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-"Brothers and sisters!", the Mantis General called out to her rallied forces, as they stood at the edge of the lush greenery of the lands known as the Queen's Gardens, "Beyond here lay the savages that murdered our brother! Let us remind them their treason shall not go unpunished! Let us avenge..."
As the general, who had only just been appointed by the Lords to lead the charge, continued with his long and quite frankly, arduous speech, a now nameless mantis soldier thought about the upcoming conflict. He had, like all mantises, heard rumors and whispers of these "Mantis Traitors", who were said to once be a part of the tribe, but now were seen as nothing but brutes and savages in comparison. Of their enigmatic, yet equally fearsome leader, who was said to have once been just as honorable as his sisters, and yet now reduced to a barely conscious beast. But to actually see them in the flesh? Unlike most other Mantises, who seemed undeterred by these rumors and ready to lay down their lives to avenge the tragic death of a young Mantis adventurer, the soldier was more...cautious and, dare he say, anxious about their upcoming mission. Were he not shackled by the sense of honor instilled in every member of the Mantis tribe, he probably wouldn't have even left the confines of their village. In fact, if it were up to him, he wouldn't have even bothered to care, let alone send a whole small army to avenge some-
-"Go! Avenge the fallen!", the general finished, the troop charging ahead into the unknown lands.
Reluctantly, the soldier followed his kin, entering what looked like a fairly massive, open tunnel, filled with lush plant life. Before he could even properly drink in the scenery, the Mantis soldier watched on as those of his kin that were foolish enough to spearhead the charge were almost immediately assaulted by vague, bulky shapes jumping out from the shrubbery. Still unsure, the soldier pondered what to do next, almost failing to notice as a young, hostile mantis flew over him, sending two sharp wind scythes straight for him. Thankfully, the soldier was not completely helpless, barely blocking the projectiles as they rebound upwards and soon disappeared. Looking around, the mantis found no trace of his attacker, though that was soon remedied as he felt a presence jumping towards him from behind. Barely managing to block it's airborne strike with his claws, the Soldier finally got a got look at what exactly their foe was. The creature trying to break through his block resembled his kin, though far shorter, bulkier and greener, the
force of just one of it's claws being almost strong enough to overpower him. But if there was one attribute the mantis soldier would remember, it had to be the eyes. They glowed bright and orange, like those of the many husks wandering around the kingdom, and yet these ones didn't seem as empty. Rather, they looked like they were barely containing some sort of primal rage which the soldier guessed would shortly be unleashed on him. Jumping away from him, the traitor landed fairly close by, simply staring at him with it's horrible orange eyes. The Mantis took in a deep breath. Whilst undoubtedly shook by his encounter, the soldier was not going to run that easily. The creature readied itself, the soldier picking up on it's cue, moving just fast enough to avoid the dark twin's dash before swiping at it's side. The creature leapt backwards and, once again, readied itself for another dash. This dance of claws continued for some time, and eventually, though the mantis soldier couldn't tell you exactly how much time had passed, the creature yielded, falling to the ground before bursting into a strange, orange mist as the soldier felt relief at the fact that he had somehow survived this ordeal.
Now imbued with confidence, the soldier looked up, ready to face these foes and help-
A horrific roar tore across the battlefield. Looking around in panic, the soldier focused on a small group of maybe 5 of his fellows...Just in time to watch them get squashed as a massive Mantis-esque monstrosity crashed down from the ceiling itself.
Now frozen in horror, he watched as the creature tore through his brothers and sisters. 3 got thrown into the nearby wall by sheer force of the creatures dash, another 2 getting sliced to bits by orange wind scythes. A single, brave fool charged on the monster, only to get impaled by it's claws and thrown into his companions, all of whom soon suffered a similar fate. All the while the soldier only stood back and watched. After all, what could he do? He barely defeated a single traitor, let alone this grotesquery! But given his duty bound nature, he couldn't simply-
Suddenly, the soldier realized a very important detail: All of the traitors, including the creature that upon closer inspection must have been their Lord, were staring at him. In other words, he was the only one left. As the traitors slowly closed in on him, the soldier pondered his move, or rather if he even had a move to begin with, right as the massive Lord leapt in front of him, the force of the impact knocking the soldier to the ground. His eyes now buried in the dirt, the mantis cursed the honor that bound him to come to this place as he slowly began accepting his upcoming demise.
However, where he expected a brutal, and possibly very painful death, akin to those experienced by his fellows, he instead heard...a voice, coming from within his own mind?
-"Why....Come...Here?", a low, masculine voice spoke within his head, though it sounded more like a growl.
Daring to look, the mantis was greeted to the sight of the Lord's own, orange eyes, staring at him.
-"Why...!", the voice shrieked in a demanding manner.
The soldier couldn't believe what was going on, but that didn't stop him from using this chance he was given to the fullest.
-"A-an adventurer was...killed, by your people! And so we-", he managed to stammer out, before being cut off.
-"Who...killed...", the voice asked.
-"W-we don't know. Their companions just told us-"
Once again the soldier was interrupted, this time by a loud roar that shook the very plates of his carapace.
Suddenly, hundreds, even thousands of Mantis traitors gathered around the two bugs, forming two long rows on either side of them. Turning his back to our protagonist, the Lord slowly stepped through his ranks, eyeing each and every traitor as he passed, almost as if he was looking for someone. In that moment, the soldier pondered running, but was too bewildered and frankly intimidated to try such a thing. A few moments later, the Lord stopped, standing opposite to a young mantis, akin to the one that threw the wind scythes, along with two that resembled the foe he barely managed to slay. Whilst from a distance the soldier could barely see them, he still noticed marks of what appeared to be old battle scars over parts of their carapace. He watched in confusion as the Lord spread his claws...before butchering the 3 unlucky foes, leaving their parts strewn across the room, just as he had done with the soldier's kin mere moments before. Soon, he was once again towering over the Soldier.
-"Go...Tell sisters...Do not....Return...Our...Home".
And so, with one last carapace chilling roar, the Lord and his followers began to disappear behind the bushes, leaving the soldier confused and bewildered.