Darksiders: Age of Creation (Book 3)

Chapter 23: The Nightmare

        Urging Betrayal to a quick paced gallop, Damiana sat up higher in the saddle and looked around the desolate landscape. Her other brothers, War, Death, and Fury, rode alongside her, all looking at each other in quiet concern.
"You are aware we can help you, right?" Death said quietly, riding somewhat closer than usual to Betrayal.
    Quickly nodding, Damiana smiled briefly at her brothers, whom all either nodded or smiled nervously back at her.
"What, you think I can't take care of myself?" Damiana tilted her head.
"It's not that, it's just...um, War?" Fury glanced over at the sullen warrior.
"Don't look at me." War shrugged, not knowing what excuse to give the youngest horseman.
   Fury looked as if she wanted to say something; something regarding a certain traitorous Hellhound. But one look at the youngest horseman said it all.
This wasn't the time to stress the horseman; she already looked as if she was about to keel over. She hid her trembling, pale hands and donned a courageous smirk, hoping that her brothers didn't pay her any mind. Instead of making it worse, Fury shook her head and continued looking forward.
"Wow...fine. Secure Abbadon and return back to me after." Damiana hissed, urging her mount to gallop past Ruin, Despair, and Umbrage. Her chest was puffed up and she continuously bit her lip...the horsemen wounded her pride, the one thing she had against her father in battle.
Well, at least to her.
"Since when did she start giving orders?" War grumbled.
"Just follow them." Death steered Despair to a sharp left, followed by his siblings.
          *********************
"A horseman approaches."
"A familiar horseman a cometh, Sire." Dante looked over his shoulder and smiled at the black horse and it's rider.
    He raised his hand and stopped his large legion of demons, now fully turning around to gaze at his sister.
"Ah, and like a moth to light, she does a cometh." Dante smirked, jumping onto a rock jutting from the ground.
"And here is your princess, my underlings." He called out, pointing towards Damiana.
   The many demons turned and gazed at the unseen princess. They have heard of her, sure, their leader was enthralled by her. Many have seen this princess, but only a few lived to tell of what she looked like; eyes a deep blood red, hair the color of darkness, and skin the color of the moon's surface. However, the princess reeked of a familiar enemy to the demons.
"Surely this is a trick, she smells of a winged bitch." One of the combatants whispered to Dante.
   Dante scowled and without any thought, withdrew his axe and hewed off the insulting demon's head off.
"Let that be a lesson, do not insult your princess." Dante hissed, kicking the now convulsing body to the side.
"Oh my sister-"
"Shut up! Where is Lucifer?"
"Our father? Why, he's farther up front. I knew you would join us."
   Damiana rolled her eyes and with the snap of her wrist, Betrayal galloped away, leaving a trail of stirred up dirt behind its wake.
****************
Many thoughts raced through Damiana's head as she twisted and turned through the many hordes of demons with a strong miasma of blood and rust. Each look the demons gave the riding anti Christ was filled with determination and in their depths, a distant hate towards the 'impure' demon.
She shook her head and looked towards the large shadow in the distance; of course it was Lucifer.
    Okay, all she had to do, all she could do, was distract the Prince of Darkness and ensure the safety of the Archangel, her uncle, Abbadon.
Easy enough.
      'It's nothing different...don't get scared, Don't let them know you're scared, just dodge and roll.' She began, easily passing the demon troops.
'So what you don't have Genesis, the only thing that can combat Exitium.'
   Betrayal made a curt whinny and fell forwards, throwing Damiana up out of the saddle.
     Damiana slid across the dirt floor, scraping her arm as she tried to stop herself from sliding.
"Ah damn, Betrayal, why?!" Damiana hissed, pulling herself up onto her elbows.
"Ah, the princess, here to join our side, I assume?" A dark figure loomed over Damiana.
"Lucifer."
"That is correct, horseman, what are you doing here, small one?" Lucifer chittered, picking Damiana up by her hair.
"Gah! Put me down!!" She squealed, kicking and squirming.
Lucifer smiled widely, showing his rows of dull white teeth. With a flick of his wrist, the prince of lies threw his daughter to the side and turned to leave.
"Wait!" Damiana called, standing up.
"By order of the Council, I, The Fifth Horseman, will take you down!" She called, raising her dual blades.
Lucifer stopped and laughed again, more sinister and ominous than usual. Damiana's glare hardened as her father laughed, wondering to herself as to why the bastard thought she was being humorous.
"Adorable, on what charge?" He asked.
"For conspiring against Heaven and the Archangels." she said, feeling her leg quiver in anticipation.
"Well," Lucifer turned his head and brought up the legendary blade Exitium.
"You're going to have to convince me." He tittered, turning fully towards towards Damiana.
"Don't disappoint me, daughter!"
***************
"What do you mean, The Council has need of me?!" Abbadon hissed, pumping his wings in anger.
"Do we need to let him live? It won't be such a loss of-"
"Hush, Strife!" Death growled.
The third horseman rolled his yellow eyes and slowed down Discord, his loyal mount.
"Do you think Damiana is okay?" Fury leaned over and whispered to War.
"I think she can...hold her own for a few more minutes." He said, careful not to let Strife overhear.
The other three horsemen decided on the way to Heaven to not allow the third horseman to know that Damiana was fending off The king of demons .
"Strife, take Abbadon to the Charred Council's domain." Death turned Despair around, feeling a strange pang of anxiety.
"Why should I? Where are all of you going?" Strife called over his shoulder.
"Just do as you're told, Strife." Fury snapped, urging her mount to turn and gallop to an unknown destination.
***************
Diving to the side, Damiana breathed heavily and held her side as more blood poured from her wound.
"You disappoint me, where is Genesis?"
Shaking her head, Damiana rolled away from the incoming blade.
"I don't need.....it to beat you!" She huffed, trying to make the world stop spinning.
Lucifer smirked and brought the black blade back, red eyes twinkling in sick glee.
"Father, she's had enough!" Dante called, knowing the look of bloodlust in Lucifer's eyes well.
"Come on, Warrior of Creation," Lucifer said mockingly.
"Warrior of...what?" The small girl panted, shaking the pain away as she eased into another defensive stance.
"Oh? Your silly little Order didn't tell you?" Lucifer mumbled, knocking Damiana to the right with the flat of his blade.
"When the world needs it most,
The horseman will ride with warning.
In innocent people, it will draw close.
All will see evil and show only scorning." Lucifer snickered, walking over to the wincing girl.
"When the horseman rides,
By the galloping sounds of a horse of hate," he muttered, looking over at Betrayal.
The mare shook the sand from its mane and glared at Lucifer, shakily lifting itself from the cold ground. The mare roared and charged at the stagnant Lucifer.
"The world will drown in massive tides.
When it rides, it will seal our fate."
Lucifer brought up his sword and pointed it at the approaching Mare. Damiana put her hand up and tried to signal the mare to stop.
"It is of the darkest of nights.
A hellspawn, yet Heaven's Greatest knight"
Betrayal swerved to the right in an attempt to dodge the blade. Lucifer made a soft chuckle and thrust his blade forward, skewering the mare in her chest. The mare made a high pitched squeal and quickly went quiet. Lucifer pushed the mare's limp body to the side, allowing the red-black blood to
"DAMIANA!" A female voice tore through the air.
"Fury...Death...War?" Damiana stood up and tilted her head at the approaching horsemen.
Taking a small step, Damiana eyed te horsemen in confusion; they weren't supposed to come until she won.
Then they would respect her...
At least that's what she planned...
She didn't need Genesis, she only needed her whim...right?
Before she could ponder this anymore , Damiana felt a hand cover her mouth.
"You've lost, little one, I thought you could stand a chance...but I guess not. No weakling will join me." Lucifer said into her ear, smile apparent by his voice.
Gripping the handle of Exitium, Lucifer plunged the dreaded blade through Damiana's back. The girl made a rasp chocking sound as the sharp edge shredded through her fragile spinal cord. The father, the one who brought her to this world, cackled and slowly shoved the blade's edge deeper into his daughter's body.
"Pity, I quite enjoyed your face, you looked like your mother." He made a final thrust and forced the metal body to pierce the Anti-Christ's skin of her belly.
Damiana's eyes welled up in tears as the sound in her head grew louder and louder, as if her soul itself was screaming for her to do something.
The Devil sighed and rose the hilt of his sword, with Damiana still impaled upon it, and yelled;
"The horseman is DEAD, Heaven is ours!" And with that, cast the girl to the side, shaking his head as he did so.
"Oh well, what a waste."
The horsemen sprinted up to their fallen brother, each stunned with a look of shock on their faces.
The girl struggled to keep her eyes open, at least long enough to see her brothers again.
"Oh god, oh no," Fury sounded, voice hallowed out by fear.
"Enough, drive him back!" Death bent over to grasp Damiana's outstretched hand.
"NO! This is all YOUR fault!!-"
"DO AS I SAY!" Death screeched.
War pulled his older sister to the escaping Lucifer and looked back over at Damiana, eyes widened in dread.
He was a warrior, no, a warrior of warriors; he was War. He should've been used to seeing this after the mass genocide of his kind;
But...this time was different...
Using the sudden spark of uncontrollable rage and ire that flared up in his chest, War charged forward, Chaoseater raised high. Fury's eyes glinted back at Damiana, and like her brother, rose her weapon up as well and charged after War.
"Death, Death-"
"Hush, I'm here now, you're going to be fine." Death said, looking down at her wounds.
"Don't let me die here, Death." Damiana coughed, sounding as if she water was clogging up her throat.
"You aren't going to die-" Death said, voice cracking.
Damiana made a noise similar to a hurt dog and started a coughing fit, spraying blood on to her brother's chest. Death grasped her small head in his hands and looked into her eyes.
"Listen; you aren't going to die." He said once again, as if he was trying to convince himself rather than her.
"Death..." She said quietly, looking up at the sky past her brother's frightened look.
"Dami...ana?" He said, trying to shake her awake.
Her eyes stared unblinking up at the sky, vibrant red now turning a dull grey.
"Wake up! WAKE UP DAMN YOU!" He screamed, shaking becoming more violent.
When she refused to stir, Death felt a burning sensation rise up to his eyes and closed them angrily. Burying his head into Damiana's chest, Death held in the tears his body, no, his soul so desperately wanted to shed. Her heart, it beat no more, her skin, cold it became...
All because of him...
In the swarm of battle cries and sounds of battle horns blaring, Death only heard one voice; Damiana's. Her voice became more louder and urgent as she begged and begged for him to save her. The world was spinning and the sky bent as if in a few short moments, it would fall.
Then suddenly...it stopped...
No sounds could be heard, sure there was a battle ragging between the horsemen and the demon hordes of hell...but Death couldn't hear any of it. Something inside of Death seemed flicker like a dying flame, like a candle light threatening to go out after being playfully doused with water. When the loud thump of her heart grew softer and more distant, the flickering stopped.
And as that flicker stopped...
Death felt a single tear escape his eye and slid down his mask.