Chapter 9

22 years ago

A tall man with pale skin and dark black hair walked down an alleyway late at night.

“Not even gonna say goodbye to her?” a voice said.

The man looked up to see Deceit lying down at the edge of one of the buildings.

“Nice to see you, Deceit,” the man said. “What brings you around here?”

“You know, the usual,” he replied. “Scaring people.””I see,” the man said.

“So, you just gonna leave that woman in the middle of the night without saying anything?” Deceit asked.

“I think it's for the best,” he replied. “Better that the child never sees me.”

“And what if you're wrong, Death?” Deceit asked. “You know how often that is, right?”

“I'm the essence of destruction,” Death replied. “I'm not what one would call father material.”

“I see,” Deceit said. “You realize Conquest is gonna be pissed if he finds out about this, right?”

“I don't care,” Death said. “As a matter of fact, I would like you to deliver that news for me.”

“You really are reckless, aren't you?” Deceit asked.

“I'm Death,” he said. “It's my job to be completely unpredictable.”

Death began walking again.

“Are you really sure you wanna leave them?” Deceit asked.

“I left them something to remember me by,” Death said.

“And what would that be?” Deceit asked.

Death stopped for a moment and smiled.

“My scythe.”

Present day

John, David, and Kaiser sat in the damage living room silently. After a few minutes, John broke the silence.

“I'm sorry, man, “he said.

“It's not your fault,” David said. “If it's anyone's fault, it's Conquest's.”

“So what do we do now?” John asked.

“There's a being in Netherworld called the Bone King,” David said. “My father warned me about it, but it looks like the only way to get her back.”

“So, it can raise the dead?” John asked.

“From what I've heard,” David said.

“My friend Mike- I mean, Ice, is in Netherworld,” John said. “He was kidnapped by Conquest. We both have a reason to go there.”

“Well, we can't go there alone,” David said. “We'll need her help.”

“Who?” John asked.

“Death's daughter,” David said. “I don't know much about her, but if we wanna go to Netherworld, we'll need all the muscle we can get.”

“I'll go with you too,” Kaiser said.

“You sure?” John asked.

“I owe you guys,” he said. “Plus, I'm looking for someone. Or rather, something.”

“And what would this 'something' be?” David asked.

“The reason Kestrel and I are connected is because a cult fused us together,” Kaiser said. “The cult had an enemy. It was this clawed creature.”

“There's a lot of things out there with claws,” David said.

“I know,” Kaiser said. “But I have a feeling that I'll know this one when I see it. Or at least, Kestrel will.”

“Why do you wanna find this guy?” John asked.

“You know what they say,” Kaiser said. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I wanna bring that cult down, and I think the clawed thing can help me.”

“Okay then,” John said. “So, we need to wait for Death's daughter to come by for her horse, then we can find a way to Netherworld, right?”

“She won't come here,” David said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a folded up piece of paper. He handed it to John.

“'She won't come to you, you must go to her',” John read. “It has an address here, too. M&M Motel.”

“I looked it up,” David said. “It's a lodging just outside of Dallas. I think that's where we'll find her.”

“So, will we be taking the horses?” John asked.

“We'll have to bring them along in the horse trailer,” David said. “My horse, Fury, is blue, so we can't have her out in public. And Death's horse, Shroud, isn't gonna let Kaiser ride him.”

“So what's my horse named?” John asked.

“Squall,” David said.

“Well, are we just gonna sit around talking, or are we gonna go?” Kaiser asked.

“Right, we should get ready,” John said, getting up.

“Hey, where did that bow of yours go?” Kaiser asked.

John lifted up his shirt a bit to reveal a metal belt with ten opals embedded in it.

“All my weapons turned into this thing after the battle ended,” John said.

The next day, in Dallas

Glasp waited outside of a coffee shop, dressed in normal clothing in order to blend in with the civilians. Akuma approached her table and sat down.

“Finally recovered, huh?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Silene is downtown, hiding out in this abandoned theater. Think you can take him?”

“Why, aren't you helping?” she asked.

“There's something I have to do,” he said.

“Well, think you can get it done quickly?” she asked.

“I can try,” he said. “Can't promise much.”

Outside of Dallas, at M&M Motel

“This isn't much of a Motel,” Kaiser said, unimpressed.

He was right. The place they had just pulled up in front of appeared to just be a large house with a bad paint job.

“Well, either way, we have to check it out,” John said. He approached the door and knocked.

“Come in!” said a very British voice from the other side of the door.

They entered the house. The foyer had a few couches, and a desk with a nameplate reading “B. Malkator”. The man sitting behind the desk was about nineteen years old, with light brown hair and green eyes, wearing a blue t-shirt and a red hoody.

“Um, hi,” John said. “I'm Jonathan Calwar, and these are David Dragen and Kaiser.”

“Ben Malkator,” the man said. “Nice to meet you. You guys looking to rent a room?”

“Well, we're actually looking for someone,” David said.

“You know there name?” Ben asked.

“Well... no,” David said.

A woman came into the room, followed by another nineteen year old man with shoulder length brown hair and black eyes.

“I'm sorry, I have to leave,” the woman said frantically. “I can't stay here another night with that... thing watching me.”

She ran out the door.

“Damn,” the man said. “Lost another one. That monster is scaring off all our- oh look! Customers!”

He had just noticed John and the others, and stepped forward with his hand outstretched.

“Hi, I'm Damien Monroe,” he said, walking toward John, who backed away quickly. “Something wrong?”

There was something wrong. Damien may have had different hair and eyes, and was wearing different clothing, but aside from that, he was almost completely identical to Akuma.

“Does the name Akuma mean anything to you?” John asked.

“No, why?” Damien asked.

“You look like someone I've seen before,” John said.

“Would you excuse us for a second?” David asked, pulling John aside. He began whispering. “You've seen Akuma?”

“Yeah,” John whispered back. “He looks a lot like this guy. I think we should watch out backs.”

“Okay,” David said.

“So what were you saying about a monster?” Kaiser asked.

“The Rake,” Damien said. “At least, that's what we think it is. A creature with black eyes and claws that whispers to people in there sleep. I'd think it was just an urban legend if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.”

“Same here,” Ben said. “Crazy shit.”

Kaiser turned to David and John.

“The clawed thing,” he said.

“You think this is it?” John asked.

“I know so,” Kaiser replied.

“So, you guys have seen supernatural things before, right?” John asked.

“I guess so,” Ben replied.

“Well, this may seem weird, but I'm the son of the second Horseman of the Apocalypse, War,” John said. “And David here is the son of Rage, the third Horseman.”

“That sounds hard to believe,” Damien said. “But, say it were true, why would you tell us?”

“The person we're looking for is the daughter of the fourth Horseman, Death,” David said. “Is there anyone here who might be that person?”

“Hera De'Athra,” Ben said.

“Excuse me?” John asked.

“She's probably who you're looking for,” Ben said.

“How can you tell?” John asked.

“Your last name contains the word War,” Ben said. “And his last name contains the word Rage, it would make sense that Death's daughter would have the word Death in her last name.”

"She's here right now,” Damien said. “She rents out our basement once a week for cult meetings.”

“She's in a cult?” John asked.

“She runs a cult,” Ben replied. “Their meeting should be wrapping up soon. Why don't you guys wait a bit? You can catch her on the way out.”

They waited for a while. About an hour later, a group of cloaked people came out of the basement and began leaving the building. Kaiser glared at them the whole time. The last two people to leave were a twenty one year old girl carrying a scythe, and a tall and an androgynous individual wearing a theater mask.

“Excuse me,” John said, getting up and approaching her. “Are you Hera De'Athra?”

“Yes,” she said. “What of it?”

“I'm John Calwar,” he said. “I need to talk to you. In private.”

“Anything you wanna say to me can be said in front of Zero,” she said, motioning to the androgynous figure beside her.

“Well um, I think you may be the daughter of the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse,” he said nervously.

She stood there looking at him questioningly for a couple minutes before saying “Okay.”

“Wait, that doesn't seem weird to you?” John asked.

“Well, of course it seems weird,” she said. “Bu tit does explain a few things. Like how I created Zero.”

“You... created Zero?” John asked.

Zero chuckled. “I am a culmination of dead souls given physical form by master Hera,” it said, in a voice that was both male and female.

“Is that a guy or a girl?” John asked.

Hera shrugged. “I wasn't really paying attention to gender when I created Zero,” she said.

I see,” John said.

Suddenly, the front of the house was blown off in a fiery explosion. John quickly tapped one of the opals on his belt. It transformed into a giant shield, while the other opals became glowing orbs that circled his wrist. He jumped in front of Hera and blocked as much rubble as he could with his shield.

He lowered the shield to see who was attacking. He locked eyes with Akuma, who was standing out front with a giant falchion in his hand. He raised his free hand into the air, and a giant satanic seal appeared in the sky.

“Satanic Seal 5, Rain Of Fire!” he yelled. Balls of fire began dropping from the seal, destroying the house. John tapped one of the orbs around his wrist. His shield was replaced by a his moonring blade. He threw it as hard as he could into the sky. It hit the satanic seal, shattering it. He turned to see Akuma standing right next to him, sword raised. Hera jumped between them, blocking Akuma's attack with her scythe.

“What's going on here!?” Damien said, entering the room.

He froze in place upon seeing Akuma. Akuma swung his sword with tremendous force, sending both Hera and John crashing into what was left of one of the walls. He then approached Damien, removing his blindfold.

“Who are you!?” Damien demanded. “Why do you look like me?”

“I've been waiting for my chance to meet you, Damien Monroe,” Akuma said, grinning broadly. “I'm gonna have some fun with you, dear friend!”

“Who are you!?” Damien demanded, drawing a knife from his belt and holding it defensively.

“I am Akuma,” he said. “And I'm your worst nightmare.”