Decided to come back to this. I've been thinking about it all these months and I really need this style of fantasy escape. Archon is another flavor entirely, and I have to take it in chunks. That's just one of my limitations as an author I've found, so I will be picking this back up.

I hope you enjoy and I look forward to your comments,

BC

A faint tremor accompanied the roar that reverberated through the valley. The rocks themselves seemed to tremble at the might incumbent in the entity capable of such a sound, bouncing up and skipping back and forth on the ground in a fearful dance. Tyr’s eyes took on a vicious and alert light as he scanned the surroundings. The shadows loomed longer on the treeline as the day started to set.

He quickly turned to Ruin. “Let’s move. I don’t want to wait for whatever made that sound now that we have a substantial handicap.” The steed snorted in agreement and trotted up next to Tyr, allowing a swift mount before they galloped away as silent and fast as the wind.

Heading due east away from the tower’s ruins, Tyr and Ruin glimpsed the bloodied and diseased bodies of countless monstrosities. They ranged from beastial to humanoid in nature. One was a 6 ft tall half man/half goat while another was this pitiful, disgusting little green creature that was dressed in a filthy loincloth and carried a crude spear with a stone head. Several of these species were littered about the place as if they had been wandering in a group before the met their ends at the hands of Tyr’s pestilence. Knowing whether a species is solitary or group oriented is extremely useful information, so they both observed how each had fallen and where in relation to the others.

Tyr and Ruin quietly absorbed the details of all the physical characteristics of each species as they raced by because neither knew if they would be seeing these races again or not. If they did, this kind of information would be critical in a battle. After all, Tyr had already expended a large portion of his former might.

He couldn’t use any of his Horseman abilities for fear of further zapping his power and he was a bit worried about what would happen if he bottomed out. He looked down at the flowing black mane on Ruin’s neck and silently thanked God that at least his steed still had a large portion of his reserve remaining.

Another roar split the sky with its fury, reverberating off of the mountain and into the valley below, shaking the already terrified local wildlife into fleeing as well. Tyr could vaguely make out its direction and believed that they’d be safe for now, but was amazed at all of the deer, birds, and squirrels beating a hasty retreat within his line of sight. It was a biblical flood of organisms running in terror from the might and majesty of the creature capable of such a sound.

The curiously silent fall of Ruin’s hooves pounded into the soft underbrush, his body shrugging past small trees and shrubbery like an unstoppable train. At a glance to the sides, dozens of trees could be seen as having fallen over from either the earthquakes earlier or the passage of gigantic beasts. Of the two, Tyr couldn’t be certain.

Tyr, there’s a structure up ahead, Ruin sent over their mental link.

Tyr’s eyes swept up to the front, focusing his attention on the approaching building. It was similar but different from any structure he’d seen before. Granted, he hadn’t been back to Earth since the early Dark Ages, so there were bound to be a host of new advancements since that dreary time in history. There seemed to be a large amount of glass on this building, covering all of the windows. It looked clean, much cleaner than anything he’d seen.

It probably gets really stuffy in there, though the quality does seem to be a different grade of that of the Greeks. I wonder how Helena spent the rest of her days…

Ruin butted into his thoughts. You better not be thinking about that Greek girl again.

Tyr adopted an expression and tone of voice that dripped with mock innocence. And what girl would that be, pray tell?

Mhmm. Ruin’s voice echoed back sarcastically like a big black mama who caught her son trying to lie out of church.

Tyr started sweating. Yeah, well...what does it matter anyway? She’s been dead for a long, long time. After the last few words, he felt a sadness well up in his soul because this was the drawback. Immortality. He had no way of imparting it to others, so one by one, he watched his friends and lovers die save for one… Ruin.

Ruin snorted in derision. It matters because you didn’t learn from your mistake. Remember Pompeii? That wouldn’t have happened if you had just listened to me.

Tyr exclaimed mentally, What! You’re blaming Mt. Vesuvius’ eruption on our relationship? That’s low, Ruin.

Of course I blame it on you two! How else can you explain it? I was there, remember? You and your Slobberknocker jumped up and smashed down a full-powered strike on the tip of the Mountain just to impress the girl. What the hell did you think would happen, Ruin rolled his eyes as he galloped.

Okay, first off, it’s Strife’s Hammer. Don’t cheapen the divine armament. Secondly, I honestly didn’t think the mountain was a volcano teetering on the edge of eruption. Lastly… Tyr paused and stared hard into space.

A few seconds passed in silence while hills and pine trees rolled past, the building coming ever nearer. It would probably only be a few more seconds before they arrived at the front door.

A quiet and incredulous Ruin suddenly said, You can’t come up with a third excuse… can you.

Tyr put on a wronged expression, but then thought excitedly, Oh look, we’ve arrived!

Ruin snorted in disbelief as he came to a stop on the concrete walkway leading up to the main entrance.

The two looked around the deserted building briefly before they heard another call from the dragon nearby. Looking at each other, the two burst into the main doors just as a 300 ft long looming shadow came sweeping by overhead. It would give the feeling of a fast moving cloud if not for the hair raising sense of danger that it brought. Instincts can be a powerful tool, especially in the vicinity of an apex predator. Tyr was in too precarious of a position to think of clashing with such a beast.

After a few moments, they started moving again. A roar from far off confirmed that the beast was moving further away and the reverberations that followed confirmed that it was flying back to the mountain, or the tower he had undoubtedly come from - one of the two. Tyr fervently hoped that it was going back to build a nest, or sleep.

He patted Ruin’s neck affectionately. Hopefully that bastard is the hibernating type. His steed nodded in agreement.

They advanced a few tens of feet until they finally drew near the first classroom. Step by step, they acclimated to being inside and noticed something they hadn’t before - the eery silence.

All of the doors looked like they had been forced open. They shot each other a look, and Ruin backed up to provide for a position where he could both attack and defend.

Tyr edged forward and peeked into the classroom. In that moment, he wished that he hadn’t. There were too many bodies - tiny bodies that were strewn across the room over their desks and on the floor.

Hair, snot, chunks of flesh, and blood were scattered everywhere. Even the battle-hardened Tyr barely held down the bile that reflexively surged at the sight. It wasn’t really the gore that got him. It was the empty stares of terror from about 30 pairs of eyes that made his heart still.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up and he quickly looked away after confirming there were no monsters. Rubbing a hand down his clammy forearm, he tried to steady his breathing.

A warm nudge at his back slightly startled him, but he soon heaved one last breath and calmed down. Absentmindedly reaching backwards, he put a hand on Ruin’s snout and turned to meet his eyes, shaking his head.

We move on.

Both of them didn’t say it, but they knew they had come across a place where children were gathered. Of all the shitty luck, they found this place first. There was hope that a few survived still, so they hurried along the corridor, looking inside each classroom as they came across.

Sometimes, they found the poisoned corpses of monsters, but the largest group by far still remained the children. Streaks of blood were painted everywhere, and most of the groups had a single adult that looked like they had died while first trying to protect the little ones.

“I don’t understand…” Tyr sighed softly.

What’s that?

He looked around and pointed at the corpses. “They were massacred and left for dead. Beasts rarely kill out of anything other than hunger or self-defense.”

Ruin snorted quietly and then agreed, It does seem strange. What drove them to such frenzy, I wonder?

“Another mystery it seems.”

The two proceeded abreast each other, their earlier vigilance slightly relaxed. This was a graveyard. It was highly unlikely now that the survivors would still be here if there were any.

However, at that moment, a weak cough came from the last room at the end of the hall, a few doors away.

Tyr’s expression instantly changed and he signaled to Ruin, quickly gliding across the concrete floor with practiced stealth. The soft sound of the horse’s hooves were unavoidable, but nonetheless they swiftly approached the door, completely in sync with each other.

Tyr’s eyes focused as he crossed the threshold, a flame reflected in his irises. This area was no different from the rest. Except, for one very different factor.

A girl with flaming red hair was seated in the center of the room. Tyr was momentarily mesmerized before he started to softly pad towards.

There were a few tears on her clothes, revealing the soft white skin that lay beneath. He couldn’t see her eyes, or her face for that matter, but he could instantly tell that she was beauty. However, the whole scene was wrong, so very wrong.

At her feet, lay two macabre corpses, giving rise to an awful bloody smell. It was a woman holding a small boy. Tyr lightly sniffed at the pungent odor of the room. He’d experienced many like it. Flickers of light danced across the splattered walls and the ceiling overhead. Drawing nearer, he saw that there was a tiny flame, weakly bouncing in her hand.

Tyr hastily sucked in a breath and almost summoned his sword. Sorceress!

Ruin noisily squeezed into the room, his rough breathing filling the air. Where?!

The sound finally startled the girl out of whatever reverie she was currently experiencing. Without turning her head, her voice sounded out wearily and laden with anguish, “I don’t know what monster has come, but let’s be done with this.”

It was fortunate that he was still granted understanding towards all languages on Earth. This would have been awkward otherwise. Squinting his eyes and moving slowly the side, Tyr spoke out smoothly and provocatively, “I wasn’t aware that humanity was so easily broken.”

His words startled the girl and she confusedly looked towards him.

It was then that Tyr finally got a full view of her face. She was very comely and pleasing to the eye. Her fiery red hair reminded him of a few communities he’d come across during the Black Death period, but he’d never seen a girl so full of vitality. Her state of bereavement brought pity to Tyr’s mind, but he knew she needed something else at the moment.

A weak voice stammered out, “Who are you?” She blanched at the sight of Ruin who was just off to the side.

“I am known as many things, but you may call me Tyr. I am the Creator’s Horseman.” He motioned to the red war horse behind him. “And that is Ruin, my steed.”

She gave a small bark of despairing laughter, as if she felt she had finally slipped into insanity. While rude, Tyr took no offense to her reaction. It was rare that he divulged his identity, and the reactions were always all along these lines. Disbelief. Skepticism. Doubt. It was understandable, though.

As for why he chose to tell her now, it was intuition, pure and simple. In the millennia of his life, he’d always operated on this type of whim and had developed a knack for reading the general destiny of a soul. Perhaps it was his proximity to God, but he felt like he could feel a person’s potential through questioning and inspection. He considered it a matter of Providence that the first person he’d run into on Earth would be such an individual.

She rolled her eyes in a tired manner and asked jokingly, “I thought there were four of you?”

“A misconception,” he said lightly. “I have four aspects, but they are all a part of me, and I them. In any case, you’re asking the wrong question.”

He squatted gently over a body and delicately probed the monster’s corpse. Their hide is tough, much more so than a human’s. The particular one he was looking at was a green humanoid that probably stood at 3.5-4.5 feet tall. A stupidly long nose, hunched back, and long ears made it look grotesque. Powerful jaws and muscles gave testament to the fact that they were a warrior race, at least in some aspect. One thing confused him, though.

Why are all these monsters so incomparably ugly?

Ruin snorted in laughter off to the side.

The girl’s gaze turned thoughtful in her somber mood, and then quickly asked in a flash of anger, “Why are you here? Did you do all this?”

Tyr gave a half-smile. “Reasonable questions.” He wiped his hands on the leather legguards he was wearing and stood up, stepping in the holes around the bodies as he approached the girl. As he neared, he noticed the distinct lack of fear towards him in her eyes, a fact which impressed him though he did not show it.

He leaned against a still solid desk a few feet away from her. “I am here to investigate why the Earth has become like this, and no, I did not cause any of it. I have no idea who did. God didn’t do it, either.”

“What makes you so sure?” She questioned. The look she was giving was like a dying man in the desert and Tyr had just shown up with a jug of water. The fire in her eyes, which had dimmed to mere flickering embers, regained a tiny portion of the intensity he thought they were capable of reaching. A bit closer.

“It is not in his nature.” He shrugged. “God is complex, but he is also simple. He does not contradict himself and he is Good itself. This-” He motioned at the carnage. “Would not have been produced by him. He obviously allowed it to occur, but I cannot understand why yet. The purpose and manipulator behind such a disaster eludes me.”

She raised her eyebrows and shook her head. “Even God’s horseman has no idea what is going on? That’s just great.”

Tyr shrugged. “Perhaps there is a plan at work. I am here now to find out what that is.” His brow creased and he said frustratedly. “Sadly, as soon as made landfall, Ruin and I were cut off from the power that fuels us. There seems to be something in the air that’s blocking us. We still have some powers, but it’s a one-time use sort of deal and we have no clue about the current world.”

“This is all very interesting, but why should I care?” She said despondently. Tyr took note of the fact that she tilted her head when he mentioned the substance that blocked their powers, like she had an idea as to what caused it. That’s it, he must have her.

Instead of answering, he moved forward and kneeled beside her in front of the two corpses, taking note of the auburn and fair complexions that was shared between the two. Sitting back on his heels, he said softly, “I’m sorry for your loss. I take it they were your mother and brother?”

“They still are!” She half-choked out a sob.

“No… they’re not.” He said sadly. “They’ve moved on from this hellish place. Freed from all the suffering they experienced at the end. While I cannot bring back the dead, I can offer you an outlet for your grief. Your family would not desire the same fate for you.”

She looked at him for a brief second before snorting out a derisive chuckle. She shook her head in understanding of the line of reasoning. “Revenge, huh.”

Tyr nodded slowly. “Indeed. I am the Horseman of the Apocalypse, burdened with Divine purpose. Who better to facilitate the enactment of your justice? Or are you saying that you cared so little for their lives and memory that you don’t even feel the need to seek redress.”

His inflammatory words struck at the girl and she sucked in a cold breath of fury as she whipped her head to glare at him. She grinded her teeth as she looked at him, growling out, “Don’t you dare talk about the love I had for me family! I just… I don’t know what to do now that they’re gone.”

Tyr’s bass voice rumbled in resolute strength, “Humanity’s existence itself is a perpetual struggle. You could lay down, wait for the next monster to come eat you, or nature take you. There are a thousand paths towards death for you at this moment. However, would it not be better to live? To fight? You have already been robbed of the chance to fight for your family’s survival, but there still exists their memory! They live on in you, and thus your life is no longer just your own. You have a chance to earn glory for them - for yourself. To earn resolution for the atrocity created here and destroy the lives of those like them-” He motioned towards the monsters’ corpses. “That destroyed yours.

I can teach you to become a warrior, because I am first a warrior before all else. I was the Sword of the First King before God called me into service. There are none more qualified than I. And I will help accomplish what you seek, if vengeance becomes your goal. Ruin supports these words, and I swear by the Creator they’re true.” Ruin snorted and nodded his great head in agreement off to the side.

To her credit, the girl did not lose her head at the thought. Tyr could see her caution and intelligence mulling over the words he’d said and the future that they would bring.

She said slowly, “What is the cost? There is nothing free in this world.”

A smile bloomed on Tyr’s face. He chuckled, “Well said. I require the remainder of your life in service. I apologize for not telling you sooner, but it was either servitude or death ever since I told you my title. You will teach me about this age and your people, and assist me in whatever way I desire.

“The future will be difficult. First, we have to survive and unite what portions of humanity are left. We have to learn about this new world that’s been created before our eyes, and finally we must fight in order to retake this land from the beasts.”

The girl breathed deeply and then settled into an expression of contemplation. Tyr did not push her to respond. This was a lifelong commitment he was asking of her. He felt a moment’s displeasure at forcing her so, but he had long forgotten how to truly feel guilt over acts he’d committed. He needed a guide, and this one suited his needs perfectly.

“How do I know if any of this is true?” she asked at last. “You’ve said all these things, but I see nothing more before me than a man that looks my age, dressed in leather armor and followed by a peculiar, red horse that seems to understand speech.”

The edge of Tyr’s mouth creeped upward and he turned to Ruin. “I’m saving what I have left. Burn the corpses.” He turned to piercingly look at the fiery redhead. “Show the girl what divinity inspires.”

Tyr stepped backwards until his back was against the cold cinder block walls. Simple crayon drawings of families, stapled to the board in a grid, crackled behind his back like anticipatory applause. The girl in the center of the room just stood there in confusion, not understanding what was happening.

That is, until Ruin acted.

The steed willed purpose into his power, drawing forth the dimensional energy that resided in his body. Like a spark that met oil, Ruin’s fully black mane roared to life as a blue conflagration. Ethereally, strands of smoldering, plasma-infused hair came off one by one, dancing in the air to an unheard music. Ever so gently they floated across and down in the room, sending flickering shadows to mimic their beautiful movement.

Gently, the strands landed on all the bodies except for the girl’s family, instantly combusting into fireballs of piercingly hot flame. Just like that, fifty-odd corpses steadily burned in vigil against the darkening sky outside the windows.

Amazed, the redhead looked around the room in a stupor. Tendrils of incorporeal flame licked at the air all around her, but it did not burn her in the slightest. After a moment of appreciation she turned to Tyr who had crossed his arms to watch the moment from afar, meeting the eyes of the man that stood below only God.

“I accept your proposal,” she said resolutely.

Tyr abandoned his relaxed position, striding back across the room until he stood just before her. He stared back down into the eyes which now held a raging inferno and nodded in acceptance.

“And I accept your resolve.” After uttering those words, he held his palm up to face the heavens. A multicolored flame came into being above it, shifting between hues of green, red, black, and icy-white, the tendrils quietly crackling until Tyr flattened his fingers outward. Spurred on by the motion, the flame morphed into a seal that shone brightly for a moment before liquefying and flowing across the entirety of his left hand to form a glove.

Tyr’s eyes flitted upwards to match the girl’s eyes. “Hold out your right arm.” To which she did. Sighing lightly, his flame-covered hand darted outwards, latching onto the arm and gripping it tight.

She fiercely struggled before stopping to stare in mute horror at the flame that snaked onto her arm. It was like a brand, sizzling and scorching the skin as it writed upwards in an angelic pattern, burning away the sleeve of her long-sleeve shirt. She grit her teeth in agony, but admirably did not cry out. It did not stop until it the entirety of the rune pattern covered her full right arm and shoulder.

Tyr shuddered slightly as he felt the connection being established. Closing his eyes, he savored the bond’s creation, for it was a pact of obedience and trust. The angelic mark would enable him to sense her location and general well-being, even to the level of being able to communicate if she allows it to grow, as long as he had the energy to fuel the connection.

Tyr could not read her thoughts, however.

There was only one piece of information he could glean, derived from that first, brief moment of contact with her soul.

Opening his eyes, he looked down at the markings that were fading into a black tattoo, and then shifted his eyes to stare into the girl’s. “The bond is forged… Alexis.”