Chapter 35: The Council of Pillars

The heavyweight bag swung back hard enough that Kaelo had to reset his stance before the next combination every moment.

*Pffth* *Pffth* *Pow* *Smack* *Pffth*

Left, left, right, pivot, jab, cross.

His breathing remained steady despite the hour he had already spent training.

Sweat had soaked through the collar of his shirt and darkened the hand wraps around his fists. His knuckles had gone numb a long time ago. A non-stop drill for over an hour.

Even a trained athlete needs a break after boxing drill of ten minutes, but bodies of awakeners were just built different.

The bag came back.

Kaelo planted his rear foot and drove another cross into it.

*Pffth* *Pffth* *Pow*

The bag swung away.

His phone rested on the bench in the corner of the living room of his suite.

It’s screen lit up mid-combination as it buzzed of notification.

He didn’t stop, he finished the set, breathed mildly, and let the bag settle.

He walked over and wiped his palms with a small hand towel rested beside the phone before picking it up.

"What’s all the fuss about?" He murmured.

{Pillar Council. Mandatory and immediate.}

A short and straight-forward title was on top of the mail, with no description either.

"She needs to work on her communication skills," he added, and grabbed his shirt off the rack, and left the wraps on.

The Council Chamber occupied the entire floor directly beneath the Director’s office.

The doors were darker than the ones above, near black wood.

They opened without a sound. Inside, the room was long and high-ceilinged. The floor was polished of black stone shot through with thin silver veins.

The walls were the same dark wood as the doors. Narrow windows of polarized glass looked out over the upper ridges of the island.

At the center stood the table. It was a single slab of black glass around twelve meters long. The reflection of the ceiling lights ran in unbroken lines from one end to the other.

Thirteen high-backed chairs surrounded the table, eleven already occupied, twelfth awaiting Kaelo.

Inessa was already in her seat, she had both hands resting on the table, her silver-white hair fell over one shoulder as she read something on her screen.

Kaji Sato sat several seats away with a tablet balanced against his knee, his thumb moved across the display.

A burst of laughter came from beside him, Brody Jaxon leaned over his shoulder.

"Nahh, you missed it," he said.

"Network issues," Kaji commented.

"Don’t blame the network for your poor play," Brody replied.

"..." Kaji kept playing, and Brody leaned closer.

"Move, let me handle this," Brody said.

"You’re not touching my game!" Kaji replied.

"Man, just shut up," Brody took the tablet from him, and leaned back comfortably. "Loser," he mumbled.

Brody had blue hair and purple eyes. He was the only pillar among the council who wasn’t backed by any family name. A man who ranked among the pillars solely because of his raw power.

Kaelo walked past them, and neither of them looked up.

Corvan Tuoni sat opposite to them. He had dark complexion, black hair, and black eyes. He sat with arms crossed, saying nothing to anyone.

Remaining seats began filling one after another. No one seemed particularly concerned about the lack of information, but that changed when Kaelo looked toward the far end of the table.

He stopped.

His attention then shifted to a blank seat.

He counted the chairs again, and looked at the chair again.

’Thirteen.’ He thought. His eyes narrowed.

"Anyone know what this is about?" Brody asked the room in general, and nobody answered.

"Wait," then Brody’s attention shifted to the last chair, he handed the tablet back to Kaji.

"I guess someone put in an extra chair, I don’t mind taking that in my room, I lack a good study chair, I’ll be honest," he added.

"..." Inessa pinched her temples and leaned back, closing her eyes.

Nobody knew how to reply to that.

"What’s the reason for this meeting?" Kaelo finally asked as he started unwrapping the boxing wraps from his hands.

"You all will kno-" Inessa was about to reply, but then her phone buzzed. Not only hers, but all of their phones buzzed simultaneously.

She had been given instructions to set a Council Meeting by Seren Veyra, but she wasn’t aware of the reason.

All of them looked down at their phones, Brody looked in Kaelo’s phone because he didn’t want to reach out for his own, in his pocket.

{Thirteenth Pillar.}

{Title: Reaper.}

{Marcellus Severan.}

.-.-.-.-.-.

Marcellus left Maeve in the suite. He said he could find his way to the council on his own, he wasn’t a child, and she agreed to that.

Moreover, Kaelo Bishop would be in the chamber, there was no reason to put her in the same room as the man who still wanted her.

He took the upper lifts alone. The corridor on the floor beneath the director’s office was quieter than the ones below. Darker wood, fewer people.

The air carried that particular stillness that only existed in rooms barely used.

Marcellus walked with his hands inside the pockets of his pants, his brown coat stayed stiff because of his hands, and he moved while enjoying the view, small facts written on walls, and paintings.

He turned at the first set of heavy doors that looked important enough, and opened them.

The room was smaller than he expected. Lit in low amber light instead of cool white of the floors below.

A long couch, a low table, two figures locked together on the couch.

The man had black hair, and the formal coat of a cadet half-shoved off one shoulder.

The woman straddled his lap, shirt open to the waist. The pale fabric pushed aside so that one breast of her was fully bare under the amber light. His hand was under the remaining cloth with fingers clearly moving.

Their mouths were sticked to each other, kissing rhythmically, they had already gone past the polite stage.

Soft, wet sounds filled the small room, and her hips shifted once, grinding down as the man’s hand gripped her thigh.

Neither of them noticed the door as Marcellus stopped two steps inside.

He watched them for a moment, tilted his head, and looked around, as if confirming something.

"Goodness, the council is so bold, I must say," he broke the silence and the wet sounds.

"Ah-!" The pair broke apart so violently, the woman yanked her shirt close with both hands, and the man shover her off his lap hard enough that she nearly fell off the couch.

"What the f-" The man opened his eyes wide, and stopped mid sentence.

"Marcellus Severan?" He screamed his name in doubt.

"Yours truly," Marcellus nodded, "But not right now, of course," he then looked at the woman.

"What’re you doing in the council room?" he then asked them.

"Council Room?" The man furrowed his brows.

"Well, yeah." Marcellus looked around.

"I am sure this is a floor beneath Director’s office. Am I on the wrong floor perhaps?" he then questioned.

"Wrong Floor?" The man pointed outside the window, and Marcellus followed the direction.

"You are in the WRONG TOWER! Man."