Disclaimer: While the ideas of the Four Horsemen is an old one, the characters presented here, there names, and personalities are my creations. As such they are copyright to me. I don't really care if someone out there wants to use them or even to write in my Four Horsemen Universe, I just want to know that you are using them. Well with that out of the way. Read on:
People had come from miles around to watch the execution of the young nobleman. Colby Winward of Hertha, Lord of Heron and heir to Duke of Arborlan was to be hung in the public square. His crime was the attempted assination of the crown prince. It was all a set up and most of the noblemen knew it, but the blame had to be laid somewhere and Colby was the closest to the incident. The old hangman watched the young man approach the gallows. He was well loved amongst his people, but the King's court was far from Hertha and Heron. This was the young with his coal black hair and cool gray eyes was one of the most sought after bachelors in the kingdom, but he had been condemned to death.
Now his eyes were dimmed and his hair hung lifeless in his face. Colby knew that his death was only the start of the pain for his people. He didn't want his people to have to see his body after it had been hanged. It would serve as a warning to those that he loved that they should not cross the king. It would have been all right, this dying thing, if they just buried him and let things lay, so that the others wouldn't have to see him this way.
Colby stood tall when though those who had gathered to watch him hang ridiculed him and threw things at him. As he cam to the platform though the wild crowds quieted to hear what the hangman would say. "Any last requests Colby Winward of Hertha, Lord of Heron?" asked the hangman after the noose was placed around his neck.
"Only this," Colby replied, " I would see the face of the man who hangs me." The hangman pulled off his black hood revealing a shock of white hair and alert brown eyes. He then released the trap door. Colby Winward fell quickly praying that his neck would snap when he hit the bottom. He then knew only darkness.
Colby floated in the expanding darkness for what seemed like forever. Slowly he became aware his black sea slowly rolling back and forth under him. While not exactly soothing it was a sensation that was familiar. Deciding he had had just about enough of the rolling he pried his eyes open. The sight that greeted him was niter the heaven nor the hell that he was expecting, it was simply the hindquarters of a horse.
Turning the other way he saw he was tied to a pack horse being lead by his executioner. For a moment he was thrilled with the fact that he was indeed still alive, then a cold chill washed through his body. If the hangman found out he was still alive before he could get away there would be hell to pay. Colby could bet that his second death would not be as painless as the first had been.
"Good you woke up!" an inanely cheerful voice broke into his silent musings. The hangman stood next to him smiling for a moment, before starting to untie him.
"Did you arrange this?" Colby asked. He was shocked that a hangman of the Royal court would betray his king in such a manner as to release a prisoner knowingly.
"I arranged only to be your executioner. Everything else was preordained to happen You were lucky that your neck snapped and that you didn't have to suffer."
"If my neck snapped then how is it I am alive when I should be dead?"
"No, you should be as you are. You can't die now. You will live to fulfill your destiny. You have to fix the world."
"What do you mean save the world?" Colby was now on his feet pacing around to force the blood to flow to his neglected limbs.
"You, young sir, are one of the four people who were placed on this earth to restore the balance many thousand of years ago. Bow the balance has shifted again and you are needed."
Colby sat on a nearby rock and gestured to the old man to join him. "I don't see what you are saying, " he stated with a sigh.
"The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Colby's eyes lit up at this statement. "It is time to reawaken them."
"You want to bring damnation on us all when the world is already falling apart as it is. We don't need them to destroy ourselves we are doing a wonderful job as it is."
"Listen child. The horsemen were a gift to the earth by the all that is good and all that is evil in the heavens. They were given to the earth to help to keep both sides in balance. Good was overpowering and they were bid to rampage and destroy as they traversed the earth. They existed only as a measure to restore balance. Even in all of their evil and immortality, they still had human souls. In the end they wanted only to rest those souls that had killed thousands, in the end they wanted to be free of themselves. The goods and evils of the heavens promised their souls this rest under the conditions that they would be restored should the balance fall too far in one direction."
"So you mean to say, I am a horseman? I have been raised to peace I can't kill like them. How will they restore balance if the world is already leaning towards evil, they are evil themselves?"
"It is the choice of the four as to what side they assist. They are to restore balance. That could be either equal between the two sides or all to one. You are the third seal to wake."
"Famine was the third seal," Colby paused. "You mean you have already released two others?"
"Pestilence and War are searching for you and for each other even as we speak. Now I haven't much more time here, Death will be released." The old man handed Colby a bag that was tied to the pack horse. "Here you will need these. Go on, put them on."
Colby disappeared into the woods to dress in it's contents. He reemerged looking a lot more menacing than he had in his court clothes. he was now dressed in a deep green lawn shirt and black pants, black leather boots came up to his knees. His chest and legs were covered in a set of leather plates serving as armor and on his wrists were steel bracers covered in crush onyx. His symbolic circlet was steel with onyx settings complimenting his hair and eyes. " I feel as though I am supposed to be thus."
"Yes young sir, you are." The old one handed him a short sword and several throwing daggers set with a flame design. Colby felt as comfortable with them as he had with his new clothes. "Now as I do recall you horse, Futtei, can be found in the place where the earth is the darkest." The old man mounted the pack animal. As he turned to ride away he added, "Be sure to seek out your brother and sisters when you find him. They will all be looking for each other. Seek them by the symbol." With that Colby was left alone on the woodland path in an area he didn't recognize.
Colby walked for two days along side the path. He had seen no signs of civilization and he swore that he was walking in circles. During midday on the third day, Colby ventured into the woods. He walked all day and well into the evening. As the sun set a darkness covered the glade he choose to make camp in. With no moon in the night sky he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. A light, dim at first and then slowly glowing, revealed a horse. The strong black percheron walked into the glade, high stopping hooves thudding softly against the earth. "Futtei," Colby called softly. The large horse walked slow over to him, nuzzling his head softly. Futtei then lead Colby to a nearby tree in the roots of which sat his saddle and tack. The matching items were set with steel and onyx. The two spent the night in the glade and at first light they set off in hopes of meeting up with the other seals.
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