Downloads / Fiction / Four Horsemen
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Justin opened the door to the Creator’s office.
The room was a limitless expanse of multicoloured jungle. In front of the door was a large panel consisting of leaves and branches, displaying perpetually moving ones and zeros. Occasionally, the display would show an image, in full colour.
Justin turned and found that the doorway, and even the wall around it, was gone. It had been replaced with another axis to the limitless expanse. Justin stepped towards the screen, and felt moisture on his feet.
The floor seemed to be the top of a lake, each step sending out ripples from his feet, bouncing off the various flora of the room.
As Justin gleefully approached, a fawn jumped through the natural screen, and stared peacefully at him.
“How very clichéd.” Justin smiled at the fawn, and made cooing noises.
“We will not take too much more of your time,” Said the fawn. “We are aware of the urgency of your issue.”
Justin’s smile fell off. Was he being watched?
“Always.” A bearded man was standing where previously no man had stood. “Justin.” The man’s voice beamed low and clear, leaving ripples on the floor. “It is good that you are here.”
“Is it?” Justin’s vocabulary was suffering.
“Indefinitely. We find that you have come seeking a second… body. We have heard that you wish to repair your relationship with another. Sarah? You believe her to be your soul mate?”
“Is she?”
“It is not our decision to make. It is as of yet unwritten.”
“Am I making the right decision?”
The fawn continued in the same unbiased tone. “The future has yet to be decided. Your decision has not yet been made.”
Justin shook himself. “What do I need to do in order to get back there?”
“In order for that eventuality to come, you will need a body. We would be willing to give you one.”
“That simple?”
“We ask that you use the body provided for the task it has been provided for.”
The flora screen rippled into a vibrant red.
Justin looked at it quizzically. His head hurt. His ethereal head.
“Just tell me what you want me to do.”
“We will provide you with the metaphysical body of War.” The fawn tilted its head. “We require the input of a Horseman War at this time.”
The screen displayed an image of a long red sword.
The man stepped forward. “You may believe that war is unethical.”
“I do.” Justin was almost surprised at how sure he was of this.
“We, in caring for our children, understand that at times war is necessary. At times beneficial. At times, just.”
The fawn limped towards Justin, and nuzzled him. It nudged him backwards, until he fell into a newly formed seat of leaves and branches.
Sarah had always spoken out against war. She had seemed inclined towards violence, but war was unjust in her eyes. Justin clenched his jaw. Was that what he thought? He’d always just agreed with Sarah. It was always the most convenient approach. When it came down to it, did he really care?
“Justin,” the faun lay its head on his lap. “There is a dictatorship abusing its power in a small country of our children. A revolution has been teetering on the edge of occurrence, but with nobody to lead it.”
The flora-screen showed a soldier hitting a man with a baton.
A tiger emerged from the foliage, and lay down in front of Justin. The man sat on the tiger’s back, and scratched its ears.
“We are aware that a revolution would undoubtedly begin a war. Deaths would be brought about by the situation. This would, however, be a just war.”
The fawn stood up and stretched.
“We are calling for a Horseman War to step into this situation, and become the catalyst for revolution. You would be the catalyst for many deaths.”
Justin still wasn’t sure. He wasn’t used to making up his own mind.
“I don’t know what to do. Can I think about it?”
The man sitting on the tiger’s back smiled warmly at Justin. “Of course.”
Justin’s ethereal body began to slowly dissipate. His chair of leaves slowly sank into the water of the floor, dissolving his ethereal body.
“What?”
There was nothing. Justin could sense nothing.
After what felt like an hour of tense nothingness, Justin began to think to himself.
“I guess,” he thought, “I have a chance to think this all over.”
He remembered Sarah. He could see her face, frozen in time, a tear starting in her eye. He felt a pang of sadness. Was he sad for her or for himself?
Justin saw a faceless man, stroking her face. This confused him, but he could feel what the man could feel. The man held Sarah’s hand, and Justin could feel the familiar warmth. The man’s hand pulled away, and the warmth was still there.
“What are you?” thought Justin.
“I am you. You apart from Sarah.”
The blank-faced man disappeared, along with Sarah. A vision of the fawn replaced it. It curled up and closed its eyes. The fawn, too, disappeared.
The faceless man reappeared. This time, he was holding a sword. It glowed red in the nothingness.
“What are you now?”
“Still you. I am your War. You will become… Me.”
Next to the sword-wielding man, Justin saw himself in a robe.
Both men disappeared. Justin was by himself in the dark for a while.
What would he gain from taking on the sword of War? He would get to go back and be with Sarah, sure. But would he become something he didn’t want to become? Would he become something that Sarah would not love?
But, on the other hand, could he live, knowing that Sarah was by herself? Various vague images swam around in Justin’s mind, melding, congealing and dissipating.
The final image was Sarah’s face from the scene of the crash. The tear in her eye. Justin had made his decision.
A sudden jolt brought Justin back to attention.
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