The Mantis Vanquished

Nothing happened for hours upon hours. Wincerind amused himself by solving mathematical equations in his head for the first six hours, than composed dirty limericks for the next two. After that point, he did not want to keep track of time anymore.

Then, something happened. Wincerind was finally about to go to sleep (he had trained himself to go for a very long time without sleeping, if need be) when he saw something flying toward them on the horizon. It was a dark figure, perhaps some sort of animal. Wincerind doubted that it would pose any sort of threat to the "mantis" which held him in captivity, but knew that it would probably be interesting and very useful to watch the "mantis's" combat techniques.

As the dark flyer approached, though, Wincerind saw that it was not an animal after all. It appeared to be a humanoid of some sort. Its skin seemed pure black except for its pure blue eyes, and it carried an obsidian sword. It--no she, Wincerind could tell as she approached that her form was very female--suddenly shot down and sliced into the mantis with her sword. The mantis shrieked in what almost seemed like pain as Wincerind fell through the gash in its belly. Its silvery liquid surface was now rippling with strange currents. It lashed out at the dark flyer with its claws, but seemed to make no impact. Wincerind tried to run, but cursed himself as he realized that he was too curious to bring himself to leave. This would set a fine example for Irena if she were here!

In the end, the dark flyer triumphed. She thrust her sword--which Wincerind could now see was not obsidian but some kind of dark energy--into the mantis's head, killing it. If it could ever be said to have been truly alive in the first place. It now turned its head to Wincerind. Her face, although terribly alien, was very beautiful, and apart from its claws the form was the peak of human beauty. But as she grew closer Wincerind saw that her skin was made of irridescent scales. That, along with her lack of hair, seemed to indicate that she was some sort of reptilian. So why did she have mammilian female features such as breasts? Wincerind, who was an amateur scientist as he knew very well that almost any knowledge might become useful eventually, knew that this did not add up. Perhaps she was more of a construct, like that which "she" had killed, intended to inspire fear and terror yet meant to seem more human.

1. The flyer reached out its taloned hand.
2. Not all that far away, Fred and Irena...

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