“There are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them.”

  Andre Gide, French Novelist

  “Yah, no shit. I can see it,” Milly whispered, though she could have shouted and it would have made no difference.

  The massive praying mantis flailed in the jungle as if it were being tortured. More than once, Milly thought it might accidentally hurl itself off the cliff before pulling back from the ledge.

  The creature – twice as tall as Milly – was bright green with yellow and red accents on its back and limbs. Its forelegs had long, sharp spines for grasping its prey, and its giant yellow compound eyes gave it a wide field of view, though at the moment it didn’t seem to be paying much attention to its surroundings.

  The large wings on its back weren’t powerful enough for the mantis to fly, yet its desperate – almost frantic – attempts to do so suggested this was a recent development.

  For a moment, Milly thought they’d already reached the Isle of Gigantism, until she spotted the crystalline tear lodged in the center of the mantis’ head between its two antennae. The size of Milly’s palm, the Oracle Tear refracted sunlight and bathed the mantis and its surroundings in rainbow light.

  Yet Milly could tell the Tear was not a natural part of the mantis’ anatomy – its light shined directly into the mantis’ complex eyes, causing it to stumble around half-blind.

  No wonder it’s angry. Angry and dangerous.

  The jungle looked like a warzone. The mantis’ frenzied madness had carved a path of destruction in a well-worn circle around the mountain – a path that would have taken days, perhaps weeks, to create.

  Milly watched the mantis’ front legs slashed out and carved straight through a palm tree at the edge of the cliff. The tree toppled over and crashed down the mountain, splintering into pieces as it collided against the rock.

  Should I just kill it? Put it out of its misery? Fuck, why couldn’t it just be a normal monster?

  She shifted from her hiding spot to get closer to the insect.

  Listen to yourself, Milly. A normal monster... I’ve gotten too used to this world if I’m asking for that.

  Milly watched the creature stumble back from the cliffside and resume its circular path of destruction around the mountain.

  A little push of air. That’s all it would take to shove it over the side.

  Milly had thought of a number of ways to kill the creature without placing herself in danger. Bombard it from above with her lightning. Chill the air around it so it freezes. Encase its limbs in earth and rip it apart. Use slices of air to peel it as she had the vegetables at supper.

  She shivered at that last option. It seemed unnecessarily cruel. They all did.

  Not that shoving it off a cliff would be any better.

  Dismissing each option, she formed her Obsidian Fists.

  Her spectacles flashed as the distance between them closed, and the crystal on the creature’s head pulsed in response.

  It’s not just about cruelty. I have no idea how fragile the Oracle Tear is. All of those options might shatter it, and if that happens, this will be for nothing. I just need to get a bit closer and … shit!

  Lost in her thoughts, Milly failed to notice the mantis’ sudden attack. It spun towards her and swiped its enormous foreleg in her direction. A blade of air shot forth, diagonal to the ground, and carved a path through stone and foliage straight for Milly.

  Milly rolled out of the way just in time to avoid its impact. Stones and splintered wood showered Milly’s face as the air blade sped past her and over the cliff. Behind her, a dozen trees toppled over with a symphony of cracks and snaps

  “Shit, it has air magic too,” Milly swore, not bothering to hide her presence any longer. She wrapped herself in air and flew towards the mantis, weaving around the debris that littered the hundred feet between them.

  The creature swiped again, but, half-blinded by the light of the Tear, Milly was able to easily dodge. She countered with a strike of her own square in its thorax. The mantis staggered back a step, and Milly’s fist ached like she’d punched concrete.

  Damn. It’s tough. New plan.

  Milly quickly healed her fist with a flash of Healer’s Touch and circled around between its wings.

  “He…phy…”

  The strained word emanated from the mantis, drawn out and desperate like a grieving widow. The insect flailed its wings, creating a whirlwind around its body that caught Milly by surprise and threw her a hundred feet straight into the air.

  Milly managed to stabilize herself after a few seconds, but she was dizzy and couldn’t see where the insect’s next attack would come from. In a panic, she threw up her hands and created a barrier of hurricane-force wind in front of her, hoping it would be enough to neutralize the mantis’ own air magic.

  Only the attack never came. As Milly regained her bearing, she saw the mantis in the forest below, flailing against the rocks of the mountains. It was desperately trying to claw at the Tear embedded in its head, but its anatomy wasn’t such that it could grasp it.

  “N… no… my… chi…ld… where… is… my… child…”

  The mantis’ raspy, sorrow-filled voice echoed across the mountain.

  Can it speak? Could it always do that or… or is it the Tear? The Spectacles of Hidden Design and the Oracle Tear seemed to form a connection when I got close enough. Perhaps I can get through to it.

  Letting her wind shield fade away, Milly studied the monster as it clawed at the Tear. It gave up trying to use its forelegs and moved over to a rocky outcropping. It began to bash its head against the rock, scraping across jagged stone in the hope it could dislodge the Tear. Its frantic efforts cracked open the poor creature’s head and green ooze began to leak out.

  “It’s going to kill itself at this rate,” Milly muttered sympathetically. “It’s in pain. Maybe… maybe there’s another way to win this fight.”

  Milly gently lowered herself to the ground, within sight of the mantis but far enough away to dodge if it attacked again. She held her palms out towards it and channeled her healing magic.

  “I’m not going to hurt you,” Milly said calmly, taking a cautious step forward. “We both want the same thing. I can help you remove that.”

  She pointed to the Tear, which got its attention. It stopped grinding its head against the stone and stared at the witch.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Hu… rts… it… hurts…,” the mantis spoke, pain evident in every word. “Where… Hephy…”

  “I… I don’t know who Hephy is,” Milly answered, taking another cautious step in its direction. The mantis looked weary, but it didn’t move to attack. “Who is Hephy?”

  “Hephy… husband…”

  Husband? It’s a mantis. Don’t mantises eat their mates? That’s not good.

  “Stay calm. I’m sure Hephy will be back,” Milly comforted, steadily getting closer to it - her - so she could help. “Let me heal your head. It must hurt so much. I can make it better.”

  “Hurts… Heph… aes… tus.”

  Milly abruptly stopped, and the mantis staggered backwards in surprise at her sudden movement. She raised her forelegs in defense, but did not attack.

  Did it just say… Hephaestus? Oracle’s husband. That tear… it can’t be…

  Milly remembered the words on the broken monitor on the day they were transported into the God Contest.

  My name is Oracle. Find me. Find my memories. They will help you survive.

  It has to be that. Somehow, that Tear is flooding that poor insect’s mind with Oracle’s memories. It must be so confused.

  “Please, I can help. I know the memories you see. Oracle’s memories,” Milly said, hoping the name triggered some recognition within the insect.

  The mantis’ forelegs fell to her side, and she began to tremble. Milly closed the distance quicky, ready to defend herself if she had to, but all the fight had left the mantis. She leaned down until its mandibles were a mere foot away from Milly’s head, her yellow eyes pleading with the strange witch before her.

  Milly swallowed nervously and grasped the mantis’ head, trying to remain calm and predictable. Activating Healer’s Touch, she began to heal her self-inflicted wounds. The Tear sparkled before Milly's eyes and her spectacles flashed with gentle green light.

  “There, that’s not so bad, is it? You’ll be okay. I promise,” Milly soothed, shifting her hands to grasp the sides of the Tear. “Here, let’s get this off you.”

  She readied to yank it off and propel herself away from the mantis. Yet the moment she touched the Tear, it simply dislodged from the mantis’ head and fell into her hands.

  Despite its small size, it felt heavy, as if it were crafted from iron.

  Milly stepped back slowly, sliding the tear into her pocket and out of sight without taking her eyes off the mantis.

  “Thank… you…,” the mantis sighed in relief. She raised her head to the sun, basking in its golden glow, and the mantis' altered body began to disintegrate, no longer powered by the magic of the Tear. Flecks of green, red, and yellow spiraled into the wind, until all that was left was a tiny pile of dust on the forest floor.

  “Well, that’s a pleasant surprise,” Milly said, feeling a mix of relief and sorrow as the mantis disintegrated. She quickly added her attribute points to magic and upgraded her water magic to master level – the obvious choice given their path over the ocean.

  After enduring the resulting explosion of light and the painful download of knowledge in her head, Milly inspected the ring.

  “Five to agility and ten to toughness. No talents, but it’s pretty good,” Milly said, slipping the ring onto her finger. “All in all, this was a worthwhile…”

  The pile of dust shifted, and Milly spun towards it in surprise.

  A mantis – a normal sized mantis – crawled out of the pile, her forelegs flicking the air as she tried to dislodge the dust covering her body. She stared up at the witch that now towered above her, no longer in pain.

  “This must’ve been what you were before,” Milly said, gently scooping up the mantis. After blowing the dust away with a tiny swish of air, she placed her on a broad Monstera leaf. A quick burst of Healer’s Touch, and the insect’s injuries disappeared. “There you go. All better.”

  The mantis flicked her forelegs at Milly, and Milly left her alone.

  Sitting down on one of the toppled rubber trees, Milly pulled out the Oracle Tear. Her spectacles no longer flashed green, and the Tear appeared to have become dormant. A simple description appeared above it.

  “Fragments of her memory,” Milly muttered, holding the crystal up to the light to inspect it. A rainbow kaleidoscope highlighted the area around her as light refracted within the prism, but she didn’t feel any magic effect take hold. “There’s no way to turn it on, like the memory orbs. I’m not sure how this is supposed to help me. Maybe it’ll be obvious later.”

  Milly added the Oracle Tear to her inventory and readied herself to fly back to the balloon.

  Before she could take off, the mantis leapt from her leaf and landed on the rim of Milly's witch’s hat.

  “Wha… hey!” Milly said with a laugh as the mantis waved her forelegs in a friendly gesture. “You’re safe now. You can go back to doing… whatever it is mantises do.”

  Milly reached up to gently lift the mantis and return her back to the leaf, but the mantis scurried away and leapt into Milly's hair, trying to crawl under her hat. With a patient chuckle, Milly snapped her fingers and lifted her away in a sphere of air.

  “Come on, little one,” Milly said as the mantis was suspended at eye level. “I’ve got to go.”

  The mantis pointed a foreleg at Milly, then pointed beyond the cliff, towards the balloon.

  Milly paused. It might have been a meaningless motion, but there was something about its intentionality that made her curious.

  “Can you understand me?” Milly asked.

  The mantis flailed her forelegs, though Milly wasn’t sure whether that was a response to her question or if she’d simply frightened the poor insect.

  “Slow down, I don’t understand. Just… raise you left leg for yes, and right leg for no. Will that work?”

  The mantis raised her left leg.

  “That’s… have you always been able to understand like this?”

  Right leg – no.

  “The Tear?” Milly surmised.

  Left leg – yes.

  She had a horrifying thought.

  “Are you… Oracle?”

  Right leg – no.

  Milly breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing she needed to deal with was a mantis who believed she was an Oriane goddess.

  The Tear must have left behind some level of intelligence in the insect - mutated its mind to accommodate its form.

  The mantis pointed again towards the balloon.

  “You… want to come with me?”

  Left leg – yes.

  “But… it’s not really a place for a mantis,” Milly said, guiding the mantis back to the rim of her witch’s hat. The mantis peeked over the rim, looked into Milly’s eyes, and pointed insistently at the balloon.

  The Tear made the mantis intelligent. If I leave it behind, what would her life be like?

  Milly had spent a week alone on the island before she had Coco to talk to. She recalled the loneliness and the fear that had been pervasive every hour of every day – a weight constantly pressed down upon her. No one to talk to. No one to watch her back.

  She wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

  “Okay,” Milly agreed with a sigh. “Come on then. We’ve got a long way to travel. You’d better hold on.”

  The mantis enthusiastically flailed her forelegs with excitement. She hopped down onto Milly’s shoulder and bundled herself up in Milly’s long hair for support.

  Another companion. Well, why not. What’s she going to eat? I’ll have to ask…

  Milly jumped off the cliff and soared towards the ballon, her mind filled with questions and with a new friend to keep her company on the journey home.

  The Non-Canonical Aftermath: