//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: Professional Exorcist // by TheWittleScamper //------------------------------// Prologue When a person dies, there soul is sent to an afterlife. They either go to Heaven or Hell based on there karma. If they were benevolent and generous towards others, they go to Heaven. If they were greedy, selfish, and unpleasant sons of bitches to be around with, they go to Hell. This has been the natural cycle of death since the beginning of time. Though, there are moments when the cycle is interrupted. In common cases, a person's soul can be restless. Their spirit can wander the earth and can quite commonly cause a haunting. This is where people like me come in. My name is Daemon Mercer, and I am an Exorcist. I know what you're thinking: I dress up in a Catholic robe and spray Holy water on random things shouting "The power of Christ compels you!" over and over again. No, in fact I do not do that! That is an offensive stereotype that makes us Exorcists look like idiots! But I digress. Basically, my job as an Exorcist is to make sure the restless spirits either go to Heaven or Hell. If the spirit deserves to go to Heaven, I send them there by fulfilling their last wish. (Spirits are usually restless when their dying wish isn't fulfilled.) If they deserve to go to Hell, then I damn them using passages from the Bible and Holy water. The hard part of Exorcist is when facing a demon. These are rare encounters with a servant of Satan that could be disastrous. To fight a demon, we are armed with Holy water, blessed weapons and armor, and certain passages from the Bible, mostly from Psalms. I only encountered one in my lifetime, but there are Exorcist who dedicate there lives hunting down demons. Again, I digress. On this mission, my job was simple enough. There was a haunting that has been reported by a women with the name of Rosalyn Matthews who lived in a lone house in Union, Connecticut. Little did I know how bad it would turn out to be. That afternoon, Miss Mathews and I had coffee. She was a pretty woman, at least in my opinion. Blonde hair, green eyes, perfect complexion. By her looks, I guess she was in her early twenties. She was smart enough to give me photos of the house along with the address, which made my job easier. She also gave me information on the death of her brother who died in the house, which gave me an idea of the spirit I'll encounter. By Miss Matthews's information, her brother, Josh, was a kindhearted man who loved others, gave money to charity, and never did drugs. He sounded like a person who would go to Heaven, but I had to check his karma first to confirm this. There is no better disguise for evil than righteousness. After our lovely coffee break, I told her to come with me to her residence. This brings me to the situation I'm in now. The car is driving silently towards the vacant road to our destination. Miss Matthew's is sitting next to me in the passenger seat, texting away with her cellphone, presumably to a concerned family member. She looks up to me after sending her message. I only see her at the corner of my eye as I stare down the open road, but I still see her smiling nervously at me. "So, uh, why are you taking me anyway?" She finally asked. It was a common question most clients asked me. "Spirits will react better when their family members are around. If the spirit is your brother, then my job will be easier if you talk to him and introduce me." I explained. She answered with a quiet "Oh" before her cellphone chimed again. She ignored it this time to continue asking me questions. "How exactly can you talk to spirits?" "Just like talking to a regular person. Exorcists also have to be born with the ability to see dead spirits to communicate with them without a hitch." "Wait, so you can see dead people?" "Yes." She chuckled a bit. "That's funny." She uttered. She answered the ignored text she received earlier. The trees around the lone road became thicker and thicker as we went. I was staring to get worried about getting lost. "Miss Mathew's, are you sure we are going the right way?" I asked calmly. She looked up from her phone to examine the road. "Yeah, we are going the right way. Up ahead there is going to be a dirt road we need to turn to. Then that trail will lead to the house." She instructed. Sometimes I wished I would get a GPS, but I'm always either too lazy, or I forget to get one. It didn't really matter anyway if my clients knew where they were going. "Thank you, Miss Matthews." "Please, call me Rose." About half an hour of silence later, we made it to her residence. The whole place was teeming with trees. They all surrounded a two story tall house with white paint, black tiles, and a pair of windows on each floor. It was quite a peaceful scenery for a haunted house. I stepped out of the vehicle and made way towards the truck. Rose decided to come with me. I opened the truck, revealing the contents that are inside. Dual pistols laid mirrored from each other in there foam molds. The magazines held Holy water bullets, which are basically hollow point rounds filled with holy water. I took the black weapons, and slid the magazines in until I felt and heard a satisfying *CLICK*. I turned on there safeties before sliding them into holsters in my trench coat, and placing the extra mags in pockets. Next, I retrieved my crucifix, and placed it around my neck. After that, I picked up my staff to use magic spells with. Finally, I retrieved my Bible, and placed it in another special slot in my coat. "Wow. This is nothing what I thought exorcism would be like." She commented. I chuckled. "That's the reaction I get all the time. Come on, let's go see your brother shall we?" I paced myself towards the entrance, and waited patiently for Rose to open the door. She retrieved the key from her pocket, and inserted it into the keyhole. The clockwork locks echoed through the silence of the residence. One the door was opened, I was first to enter. It was cold inside, even though it was in the middle of spring and sunlight was piercing through the windows. The first sign of a restless entity. "Joshua Matthews? If you are here, please respond. I am here with your sister, Rosalyn, to put you to rest." I started. There was no response. "You say something, Rose. He may be scared to approach us, so tell him something about both your childhoods, or other good memories you shared with him." I whispered. "Josh? Uh, it's me, Rose. Your sister. Uh... remember when we were kids? And we use to get Dad so mad by climbing high up in the trees... oh, and that one time when he was so mad, he actually came up to come get us? Josh?" She was nervous, I could tell. I also think she felt quite stupid for believing in ghost and that sort of thing. Something was wrong though, usually the presence of a family member would gain the trust of the spirit, but this one isn't responding. "That's enough, Rose, thank you. I don't think Josh is here though." I said grimly. Her breathing steadily became more panicked. I held my staff in a firm grip. "Invenies!" I shouted. A white flash appeared at the tip of the staff, blinking slowly. It was a spell for finding spirits. I pointed it up the stairs, and the light started to blink a little faster. I climbed up the steps, the light blinking faster and faster. It stopped blinking before I approached a bedroom. The entity was in that room. "Rose, stand back. Whatever is haunting this place is in this room. I don't want you to get hurt." I warned. She backed away from the door cautiously, a fearful expression on her face. I opened the door as quickly as possible. "Alright, spirit. I want you to show yourse-" I was cut off by being kicked in the chest. The impact sent me flying into the wall, and I dented it on impact. "Son of a bitch!" I shouted in pain. Rose was screaming, but stood there in total fear. I was then grabbed by the neck and lifted against the wall. I saw my attacker. It was a man in a suit with black hair, red eyes, and a red tie. It was a demon. It smiled at me as I struggled to release it's grip. I realized that his hands were on my neck, where my crucifix was. I grabbed the cross by the string and showed it to the beast. He screamed in pain as his hand burned, releasing me. I pulled out my gun and shot at him. He dodged every shot. I used the precious time it gave me to recite a protective prayer. "The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want..." His smile faded once I was done reciting. The prayer would hold to save Rose. "Rose!" I tossed her my car keys. "If I'm not back in five minutes, I want you to drive away and press the button in the glove box. Tell the Exorcist that comes that I'm dead." I ordered. She nodded and ran down the stairs. "Now to deal with the demon." I thought. I aimed my pistol at it. "Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed by thy name-" Before I could finish, the demon sent me flying across the hall. "Damn you Exorcist with your holy words." He spoke. He grabbed me again by the neck, raising a claw towards my neck. "You die this day, mortal." His smiled faded when I fired my pistol straight at his heart. "NO! I WILL NOT GO DOWN ALONE!" He shouted as a dying breath. He used a spell and stabbed me with his claw before dying. I was heavily disoriented after that. I couldn't even stand up on all fours. I dropped to the floor, the world spinning around me. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was my own blood. It was another peaceful night in Equestria. The sky glittered like an impressive painting for all to see. Everpony was sound to sleep, dreaming peacefully, waiting for the next day to arrive. There was, however, a storm brewing over the forest known as the Everfree Forest. The forbidden woods was infamous for a lot of reasons, one of them being that it creates it own weather patterns. But this storm was strange even by Everfree Forest standards. The black clouds swirled violently over the trees, before sending a single, yellow bolt of lightning towards the middle of the forest. The clouds dissipated immediately after the lightning touched the ground, leaving the night of Equestria peaceful once more. At least for now.