The New Horsemen

by Nikolai Swartz

  Suddenly three beautiful, young women appeared on the elevated surface at the back of the room. They were tall and elegant. The biggest difference between the three ladies was their hair colour – One was blonde, the other brunette and the last of the three was a bright red head. Despite the lack of air movement in the room, their hair constantly waved as if they were underwater.

  They wore similar silky white dresses that made them appear like ghostly figures, as their dresses fluttered in the non-existent wind.

  “Warren and Victor” they spoke in unisons.

  The two teenagers were silenced. They couldn’t begin to imagine a possible response to that, but remained at least a few steps behind Seth.

  “Welcome” they spoke all together, “You are the chosen. The reincarnations of legendary warriors that once roamed the world”

  “Don’t tell me that these weirdoes are going to tell us the same thing that Faith told us…?” Victor whispered over to Warren.

  ‘We are the Sisters of Fate and the keepers of the Riders’ they all spoke together, but the one in the middle waved her hand, causing the surroundings to fade away like a surreal dream. ‘To ease your confusion, allow us to show you’

  The room filled with strings of smoke that all seemed to have minds of their own. They appeared like intangible grey snakes breathing a cold breathe of air when floating past at blurring speeds. Warren and Victor looked around anxiously, trying their best to follow the movements that whisked around them.

  One of the mysterious strings of smoke broke free from the rest and crashed into the ground with tremendous impact. But instead of dispersing into a cloud, the smoke took the shape of a horse, forcing the two kids to side step out of its way. Warren had dropped to one knee from the dodge, but the solid granite floor beneath his hands felt warm… warmer than it should be. The ground began to shift and break into billions of particles. When he looked back at the horse, he noticed that he was no longer in the cave, but instead he was in the middle of a dessert. He stood up slowly, surveying his surroundings. The only sign of life was the horse before him and Victor, who was just a few meters away. The sand pelted against his flesh like miniature bullets launched at him by the gusts of wind. He raised his hands to protect his face when he noticed the cloud of smoke land atop the horse, and taking the form of a human. Or something similar.

  He looked up and saw the man sitting atop the horse, a large and powerful man. He wore armour similar to what Faith was wearing, the biggest difference being that his armour had red instead of green. He could not make out the man’s face as it was covered in a mysterious shadow that seemed to remain even when struck by light. The armour had no sleeves, revealing his impossibly large biceps.

  Warren looked around for Victor, who was now slowly circling another rider that wore blue armour.

  “Who are they…? Victor asked

  “I think I might have an idea…” Warren said calmly as he placed a hand on the nose of the horse, causing it to neigh. He flinched. He did not expect to actually be able to touch it, let alone get a reaction back.

  “Do you think Faith might not have been crazy after all?”

  “Or maybe we’re all crazy” Warren looked up at the warrior once more, and finally decided to say it, “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse… they’re real”

  ‘Yes…’ the chorus rang out from the sky. It was obvious that it was the sisters speaking to them, ‘They are indeed real. But there were five riders, not four. The fifth, forgotten by history, was the leader of the horsemen and by far the strongest’

  Another horseman appeared before the two teenagers. He had long white hair and a pale, white horse.

  “That’s him… that’s the guy that killed Faith” Warren said in a low voice.

  ‘His name is Justice…’ the sisters continued, ‘His greatest gift would also become his greatest downfall’

  The surroundings changed once more, this time to a burning city. Flames poured out of windows and through doors. A sobbing woman came running past them clutching a baby to her chest. They then noticed a man running toward them through an alleyway that split the sand brick buildings, when suddenly a rider appeared behind the man, chasing after him. The man was no match for the speed of the horse, which soon caught up. The horseman withdrew his sword, and with a lightning fast swing, struck down the fleeing man.

  He then quickly turned just before reaching the two teenagers and galloped down the road.

  ‘Justice’s greatest gift was that he was in tune with humans… he could sense the good and the evil in mankind. He would judge the guilty and free the innocent when the apocalypse would come’

  Warren felt his feet lift off from the ground as if he were being picked up from the back of his collar. He looked over to see that Victor was floating alongside him.

  As they got higher and higher, they could still make out the mounted man among the crowd, slaying people mercilessly.

  ‘The evil soon corrupted the leader of the Riders and he decided that the only way that he could save mankind was to eliminate everyone’ the voices rang from the skies.

  The surroundings changed once more.

  They were now floating over a dessert, where they could see the four horsemen circling a downed man. As the teenagers drifted closer to the scene, they noticed that it was Justice, on his knees in the middle of the riders.

  ‘The riders could not bring themselves to kill their brother, so instead they banished him to another realm, where he would eternally be responsible for judging the souls that pass through. This realm would become known as Purgatory’

  “And now he’s escaped…!?” Warren said as his feet touched down on the marble floor. They were back in the cave, standing in front of the sisters, who were now watching them.

  ‘That is correct!’ the sisters answered

  “But how…?” Warren requested

  ‘That we do not know. The realm of purgatory is outside our reaches as we cannot predict its future or nature’

  “That is why you need us” Victor had just realised what the sisters were trying to say.

  ‘Yes… for only his brothers can defeat him. It will take at least three of the riders to defeat Justice. So, we present you with the choice. Step forth and accept your fate as a Horsemen… or turn back and never remember this place or the world that you have learnt about’

  Suddenly a shadowy figure materialised in front of the sisters and in front of Seth. He did not have any features and appeared to be nothing but a floating shadow.

  Warren and Victor startled slightly when they realized it was the figure that was haunting them at school.

  ‘This is Charon. Should you choose to accept your destiny and be the saviours of your species, he shall be your mentor and prepare you for your battle against Justice’

  Charon’s body began taking a more solid appearance. His face became more distinct, but was the colour of burnt ash. His face was so wrinkled that it made him appear deformed. He had no eyebrows, or even eyes for that matter. There were just two seemingly endless holes where his eyeballs would have been. His pitch black cloak completely covered the remainder of his body, not revealing a single inch. Slowly an arm grew from either side of him. The hands were the same colour as his face, if not paler, and his fingers were long and thin, like the branches of a tree.

  Charon raised his hands, summoning a bright light before him that illuminated the entire room. The shadows jumped as the orb’s light flickered through the room.

  ‘If you wish to accept the truth, place your hand on the light’ the sisters still spoke in chorus.

  Victor and Warren shot each other a glance, when Victor broke eye contact and stepped up to the light.

  “What are you doing?” Warren shouted over the noise that sounded light a futuristic engine starting up, “How do you know you can trust them? What if they are actually the crazy ones, trying to trick us?” Warren walked up behind Victor, “Even if we are the horsemen, why should we trust them?”


  “I don’t know why, but I just do…” Victor responded over the growing noise. The light had now gotten so bright that nothing in the room was visible anymore, but yet they could still see each other clearly. “… and I know that you feel it too. That same feeling you got when Faith told us to sit down in the library. The same feeling you got when Faith appeared at school in that armour. Stop being logical and trust your gut”

  Victor placed his right hand on the orb and froze in place as Warren watched in confusion, half expecting something big to happen. But Victor remained motionless, standing in the same spot.

  Warren realised that the orb was waiting for him to make his decision. He looked at the bright light. Somehow, it was not hurting his eyes. Somehow he could look directly into it without needing to squint.

  Warren allowed himself to follow his instincts and placed his hand on the orb.

  A strange sensation rushed through his body… one that he could not explain. It was a zero gravity feeling in the pit of his stomach, though he could feel that he was standing still. It was a feeling that resembled a rollercoaster ride, and all that he could muster was a happy scream of terror, but neither could he remove their hand from the orb. He couldn’t feel anything physically holding him in place. His hand felt heavy and glued to the orb.

  The orb threw the two teenagers a few feet, causing them to land on their backs. Warren managed to lift his head, but his vision blurred. Everything around him was just a random mixture of colours. He squinted long enough for his to start regaining its focus just in time to see the orb fade into nothing. His body felt heavy, and his head became impossible to hold up much longer as consciousness slowly faded away.

  CHAPTER 6 - QUESTIONS

  Warren awoke in a fright, sitting up quickly, but allowed himself to relax when he realised that he was in his room, sitting on his own bed. Everything felt like a dream and he felt like he was staring at his room through foggy goggles.

  Slowly managing to will himself up, he could not understand why every muscle and every bone in his body hurt this much. Pain surged through him from head to toe like electricity flowing through his body. He had a headache that pounded against the inside of his skull.

  With the energy that he had left, he slumped into the shower, turned on the water, slowly climbed out of his clothes, climbed into the shower and just stood there, feeling the water hit every aching part while he replayed the events of the previous day in his mind.

  Flashes of the white light crossed through his mind. He closed his eyes tightly, not only to avoid having the hot water enter them, but also in an attempt to forget the images that he was trying to remember just moments ago. With each flash, his eyes closed tighter and tighter. Untill he saw the ball of light again. It was just floating, surrounded by a strange darkness. The light that emitted from it didn’t seem to be enough to penetrate the thick darkness that surrounded it. Still standing in the shower with the water running down his face, Warren closed his eyes tighter, trying to get a better look at the energy that flowed within the light, when he noticed a glimmer trough the darkness and soon a man stepped into the low light. The white armour was unmistakable. Warren immediately realized why he looked so familiar. It was Justice… and also the same man that has been haunting his nightmares.

  “What do you want…?” Warren called out to the man, forgetting that he was still standing in his bathroom when a familiar voice cried out from behind the door…

  “I just wanted to tell you that it’s getting late” The lady responded, “You need to get going”

  “Oh…” he responded quickly, “I’ll be out just now”

  Warren stood outside the classroom door, just staring into nothing. The events of the previous day still plagued his thoughts. He could see his hand reaching out to the orb. Like the day before, he could still feel the shivers running down his spine and the hairs at the back of neck standing up.

  His body shook sharply… and when he came to, he was staring directly at Victor, who had leaned in so close that Warren could only see his blue eyes and rigid nose.

  “We need to talk” Victor said before Warren’s mind could comprehend what was happening.

  Victor pulled open the classroom door, grabbed Warren by the arm and shoved him through. He looked down the hall before entering and closing the door behind them.

  The two teenagers stared at each other for a while, not saying a word. Warren tried to smile to break the uncomfortable moment, but that only made Victor start pacing back and forth.

  “What happened yesterday?” Victor finally spoke. His words were stern and unwavering.

  “How’s about you tell me?” Warren feared revealing too much. Everything that had been happening over recent days has led him to question his sanity. He was starting to consider wearing tin foil hats and constantly look up into the sky in amazement.

  “Do you remember an island… with three… sisters” Victor wanted answers to what had happened more than he wanted Warren to acknowledge that he was sane.

  When Warren didn’t respond, that was all the confirmation he needed. He threw his head back and put both hands over his open mouth.

  “How much do you remember?” Victor continued.

  “Everything…” Warren confirmed, “The sisters, the cave, Charon...” he watched Victor through the top of his eyes before adding, “… the horsemen”

  The bell rang through the cold morning air as the children all began to fill the hallways.

  “We need to find Seth…” Victor said very sternly. He then added before leaving the classroom, “He knew more about this than we did”

  Warren walked onto the school field. Being the end of the day, the field was relatively empty. He could not understand what had called him to the field, but he knew it was an irresistible force. Something silent, yet deafening! He was curious. This was same feeling that he’s been getting right before someone gives him strange news.

  Warren looked ahead and noticed Seth standing in the centre of the field. He felt compelled to approach the black clad scholar.

  “Hey…” Warren said as he got closed enough, but Seth remained as silent as always. “We’ve been looking for you the whole day…” Warren continued, but there was still no response from the Goth teen. For a moment they stood in silence, simply watching each other.

  “… and… you’re not talking.” Warren finally added sarcastically, “… why did I expect anything different from the Mute Goth”

  “I see you found him…” Victor said as he approached the two teenagers.

  “Yeah…” Warren said without even looking at Victor, “but he’s not talking as usual”

  “Well, at least we found him” Victor said calmly.

  “How did you find us?” Warren asked.

  “I’m guessing the same way you found him” Victor said calmly

  CHAPTER 7 - THE NEW HORSEMEN

  Seth stood with his hands clenched behind him, watching the other two as they discussed his silence.

  Suddenly the sky behind him began to contort. Warren took a step back, trying to grab Victor’s arm as he stumbled. Victor simply watched in awe, admiring the sight of something that amazing that defied all logic. The weather changed in an instant as the sky darkened, the blue turned into a tormented grey and the sun’s light faded as visibility became poorer. Strong winds that were capable of knocking down trees pulled at their clothes. While Seth remained unchanged, Warren and Victor found themselves leaning forward and shielding their eyes from the air born bullet-like sand particles that pelted their skin.

  The trees danced to the mercy of the wind with leaves rustling noisily.

  The bright blue sky tore open like a ripped page, causing a black hole to appear; and from it came a cloak as dark as the night sky, floating to the ground, only a few inches lower, revealing the hole was not as far up as they had initially believed it was. The cloak seemed unchanged by the intense rushes of air that swooped around it. The intensity of the rift eventuall
y disappeared as if it had never occurred in the first place. The trees calmed and the sky returned to its natural colour.

  Warren and Victor looked around with confusion. They noticed two girls skipping passed them not too far away. The girls seemed oblivious to what had just happened and calmly walked passed. Their shy girlish giggle echoed through the air like an empty room.

  The cloak that had landed behind Seth, lifted off of the ground. It spread out behind the Goth like an eagle and began to quiver and convulse before taking the shape of a rectangle with a tattered bottom. The rectangle began to resemble the torso of a human being. Growing arms and a head. The entire figure had no distinguishable features other than the deep black holes where it’s eyes were supposed to be.

  “Riders…” The voice emanated from the head, though there was no apparent evidence of a mouth or movement of any sort.