Darksiders: Light In Darkness (Fourth Book)

Chapter 9: In the Heart of the City

    Arcane sat on his haunches and gazed up at the obsidian stone throne. He could just imagine the Dark Empress sitting there, adding on to the long legacy of powerful female leaders. The shadow realm wasn't...in good times for the past millennia, their leader, Queen Noxsis was slain by the horsemen.
Well, horseman...
"I don't know why the Queen associates herself with them...especially the red one." Arcane hissed to himself, remembering the one named War disdainfully.
He could remember it vaguely, that day, he was just a small darkling at this time. Queen Noxsis wanted to expand the shadow empire far past what the Charred Council deemed the shadow realm's boundaries. And when she did, they sent their personal executioner, the red one, who bathed the halls with their majesty's blood.
Shivering, Arcane stood up and turned towards the door.
"Vora. How nice of you to wake up finally." He smirked, casting a heavy lidded look at the pale pink watcher.
"I know, I'm sorry, but last night was too exciting!" She giggled, looking very similar to a young child.
"Mhm."
"Are you sure the Council can't sense my presence here? I don't wanna go back." Vora shivered, hugging her shoulders tightly.
"No, they cannot see what they don't understand." Arcane flicked his tail and stalked off, easily melting in the darkness.
🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

"So it's in Manhattan?" Damiana tilted her head to the side.
"Indeed. We have to retrieve the shard with the utmost of speed." Death answered, glancing over at Dantè.
"You. You're one of the princes, surely you must be aware of time travel."
"Of course. First thing I learned." Dantè answered, practically swelling up in obvious pride.
"Good. Follow me." Death grabbed Damiana by her arm and dragged the youngest horseman behind him.
   Dantè glanced over at Damiana and shrugged, following the first horseman as they exited the horsemen's living quarters.
"How far can you take us back?" Death said, letting Damiana go as he stopped.
"I can take you back to when the Creator crafted his first angel-No that's a lie" Dantè laughed heartily.
"Okay..,"
"I can only take you back about...say a little over a century back."
"That's enough." Damiana smiled, giving a sideways glance at Death, whom quickly looked away.
"Okay so..." Dantè shrugged and waved his hand towards the ground, opening a large red portal beneath the horsemen.
"Don't stay too long, sister." Dantè smirked, slowly fading into the darkness that surrounded Damiana's consciousness.
                *****************
    She woke up with a start, painfully sending sharp waves up her spine.
"Ow..." Damiana muttered, blinking at the harsh sun.
"Hey, lady." Damiana blinked and looked up at the man glaring down at her.
"Y-yeah?"
"You're in the middle of the sidewalk, can you kindly move out of the way?" He hissed, steering his bike around Damiana.
"Well...guess it's great to be back in the human realm," she mumbled, shakily standing up from the warm sidewalk.
   Taking a deep breath in, Damiana smiled faintly and looked around her at the large park.
"Central Park..?" She laughed, turning in a small circle to fully gaze at the long dead race, humanity, alive.
The race that raised her,
Nurtured her,
And here they were!
"Don't get too distracted, Damiana." A voice muttered, grabbing her wrist.
"Death, it-" Damiana looked up and smiled faintly.
"You're a human too now! And you got shorter!" She giggled.
Death rolled his eyes and brushed more of his Raven black hair over his brow, as if trying to hide his face as he did for centuries.
"Why're you trying to hide your face? It's so weird, I've never actually saw your face!" Damiana covered her mouth when Death looked away in hidden shame.
"I didn't-"
"Where are we? The shard needs to be found as quickly as possible." Death cut Damiana off, taking a few steps forward to look around.
"Central Park...and I think the shard is in...of course, follow me!" Damiana grabbed Death by his forearm and dragged him behind her as she looked towards the banner.
"It showed the street number, the map, yeah? It showed the address to the Metropolitan Museum!" Damiana muttered, looking up at the huge human museum.
    Death soundlessly followed Damiana, smiling to himself. She was...here. She was here and...alive. He couldn't believe it; the last horseman was here in flesh and blood.
    Damiana stopped and glared up at the large museum, seemingly counting the amount of people and security guards surrounding the entire place.
    She and Death were in human attire and sported normal human features to not arouse any suspicion. Damiana was only 5'6 and her long Raven black hair reached her shoulders. She wore a white tank top and at her waist she wore her old orange sweatshirt. Around her neck was a normal sapphire necklace and she had a grey book bag purse across her shoulders.
   Death on the other hand, wore almost the same colors as Damiana. He was sporting a black leather jacket with a white button down shirt. His eyes were no longer a orange red but rather a deep brown with streaks of red in the iris.
     The two looked related, like a father and daughter or a brother and sister duo, no one in the surrounding area could have even guessed that those two were the most powerful beings in all of creation.
"Come on, Death," Damiana smiled, running up the stairs into the museum.