Chapter 41: The Contracted Spirit

The next day, Emily just thought about the boy that came to talk to her last night in that open lot. Who was he? She was so sure he would be more older than how he looked back then. What power? Her mind pondered the possibility that he might be someone not of this world. He did say that he was from a different plane of existence.

"Is there any other planes of existence from where we are?," Emily asked her guardians.

"Only the spirit realm, which we can see, the spirit world and the void, dearie," Macy said.

"What are they?," Emily asked.

"Well, you see. The spirit realm is a place we cannot see with our eyes, but us blades can see the plane here on our world when a spirit starts going out of control. It is paired to our world, but we cannot see it, but they can see us," Macy explained. "The spirit world is a world separate from ours where happy spirits go to live out their miserable lives so they dont have to come bugging us here on Earth. It is our job, as blades, to send them there."

"What about the void?," Emily asked.

Macy just stopped and turned to her.

"The void is a place where the bad spirits go to suffer for what they have done. They are disgraceful spirits that love attaching themselves negatively to this world. If any of them come down to Earth, there would be dire consequences...," Macy said.

Tonight, Emily had a plan. She wanted to go back and ask the boy exactly where he is from and what he meant. She was so determined that she wrote out everything that she was going to say to him. She practiced talking in the mirror of her room and knew what she was going to say.

When night fell, she snuck out while everyone was asleep. She quietly opened the front door and gently closed it. She looked down the block to the open lot that was missing the house. She quickly rushed over to the open lot, checking around herself to see if she was followed by her aunt of uncle. She stepped onto the open lot and looked around. All that could be heard was the chirping of crickets in the night and the bustling traffic of the city. This lot had a magnificent view of the city behind it, which seemed a mystery to her why no one has built upon the land. She gazed around the empty lot.

"Ni?," she whispered into the cold night trying to not wake the neighbors on either side. She sighed and sat on a rock.

"Three days time...huh...," she said to herself in depression of Ni not being there "I was under the impression that he would be here even the next day..."

She just looked around and sighed as she wrapped her arms around herself because of the chill of the night air on her skin. The cool air gave her goosebumps as she sat. She stood up and started to leave. Then, all of a sudden, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see who was there, but there was no one. She backed up hearing the dirt slide beneath the bottom of her shoes. Her skin started to crawl. The streetlights then started flickering as she backed out of the lot. Her wrist started glowing white in an ancient lettering. She gazed at her wrist as she felt a chill run up her spine.

"W-wha?," she said as she touched the white lettering with her fingertips. All at once, she felt something around her change. She was face to face with a beast with giant red eyes and sharp fangs. Its body was long and slender like a snakes that wrapped around her. On the sides of its body were sharp claws that stayed close to its body. The monster's skin was pitch black like it was drenched in shadows. It breathed on her and let out a blood-curdling scream. Emily froze with fear and terror at the sight of this monster that had her trapped. She couldn't escape. She was too scared to call for help, and too scared to move. The thing raised its upper body up with its seemingly long arms as it sunk its claws in the ground. It jerked its head back slightly and spat at Emily. Before it could hit her, however she was knocked to the ground. The monsters spit missing her, she lay on the ground. She gazed where the monster spat and it seemed almost like acid as it unnaturally ate away at the asphalt in front of her.

She gazed up more and saw a boy, about her age, staring back at her.

"Ni!," she shouted as she jumped to attention. She stood on her feet and looked at Ni.

"You should probably avoid the spit. You could easily lose a limb from it," Ni said looking at Emily and then at the monster.

"What is this?," Emily asked Ni.

"That beast, right there, is a spirit," Ni explained.

"A spirit?! That?! But I thought that they were peaceful and...you know...human?!," Emily said with severe confusion and fear while trying to understand what's going on.

"Yes, they are...unless they feel any negative emotion. If that happens, they turn into monsters like this," Ni said.

"Negative emotion?," Emily questioned.

"Anger, sadness, fear, etc. This one is angry. You kept stepping on his territory," Ni said.

"The open lot?!," Emily asked frantically. "That is ridiculous!!"

"So then, you have the option...let him live on Earth or send him to the spirit world, because he looks like he wants to attack," Ni said pointing at the monster.

The creature lunged at Emily but before it could bite down on Emily, Ni kicked its head to the side.

"Well...?," Ni asked Emily.

"S-spirit world...?," Emily responded in uncertainty.

"Alright then," Ni said, handing Emily a scroll.

"W-what is this?," Emily asked in confusion.

"It's a contract scroll. Open it and spill some of your blood into it," Ni explained.

"Contract scroll?," Emily asked.

"To contract you to a spirit," Ni said.

The monster then lifted its head again to spit. Before it could do so, however, Ni upper cut the monster's head.

"Do it!!," Ni shouted.

Emily opened the scroll and saw that it was completely blank. She then summoned her weapon and sliced at her finger having the blood from her thumb spill out onto the blank page. She then closed the scroll.

"Now what?," Emily shouted at Ni. Before Ni could respond, the scroll started glowing.

Then everything went white.