The Story of Headless Horseman

'This dark, stormy night, will be the last one I will ever see, as I get dragged into the guillotine, with my trusty steed, Blackstar, thrashed as to get free as he was taken to the executioner. Why is this all happening, you ask? Well, let's recap to that one fateful day...'

Flashback

'It was a bright, sunny day I had just woken up to. I had everything a man could ever wish for, a mansion, wealth, riches, maids, a butler, charm, and many more. But, even with all of this, what were most important for me were my great friends and loving family. I was beaming at the day outside of my window.' "Good morning, Matthew!" a man greeted me from behind the gate of my mansion "Good morning, James!" 'That was James, one of my closest friends. Yes, my name is Matthew.' "Be right there, chum!" 'I then went down to the gate so Matthew can come inside, when I was greeted by my wife who seemed to have woken up far earlier than me' "Morning, deer!" she greeted me happily. "Morning, Cassandra!" I greeted her back. "Where are you going now?" she asked. "To the gate to welcome in James." I answered. "Right now? But you just woke up! Come, let's have breakfast with the kids first." she demanded. 'Ah, yes. That's my wife, as always.'

We went down the stairs to see that, my son, Arthur, and my daughter, Jessica, were already at the table, waiting for us. "Good morning, mummy and daddy." my daughter greeted us. She was only four years old but she could already speak in full sentences! "Well, let's have breakfast now, shall we?" my wife said. We had a nice breakfast, healthy, full of vitamins and that kind of stuff, and we talked a little while we ate. Anyway, after the breakfast, I went back out the gate to greet James inside. "Sorry for the wait, James, my wife compelled me to eat, you know how she is." I explained to him. "Oh, don't worry about that, I understand." he said, and we laughed a little to it.

"So, you've been here loads of times already; why don't I just show you the kids?" I told him. "That would be lovely." James answered. I called the kids to come here and meet their uncle James. They seemed so excited to see him again, it made me happy to see my kids having fun with one of my friends.

I then showed him to the stables, to show him how much my horse, Blackstar, has grew. "Wow, he seems to have grown a lot since I've last seen him." he said, amazed. "Yep, he's definitely grown much. He's also much faster in running now!" I told him. 'Blackstar, one of those that I cherish most in this world, next to my family and friends that is. It would be devestating if something were to ever happen to him.' "Do you, would you mind if I try to ride him?" James asked. "Sure, why not? He's been with you long enough to trust you." He seemed to be happy with Blackstar. He rode him for a while until they both got tired.

Hours have passed, and James had to go. My kids were a little sad because of it, but I told them there's always next time.

I was just walking around town, when I seemed to have stumbled upon a deserted segment of it. It seemed to creak frequently, and there were many bats that would fly out at you if you come near them. I though to myself that I should get out as soon as I could. But, then, I heard a loud noise. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" I heard a loud scream, it seemed to come from a girl. I tried to trace the sound to the source, and, luckily, I found it in an alley, though I regretted doing so soon. There was a body of a dead woman, it was bloody all around. And near her was a man with a knife in his hand, who was panting and seemed confused. "Who's there?" S-stay back!" he pointed his knife at me. "I am Matthew Evon. Do not kill me." I told him with my arms up. "Explain to me what happened." I said. "Al-alright." we as down and he tried to explain why it happened. "I didn't mean to kill her, I-I only tried to take her money and planned to use my knife to threaten her," he said. "You tried to steal from her and threaten her with a knife?" I asked, shocked. "Y-yes. I-I never meant to kill her, she was going to report me to the authorities, I couldn't just let that happen, so, I tried to stop her in any way possible at the moment, and, I had my knife, so, I-I..." he tried to explain, his voice seemed to show that he didn't mean it; he was stuttering and pausing. "If it was truly not your fault, then do not worry about it. If you're ever tried in court, I'll explain that it wasn't intentional. I'll do my best to help you if that day comes." I reassured him. "T-thank you." "But still, stealing is wrong. Do not do it again." "O-okay." "Now, I advise that we get out of here immediately before anyone sees us near the dead body." I told him. "Y-yes." "By the way, what is your name?" I asked him. "It's, it's..." "You don't need to tell me if you don't want to." I said. "Al-alright." "Farewell for now, I hope the next time we meet this doesn't happen again." I told him. He nodded and waved back.

A few weeks later, I received a notice to appear at court. "Court? For what possible reason would they need me?" I thought out loud. "I don't know, dear. I was just given that letter without being said anything." My wife stated. 'Well, I better just go there and see what they need me for.'

I went to the court room on my horse, and, much to my surprise, the person that accidentally killed the woman was there. "Are you trying him out in court?" I asked the judge. "No, he is here to give what he has witnessed in the killing of Miss Rose from a few weeks ago." He told me "His name is Stephen Lance." "Ah, carry on then." 'Maybe I shouldn't say that he didn't do it intentionally for now, they may try to get him arrested.' "It was, it was..." the man started to stutter. "Yes, who was it?" there was a long pause before the man could speak. "It was...him!" and he pointed towards me. The crowd was shocked at this accusation, including Blackstar, even Stephen was surprised at what he said. "Him? Matthew Evon? Are you sure?" the judge asked. "Well, it wasn't exactly him, it was really his horse, James never did anything except to try and stop the raging horse." the man said. My horse was shocked at this the most. 'That little...I offer to try to not get him thrown in jail and this is how he thanks me?' "Could you please explain what happened?" "Well, it was an ordinary day. James was just riding his horse in the park, but then, there was a woman that greeted them. For some reason, the horse just went mad at her. He started to bite her, hit her, and, lastly, trample her." he said. I got even angrier now. "Judge, would you really believe this ludicrous story?" I asked. "Silence! Witness, do you have any proof?" the judge asked the Stephen. "Here, this piece of cloth was from that woman's clothing the day she was murdered." he presented a piece of cloth that really looked like the one the woman was wearing that day. "It's been chewed off of her dress, and that horse did it." he tried to say. "We have no evidence if that really has been done by Matthew's horse. Do you have any other evidence?" the judge asked. It didn't seem like he really had any evidence. "There's this..." he pulled out another cloth with a horseshoe mark. "Is that honestly the horseshoe mark of Matthew's horse?" the judge asked. "You can see if it fits yourself by placing it under one of the horse's hooves." Stephen asked. I was enraged with all he tried to do to accuse my horse. "Alright, guards, place this under one of the horse's hooves." the guards did so, but I tried to convince them that Blackstar was innocent, though they still tried to see if it fitted. To everyone's shock, it did fit! "James, since the horseshoe mark fits your horse's shoe perfectly, it would be safe to assume it really was your horse that did it." I got even angrier now. "It was him! He killed Miss Rose a few weeks ago! I saw him!" the crowd was a bit more shocked now. "Do you have any evidence to support your story?" 'I-no." I put my head down. "Very well. It seems that your horse must be brought to the executioner." the judge said. "Executioner?" "Yes, Blackstar will be sentenced to death." "No, I can not let that happen." I went on top of my horse and I tried to make a break for it. I looked at Stephen one last time before I left, he seemed to be ashamed of what he did. The judge was talking to him, and looked like he was tying to reassure Stephen that it would all be alright.

I was able to make it into the forest after a while. We hid there for days, I was troubled much, I was never used to this, living on the outdoors. I got weak and could barely eat. Soon, the guards found us and took us to the guillotine in the middle of the town. Everyone in town was there, even my family and James, who could hardly believe my horse would do it and also tried to convince the judge that he really didn't. Stephen was there as well, though he was barely watching; he had his head down. They had many tears and much sadness visible in their eyes. My children were the ones who cried the most, my wife tried her best to keep them calm, but she knew it was hopeless.

"Matthew Evon, as punishment from running from the law, you will be sentenced to death by the guillotine." the judge said. I was too weak to do or say anything now. "Any final words before we do so?" the judge asked. "Yes," I turned to my family. "Take care." and they dragged me to the guillotine.

End of flashback

'And that's how it all happened. From a lie by the true culprit. I looked at my family one last time and saw that they were all devastated, the kids weren't even watching. I wish I could do something to get back at Stephen.' and so, I was decapitated by the guillotine while the executioner killed Blackstar.

I spent weeks in my grave, and I would do so until the end of time, until, during a dark, stormy night, a dark voice spoke to me. I appeared in a dark room where the only light was the one shining on me. "Matthew Evon, is it? Killed by the law because someone falsely accused your horse and got yourself in the way by protecting it?" "Yes, how did you know? Wait, who are you !? How are we even talking if I'm dead?" "I am someone that wishes to grant you power. Your hatred makes you a great choice for a higher minion, and being able to keep that hatred makes you a very ideal minion.And for your other question, we are speaking with out souls, souls do not die with the body." "I do not plan on serving anyone." "Oh? But don't you at least want to get back at your killer?" "Yes, I do, but..." "I'll make you a deal. I will revive you, and, if you want the power, you will join me." "Alright, I accept."

The dark room disappeared, and I could feel my soul raise. My body could move again, but he didn't revive me with my head. I had black and brown armour on, and it seemed to glow green from where my head should be. It seems that the person, or if that even was a person, gave me an axe as my weapon. And it seemed that my horse was revived as well! I was on him, his eyes were glowing green now, and seemed to be full of hatred. I felt great, power coursing through my veins. I told Blackstar to try and find Stephen, his hooves clashing against the wet ground below. Before long, we found him asleep at his house. It was an old, broken down house. It didn't look like he door was locked, so, I opened the door and went inside. I held my axe above Stephen's neck, but, before I struck it down, I decided to wake him up first. "Wake up, Stephen." he woke up instantly from my call and began to scream loudly. "Oh, well, I'll just let you go back to sleep now. For eternity." and I struck my axe down onto his throat. It seemed that my axe had the power of fire in it; Stephen's body began to bun as did his head.

I went back outside, his burning head in hand, and placed it on the ground. I kicked it away and laughed maniacally. The voice from before came back. "Did you enjoy that? Would you want to keep that power?" "Yes, I want to keep this power." "Good, now all you have to do is sign this contract." a piece of parchment appeared in the air. I signed the parchment without even reading it, wanting to keep the power forever now. In mere moments, I could feel great power coursing through my veins. "Good, now, come with me, I have a little surprise for a certain town in a few days..." a portal opened up, and I went inside it.

I was transported to another town, it seemed like they were getting ready for Halloween. "This is your new home. Enjoy it. While you can." and the voiced trailed away in a silent laughter. I looked at the place for a little while, and thought out loud, "So, this is Solace, is it? I will enjoy causing mayhem here. HAHAHAHAHHAHAAHAHA!"