Silvio looked down on the village, spotting the first signs of smoke curling into the air.

  “You didn’t have to come.” Ryou glanced at him from atop his steed, the flaming horse dancing from hoof to hoof.

  “I know.” Turning, Silvio pulled himself onto his own horse’s back, giving the white neck an affectionate pat. “Shall we?”

  They descended the hillside together, riding toward the town that would never see them. Not because it would be too late - but because they never did.

  Ryou drew his sword, a long flaming segmented blade that elongated into a dual whip with a flick of his wrist. High above his head he bore it, and outward into a roof it went. The brittle thatch caught the hungry flame and fed it rapidly, going up within seconds.

  Slowing, Silvio watched the Horseman of Infernus work. To those who did not understand, he appeared cruel. But the Balance must be paid in blood when needed.

  The sharp smoke stung his sensitive nose, and he shook his head to clear it of the screams of fire. It felt as if everything moved slowly around him, the humans rushing past to get the well. The wails of terror and grief as their homes went up like tinder.

  “Silvio…There are children.” Nex shook her head, her good eye rolling toward him.

  “There always are.” Silvio nodded grimily, pulling his scythe from the shadow of his cloak. It came to him, tendrils of shadow trying to hang on but he shook them off. He hoped to someday master a less messy draw.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  The blade cut through the air, catching souls as their hosts perished. They touched the blade and came to him, each one unique and vibrant in their own ways. He let them nuzzle into his cloak, protected from wandering too far.

  Nex picked her way through the piling flaming debris and bodies, huffing out of her nose.

  “Why here?”

  “This place is failing. Famine would claim them next fall. Those who live will move on.” Silvio knew she knew, but it comforted him to say it out loud. So far, it was not becoming easier.

  A trickle ran up his spine. Someone was watching him.

  His eyes snapped to the left, then to the right, and back again. He almost missed her. Standing between two buildings that were about to collapse on her. The child, clutching a bear in her hands, and looking right at him.

  “Silvio.” It was a warning, but he did not listen. His heels dug in and Nex leaped forward, his hand outstretching toward the girl. The shadows sprang forward, wrapping around the child to yank her toward him.

  He caught her just as the buildings collapsed, roof falling where she had been.

  Nex’s hooves clattered as they scrambled to a halt, and she turned her head to look at him with the ominous red light in her empty socket.

  “That was close.” Nex’s voice echoed as she spoke, in his mind and aloud. She was angry.

  “I just reacted.” The girl clung to him, fists curled into his tunic, breath coming in small, labored gasps, “She saw me.”

  “She was meant to die.” Nex’s words dripped ice, and Silvio nodded.

  “Yes…” Sliding off Nex, he carried the girl to a bucket of rainwater and placed her in it. “Do you understand me?”

  The girl, tears running down her ash covered face, stared upward at him with giant blue eyes and nodded.

  “Good. Stay here. It’ll be over soon. Someone will find you.”

  As he rejoined Nex, she bore him away, scythe in hand. His heart thudded strangely in his chest, the gloves he wore straining against his tight grip. For her credit, Nex did not speak again.

  But he knew he messed up. Who was he to change Fate?