Though I was half tempted to rush at the mantis and tear its front limbs off, I knew from experience that I would never crack the things joints or armour. Unless it sat still for a few days to let my saliva break it down, it was no better than trying to bite through rock. Yet even with that, I held my wild smile and countinue to hold the bug's emotionless stare, glaring at it like the small bug it was. I would never know that grinning like an idiot without teeth would unfortunately be one of the last things this bug sees.
Right in front of me was something I wanted and I knew could win. Or at least that was my thought process until I remembered I'm no bigger than a small dog. The thing could probably step on me. So with that, I slowly back myself up. The mantis had yet to make a move and simply stood there, it's legs kneaded firmly into the dirt.
Taking my chances, I flex my fingers and ready my claws, quickly bolting up the tree I was backing up against, never taking my eyes off the living statue. Missing my steps and slipping on loose bark, I soon reach a thick branch and perch myself there, in position to dart to another branch at a moments notice. The mantis was motionless but with my new height, I noticed that it was significantly shorter in length than I thought it'd be. I slowly trace my focus to every part of the bug's body, almost slipping when I noticed it's lower abdomen was almost completely gone. It's meat and insides were sticking out, spilling out green blood creating a gag inducing stench.
The apparent bite mark was a single large, trigular shaped scar that ran top down through the adomen. It was perfectly straight and left a clean cut on the shell, only hard to identify through the pools of blood and spilling organs.
As if offended by my observant gaze, the mantis brought it scythe shape front leg up, and quickly swung down towards my direction. Ignoring the fact that I was well out of range, I promptly dash towards a different branch, gripping it with my claws as to not fall. My gaze stays on the mantis but from the direction I jumped, I hear the violent jostling of leaves and twigs snapping as a heavy branch rushes to the ground. I feel my mind ignite, sensing that same odd feeling as when I first found the feather, only far stronger. Without the time to process what happened, the green beast repeats it swiping action, alternating between its two limbs, attacking in a perfect rhythm.
I jump from branch to branch, occasionally having to dash on the ground to avoid the lethal attacks. While some branches are completely severed, some thicker ones are only left with a straight cutout that digs into the wood. I start moving further and further away from the source of invisible attacks but as soon as I do so, it jumps towards me to keep me in its range. It didn't engage in a close range fight, preferring to keep its distance and continue its onslaught. I try to hide behind the trunks of some of the thicker trees but it takes less than a minute or so for the attacks to eat through the bark. In those moments of respite, I try to calm my breathing and figure a way out of this mess.
'I can only out last it.'
A single attack would severe me clean and it won't let me leave its range. Though the attacks were simple and the beast didn't seem capable of predicting where I'll land next, they were still fast and had incredible power. Instead of showing my back to it, I placed my bets on this behemoth running out of juice faster than I did, my legs starting to shake and a light steam flowing from under my soft scales.
It continues its onslaught, forcing me to navigate through the tree tops and pushing through dense bushes when necessary. I duck under oversized roots and leap over thorns, also ensuring I don't get tangled up in vines. 5 minutes. 10. 15. 30. Though I didn't truly know how much time has passed, I could feel my anxiety growing as the air cools and the sun continues to fall down the sky.
I clench my jaw and kept dodging, only to realize I had made my way back to the rainbow log, still making a bright stain on the otherwise green and brown backdrop. I dash over to the base of a tree, making sure the rotting log is in the trajectory of the oncoming strikes. I wait for the impact but nothing came, watching as the mantis slowly brings its limbs down and its head slowly jerking down, apparently staring at the colorful wood.
'Bullshit! I refuse to believe this thing has even the brain structure to make a decision, much less feel fear.'
But before I could continue to curse my luck, the pale green mantis collapses under its own weight, tipping over to one side and laying dead next to the log. Its scythe shaped limbs quietly losing there glow, as the eyes are buried in the dirt. I watch the entire sequence, until my mind is showered in the feeling of a familiar unidentifiable presence.
'Wait a minute! It's coming from the corpse and those damn mushrooms, FUCK!'
I still didn't understand what this feeling was but the only things I could connect it to was the feather, me spitting fire and the deadly attacks I had been dodging. Before anything else could happen, I dash to the backside of the fresh corpse, figuratively pinch my nose and begin to slurp down as much of the grotesque soup as I could.
'Yeah right these pebbles are taking my hard earned warm meal. Besides I'm starving, still lost and it's already getting dark... I really should've just stayed home.'
I was still breathing roughly and the almost transparent steam was still being released from my body. I wasn't panting like a dog nor was my body temperature going down in the shade, but I didn't know if that was enough to classify me as warm blooded.
Mouthful after mouthful goes down my throat until I see the first ant. Green in color and smaller than a blade of grass, it reaches the corpse's back, does a little twirl while probing with its antenna until it makes its way back to the log. With more urgency, I use my front legs to almost forcefully stuff myself with as much mush as possible.
I walk away with a bloated belly just in time to see a line of different colored ants make their way to the nearby corpse. I watch as they systematically rip the thing apart, patiently using their mandibles again and again on the thick shell. They take the peices back into the log, only to come back out again.
Eventually, they take the entire dismembered corpse into the log, even taking the prized pacifiers, ignoring my hard work in obtaining them. 'Family sure is nice. Jerks.'
I perch atop a branch, making sure I prevent myself from laying down, knowing it would only make me feel more drowsy. Aside from the heavy exhaustion weighing on my body, I wasn't actually injured. I had a few scratches from the falling foliage but I was never directly hit or even grazed. Quite the accomplishment if I do say so myself. Waiting a few minutes to comfortably move around, I start climbing higher up the tree. Reaching the tree tops, I search for a hill, mountain or any other noticeable protrusions. What I didn't realize is that this jungle wasn't on some flat plane. The elevation across the jungle fluctuated at every turn, making it impossible to single out the one I climbed down from.
'Wow, my foresight is impeccable.'
I didn't inspect where I came from nor did I do something as simple as leave marks on trees. Slapping my cheeks in frustration, I continue my scouting efforts until again I get that odd sense again. Dropping down to the previous branch, I can see that the mushrooms with the traditional design are spewing out a sort of essence, in their designated colors. When things couldn't get any weirder, the mushrooms shaped like upside down pyramids start rotating in place, sucking up some of the released essence. Moments later, from the middle of the squared mushrooms, pop out water drop sized glowing rocks. The ants inside quickly scurry out and collect these little droplets.
The oddest thing about this process was the color coordination. Blue mushrooms spews blue essence, blue pyramid mushrooms suck up blue essence and spit out blue pebbles. The only ones who pick these up are the blue ants. So on and so forth.
At the end of this little ritual, there are only the purplish-black and golden white pebbles left. With an unquenchable curiosity, I dash down to collect some of these pebbles. Going for the white ones first and scooping up a few in my mouth, I dash to the black dots only to stop and dash away, urgently finding my resting spot once again. From the top of the branch I see a multitude of little critters and insects scurrying about, crushing and ingesting the glowing rocks only to be horrified by what happens next, ignoring the bizarre features most of them had.
A rat with sandpaper colored teeth that swallowed the white rocks, had a faint glow come from its mouth, followed by the fur growing in length only to stop and fall off. A scorpion with a short whip like tail, pierced and nibbled on a black pebble only to watch its shell visibly crack at the mouth and drip green blood.
I spit out the otherworldly mints, and let out a sigh of relief when nothing about my body changes.
'Haha, maybe this is just what the Jurassic period was like, funny sized animals, and strange glowing rocks? Dragons too. A giant mantis that launch invisible strikes... What if the glowing rocks are just one of those body cleansing things? Right? Or maybe this is just some elorborate virtual reality world, and I so happen to have survived my death, just chilling in a coma. It's all possible right? Right?'
As I wallow in confusion, I carefully take the rocks back in my mouth, and climb up. I find a comfortable branch to lay on and spit the rocks to the side. I still have more than enough time and sunlight to find my way back. I had traveled the whole time crawling, so sprinting around to find the right mountain shouldn't be difficult. Even if I didn't, camping out with friends wasn't such a bad thing either. I just had to hope I didn't run into anything else that could kill me. Ignoring said friends.
'Wait a minute, seeing how big I was at birth, my max size would be pretty big. But how the hell would a creature that big blend into the jungle when I'm pitch black. Am I supposed to be nocturnal? Was my crawling around completely useless?'
Dabbling in more useless questions I ask, 'Why am I here?' Was death not the end? Does everyone take over some beings body and live out their new lives? For a split second, I wished someone else would have died with me, potentially being at my side in this bizarre situation. Though it was a bittersweet thought, I discard it and just continue to gaze upon the creatures, still collecting those rocks.
I mouth up my own and start jumping from the tree tops. Clearly I was not designed for this, making a lot of noise, constantly scratching at the wood to keep my grip. Somtimes relying on my flexible tail to catch myself from falling. On occasion, I pop my head out of the leaves to the clear sky, making sure I'm going in the right direction. I chose the closest hill, deciding that going about on the ground would get me stepped on. I hoped the greatest threats this high up would be parrots that's cuss me out and try to hurt my feelings.