TW: Depictions of mild violence,historical discrimination and transphobia
He was entombed.
Oh, he hadn't always been a statue. Once upon a time, before that young man with sunlight running through his veins showed up, Wamuu had been very much alive. He had been a warrior, a gladiator, and a name to be feared. But in order to understand that, we must go back in time. Back to the beginning, when it all started.
The village was burning as Kars and Esidisi headed into the jungle, cradling their two new adoptive sons. The children had been found abandoned on a rocky cliff for the sun to kill, something that shocked Kars. Younglings were so rare, and the gestational period was so long- why would any parents leave their childre to die for being "weaklings?" This only amplified the rage created by his mask being rejected and scorned, and thus Kars and his lover massacred the entire tribe.
"Look at you, *****, you say that you are a man, and yet you give in so easily to you biological maternal instincts." The elder had sneered as Kars ran her through with his blades. The entire population of pillar people in the Americas had been decimated, bar for these four survivors. The two men walked through the forest for a while, and seemed shelter in a cave. As Esidisi made a fire, Kars spoke up.
"What do we call them?"
"Huh?" The fire lord grunted, accidentally igniting his robe. He squealed and stamped it out, and Kars sighed.
"The children, what ought we to call them?" Kars sighed. The two babies lay on a bundle of furs, one blonde and one redheaded. They were brothers, that was obvious, but names weren't.
"Well, I think the big blonde one should be Wamuu. It's a fine name." Esidisi said. Kars thought about this, then nodded.
"Yes, that'll do splendidly. And the redhead... I don't know, how about Santana?"
"San Viento?"
"No, Santana! Like the... Oh, nevermind."
Kars lay back with a soft groan, and Esidisi picked up the blonde baby.
"Oh, isn't he cute? He's our son now! Look at his chubby cheeks!"
"It's not a doll, you fool." Kars snapped, but he too was elated at the idea of having sons. "They're to be raised as warriors, not coddled. Now come to bed and show me how much you desire me, you brute."
Years passed, and the two babies grew to be toddlers. As much as he despised his tribe, Kars took it upon himself to keep their stories and traditions alive. After all, there were other pillar folk out there, at least if you believed the rumours. It was roughly 65,000 years BCE, and humans were still cowering in their cars, terrified of legends of the "night people." They were little more than upright apes, and yet they worried Kars. There were only a few of them, but some of these upright apes were getting smart. They would draw things on the walls of caves in ash and blood, and would set traps with snares. These were wise, wise men, and yet Kars was still certain in his superiority. In order to give his new sons a good upbringing, he'd recount stories of warrior queens to them.
"In a land far to the east, where everything is cold and flat, there is a great warrior queen. She rides on the back of a giant wild horse, over the huge planes of ice that cover everything north of where we are. She has armies of female warriors, and the power to freeze whatever she wants. We call her Puzi-ryut, my son's, and you must aspire to be as deadly and as fearsome as her. Some even say that humans only figured out how to make fire in order to scare her off, as they think she is the one who takes your spirit away when you die."
"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.