The Four Horsemen

The Dark Night

                One dark stormy night in the middle of a dense green jungle, a lone rider came furiously speeding through. The man wore a dirty damaged set of silver armor, it covered his hands and forearms, his lower legs and feet. The chest plate was scratched, burned, covered in mud and blood, while it also held a curious symbol. The strange emblem consisted of two silver crossed swords behind a crimson skull with two ominous black scythes, one placed either side of the fleshless blood red head. Under the armor, he wore a deep green shirt and dark black trousers. He wore a torn rich purple cape and hood with the same strange symbol embroidered on the back. Around his belt hung a damaged crimson sword and a small brown leather bag. His face had been scared by razor sharp claws, the blood from the wounds only adding to the already crimson color of the emblem. His eyes were blue and full of fear, his hair was a dark brown with hints of red, from where he had been injured, and his skin was pale as a ghost, or as if he had seen something worse than one...

Just as soon as the lone rider thought he was finally safe, an echoing screech lets out among the trees. Another rider came charging down the old dirt road riding a bone white horse. He wore a full set of deep black chainmail, from where his helmet stopped at his neck, to the end of his black steel boots, which covered his lower legs from the front. Upon his forearms were two braces made from the same black steel, each holding its own word, Eroberung, and Zuerst. The rider had upon him a sleeveless black robe covering his chest and back. Upon this robe was embroidered a skull and four bone rings. He wore a midnight cape rippling in the wind as he rode towards his goal. His helmet covered his face with the same black steel, and the only thing that could be seen beneath the T visor was pure darkness and his glowing red eyes.

As the chase ensued the lone rider could not escape. He turned around and with a flash of lightning his gleaming sword made of black steel and bone was revealed. With a sudden slash, he removed the lone rider's head from his shoulders. The lifeless body fell to the floor as his horse galloped away, and the dark rider claimed his head. A deep mist set in and the strange rider vanished within it. The lone rider had failed to escape, and now the ultimate price had been paid. Had he only been faster he may have just made it to the city wall, which was only round the corner.

The next morning the body had been found, a group of loyal knights have been called to action, all of whom held the same symbol as the now dead rider.

"Who was this poor fool, who fell so close to the wall of my own castle?" Sir Richard queried. His hair was grey, with age and wisdom, a large scar had been cut from the left side of his forehead to the right side of his chin, and his eyes were a steel cold grey much like his hair.

"His name was Archimedes." Lord Eric addressed the others. He had jet black hair with a red streak down the center, and his eyes were bluer than the purest sky. "He was on a mission scouting the dread gate for..."

"I don't care who he is, or what he was doing!" Bellowed Knight James. His hair was a mud brown, and his eyes a mixture of that and emerald "he died and we must avenge him no matter the cost! It is our duty as Dreadknights!"

"Hold your tongue James!" Ordered knight lord Jackson. His eyes were as brown as milk chocolate, the only hair on his head was his thick beard the same color as his eyes "he was our brother and we shall respect his passing for he was unjustly slain. Now Eric you were saying."

"Yes I was." responded Eric "he was scouting the dread gate by order of Madame Melanie. She believed that the four were going to rise again."

"The four?" cried Richard after a moment of silence "this is madness! The four have been dead for ten thousand years! It can't be true! The dead don't just rise! Do they?"