted to complain about Wamuu doing the job of a human, and yet he couldn't complain when his favourite son was the top gladiator from 250-200BCE.

Their power could only go on for so long, though. One day, a warrior froze them into stone via a red rock, which he then destroyed, sealing them away in a pillar under an island on a lake. A city was built over that island, and then another city, but nobody ever talked about the four stone men.

Nobody bar Joseph Joestar, that is. And yet he failed to mention one important thing- that a drop of blood on a frozen pillar man will help awaken them, even after continuous UV exposure.