Waking Up

 War wakes with a start, gasping for air. He steadies himself and takes in his surroundings. He’s in some sort of wooded area, the trees aren’t very densely packed and there are walking trails and benches neatly placed around the area. Nothing seems overtly unusual about this place but there’s something in the air that feels different to anything he’s felt before. Dawn has just barely broken and the way the light seeps in through between the trees, reflecting off of the nearby pond in sparkles, is making him tense.

He idly walks along one of the trails and tries to discern how long it’s been since he’s stepped foot in the mortal plane. He and his fellow horsemen had grown smug, and complacent; the humans barely needed any provocation to destroy themselves and War remembers putting less and less effort and creativity into their endeavours, satisfied that they would enjoy the resulting spectacle either way. He had stopped trying, and then stopped moving, and eventually succumbed to a deep sleep. It was a shame to fall into such bad habits but War is full of energy for the first time in a long time, invigorated by being awake once more.

He reaches a clearing, and is struck by an ominous sight. In the distance, past the hills and the greenery, and the rows of little houses that make up the small town he’s found himself at the edge of, there is an expansive array of skyscrapers glinting in the early morning sun, with tiny flying vehicles scattered around them. As he makes his way in their direction, he’s struck by the realisation that none the benches he’s strolled past have had any homeless people sleeping on them, that there are no shifty characters doing dangerous things before the rest of the town has woken up. There isn’t even any litter on the streets. Perhaps this was just an unusually nice place, but he knew that wasn’t it. The air smells cleaner and fresher than it has since before the industrial revolution and he can just sense that something has gone very wrong here since he’s been away.

War’s strength has atrophied but it will return, and in the meantime he must call on the other horsemen, so that together they can figure out exactly what happened to this place and set it right.