CHRONICLES OF THE FOURTH HORSEMAN

HAPPY HOLIDAYS ...OR NOT.

The year was coming to an end.Everyone's favorite holiday was approaching."Dear santa I have been a pretty confused girl this this year," I thought of how I would leave a note for santa if it was all the way back then when i was young and innocent .Now I knew a lot of things and one in particular was that santa never case and most certainly never read my letters.My papa did and I am pretty sure he was annoyed by each and every one of them.The year had been as crazy as it was long.The events of it all were written clearly in my head with red paint and if the world remained intact I would live with them forever.It was the last week of november and Christmas songs were starting to pop up everywhere starting with the commercials on the TVs and radios.People were starting to post Christmas notes and songs on their social media accounts.Some were getting ready to spend foolishly the money they had spent a whole year to save.Everybody was cheerful and this was the only month where everybody was in good faith.Personally I was looking forward to going home.Christmas would not be so without me and the boys going down to the river to put flowers in the water and watch them flow.We would always send a few flowers each with its purpose.Every year I had one which I believed had all the bad omens of the coming year.One I sent to my mother on the other side, one I prayed for my father to change and the other one was to send cheer to the world.It was a tradition we had come up with after my mothers death.It was the only way the boys knew to help me deal with grief.With time it had grown to become the one thing that defined the year for us.We would put the flowers and tell each other our troubles, achievements and goals.I also missed the church, the people and the river back at home.I missed my little room and believe it or not I missed my stepmom a little bit.I had talked to dad earlier and it was comforting to know that he still sounded fun and jovial.He had told me that my stepmom wasn't feeling well and he assured me it was not something serious.She may have hated me with all her being but I didn't hate her.I respected her a lot.I just didn't like being around her since she always had a way to pull me down and make me miss my mother.She was also too bossy and demanding and everything revolved around her.I was however pleased that she was around and she looked after my papa well.I am a big girl and I don't need someone to look after me.Back here my body was still wearing off and it was barely holding up.I planned on laying it down in the morning before heading to school. I had let Azrael out and we had an agreement that he was going to do whatever it would take to keep calm.He was in and I looked forward to a cool quiet holiday.While I lay in bed thinking about the year and realized I had more than just a few things to grateful for.Even though my cheek was hanging at least I had learned I was a powerful being and I didn't just take away.With time I had helped a lot of people and Ophie was there as a living prove.I had brought him up taught him how to more human and he was slowly groing up to be the man i hoped he would grow up to be.Even though he had watched me grow old and die many times he still kept on fighting to be a better person.Never letting his other half define him.Now i had found out i still had one last line of remaining and it seemed pretty solid.I had made new friends and my old ones were still.standing by me.They never left.I had also gotten my father back.Maybe santa had finally decided to make my Christmas wish come true. Now that I was back and I had seen the books and the weapons that I had gathered together many years ago to help with the incoming situation, Ophie was free to go out and see the world around him.He of course had no intentions to and I expected that.I knew him since he was a little boy and whenever he was not into something no one or nothing could make him change his mind.Duke was out looking for people to join us and Tom and John were still recovering from the previous week events.The next day would be the last day of school.I was invited the girls last night out that year by larry and the squad and I looked forward to it.I was now a VIP member and I would be there to welcome new members who were to join and say goodbye to those who were graduating next year.This country had accepted me and soo far i was doing fine except for the tiny stuff here and there.In three days I together with my crazy friends would be on a flight back home for the holidays and I couldn't wait for the day to come.

I was too excited to even fall asleep and spent the whole night having happy thoughts until it was morning.Waking up that morning was easier since I had waited for it for soo long that I never slept that night and neither was I feeling sleepy anymore I didn't have to force myself to wake up.I woked up as Azrael with my form now shapped as Malaika.I had to plan on how to get rid of the body on my bed which until that day was mine.We had a good run me and her but it was time we parted ways.Her work was done and i had no intentions of forcing her to work if she didn't want to.Duke was willing to come to my rescue and I knew it was supposed to be strange but I felt alright.I was back into being my real self.Now i had all memories of the past since the dawn of time in my mind, memories of how humanity had evolved through time from the moment Adam was created to the fall out.I still remembered the day Father gave me the flaming sword to go forth and guard the garden.When he named me the Angel of death.From hitler to Mona Lisa to Mama Teresa and since Malaika was gone it was just me.No pain, no fear, no need to eat or sleep or drink but I felt lucky to have experienced all there was to experience as a human.I could now feel my wings and I could even control them.I felt the cries of dying people and I saw the ghosts floating around.They had no power to hurt yet and I wasn't looking forward to giving them.The fact that my physical form was back meant even the others were back too.Now I knew they were the ones I couldn't trust. I know they were the ones that took my human body the last time because they wanted me to go rogue I felt nothing about it but now I knew that kind of betrayal brought about anger.I bound them away into the shadow dimension and only their servants remained since we had to keep the world balance in shape.

The day was short since there was no much going on.We had the years briefings, a little entertainment and we called it a day and I was on my way home.The next day I went out with larry and some of the club members where we had a cool noisy night with karaoke and a bit of bar fights and yet again I went back home to pretend to be resting.I planned to stay with Ophie in the bunker for the next two days and the boys joined me.We had a lot to learn and we also had to familiarlize ourselves with the weapons I had gathered to hunt for the magix.

When we got there Ophie was asleep in his snake form.He was coiled up into a huge pipe like coil and Tom almost fainted.Seeing him like that was something I was pretty sure one could never get used to.Given my form I felt nothing and I just picked up a book and sat on him.He was cold and squishy.Tom just stared at me and wondered what was wrong with me but I ignored him and went on with my business.When it came to the sleeping arrangements we all had our rooms equipped with everything we needed.I had personally made sure to it when I was designing and building it.Ophie didn't need a bed as he was comfortable sleeping on the cold floor in his other form.I had tried to teach him.to sleep in bed for a really long time but that was one of the few things he never mastered.He kept on saying his back hurt every time he slept in bed and I just had to let him be.I liked it to see him embracing himself just as he was.Now I remembered everything and I was glad I deed.Everything I had learned from being human came in handy and I felt pretty much human even then.I was not feeling the urge to reap and my laugh remained soft as always.Apart from being aware of the whereabouts of every reaper and every dying thing or human I felt pretty much normal.The three days passed by and before I knew it I was at my tiny hostel ,parking and getting ready to go home.We had a 9:00 pm flight and that meant I had the whole day to park and say goodbye to my friends and frienemies.

The flight was long and tiresome for the boys and I also had to act tired for the sake of keeping my cover but eventually we got home and I took a six hours pretend rest.My stepmom was at home but the doctors had her on a three months bed rest.She was pregnant and for some reason she was having a hard time keeping it due to reasons no one was willing to tell me and I had no courage to ask.That meant I had a whole peaceful holiday ahead .Not that I was happy that she was going through a hard time but maybe it was for the best Maybe her pregnancy was the reason behind papa's happiness.If it was, I was glad it happened since I got my dad back for ones in a long time.He was not going to be around for one more week and I couldn't wait to see him.

First thing I deed after waking up was to check up on Tom and John.l was soo used to being around them that I missed them alredy.I never needed to rest but I had to in order to appear as normal as possible.When I got to Tom's he was still asleep and I went on to check on John who was also asleep.I went down the river to relax.The feeling now was different since I was incapable of feeling the sweetness that came with the sound or the touch of the water but there was no other place I could rather be.I had to imagine the feeling in my head and I was doing a pretty good job.I had stayed down there for a moment when three ladies came down in a hurry talking about missing children.One was telling the others of a story of the creature thought to be the one who was stealing the kids who was known only as the Rampo.It was a legend amongst my people they described as a slender ugly creature with the head of a rabbit and human ears, its hands like those of a badger and legs of a bear.It was believed to feast on kids and it sang a beautiful tune as it feasted on its victims.Legend also had it that the Rampo loved to gather its food in large quantities and then kept them alive as it fed on them one after another.By now about five kids were missing and the Rampo was known to eat every day for twelve days before going to sleep for three months.

Now, the world had no idea that the Rampo wasn't just their typical legend, it was a real living creatures that deed all that and much more.It also fed on fragile creatures including adult humans with small or weak bodies.If it was true what the people were saying, it meant the Magix creatures knew the veil was torn and they were beginning to cross over.Why the hell did it have to be here just when I was home? I called Duke to see if he knew anything and also to send me the details of how to deal with the Rampo if at all it was out here.He confirmed to me that some of the creatures got out when we distracted the elements.They were not many as far as he could tell but the few that were out seemed to be just as dangerous as they were destructive.The only way to kill a rampo was by burning it to ashes since it was known to regenerate almost as quickly as it got hurt.By the time you stubbed it with a knife and got it out the creature would have already healed.Legend had it that a great worrier ones caught the rampo and beheaded it.As he turned around to show off its head on his hand, the creature grew back another head and bit him with its poisoned teeth before disappearing and the worrior died a painful and agonizing death.Imagining that was what it deed to its victims who were mostly children made me feel something, and I didn't like it.I could hear and feel every living thing but I could nor feel or hear a magix especially the ones that were almost impossible to kill.How the hell would one hold such a creature long enough to light a match.It was tough in the modern days with guns and bombs, imagine the old days where one only thing one had was their strength and maybe a spear for their best weapon.

I understood now why the elements has to come together to stop the magix world.If the damn creatures stayed around long enough they would kill everything and everybody.I was thinking about how to hunt and corner the creature when I heard Tom and John call.I lifted up my head in time to see them jumping across the river to where I was.They also had heard about it and they wanted to know if it was true.I confirmed it to them and they were a little bit scared.We kept on postponing training sessions since we thought the elements had everything under control and now we were starting to regret our decision.We needed a plan there and then.We looked at each other blankly for a long time.

"The Rampo have five kids so far and that means its going to come for seven more.We keep an eye on the children and whenever it attacks again we will follow it to its hiding place," John said at last.It wasn't a bad idea except for the fact there were over two hundred children in the village.I could listen in to all the children but it would not be enough since the rampo could attack any of them and we wouldn't be there when it happened or even get there in time to see where it went.I kept on forgetting about my angelic self due to the long stay as a human."You can follow the child's heart beat, can't you?,"Tom asked another good idea and maybe if we combined both of them it would work.My elevated senses and the fact that I had wings were the only advantages we had over the creature.It was fast and no one ever saw it twice but with my angelic powers we had an advantage.The only thing we had to go looking for was gasoline, lots of gasoline.Burning a creature that healed as fast as it got hurt meant we had to make sure it was burning way more faster than it could heal that would take a lot of effort and whatever we planned on using to burn them.Duke had an idea but it was both wrong and dangerous.He wanted us to blow up the place where it lived once we knew where and burn it while inside.That would slow it down long enough for us to burn it down completely.

Where were we supposed to get all that gasoline in a village where cars were not common and the only fuel station near us was about twenty miles.Of course we had a solution but still it meant someone was about to incur one hell of a loss.We went around looking for empty cans and we looked for a place to hide them.It only took me a few flaps of the wings to get about seventy litters of diesel as it is the hottest and the fastest.The first part of the plan was well into place and what remained was the second and the most tough part.

Throughout the day I was listening in on all the children and I forgot to pay attention to the weaker adults in the village.Instead of grabbing a kid the damn creature grabbed an old weakly lady who lived alone some three miles from home.She was the talk of town the next morning.Everybody was now getting more and more afraid and I feared they could go ahead and believe in the creatures since the were capable of sermoning them that way.It was dangerous and we needed to do something about it.

The next morning I went around before everybody was awake to see if I could at least get a glimpse of where it had passed through.Everything have a unique smell and I figured the rampo had one too and if I could tell it apart then there was a chance I could follow the rimpo through the smell.I tried all morning but there was none.It was clear that either it knew how to mask it or it had no distinctive smell at all.Dawn came and people started to wake up and I had to go back home before someone found me outside and started a new legend about me being the child and grandma thief.They could probably come up with a story of how I joined the infamous Illuminati and now inam eating babies or sacrificing them.It only took one idle woman to circulate a story all round the village with everyone making a few changes before passing it on.By the time it gets back to the person question it is already a completely different story much more worse from the starting.That was a thing I wasn't ready to deal with now.

That day I listened in on everybody starting from the little kids you their parents and grandparents.For everything day that passed the kids were danger.At the moment the rampo was just gathering it food and it had not gotten to the eating part yet.That meant that whenever it was not out looking for it's own food it was out looking for its victims food.I loved to fatten its victims before feasting on them.The kids were still alive but they probably scared half to death.Such an ugly and scary creature could kill you with only a slight look in the eye.I was trying to imagine what the poor kids were going through.The day was quiet and the Rampo didn't make a move.I was starting to think that maybe it knew I was into it and it had decided to lay low.Either way if it went to hiding with the five kids and the grandma they were going to be food pretty soon.It was almost evening when I heard the screams of a little girl.Her tiny heart was thumping in fear and I heard call out for help.Quickly I flied over to Tom's and grabbed him I deed the same with John and I followed the little girls heart beats.She seemed to moving at a pretty high speed and I figured the creature was carrying her.She was too scared to even scream and for a moment it felt like she was a gonner.

The running stopped and her heart slowed a bit I heard her call on someone and I now knew she was in the same place with all the others.We were standing out of the huge cave that was dug to look more like a cave.The entranced was small but I could tell the inside was huge enough to fit about fifteen adults.We had to come up with a plan to save the kids before torching down the place.I could just fly in and take them out one after the other but it was too dark for John and Tom and that meant I would have to work alone which would make it hard to be effective .The last thing we wanted was the creature to know we were after it would probably change location and that was another job of following it.

We planned to wait till early morning.For the moment we brought the diesel closer ready for use and then we headed home.For the whole night I kept thinking about the rampo and I listened in on the scared kids.Way too scared to even think of running away.None of them was injured or hurt.At least not yet the rampo had five more hunts to make and till it found the last one the kids were to stay alive and healthy and the rampo would do everything to make sure they stayed that way.

Morning came and after having to wait for that long I jumped out of bed and called Tom and John.I airlifted them to the place and we went down to business.First I lifted the kids out and took them to a safe distance before coming back to help the boys.I was invincible when it came to the rampo's bite but the two were not.I had to be the one in the front lined to make sure the two never got hurt.we had a plan to put some diesel into a can where I was to then carefully take it down into the rampo's layer and light a match.I had a better idea.I went down there with all the diesel and I poured some of it on the creature while it was still asleep.I held it down long enough to light a match and in as much as,it tried to bite me it couldn't.The place went all bright with the burning hot flames and I kept adding more and more.The rimpo's body deed it best on healing but I couldn't out heal the inferno and after a while it was burning uncontrollably.I watched it burn to ashes as I sang a "country roads" it was time someone gave the creature a taste of it own medicine.It had to feel how its victims felt every time it made the stupid tunes.

I realized my mistake later after the fire had died down.I should have removed my clothes before going in.They were burnt out and I was naked.I had to go out covered on by my wings , feeling embarrassed a and ashamed of the situation.I had leave the boys there for a while as I went back home to get some new clothes.I then came back for them and together we headed out to try and convince the kids to lie.The grandma was not a problem since she had lost her hearing and her eyes were too weak to have even see the thing that grabbed her.It took us a few hours to convince the kids that they saw wrong and it was a man who had them held captive.Once their stories were straight we let them go home and we also went home ourselves.It was still a little bit dark and the kids could not identify us as they tried.They were still too scared and too confused to even tell people apart and that was good business for us.We saved the day.Little did we know that was just but the beginning and there was more on the way.

Peace came back to the village.Parents were happy to have their children back.The police claimed to have caught the culprit and even though we knew they way too far from even seeing the crazy being responsible we were glad people had stopped believing it was the rimpo.My father came and we had fun for the remaining part of the holiday.It was quiet and peaceful I loved the little heavenly corner that was my village.I swore to take care of it from the shadows till the end.On the eve of the new year we took our flowers and went down the river to celebrate the year and put away the sorrows it had brought to us.

We all had a lot of things to say and regret and be proud of.Tom went first, he bagan with the thankful flower, then the regrets flower followed by the achievements flower and lastly the complaint flower." This year I am thankful for you two and Duke and a little bit Ophie.It have not been the best year ever but I managed to get into my dream school and I took my friends with me.I am thankful for being much stronger, much wiser and much knowledgeable.I regret having known the world of magix, letting Azzy drag me into it and most of it all seeing Ophie in his true form.As of my achievements.I have added myself another year.I will be starting the second year of studies on january and still have my friends with me.Still fighting together, pushing forward hard and still in unity.Oh where do I start with the complaints.I hate that I have to fight to keep the world alive.I hate that Azzy is the angel of death and she no longer have a human body.I have a lot of things to complain about but since it's getting late I will have to carry them forward.I preserve them for next year.I only hope that the coming year will be easy on us," he had said.

John was the next an just a usual he had no much to say.He never carried a complaint flower even thought he had way too many complains to tell about.He had with him a thanful flower, a regrets flower, achievements flower and lastly a hopes flower."This year i am thankful i left home.I am also thankful to be alive for i am thankful for everything both good and bad.I regret being soo unbeleving to a point I had myself possessed by Asmod and he used me to hurt people.I regret not having tried my best to be a good friend and a good person.But I promise to work on that from today onwards.As per for my achievements, I have learned pretty much important lessons.I have learned to believe, consider others and be there for them.I have learned about the world of the magix and I have played a part in keeping the world safe.My hopes for the coming year are simple.I hope to help much, much more in making the world a better place.I hope that I will have the strength to stand strong and learn to believe in others as well as myself," he said it was my turn now.

I had a thankful flower, a memories flower a hope flower and an achievements flower."I don't have much to say.I am thankful for the time I have spent with humanity to learn with them, laugh with them and cry with them.I am thankful for my friends both new and old, I am thankful for who my dad have become.I hope I am going to continue being humane.I hope I will keep on learning and helping the world in all the ways I can.About memories.I still remember my mom and a all her loving and caring personality.I still miss him every day and the fact that I am not allowed to go to the silver city and pay her a visit hurts me a little.I know however that she is in a better place and that gives me the strength to keep going.I also remember my tiny body.I know I couldn't keep it any longer but I miss it.Living in a world where I can hear everything but not feel any thing about it.Or that I can live with the water and the wind and not feel their touch is saddening.Living in a world with all sorts of food but not being able to feel its sweetness is unimaginable.You served me well.About the achievements.I don't have much but I am looking forward to saving the world.That will be my one true achievement," I concluded we then put our flowere in the river and watched them float down the river.That was our most valued tradition and not even a rampo could stop us from hosting it.

The holidays would soon be over and we were to be on our way back to school on January fourth.Before then we had new years celebration and planned to spend the day with my father talking about work and school and life at large.I had not spent much time with him yet because he was too busy looking after his wife and I couldn't stop him.She needed him more than I deed and I understood.I single day with my father was however not too much to ask.That evening I would go to church for an overnight new year celebration mass that we call "kesha".The following two days i planned on doing the things I knew I would miss doing.