Origin of War

This is a short 1 page story about the War, the second Horseman of the Apocalypse, and how he was discovered by his 'Brothers'.

Leaning over the stone bridge I could see the battle going on below me, silhouettes clashing steel against steel in an unmistakable frenzy of blood and anguish as blades tore through soft skin and fragile bone. A fresh assault burst from the shadowy depths of the forest and the force of flames catapulted over the scene shook the solid stone bridge and sent soldiers crashing against the edge in a bloody, cindering pulp. Stepping back from the precipice, I pushed off into an immediate run down rocky hill and right into the fray.     

I was immediately confronted by a group of the savage creatures, roaring triumphantly as they slaughtered my brothers and wiped their blood across their bodies and faces, and pulling my sword and axe from their sheaths at my back I ripped through them with my axe while deflecting their wasted blows with the blade. 

It took mere moments for the last of the group to fall before me, from the look in its black, empty eyes I’m sure that if it understood the concept it would have begged for mercy; none was given. My axe tore through the beast’s knotted flesh, and I stood firm and laughed and vile vapours of his life salivated away, like the tongue of a sun-struck wolfhound. The battle raged on fervently, leaving the lonely land laden with gifts for the atash’ani; the keepers of death, skulls were crushed and corpses were scattered and burned all the while the sky above where vultures circled and watched soulfully as blades clashed, engaging in an elegant dance of war, turned slowly red.       

 Across the plains; a rogue band of heathens moved closer to join the main horde and revel in the havoc reeked across the lands, tainting them with the purest essence of evil and corrupting the ground with their filth.

Grunting with an ambivalent collision of pride and fury; I charged with sword and axe raised aloft, striking them with a might yet unseen by God or man, taking an equal measure of hits as they sought to stop this insane warrior but shrugging them off as I thrive on the moment of the kill. Only for a moment did I stop to look at the corpses littering the floor in front of me, grinning at the carnage. A silent padding came from behind, with the speed of a demon I turned and plunged my sword into the sinner’s black heart, then I withdrew my blade and ran my armor over to prevent it staining with blood. 

Suddenly, the earth shook violently and split beneath our feet, sending many on both sides into abyss.

Quickly leaping across the divide, I almost fell afoul of the crack myself but caught onto the overhang with my axe and pulled myself up by the roots over the rough cut edge. What came next I could never have been prepared for because when I turned around, on the other side of the split were three looming demonic figures on horses larger than any on this earth;  one white, one green and one pale as death. And as they turned on their great beasts and scanned the field, the one on the pale horse, though hooded and hidden beneath an impenetrable darkness, fixed his gaze on me. From beneath the hood came four words that would scatter the armies of millennia and drive back the forces of eternity. 

“We have found him”. 

And nothing the same since.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed it, I was pretty young when I wrote this (it was about 3-4 years ago) so please forgive any errors in grammar or spelling and let me know what you think :)