Little Dreams and Hollow Nightmares

Ph3 Ch14: Mantis Village

Six watched from behind Mono as the knight ate the mushroom creature. So he wasn't lying, she thought. The knight did have the same hunger as her. This fact made her even more scared of it. She knew she had damaged the knight's trust in her when she tried to convince Mono that it tricked them. And if it didn't see her as a friend, then it would have no remorse for her once it got hungry again. Six started to shake. The very thought of the knight eating her filled her with an indescribable terror.

"Hey! Six, you want some?" Mono suddenly said.

Six looked and saw Mono offering her some of the mushroom creature that the knight ate. She looked back at Mono, and saw him chewing underneath his bag. If Mono was eating it, then it should be okay... but Six didn't want to take anything from the knight.

"No... I'm not hungry," Six replied. "You should have it. I don't think you ate in a while."

She was right about that. Mono shrugged, and took a few more bites out if the mushroom. Once he finished, he looked at the knight, and it continued to lead the way.

Six held onto Mono's hand as they walked. This journey was terrifying. It was everything Six didn't want in her life. And she felt like she was in even more danger because of the knight's presence. But being with Mono... made her feel somewhat safe. She almost forgot what traveling with him felt like. She only remembered the dangerous parts, but she forgot about the feeling of someone having her back. The feeling of not being alone. The feeling of someone always there to save and protect her. The feeling of having a friend.

"And how did you repay him?" A static voice asked.

Not now... Six thought.

"You dropped him," shadow Six said. "After everything he did for you, you dropped him. You left your best friend to die." Shadow Six giggled. "But you already knew that. So I won't repeat what I said earlier. I just wanna know what's stopping you."

Stopping me? Six thought.

"Yeah. What's stopping you from dropping him again?"

Six didn't answer.

"Ohhhh, I know why~!" Her shadow said. "You're scared of his new best friend!"

Shut up.

"If you drop him again, then there's nothing stopping the knight from killing you. Or better yet, eating you alive~" Shadow Six teased. "You don't actually care for him, you just don't want his new best friend to come after you. I get it now!"

That's not true! Six thought.

"Then why are you thinking that? Hmm~?" Her shadow teased. "Don't tell me you already forgot that I'm you. Anything you think, I think. Anywhere you go, I go. And anything you do, I do. Understand what I'm saying?" Her shadow said with a smug voice.

I... I...

"Six! Six!" Mono yelled. "Six, we need your help with this puzzle!"

Six opened her eyes, and remembered what she was supposed to be doing. She quickly nodded in response to Mono.

"We have to hit all three of these levers at the same time in order to open this gate. You go to the left. The knight's already at the right. Hit the lever with your shovel at my call," Mono explained.

Six nodded, and walked over to the left lever. She drew her shovel, and waited for Mono. Once he said, "Go!" Six hit the lever with all her strength. She still wasn't used to this combat thing, so she felt a bit exhausted. However, the gate in front of them opened up. Six walked dow to the group, and walked through with them. She looked ahead, and saw a tall mantis bug standing in the path. The knight stopped both her, and Mono. The knight slowly walked towards the mantis, holding the handle of its nail, ready to fight back if the worst happened.

The knight stepped up to the mantis, and the mantis bowed. The knight removed its hand from the nail, and looked back at Mono and Six.

"It's safe, let's go," Mono said.

But as soon as Mono got too close, the mantis lunged at him, swiping its claws. Mono quickly glitched himself to avoid the attack, then the knight disposed of the mantis.

"Why'd it attack him?" Six asked the knight. "More importantly, why didn't it attack you?"

"I think it has something to do with the Mantis Lords," Mono said, unglitching himself.

Six looked at him, confused. Then the knight showed her a page of the hunter's journal.

"The knight bested the Lords in combat, so the mantises here respect it," Mono explained as she read. "We haven't, so I don't think the mantises trust us."

Six nodded.

The knight closed the journal, and drew its nail. Mono drew his ladle, and Six drew her shovel. Six didn't fully understand what they were doing, but she knew they'd have to defend themselves, so she went along with it. As she followed the others, a few screams came from above. She looked up, and saw three flying mantises hovering above them. She swung her shovel at one, but it moved away. Then, the mantis lunged at her with its stinger. Six jumped out of the way, just in time to avoid the attack.

She got back to her feet, and eyed the mantis in front of her. She kept thinking, What would Mono do? What would Mono do? Then, she remembered a time from the hospital, when Mono had to fight off two severed hands. He did so by waiting until they jumped, and then he hit them. Six knew what to do.

Once the mantis lunged at her again, she swung her shovel at it, slamming it to the ground. Once it was down, she hit it a few more times to make sure it was down.

"Good job! You're getting the hang of this!" Mono said.

Six smiled, feeling slightly confident in herself. Then, she smelled something. She smelled meat. Raw meat. There was only one place Six knew, where raw meat could be found. The Kitchen.

"Hey, I think we need to go this way," she said to the others, pointing in the direction of the smell.

They both nodded, and Six followed the smell to a room with a bunch of meat sacks in carts. But before she could enter, the door closed in front of her.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I think one of the mantises closed to door," Mono said.

"Well... how do we get in to open the door?"

Mono looked at the knight, and it looked back at him. Mono looked back at Six, and she knew what he was thinking.

"No...," she said.

"Six," Mono said. "We're going to fight the Mantis Lords."

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Okay! Another chapter done! How are you all doing?

I'm still working on the Novelhd.com situation. If you're reading this chapter now, then a little message has just been written on the first chapter of this book.

I am going to keep working on the situation, and I will keep sending you chapters like this.

I hope this is all over soon.

See you in the next chapter!