A Seal Broken

Two sets of steady footsteps sounded out inside of the dark cavern along with two bright lights coming from the torches that each of the two figures held. The air inside the cave was damp, and the rocks that made up the walls were jagged and rough.

The man in the back seemed hesitant and nervous as he kept glancing around the dark cavern. The woman in front, however, seemed fearless as she kept her gaze straight and her footsteps steady. But it would seem that the woman's confidence had not rubbed off on the man as he grabbed her shoulder, making her turn around with an annoyed expression on her face.

"What is it, Daniel?" While her voice seemed calm, it was clear that she was annoyed at the interruption of her exploration.

The young man, now known as Daniel, gulped before he nervously answered, "I'm sorry miss Vale, but I suggest we head back," He glanced around the tunnel they were located in, "The spirits are perturbed and warn of strong black magic."

The woman just stared at him with a cold gaze before she let out a condescending snort.

"Hmph, I care little for the opinions of your so-called spirits," The woman grabbed his collar and pulled him a little toward her and then injected some mana into the hand that was holding onto him making him feel the power that she wielded before she let go making the man stumble back a little. "You were hired as a guide so that you will guide me, and I do not wish to hear any more talk of 'spirits.'" She then curtly turned around and continued along the tunnel.

Daniel was angry that the woman dismissed his spirits so easily especially since it was only with their help that Daniel could even guide her through these caves, but he knew that any attempt to try and head back on his own would only result in his death, so with gritted teeth, he followed his employer.

It did not take long for them to arrive at the end of the tunnel, and what greeted them was a bare rock wall, a dead end.

The woman, now known as miss Vale, turned around and glared at Daniel, her mana flaring up.

"Do you take me for an idiot?!" Rage was clear in her voice, and a spell was already being formed in the palm of her hand.

Daniel panicked quickly bringing up both his arms in a defensive manner exclaiming. "Wait, wait please, the spirits say that what you are looking for are just beyond that wall."

Vale looked at the man in front of her before she sighed and released the half-formed mana ball that she was preparing.

"You and your 'spirits' better pray that there is something beyond that wall or the black magic you felt before will be the least of your problems." Daniel quickly nodded up and down, signaling that he fully understood.

Vale then turned around and stretched out her right hand before uttering a single word which resulted in a wave of pure mana emerging from her palm and destroying the wall in front of her. Normally a spell of such power would have required a couple second of chanting, but a Mana Mage of her caliber merely required a single word.

The hole in the wall revealed a chamber that was lit up by some kind of green fire revealing the chiseled stone walls and floors that served as a clear contrast from the jagged walls of the tunnel. Vale glanced back and looked at her covering guide who was practically vibrating due to fear.

Vale just shook her head and gestured for him to follow him before she stepped through the hole entering the room.

The room was pretty barren; it only contained a long stone table. At the end of the room were two intricately carved wooden doors, but what really caught her attention was a huge embroidery that hung on the wall to the left.

It depicted four different colored horse skulls that were all looking in different directions. The white horse skull facing north had a crown on its head, the red horse skull facing east had a great-sword going through the top of its head, the black horse skull facing west had what looked to be an ancient scale standing on its head, and lastly the pale horse skull had two red orbs glowing in its empty eye sockets and a scythe in its mouth.

The symbol radiated ancient magic, but it seemed that the magic came from a preservation enchantment that kept the embroidery from rotting.

"Isn't that the symbol for The Witness Order?" Vale mumbled to herself as she inspected the symbol depicted on the embroidery. "But they haven't used that symbol for close to 10.000 years, does that mean?..." Vale trailed off in her mumbling as she was hit by a sudden revelation.

"By the gods! This is one of their ancient hideouts!" Vale former composed demeanor crumbled as she practically shouted the words in excitement. She was, however, quickly brought out of her joy by the sound of Daniel clearing his throat. Vale turned and stared at him, her cold demeanor slowly returning.

Seeing that he had gotten her attention, Daniel began speaking.

"It would seem you have found what you are looking for miss Vale, congratulations," a stiff smile was on Daniel's lips, and it was clear that Daniel would rather be anywhere else at the moment. "but now that you have found what you came to find I have to implore that we return."

Vale was just about to agree when she suddenly felt an unknown wave of energy, an energy she had never felt before. This energy was more powerful than anything she had ever felt before. Vale closed her eyes and tried to sense where the energy was coming from.

It did not take long before she discovered that whatever it was that was sending out that energy it was located beyond the carved door furthest to the right. She immediately remembered that when she was still a student at the academy that her professor had spoken of powerful artifacts that The Witness Order had hidden in their ancient hideouts.

If this energy came from one of those artifacts, then the power it held would easily elevate her to a new plane of power. Vale was by no means weak, but she wasn't anything special either, and the temptation to defy her destiny and stand on the same level as those who wielded true power was too tempting for her.

She pointed her index finger at Daniel before uttering a word. A needle of mana emerged from her finger penetrating Daniel's heart, killing him instantly. His eyes merely widened a bit as a reflex due to the sudden stopping of his heart, and he crumbled to the cold stone floor.

Vale sighed before she kneeled down and closed Daniel's open eyes.

"Sorry it had to be this way, but I can't have you telling anyone of what you saw." Vale did not know how long it would take her to master the artifact, and she could not afford anyone to know of the location of this hideout.

She rose from her position shortly after and headed over to the door where she sensed the energy was coming from.

Using mana to strengthen her eyes, she was able to see countless mana lines that made up a sealing enchantment, an ancient and powerful no less. Had Vale discovered this when it had just been created she would have never been able to crack it, but not even mana was infinite, and after thousands of years, the enchantment had corroded to the point that she would be able to break it with a bit of work.

It took her a couple of hours and a lot of chanting, but eventually, she managed to restore the broken lines filling them with her own mana and using it to break the remaining lines successfully dispelling the enchantment.

The door made a creaking sound as it swung inwards white fog rushing out and ingulfing Vale making her unable to see. The fog was so cold that frost formed on her clothes. The energy that Vale had felt practically filled the whole room, engulfing it in cold and heavy air.

Vale hesitated, as she stared into the dark room, but her dreams of power overpowered her feelings of fear, and she stepped inside of the now opened room.

As soon as she entered the room the torches on the walls, that she was previously unable to see, lit up with sickly green flames giving the whole room a sickly tint. Her eyes quickly went to the middle of the room, where she was horrified by what she saw.

A figure with both arms outstretched due to the enchanted chains that held them, Its feet also chained with the same chains. Its head was hanging down, making her unable to see Its face, but the sinister energy that emerged from it made it clear that it wasn't from any of the races she knew.

She was just about to turn around and flee when the door that had previously been open swung closed, sending a loud bang through the room, making it echo off the empty room.

Vale just stared at the now-closed door in a daze she didn't even have the time to get ahold of her mind when she heard chains rattling behind her, almost mechanically she turned around slowly before she came face to face with the chained figure.

She stared into two black orbs before her own world became black.

***

Death awoke to the sound of what he thought was the drum of hell. Feeling an uncomfortable heaviness in his whole body, making it almost impossible to move, yet he managed to lift his head coming face to face with what he recognized as a mortal woman.

Death did not hesitate. Using his powers, he began siphoning the very life out of the woman injecting it into himself. The woman became stiff as a board, her eyes losing their former life as her skin began to crack and turn a sickly brown almost as if her body was slowly drying up.

It took but a couple of seconds before the woman was nothing more than an empty husk and she turned to dust as soon as she hit the stone floor.

Death felt power return to his limbs as the influx of life force served to restart his own natural regeneration of Hell Flame. He tried to take a step forward but felt his movements restricted by something. Turning his gaze to his arms, he found them bound by golden chains. Gravity runes carved up and down the chains making them many times heavier than what they would naturally be.

"Xi'lson m'dseas imxilia!" Death's voice was deep and ancient; each word seemed to reverberate with an ethereal echo as if thousands of voices spoke the same words at the same time.

Death was naked except for a pair of ragged pants. His skin was pale, but not a sickly pale; it was the same sort of paleness you would find a drowned corpse. His body looked to be human in nature except for his hands where each nail was as long and sharp as a dagger. On his chest were countless tattoos which each depicted a circle with a skull in the middle. His face looked gaunt and starved. His hair, which was tied into a ponytail was so dark that it seemed to absorb light. But the most unnatural part of him was his eyes, his sclera, like his hair, was completely black and he had no iris only two ruby red pupils.

"Mi'saon pasnr x'ionsart!" Death once again roared in his ancient tongue, making the tattoos on his chest glow with a pale green glow. He then grabbed the chains and spun them further around his wrists so that they were stretched out as much as possible before he began pulling.

The sound of crumbling stone sounded out before the chains were ripped off the walls and heavily landed on the ground. Death was also pulled down with them due to his wrist still being bound.

Death landed on his hands and knees and while he could not feel fatigued his body was still sluggish so he remained on the floor for a bit before he exhaled a bit of white mist from his mouth. He then peeled off the shackles that held his wrists finally freeing his arms from the chains.

After that, it was an easy feat to free himself from the chains that were attached to his feet, and soon Death was free.

Death glanced around his former cell, his gaze landing on the torches that lined the walls. He could feel the small amount of Fire Elementa they contained, and while his Hell Flame would recover on its own soon enough, he thought it would be a good idea to hurry it along.

Without so much as lifting a finger, the torches went out as if they had suddenly been drenched in water and Death's tattoo's once again glowed before returning to their natural state.

To a normal person, it would seem as if the whole room became dark but to Death there was little change except for the disaperance of the green tint.

Looking down, he saw that he was wearing little clothing. While appearance mattered little to Death, it was ingrained in his very being that there was a specific way he should be dressed. Lifting his index finger and making a subtle motion as if he was drawing an invisible circle. The shadows in the room seemed to respond to the motion becoming tangible and moving towards Death, embracing him.

It took but a few seconds and before Death was dressed in his shadow robes. The robes only exposed his hands. The sharp hood seemed to mask his face with a wall of shadows, and the robes were so long they even covered his feet. Only the hands were exposed as the sleeves stopped just after the wrists and then hung down. Dark mist also seemed to almost 'drip' from the sleeves.

Satisfied with the robes, Death removed the hood, exposing his face once again. He glanced at the exit to the cell and began moving towards it. He seemed to almost glide across the floor as if he was floating just above it.

Death could easily see that the sealing enchantments used to lock him in here had reactivated, but now that he was no longer chained down he merely waved his hand, and the whole door blew apart clearing the way for Death.

He soon entered what reminded him of a meeting hall, before he spotted an unknown corpse at the other end of the room. He was just about to inspect it when he sensed something, and he quickly turned around coming face to face with the symbol depicted on the embroidery that hung inside of the room.

As soon as Death laid eyes on the symbol the world seemed to come to a crawl as his memories returned.

He remembered Hell's drums thumping loudly, he remembered riding out alongside his brothers, he remembered the war, he remembered The Witness Order and their gods, he remembered the last battle, he remembered the gods forging their chains and imprisoning him, but most of all he remembered the bodies of his slain brothers.

And with the memories came rage. A rage that he had only felt from his brother, War, emanated from his empty chest.

"R'lasert!" And with a shout of rage, Death swung his right arm sending out a huge wall of Hell Flame that not only destroyed the enchanted embroidery but also obliterated the wall it hung on.

Death had never known sorrow, and for that reason, he was not ready for the pain he felt. But Death was no mere mortal, and he got his emotions under control quickly. There was one last thing he had to do before he could begin his and his brother's task.

He glanced at the door located next to his and went toward it. Once again there was an enchantment sealing the room, though it was not as strong as the one that had been used on his. He had little patience for games, so he once again blew the door apart, entering the room without delay.

The room was larger than his cell, but instead of chained figures, he only found three stone coffins.

Death just stared at the three coffins, each coffin adorned with a white, red, and black horse skull.

Death snapped out of his grief and headed towards the coffins. He no longer seemed to be floating each step seeming heavy. He arrived in front of the first coffin the one with the white horse skull. Instead of using his magic, Death lifted the stone lid himself, revealing the figure that laid within.

The eldest of the brothers Conquest. He was the first who rode into this world and also the first to fall. Conquest looked like a handsome middle-aged man, golden blond hair that seemed to shine sat atop his head, and his perfect features made him resemble a king out of the storybooks.

His eyes were closed, but Death remembered those golden eyes that had looked at him as they rode into battle. Conquest had always been the wisest of the brothers. The brothers had no parents, they were born from hell itself, but if Death had to name someone, he would call father, it would be Conquest.

Death knew that his brothers were gone. They weren't like him, who wielded death itself, they could be killed, and not even Death himself had the power to bring them back. Death gently laid the palm of his hand on top of Conquest's forehead before a pale flame emerged and slowly engulfed his body. Burning Conquest's body until not even ash remained, leaving only an empty coffin.

Death then made his way towards the second coffin that was adorned with a red horse skull. He once again lifted the lid and revealed the body of War.

War was the second eldest of the four brothers. He rode after Conquest and was the one who slew the first the enemy and in turn, was slain by the last enemy. War also looked like a middle-aged man with a full-grown fiery red beard. Scars adorned his face, and his hair looked as if it was fire itself.

War had been the most emotional of the brothers always flying into a rage. Death remembered how his eyes were replaced with a red hellfire as he cut down his foes on the battlefield in anger. But even so, no one cared more about his brothers than War. He was their protector.

Death once again laid his palm on top of his brother's forehead and watched as his body disappeared inside of the pale fire.

Death finally arrived at the last coffin this one adorned with a black horse skull. The lid was removed by hand, and the figure within revealed.

Famine the third eldest. He rode after War and was the first to make the enemy fear them and in turn, he was slain by the fearless. Famine looked like a normal man in his twenties except for the fact that half of his face was rotted of exposing a black skull. He had dark purple hair that seemed to switch between dark purple and light purple.

Famine had been the most intelligent of the brothers. His calm purple eyes had always seen the best way forward. He was the rock that the brothers had leaned on. No matter what happened, Famine always saw a way forward.

Death engulfed the last of his brothers in his pale flame and finally all of the coffins were empty.

Death was in a state he had never been in before. He had never known sorrow or experienced pain this great. He knew not how to confront it. So, he did the next best thing he pushed it into the deepest parts of his soul and locked it away.

Finally gaining a bit of clarity, Death realized something that had slipped his mind before. Their Laws were missing.

Conquest's Crown Of Servitude and Bow Of Regicide.

War's Great-Sword Of Eternal Conflict.

Famine's Scale Of Damnation.

Death's Scythe or Hell's Beacon.

Death could sense that his Scythe was located a good distance from his current location, which would mean that their Laws had been stolen after their defeat and taken away. This revelation brought a whole new wave of rage to rush through Death, but he quenched it as he needed to think clearly.

He had to recover his Scythe as it would both reconnect him with hell and help him locate his brother's Laws. He may not be able to bring back his brothers, but he would never allow some pathetic mortal to have their Laws.

Death had experienced a lot since he was freed and he was now about to fight a war that they had already lost, alone, but he would do it, he owed his brothers that. He pulled the hood over his head once again.

He was just about to head out of the tomb before he turned around and waved his index finger in a lot of strange motions before turning around and leaving the room.

On the wall behind the three stone coffins were carved words in an ancient language that had long been forgotten.

"I am he who rode after Famine. I am the one who the enemy could not kill so, in turn, they imprisoned me. Now my shackles have been broken, my chains discarded, and I find myself the last of the Four Horsemen. So, for now, I ride alone. But do not be at ease for I am Death, The Pale Rider and Hell follows with me!"