The Fifth Horseman

Chapter 1: The Destruction of Earth

  My name is Arryk Marys. I use it no longer, But you will need to know my name before you know my past. What I was, what happened, and what I became. It all started a week ago, when War came to Earth. I'm talking about the Horseman here, not the thing that usually follows.

  It was a perfectly normal day at school, learning stuff we would never use, a random fight, students getting punished, blah blah blah, you know how it is. Normal, that is, until that night. My parents weren't at home, as they were out working, and they usually came back late.

  I followed my usual routine, washing my hands, changing my clothes, warming up my food, then going to the living room to watch a movie while eating.

  Well, for some reason, that day I decided to turn on the news instead. Hey, gotta keep up with current events, right?

  When the TV flashed on, it came up on a movie channel. I picked up the remote and changed it to BBC.

  At first, nothing really important flashed up. Senator did this, someone did that, some new device launches in a few days, same old stuff.

  A few minutes later, however, a report on the bottom rollers, Those moving reports at the bottom of the screen, caught my eye.

  "Strange staff-like object found buried in ancient Mayan city. Scientists still unsure as to it's origins or age."

  I speculate about it for a while, finish eating, then decide to go and sleep instead. I always sleep in the afternoon. I walk to my room, get into the bed, pull the covers over my head, pull the other pillow closer, and quickly fall asleep.

  When I wake up, it's dark and it doesn't look like my parents are home. Odd, because they were normally back around this time.

  With a strange shiver going down my spine and a sense of foreboding stealing over me, I get out of the bed and pad through the dark house into the living room and switch on the light and check my phone. Nope, no missed calls from my parents. I set the phone down and proceeded to turn on the lights in the rest of the house.

  An hour later, out of anxiety and worry, I turn on the TV just for something to do and to try and relax a little. It doesn't work.

  Suddenly, a strange, loud, bellowing horn sounded in the distance. More like a trumpet, really. The hairs on the back of my neck prickle. My neck snaps to the window, where I could see an orange light emanating. My sense of foreboding steadily growing, I ran to the window, cracked it open slightly and looked outside.

  What I saw was enough to give people nightmares for the rest of their lives.

  Demons.

  Hordes upon hordes of demons.

  Demons of all shapes, sizes and colours. Some were huge, powerful looking demons with well built muscles. Others were small, wimpy, weak looking ones. Some had wings, some did not. Some rode mounts, some did not. Some wore armor, some did not. At the head of the army a demon riding a fleshless, rotting horse marched.

  I quickly slammed the window shut and ducked behind the sill, praying that none of them had seen me.

  The inevitable screams of their victims start. I cower under the window sill in fear, too scared to even move a muscle.

  I hear a sudden thump at the window and a shadow cast on the floor in front of me. I whimper and scramble backwards, though there was nowhere to go. Tears were streaming down my face. "Oh god, please don't find me, please don't find me, please don't find me!" Ran through my head like a chant.