Waiting for the song to end
The world was spinning along as worlds are wont to do. There wasn't anything particularly special about this world. It had land, oceans and life. People lived, loved and died, and after they died, well no one really knew, although many thinking folk, and some unthinking folk, tried very hard to pretend they did. People didn't hang around after death either, they had the good decency to just be dead quietly. The point is, things were as normal as things could be in the grand scheme of things. Then The War happened and things became a little less than normal.
Music has now become the most important aspect of the world. For it is from music that the newly discovered magic has come. Not only that, music is now the only way that those who have died can pass beyond. Souls now roam the world, existing only as sound that must be played in order to take their place in the universal song. At least that is what they tell us. There is no doubt to the power that is produced when playing a soul, however. Skilled musicians are now much sought after, and musical prodigys are a prized commodity.
Then there's the needle. A giant needle which descended upon the tallest mountain in the world. Again, the souls tell us that, once part of the song, they must pass through the eye of this needle in order to "Transcend".