Orchestra of Death

Pain sucks.

No really it does. Especially when you don't know why your in pain. One moment I'm with my sister on a hunting trip, the next my head feels like it's about to explode.

I was laying face first on the ground, groaning in pain from the headache. Slowly, I pushed myself into a kneeling position and looked around. What I saw defiantly was not what I thought I was going to see. There was nothing but a featureless black void. Every which way I looked only lead to more black. Panic was starting to set in when another being made it's presence know.

"Greetings James"

A shiver traveled up my spine at the voice. If I wasn't panicking then I certainly was now. I turned around as I jumped to my feet. Before me was a tall, menacing, cloaked figure with a BIG scythe. The figure pulled a slip of paper from somewhere inside the black cloth and looked at me with an amused smirk.

"James Fredric Hindenburg. Six foot ten, cropped blonde hair, jobless, philosopher by nature, more curious than any cat could ever try to be, anger management issues, and loving brother to six. Not the kind of person who normally ends up here instead of Purgatory." The being stated with slight interest in his voice.

"W-who are you?" My voice cracking as I spoke. I had a fairly good idea who I was standing before. The figure was silent for a moment before removing his hood, revealing his ashen skin looking me straight in the eyes.

"I am Death"

I was paralyzed. This just wasn't happening. It Couldn't be....

"But, How? I can't be... There's no way that I'm...." Death's face grew into one of confusion before growing sympathetic.

I fucking hate sympathy.

"But you are. Follow me young one, for you lived a peaceful life." I just stood there looking at the void below. Death waited patiently for me to follow. I didn't even look up from the ground.

"Show me."

Death sighed and waved his scythe to my left. I looked there and saw a swirling pool of color. I walked up to the portal and saw me and my sister hunting in the woods. We were just chatting as we were headed for the tree-stand when a gunshot rang through the air. The other me was sent flying into a tree as his brain painted the old oak red. My sister screamed before she was shot as well.

Death was about to close the portal but I raised my hand to stop him. Two more figures had shown up and I could tell they were local thugs. They laughed at our bodies and stole our rifles. They treated my sister's corpse like a trophy and pissed all over mine. Anger like I had never known built in me and I needed to destroy something. How I wished I was still alive so I could torture those sick and twisted Necrophiliacs.

"James. We must be going."

"No." Death stopped and turned to me.

"No?" I snapped. My fist rammed straight into the portal shattering it like glass and shot Death a glare that could compare to the ass beating I gave him in Dante's Inferno.

"NO! I REFUSE TO DIE! SEND ME BACK THIS FUCKING INSTANT SO I CAN RIP THOSE BASTARDS LIMB FROM FUCKING LIMB!" Death grinned and I have to say it would have been the most unsettling thing ever if I hadn't already witnessed my own death not two minutes ago.

"If that is the case, then I have a proposition for you." Death waved his scythe and the void turned into a stage. Orchestral instruments of all kinds lined the seats and stands as I looked around. Turning back to Death, I saw that he had changed from his cloak into a conductor's tuxedo, and switched his scythe for a baton. All the while, skeletons filled all but two of the seats as if ready to perform.

"If you do not wish to go on to paradise, I can grant you a new life as one of my agents." I found the deal to good to be true. Who wouldn't want to grab at a chance of escape from death's grasp? Anyone like me, that's who.

"I don't plan on losing my life because of some necrophiliac gang-banger so I have to ask, What's the catch?" Death's grin grew wider.

"I figured you would say that. There are many really." The skeletons in the violin section of the seats vanished leaving only two violins in there place. "One..." He gestured with his baton to the violin on the left "...is that I can not send you back to your world for your body, as you saw, is rather uninhabitable." The violin shattered with a flick of the baton. I was staring at the pieces as they lay on the floor while Death continued.

"Secondly, you will not be human afterwards if you accept, you will be turned into a Wraith." Wraith. I had heard of those before, but I can't remember where. "And lastly you will be sent on missions when I give them to you. Other than that you are free to do as you please." I wasn't completely happy about this, but I had already fucked up my last life. Prom was a good example of that. In the end (Literally) there was only one choice.

"Alright. I'll do it."

Death clapped his hands together and the remaining violin started to glow in a rainbow light. "Good, but I must warn you traveling to the new world and your transformation into a wraith will be quite painful. Oh and before I forget, you'll develop powers that are unique to yourself. and take these." Death pulled something from both his pocket and tossed them to me. I caught one in each hand giving Death a deadpan stare after looking at what they were. He had tossed me a pair of pistol grips. No barrel, hammer or trigger, just the grips. Each sporting engravings and a pair of holes.

"Those are your Wraith Weapons. Just say "Active Wraith Gun" and you'll see what they can do. Now just grab the violin to head on out." I walked up to the violin. The rainbow of colors it was giving off warmed me to my core. I couldn't help but smirk at the irony of the situation.

"Mom always was complaining that I needed to get a job." I grabbed the violin and started to play. the strings gave off no sound and the most beautiful thing song I ever heard as I was engulfed by light. I began falling as the light surrounded me and the violin disappeared.

AND HOLY FUCK HE WAS RIGHT ABOUT THIS BEING PAINFUL!!!

My body felt like it was lit on fire after being dunked in alcohol. This was the most painful thing I had ever agreed to! Ever! Of All TIME!

The worlds history was flooding my mind. Women and children, Slaughtered. An entire civilization, reduced to nothing. Screams flowing from every direction possible. I screamed along with all those souls when I couldn't take it anymore, passing out as my vision faded to black.

~The Symphony Has Begun~

I woke to find myself standing in a desert. There was a small town in the distance and judging from the history lesson I just had it was called Appleloosa. I took a step forward when a red scarf made itself know to me. I looked at myself instead of the scenery and found that I had a new wardrobe to go with the job.

Just so you know what I look like now I'll describe. Black, long sleeve shirt with a silver outline of a cross dominating the front and back; Tan cargo pants and steel-toe combat boots; Two gun holsters on my sides with the pistol grips somehow not falling out; Black, finger-less, plated gloves; and finally a ragged, torn, red and blue scarf around my neck, like Dastan from 'The Prince of Persia'. The scarf was smooth like silk but when I tried to rip it the thing might as well of been steel.

"Actually it's made of spider silk." I jumped as I turned to face Death standing next to me with a smile on his face. "Golden Orb-weaver to be exact. Very rare here in Equestria."

"Would you PLEASE not do that again." Death just chuckled.

"Now I know you just got here but I have a mission that needs to be done soon and the other Wraiths are a bit preoccupied in Manehattan." I wasn't really paying any attention to what he was saying as I was trying to get over the shock of him suddenly existing next to me. He pointed to some caves in the cliff face in the distance. "The targets are located in that cave over there. They are low level spirits so even a novice like yourself shouldn't have too much trouble. As soon as the mission is complete I'll send over someone to properly train you." Death turned to leave but stopped to look over his shoulder.

"And I let Dante win by the way."

"Wait what?" Before I got an answer, Death left in a way that I cannot describe. It wasn't a flash, or a poof, he just disappeared in less time than it took me to blink. I turned back to the cliff and sighed.

"Well, I guess I better get a move on." The walk to the cliffs was a long one, so I decided to see what my new toys could do. Pulling out only one I held it out in front of me.

"Wraith Gun Activate!" Blue tendrils shot out of my right arm and connected to the holes in the grip. Blue light poured out of the top and formed into a cobalt Desert Eagle. I let out a whistle at the craftsmanship of the handgun. even had a lion engraved into the sides. Then an idea came to mind and I pulled out the other gun. It activated automatically as I grabbed it, but with the difference of color. Instead of blue, the gun and tendrils in my left hand were red. That, however, wasn't what I was thinking of.

"Wraith Gun, Rapid Shot!" With that the twin pistols turned into a pair of TMPs. I just laughed at how cool this was. "Okay, that's enough goofing off. It's time to get to work." I deactivated my weapons and started running for the caves. While running, my mind kept drifting to one thought no matter what I tried to think of. Just how was I running this fast? This was stupid crazy levels of fast.

The caves were directly above me after a couple of minutes. A one liner was perfect for the moment.

It's show time."

"Grrrrrr... Just..." I was hanging from the face of the cliff by a branch.

"Gotta..." The cave was up and to the right from my current position.

"Grab..." I found some footholds but was having trouble reaching the next one.

"Rock......" I grabbed it and started to pull myself up when the rock gave way. I barely hung on to the branch as I started dangling.

"DAMN IT!" I was pissed and at a loss. I was just hanging there, swaying in the breeze. I was about to see if my weapons had a grapple function when I heard a southern accent from above.

"Ya need some help there partner?" Looking up at the cave I could see a yellow pony with a orange mane staring at me. The most ridiculous part of the entire spectacle was the stetson and vest he was wearing.

"NO I DON"T NEED ANY HELP! I CAN DO THIS ON MY OWN!" I started swinging on my branch while making vain attempts at grabbing the ledge to the point was swinging my arm wildly. The pony just raised an eyebrow and smiled awkwardly. My branch started to give way from the cliff and I grabbed onto it for my life... err... Unlife. The pony reached behind himself just as the branch gave way and I began to fall. I screamed for about five seconds before I felt a tug on my right leg. Looking up I saw that the pony had lassoed me and was pulling me up.

When the pony had gotten me up I huffed while turning away. "Didn't need your damn help..."

The pony just chuckled "Yer welcome." We just sat there for a while before he spoke up again. "Names Braeburn."

"I'm James." more silence floated around for awhile.

"....Ya mind me askin' ya a question?"

I decided to humor him. "Shoot"

"Why were ya tryin' ta climb up a cliff face when there was a trail right there?" I looked past the pony and sure enough there was a sloped path that snaked up the side to the top and bottom. I stared at the path before curling up in a ball at the corner of the caves entrance and cried.

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