Not Again...
'Ok. What's going on here?! Huh?! Now I'm kidnapped by some giant insect to their den underground or whatever?!' Sky complained inwardly, completely fed up with all the unfortunate things that had happened to him so far. There was only so much he could take!
Suddenly, the insect popped its head out from one of the giant dark tunnels leading out of what Sky assumed to be the main den, dropping a very dead looking animal coated in some slimy liquid that seemed to sizzle on the animal's skin by Sky's feet, as if telling him that it had prepared dinner or something… Sky could only smile awkwardly, watching the centipede once again disappear in the darkness. At least the centipede made an attempt at hospitality right?!
Meanwhile, the centipede was in a good mood (as much a good mood as a gigantic centipede could be in). It had finally acquired a very amusing little pet for itself to play with when it was bored! Sometimes it would get bored being all alone deep underground, by itself in the dark tunnels, but now, it had some weird fleshy pet that seemed to shriek funnily everytime it came close to it. How amusing!
Each day, the centipede would return to its main den to see the fleshy pet known as Sky scramble around the room in fear whenever it appeared, much to its amusement. The centipede also seemed to notice that on the walls and the ground there seemed to be random lines and circles and the like randomly carved on the soft dirt by the fleshy pet with a stick that it managed to find.
So, the days went on, with the centipede continuing to watch the fleshy pet do things that seemed completely foreign to it with an almost childlike curiosity. Yet, with each passing day, the heap of charred animal corpses in the room only seemed to grow larger and untouched, the pungent smell wafting through the air.
Days went by, and the fleshy pet seemed to be getting weaker and not being as amusing… It would just lay there as if it was lazy or something, without moving, while squeaking something quietly. It was even refusing to eat the thoughtfully prepared, sizzling (in the wrong way) hot meals that it generously provided! It was probably just going through its rebellious phase…
A week or so passed, and its condition did not get any better, and finally, the centipede noticed something. One day, after the centipede had left its main den, it had a premonition. A terrible premonition that it would lose something important if it were to not return to the main den. Scurrying back to its den, the centipede charged in, only to find Sky just as he was starting to prepare to venture into a specific tunnel that he had been through many times before. That's right. In the time that Sky was trapped, Sky had been investigating all the different tunnels and where they led to, and after a week, had finally set up his plan to escape, only to be thwarted by… a centipede's intuition? Upon seeing Sky's attempt to escape, the centipede grew furious, screeching at him, causing him to cover his ears and cower in a corner. The centipede, seeing the pitiful sight, felt something stir within it, before brushing it off and curling up into a ball, drifting off to sleep. But ever since that day of Sky's attempted escape, the centipede had already made up its mind. It would not let Sky out of its sights. Never again.
Ever since that day of his failed escape, Sky noticed that the centipede seemed to almost never leave him alone anymore. It would encircle its massive body protectively around him, making sure he wouldn't be able to escape while it was sleeping. Yet with each day being trapped in the damp, cold, lonely, and dark den of the centipede, Sky felt his sanity once again being slowly chipped away at, much like water slowly chipping away at stone over time, not to mention the horrid stench of the decaying animals that Sky, with no other option, had to consume lest he die of starvation.
The centipede noticed this, seeing how Sky seemed to move less and less every day, stumbling about in the dark, his skin already papery and pale. It seemed that its fleshy pet was reaching the end of its life span. The centipede screeched at the thought. It wouldn't allow its pet to escape! NOT AGAIN.
It lunged at the weakened Sky, its mouth open, planning on devouring him. After all, if it couldn't have Sky, no one could have Sky, not even death itself. Yet, at that moment, something miraculous happened. Sky, feverish and emaciated, was starting to hallucinate in what could be his final moment on earth. He envisioned Skadi in front of him, her arms outstretched in a hug, smiling at him warmly, her eyes conveying the words she would always say to him.
'Welcome home.' He reached out his arms feebly towards her, planning on reciprocating her hug, only to touch the hard and smooth surface of the centipede's exoskeleton. Yet in that feverish state, that didn't register for him, and he planted his lips, right on the centipede, before finally passing out, his body falling weakly towards the centipede… 'Skadi…' Those were Sky's last thoughts before all went dark.