Darkened Pillars

[Kuzuru]

War had taken its toll and though the Coyotles stood victorious their souls wept. Death was not the worst fate to befall a Coyotle, in fact they revered the ever present cycle of life and death. No, death was largely considered nothing more than another journey in one’s life. However death did not come for all of them this day, instead a more insidious act was perpetrated by a member of their own kind. Cinder had committed the greatest of sins by toppling their pillars. She had sullied their souls and destroyed their spirituality in one well-intentioned swoop. She stood before the handful of her kin that had survived.

“Cinder Salt!” Ashpaws shouted as he stormed through the crowd, “what have you done!?”

Cinder did not answer right away, pausing for a few moments before finally saying, “we survived.”

“Survived?” Ashpaws screamed, “Ahanu is dead and our pillars are destroyed, what kind of survival is this!?”

“My purpose was to protect our tribe,” Cinder answered, “as was yours, had I not acted we would have all perished to Nebula.”

“You will answer for this Cinder Salt,” Ashpaws declared.

By now a semi-circle of Coyotles and humans had surrounded them. Cinder scanned the crowd. Where there had once been mirth only uncertainty remained. Leaderless vagabonds unable to even pray to their gods. Those without a pillar become warriors, bodies without souls who exist to protect the tribe. What purpose did they have without a tribe to protect? Cinder stared down her challenger.

“And who will I answer to?” She asked.

Ashpaws growled and said, “you will answer to the elders and the gods.”

“What elders Ashpaws? There are none left, and the gods do not care about us,” Cinder said, “we are orphans, and I am beholden to no one.”

Ashpaws pointed his sword at her and said, “our only grace is that Ahanu did not live to see this, he would have you exiled.”

Cinder growled and stepped towards him, “do not speak for Ahanu, you are a warrior, you are insignificant and to assume the actions of a sage is a sin, there will be no judgement against me because there is no judge so lower your weapon or I will show you just how far above reproach I am.”

A silence swallowed them, broken only by hushed whispers and the wind. Ashpaws held his blade steady for a moment before lowering it. He spit into the dirt and stormed away.

“If anyone else wishes to stand against me feel free to come and be cut down,” Cinder shouted, “if you want to stay here and die without purpose I won’t stop you, but if you wish to live a life with some semblance of meaning you will follow me!”