The Adventures of Emily Tual: Revelations Book Three
Chapter 23

Josiah was calmly standing over Harold’s and Hannah’s dead bodies. There was blood gushing out of long slashes that were on their necks. Their faces were still full of shock. Josiah was cleaning his bloody knife. He wasn’t bothered with what he had done. He followed Anthony’s orders and no one else’s. He looked down at the two. “Sorry it had to end like this.” He told them. “But Anthony’s plans are more important than yours.” He put his knife away. “Now Anthony just has to get rid of the Chosen One.”

Anthony then entered the room. He was rubbing his forehead. Josiah looked at him. He could tell that something was wrong with Anthony. “What is it?” He asked Anthony. He went up to Anthony. Anthony looked at Josiah. “The vision of the future has changed.” He answered Josiah. He thought about what he had seen. It had gone from a little girl named Aunica writing his story to Anthony being dead. The Chosen One, Aunica and the Chosen One’s allies were standing over his dead body. Anthony wasn’t sure where they were in the vision but he refused to let that vision be the future. He had to get it back to the future where he ruled over the world from Russia.

“Anthony.” Anthony shook his head and looked at Josiah. “We need to replace Aunica before the Chosen One does.” He said to Josiah. He thought about the Seven Tribulations. The search for Aunica would be the Third Tribulation so they needed to give the Chosen One a challenge to face while she tried to replace Aunica. There couldn’t be any mistakes though made about this. The third fight had to be a challenge that could delay the Chosen One long enough for Anthony to get the child and to get the future he wanted.

That was when the two sensed something change around them. Anthony smiled. He had found his challenge for the Third Tribulation. “We now have all four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and they’re all loyal to me.” He told Josiah. “They’ll keep the Chosen One distracted long enough for me to replace Aunica and to keep her under my control.” He was pleased that his plans were coming together.

Audrey and Gabriel backed away slowly from James as smoke covered the boy’s body. They could both sense the dark magic that was flowing through James, turning him into the new Horseman of War. “Gabriel?” Audrey asked in a shaky voice. “What are we supposed to do now?” From what Aunica from the future had told them, the Third Tribulation was supposed to be replaceing Aunica’s younger form in the present before Anthony could. How could they do that though if they were still fighting the Horsemen of the Apocalypse and were now outnumbered? Even with the Horseman of Famine chained down, the Horseman of Death would recover from the bright light and the Horseman of Pestilence unconscious, there was still the Horseman of War now to deal with and Audrey had a feeling that the other three would be free before they could defeat the Horseman of War.

Gabriel looked at the Horseman of War as the new Horseman stood up. The Horseman of War drew his sword and pointed it at the two. “We’re the Witnesses.” He reminded Audrey. “Our job isn’t supposed to be easy.” He raised the pieces of his staff up. “We have a mission to complete and lives to save.” If the two of them failed there, Emily would never be able to fulfill her destiny and Aunica would be the prisoner of Anthony forever.

Audrey looked at the Horseman of Pestilence. Under all of that armor was Savannah. If they could free Savannah from her prison, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse would be down to three again. She looked at Gabriel. “I’ll hold James back.” She told the old man. “You get Savannah out of her prison. If we can reduce the Horsemen to just three, we might be able to save James.” She knew that it was wrong to play on Savannah’s feelings for James but she couldn’t think of anything else. They didn’t really have any other options left.

Gabriel raised his broken staff pieces and blocked the Horseman of War’s sword. He wasn’t sure what Audrey was thinking but for all they knew, this could be the Third Tribulation. If not, it was still the right thing to do. Savannah didn’t deserve to be trapped as a Horseman of the Apocalypse. “Hurry up then Audrey.” He said. “There’s no telling where the Horseman of Death is.” The Horseman of Death had vanished into the fog shortly after shooting James.

Audrey ran over to the Horseman of Pestilence and knelt by the rider. She wasn’t sure how to bring back Savannah. Audrey could feel the piercing gaze of the Horseman of Famine. No doubt the Horseman of Famine wasn’t happy about what was happening. Audrey didn’t care about that though. She was focused only on Savannah.

“How do I bring you back Savannah.” She said quietly. Her mind was still processing how James had been shot right before, Audrey’s eyes lit up, right before James had been turned into the Horseman of War. If she had to take a guess, there was a symbol that had turned Savannah into the Horseman of Pestilence. Audrey groaned as she thought back to the Book of Revelations. She had never bothered with studying that book or any book of the Bible. None of the Bibles were the same and they all had the same stories written completely differently in each edition.

Audrey had a feeling that there wasn’t a gun mentioned in the Book of Revelations for how to create the Horseman of War. If she remembered to, she would have to talk to Gabriel about why it had been a gun that turned James into the Horseman of War. Was it because these Horsemen were just vessels and needed certain things to happen to them? If it wasn’t the gun or the symbol that turned James into the Horseman of War, what was it? What did all four Horsemen of the Apocalypse have in common? It would help if she knew who the Horseman of Famine was.

“Hurry Audrey!” Gabriel shouted as he parried another blow. He was backing towards the log cabin now. He refused to hurt James if it was even possible to hurt James under all of that armor.

Audrey ran over to the Horseman of Famine. “Who are you?” She demanded. She knew that the Horseman of Famine could speak. She had heard the Horseman of Famine earlier. She reached for the bottom of the Horseman of Famine’s helmet. Audrey gasped when her fingers felt fur under the helmet. She withdrew her fingers and took a step back. She had a feeling that she knew who the Horseman of Famine was. “Bastet?” She asked.

The Horseman of Famine laughed. “It is indeed Bastet.” She answered Audrey. “The Magician thought that he had gotten rid of me when he killed me but all he did was give the Darkness the perfect vessel for one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” The Horseman of Famine laughed.

Audrey was about to remind the Horseman of Famine that she also had died before the Darkness had turned her into the Horseman of Famine when she realized what the vessels had in common. They all had had a close brush with death. Savannah had been in a coma and was thought to die, James had been shot and Bastet had died. Audrey realized what she had to do. The only way to bring Savannah back was to defeat the Horseman of Death.

Audrey realized that was why the Horseman of Death had disappeared into the fog. The rider must have known that he had power over the other three Horsemen of the Apocalypse because they all were supposed to be in his domain. Audrey picked up the Horseman of Pestilence’s sword and faced the fog. “Come out here and face me!” She shouted.

Jasper and Anastasia were running towards the road where Jasper’s car was when they heard a horse galloping after them. Anastasia looked over her shoulder and her eyes widened. It was the Horseman of Death. He looked terrible but terrifying still. His scythe was raised and pointed towards Anastasia.

Anastasia looked at Jasper. “How much farther until we get to your car?” She asked him. She seriously doubted that they could outrun the Horseman of Death much longer. She was about to suggest that they try to fight the Horseman of Death when the road appeared. She sighed with relief when she saw Jasper’s car.

“We’re nearly there.” Jasper said before he smiled. If they could just last a little bit longer, they would be able to put distance between them and the Horseman of Death quickly.

The Horseman of Death saw the car the two were running to. He wasn’t about to let his prey get away that quickly. He threw his scythe and smiled when he saw it stab Anastasia in the back, the blade going through her body completely. He watched Anastasia fall to the ground dead. “So much for you being a possible threat to the Darkness.” The Horseman of Death said.

Audrey gasped as she felt something hit her heart. She didn’t know how but she knew two things. One was that her mother had just been killed and the second thing was that she knew where the Horseman of Death was. She just needed to get to him. She disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Audrey reappeared by her mother’s dead body. Audrey felt tears come to her face. She had just found her birth mother and now her birth mother was gone. Just like the rest of Audrey’s family. Audrey heard the Horseman of Death getting off of his horse and walking towards her and Jasper yelling at her to get to safety but it was like she couldn’t move. She had just lost the last family member that she had.

The Horseman of Death smiled as he removed his scythe from Anastasia’s body. “You poor orphan child.” He said to Audrey as he hit the sword out of Audrey’s hand. “You could have had a normal life with your birth mother if you had been a normal girl.” The Horseman of Death turned to Audrey and lifted her chin. “But you and I know that as long as you’re alive, you will never have a normal life.”

Audrey looked at the Horseman of Death as she silently cried. “Why did you kill my mother?” She demanded. “She wasn’t the Chosen One.” Anastasia hadn’t even been a Witness. The only thing that had made her mother a target was her heritage and that Derdrom had found her all those years ago and had tried to keep her a secret from the rest of the Black Hand.

The Horseman of Death couldn’t believe it. After fifteen years, he finally had the child that had kept drawing his spirit to that old orphanage in Russia despite her not being there physically. He would finally be free of that place. All he had to do was kill Audrey right there and Anthony would finally win. “You know that you can’t escape me now.” The Horseman of Death told Audrey as he raised his scythe to kill the girl.

Just as the Horseman of Death was about to stab Audrey with his scythe, he felt Audrey get pushed out of his grip and, to his surprise, his scythe went through Jasper’s chest.

Audrey looked at Jasper, snapping her out of her trance of sadness. “Jasper!” She cried. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. They were supposed to be defeating the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, not losing everyone to the four riders.

Jasper looked at Audrey as he felt his life leaving him. “It’ll be okay Audrey.” He told her. He smiled weakly. “This is the job of a father. To make sacrifices for his family.” Jasper then looked at the Horseman of Death. “You shall not touch my daughter.” As he was saying that, a small diary fell out of his sack. He grabbed the Horseman of Death by the head. “Now back to the domain of death with you!” Jasper shouted as his eyes started to glow brightly.

Audrey covered her eyes as the light became blinding. She could hear the Horseman of Death scream. She then felt something hit her, sending her flying back. Audrey felt herself hit a rock before she lost consciousness. She never felt a small diary land on her chest.

Gabriel saw the three Horsemen of the Apocalypse before he vanish, leaving three bodies lying on the ground. They were James, Savannah and Bastet. He looked around. There was no sign of Audrey. The fog cleared, showing that the Horseman of Death wasn’t there either. His heart sank. He had a bad feeling.