Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse

4

"I uh..."

"Who are you?" He asked, standing from his seat.

  His form was shrouded in black. He could've blended in with the room. If there was one thing she had noticed, it was that darkness seemed to be a common theme amongst all of the areas in this building of sorts. Perhaps she had been sent to hell.

  "I'm not sure if you're new here, but gods don't usually come here. And if you want to speak of any of the horsemen, you're looking for Conquest." His words were very formal. It almost made it seem like he had either been planning those words ever since he started his work as a horseman, or he'd had to say those words so many times that he'd created a script.

  "You aren't Conquest?" She asked, her back flat against the door as she fumbled for the handle.

  "Did you sleep through training or something?" He scoffed, crossing his arms as he stepped closer, causing the mortal to reach for the door handle violently.

  "I just got lost. If you don't mind, I'll be on my way," she awkwardly chuckled, running her hand along the door, missing the handle every time, becoming more and more panicked with each miss.

  "Who's your superior?" He asked, stepping closer.

  "Uh... god?"

  The horseman's gaze hardened, glaring holes through her. His steps quickened and the mortal looked away, grabbing the door handle. She pushed, ready to sprint down the hallway, but another hand was placed on hers, pulling the door shut. When she looked back at the horseman in front of her, she was caged in by his arms, one holding her hand on the knob, one resting just beside her head.

  "So you're a human," he observed.

  "No?"

  "Please. Only humans would make a completely serious reference to god. Your guise is see through," he criticized, a cocky smirk grazing his features.

  "So the four horsemen of the apocalypse exist, but god is a no go?"

  "Five," he corrected, taking the mortals hand from the doorknob, bringing her further into his room. "So would you like to tell me how you got here?"

  "I don't know," she answered truthfully. She'd ruled out the bead, but she still didn't know how or why she was sent there in the first place.

  "And who else have you met?" He asked, quirking a brow as he sat down in his chair.

  The mortal thought back to Beomgyu. Despite his successful attempt to kill her back in her world and his failed attempt to murder her in this world, she still felt bad throwing him under the bus. She'd heard him speak to Yeonjun and it seemed like it would cause him trouble if she was discovered.

  "No one," she answered.

  "That's a filthy lie," he scoffed.

  "I'm telling the truth," she refuted.

  "I'll believe it when I see it."

  "There you are!"

  Beomgyu's shout of relief made her face palm. His timing was positively horrible. It was unbelievable. He had burst into the room and wasted no time grabbing her arm and pulling her out, using lame excuses as he left.

  "Apollo is looking for you! I'm glad he had you deliver that message to me! How'd you end up here? You must've gotten lost. That's okay. I'll make sure you're taken care of, just don't tell Apollo that I let you get lost or else he'll have my head!"

  Once the door closed, his lame excuses ceased and he looked at the mortal with a deadpan expression.

  "Are you deaf?"

"Excuse me?"

"I told you to stay in my room twice! What made you think it was smart to go into another room?! Do you want to be killed?" Beomgyu asked, flicking the mortal in the forehead once he had finished his sentence. After he finished asking these questions of the mortal, he gave her no time to respond and then he dragged her back into his room where he felt more at ease.

"I'm already dead! What're they gonna do? Make me dead to the power of two?" She asked, rolling her eyes.

"You listen here... I may not have the power to banish your soul and being from this plain, but him?" Beomgyu paused, gesturing outside the room. "He can do things that Conquest couldn't even dream of."

"You're just trying to scare me."

"Oh no. You're mistaken. I am doing the kindest thing I have ever done," he assured her.

"Somehow that doesn't seem like that big of a feat for you," she responded with a roll of her eyes.

"I do the kind things that selfish people can't bear to do. And right now, I'm doing another kind deed. I'm making sure your soul doesn't get damned to eternal suffering."

"Well if you're such a big fan of kind deeds, would you mind explaining to me what the hell is going on here?" She asked, throwing her arms to the side in frustration. "I've been pretty open with my confusion and no one has explained anything."

  "Fine. Sure. This is the Immortal Realm," he told her, gesturing to the room around him. "That's where all the gods and devils and all those in between take up residence. Of course there's the underworld where sinners are sent to repent, then there's the overworld where good souls go to rest. The Immortal Realm is the little grey area where a little bit of everything resides. New morally grey souls can appear as stars in the sky, but every so often, a new Immortal Soul will be announced and they will take a human form and do some sort of work like we do. This would be all fine and dandy except for the fact that no announcement was made, and even if one was made, you wouldn't have taken form in my room."

  "Sure... that all sounds believable," the mortal scoffed, accepting his explanation with a somewhat resigned disposition.

  "Now, that leaves me to figure out what you're doing here and if I was the one who forced you into this realm when you're actually meant to go to a different realm."

  "Unbelievable," she sighed.

  "I can throw you to the gods and leave you to die again if that's what you want," he shrugged nonchalantly.

  "You wouldn't dare."

  "Oh, I would."

  A knock on the door interrupted their rivalry and immediately Beomgyu pushed the mortal over the back of the sofa, letting her fall onto the floor with a thud.

  "What is it?" Beomgyu asked.

  "There's no need to hide the human. I know she's here."

  When the mortal stood to face the person who had entered, she faced the figure who was shrouded in black. His eyes were sharp and piercing as his gaze flitted between the mortal and the horseman.

  "So... do you want to explain what is going on here?" He asked Beomgyu, quirking a brow.

  After a long winded confession and explanation, the man shrouded in black let out a sigh. He brought his hand to his forehead and massaged the bridge of his nose.

  "You are not the brightest star in the sky, are you Pestilence?" He asked, clicking his tongue.

  "You're no super nova either," Beomgyu grumbled, wrinkling his nose with distaste.

  "Even I could figure out that she was simply summoned too early. Usually there is a time period in which the soul gains closure, then the soul gets their instruction and explanation, and then they come here and take a physical form. Because of the bead, the mortal simply skipped the middle man and came straight here, where the other beads are. I've conferred with Zeus as soon as I speculated that this was the case, and he says that we are due for another closure spirit." The cloaked figures explanation was thorough and definitely confusing for the mortal. Beomgyu soaked in the explanation and seemed baffled at the thought of the answer being so simple. Before the two could speak, the figure spoke once more.

  "Simply a pity that you never got to experience what you shall be giving others for eternity."