Justice tossed his sword aside, causing into to disappear into a spectacle of white particles. He walked over to a parked on the other side of the street. With relative ease, he lifted the car over his head like an Olympic weightlifter. As if to mock the Red Horseman, he turned the front to the car to face War, and tossed it at him like a boy tossing a paper plane. The car struck him full on and drove him through the wall of the building behind him.
Pinned down by the car, Warren tried his best to move the object, but his aching body wouldn’t allow it. It felt like he was using all his might, but it wouldn’t budge.
Justice walked through the gap created in the wall of the building and slowly pulled the vehicle off of his victim. With corners of his mouth rolled up, he lifted the vehicle once more, and this time simply dropped it on the teen.
Warren’s cries of agony resonated through the hall. With much determination, he managed to pull himself from out underneath the vehicle. He then brought his knees to his chest and in one quick motion, tramped the side of the car. The strength of the kick was so powerful that he sent both the vehicle of Justice flying into the wall of the opposite building. Justice vanished in the cloud of dust that appeared as a result of the impact.
Warren willed himself up, stumbling slightly over the pile of damaged bricks that had gathered at the opening created by his body. He grabbed the wall to help with his balance, but only managed to rip a single brick out of the wall.
Tossing the lone brick aside, Warren walked to the cloud of dust and slowly pulled the vehicle away from the wall.
Before he could check to see if his opponent was trapped behind the car, his door flung open, hitting him against the ribs.
While Warren stumbled back, Justice climbed out of the car with a smirk.
Warren held his hand out, allowing his sword to appear in his palm again. Justice smiled and did the same. With lightning quickness, the two began slashing at each other. Every attack was met with the other’s blade. The sparks of their blades bounced around the streets like a festival of lights.
Finally, Justice broke the monotony of the fight with a quick blinding flash of light from his free hand. Justice then cut Warren across his thigh and then across the arm that was holding the sword, forcing him to drop the weapon.
Justice allowed his sword to disappear and proceeded viciously assault the young warrior. Every punch, every kick, and even a head-butt for good measure, seemed to meet their target. A spinning heel kick was the final attack that eventually sent War flying off of his feet and onto his back. The impact on his landing caused his armour to explode into a millions of tiny red particles that filled the air like fireflies all around them.
Warren remained on the floor motionless, having reverted back to Warren.
“Get up…” Justice demanded
But the teen remained motionless…
“GET UP NOW…” Justice demanded louder.
… still there was no response.
“You will not deny me this moment…”
Finally Warren began to stir.
“GET UP…” The veins on his neck began to pulsate.
Justice began strolling in a wide circle around Warrior, “For millennia, I was trapped in a baron wasteland. No salvation. All I had was my thoughts and the crazy ramblings of the souls that got lost there.”
Warren finally managed to pull himself up into a seated position.
“For so many years I have dreamt about this…” Justice delivered a boot to the side of Warren’s face,”…moment. I want to enjoy it”
Warren tried to crawl toward his sword, but Justice stepped on his ankle, stopping him from going any further, “You are unfortunate that you are the last to fall, because I always intended to take my time with the last of you”
Justice kicked Warren in the ribs once more, forcing him to roll over onto his back. “Now I have the challenge of trying to figure out how to kill you satisfactorily”
He grabbed the young horseman by the collar and threw him like one would throw a tennis ball. Warren crashed into the car that they used in their fight earlier, denting it into a near perfect V shape.
Having dropped down to one knee, Warren shook his head, to try and get rid of the stars that blurred his vision. He looked up in time to see Justice preparing a large ball of light.
Warren grabbed the still open door. Putting one foot against the side of the vehicle, he ripped the door off, just in time to turn around and use it as a shield against the strong bright beam of light.
The brightness of the beam lit up the streets so much that for a brief moment, night became day.
Warren had managed to raise the car door in time to shield himself from the energy beam. Leaning forward to counteract the weight of the beam, his feet sunk into the tar road like sand.
The light stopped and the darkness slowly crept back in.
Warren lowered his makeshift shield that now had steam flowing from it like an upside down fountain.
Warren dropped the makeshift shield and his fists to his face.
Knowing that he had the rookie horseman exactly where he wanted him, Justice walked over to him at a deliberate pace. His chest out and head held high.
Warren remained rooted.
Suddenly Justice stopped mid-stride; one foot still in the air. Warren could feel the familiar silence, but something felt different. He couldn’t explain it, but like clockwork, Charon materialised directly in front of him.
“I wastarting tewonder whendyou would show up…” Warren said sarcastically with a slur.
“I have come to make you the offer once more”
“Don’t even bother…” Warren interrupted, still in his normal clothes, “The answer is still no”
“I would attempt to change your mind…” Charon continued, “But I do not have much time. Creating this force-field around you alone was difficult enough, but the immense energy that is required to stop a horseman is beyond the powers of this world” Charon explain, “Therefore, I plea that you accept this offer”
Warren stretched out his right arm, allowing the red armour to form from his shoulder to his wrist. The metal glove now grasping on the familiar red handle that formed in turn! The particles danced around inside the magical bubble that encompassed the horseman and the ferryman; each piece eventually contributing to the form of the blade that ended right below Charon’s chin.
“Clearly…” Warren continued as his armour form slowly across his body, like night time reaching across the planet, “I am not getting my point across…”
“Then you shall suffer the consequences…” Charon stated as he floating backwards away from the horseman, “We shall take her life as a truce…” Charon’s body engulfed itself, along with the sheer bubble that had formed around them.
Surprised about what had just happened, Warren noticed that the world had returned to it’s normal speed… just in time to see Justice charging at him. The white horseman jumped, for leverage, bringing his sword down with a slash.
Warren managed to get his hand above his head just in time to block the attack, but the impact, blew the armour off of his forearm. Warren stumbled, and spun to regain his balance, but Justice was as relentless as always. He swung with vigour, one after the other. Still fumbling to regain his balance, Warren only just managed to get his blade in the way to parry the attacks. Even falling backward on his rear-end, Warren still had the wherewithal to roll backward, avoiding a downward slash from his opponent, and landing back on his feet. The impact on the sword into the concrete sent pieces flying around once more.
Warren used the moment to his advantage. He jumped on the sword. Stepping on the guard, and forcing the weapon lose from his opponent’s hand. Warren used a raising knee kick, but Justice managed to catch his knee and, and with a short spin of about 2 rotations, tossed Warren through the window of a nearby store. Glass danced around on the floor as War’s body was stopped by the impact into the counter. Warren pushed himself away from the counter, bu
t his legs wouldn’t cooperate. Toppling forward and landing on all fours, War watched helplessly as Justice stepped through the broken window, with sword in hand once more.
With trembling legs, War got back to his feet. Justice had stopped. He methodically watched the teen struggle to stand. Warren slightly lifted his hand, allowing his sword to form once more.
Not saying anything further, Justice raised his hand, palm facing Warren, and in a moment, the entire small store was filled with a blinding bright light as a beam of energy reached out from the centre of his palm and struck War against the chest plate. The impact sent War flying back, through the brick wall. With pieces of brick flying all over the street, War bounced off of the tarmac like a skipping stone. Coming to a stop meters away from the wall that he exploded through.
He had no more energy left and remained motionless in the ditch that had formed from him skidding to a halt. Warren remained still and watched the dark night sky. He dropped his head to his side, to see his sword just a few feet from him. He looked up in time to see Justice knock a piece of the broken wall off to give himself enough space to step through the hole in the wall. Warren tried harder to get his hand to the weapon… but as he did, a blade pierced his hand and through to the asphalt, pinning it to the ground. War cried out in the pain… gathering just enough energy to roll onto his side and grab the blade. He tried to pull it up… but nothing. It was too deep into the ground for him to move it.
CHAPTER 26 - VENGEANCE MEANS JUSTICE
Justice smiled, “Finally…” he said as he stalked his victim in a tight circle, “Finally, I have the last of my brothers right where I want him...” with a smile, he grabbed the hilt of his sword and drove it even deeper into the ground, forcing War to let go of the blade as it sliced through the skin of the hand that was wrapped around the blade, “Vengeance…” he said brightly
“Such a beautiful word… Vengeance” Justice continued, “You cannot put a price on it… you cannot buy it.
I have waited so long for this moment. I have waited an eternity.
An eternity stuck in the endless wastelands of purgatory… forever cursed to judge the souls that pass through the lands. If I refused to judge the souls… they would haunt me until I did. Their screams in my ears! Their eyes would look back at me when I close mine.
And it was you, War… my brother”
Justice grabbed his sword, and with a swiftly removed it. Warren rolled over, clutching his hand, but all he could manage was a few grunts.
“The one that I trusted the most… War. We were best of friends, yet you led the charge against me” Justice used kicked War back on his back, and stepped on the injured hand, pinning it to War’s chest. The Teenage Horseman’s grunts turned into angry growls. “For many years, I swore that I would escape and I would find you… and I did” he finally removed his foot from the injured hand and watched as War rolled on to his stomach and began pulling himself toward his sword, one elbow after the other. Justice stood firm and with his incredible sword speed, slashed War across the back. The young horseman rolled around, arching his back as he let out a very low cry.
Having given up once more, War ended up on his back and once again watched the stars above him.
“No…” Justice cried out as he placed the edge of his sword to War’s throat, “It wont be that easy. You will NOT deny me this moment. I have waited for it for so long, I will make sure that I can make it last for as long as possible. I will become the last horseman alive and revenge will finally be mine.”
War’s eyes focused in on Justice who was standing above him, “You know what I hate?” Warren said calmly.
“No…” a bit confused, Justice was unable to contain his curiosity as he spoke before he could stop himself, “What do you hate?”
“Villains that talk too much…” War reached out for his sword, which immediately broke into the millions of particles and reformed in the palm of hand. Realising what was happening, Justice raised his sword to deliver the killing blow, but it was too late. Warren had already driven his blade through Justice’s chest.
Justice stumbled back with the sword protruding out his back. With a second wind, Warren stood up with a stumble, hunched over from the exhaustion. He picked up his assailant’s sword that was dropped just moments before, and without saying anything further, he held the weapon tight with both hands and swung as hard as his tired body would allow him. The weapon sliced through Justice’s neck like a hot knife through butter, sending the head of the White Horseman bouncing to one side of the street. As the headless body fell back, Warren grabbed the handle of his own sword that was still embedded in the torso, allowing the body to slide off of his sword.
War stood and watched as the body of his nemesis slowly broke away into golden dust that danced around in the breeze. He dropped the two swords that he was still holding. Both of which exploded into small particles themselves and joined that dust that was once Justice.
War walked down the street, ripping off his armour piece by piece when his horse emerged from the ground beside him as if it were climbing a flight of steps.
“Hey…” Warren said happily when he noticed, “You’re okay”
He pulled himself onto the saddle with great difficulty, as if his body weighed a couple more pounds than he was used to.
“Time to go buddy” he said in a low voice
The horse marched slowly through the CBD, over the rubble of the battle. He rubbed the neck of his neck of the stallion, “You know…” he said, his voice still low, “I think I’ve had enough of this. I’m done” he loosened the last gauntlet and allowed it to drop to the ground, “I don’t want to be a horseman anymore”
CHAPTER 27 – BROKEN
Pain surged through his body like a bolt of lightning with each step that the horse took. He turned the corner into her street. The last thing that he wanted to do now was to go home. He just wanted to see her… no matter how much it would hurt to do so.
He held onto the rungs of the horse for dear life, while he clutched his ribs with the bleeding hand, though he was unable to determine what hurt more: his hand or his ribs. The dried blood seemed to be a well match to the pattern of his white and red hooded jacket.
Wobbling atop the horse like a bobble head, he came to a full stop when he noticed the blue and red lights pulsating through the dark street. The flash passed his eyes, blinding him for just a moment. He wondered how he didn’t notice the lights when he entered the street. As he got closer and closer, his body began to tense up. The police were in front of her door.
He stared at the flashing lights for a while… until an ambulance van sped passed him, waking him from his trance.
His horse sped up till he reached her driveway.
He jumped off of the saddle, ignoring the painful that his ribs gave him and limped as fast as he could to the van. He had not noticed her parents sitting the on the grass in the front yard. Her mother was sobbing uncontrollably, while the father sat on his haunches behind her, rubbing her back.
Warren’s eyes met her father’s for just a moment, before he looked away again.
He quickly peeked into the back of the ambulance van, but there was nobody, not even a gurney.
Warren rushed through the open front door and into the main hallway of the house, the pain in his leg still not allowing much pressure, forcing him to hop up the steps while leaning against the wall for support.
Warren reached the point where the hallway split the rooms of the siblings. Her door to his left and Luis’s to his right. Before he could decide which way to go, a paramedic shoved his left shoulder, forcing him out the way and against Luis’s door. He watched in horror, as they rolled out the gurney. The person on the gurney was completely covered in a thin white blanket. The person looked female, but he wasn’t sure. The conformation came when he looked up to see Luis staring at the ground with an expressionless face.
Warren hobbled over to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder, but Luis grabbed
him and hugged him instead. The pain that engulfed his body just moments ago was replaced with immense emptiness. He couldn’t feel anything. His body was numb. He couldn’t even feel the tears running down his cheeks and leaping off onto his friend’s shoulder.
‘How could this happen?’ he wondered to himself. It was all he wanted to ask his friend, but his mouth was frozen. He could speak. He could only let out a gasp for air in between the sobs.
CHAPTER 28 – DAWN
Warren jabbed the large metal doors open that lead in to the Chamber of Fate.
“What are you do-“ Warren grabbed Charon at the throat and threw him across the room.
“I want answers…” Warren barked before the sisters could react
The New Horsemen Page 11