CHRONICLES OF THE FOURTH HORSEMAN

SKELETONS AND CLOSETS (conclusion)

"Give her oh lord, oh lord your eternal peace, and may the light...," The voice of the priest was as usual full of mercy and confidence.All sorts of people around the freshly dug grave.Some crying, some just there to make sure, while others were there because of appearance.I didn't like burials, the only thing people do there is lie and pretend, acting like they cared even though they know very well they didn't.I also hate it because all I can feel is people around cursing me, blaming me.The few people who are usually hurting for real makes me second guess by job.I thought it would get better with time but it never.People think I am a dark visitor that comes to a peaceful and light place and leave pain and darkness when I leave.What they don't know is that I am always around.I am always walking besides them.

Today however, I was here on a different occasion.I came to the place because something was out there, digging out fresh bodies from the graves and leaving the skeletons in people's closets after enjoying the flesh.I had been here for over six hours, following a trail that seemed to grow much more faint within the minute.Me and my friends knew we were running out of time and decided to divide and conquer.Absent mindedly as usual, I walked around and stumbled upon this family that was paying the last respect to their loved one.I realized a moment later and as I tried to leave a guy pulled me back, showed me to a sit and sat right next to me, holding my arm.He probably thought I was one of the family members.

Throughout the sermon, about two hours by the way, all everybody talked about was how good and noble Alexa was.Most of them even broke to tears as they said that the believed she was in a better place.But I could feel the energies they gave off.Some of them soo negative.I saw her seated over her coffin, pretty aware of the fake tears and grief.She cursed them out loud even though they couldn't hear her.Being present at the burial was the one thing every soul had a right to.Seeing the people they loved, the people that loved them and the people that pretended to love them.Finally a soul was given a chance to know their true from their fake friends.Believe me most of them goes to the other side unhappy.

I don't know why I decided to stay there and watch and listen for two hours.I had the other reapers do that for the most of my life.It was always easier than having to listen to all that myself.I had a job o should have been doing, the job that brought me to this place.I was supposed to be hunting the Nidhogg that was ruining people's life.I still didn't understand why people, rich people in that case would choose to live next to a graveyard.Of course there is nothing wrong with it.There usually no ghosts except maybe for the few who refused to pass on due to some unfinished business.But still, living next to a graveyard would not be my first thought of a happy place.

I still remembered the call that previous day.I was still trying to convince myself that the trick I deed back at the cafe was the right one.If not, the suit was probably still dancing on its own almost a day later and someone must have definitely noticed it.After the trick I went to the bunker and together with the rest we flew to this small village right next to a graveyard.The people were complaining that someone was putting skeletons in their homes as a sick joke or something.We went to three of the houses that had reported finding one and questioned them, pretending to be the bureau.They gave their stories and we knew then what we were hunting for, a Nidhogg, or in other words, 'the devourer of corpses".A creature that fed off the flesh off dead bodies.

Hunting it was not easy as it could be a thing or human.Most of the Magix creatures were once human most of them therefore had the power to transform themselves into whomever they were before.

We had searched for over six hours and since it could be anybody in the village, it was not easy to find out who.That was when we decided to split up, lay low from all the sides of the grave where bodies had been buried recently and wait for it to come out in the evening.And now, eight hours later after listening to a two hours sermon, I was standing over an open grave.The body of a Alexa, twenty eight years old girl was about to be dropped in there.The priest was doing his thing around the coffin, completely unaware of the scared girl seated on top of it crying out to her family to not bury her.The could not hear her and i was also trying hard to pretend I wasn't hearing her either.She kept saying the name Simon over and over again.She however didn't say what Simon deed or didn't do.In my head I thought it Simon was either her boyfriend or a husband she didn't want to leave behind.I never asked.

Soon the whole thing was over and everybody walked away.I was left there watching the black suits and skirts.They all sure looked good.The storm was around the corner and non of them wanted to be caught in it.I watched as the crowd that was crying and wailing just moments earlier turned wild.Hugs and kisses and greetings were being passed around.The grieve mode turned to a family reunion.The girl who was then standing over the grave was left all alone.She had to watch everyone walk away and leave her to "rest in peace".It was sad.

I had however found the perfect place to wait.The Nidhogg was looking for the fresh goods.Alexa's body was the freshiest maybe even the yummiest for the cursed creature.After everybody was gone, I stayed around and watched as the two cemetery workers filled up the gave with red soil.There was something about one of them though.He walked with a weird limp and even after his job was done, he stayed behind, standing over the grave for about two more minutes.He however stopped whatever he wanted to do when he noticed me.He walked out of the excavator and walked towards me.

I was still seated on one of the gravestones of a dude by the name Adams Johnston who had died a little bit over a decade earlier.I watched as the guy walked towards me with the limp and I noticed his eyes were a little bit popped out of their sockets.He looked more dead than the dead than alive to me."Hello there young lady...I maybe new here but I am sure you shouldn't be seating over other peoples gravestones.It is disrespectful," he said trying his best to sound calm.I could however tell he was about to burst out into a shout."I am sorry sir," I said waking up and straightening my long black trench coat."You are family of Alexa? I am so sorry for your loss.I know right now this is the last thing you want hear, but she is really in a better place," he went on.I didn't confirm neither did I deny being her family, but I sure as hell confirmed that the old guy really believed she was in a better place.By then I knew she was taken away by the reaper responsible, but I also knew she was neither in heaven or hell at the moment.The final battle had not began and heaven and hell were out of business until it was all done.She was out there somewhere.

I watched the old guy who had just confirmed to me he was new to the place walk away.I couldn't tell whether he was acting weird because of that or because he had one on his closet that he didn't want found.He however sounded genuine and I could not quit judge him.Night fall would soon be here and it seemed like a storm would be too.We had to do the job quick and get back home.I stayed watch for four more hours.It was about 3:00pm and nothing strange had happened yet.The Nidhogg was nowhere to be seen and for a moment I thought it would never show.The first showers were starting to hit the ground.

I called the reached over to the others through the walkie talkie and was about to dismiss them.However, I had not even said the first words when I saw it.A huge snakelike monster with what looked like wings on the place where ears were supposed to be.It was making sounds which were like a hiss or like music.Instead of dismissing the group I asked them to bring back up, I then got up and ren towards the creature.I got there just as it was opening the casket.I called out and startled it.It slithered towards me and I looked at its scary face and the mouth full of v-shapped sharp teeth.

The only way to kill the creature was stubbing its shadow.The most preferable place being the position of the heart which I knew was on the left side.It was however dark and there was no moonlight.My torch was soaked wet in the then heavy downpour and it couldn't go on.Engaging the creature into a fight would only made it more angry and break more gravestones and i did not want that to happen.What was taking the rest so long? I was holding the creature by the huge flappy thingy on the side of its head.The breath from its mouth was that of rotten flesh.There was something familiar about it popped out eyes that convinced me I had seen it before.I had totally lost the memory for the moment as the rain poured even much harder.The Nidhogg swinged its head and threw me to a gravestone about twelve meters away.I got up just in time to see the rest running with their torches on.

The struggle went on for about twenty more minutes with the creature fighting us off with it huge tail.It knew we meant to kill it and it kept throwing away the torches we were holding until we had non left.The chances of us deafeating it were getting slim.by the moment.The other guard had heard the commotion and came looking, however when he saw the creature he chose to call the police.As the fight was going on we could hear the sirens from a distance.Getting closer and closer.The only option we felt we had was to retreat and come back later.That however had a risk of it's own as the creature would be gone by then.One thing I knew was that the Nidhogg was capable of killing people too if there was no dead bodies to devour.I also knew it was just getting started.Within time its appetite would grow to insatiable levels and then the whole state and the world at large would be in grave danger.

I was almost giving up when a small window opened up.A bolt of lightning hit a tree at the edge of the cemetery and lit it on fire.The light was barely enough to make a shadow but if I got the Nidhogg closer I could then maybe stand a chance.It however was a wise creature and it knew what I was trying to do.I had myself set to jump on its shadow if an opportunity came by and it deed.While the Nidhogg was busy trying not to fall for my trap, another lightning bolt hit, casting shadows for split seconds.I had my wings out ready and that was more than enough time to hit had on the shadow using a dagger I had purchased way back in the dark ages.The Nidhogg fell down dead and slowly turned into one of the guardians, just not the one I was expecting.

By then the sirens had gotten way too close.We didn't have time to get out of there and I played the invisibility trick on the troop.We watched in silence as the police made all wrong conclusions.The guard tried to explain to them about the huge snake and men who were fighting it, but they didn't listen.They asked him to go back to bed as he was surely just shaken.The police then went on to bury the girl Alexa, again before leaving with the body of the dead guard.The older guy limped back to his bed and called it quits the next morning.The cemetery was way too weird for him.

The papers two days latter read " A cemetery guard killed by the person believed to be the thief of dead bodies in the Guinear cemetery".Of course I expected that.However, the mystery of the skeletons in the closets was solved and life went back to normal.I however had some questions to answer back in the cafe.I found the suit still dancing when I went back and I had to fly into it so that people could see me coming out of it.The owner had the police question me and I was tested for drugs.I had to swipe my blood with Tom's as I could not risk it falling into the hands of the humans.Lately I have found myself in the wrong side of the heavens and I didn't plan on making it worse.I however had a feeling that the lightening back at the cemetery was more than just that, but I was also not willing to go down the road of trying to make sense of it.The world was changing.An even bigger storm was on its way.I had men by my side, but I knew I was going to need more than them.Sooner or later I needed to choose a side.I had no idea how many sides there were.All I knew was that I owed it to the human race.After all they were a part of my job which I didn't want to loose.We may have unearthed a few skeletons hidden way deep where no one could find them, but I had a feeling way more others were coming up soon, and not in a good way.