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It's called Entropy and ironically it is also responsible for life.

A wall tends to fall apart (and not the other way around) because these individual pieces have greater degrees of freedom (of movement) than the wall itself. Living beings, through their exchanges with the environment, breathing, consuming and excreting, end up increasing the degrees of freedom of the matter in their vicinity.

In more concise words:

"Life, as a highly organized system, exists in a state of relatively low entropy, while the universe as a whole is constantly moving towards higher entropy (more disorder) according to the second law of thermodynamics. It may seem paradoxical, a violation of a fundamental law of physics, but life actually increases the overall entropy of the universe as it utilizes energy and resources to maintain its own order, eventually releasing waste and heat back into the environment."

In short, life ultimately increases movement, transformation, decay, disorder and thus death.

Death and "decay" right? The little dust motes, the stray sock on your chair, the mold in your shower, the grey hair on your head, the new wrinkle near your eye, the new ache in your knee, the yellowing family photos, the moment when you can't quite remember your nephews name.

The little things that fall apart until that one day you just... stop.

Sorta fun related fact, in the original text Death is actually the only one who has a name at all, the rest have just been inferred based on historical context.

See section "the Pale Horse"

Think I found it The prompt itself called him Kyle so not sure which response you had in mind.

This one is the top comment:

Death was the oldest. Since time immemorial, people have died and they have come to him. Mankind fights an endless war against him. Though they may have succeeded in stifling his actions, Death is patient. He knows that in the end, all things come to him.

Pestilence was Death's brother. He brought plague upon the lands. Staining the Earth black with disease and blight. His method of bringing people to his brother was slow and excruciating. However, mankind have begun to stave him off. Disease was beaten by technology and he increasingly faded into irrelevance.

Famine was as old as Death and pre-dated the birth of mankind. He worked with Pestilence to target the source of man's strength, his food and fuel. He destroyed crop and rotted grain. Starvation and a slow path to Death awaited those afflicted by him. However, man stood strong against him. They developed methods to create a surplus of food, too much for Famine to destroy. They developed methods to deflect his hand so that he may no longer afflict the source of man's strength. Thus, Famine, like Pestilence, faded into irrelevance.

War was the youngest. He was smart and cunning. He channeled man's strength against themselves. Conflict and strife became the grounds for which man displayed his strength. Efficient in work, he brought many to Death. However after his most brilliant work, where War embroiled the world twice over, mankind caught on to his cunning. Man made laws and grew to depend on each other. Though they may never fully quell War's influence, they made sure he would never afflict the world so spectacularly ever again.

Death was unhappy. Mankind had defeated his brothers and impeded his work. In his impatience and anger, he consulted his 5th brother, Kyle.

Kyle was a strange fellow amongst the brothers. He was quiet, lazy and seemed to care little for Death's work. He decided that his own birthname was too tedious to pronounce and opted for an easier name. Gaelic in origin, "Kyle" meant "narrow" a strange name for a Horseman to take on.

"Help me Kyle. My brothers are defeated. Mankind may one day defeat me as well. Please help out just this once." Kyle said nothing and merely nodded. He then disappeared off to perform his work.

As Death sat around his bedridden brothers, a miracle occured. Pestilence finger twitched and he his hands grew fleshy. Disease once again spread around the world. No longer as powerful as he once was, but alive once again.

Famine groaned and began to sit upright. Once again, crops wilted and people starved. Famine however, felt something amiss, some of his work was...voluntary. Mankind began to starve itself.

War rose from his bed with new found strength. The gears of conflict shook off their rust and began to turn once again. Innocents die in battle again, widows gained and fathers lost. Misguided soldiers die under authority's whims.

"You revived our brothers Kyle. How did you do it?" Asked Death, impressed with Kyle's work.

"I am Kyle, "narrow", the fourth of the Horsemen. Born with humanity but before War. My influence appeared when the first man decided that he did not need his tribe to survive. Narrow are the minds of humans.

Humans defeated disease with miracle cures. Now some fear that those cures are harmful to them. Let them face Pestilence's wrath.

Humans defeated Famine through piling resources and modifying crop. Now they hoard but never give. They let their breathren starve. Now they feel that excess of food is sin. They willing starve themselves of their source of strength to meet society's whims. Let them suffer by Famine's hand.

Humans defeated War through tolerance, diplomacy and restraint. Now they turn intolerant and unleash violence against those not of their own group. They justify their "Holy Wars" with the blood of innocents. Violence begets violence, vengeance for innocent blood spilled is carried out by the sword. Let them spiral down to oblivion, guided by War.

Narrow are the minds of humans. They do not think before they act. They believe what they want to believe and ignore what they don't.

I am Ignorance. Until mankind is capable of defeating me, they can never truly destroy the Horsemen."

Apologies, I never intended to sound ableist. I see now how my comment came across.

Plus we're changing the climate to encourage its migration north.