Darksiders: Among the Shadows (Book 2)

Betrayal

Damiana groaned and twirled around to face the wooden wall beside her.
"Ow...wait, what?" She grumbled, looking down at her arm.
Instead of the crude makeshift cast she sported, a sturdy cast made from soft wool and reinforced steel was wrapped comfortably around her broken arm. She sat up wand looked around the small room, reaching at her waist to grab her blades.
'Did I drop them?' Damiana raised an eyebrow.
Sighing deeply, Damiana swung her legs over the edge of the bed and gently dropped down, stretching her right arm as she did so.
"Ow...how long was I out?" She thought out loud, limping towards the doorway.
Looking down the brightly lit hall, Damiana bit her bottom lip, unnerved by the silence.
"Hello, little one." A voice called from the end of the hallway.
Damiana sucked in her breath and walked down the hallway to what it seemed like a small kitchen. Seated at the round wooden table was a brawny man who looked to be in his late 40s. He wore a loose tan cotton shirt with a laced collar, disheveled and halfway into his shirt. His grey eyes pierced into Damiana's, looking at her in a quizzical way.
"How is your arm?"he asked.
If the Earth realm was still around, he would have an accent similar to a southern accent.
"Um...pretty okay." Damiana said quietly, tracing a finger alongside her cast.
"Your cast before was pretty primitive, who ever did that?" He smiled, lightening his pale, tired face.
Damiana looked down and rubbed her arm, not knowing what to say.
"Um...hey, I don't bite..." He said quietly, ushering Damiana to sit at the chair across from him.
Damiana, like a cat being coaxed, slowly walked towards the table, thinking about what her brothers always told her,
"Unless we're with you, do not speak to anyone....a lot of people are dangerous."
'Um...that was a century ago...when I was younger....I can differentiate who is evil and who is not,' she thought defiantly
Damiana nodded once and sat on the chair, smiling faintly at the man. She sniffed the air and recoiled.
"Brimstone?" He laughed.
Damiana nodded.
"Well...I am a demon,"
"So am I!" She excitedly added.
"And of....angel? Odd...anyway, my name is unknown to most....but you may call me Custos, the Valley of Periit' only protector, and you?"
"I am...Damiana,"
Custos leaned over and sniffed the surrounding air around Damiana, face contorted in interest.
"Your scent is strong from both Angel and Demon....I just believed you were attacked by maybe a demon horde or an angelic guard...but nothing attacked you, correct?" He asked, voice soft and low.
"No. I am the anti-Christ.....born from an angel....a nephilim, I guess."
"And I suppose you are alone, hence the destruction of that kind?"
"No...I'm the 5th horsemen."
Custos nodded and slowly eased back into his chair, putting his hands on the table.
"I remember now....Death, Strife, Fury, and War, correct? And the fifth and last horseman, Damiana...yeah, all coming back now. Cute, I hadn't realized they had enough in them to care for you."
"What do you mean?"
"You don't know?" Custos raised a white eyebrow, crossing his arms across his chest.
Damiana slowly shook her head.
"Your mother, Muriel, was condemned to hell for carrying the beast, by Heaven and the Charred Council's order. I remember, before I forsaken my alliance with Hell, the Horsemen themselves escorted Muriel to the darkest part of hell."
Damiana glared at Custos and crossed her arms.
"I refuse to believe that! They would have told me that they did that. Besides, they told me they weren't aware of my mother's physical appearance." She growled, looking away.
"Oh, really? Well....ignorance is pretty okay, I guess. But...I hate ignorance, I'll show you they lied."
Custos smiled devilishly, grabbing Damiana's hand.
"Please, I don't know what I have been accused of!" An small angelic voice whimpered.
"Just keep walking, this is your punishment, accept it!" Another familiar voice growled, taunting in nature.
"If only you told of where you hid the beast, maybe your sentence would be less harsh,"
Damiana snatched her arm away and stumbled backwards, gasping and sputtering for air. She brought her arm to her chest and glared at Custos.
"What the hell was that?!"
"It's what I overheard as one of the guards to Hell...they weren't too keen about your mother."
Damiana gritted her teeth and jumped up from the chair. The chair fell backwards and crashed against the mahogany floor. Damiana's right hand clenched into a fist, quivering in anger.
"They....knew and didn't tell me?!" She hissed, limping towards the door.
"You are in no condition to ride." Costus hissed, putting a hand on the distraught Damiana.
Silence....
"You also lied about your name...its Aloxsunamoon, isn't it?" He probed.
"I was called that, but I donned the name Damiana, at least, my foster mother did." Damiana calmly answered.
"If you are a horseman...where are your brothers and why would they allow you to go off by yourself in this condition?" Custos asked.
Damiana opened her mouth and slowly closed it, shaking her head.
Custos frowned and crossed his arms.
"They don't know of you being here...how irresponsible of them." He grumbled, opening the door for Damiana.
'Great, now I'm going to get another lecture.'
Custos looked down at Damiana and guessed from her faint frown that he shouldn't touch upon that subject. He held the door open and ushered Damiana outside in the fading sunlight.
"My brothers will be here soon...and I'll be grounded for a LONG time."
"You get grounded? They aren't your parents." He muttered darkly, walking alongside Damiana.
"Well...they are my guardians....how long may I stay, you know, until my arm gets better?" Damiana asked, quietly only wanting to prolong her limited freedom.
"As long as needed...you, horseman of Darkness, are welcome to the valley of lost souls." Costus smiled, leading Damiana by her arm.
"I found this realm a while back, at the time my patience with hell wavered. For some reason, many souls were kept here, those that were 'lost' or incapable of finding peace in their death..."
Damiana and Custos both walked alongside the peaceful dirt pathway, deep in conversation. To her surprise, Damiana felt more...comfortable speaking to a man she just met about her feelings than with her brothers. He never interrupted to add his view on how the way she was feeling was wrong or didn't seem to be half listening, Custos acted...normal, it was a two sided conversation. Soon, the two came up to a clearing, where a pacing Betrayal and quiet girl resided.
"Hello," the girl smiled widely, jumping up to greet the two.
"Evening, why are you out so late?"
The girl smiled faintly at Custos and turned to leave, but not without giving Damiana a sideways glance. The two locked eyes and the girl slowly walked away, hugging her shoulders.
"What was that about?" Damiana asked Custos.
Custos watched the girl go and sighed deeply, avoiding Damiana's question.
"She is the eldest lost soul, probably the first one to ever enter here...."
Damiana looked up at Custos and took note of his sudden look of sadness, unnerved by his dark eyes. Custos glanced back at Damiana and smiled reassuringly.
"I see you found my horse." He said, patting Betrayal's neck.
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Strife glanced behind the group, feeling a stabbing twinge of worry when he didn't spot the last horseman; Damiana.
'Where are you, kid?' He thought privately, looking back to the front when he noticed his sister, Fury, look at him.
"Something amiss?"
Strife slowly shook his head and avoided her gaze, knowing full well he would crack under her ever so careful look.
'I wonder where she is...if something happened, everyone will be furious with me...again, especially Death. He won't be too happy if he knew of my involvement with Damiana leaving.'
Glancing to the side, Strife tilted his head at the approaching red horseman and his youngest brother, War.
"I haven't seen Damiana in awhile...you don't suppose something happened, do you?" War asked in a hushed tone, careful to ensure the eldest horseman didn't overhear.
"You know as well?"
War nodded once and kept looking forward, thinking deeply.
"I hope nothing happened, but I'm sure something happened. Usually, by now, Death would catch her and make us all stop to discipline her." Strife mumbled, feeling anticipation build up inside him as they neared the portal entry to their realm.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The four soon came up to the lonely home they all resided in and dismounted from their horses, trying to regain their balance from a day's long of errands. War and Strife glanced up at Damiana's window and simultaneously frowned, although you couldn't quite tell Strife was frowning because of his mask.
"She isn't here." War grumbled, crossing his arms.
"I guess we should inform the other two...you go tell Death, I don't feel like dealing with him at the moment." Strife sighed deeply, walking past War to Fury, who was staring off into space.
War glared at the back of Strife's head and turned to begin walking over to the eldest horseman and brother, Death, whom was studying the blade of his scythe. Death looked up when he heard the hard, stomp like steps of his younger brother, orange eyes dulled in thought.
"You don't think she resents me, do you?" He asked, waiting until War stood in front of him.
"Come again?" War asked, thrown off by Death's question.
"Damiana, you two seem to be around each other a lot, she doesn't speak too badly about me, correct?" Death elaborated.
"Um, I don't know? Anyway-"
"You don't know?"
"No." War breathed, knowing his brother wouldn't let go of this topic.
"Oh, well, speaking of Damiana, do you mind fetching her for me?"
"Well, that's going to be hard, considering that she's not here." The other said unthinkingly.
Death was silent for a minute, then began chuckling softly to himself. Knowing how unpredictable Death can be, War took a cautious step back.
"And I suppose you knew all along, you and Strife?"
Death waved for Despair to come back to him, still laughing in a reserved manner.
"When I get my hands on her," was all he said before galloping off.