The Elusive Fifth Horseman: Tell All on the End All

December 21st, 2106, AD

John’s old place, Patmos

Attendees: INT=interviewer (has elected to remain anonymous), P=Pestilence (interviewee), W=War (interviewee), F=Famine (interviewee), D=Death (interviewee), T=Time (interviewee)

Camera Operators: Peter (Camera One), James (Camera Two), Andrew (Camera Three)

*Original video released under the “End Days Diatribe” publication; transcription sent unprompted by someone referred to as “The Final Century Seer.”

×

[0:00 – video opens, C1 close-up on Interviewer’s face.]

INT: Hello and welcome back, I’m [inaudible 0:02] with the End Days Diatribe, your premier news source on these our last days on earth. You’ve heard of the Four Horsemen, the original harbingers of the apocalypse. We know them well: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death.

[0:16 – C3 close-up on the Horsemen, seated.]

But what if I told you there was a fifth? A member forgotten and ignored for centuries. Someone who perhaps you might already know. Also joining me today, reunited with his brethren for the first time since their explosive falling out: Time.

[0:29 – C2 wide-shot, seated from left to right: Pestilence, War, Famine, Death, and Time.]

INT: First, I’d like to thank you all for being here today.

D: Thank you for having us.

INT: Has it really been since 95? That you’ve all seen each other?

F: Yes— 

T: —actually, Death and I get together once a decade or so.

[0:40 – silence]

D: …for work.

INT: Right, [turns to Time] it’s been millennia, and you’ve never agreed to an interview before. What changed?

T: The world is ending.

INT: Yes.

T: And when it’s all over, I’ll still be here. These other guys? They’ll be out of the job. Their destruction will be their destruction. Even Death. But me? Time goes on. Always. Even if there’s no one around to tell it.

W: [scoffs, mutters] So fucking full of it.

T: Sorry, I didn’t catch that.

W: [louder] I said you’re fucking full of it, considering your usual work ethic.

T: That’s rich coming from someone who— 

D:  —maybe we should— 

F:  —Jesus Christ not this again— 

INT: So, some hard feelings still, from what I’m gathering.

D: [dryly] How could you tell?

[1:17 – Famine, War, and Time continue to speak over each other]

INT: Perhaps, one at a time might be better?

D: Yes, I think that may be best.

×

[Clock ticking]

INT: Do you hear that?

T: Hear what?

INT: That noise… the ticking.

T: I don’t hear anything.

INT: Really?

T: I have no idea what you’re talking about.

×

[2:43:09 – C2 wide-shot of the room; James is now in front of his camera, sword through his chest, pinning him to the floor. His eyes are wide and sightless. Blood is leaking from the wound and his mouth. Peter is still behind C1, but he can be heard wailing in the background. The room is otherwise untouched and somewhere a clock ticks.]

×

[1:32 – C2 wide-shot]

INT: Thank you for joining me.

P: …

INT: Uh…so, tell me about that day. What went down. Was this a simmering pot or a powder keg situation?

P: …

INT: Was—was that not clear? I mean…um…[coughs]…was it a brash decision to let Time go, or was it a long um…time coming?

P: …

INT: I wasn’t trying to make a joke, I [coughs] I promise.

P: [Flicks a fly from their ear.]

INT: Okay, who’s next?

[1:59 – Pestilence rises from their seat and leaves the room; Interviewer scratches at her arm.]

×

INT: How does it feel to have been part of one of the most infamous cooperatives in the world, with none of the credit? I mean you’ve practically been erased; I can’t imagine that feels good.

T: [annoyed] I don’t know if I’d say erased.

INT: What would you call it? I couldn’t find any mention of you in Revelations, which is pretty telling.

T: John didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, [mocking] ‘seer’ please. You want to know why old Johnny left me out? I’m a construct, I wasn’t material enough for his little clique.

INT: [pauses] I see.

T: I’ve been working on moving past it, [2:27 – clock ticking] I’ve got all the time in the world after all.

INT: [laughs uncomfortably]

T: But I guess you’re right. It doesn’t feel good.

×

[2:32 – C3 close-up on War]

INT: So, Time tells me there was some…animosity between the two of you.

W: Is that a question?

INT: It’s a prompt.

W: [rolls eyes] Yeah, animosity is a word you could use.

INT: Which one would you prefer?

W: [deep sigh, slouches in chair] Intense loathing, deep-seated hatred…utter disdain?

INT: Care to elaborate as to why that is?

W: [sits up and shakes a finger at Interviewer] Because he’s impossible to work with. Never a straight answer with him. Never a succinct plan of action. He speaks in goddamn riddles. You know one time, way back in ‘94, about a year before we met John, I go and I ask him what the timeline is looking like, because soon enough we’re supposed to be making our big debut, right? The Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And I want to know how soon after Pestilence’s big entrance I can start the bloodshed. And you know what this self-righteous, holier-than-thou, fickle bastard says to me, [mocking] “The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.” [louder] Who even talks like that?— 

INT: Actually, I think that Albert Einstein said that— 

W: — [shouting] it’s the apocalypse for Christ’s sake, it’s meant to happen all at once you dumb fuck—

*Due to the violent and inappropriate nature of War’s extended statement, the rest of his interview has been redacted.

×

INT: I had an…uh…enlightening conversation with War.

T: Did you now?

INT: He had quite a few choice words to describe you.

T: [laughs] That doesn’t surprise me.

INT: No?

T: He’s just so easy to mess with.

INT: [cocks head] The antagonizing route doesn’t really seem your style, from what I’ve observed.

T: War’s never liked me. I’m [drops voice] “too restrictive” and won’t let him [drops voice] “be his true self.” He can’t see past the length of his own sword. If it’s not bloody, if it’s not immediate, then it’s no good to him, fighting and death that is.

INT: That did appear to be the…consistent factor throughout his interview.

T: [scoffs] Exactly. It’s always the same excuses: I’m not scary enough, not brutal enough, my ways weren’t bloody enough, or ruinous enough. I’m too slow. Too boring. Too…merciful. I get where he’s coming from, I do. When you think of the apocalypse, you think of fiery destruction—completely relentless and unforgiving. But War’s a one hit wonder. Once the apocalypse is over, he’s finished. Me? I’m forever. I’m the devourer of all things.

INT: Ovid, right?

T: Yes. Yes, exactly.

×

[4:35 – C2 wide-shot, clock ticking faintly in the background]

F: So, my side of the story?

INT: If you’d be so kind.

F: I don’t think I’ve ever been kind a day in my life.

INT: I think I’d agree with you.

F: [hums] Well…I can’t imagine I have anything new to add to what I’m sure has already been said.

INT: I think you’d be surprised.

F: [sighs] We all existed before John. But he gave us identities beyond the broad notions we were. He gave us our steads and our purpose—that when the seals were broken, we would ride, and bring the final judgement. He named each of us, and gave us our colors. But Time was just kind of there…John could see him, and he could feel him, but he didn’t give Time anything.

INT: Would you say that’s why hardly anyone knows him as a Horseman?

F: Yeah. Probably.

INT: And do you agree with War? That Time was too “weak” per se, to be memorable?

[5:20 – C3 close-up on Famine]

F: I suppose to an extent. We’re all brutal in our ways. Even Death. But Time? He just couldn’t reach the standard. It’s nothing personal against the guy, but how can you compare starvation, plague, the violence of battle, to the simple passage of time? There’s no competition. I’m not saying Time isn’t talented, but the apocalypse was meant to be cataclysmic. It’s fast moving. Final. Emphasis on final. I know what Time thinks, that he’s better than us because he’ll still be here, in the after. But the point, is that nothing exists past the end of the world. There’s just no room for something so…stretched.

[5:57 – silence]

INT: Interesting.

[Ticking continues faintly]

×

INT: Famine implied you were never even invited to become a Horseman. By John, that is.

T: Did they?

INT: [nods]

T: They’re entitled to an opinion.

INT: They also said, disregarding War’s excuses on your lack of prowess, that you were rejected because you could not be final, because you would exist beyond the apocalypse, therefore you could not be considered a harbinger.

T: Like I said, they are entitled to their opinion.

INT: Are you worried our viewers will consider that a copout?

T: No one will remember it. Haven’t you heard? The world is ending.

×

[81:21:37 – C2 wide-shot of the room. The chairs are overturned. The walls are torn and partially demolished, revealing the smoggy air outside. The Interviewer is face down on the floor, dead. A breeze shifts her hair slightly. There is a clock ticking somewhere in the room.]

×

[6:33 – C2 wide-shot, Death taps a pale hand in time to the tick of the clock.]

INT: So…Death. You’ve created quite a reputation for yourself.

D: I created nothing. People have their opinions regardless of what I do.

INT: Is that why you and Time seem to get along so well?

D: Do we?

INT: It sounds as though you’ve seen each other quite regularly over the years, despite the split.

D: Our respective occupations often intersect, [sighs] I wouldn’t be able to do my job right without him. Besides, it’s nice…to see a friendly face, now and then.

INT: And, y’know, personally, how do you feel about the falling out?

D: It was…hard. The breakup was really, really hard. For everyone.

INT: None of the others seem to think that way.

D: [glares] I am not the others.

INT: So, you don’t agree with them then? With their reasoning—for kicking Time out?

D: I tried to vouch for him, I really did. Our ways align more than War and Famine. Even Pestilence for all his quiet wrath. It was always Time’s job, to bring me people when it was…well…time. Whether that time came at the natural end of a lifespan, or at a moment we might call…premature. We’re connected, me and him. Still, [looks down] despite it all I had my doubts. At least with my methods, there will come a final kill. There will be an end to my purpose.

INT: Famine said something similar.

D: That sounds like them I suppose. [7:57 – sighs] I don’t think Time is weak. I don’t. He’s a killer, just like the rest of us. But he’s not a Horseman.

×

INT: Did Death really stick up for you?

T: They really did.

INT: And yet…here you are millennia later—no status, no credit.

T: [narrows eyes] So you’ve said.

INT: You were meant to be equals, and yet, they just cast you out.

T: Listen, [rubs forehead] my ability to do my job has never been dependent on my involvement with the group. Just because I wasn’t a Horseman anymore doesn’t mean I suddenly stopped the clock, [smirks] for lack of a better term. Time never stops, for anyone. Even me…“Hide nothing, for time, which see’s all and hears all, exposes all.”

INT: Sophocles.

T: [surprised] You really know your stuff.

INT: Part of the job, I guess. Why say it?

T: [shrugs] I am part of all. I see all, I hear all, and in return, I too am exposed.

INT: So…not even you can hide from time?

T: Yes. Yes, exactly.

×

[4 Mo. 2 Wk. 17:54:48 – C3 close-up on Time. The room is gone, it’s just nothing. Something is ticking.]

T: I told you.

×

[8:56-9:15 – Credits roll]