The New Horsemen

by Nikolai Swartz

  “Charon…” Victor said confidently.

  “Your training starts now…” Charon responded. He floated closer to them in a low swoop, “Starting with the change”

  Charon arms stretched beyond the limits of an ordinary being, touching both Warren and Victor on the forehead with each index finger.

  Warren felt a strange sensation run down his chest and into his stomach, twisting it into knots.

  Hs usual mid length hair began to stretch, reaching his shoulders. Red balls of liquid metal materialized around him and began circling his body, emanating a low red gleam. One of the pieces stopped abruptly and latched onto his shoulder, moulding itself into a shoulder protector. The impact force Warren to take a step back to stop the momentum. As he regained balance, another hit his other shoulder, again taking the shape of a shoulder protector. Another piece struck his chest, forming a chest plate that looked like Cuirass armour, with a backplate that seemed to outline the location of his shoulder blades. Another four pieces hit him in the stomach in quick succession, each taking the form of a V-like shape. The multiple component abdomen allowed for greater mobility than the standard armour.

  Warren looked over to Victor, and notice that he too was struggling to keep track of all the floating pieces that circled him at speed that could injure, or even maim. He also noticed that the usual slick backed hair of the jock was gone. He now mid length hair that rested on his shoulders.

  Two more pieces struck each kneecap, taking the form of Poleyn knee protectors, reminding him that he still had his own armour to worry about.

  Warren looked around, and noticed that there was only four pieces remaining. One piece hit his backside, causing him to jump with a fright; his eyes widening with confusion. The piece expanded across each leg, forming chainmail leggings. The final piece of metal stopped directly ahead of him. He waited patiently for the final piece to launch its attack, but nothing happened.

  Warren looked up at Charon, who was floating calmly behind the last piece. He looked back at Victor, who still had the last piece of metal stretching over his legs to form the chainmail hosen.

  He also noticed that Victor’s armour differed from his own. He was wearing a Gorget with a Brigandine-like abdomen armour attached that was a dark blue colour.

  Victor also found himself watching a final piece floating in front of him, though he had a stance that more resembled a wicketkeeper, waiting for a delivery.

  “Riders…” Charon said, breaking Victor’s concentration and obtaining Warren’s attention, “The next phase in your training if your weapon. Please step forward and accept your sword”

  Warren walked to the floating piece that was bobbing in the air. He looked over to Victor to ensure that he was doing the same thing. Warren felt that same urge that he was starting to get all too familiar with. He wanted to grab the last floating ball of liquid metal.

  Giving into the feeling, Warren reached out and grabbed the object, but his hand seemed to disappear into the liquid. It began to contort, sucking Warrens hand in further. He used his free hand to try to push the metal back, but it wouldn’t budge; as if it were wedged into the air.

  “Help…” managed to escape his lips when he noticed that Victor was struggling with a similar problem

  The liquid contorted and began to stretch out. He watched in awe as the object took the form of a katana. Confused, he looked over at Victor, and saw the jock standing with a celtic combat sword in his hand.

  Warren analysed the length of his sword. It was of average length of about three quarters of a meter.

  Down either side of the blade were inscriptions.

  Down the one side was ‘Chaos’ and down the other was ‘Descipline’.

  .

  He could not contain the smile that crossed his face. He was certainly satisfied with the provided weaponry.

  He looked up at Victor, who also seemed pleased with him. The Celtic sword given to Victor was broad, but not too long

  Warren then noticed that Seth had also changed his appearance. His hair remained the same length and the equally as dark, but he was now wearing Bevor armour that revealed his bare arms. Though his arms were not big in particular, they seemed quite defined. The Armour rose up to his nose, covering his mouth. His hands were wrapped in tight white bandages that allowed him to comfortably grip the hilt of his Persian curved sword.

  “You are now the horsemen of the apocalypse” Charon said to them.

  Warren gasped when Charon swooped in with lightning quickness. The warmth of his breath carried the stench of rotting death. His empty face had all the correct groves, though he did not have eyes, a mouth or even a distinctive nose.

  Charon slammed his palm to Warren’s chest, sending him flying back. The impact sent every piece of armour flying from his body and breaking into dust.

  Warren crashed back onto the grass. His vision blurry and his eyelids heavy, he managed to stay awake long enough to witness Victor flying backwards over him.

  He tried to sit up but his body wouldn’t let him. He tried one more time, but his eyes forced itself shut instead.

  CHAPTER 8 - TRAINING

  Warren found himself sitting on the stands, watching everyone run around and enjoy their break. He just needed some time to himself to question everything that has been happening. He felt like he was losing grip on reality.

  It had been more than a week since he was given his armour and sword... a week since his life changed completely. He was finding it difficult to juggle his normal life and the training that Charon put him through. He was falling further behind in his classes and his homework. He couldn’t understand how Seth and Victor was managing everything and still managing to stay ahead of him in the training.

  Things were moving incredibly fast, and Warren just needed a moment like this just to gather his thoughts. He was looking at nothing in particular, with barely any thoughts going through his mind. He didn’t want any heavy thoughts tainting this moment.

  Not even the sounds of all the teenagers around him could disturb this moment. He barely even noticed Kimberley walking up to him until she was just a few levels below, looking up at him.

  “Hey…” Warren flinched at the sound of her voice. “Can I visit your world some time… you certainly seem to be enjoying it there”

  Warren tried to force a smile, but could not hide the concerns. She sat next him, realizing that he was stressing about something.

  “You wanna talk about it?” She asked when she noticed the distant look in his eyes.

  “I don’t know!” he feared that telling Kimberley the truth might have her label him as insane, or even worse, have her never speak to him again.

  “Where have you been lately…?” She changed the subject, after a moment of silence.

  “Just been really busy…” he answered somewhat despondent, “… there’s just a lot going on at the moment”

  “With your classes…?”

  “No…” he answered, “… outside school. In my personal life”

  “Oh…” she said, “Is it girl problems…?”

  “No, not really” he responded.

  “Because I could speak to her for you…”

  “I… don’t have a girlfriend…” he said reluctantly.

  “That’s a shame…” she said, “Then what’s bothering you?”

  “I don’t really wanna talk about it”

  Silence fell between them as she looked at the sea of teenagers. “Well, even Vick has been strange lately” she said calmly, “He seems distant half the time and I don’t even see him after school anymore”

  “That’s weird…” Warren said, trying his outmost to control his facial expression to not give anything away.

  Kimberley stared at him for a while with teary eyes. She began a nod of realization, “You know something, don’t you“ she accused him. Warren could barely control his emotions as she analysed him with her eyebrows clenched, “… something that you’re not telling me”


  “It’s complicated…” he said in a low voice, dropping his head to avoid her eyes.

  She watched him… she watched him avoid eye contact with her. She watched as he fiddled with his fingers. He feared that the truth would be in his eyes.

  She sighed deeply, “It’s always complicated?” she repeated, “sometimes just saying what you feel would make things a lot easier. When you’re ready, just tell me how you feel”

  Warren remained still and kept his head low, but he heard her get up and walk back down the metal bleachers. He looked up quickly when he realised what she had said, realising that there could be a hidden meaning in her statement, but she had already reached her friends by the time that he managed to stand up… but just for a moment, she looked back at him… for that one moment, he knew that he meant something to her.

  The day had come to an end, and Warren walked up to Charon, Seth and Victor, who all were on the field already, waiting for him. Charon had now taken on a more human form, at the request of the riders. He now had legs and a face, though he wore a cloak that resembled the dark nature of his previous appearance, though it was covered in golden coins that seemed to be stuck to the leather.

  His skin was a bit pale, though his hair was as dark as can be. Underneath the untied coat it seemed darker than possible, making it impossible to determine if he had a body or not.

  “You are late” Charon’s scratchy voice echoed through the trees.

  “I know...” Warren replied, dropping his backpack next to the other two. His was clearly bigger with a lot more weight to it, which was proven by the dust that was knocked up from the landing, “Mr. Wade kept us behind because nobody knew the answer to his question”

  Before Warren could do anything, he side stepped a sword thrust. He recognized the sword as that of Victor. In a split second, pieces of metal materialized in front of him, he reached out, grabbed a piece that was wrapped in bandages, the other pieces all came together to form a blade at the end of the piece that he grabbed. He slammed the hilt into Victor’s nose, causing the armoured jock to stagger back. Victor rolled his shoulders to loosen them, watching Warren carefully.

  Warren stood tall and confident, with many pieces of Metal slowly circling him as he smiled at his rival.

  “Ready…?” Victor said confidently as he tightened his grip on his oversized sword.

  Victor and Warren launched at each other as Warren’s armour was still forming on his body. Both swung their swords with all their might. The impact was so immense that the dust on the ground became airborne, engulfing both men. The impact caused them to ricochet apart. They swung at each other again, but this time there was no impact. Their swords never met.

  The dust cleared and Charon was now standing between them. He had grabbed the blades of each sword and held the two horsemen apart with barely any effort. He pushed both of them away, causing them to stumble back very awkwardly.

  “Not today…” Charon said sternly, “Today I have a different task for you guys”

  “Okay…” Warren said as he lowered his sword and straightened his posture.

  “You cannot be riders without your Horses” Charon said as he stepped back, “You must summon your horses”

  “How…?” Victor and Warren said almost simultaneously

  “Call your horse’s name”

  “Okay…” Warren exclaimed, “And what are our horses names?”

  “Only you know that…” Charon responded, stepping further back, “Therefore, only you may summon them”

  Victor and Warren looked at each other with confusion. They could not understand how they were to figure out something that they had never done before, and had no idea where to start.

  Seth suddenly dropped to one knee and placed his palm to the ground. Right before him, the ground turned a mixture of black and purple. From it, as if it were climbing a flight of stairs, a horse’s head appeared, then the body, till finally it was completely out of the dark pit.

  The horse appeared to be completely composed of a thick black smoke, but at the same time, it appeared to be solid. This was no ordinary horse. The pupils of the horse were like black pearls and it breathed a thick haze of smog.

  Warren was stunned. Him and Victor stood side-by-side with their jaws wide open. They appeared to be replicating each other, which looked stranger with their longer hair and armour.

  Warren approached the black horse. He walked around it, admiring the uniqueness. While Victor stayed away, seemingly in deep thought.

  “Angela…” Victor called out, but nothing happened. Warren stopped to see Victor kneeling down, with one hand against the ground. The jock opened one eye to look at the ground in front him. When nothing happened, he closed his eye again

  “Bridget…” He tried again, but still nothing happened.

  Warren looked at Seth, who barely had an expression on his face, despite the remarkable feet he had just accomplished.

  “Almira”

  Warren watched Seth, just standing there, saying nothing and doing nothing…

  “Stephany… Britney”

  Staring at Seth, Warren’s eyes slowly widened and his jaw fell open…

  “Georgia… Hillary… Stephanie… Marissa… Briana” Victor stopped and appeared to be in deep thought, “Wait… Did I already use Briana?”

  Warren walked over, grabbed Victor by the hand and pulled him to where Seth was standing.

  “Don’t interrupt me” Victor said as he was being pulled by Warren, “I was in the zone”

  “I want to show you something”

  “Wait…” Victor said frantically, “Just a moment longer and I would have summoned my horse…”

  “At the rate that you were going, you were more likely to summon a Victoria Secret model” Warren said sarcastically.

  “What’s that supposed to mean” Victor asked quickly.

  “I want you to hear something” Warren interrupted.

  Warren pulled Victor’s wrist so that the jock was now standing face-to-face with Seth.

  “What are you talking about?” Victor said with frustration.

  “I need you to ask him a question?” Warren said

  “Why?”

  “Ask… him.. a question” Warren spoke slowly with a hint of condescension that was lost on Victor.

  “Uhmm…” Victor hummed

  “Obviously not something that you already know the answer to” Warren iterated, realizing that Victor may ask something stupid, like a mathematical question.

  “Okay…” Victor was now massaging his jawline and his eyes were jolting around, “Who was your first kiss?

  Victor stared at Seth with the impatient look that would be common on the face of a spoilt 5 year old on Christmas morning. He waited and waited till suddenly he appeared to be in a trance. His eyes were glued to the silent Goth, and yet his facial expression was completely blank.

  A few seconds later, Victor appeared to have returned to his own body and shook his head. His jaw dropped and he waved his finger at the Warren and Seth as he back away slowly with a nervous laugh.

  “How do I know that?” Victor said in amazement, “How do I know that the answer was Mary?”

  “Telekinesis…” Charon answered, having watched the entire scene play out, “That would be the word that best describes it. As the Riders, you are one, while being very different. It is more a feeling than an actual thought, which can extend across the entire planet”

  “And you waited this long to teach us something this useful?” Warren asked, stepping towards Charon, “We’ve been training none stop for over a week now”

  “That is exactly why I chose not to tell you. It was for the good of your training…” Charon explained. Unlike before, his human appearance allowed them to determine when he was speaking, “It was decided that knowing each other’s thoughts would hinder your progress and cause delays that we cannot afford in this time of crisis”

  “Something like that could be incredibly helpful in stoppin
g Justice” Warren’s voice strained with frustration, “Is that not the point of being here in the first place?”

  “Yes…” Charon’s body began reverting to his original form. His arms started growing longer, his body began stretching to its orginal long slender build and his face started losing definition, “… but without proper combat training, knowing each other’s thoughts means nothing. This session is now over”

  The background distorted and Charon’s body imploded on itself with a loud buzzing sound. The sound stopped as quickly as it had started once every piece of Charon had vanished.