Nicarus

THE NEW HORSEMEN (NOVEL)

The New Horsemen (1st cover).jpg

File:The New Horsemen
Author	Nikolai Swartz
Language	English
Series	The New Horsemen
Release number	1
Genre	Fantasy/Action
Media type	Hardcover/E-Book
Website	[https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0775QMMVV KDP eBook - The New Horsemen

The New Horsemen is a fantasy novel written by Nikolai Swartz and self published on Amazon's KDP, that borrows biblical influences and Greek Mythology characters, such as the Moira Sisters and Charon, The Feiryman. It is intended to be the first book in a three part series.

SYNOPSIS

Billions of years ago, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse were created to maintain the balance of power between the gods. Their ranks consisted of War, the fire rider, Conquest, the water rider, Famine, the sand rider and Death, the dark rider. They were led by Justice, the Leader and seeker of truth. He had the ability to sense evil and had to signal when it was time to start the apocalypse. But the evils of man corrupted him and as a result, he began slaughtering humans indiscriminately. His four brothers stood together to stop him, but when they couldn't bring themselves to kill him, they instead created purgatory, a seperate realm that would hold the corrupted horseman for all of eternity, where he was forced to judge the dead and send them to their proper locations.

In modern times, Warren, a nerdy kid, is forced to run from his bully, Victor, for talking to his girlfriend. In the process Warren manages to anger Seth as well, a silent goth that everyone avoids. The chase leads them to the school library, where they meet Faith, the school geek who spends all her free time in the library. She tells them that they are the reincarnations of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They refuse to believe her at first, but when they witness a mysterious figure murder Faith at the end of the school day, they come to accept the truth. While trying to understand the events that led to Faith's death, Warren and Victor are teleported to a cave on an island by Seth.They reluctantly follow the goth to a room at the end of the cave. Here they meet the Moira sisters, mystical beings who are in charge of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Through a series of visions, they show Warren and Victor the original horsemen and how they had to stop Justice.

After accepting that they are the New Horsemen, they begin their daily training with Charon so that they can be prepared to face Justice, the mysterious man that killed Faith.

After weeks of training, Warren finds that he's not learning as fast as the other two and this starts to bother him till he eventually gives up his abilities, deciding to be normal instead. A few days later Seth, who is the Horsemen Death, is confronted by Justice. A fight ensues but Justice is eventually victorious and kills Seth.

Days later, Warren is bothered by his bestfriend, Luis and his crush, Kim, not being at school, as they are siblings. Unable to leave the school premises due to heavy police activity, Warren instead sends Victor, who still has his abilities.

Victor discovers that Kim has been kidnapped and immediately concludes that Justice is behind it. He goes to speak to the Moira sisters who tell him that Justice sent out a challenge and is waiting for him in the CBD. Before he can go to the location, Warren insists on going with despite no longer having his powers and convinces Victor to agree, despite protests from Charon.

They meet Justice on a rooftop, but he throws Kim off of the roof. Not thinking, Warren dives after her. Upon catching her, his powers returns and he summons his horse for the first time and takes Kim to safety. In the meantime, Victor fights Justice. Though they seem evenly matched at first, Justice reveals that he wasn't fighting seriously. He quickly overpowers Victor and eventually kills him.

Warren senses Victor's death and decides to challenge Justice himself. Charon tries to talk him out of it, saying he's not ready, but the sisters agree with Warren instead.

After spending the night with Kim, Warren goes to fight Justice. During the fight, Charon appears to Warren with an offer. He explains that a sacrificed soul is even more valuable than the soul of a horseman. He tells Warren that Hades is willing to trade Kim's soul for the three souls of the other horsemen. Warren refuses to accept the deal and Charon accuses him of dooming the human race before leaving.

Warren continues his fight with Justice, who proves too strong and too skilled for him. With victory in hand, Justice instead decides to brag about his superiority and his successful vengeance, saying that he wants to savour this moment. The distraction allows Warren enough time to get his sword and deliver the killing blow.

Warren returns to Kim's home to find that she is dead. He returns to the cave and confronts the Moira sisters about Kim's death. They explain that they were betrayed by Hades who decided to take her soul anyway and is still treated like a sacrifice because the offer was made.

Warren promises to save her and the other horsemen before riding off despite Charon complaining about the rules.

CHARACTERS

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• Warren - A socially awkward teen who finds it difficult to accept his new abilities. He is the horseman [War].

• Victor - The high school jock and star of the rugby team. He is dating Kim and is bothered by Warren talking to her. He becomes the horseman [Conquest].

• Seth - A goth that became silent and depressed after the death of his parents and his girlfriend. He becomes the horseman [Death].

• Faith - A socially awkward but greatly intelligent teen who spends the majority of her time in the school library. She's the horseman [Famine].

• Charon - A greatly powerful being who is forbidden from interferring the affairs of the horsemen and humans, but is granted permission to train them instead.

• Moira Sisters - The three powerful sisters of fate. They saw the return of Justice and was forced to the horsemen.

• Justice - The deranged former leader of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse that escaped from Purgatory in order to kill the rest of the horsemen of the Apocalypse.

• Kimberly - The girlfriend of Victor and crush of Warren.

PUBLISHING

After months of trying to decide how to get published, Nikolai decided to go with self publishing and found [CreateSpace]. Through CreateSpace, he published his book on Amazon.

He started teaching himself Photoshop skills in order to design his own book covers.

NOTES

The inspiration for the story came from a game called Darksiders and the anime series Avatar: The Last Airbender. He would latter decide to mix the Horsemen of the Apocalypse with Greek Mythology. Though he was uncertain how much of each side would influence the story.

DISCREPANCIES

The mythological characters that the Moira are based on are actually known as the Moirai. This was initially a typo, but Nikolai decided to keep the error in the story.

Charon, in Greek Mythology, is seen ferrying the dead across the rivers Styx and Acheron. In The New Horsemen, he is instead helping the Horsemen and trains them to fight.

SOURCES

1 KDP eBook - The New Horsemen

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