Dr. Cakey Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 According to Google Docs, I wrote this in August. I was divinely inspired, as is my wont, tapped out a scene, got bored, and abandoned it ten minutes later. My Google Drive is filled with corpses of this sort. I felt like posting it because...mostly because I thought there ought to be some fresh stuff in the Creative Writing forum, I guess. This will not be continued nor updated in any fashion. This is an original work. It's about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, except only one of them has a horse and they're girls because [s]reasons[/s] [s]anime[/s] reasons. War, Famine, and Pestilence want to kill Death. Why? I don't see why I should be expected to know something like that. Now you know about as much as I do, so without further ado... [spoiler='The Reaping'] Unlike the other two, War was mounted on a colossal horse, red like fresh blood. As she charged, she raised her sword. It was also massive, though she held it easily in one hand, spinning it over her head. “Does she have a death wish?” Famine muttered. As the snorting crimson horse crossed the gap between them, Death reached up to undo the clasp on her cloak, the howling winds snatching the hem and carrying it away. Beneath it she wore a ragged pale shirt and mud-stained jeans. In her other hand rested the slender scythe, clawing a meter, perhaps more, over her head. War approached, swinging her dread sword in a wide arc and spitting curses. The scythe, black and smoky, rose up to defend... ...and the sword’s keen steel carved through it like butter. Along with most of Death’s right arm. War laughed as blood fountained from the wound, splashing onto her face and running in rivers down her body while Death lay cradling the stump of her arm and shivering. War reigned in her steed, kicking up a cloud of dust as she turned for another pass. Death’s reflexes were quicker than she had expected; the slash should have gutted her cleanly, but she had moved the moment she had seen her scythe buckle. Just one more pass and this nonsense would be settled. She wheeled, raising her sword again for the killing blow, when something fastened onto her wrist. Death had hauled herself up onto the saddle with her remaining arm. How had she gotten there? And if[i]she[/i] was holding onto the saddle, what had grabbed her wrist? Snarling, War reversed her grip on the sword, stabbing backwards into Death’s face and smashing through flesh and bone with a satisfying crunch. Death’s hand slipped from the saddle. But the pressure on her wrist was [i]still there[/i]. Glancing over, it became apparent why. Death had, well, a death-grip on her wrist with her right hand, [i]which should have been cut off[/i], and was being dragged along by the red horse, which had begun to gallop again the moment it smelled blood. Death looked up with a face that should have been missing, ignoring her legs, which were leaving a bloody trail along the stony ground. She looked almost confused, as if she knew there was something strange about her current situation but wasn't sure what it was. Then the moment passed, and she reached across with her left hand to the back of the horse’s neck, pulling herself up so that they faced one another, close enough to kiss. Another perpetual moment passed with the two of them pressed together, then Death reached up a pale hand and [i]pushed[/i] with an unnatural strength, sending War sliding off the horse. She landed on her back, but sprang to her feet immediately, never losing her grip on her sword. Blood, her own this time, trickled down between her shoulder blades like a cold sweat. Death should have still been on the horse, but was instead standing only a few meters away. The scythe was in her hand again, and she swung it. War raised her sword to block it. The scythe connected, but suddenly she felt numb, lost her balance, landed hard on her side. She could see her body still standing, but then her legs buckled and she fell forward. Half of her. A pair of marble-hued legs entered her vision. They were beautiful. Death knelt in front of her, cradling her head with one arm. “I cut that off,” she tried to say, but it didn’t seem to come out right. Death shook her head. “This arm,” she replied, closing her eyes with gentle fingers. War tried to say she wasn’t tired, but then she was dreaming about a scythe that passed through swords like mist but cut wheat.[/spoiler] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bahamut - Envoy of the End Posted October 24, 2012 Report Share Posted October 24, 2012 Well that was... ... um, that was... ... would someone please tell me what that was? Alright, very strange but interesting read. Dunno whether it was a personal fascination for the four horse(wo)men of the apocalypse that kept me interested as oppossed to the content or style of the story itself might have, but something hooked me. Something I can't really explain. Much like War can't explain how Death was still standing despite having several limbs removed. I liked the unexplainedness of it all by the way. Works. What I'm not sure works or not is the simplicity of the vocabulary used. It never felt... expansive, which is a surprise given its you. The whole fight was pretty coolly done with War seemingly winning for most part; and the end, how it all went down and how elegantly it was written, was a real highlight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
?someone? Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Good story, if you would, uhh, expand on it, which you said you wouldn't do, sooo.... eurrggh! Not that I can complain, since I do that exact thing: Get struck by a wonderful idea, be compelled to write it down, then avoid it like the plague. Besides the fact that this will never be seen or heard from again, Zack Morris style, I have a theory to put forth about the horsemen trying to kill Dath. I think that the other three horse(wo?)men were trying to cause anapocalypse scenario. Maybe Death didn't want to help out or something, so they got creative. They figured if you kill Death (Which shouldn't be possible anyways, but ehhh), then nobody will die, eventually leading to an overcrowded earth bled dry of resources. Everybody would just exist, unable to put themselves out of their misery; they'd be like those people from the future in Chrono Trigger, alive but always hungry... Of course this depends on the horsemen not only being the personifications of their names, but also the causes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cakey Posted October 25, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 [quote name='Majestic Star Bahamut' timestamp='1351052905' post='6052240'] Well that was... ... um, that was... ... would someone please tell me what that was? Alright, very strange but interesting read. Dunno whether it was a personal fascination for the four horse(wo)men of the apocalypse that kept me interested as oppossed to the content or style of the story itself might have, but something hooked me. Something I can't really explain. Much like War can't explain how Death was still standing despite having several limbs removed. I liked the unexplainedness of it all by the way. Works. What I'm not sure works or not is the simplicity of the vocabulary used. It never felt... expansive, which is a surprise given its you. The whole fight was pretty coolly done with War seemingly winning for most part; and the end, how it all went down and how elegantly it was written, was a real highlight. [/quote] [quote name='?someone?' timestamp='1351128541' post='6053229'] Good story, if you would, uhh, expand on it, which you said you wouldn't do, sooo.... eurrggh! Not that I can complain, since I do that exact thing: Get struck by a wonderful idea, be compelled to write it down, then avoid it like the plague. Besides the fact that this will never be seen or heard from again, Zack Morris style, I have a theory to put forth about the horsemen trying to kill Dath. I think that the other three horse(wo?)men were trying to cause anapocalypse scenario. Maybe Death didn't want to help out or something, so they got creative. They figured if you kill Death (Which shouldn't be possible anyways, but ehhh), then nobody will die, eventually leading to an overcrowded earth bled dry of resources. Everybody would just exist, unable to put themselves out of their misery; they'd be like those people from the future in Chrono Trigger, alive but always hungry... Of course this depends on the horsemen not only being the personifications of their names, but also the causes. [/quote] I don't have any answers. When I was conceptualizing, I played with the idea that they were either ordinary people turned into the horsemen or embodiments created for some kind of contest, but I threw those ideas away because they felt trite. Looking at the events of the story, though, you can guess a couple things. It's obvious none of them know each other very well; otherwise War would be familiar with Death's abilities ( "instant regeneration" vs. "having a horse". Gee, Dr. Cakey, that's real fair...). Other than that, I suppose I could mention a couple of concepts I had. Death regenerates because death can't be prevented. On a global scale, maybe war, famine, and disease can't be prevented either, maybe not, but on an individual level, it's possible for one person to never experience war, hunger, disease, but they can only delay death. Death's scythe at first I was thinking worked on the same "noep u looked away now its not broken anymore k" principle, but I decided it would be better if the scythe just passes through non-living things. Death has no power over rocks or swords, so it makes sense in that respect, and it also means the scythe can't be blocked. ... And that's it. That's all I had. Now I'm working on something completely different. Feels good to finally be writing something again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
?someone? Posted October 25, 2012 Report Share Posted October 25, 2012 Ohh, okay. Huh. I was completely wrong[sub]. [/sub]Nice feeling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Cakey Posted October 31, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 I'm bumping this to see if anything interesting happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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