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littlebittyhollowbugs · 1 month ago

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Trial by fire: Tale of the Mantis Lords

The newly appointed lords of the mantis tribe continue to honor their agreement with the kingdom of Hallownest, keeping the beasts of Deepnest at bay.

The task growing more difficult, as their enemies grow stronger,

And as the eldest and youngest's plans begin to clash.

Chapter one (5k words)

Read below the cut~

Oriana glides down the walls, with her bone crafted claws and two sinew baskets filled with goods from the hunting grounds strapped onto her back.

The second and third born children of the mantis tribe's ruler glide down behind their sister, each carrying a basket of her own.

"Ori look out! You'll land on a sporg!" Siara shouts.

"I'm not so easily fooled!" the eldest of the three laughs after hitting the bottom level of their fungal framed village.

She then takes off fast as a wind scythe in the midst of battle.

Determined to leave her sisters as far behind her as is necessary in order to be crowned victor of their homeward bound race.

"Ori your basket's slipping!" The second born shouts again, another attempt to slow her down or distract her.

The supplies she carries are strapped to fit.

She sprints onward.

"If you wish to best me, you'd have a better chance utilizing your feet rather than your mouth!"

She can hear her sister let out a winded scoff somewhere behind her.

She chuckles. Her sisters are determined but not so much as she.

She is still surprised with how quick her legs can carry her.

It wasn't long ago the wings that she relied on since birth had been ceremoniusly clipped.

The hind-wings that is, and now her indigo fore-wings wrap over her shoulders like a cloak billowing in the wind behind her.

"I was simply testing your wit sister." Siara's voice becomes clearer as she catches up, still breathing heavy and apparently more determined than Oriana had anticipated.

"Obviously I intend to win!"

Oriana picks up her pace just before Siara can pass her.

Bounding over shrooms and dodging pikes bearing the faces of their greatest foes.

These remnants of once mighty beasts directing her home to the champions court.

The lowest level of the mantis territory boardering the caverns of Deepnest had long been reserved for the strongest of warriors.

Oriana's lineage had proven to be the mightiest and thus had borne the responsibility of leadership these past four generations.

She and her sisters had recently completed the trials that would determine whether or not they are worthy of residing in the court themselves.

Having been trained since birth, and at last proving herself to her mother, her mentors, and the tribe, she is immeasurably proud to call the place her home.

And she's almost made it back.

Almost won the race.

"Wo- aah!"

Oriana halts upon hearing her youngest sister, Biana, cry out.

Then,

SNAP

WOOSH

The sound of a trap set into motion.

She spins on her heels, allowing Siara to catch up with her.

Far behind them Biana is pulled into the air, tangled in a rope net dangling from the shellwood gates of the cavern.

"Biana!" Siara gasps and follows after Oriana who is quick to put to rest their competition in favor of assisting their sister caught like a beetle in a web.

"Hold on Bia!" Oriana finds where the lever was set and carefully pulls down the heavy rope.

"Do you fare well? Is anything broken?" Siara asks.

"No no I'm only a bit tangled up."

Upon being assured that her sister is unharmed Siara nearly bursts into laughter.

"Oh you find this humorous do you?" The captured one grumbles.

She wriggles out of the hunting trap after having been settled on the ground.

Oriana helps to unravel the rope.

"What fool would place a trap along this passage?"

Siara's laughter dies down at that query, and both sisters turn to her adorning knowing glares.

Siara, the newly appointed captain of the hunting team, had a special knack for building and placing traps.

"Really Siara? Here of all places? That is especially reckless of you." The eldest chastises her.

"You told me they were to be placed along the northwestern boarder!" Biana speaks.

"They are well designed though." There is a hint of pride in her tone.

Biana often assists Siara in perfecting her traps.

Truly there is very little that the sisters do not participate in equal with one another.

"I heard rumors of dirt carvers breaking in from a tunnel below here.

Besides, you were running off of the path."

"Barely!"

Siara sighs. "Very well. It may have been bad placement."

"Young lords!"

Two messengers from the court ahead sprint toward the sisters and halt to bow.

The sisters are swift to lend them their attention.

"Welcome back." The first greets them. "Your mother has asked that you meet with her outside the training grounds without hesitation."

Oriana nods. "We will meet with her straightway."

Any demand of their mother's is to be followed by the same reverence that any humble basket craftsman or shroom gatherer might offer having being called upon by a queen, or lord in this instance.

Not even the daughter, and future successor of the tribe's renown leader is exempt from such formalities.

She gestures for her sisters to follow.

"Allow us to take care of the supplies." The second messenger speaks.

"Very well."

~~~

"An upper claw attack, might prove advantagous in an instance where you had not been held at lance point, young one."

Timono glances up at his mother from where she had only a moment ago cornered him in their practice duel.

She chuckles as she rubs her chin where he had landed the strike a bit harder than he had meant to.

Then she settles her lance-nail on the ground and takes his tiny and cracked claws into her hands.

"If I was a beast or weaver you would have made for quite the feast by now."

She lifts him up.

Not yet of age to spar without the aid of his wings, the Mantis Lord's youngest child and only son, flies back from corner to center of the sparring ground.

The standard setting consists of even ground, two walls to grip, one lined with claws, lances, and scythes, and a cage wall to prevent the dishonorable act of fleeing mid-challenge.

This most unique training center in the champions court had been equipped with several settings. with the pull of a bone-crafted lever the floor could open and reveal a pit of spikes below. Shell-wood walls of varying lengths, and adorned in spikes of their own could be added to the ring. Other obstacles included swinging blades, captured sporgs, and a blackout setting.

That last of these designed to prepare scouts and warriors when traversing their enemie's kingdom below.

Timono had been hoping to practice in a more advanced setting.

His mother had promised him that he would, soon enough.

He wonders how soon...

Had he disapointed her with that last-second attack?

She doesn't appear to be so disappointed...

"Maybe we would have gone down together." He suggests.

"If you had been a beast, better that we both go down."

She considers his suggestion.

"Better you never fight alone." She replies. "So that you may rely on your companions to aid you when forced to surrender.

Hold out as long as possible until then. Refrain from reckless strikes."

He flies just before her and bows his head.

"Yes mother..."

He peaks up at her.

"But mother I was fighting alone."

She pats his little head.

"On the battlefield you won't be.

And you'll be practicing alongside your sisters soon enough."

"My sisters?"

He flutters up in excitement.

His triplet sisters being a few years his superior, did not often practice alongside him, despite his many attempts at convincing them to do so.

He has been training day and night, wishing he had not a moment to spare, in order to catch up with them.

With his mother, the lord and champion of the tribe overseeing almost all of his training it is not a surprise he has already come so far.

"Do you believe I could best them?"

"Perhaps. In time." She tells him.

"You still have much to learn.

Besting them aside,

I'm quite positive you will soon be ready to aid them in their training."

She leads her son to the gates.

"Your sisters have learned to rely on each other completely, and you rely on them.

They now must learn to place that same confidence in you."

"They say I'm too young."

She halts before exiting the grounds and he stops beside her.

"You are a bit younger, and still not as strong.

But you contain the spirit of a fighter the likes of which I've never seen Timono."

He cannot deter a beam of pride, upon receiving the accolade.

"And after you've come of age to pass the trials, and have proven your might, nothing more will come between the four of you."

He's dreamed of that day since the day his sisters had begun dreaming of their own victory in passing the trials of pride.

Now all of their dreams have come true.

He is next.

He'll catch up with them soon.

~~~

Oriana waits beyond the training ground gates, both of her sisters at her side.

Guards placed along the nearest walls.

Their mother had been training with their youngest sibling once again.

Outside of her regular duties she seemed to dedicate all of her time to that cause.

She had instructed each of her children, all of their lives, and had gifted them with the greatest among the warriors ranks to mentor them when she could not.

Oriana, as the first of the triplets to hatch, was to be honed into the perfect example of a mantis warrior. This task fell upon her mother and mentors within the very moment of her birth.

It has long since been tradition for the rulers firstborn daughter to be given advanced training in order to keep her family line upon the throne.

But her mother had three daughters, and believed each deserved the greatest that she could possibly give.

She believed that her son deserved the same.

No sons of the tribe have ever been granted such advanced training.

No sons had ever been expected to fulfill roles only the strongest could bear.

Not that little Timono was expected to bear any immeasurable responsibility...

Still Oriana took notice to how much value their mother had placed in the act of instructing him.

He is younger.

Smaller.

Less graceful.

He needs her guidance more...

"My daughters."

Having sent Timono to rest for the time being their mother greets her three eldest with a nod of acknowledgement and respect, before beckoning them to follow her.

The Lord of the mantis village stands tall and lean, she wields her lance-nail, on which the proverbs of her people have long been engraved,

And settled over her antennae the symbol of her leadership, the traditional headpiece that allows her a powerful horned silhouette.

This headpiece and the title of mantis lord have always come hand in hand.

To this day, beetles from the pale being's kingdom or beyond it are occasionally surprised to discover the leader of their tribe is female, the title of lord belonging to the male gender among them.

Within the mantis species that misconception would be impossible to make, the lords have always been female, from the first to last.

As the women have always carried the advantage in terms of strength, the determining factor of leadership.

It was the beetles themselves who had given the first of the lords their title.

Hundreds of years ago, the mantis that had lead their people to this territory had adorned a pair of beetle horns cut from the head of her mightiest opponent, and this symbol of victory had confused the common bug.

She, was mistaken for a he, and was renknown for being the lord of the mantises.

The title stuck.

For generations all those who have been bestowed the title have worn it most honorably.

"I have been taking note of your progress since completing the trials." Their mother speaks and Oriana is focused on nothing short of every word.

"Each of you has proven to be remarkable not only in the area of your strength and agility.

You cotian focus, wisdom and accountability." She proclaims with a sincerity that will impress Oriana all her life.

She stands taller.

Her mother is truly proud...

"You are most honorable representatives of our people." She affirms as they traverse the champions court, prompting all whom they pass by to pause and bow.

"Oriana, my firstborn, I have trained specifically for the task of one day claiming my throne."

Oriana gives a gentle nod, as her mother continues.

"Though after pondering the future of our people, and having witnessed the inner strength that each of you possess." She stops before the entry of the throne room.

"I have come to the conclusion that a change should be made concerning the rule of our tribe."

"A change?" Oriana questions, still she remains composed.

Their mother turns to face them.

"The three of you were born together,

I wish for you to rule together,

And alongside myself."

"Together?" Siara is the first to respond. "All of us?" She cannot stifle the shock in her tone.

"That has never been done before..."

"I have proposed that a mantis lord council be established." Their mother explains.

"A Quadrumvirate."

She turns and lifts her arm, gesturing for her daughters to enter into the throne room before them.

Oriana is the first to follow the unspoken command.

The room representing their tribes vigil, built before the gates of Deepnest now holds within not one, but four towering thrones, the three most newly constructed stand not quite to the length of the original, but are otherwise identical.

Each of the sisters gasps upon taking in the sight.

Oriana's gaze is fixed upon the thrones and cannot easily be swayed.

This is no idea or suggestion.

Her mother is entirely intent upon there being a council of lords.

Upon her daughters ruling at her side.

After all of this time, she truly believes they are ready...

All of them.

She turns to her sisters. Siara had taken Biana's hand.

She herself can hardly still her racing heart.

How must they feel?

It is the greatest possible honor,

And none could be more deserving of such.

Her sisters.

Always at her side...

Their mother comes in from behind them.

"When I retire from my position Oriana will take my place as head of the council." She continues.

"Still each of you will oversee the tribe as one.

Relying on each other's strengths."

Oriana shifts to face her mother and bows before her on one knee, Siara and Biana join their sister in expressing their gratitude.

"Thank you mother." Is all they can manage to say, as they attempt their very best to remain collected while most certainly feeling overwhelmed.

"You have earned this responsibility.

Our people will grow ever stronger under your combined rule." She glows with pride.

"And when your brother is of age and has completed his trials I wish for him to join you on the council."

Oriana glances upward.

Timono a mantis lord?

She is not sure he will ever be strong enough to pass the trials...

Though he still has a few years...

And the guidance of their mother.

Her faith in him appears to be unshakable.

Will that be enough?

Has she not yet told their brother of this enormous expectation?

It seems almost absurd...

In time though,

She reminds herself.

Their little brother may indeed prove himself, in time.

At least for now, she can rest assured that she has more than proven herself to her mother and people.

For so long, from the day of her coming into this world until this very moment, she has been preparing for this,

In the training grounds, hunting grounds, battlefield, and every path she had ever taken, learning from her people, from their written history, from her mother,

memorizing every move her mother had ever made,

And throughout all of this her sisters have been at her side.

It is an unexpected yet immeasurable relief that is all at once overtaking her, knowing that it will always be that way.

A pressure she had not known until now she is finally forced to comprehend as it instantly becomes lighter.

A weight being lifted.

This is all quite the opposite of what she had anticipated she might feel upon at last being bestowed the sacred title of mantis lord.

They shall rule together.

A quadrumvirate.

The mantis lords...

~~~~~~~~~~

~ 3 years later ~

The talons of the monster dig into the earth below and pull its body upward, it bears eight claws on each side of it, sixteen in total, until the front two are speared clean off.

The sharp appendages litter the cavern ground and the garpede roars, then thrusts itself at its attackers.

The sisters disperse in different directions as to confuse the beast who's mandibles snatch nothing aside from the dust now far below Biana's feet.

She and Siara cling to opposite walls and thrust their wind scythes downward to strike the enemy.

Two hits to the backside shell. It's impenetrable.

The underside is incredibly difficult to strike.

If the beast cannot be pulled over,

It must be bound.

Siara unhooks the end of a rope ravelled beneath her wings.

She keeps a manageable collection of weapons on her person.

Hunting rope and a set of daggers carved from mawlek teeth.

The enormous creature tumbles through the dim passage heading for the gate.

The sisters dart ahead of it.

"Catch!" Siara instructs the other as she throws one side of the rope.

Biana takes hold and pulls the end.

After their enemy has made collision the two leap from their positions, pulling the rope around its thrashing form, and tying it down.

The two have practiced this hunting technique before and move quickly though with precision.

Wild Garpedes have neared their territory on occasion, but this marks the first trained attack.

The master of the beast had been targeted first.

A spider who's corpse now claims place atop a mountain of discarded dirt carver shells.

The rest of the spider warriors involved in this sudden attack, had been driven back into the shadows by the lords and champions of the mantis tribe.

Now their final, and greatest foe is caught and crashes onto the stoney ground.

Biana ties together the ends of the rope, while Siara hurries to gather their warriors.

With their assistance they can pull the beast to its backside.

This attempt to break through the barrier utilizing the strength of the giants native to their land,

Siara is almost surprised the spider clan has never attempted it before.

Though, training a garpede could not have made for light work...

~~~

Pebbles scatter beside Oriana's feet, she carries herself with her usual practiced grace and swift pace, ducking below the low and crumbling walls of a newly formed tunnel that becomes darker the deeper it twists.

Of course one doesn't lead a scouting expedition without the essential tools.

She carries a hand crafted lantern filled with bioluminescent fungus, as to help her see.

This particular fungus populates a good portion of the beasts land, and thus makes for a less noticeable visual aid, than the more commonly used luma-flies.

A dark scouting cloak is draped over her shoulders and her lance nail rests over her back.

She had borrowed a tablet from the teams appointed cartographer, with the intention to map out this new tunnel on her trip back to the fungal core.

She follows the sounds of a caught and released weavers crawl.

The tunnel winds deeper than she would have preferred but not more than she had expected.

She holds to that faint skittering sound ahead of her like a thread,

Pulling her closer to the heart of the land of beasts, and further from her scouts.

She had never before taken such an action.

Trekking into these lands, alone.

For weeks now they had been receiving reports from the shrumal tribe.

As a lord of the waste, she had learned to decipher their messages.

Strange activity in the pit of beasts beneath their domain.

Scouts had been sent after the first report,

And the two disappeared shortly after.

Another party was sent, and similarly never returned.

That's five of their best, presumably lost to the spider clan, who had found some way through the fungal wastes boarder.

Lord Oriana organized her own team, and here she is.

She could have taken the weaver back as a captive for questioning.

But she knows better by now.

Besides the fact that their strange magic makes them particularly difficult prisoners,

The weavers would sooner die than betray their own.

She has seen it happen before.

Her people would do the same...

They have died, and worse,

Several of her people have endured the most dishonorable acts of torture, at the hands of these creatures, in the name of loyalty.

She can only hope the scouts she had lost, did not have to suffer in a similar way.

It must come to an end.

She had let their enemy escape in order to follow it, and uncover their new base.

For this plan to work, she must not get caught.

As to not get caught, she must venture alone.

The noise ahead quiets and Oriana comes to a halt, more abrupt than she had meant.

The slightest hitch of breath nearly gives her position away.

She hears the weaver turn and finds the nearest nook in the cavern to back into as softly as possible.

Then stills.

The enemy draws a bit nearer.

If it sees her she is prepared to attack.

She only hopes the potential commotion doesn't invite the attention of other enemies, that may be lurking not far.

She is too far into the deep...

She remains, holding her breath until she hears the weaver turn back at last.

It continues on its path.

Only then does she allow herself a hint of relief.

She must be cautious.

An entire tribe depends on her successful return.

She carries on.

In moments such as these, when the possibility of defeat, however faint, looms overhead,

Oriana is especially grateful for the creation of the mantis lord council.

The tribe does not depend on her alone.

Her sisters are currently overseeing a threat to the gates.

She has full confidence in them.

For three years they've led alongside her with capability and grace.

Their mother would be proud.

And Timono...

He has not been a mantis lord long.

He tends to be overly excited, overzealous even,

He can be terribly naive...

Still,

She must retain their mother's faith in him.

He will grow,

He will be a great leader himself one day.

He is proving that possible now.

While she leads the scouting expedition and their sisters hold off an attack at the gates,

He maintains his position in the throneroom, watching over the village without their aid.

A task he has been bestowed for the very first time today.

She can't allow herself to be overly concerned.

She must have faith in him.

~~~

"To unleash our power through transedence,

Offer a gift in turn.

Fail and face the mystics vengeance.

Implement and earn."

The youngest lord reads over the words of an ancient tablet he carries, one last time as he glides carefully down the walls of a chasm tucked deep within the fungal forest.

Far away from war rooms and throne rooms. Far beyond the hunting grounds,

Hidden in the very outskirts of the tribes territory.

Hidden so well and for so long, only few know the place exists at all.

He leaps onto a floor flooded in bone.

The dim little mound illuminated only by the light that the mantis had let in, upon breaking open a long locked entry way high above him now.

"Kiorin was right about everything else.

He must be right about this too..."

Timono tucks the old shaman stone tablet away and trades it for another record.

He looks it over again.

One of the oldest records of their tribe, carved on well-worn shellwood.

It keeps some detail of their ancestors arrival in this valley, and most notably, is the only written recollection of the being whom the shrumal people had worshipped centuries ago.

A shrumal 'god'

Or being that claimed to be.

The manties did not honor any of their weak-minded neighbors chosen divinities, with such titles.

This being had been their leader once, whom they believed was also their creator and craftsman of the fungal waste.

It was slain by the first of the mantis tribe.

A supposed diety, who had met its demise at his ancestors claws,

A mighty tale, once renowned throughout the tribe,

And exists now only in the form of whispered legend.

This last record of it has been kept secret by the lords of the tribe since the pale being's arrival.

After learning of the record for the first time himself, Timono had thought to use it, to empower their people.

Remind them of their strength,

And the fragility of those who bear the title of God...

His sisters forbid this idea be put into action.

They insisted it stay hidden.

But what use is anything hidden away for eternity?

If his people can not benefit from the old recount, perhaps the owner of this similarly forgotten mound might...

And he will gain something for their people in exchange.

"Yes. This will make for a fair trade." He decides.

A mantis lord is honest within their dealings.

Their honor remains, even when dealing with cast off magicians...

Even when said magicians, also happen to be,

long dead.

Bone masks crack and shatter under the weight of the mantis lord, who approaches the shaman's tombstone lying in the center of the mound.

Having been seperated from her strange kin, The stone was placed by a mantis.

Kiorin.

Timono hadn't been told this directly, but it wasn't difficult to put the pieces together.

Her grave was instantly recognizable as crafted by one of his own.

And Kiorin, the tribes eldest healer, widely considered village eccentric,

And a friend, almost mentor, to the young lord, had informed him of this shaman, whose power still lingers, even after death.

He suspects that he knew her in life.

Though unable to utilize spell casting himself,

(A practice that would likely have had him banished from the tribe even if it were possible.)

The old mantis held much knowledge, that could only have been obtained through a creature like this.

Timono kneels before the mark of the old shaman's departure.

He places the gift, (the gift Kiorin judged would please the shaman) beside her staff leaning against the stone.

Then he waits.

...

Now what?

He is still a moment, though he rarely stills for long.

"I've brought you what you asked for."

He speaks, as he gets back on his feet.

He speaks to the dead...

How foolish must he look?

At least no one is around to bestow him the title of fool.

The way they have Kiorin.

An elder of the tribe who should be respected.

He has seen what that healer can do.

He is unorthodox certainly but he is no fool.

He trusts his old friend.

This will work.

"Is there something else I must-"

Before he can finish the splintered masks beneath his feet begin rumbling.

As the ground quakes he backs away from the planted offering and leaps to the wall, he steadies himself there and watches as a burst a soul erupts from the center of the mound.

A flash of white floods the chasm and dispels an instant after.

The surge nearly knocks him down, but he is able to more carefully land himself after the sudden intrusion.

He looks back at the grave.

The record he had placed is there no more.

The flood of white had claimed and replaced it.

Now flickering above the sight of the trade, is his promised power,

Taking a most peculiar form.

The form of a void-black flame...

The tablet within his travel bag begins to glow, and he is swift to pull it back into his claws.

The inscription has changed.

"For your gift, the shaman fire.

An undeaftable flame.

Your foes will face the ancient ire,

That only you can tame."

~~~

Oriana slows and finally reaches a halt where the tangled routes have conjoined in the deep.

The walls open before her and she waits until the weaver whom she follows is far ahead, before turning to peer through the silk-lined opening.

With the entry clear, she slips in and glides along a crawlspace between the wall and rock remnants of the spiders sucsesful expedition to hollow out this cavern and expand.

Once concealed, she lifts her scouting lantern, careful as a carver before springing from the earth.

The hollow appears unremarkable at first glance,

Then she hears the falling of broken stone and the skittering of spindly legs crawling up to the roof of the cavern,

And she lifts her gaze,

There is something up there...

Something unusual.

She steps forward, every step she takes as if the ground beneath her might give way at the slightest intrusion,

From this new angle, she can decipher the scene more accurately.

An outpost. The grandest web crafted structure she had ever seen.

Suspended far above her,

And weavers.

Deephunters and weavers, fulfilling their tasks to guard.

There are so many...

The cavern roof is adorned in enemies.

She steps back, as debris continues to fall from the workings of the outpost overhead,

And shifts her lantern to face the sound of something hitting the ground just before her,

It did not sound like stone.

It cracked as it hit the floor...

She nearly gasps upon finding it.

She remains composed,

And shrinks back into the darkest corners of the cavern, away from shattered remnants of a captured mantis scout.

#gonna post to ao3 later #but i thought I'd try uploading it here first #i haven't posted fics directly to this blog before #writing my mantis lord mini stories in chronological order #so this takes place three years after the sisters take up their thrones #and the same year that their brither joins them #i wrote most of this months ago #because i am currently dealing with writers block #im hoping that finally posting the first part will help to get out of that idk #i dont know if very many people are particularly interested in the mantis lords #but they are my special guys #my blorbos #!!!#and i have so many hcs and ideas centered around them #so i couldn’t resist writing a little something #if you are interested enough to read all of this #thankyou !!!#and enjoy <3 #hollow knight #hollow knight mantis lords #hollow knight traitor lord #hk mantis lords #hk traitor lord #hollow knight fanfic

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