Darksiders: Age of Creation (Book 3)

Chapter 15: Looking for Answers in All the Wrong Places (Part 1)

"Come back!" Death called after Damiana, urging Despair to gallop faster.
    Betrayal grunted and pressed on, lowering its head to go faster than its counterpart.
"I can't really talk now, I need to find the next piece, so, get the hell away!" Damiana hissed, snapping at Betrayal's reins.
The shadow mare roared and quickened it's well placed gallops, easily putting a large distance between her and Despair.
Glancing to the side, Damiana frowned at the sight of Ruin and his rider not too far behind. Kissing her teeth angrily, Damiana's eyes glinted up to the shinning blood moon and instantly cursed herself.
It was so...red....
Her mark...the mark of Cain glee brightly in the chill night air, illuminating in the pale moonlight. As if she were hypnotized, Damiana continued looking up, staring unblinkingly up at the moon. Something inside her stirred and burned in agony deep within the pits of her soul. She had to let it free, she had to. It's claws of ire dug into her sides, agitating something inside her she thought she buried long ago...
Now...it's too late for it to be hidden again....
Firmly pulling up at the mare's reins, Damiana forced Betrayal to come to a screeching stop. Despair and Ruin stopped a few yards behind the still horse and rider.
"Dami...?" War asked cautiously, jumping down with a loud thud.
"War-"
"We can't just leave her like this." War waved his elder brother off as he approached Betrayal.
She was his sister, adopted sure, but she was relatively harmless.
What could a girl do to him?
Betrayal made a high pitched whinny and paced anxiously in one place as War approached, obviously scared of something.
Yet Damiana sat motionless in the saddle, as if she weren't aware of her restless mount.
"See; Harmless." War looked back at Death with a smug grin from the shadow of his crimson hood.
Death sighed quietly and nodded at War to contain the youngest horseman.
"Maybe she's...I don't know. Are you okay, Damiana?" War mumbled, reaching up to gently nudge her leg.
When she didn't respond, War turned to Death and shrugged, raising a white eyebrow in confusion. Death seemed to have wanted to say something, but only widened his eyes in utter surprise.
Before War could ask what seemed to startle his brother, a penetrating howl sounded through the air. It sounded like no animal known the the ancient being.
But it only came from one being...
Slowly, War looked up at Damiana, who wore the darkest of scowls. When she curled her upper lip back to reveal a sharp set of fangs, War took a step back.
"I don't want to hurt you, Damiana.." He mumbled, soundlessly reached behind his head to grasp the handle of Chaoseater.
     Damiana went silent for a agonizing second, then uttered a sharp bark and leapt from the saddle, crashing into War.
     Stumbling under her surprising strength, War knocked Damiana to the side and brought the large bladed Chaoseater in a defensive position.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" He grumbled, squinting his eyes as Damiana quickly rose from the ground.
      The young horseman growled and made another great leap towards her brother, brilliant white teeth gleaming in the moonlight.
"Does this have something to do with her mark?" Death joined his brother and knocked Damiana to the side with Harvester.
"What..." War looked back over at Damiana and swiftly dove to the side.
As the two horsemen carefully dodged the crazed Damiana's attacks, the fifth horseman'a blue amulet glowed a brilliant blue. Finally, after she pounced one last time at her brothers, the light bathed the horseman in a sea of blue...
And in an instant, the 3 horses stood alone in the large field...
With no riders in sight....
~~~~~~~~~~~
Groaning quietly, War hesitantly opened his eyes and looked around him.
No Death in sight...or of the oddly acting Damiana...
Sitting up with caution, War removed his hood and shook the dirt and twigs from his hair.
"What...in the hell happened?" He muttered.
The forest was...unnaturally silent. No birds chirped or any animal of the sort made any noise. Even the leaves that fell from the grand branches above floated silently to the ground.
As War watched the leaves fall in complete interest, his keen eyes noticed a figure above on the highest of branches.
"Dami..?" He said quietly, finding himself paralyzed.
The figure jumped down from branch to branch soundlessly, bright orange eyes watching the red horseman with an unwavering gaze.
When she hit the ground with a faint thump, Damiana leaped onto War's chest, knocking him back onto the soft grass.
It was so...serene, even with War finding himself trying to control his breathing loudly. Damiana edged closer, making a quiet yet taunting hiss like growl. She opened her mouth and went to bite into her brother's unarmored shoulder.
   Before her dreaded fangs reached his skin, A figure appeared before War with scythe in hand. Raising the blade above his head, Death brought the flat of harvester down and smacked Damiana at the side of her head.
   In an instant, the youngest horseman fell forwards, knocked out by the blunt force.
"Son of a- what was that?" War breathed, absentmindedly brushing Damiana away from him.
"No idea...but it's something worth looking into." Death muttered, reaching forward to help War up.
War looked to the side and gave the slumbering Damiana a worried look, a look not so common on the red horseman'a normally impassive face. Death took note of his brother's look and looked around the trio.
"For once...I have no idea where we are." He said finally after a few minutes of silence.
"That's bad...what'll we do when she wakes up?"
"We'll figure that out when she's close to awakening." Death waved his brother off and took a few steps forward the other way.
"I think I hear something about that way-"
"I'll carry her, not like you can carry her without any trouble." War muttered, smirking weakly at Death.
Death only rolled his eyes and looked down at Damiana, eyes filled with regret.
"I'm sure she'll be fine." He said, more to himself than anything.
War only shrugged and easily slung the muttering Damiana over his shoulder. When the Anti Christ was secure, Death nodded again anod went off to start walking towards the loud noise, looking back occasionally to see how War was holding up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"No, Ilyea." Came a gruff response.
The young maker soundlessly sighed angrily and threw her hands up in the air.
When she didn't rise any type of response from her care taker and uncle Thane, Ilyea said a soft "okay" and stalked back over to her spot at the training arena; a shaded area with a lone stone in place for a makeshift seat.
"Oh, I'm so tired of sitting here and watching you train, Uncle, I want to prove I'm strong too." Ilyea whimpered, giving the back of Thane's head a shy smile.
Thane sighed deeply and turned to look back at the sullen Ilyea and smiled weakly.
"As soon as you're big enough-"
"I am too big enough, I can wield Black Betty just fine!" She held up her war hammer as big as the wielder herself.
"Right, but you're only here because Ayla is too busy at the moment."
"But you promised that you'll teach me combat..." Ilyea stopped and crossed her arms, looking down in quiet shame.
"It's because I'm a runt, isn't it?" Ilyea mumbled, looking up at Thane with her pink ish orange eye.
"It's not because of that...it's your...disability as one would put it."
"What disability?" Ilyea voice wavered, absentmindedly covering her grey eye with the long strip of white hair that seems to always hang in front of her face.
"You know exactly what I mean." Thane replied solemnly, turning back to continue his training.
      Standing up angrily, Ilyea balled her hands into tight fists and glared at Thane.
"Just because I'm blind in one eye doesn't mean I can't handle myself." She hissed, feeling the anger rise to her face.
"You certainly can't see too well, so I imagine  you can't-" Thane glanced over to the side and noticed the young maker was gone.
Thane sighed and shook his head, moping the sweat from eyes with the back of his hand as he squinted through the blaring sun's intense rays.
He was entirely too old for this....
               ••••••••••••••••••••
"I mean, I'm not that blind!" Ilyea grumbled to her pet cat, who stood perched on her shoulder as she gently passed through the larger adult Makers.
"I can't see on the left side...but every warrior has a flaw, mine is just physical..." She told her cat, named Tooth.
The lazy Birman only simply meowed and sniffed his master's red hair.
"Oh, Bairn Ilyea, don't wander to far, lass." A female maker nodded at Ilyea.
"Come on, is everyone watching me?" She whined, seating herself at the entrance of the Tri Stone.
"I feel like no one takes me seriously, they keep treating me like I'm a wee lass...." She sighed, letting Tooth down as he struggled against her grasp.
As she absentmindedly stroked the cat's smooth fur, Ilyea looked up and saw two large figures make their way towards her.
"What in the..." She stood up and narrowed her eyes.
"You, where are we exactly?" The one with a mask looked up at the stammering Ilyea.
"Me?" She pointed to herself, looking over at the slumped girl.
"Who else is here?" The one with the mask muttered.
She knew his name right away; all of creation shuddered at it. It was Death, the first horseman...and the one who wore a hood and a stern look had to be either War or Strife, Ilyea never really studied on the other horsemen.
But the girl...who was she...
Either way, if these were the Horsemen, that only meant one thing...
'They're the Nephilim, the most powerful beings to have ever been created.' She thought in awe.
So powerful, yet so small...
Ilyea was so deep and lost in her forest of thoughts that she didn't even see the burning glares she received from the two horsemen.
"Well?" The one with the red hood barked.
"Oh, um, er...you're at the Forge Lands, and that's Tri Stone." She stammered, looking down at her feet.
"Why would she take us here?" Death turned to his brother, looking at the slumped Damiana in interest.
"She's fairly small for a Maker, brother." War looked at Ilyea with judgmental eyes.
"Doesn't matter, we need to get back to our realm before she wakes up again...and who knows what she'll be capable of...." Death said quietly, watching as Damiana stirred violently in her sleep.
"Let's move it, now." He nodded at War, whom was struggling against Damiana's weak, yet growingly powerful thrashes.
"Who's that?" Ilyea asked, eager to speak to the ancient beings longer.
"That's none of your business, runt." War grumbled, trying his hardest to keep Damiana dormant.
"Oh..." Ilyea mumbled, looking down in shame.
Death only rolled his eyes and summoned his mount, Despair, and smoothly slid into the saddle. War, with some difficulty, summoned Ruin and galloped off after Death.
"Hm..." Ilyea watched as the horsemen left without a single word.
"Let's follow them, I think they might need some help."