Summary:
After defeating Abaddon, breaking the Seventh Seal, and severing his ties to the Charred Council, War embarks on a mission to find the rest of the Four Horsemen. He expects to eventually find his brethren. But instead, he happens upon a discovery that will utterly rock him, as well as all of existence, to his battle-hardened core.
Author's Note: My little take on what happens after the ending of the game. To be honest, I can't wait till the second one comes out in 2012. So until then, this'll satisfy my Darksiders craving. Please read and review - I would greatly appreciate it if any body does. Thanks and enjoy.
In the distance, a battle raged.
Atop his high perch on a cliff overlooking the flat plains, War, one of the Four Horsemen, observed the conflict from afar.
Since his return to Earth, War has learned much over the course of a few weeks. After freeing Samael and returning his power to him, the demon made himself scarce.
'Undoubtedly, being the demon that he is, Samael is probably plotting his return to the world,' War thought to himself.
It would certainly be a feasible outcome. After all, with Abaddon in the guise of the Destroyer now dead, Samael was free to conduct his own operations. War foresaw a good number of power struggles amongst the demons in the future for control of the Earth. But the thing with Samael was that he had power and a lot of it. Indeed, he was almost on par with the Destroyer when he was still around. But with the Destroyer destroyed by War's hands, Samael found himself at the top of the demonic food chain, so to speak. There were others who wanted Earth as well, but they would have to fight their way through Samael and his ever expanding armies first, like any good conquerer.
War however, along with the other Horsemen, would not have much trouble battling the countless demons of Hell. It would be the leaders that would prove to be problematic. Like himself, War's brotherhood was considered a major threat to both Heaven and Hell. Indeed, as the Destroyer put it, all of creation cared little of the fate of the Four Horsemen, especially War. After all, War single handedly decimated the demonic hoards (along with a Hellguard angel here and there) on Earth just to simply clear his name. In fact, to add insult to injury, War unknowingly created an opening for Heaven to make a comeback. It would be quite a while before Heaven can do any major damage though.
But the universal hatred of the Horsemen was not War's only problem now. Since learning the truth behind the premature initiation of the End War, to which the Third Kingdom was completely and utterly destroyed and Heaven suffering a major defeat, War and his brethren have gone rogue.
War's vision, courtesy of the Tree of Knowledge, taught him that the Charred Council was indeed corrupt, as Abaddon stated before his death. While the Council sought to uphold the balance, in which the Council failed miserably, their methods did not honor the balance. With them, the ends justified the means.
'And look where that mentality lead them - me and my brethren leaving the Council. I believe that we were their greatest asset.'
Shortly after the Seventh Seal was broken, War received a message from the others, stating that they knew of his situation and would defect from the Council and suggested that he do the same. If he ever returned to the Council, they would just execute him anyway, despite him clearing his name. After all, War knew their dirty little secret.
And as for War's thought about he and his brothers, it would prove to be accurate. The Council, however, had another secret as well - its very own private army, consisting of an elite mix of angels, demons, and other lesser known beings. But it stood no match to Heaven's proud warriors and Hell's numerous legions. However, the mere knowledge of such an army - one that owed complete loyalty to the Charred Council - was a fact that no one else but the Council itself knew, along with the Four Horsemen. It was a secret army, one that conducted in covert operations. They were more like ninjas than warriors.
And since the brotherhood has now gone rouge, they could potentially lead to the Council's downfall. In fact, War foresaw conflicts with the Council's agents in the future as well. If word got out about a top secret army that obeyed orders without question, then the Council would be on the receiving end of attacks from both Heaven and Hell.
As for Heaven, the defeat of the Destroyer has become a major opportunity. In fact, War has noticed that the Hellguard has been conducting some unusual activity in recent days. Uriel, the leader of the Hellguard, has assembled all remaining angels on Earth to a single point and has not moved since.
'They are holding their position. That is probably where their ranks will be reinforced. It seems that Uriel is trying to open up a path to Heaven.'
War would not necessarily be surprised if Heaven sent several armies to aid Uriel as well. Once again, War foresaw battles with Heaven as well as Hell and the Council. Such a conflict would prove to be messy one, if not a downright defeat, if War was fighting alone.
Thus, with that thought, War reaffirmed to himself that it was crucial that he join up with the other three Horsemen. But this objective has lead to another dilemma for War - he can not seem to find them. For at least several weeks after the fall of the Destroyer, War has conducted a nearly endless search for the others, but has so far found no one. The only sign of their presence on Earth are the destroyed and broken corpses of numerous enemies.
The bullet ridden corpses of Strife's target practice, the unrecognizable bodies of Death's dismembered foes, and the beaten and scarred victims of Fury's violence. All were sure signs of their endeavors.
So that begged the question, who was off in the distance fighting?
From what War could tell, there were a lot of combatants and that the battle was a bit unfair and one-sided. There seemed to be only two factions - Hell versus an unknown faction. There were many demons - literally hundreds, if not a thousand or two, were fighting against...
War couldn't believe his eyes. Only two combatants where engaging what could rightfully be one of Hell's armies - and they were winning. In open combat. They were not hiding, nor doing hit and run tactics. The two were openly engaging the demons.
Despite it being broad daylight, War could not make out who it was. The battle was too far away for him to discern any recognizable features. However, in the distance, he could see frequent flashes of gunfire originating from the center of the demonic hoard. Further off away from the battle, distanced from everyone else and standing on a small hill that overlooked the battle, was the second fighter. Between this combatant and the main group was a literal trail of bodies. Gunfire came from this figure as well. From his position, War could hear the rolling echoes of the guns as they were fired.
The first thought that came to mind was his brothers, but War denounced that theory almost right away.
'Even if they were my brothers, only one of them could be Strife. Neither Death nor Fury wields firearms. So who is this other warrior?'
Judging from the rapid flashes of light coming from the center of the demonic formation, War surmised that figure could possibly be Strife. So who was that in the distance aiding him? A lone angel perhaps? War would not be surprised. After all, the demons was an angel's natural enemy.
But that would not necessarily explain the gunfire. Angels normally never use firearms (other than their own advanced weapons), unless they lose their weapon or their weapon is destroyed in some way. Even then, if they were willing to utilize an old gun, they would have to happen upon it first.
War himself was no stranger to ballistic weaponry. He still had Mercy that Ulthane gave to him and he used it frequently. In fact, he liked the small and noisy weapon. He used it in conjunction with his sword Chaoseater, either softening up his enemies or finishing them off.
In addition, War would sometimes find an old human weapon. He found the human firearms to be interesting (after all, he is called "War") and would use them whenever he found one until it was empty of bullets.
Sometimes, he would find an old, decrepit human military base. Whenever he was in one, he felt like, as the humans used to say, a child in a candy store. The armories were filled with guns of many different designs and War learned that almost all of them worked differently in some way. He was even more intrigued to find that there were many different kinds of firearms, from pistols that looked like smaller versions of his Mercy, to big multi-barreled Gatling guns. The latter of which were, by far, his favorite of them all.
While the human weapons were easy enough to understand how to use, it was the humans' military vehicles that really got him interested and excited. But, he did not know how the war machines worked or how to operate them. What frustrated the matter further was the fact that War did not understand the humans' written language and he quickly learned that there were many different languages as well, which further confounded his frustrations.
So whenever he could, War would spend some time studying the humans' vehicles. He quickly learned that almost all of these machines required a certain type of fuel in order to operate. Once he got the machines running, he learned that, just like firearms, there are many different designs and types of vehicles.
A blood-curdling roar rolled across the plains to War, wresting him from his thoughts.
What War heard was in fact a death cry, as one of the larger demons toppled to the ground. War could see the lone fighter in the center leap end over end off of the creature high into the air, the weapon firing as the figure fell to the ground in almost slow motion.
'I think it is time to see what this warrior's identity is.'
With that final thought, War jumped. It was at least a good hundred feet from the top of the cliff to the surface of the grassy plains. In mid-flight, he used the massive gauntlet on his left arm to grab the cliff face, hoping to find some purchase. He intended to make a series of grab-and-jumps until he was at the bottom, which would either slow down his fall, or stop it entirely so that he could proceed at his leisure. No such luck.
The cliff face was smooth and their were little obtrusions on the cliff to grab on to. So instead of his intended plan, War was now sliding down the cliff face. No matter. About halfway down, War decided on a different course of action.
He let himself fall until he was nearly at the bottom. Then, he kicked himself off of the cliff. Now in midair and in free-fall, he manifested his Shadowflight wings and simply glided to the ground. Right before he made landfall, the dark wings disappeared, their strength currently expended. War fell the last few feet and landed on the ground.
And then, suddenly, the ground next to him exploded in a spectacular display of fire - then War jumped into the flames. But War did not incinerate himself by doing this - a couple seconds later, he emerged from the fire riding atop a powerful horse.
This horse was the steed of the First Horseman, Ruin. If War was a man, he would be a fairly large man. Ruin was even bigger than War. He exhaled smoke and fire from his nostrils, as if he was a dragon instead of a horse. His hooves were on fire. The skin on his powerful and sturdy legs were cracked with veins of magma racing up his legs. Numerous, angry red tattoos adorned his body like scars earned from hard-fought battles. His mane and tale, like his skin, was as black as coal, with the hairs ending in red. And his eyes were the color of a raging inferno. The horse was a veritable firestorm, awaiting on command to unleash its scalding fury.
War grabbed the reins - Ruin, sensing his master at the saddle, perked up, ready for action.
"Ruin," War spoke. "It is time. We ride to battle."
Then, Ruin reared up on his hind legs and bellowed a soul shattering war cry. In the next second, Ruin shot off the mark, racing toward the conflict.
War readied Chaoseater. He could practically feel the angry blade come to life, yearning for blood. Indeed, he will quench the sword in the blood of his enemies and destroy all in his path. And in his wake, there will be pandemonium. In his wake, there will be death.
But above all, there will be War.