Deadly Quest
Chapter 1 Work Problems
By: Major144
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Long ago there was a very powerful being known as Death and he had the job causing and overseeing the different kinds of deaths of mortals as well as collecting their souls and escorting them to the afterlife. Death was a professional and very good at his job, but the job was fairly slow and tedious and there were lots and lots of souls to collect.
Over time, Death grew weary of his job, and he began to develop "scythe elbow" which only got worse as time went by. His solution? To create a company called Death Inc. and assign large portions of the workload to beings called Sorrows. The Sorrows were powerful death spirits responsible for causing and overseeing different kinds of deaths - go and do all of the busywork for him. The plan worked perfectly: the Sorrows collected the souls, and all Death had to do was sit back and stamp the documents brought to his desk. It was a pretty easy gig and it seemed like everything was going well for Death and his company. Death figured with the way things were going he could relax and maybe go on vacation to Bora Bora.
Things however did not go to plan as Death got slowly burnt out as he became subsumed by a tidal wave of postmortem paperwork. You see, once Death got too busy to oversee them directly, the Sorrows let the power go to their heads. They grew arrogant in their positions and began completely ignoring the company protocols to brag about how many souls they could reap. This led to them intentionally flowing more souls than necessary and going well beyond the quotas needed, causing havoc in the living world - and Death Inc. to strain under the workload.
Death sat in his office chair wearing a black hood and business suit as he went through one paper after another stamping them. He had once been a tall and menacing being, but over the years of physical inactivity Death had shrunken in size considerably and was now roughly four and a half feet tall. Death was a tired looking skeleton surrounded by mounds of paperwork and it seemed that no matter how hard or fast he worked the piles just kept stacking up. There seemed to be no end in sight.
The door to the office opened and in walked Death's assistant Pump Quinn with some more papers and a cup of coffee for Death. Pump Quinn was a small humanoid being with a grey pumpkin with two round eyes for a head with a happy face, wearing a working suit. She found a bit of open space for the papers and cup of coffee and set them on the desk. Death mumbled thanks as he looked up at Pump Quinn who had a slight nervous look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Asked Death.
"Brad and the other employees are throwing a party!" Said Pump Quinn.
"Party! I don't pay my employees to party!" Said Death as he felt his temper rise.
Death gulped down his coffee hovered out of his chair summoning his cloak and his scythe to him. The boss was very angry and needed to blow off some steam Death flew out of the office followed by Pump Quinn to an elevator. The two entered and Pump Quinn pushed a button to take them the hall of Hall of Eternity.
Death Inc. was a massive building that looked like a cross between a skyscraper and a castle. The Hall of Eternity marked the entrance of the immaterial world of the Great Beyond. Right now the hall was filled with various partying ghost and undead. Records were playing, dancing was happening, partiers were bobbing for apples, playing pin the tail on the donkey, limbo, doing a conga line, dancing, and eating large quantities of food. At the center of it all was Brad the gargoyle. Brad was a large gargoyle wearing black pants and a opened white shirt. He was dancing around without a care in the world.
"The party never stops!" Laughed Brad.
It was then that the elevator arrived and Death came out followed by Pump Quinn. All the partiers stopped and looked at the two newcomers. Death glared in annoyance at Brad.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Asked Brad.
"I'm the boss. Death." Said Death.
"Yeah right and I'm ballerina! Death is was taller and scarier you pip squeak!" Laughed Brad as some of the other partiers exchanged confused looks.
"I assure you, I am Death. You will stop this party at once and get back to work or else." Said Death.
"Someone is a party pooper. Why don't you just relax and enjoy the party little guy." Said Brad.
"I see that a demonstration is in order. Very well then. I'll just have to make an example out of you." Said Death as he tightened his righthand into a fist.
Death then flew forward and punched Brad in the face and sent the gargoyle flying through the air and through a couple of walls! Pump Quinn stared at Death in awe, while the party goers and employees stared at Death in shock and fear. It really was the boss of Death Inc.! Death turned to his employees.
"Get back to work." Said Death.
All the employees quickly took off and headed back to their offices as Death flew through the hole Brad had made and disappeared from sight. There then was the sound of a scythe being swung and a lot of screaming and shouting. A few seconds later Brad crashed through another section of the wall followed by Death. Brad was battered, bruised, his clothes were torn, and he was missing some teeth.
"Ok...you're the...boss." Groaned Brad.
"Good. Pump Quinn gather the Sorrows, we're going to have a board meeting." Said Death before heading to the elevator.
"Yes sir!" Said Pump Quinn giving a salute.
Several minutes later Death was sitting at the head of a large table waiting for the arrival of the Sorrows. Pump Quinn entered the room with a very nervous look on her face.
"What's wrong?" Asked Death.
"None of the Sorrows are in their departments. I tried to contact track them and they appear to be on the mortal plane. I tried to contact them and tell them to come back to the office, but they refuse to return! The Sorrows have gone rogue!" Said Pump Quinn.
Death just faced palmed at this news. This was just great! In his pursuit to lower his workload Death had created a bigger workload for himself and had put the mortal plane in danger. Death mental cursed himself for not being more hands-on with the Sorrows and making more public appearances around the company. Now the Sorrows were running amuck killing whoever they wanted and in large quantities. Death had to deal with this immediately if he ever wanted to regain full control of Death Inc., put these in working order, and take a much desired vacation.
Death paced back and forth in the meeting room as he thought about his next move. He could go after the Sorrows himself, fight them, capture them, and put them back in their departments with restraints, but that would take a bit of time and would take a good deal of work.
Pump Quinn watched her boss for a few minutes and then she spoke up.
"Why not list the aid of some mortals to hunt the Sorrows down."
"Use mortals to hunt the Sorrows? Don't be absurd Pump Quinn! No mere mortal could deal with the destructive deadly power of the Sorrows!" Said Death.
"Well I might know a trio of young mortals up to the task." Said Pump Quinn.
"And who would that be?" Asked Death.
"Their names are Cuphead, Mugman, and Ms. Chalice." Said Pump Quinn.
"What makes you believe that they are up to the task?" Asked Death.
"Well according to my sources Cuphead and Mugman preformed a big task for the Devil and then the two of them defeated him! After that the two of them along with Ms. Chalice defeated a powerful chef named Chef Saltbaker, who came close to conquering the Astral Plane. From what I have gathered the three of them are powerful and have a lot of fighting experience." Said Pump Quinn.
Death took this all in with interest. It did sound like these mortals would be the ideal beings to send after the Sorrows.
"Alright. Let's go pay them a little visit." Said Death before he and Pump Quinn left the meeting room and headed to an elevator.
Death hit a button and the elevator headed up to the mortal plane.
To be continued.
