“Are you a Hyking?”
The Shadow Queen asked while looking the boy directly in the eyes, awaiting an answer from him.
Silence quickly overtook the room as the air around it seemed to get denser.
Lawkey felt the eyes on him, his nerves tensing up.
After all…
“What’s a Hyking?”
He had no idea what they were talking about again.
“...”
Everyone around him was too stunned to react, even the Shadow Queen’s body froze up.
She quickly recovered and looked down at the boy, who had just said something too odd to be believable.
“You… don’t know?” She asked, then turned her head to Munisai looking for some kind of answer.
image [https://i.imgur.com/CHlemV0.jpeg]
For his part, Munisai just smiled and shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the side eye from the boy next to him.
“Hahah, you really are a strange kid!” Taiga laughed again, finding it all a little too amusing.
“...?” Lawkey found himself constantly questioning her reactions and outbursts of laughter.
Is this really how queens are? He wondered.
“Alright, Hachi! Give him a short explanation!” The Shadow Queen waved her arm to the side, ordering her Commander of the Royal Guards to deliver a history lesson.
image [https://i.imgur.com/jhEJUiH.jpeg]
“If you insist, Your Majesty."
Hachi took a step forward slowly, unsure about the whole thing. Hearing his Queen still laughing it up behind him didn’t quite help either.
“Ahem, where do I begin?” He brought his hand closer to his mouth and cleared his throat, “I suppose where it all began would be most suitable.”
As everyone stood waiting with mild expectations, what they hadn’t thought of was Hachi’s background in stage plays.
“Over 900 years ago, when the black moon came crashing down during the Grand Descent…,” Hachi began, fully immersing himself in the tale, “the world as people knew it completely changed!”
“Many islands sank to the bottom of the sea, while many rose to the sky. A giant sapphire tree appeared in the center of the planet, which is now known as the World Tree, K’edemiti.”
“But more importantly, after that most of the population suddenly began to manifest abilities. Today, We commonly refer to these abilities as ‘Signs’”.
“As one would expect from such an outcome, chaos took over the world. It was the beginning of the Crown Age, where everybody sought a throne for themselves.”
“Decades of conflict went by before people started noticing the existence of Hykings, and their curse that only brought death, war and chaos to everything around them.”
“Their race changed the world yet again.”
“Rumor has it…”
Eh?! There’s more? Come on… Lawkey felt his body going numb as he stood waiting for the long explanation to come to an end.
But that didn’t stop Hachi, he was on a roll and the best part was just starting.
“When two people with different Signs, regardless of their race, have an offspring with each other, that child is born with a birthmark on their body. Moreover, that same child has the potential to awaken to two Signs instead of one and be cursed for its entire life.”
“That is the origin of Hykings!”
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image [https://i.imgur.com/WHIkMnv.jpeg]
Hachi proclaimed loudly, reaching a climax in his story. He paused, perhaps to give his audience a break, or for dramatic effect. Only he knew.
On the other hand…
“...A birthmark?” Lawkey’s eyes widened in surprise after hearing that part.
He began to remember something, but was quickly pulled back in for the rest of the stage play, aka story.
“In the beginning, some people were terrified, while others wanted to use the Hykings to their advantage as weapons of war and destruction!” Hachi got down on one knee and stretched his arms wide in the air, as if praising the sky. He kept his tone loud so everyone could hear, “However, the first fourteen Kings and Queens of the Royal Clans rose up to the occasion!”
“So dramatic!” Munisai and Lawkey blurted in unison.
I said ‘a short explanation’… What is he doing? Taiga thought with a scowl. Her smoking pipe was quickly running out at this point.
Even the Shadow Queen had grown a little tired and annoyed at the long-winded speech. She had gradually come to lean on the side of the throne, resting her right elbow on the armchair to hold her chin in her palm.
But it wasn’t done yet…
“Those great Kings and Queens introduced a system that would exponentially reduce the birth rate of Hykings. That system demanded that the people who shared the same Signs had to create clans and live together under one Absolute Law.”
“‘Marriage between Clans is forbidden!’”
“Sadly, what they didn’t realize-”
“That’s enough, Hachi!”
As the Commander of the Royal Guards stood back up, patting the dust off of his knees, he was quickly cut off by the Shadow Queen.
“Ahhh,” Taiga yawned, making sure to cover her mouth with her hand, “Sorry, sorry. This used to be my bedtime story, I couldn’t help it.”
As tired as they were, everyone stood waiting for her to carry on the conversation.
“Why are Hykings cursed? Why do they have two Signs? Why are they born with specific birthmarks on their bodies?” She began to ask, making sure to pause slightly after each question, “And most of all, why do most of them disappear at the end of each century?”
Taiga began to get up again, feeling the need to stretch her legs.
“All these things and more, are still shrouded in complete mystery to this day, even over 900 years later.”
Hykings… Now I understand why Jay never told us about them… Lawkey began to think to himself, having now learned some crucial information.
Why Jay… Maybe had we known, we could have…
“However, we know for sure that the only way to spot a Hyking for certain is by their birthmark.” Lawkey’s thoughts were cut short by Taiga finally bringing the main point back into question.
“So, do you have one, little Law?” She asked, not realizing who she sounded like to the boy.
image [https://i.imgur.com/5ulRwtn.jpeg]
Lawkey quickly pushed the memories to the back of his head. It wasn’t the time for such thoughts.
“Nope,” He began to answer, “but it sure would have been cool to have two different powers.”
He felt a little envious, but it’s not like it directly hindered his potential. He was confident in the strength he could achieve… He just needed to take the right path towards acquiring it.
“I patched up his wounds, and I can guarantee that he doesn’t have one either!” Munisai, finally seeing his chance again to ensure things went smoothly, quickly jumped in, “While he does have some markings on his chest and neck, they’re far from the birthmarks Hykings are known to have.”
“I’ll take your word for it, Munisai. I trust you.” Taiga said confidently, then quickly pursed her lips and looked to the side, “But that’s too bad. I really wanted to see one for myself.”
While most people were afraid by rumors of Hykings, and rightfully so, the Shadow Queen had always wanted to meet one face to face. To her, there was little she could trust based on bedtime stories and rumors, she would need to see things herself to fully believe them.
That spoke to the level of faith she had in Munisai for trusting his words about this matter.
“In any case, if anyone has a complaint about my decision, they can come see me.” Taiga turned around again, waving her hand.
“I am grateful, Your Majesty-”
“Munisai.”
The Sword Saint bowed forward, but was quickly cut off again before he could finish.
Taiga kept her back to the Sword Saint she had respected her entire life, and then asked after a moment of silence, “is this an attempt to embrace your darkness?”
“...”
Munisai couldn’t find an immediate answer within him. Her question lingered heavily on his mind.
Why was he taking in a strange kid he had just met? It wasn’t his responsibility, nor any form of duty. He wasn’t getting any special benefits either, so why?
Was it perhaps out of selfishness then? Or did he see something in the kid that no one else could?
I wonder…
The image of his wife briefly flashed into his mind once more.
Heh, what am I even thinking about? This kid needs my help, and having him around seems to liven things up a bit… That's not too bad, is it? He chuckled inwardly, bringing his thoughts to an end.
For her part, even though she received no answer to her question, Taiga still noticed his inner turmoil at first and then the changes to his shadow after.
She knew better than to press on, not that she was that pushy about such matters.
There’s no escaping one’s own shadow, huh?
All she could do is recall the old saying of her clan.
image [https://i.imgur.com/1HUruoy.jpeg]
And then…
“Your Majesty, If I may!”
Before Taiga could tell her guests to leave, Kenzo, the guard, suddenly entered and called out to her from the entrance of the throne room.
“Speak.”
She commanded.
“There are some people outside who are requesting to take part in this audience. Mister Hideyoshi specifically, claims he was already invited by the Commander.”
“Eh?” Taiga let out reflexively, then quickly looked towards her Commander for an answer.
“...” Hachi felt his body temperature rise as he began to sweat uncontrollably.
“My deepest apologies, Your Majesty!” He knelt down so fast, Taiga was startled, “It is true that I invited Hideyoshi to take part in the audience. The villagers had been protesting and we needed him here to ensure a peaceful outcome for everyone.”
“...” Taiga took it all in.
It was safe to say she was not stoked about it, but as the Shadow Queen, she had a responsibility of her own to uphold.
“Kenzo, dear. Let him in.”
“Yes, Your Majesty! Right away!”
Kenzo received his order and quickly jumped to it.
“Get up, Hachi.” Taiga addressed her commander, “I’m annoyed I have to go through it all again, but you are right. We have to ensure a peaceful resolution.”
“You’re too kind, Your Majesty.”
Hachi got up as the two guests behind him stood waiting, unsure about their role.
“Munisai, little Law, bear with it a little longer. I’ll do my best to make things short.”
Taiga addressed them, but before they had any time to respond…
“Your Majesty! Thank you for granting me an audience!” Hideyoshi quickly made his way through the throne room, making sure to give Munisai and the boy a look, before kneeling down in front of the Shadow Queen and greeting her.
It was very clear to everyone that he had prepared himself to fight tooth and nail to get his way.
And as evident by his late arrival, the confident stride and gleam in his eyes showed the amount of preparation he had done.
He wasn’t going to back down until Lawkey’s request was denied.
All for the sake of avoiding a bigger catastrophe from happening.
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image [https://i.imgur.com/KQmIY8F.png]