[ WP ] Centuries after human beings leave Earth behind , a lone wanderer travels the land . He is tired , injured , and lacking purpose . He is the Horseman War , of the Apocalypse That Never Came .

They got Famine first. Didn ’ t take much, really. Just a little human decency. Damn humanitarians and philanthropists, going on and on about how they could eliminate human hunger in their lifetime, how all it would take was a little push, how human kindness could prevail among all this agony. And finally, after years, they did it. With GMO ’ s, with infrastructure, with urbanization and industrialization, they systematically killed Famine. We all watched him waste away. Irony was n't lost on any of us. None of us had really been close, but it was only ever the five of us, and it was a long road. Guy had always been a bit uptight. So thin-skinned, honestly. We ’ d have buried him, except there was nothing but dust and ash by the time he was finished. Had to bury his scales instead. They had me carve out a headstone for him, on the roadside. Don ’ t know why they had me do it. I ’ m damn near illiterate. 
 
 Pestilence was the next to go, as the road wound onward. He had a good run, all things considered. But he hadn ’ t ever recovered from vaccination, and penicillin really did a number on him. Sure, he had his upswings, but everyone could tell his days were numbered. We were all just kinda surprised he beat out Famine, if I ’ m being honest. Didn ’ t slow him down, make him any less cheerful. Sure, his days were numbered, but he kept going right on down the road till the bitter end. Must ’ ve been cancer. He ’ d always been proud of that particular creation of his. Still. They got it eventually. Wiped it out, along with every other disease, imperfection, and abnormality, and him too. His horse just gave out one day. Crushed him under its rotting body. Not that his was any less rotten, mind you. We left the corpse where it fell. I tried moving him, honest. He just kinda fell to pieces when I tried, though. 
 
 Conquest never strictly died. I didn ’ t like the guy much, personally. Felt like he was stepping on my toes a bit too much. And he was a massive inconvenience to keep around, since him being there meant one of us had to stay behind. It was the Four Horseman, after all. Stubborn bastard. Couldn ’ t change a damn thing about himself, never budged. One day, he ’ d just stopped. He always sat up straight on that white horse of his. Ramrod straight. But he slouched, and his bow fell from his hand, and his crown fell from his head, and he just stared at the ground. We -being me and Death- figured that was around the time they ’ d seen everything, been everywhere, and done everything. I wish I could say I missed him more. 
 
 The last stretch of the road was hard. I didn ’ t think I ’ d make it. Death... I don ’ t know what Death was thinking. There ’ s a reason for that phrase, y ’ know. Silent as a grave. Still, the rest of us had always seen him for a leader. He was the end result of all of us, y ’ know? When we found out we could... stop, we all figured he ’ d be the last to go. After all, what ’ s War without Death? We saw the end of the road. And I reached the end of it. There knelt a beggar. Old, wizened, clothed in drab rags and odds and ends. He said terrible things. That they ’ d done it. Immortality. Life eternal.That they ’ d abandoned earth, a barren wasteland, and spread across the infinite, yet known cosmos. That they fought, and bled, for nothing. There was no longer any consequence, so why settle for peace? Why not fight and squabble over meaningless items, until the bitter end of everything. The beggar was the last of the Earth. The last to die. And so, Death lifted him up on his pale horse, and rode into the sunset. Hell had not come. There was no end times. Only War now. 
 
 I wandered endlessly, purpose fulfilled. There was War. There would always be War. I wandered the earth. The forests had burned, the seas had dried, the earth turned to so much glass. Still, I guess I can be happy. I ’ ll live forever. Me, and the countless like me. 

