Chapter 42: Nuukuu

White then faded to darkness as Emily found herself standing in a dark room. She looked at her surroundings but she couldn't see anything. It was pitch black no matter which way she turned. The smell of rot and decay filled her nose. She heard whispers surrounding her, followed by a sound in the distance. Almost like a pitter patter toward her. It kept getting louder and louder as it approached her. As the sound reached her, she fell backwards in surprise at the noise, but it stopped just before it got to her.

Emily heard something flick on. Tick, as a single light shown coming down from the ceiling onto her. She couldnt see very far but she could hear something shifting beyond the perimeter of the light that she could see up to. This situation made her skin crawl. Emily's hairs stood straight up as the whispers seemed to get louder. She put her hands up to her ears and they stopped almost instantly.

She removed her hands from her ears only to hear a voice from the darkness that cut through the silence. This voice was high and creepy.

"A girl, huh? Come to be eaten...?," the voice said.

Emily said nothing. She froze in fear. All she could do was look for where the sound was coming from.

"Uh...n-no...I have come to...to...to...make a contract...," Emily responded.

"Contract?! Ha! With you? Dont me laugh little girl. You will be chewed up and eaten alive by us...," the voice said.

"U...us?," Emily asked in fear.

"Yes us," said a slightly lower voice than the one before, "do you even know where you are right now?"

The scent of blood filled the air. The light above Emily then flickered and then went out. Emily tried collecting herself. She tried calling for her blade but it was no use. She couldnt summon it. The pitter pattering noise then started again but sounded like it got further away.

In and out, in and out, in and out, in and out...all Emily could do is breathe. Her heart started racing. Her palms were sweaty from clenching her fist. Blood dripping from her cut on her thumb.

Then, a click. This time the whole room light up. Emily took in her surroundings and what she saw left her horrified.

Blood leaked down the walls of this room. The floor was covered in blood with random organs scattered around the room. Steel hooks hung from the ceiling with dead bodies skewered on each hook. Each one of the bodies on hooks bled down to the floor below. The whole room was red and reeked of blood.

Emily's eyes gazed up the wall until she saw a giant catapillar gripping onto the wall just staring at her. Its face was like a human's but all pale and it had a creepy smile going across its face. It seemed to scream at Emily and jump down, hitting the ground with a loud thud. It then moved toward her. The pitter patter of its legs as it moved closer and closer. She jumped and moved out of it's way as it hissed at her. She fell on her back.

As Emily collected herself, she saw behind the gigantic catapillar, on the wall, was another gigantic catapillar as big as the first one, but this one was different. Its face was like the first one, but it had a frown on its face. The other catapillar leapt from the wall it gripped onto and landed with a thud.

The two catapillars stood side by side and turned their head to each other. It seemed like they were whispering to each other back and forth. They then stopped and gazed at Emily. They then started circling her. They were like snakes after their next prey as they fixated their gaze onto Emily. Emily tried to get a glimpse of at least one of them but she couldn't keep up. They then spoke as they were surrounding her.

"What are you called little girl?," asked the catapillar with the creepy grin.

"E-Emily...," Emily responded.

"A leaf blade? What are you doing here? I thought you hated spirits like us...," said the catapillar with the frown.

"You two are spirits?," Emily asked.

They then stopped in front of her and gazed at her. They fixed their vision on each one of her little movements.

"Of course, little girl. Where do you think you were?," said the catapillar with a smile. "This is a spirit plane for contracted spirits like us...I am Nuu and this is my sister, Kuu, and we make up the contract spirit of emotion, Nuukuu."

"N-Nuukuu?," Emily repeated.

"Yes, we are beautiful are we not...," Kuu said.

"You are both...catapillars," Emily said.

"Then you are not mature enough to see our true forms, can you. You are dead where you stand girl. It's best to go home before we tear open that pretty face of yours," Nuu said.

"Ooh, I wanna feast on her bones," Kuu replied.

"Wait Kuu...you know the rules...the lady needs to make the decision if she wants to contract with us or not...," Nuu said.

Emily looked up at the hooks at the ceiling with bodies on them.

"...w-who are they...?," Emily asked.

"People that wanted to contract with us...," Nuu said.

"They couldnt handle our power...," Kuu said.

"So we skewered them...," Nuu said.

"Yea, skewer them and hung them out to dry to drink their sweet nectar...," Kuu said.

Emily took a big gulp and swallowed hard as she gazed at the bodies above her. She looked back at the catapillars.

"I need your help...my friend might be in danger and he said that u can help me be stronger...," Emily said.

"Stronger? Puh, dont make us laugh. If you are not stronger already then you will get eaten alive...decide wisely, little girl...," Nuu said.

Emily thought a moment but then decided.

"I want to form a contract," Emily said as she put out her hand.

The catapillars then put one of their legs out to touch her hand.

"We will see if you can handle our power...," Nuu said.

"If not...we could feast on you...," said Kuu.

"In due time...," Nuu said.

Then everything faded to white.