The Fifth Horseman

Chapter 3: Meeting Fury

  It was cold and dark. Why was it so dark? Was I dead? I must be dead... Why else would I be here?

  I tried to sit up. My body felt heavy and clumsy. Slowly, as if moving through mud, I sat up. I strained my eyes to try and peer further into the void. Hey... There was someone there! I tried to run to the figure, but it started getting further away the closer I came. Was I running backwards?

  I stopped, panting for breath. What was going on? Surely this wasn't death; this aimless wandering in limbo? No... It couldn't be. I should be surrounded by cute angels and lots of light! That means, I must be dreaming. I looked at my hands and counted the fingers. 9 fingers. Yep, definitely a dream. In a dream, things will seem either too slow or too fast, reflections blurred or distorted, hands with either more or less fingers, among other oddities. All these were signs that one was dreaming. And once you know you're dreaming, you can wake yourself up.

  I concentrated, struggling to break free of my dream. My body started feeling lighter and more in control. I was escaping! But then suddenly, it seemed as if a force was acting against my mind, trying to force me deeper into the dream. 'Excuse me? This is my dream! You have no right forcing me to stay here!' My inner consciousness yelled. The strength of the force increased.

  'Okay... You want a fight? Good, because you're getting one...' My inner consciousness responded. I focused harder, trying to fight the force. It slowly started reducing. Yes! I was winning! Just a little bit more...

  My eyes suddenly fluttered open. A purple hand was resting on my forehead, obscuring half of my vision and it's owner.

  "Hmm... Surprising. You managed to break free of my illusion. Now how did you manage that, I wonder?" A female voice said from above. I tried to sit up. "Nuh-uh. Lie back down; you're not going anywhere. Plus, if I wanted to kill you, I already would have done so." She says. I slowly relax but stay on guard. Well... I suppose she could have killed me if she wanted to... 'Maybe she wants to keep you and fatten you up before she eats you, like in Hansel and Gretel?' My inner voice says. That might be true...

  "Rest for now. I'll wake you up when it's time." She says, and I slowly feel myself drifting back off to sleep.

  I wake, this time without any inconvenience. The purple skinned woman is nowhere to be seen. I try to sit up and feel something wet and squishy shifting on my forehead. I reach up and tug it off. A wet cloth. I toss the cloth into the bowl on the table and take a look around the room.

  I  was sitting on a couch, with a wooden side table and a metal table next to it. The room was made of rough looking stone hewn into cuboidal blocks, and was pretty big. There were various painted pictures of alien landscapes on the walls, and two doors led out of the rooms.

  But, the most surprising feature was a 52-inch LED TV mounted on the wall. I stared at it in shock. What was something from Earth doing here!? The purple-skinned woman walked in, distracting me from my confusion. "Oh. Up already? That was pretty quick. I wasn't really expecting you to recover so fast, to be honest." She says. "And why's that?" I ask. "Well, it's not very often that I see someone surviving from Chaoseater's poison." She says.

  "Poison!?" I yell. "Calm down. It's out of your system. And yes, poison. Chaoseater has a layer of special poison coating it. Suppose someone were to get cut but managed to escape, the poison would kill the person in a week, maybe more. Oh and by the way, water accelerates the process." She says.

  "Water... Accelerates the process? Crap... No wonder it spread so fast..." I say. "Let me guess, you took a bath in that stream nearby?" She asks. I nod. "Well, you didn't know what would happen, so I guess your stupidity could be forgiven." She says. I raise an eyebrow. "You know, I'm the only one who has an antidote to that poison, which is probably why War sent you here." She says. "One question, lady. Who the hell are you and where did you get that?" I ask, pointing to the TV.