Mandy looms over the defeated Grim, with the contract at hand.

Mandy:
According to our agreement and this binding contract, you now surrender your scythe and all its powers to me. Tough luck, bonehead.

Grim:
Mandy, no! Stop! You really shouldn’t take the scythe! It’s for your own good and I mean it! Don’t do it!

     But Mandy wasn’t listening. She turns her attention to the scythe, picks it up, and delicately runs her fingers across it. The scythe recognizes the touch of its new owner, as Mandy can feel the scythe’s aura gently flow though her. She marvels at the tingling sensation at holding it and the flawless gleam of the sickle as it glints in the daylight. She feels so excited with her new lethal toy that the tingling continues and grows, creeping all throughout her small body.

     Eventually, Mandy feels something is wrong. The tingling has become painfully unbearable, as if jolts of electricity are coursing through her nerves. Her eyes widen in shock, and she panics as she realizes that she cannot let go of it. Soon, the scythe begins to glow faintly and winds start to stir around her. Barely containing the pain, she screams out loud.

Mandy:
WHAT’S GOING ON???

Grim: (shaking his head)
I tried to warn you, but you insisted on having it!

Mandy: (snaps at Grim)
Grim! You know something! What are you trying to pul.. AAAAH!!!

     The winds continue to blow and pick up even faster. Now the scythe glows further and forces Mandy’s hands to hold it in a straight, upright position. Mandy gasps as its blade turns sharply towards her, as if it’s looking at her in the face. She hears an inhuman voice ringing about in her mind.

Voice:
FOOLISH CHILD! YOU DARE MEDDLE ABOUT WITH MATTERS THAT DO NOT CONCERN THY MORTAL LIFE?? DOST THOU HONESTLY BELIEVE THOU POSSESS ME? ‘TIS I WHO ACTUALLY HOLDS THY LIFE NOW!

Mandy: (angered)
What?? Listen you, I OWN you! You belong to ME! I had a contract with Gri…

     But before Mandy can finish, an even more powerful surge of energy jolts throughout her body. Mandy screams out in agony. She is in so much pain that she cannot argue anymore because she can’t stop clenching her teeth together.

Voice:
HOW DARE YOU DEFY ME, THOU INSIGNIFICANT MAGGOT! YOU HATH INDEED NO IDEA THAT THOU ART IN THE PRESENCE OF AN INSURMOUNTABLE POWER! ALLOW THY ARROGANCE TO SPEAK ONCE AGAIN AND IT SHALL BE YOUR LAST!

     Mandy remains silent and listens in disbelief. Never before has she felt the unholy presence of something so powerful, that for once in her life she is quivering in fear. Though her stern mind refuses to let her tears to roll, she cannot summon the strength to hold them back. Evil as her nature may be, a greater evil of overwhelming magnitude lies before her, and she is clearly powerless against it. By now, the pain has become so intense that she doesn’t fear she might die, she actually wishes she could die to stop the pain. And for the first time in her life since she was a newborn infant, short sobs actually escape her lips and she cries out, pleading for mercy.

Mandy:
F-forget the contract! You still belong to Grim! And he’s free! I don’t want to keep him against his will anym…

Voice:
SILENCE!

     Mandy shudders. Her tears refuse to stop rolling and she looks around for help. Her efforts are in vain however, as she sees that Grim and Billy appear to be frozen in time.

Voice:
HEAR THIS, NEW BEARER OF THE SCYTHE. ‘TIS NOT ENOUGH THAT YOU POSSESS THE WEAPON IN THY HANDS. THOU MUST PROVE THY WORTH BY SHOWING THOU ART CAPABLE OF CONTROLLING ITS POWER. FAILURE TO DO SO OR REFUSING TO COMPLY WITH THIS NEW RESPONSIBILITY THAT WEIGHS UPON THY SHOULDERS SHALL COST THEE THY LIFE, AS THOU SHALT BE DEVOURED BY THE DARK FORCES THAT INHIBIT THIS ACCURSED RELIC! PROVE THY WORTH, AND THOU SHALT BE REWARDED WITH UNIMAGINABLE POWERS. FAIL, AND DEATH SHALL COME TO THEE!

     Having said what it must, the scythe once again becomes a silent weapon. The wind has died down and the tingling sensation has stopped. Mandy drops down sitting on the floor, having broken into a cold sweat as she realizes what she had gotten herself into. A look of shock and disbelief still leaves her eyes wide open.

     Mandy is trying to recover from the shock. Then she suddenly snaps out of it when she realizes Billy is once again animated to life and is now looking closely at the scythe.

Billy: (admiring the scythe)
Cool! Wooow, it’s really yours now! Hey Mandy, can I play with the scythe when you’re not using it? We can play hockey with it, and we can play golf with it, and we can slice cheese with it, oh-oh, we can slice pizza with it!

     While Billy continues to act the fool, chattering all sort of gibberish about how they could play with the scythe, she turns to Grim and demands that he clarify everything.

     Grim tells Mandy all about how he started out. He too, experienced the exact same thing. And he has paid for it with his life. But by a strange twist of fate, he did not die an ordinary death, but was granted immortality and was burdened with the task of being the conductor of souls. He was more concerned with the evil nature of the scythe towards its bearers than Mandy’s selfish desires. Grim has paid for his greed and thirst for power, and now Mandy faces the same fate.

Mandy: (lost in thought)
…

Billy: (crawls up to Mandy)
…and we can go fishing with it, and we can mow the lawn with it, and…

WHA-PAAK!

     Mandy delivers a good, straight punch to Billy’s face, and he drops out cold on the ground. Grim shakes his head.

Mandy:
What do you know, I’m feeling better already.

     As bad as her new life sounds however, that is not the end of Mandy’s problems. With the passing of the scythe to a new owner, the word travels quickly across the underworld. Everyone is shocked and cannot believe the news that the new bearer of the scythe is not only a mere mortal, but also happens to be a little girl.

     For those who did want to believe the rumor, they now want to rise to the surface and see this girl for themselves, and snatch the scythe from her hands. Mandy now has to realize the true responsibility for having the scythe and the price she must pay for her greed.

==End of the First==

That’s it for now! Thank you so much for reading! ^_^