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Justin jolted upright in his seat. This startled Famine, who awoke from his sleep.
Hugo smiled. “Good to see you’re back here again.”
Justin looked at himself. His body was no longer translucent. He wasn’t purple and glowy any more. He felt substantial, energetic and whole. He smiled. “I’ve made my decision. Let’s go to war.”
Hugo jumped up, knocking the card table over, ecstatically grabbed the startled Famine, and ran for the door. “Come on, Justin.”
The Four Horsemen ran out of the building.
***
Hunter moped at his dining table. Life was about to get more miserable. His Lords had demanded a doubled offering this week, and he hadn’t even been able to gather a single offering. They would destroy him for certain.
The Lords’ soldiers had killed his family years ago, there was nothing more for Hunter to do. Nothing to fight for.
His crops had been effected by his lack of motivation. He hadn’t eaten in days, and probably wouldn’t have even if he had had enough food. His mind swirled and swam.
The door burst open. Four soldiers ran in. They overturned his table, pushed Hunter to the floor, and ransacked his house. One of the soldiers began pulling jars off the shelf, looking in each one then throwing it to the floor. Another looked through all the cupboards, throwing everything to the floor. The leader of the four stood over Hunter, kicking him and swearing. Time froze.
There was a buzz, a flicker of light, and the Four Horsemen appeared.
“What do I do now?” Justin hadn’t thought about the specifics. What exactly was his role here? What would happen if he failed? Would he even know it if he failed?
Hunter suddenly unfroze. He turned and looked at Justin.
“Wha-,” said Hunter. He looked around at all of the frozen soldiers destroying everything he owned. “This is strange.”
“Sure is.” Justin rubbed the back of his neck. “I’ve heard you’re going to lead a revolution.”
Hunter seemed genuinely surprised at this idea. He leaned against one of the legs of the overturned table. “I don’t have the-“
Justin felt fire erupting in his brain. Suddenly, he was holding a large red sword, and shouting at the top of his lungs. He jumped at Hunter, and became him. Hunter, with the new vigour of War stood up and picked up a cleaver. The cleaver began to glow red. Time crept back to its usual saunter, and together the new Hunter-War sliced at one of the four soldiers with an ethereal cleaver. His eyes were tinged red.
Another soldier turned away from stealing food off a shelf. He reached for his sword in alarm, but was too late. His head fell to the floor. A soldier closed himself in a cupboard, only to have the doors eviscerated by the newly strengthened cleaver.
The last soldier reached for his sword calmly, and swung at Hunter, striking his sword-arm. Using the other arm, Hunter grabbed the soldier by the throat and threw him out the door.
Villagers had gathered outside to see the man who had snapped and stood up against the oppressors. The soldier was held down by ten villagers. They watched admirably, as War invisibly left Hunter.
Ten men looked at Hunter, waiting for the order to kill the soldier.
“Tie him up. He will be our first prisoner.”
That had been a liberating exercise. Hunter hadn’t realised how simple it would be. He put down his cleaver, and looked over the gathering crowd. He smiled, lifting his hands in oration.
“People!...”
***
Justin had left the house, and was unable to control himself. His mind slipped, and the sword appeared in his hand. What was this thing? He collapsed into a seat, and put his hands through his hair.
“Justin,” Hugo approached Justin cautiously. “ I just thought you should know that that was what was expected of you.”
“Oh.” Justin wasn’t sure if he was happy about this. “So… it worked?”
“Time will tell.” Hugo sat down beside Justin. “At the very least it has a chance to work. That’s all we needed.”
Justin was hardly listening. His mind was buzzing.
“Will I have to go back like this? With the… sword thing?”
“That comes with the body.”
Justin nodded. He’d done his half. Now he could go back. Back to Sarah, to his old life. Had all this been worth it? Did he really want to go back after all of it?
Oh yes. He’d almost forgotten.
“What happened to the old War?”
Hugo cringed, almost audibly.
“He… Died in a bar fight. I never really got along with the old War. He was always so… angry.”
“A bar fight?”
“A drunken bar fight with Death. We had had a bit to drink, we were arguing. It was something trivial, too. He swung a punch, I touched him on the head, and BAMF.”
“You killed War?” Justin sat up straight.
“To be fair, he was a bit of an arse.”
Justin smiled. He wasn’t sure why. He was sitting next to his predecessor’s destroyer. He began to laugh.
The two men watched as a horde of angry villagers chanted and shouted towards their Lords’ castle with deadly intent.
“All of this aside, I’d like to go home now.”
And the two of them were back outside the Creator’s building.
“As an aside, you should be careful,” Hugo warned. “Your new body is technically more real than most things in your world. You may experience some strange things.”
“I’m sure I can take it.”
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