Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph1 Ch7: Mantis Traitors

Mono stood beside the knight, as the mantises drew near. Once close enough, the mantis on the ground trust forwards, swiping at the two of them. Mono and the knight leapt away, and struck the mantis with their weapons. But the mantis leapt upwards, and then slashed down at the knight, striking it. Once the mantis landed, Mono made sure to finish them off as a punishment for hurting his friend.

But now that the first mantis was down, they had to deal with the two in the air. The two mantises swiped, and discs of hot, white energy emerged from their claws. Mono leapt over the discs, and then rushed towards the two mantises. He swiped at them with his ladle, but the were out of his reach. The mantises swiped again, with two discs headed right for Mono. He jumped out of the way, and the knight leapt up to the two bugs, striking them with its nail. Following the knights example, Mono leapt up to the mantises, and slammed his ladle down on one of them with full force, crushing it as a burst of orange goo came from it's body. The knight jumped up to the last mantis, and finished it off with its nail. The two paused to take a few breaths once all mantises were defeated.

"What were those?" Mono asked the knight.

The knight pulled out its journal again, and showed Mono two pages. One was titled, "Mantis Petra" and another was titled, "Mantis Traitor", with pictures resembling the very bugs the two just fought. Mono read about them for a while, then turned to the knight.

"Did you write this?" he asked it.

The knight shook its head.

"Wait, if you didn't write it, then who did?" 

The knight flipped to the cover of the book, and showed Mono the title. Mono was in shock as he saw the title, "The Hunter's Journal."

"You got this from the Hunter?" He asked, in shock.

The knight nodded.

"But how? I was so sure I killed him. I literally shot him with a gun!" Mono yelled.

The knight tilted it's head in confusion. It was clear to Mono that the knight didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

"Wait, did you get it from someone who wore a sack over their head?" Mono asked, thinking he knew why the knight was so confused.

The knight shook its head, and Mono got his answer. 

"Sorry," he said. "It's just that there's someone I know called "The Hunter" so I assumed the hunter you were referring to was him."

The knight shrugged, and put the journal away. They both walked forwards, now with the gates opened up to the path ahead. They walked into an area covered with thorns, and these weird flying bugs that were covered in moss. Mono drew his ladle to fight them, but the knight put its hand on the ladle, lowering it down, as if it was telling him that these bugs weren't too much of a threat. They climbed down the area, making sure to avoid the thorns, and to avoid the little mossfies. 

Once they got to the bottom, they found themselves in a room with a few bugs that were also covered in moss, but this time were similar to the corpses that Mono saw in Deepnest. The knight drew its nail, and advanced towards the bugs. Once it got to close, thorns came up from the moss on the bugs, and shot out in all directions. Mono and the knight avoided the shooting thorns, and the knight defeated the bugs with a few swift strikes from its nail.

Mono started to walk forward, but the knight held him back. At first, Mono was confused, but then saw thorns stick out from the corpses of the bugs. He smashed the corpses with his ladle, and the two continued ahead.

They came down into another room, filled with dropping platforms. Mono made sure to be quick in getting from one platform to the other, to make sure not to fall into the thorns underneath them. Suddenly, a mantis petra appeared in front of them, and flung its discs towards Mono. before they could hit, the knight jumped in front of Mono, taking the blow instead.

Mono was about to check on the knight to see if it was okay, but they had stayed on the platform for too long, and it dropped. Mono fell onto another platform, and decided he'd better find solid ground. He leapt across the platforms, avoiding the mantises discs, and found a ledge where he could stand without fear of getting dropped into thorns. He looked back up at the mantis, and saw the knight leaping towards it, defeating it with its nail.

The knight made their way down to Mono, and looked to see if he was okay.

"Are you alright?" Mono asked. "You got hit by that disc."

The knight nodded, but Mono still felt like they should find a way to rest, and heal up. Suddenly, the knight crouched down, and a white energy spiraled around them, as their wounds began to heal.

"Are you okay?" Mono asked again.

The knight nodded, this time with full honesty. Mono felt relaxed now that he knew his friends was okay, and the two started climbing down to the ground. When they got there, Mono almost fell into the thorns, but the knight caught his hand, and pulled him up. Mono then got a flashback of him and six venturing through the forest together. He leapt for her hand, and she caught him, pulling him up. His memories then traced back to the signal tower where he leapt for her hand again, but this time she dropped him. He snapped himself out of the memory, not wanting to relive that horrible experience again, and followed the knight. He was very glad to have it as his friend, and he was especially glad that it hadn't let go.

The two made their way through the gardens, and found themselves in an elevated room. They worked together to climb up, and found themselves in a place Mono did not want to be. A place where all of his nightmares started. A place where everything could've possibly been prevented. A place he never wished to see again. They were standing right in front of the Hunter's house.

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Alright! I have another burst of motivation, so I'll be writing these chapters pretty often. Thanks again to all of you who have been reading this, I honestly did not think I was going to get this far.

And here's a thank you to KayteeVern for adding my story to their book list, that honestly means soooooooo much! See you next chapter!