“Because, princess, he became one of the four horsemen as told of in Revelations, in the Christian Bible.”
“Wait? The four horsemen? As in the foretelling of the end of the world?” My mind is reeling. Where is it that I’ve heard about the four horsemen. Did my parents make mention of them at one point?
Poppy is bouncing up and down and then takes flight in her agitation, before she announces, “The four horsemen were there Lillie. Don’t you remember? Our parents mentioned seeing them the one time -”
“After the battle that brought down Morríganna! That’s where I’ve heard talk of them, but how do you know that Thanatos is one of the horsemen?” I ask, confused as to how Daxell knows the identity of one of them.
“Because Thanatos is the only horseman that was identified in Revelations. I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come, I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth. Death is Thanatos and Hades is Tartarus, brother to Nyx. I believe that Thanatos may be able to answer some questions about our ancients because he never went to sleep.” Daxell lets us think about that for a few minutes. All is quiet except for the snapping and crackling of the fire in the fire pit.
“Well, if things weren’t bad enough, now we need to go huntin’ down these horsemen. Cause you know that if we find one, then we’ll more than likely find them all. So what we’re really talkin’ bout is the beginnin’ of the end of days?” Pipperton asks. He doesn’t seem particularly perturbed, but that’s Pip for you.
I swing my gaze over to Daxell and wait for his answer. He shakes his head, “Not necessarily, the Bible is not clear on the seven seals and when they are to be opened, although, it stands to reason that the first four seals have been open for a very long time. Conquest, war, famine, and death have been around forever. I think that the opening of the fifth seal will signify the beginning of the end of days.”
“I think you’re right. They were there when Mama and Da took The Morrígan out. They were just watching. Waiting.” I pause, “They’re waiting for the next seal to be opened, but I think we may be getting sidetracked here. The seals are important but I’m not sure that is what we should be focused on. Once we make it out of The Underworld, we need to talk with my parents, and The Dagda, we need more information. The horsemen, or Thanatos, can help us better understand what happened back then and possibly understand why some of the Primordials are awakening now. Until then … we need to get some sleep. We travel to the Lava Fields in the morning.”
The rest of the evening we discuss the lay of the land and determine how long it should take us to get to the Lava Fields, as well as the distance that we will have to travel over the fields which sounds more like an enormous fiery lake to get to the island we seek. An island that will be filled to overflowing with discarded and random lost items. Dragon balls and troll turds, how in the name of all that’s righteous are we going to find what we’re looking for, it sounds like we will be looking for a needle in a haystack.
As I snuggle into Daxell to get a few hours of sleep, I look over to see the face of a stone statue in the rubicund light of The Underworld. She’s exquisite. The look on her face is serene as she lays on her side, her hand beneath her cheek in her forever slumber. I can’t help but wonder who she was and if I knew her in another life. Not all of them look so peaceful, some look as though they were tormented and others look mournful in their sleep. The trees and the vegetation that has grown up around them a testament to the time that they have spent in this place, forever forgotten. Sighing, I close my eyes and drift into a fitful sleep as thoughts and disjointed images dance around in my mind, hauntingly disturbing.
“Sleep, honey cheeks, I’ve got you,” Daxell’s lilting baritone voice drifts into the recesses of my mind, soothing my fears and uncertainties, allowing me to succumb to slumber.
41
The Fiery Pits of Hell
(Lillie Joanna)
The Barren Lands were exactly that, not very memorable, and not much going on. There’s nothing but scorched, dry, and cracked earth for as far as we could see once we traveled more than an hour into the desolate lands, and beyond that was the Lava Fields. After only a couple of hours of travel by flight, the lava is within sight and the heat has become sweltering. The sky has taken on an orangey-red hue, which is actually refreshing for a change. The sky doesn’t seem so dark and dreary here, but hell’s fire and brimstone, the heat is stifling the closer we get to our destination.
In the distance, the lava lake glows an orange-yellow against the crimson skies, in some places the molten rock is more of a yellow, then again, in other areas the crust of the lava appears as an ashen black with crisscrossing cracks of an orangey-red. A blue-white lightning dances over a volcano on the horizon, which appears to be the source of all the lava. The plumes of smoke drift away on the breeze as lightning coalesces above the spewing mountain, the electrical storm is stunning. I can’t help but stop to watch the show as distant thunder rumbles over the land. From this point forward the plan is supposedly simple. We fly over this blistering hot molasses-like
