Darksiders: The Abomination Vault Read Online Free Page A

the walls of reality parted, as ephemeral as cobweb and just as readily swept aside. The barren world on which Death had made his home fell away, less palpable than a forgotten dream, and they were elsewhere. Or, more accurately, nowhere.
    Above and all around them were swirling currents of white. Not white mist, or cloud, or haze; just
white
. Calling it “nothing” lacked accuracy, as this was no absence, but a
presence
. It just happened to be the presence of emptiness made manifest.
    The only real substance wound below them, a snaking trail of reality on which the beast’s hooves trod without sound. Held steady and solid by the power of the Horseman’s will alone, it was quite literally a path between worlds. The rolling whiteness around them muffled sound, offered little sensation of motion—but here, distance had no meaning anyway. The journey from one reality to the next would take as long as it took, and not even Death truly knew why.
    The tedium afforded him the opportunity to think on what had happened. It wasn’t necessarily an advantage.
    Eden
. He could have gladly gone until the end of time without ever again hearing the name Eden.
    A garden realm of wonder and beauty, peace and plenty. Set aside ages ago for the sole use of a people not yet born—by the express command of the Creator Himself, in an earlier age when He still occasionally deigned to speak with His creations—Eden was quite possibly the nearest thing in any reality to a true paradise.
    Perhaps it should have been no surprise to anyone, then,that the Nephilim—caught forever between demon and angel while belonging to neither; a lost and vicious race—had attempted to annex it for their own. It was the last world they ever invaded, the end of their reality-spanning rampage. Many of their corpses still rotted beneath the surface, feeding all manner of ancient power into the soil.
    It was a past that Death would have been quite content to leave buried, and gradually forgotten. Apparently, someone out there didn’t feel the same.
    The horse abruptly tossed its rotting head, uttering a spectral call somewhere between a whinny and a moan.
    “Yes, Despair.” Death flicked the reins idly. “I
am
paying attention, and I know precisely where we are. I’m not about to get us lost.”
    The creature—Despair—whickered with blatant skepticism.
    “If we’re not there shortly,” the Horseman offered, “I promise I’ll let
you
take the lead.”
    A final ghostly snort, then silence once more.
    Briefly. It was only a few moments later that the billowing pallor surrounding them began to waft away, thinning to reveal the first signs of an actual realm. Despair’s hooves began, once more, to make muted
thumps
in the dirt.
    Dull patterns of shape and color, very much like blots of dyes and paints not yet dried, slowly resolved themselves into towering trees and heavy brushwood. The light forest stretched from its bed of gently waving grasses toward an azure sky so bright, it was almost painful. The gentle gusts of wind were practically unnoticeable, at least as compared with the world he’d just left, and high, piping birdsong filled the air.
    Only for a heartbeat or two, of course. The wildlife fell unnaturally silent at the approach of the Horseman and his half-dead mount—presumably because they were busy scrambling to fit themselves into the tiniest of hiding spots.
    Beautiful and bucolic, but certainly
not
Eden. Nor had Death expected it to be. The garden was isolated from the boundaries of Creation as defined by the Tree of Life. Not even the Horsemen could simply enter at will. No, like any other traveler, Death had to wend his way through ancient forests on unclaimed worlds near the heart of reality, until he located the single trail that allowed ingress to that most precious domain.
    The first signs of unrest, when he finally came across them, were not difficult to spot.
    Entire swaths of trees had fallen, cut down by potent magics and