Harbinger Prolouge

It was cold and Todd hated the cold. What could he do about it though? The sun was gone, so there was nothing to heat the planet as it drifted through the cold void of space. Todd sat on a rock in a wasteland, no buildings stood around him, no trees or grass remained. Sand drifted carelessly past his feet and the rock he sat on. "It is over then..." Todd mused to himself, looking up at the void above him. The only light that was cast was from the stars themselves and it was not much. Not that there was anything to look at, but he needed to see to complete his journal entry. "If only fire could burn in this forsaken cold." Todd said to himself remembering the bright flames of Hades from which he had come. The cold around him would have frozen any living thing solid, but Todd was no mere living thing. Todd was death, the leader, and last of the four horseman of the apocalypse. Having dropped all illusions his appearance was a testament to that fact. His skin was pale and had a hollowed look as if he had never eaten in his life. His face could be mistaken for a skull except for his vivid eyes which still held the fire and knowledge from when he had been mortal. His bony fingers ending in the black, dagger like claws that were his fingernails wrapped delicately around a pen and a small leather bound journal. Around his skeletal body he wore a simple pale green robe, tattered and fragmented as it was from it's timeless existence. At his feet lay the Grim Reaper's Scythe, an artifact that it's previous owner no longer required.

Todd looked briefly up at the horse next to him; he was a proud stallion, standing with his head held high even though he looked as gaunt and pale as his rider did. It's eyes scanning the barren waste. "The humans were fools, weren't they? How could they have known though, as tied up in their small mortal existence as they were." Todd spoke aloud to the creature which turned it's head to look down upon him on his rock.

"You were mortal once too, Thanatos, do not forget that you were once as blind and foolish" The creature replied with a voice that sounded like thousands of dieing creatures all speaking just out of turn with each other.

"Do not call me Thanatos, Mortis. My name is Todd, and the days when I walked blind are long since past" Todd said, spitting his transcended name.

"Why do you still cling to your mortal name Thanatos? It has been centuries since your transcendence, and the races of mortals no longer claim this plane of existence." Mortis replied with an indignant snort, kicking up some of the sand and dust with a short stomp of his hoof to emphasize his point. Todd did not reply to Mortis' words; he would never except what had been done, what he had done. Todd had brought upon this world the apocalypse, scouring it of life, he could say he and Mortis were the last living things on the planet were it not for the fact that they were technically not alive themselves.

Standing up Todd started walking into the barren wasteland with Mortis following behind him grudgingly. "Where is it we shall go Thanatos? It is all the same, barren wasteland everywhere, you have made sure of that. We should be returning to Hades, why linger on a dead world?" Mortis said impatiently, he did not like the fact that he was bound to his rider. He would rather be gone and rid of this mortal realm and back in his own.

"Humor me Mortis, you were never mortal so you would not understand my bond to this place. Allow me this exodus to the Eternal Flame and I shall return us to Hades." Todd said sighing, his partner's impatience was odd for an immortal who knew no concept of time except when traveling through the mortal planes.

"The Eternal Flame? Even if we flew it is days to that place and you know the demon spawn will soon begin to seep from their plane to once again claim this realm as their own. They have no love for us and I have no intentions to end my existence as food for that scum." Mortis said stopping in his tracks. The rider had gone to far this time. While the demons were scum and the dregs of the immortal races they were still a potent foe who fed on the souls and essence of immortals and mortals alike.

"Fear not, the closer we get to the flame the less likely they will cross paths with us. Above all things they hate heat and light. Please Mortis, do this for me." Todd replied turning to look at Mortis and holding his hand out in a gesture of beckoning. He did not want to make this journey alone but, it had to be done. Slowly, the horse began to trot forward again with his head bowed.

"You are the only one I would do this for Thanatos. You seek the flame so you can finish your journal do you not? So be it then." Mortis acquiesced and grudgingly kept trotting.

The journey was long and uneventful. Once or twice they would see some flicker where something darker then the surrounding shadows would move between the rocks. Eventually the stars winked out of existence and they knew that the demons had come, banishing all light making the planet once again form and void. When they reached the flame it's light almost burned their eyes, dim as it was. It was the Eternal Flame, the very soul of the planet flowed from here. Eventually it would sputter and burn out like all other life on the planet had. "Now complete your task and let us be gone Thanatos. I do not wish to be here when this flame dies as well." Mortis said while laying down next to the flame. Todd nodded his head and took purchase on a rock nearby to the flame where his shadow would not overcast the pages. There was a small puff of dust as he unclasped the ancient tomb. Slowly opening it, he began to reminisce about his past, the pictures vivid in his mind as if it had been yesterday. As if bound by some unknown force within the book as he always felt he was, he began to read the journal from the beginning.