The Fifth Age

By Glorfindel's Girl

Chapter 8: Praying Mantis

Disclaimer: Lookie, lookie, it's a bonus chapter!  Don't own them.  Not making any money.  No animals were harmed in the writing of this fanfic.

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A Buddhist Monastery in Western Japan

Low, resonant chanting echoed off the walls of the monastery, filling the valley with sound.  The wind blew the heavy hanging bells softly against each other, resulting in deep, melodious, yet quiet ringing.  The heavy scent of incense wafted through the courtyards. 

The man sat in lotus position beneath a branching red maple, his eyes closed.  Though he was dressed in the traditional orange and red robes of a Buddhist monk, his head was unshaven, and his dark, silken hair fluttered around his face.  Clearly a foreigner, his skin was fair, his features delicate.

The other monks were almost sure he had not been there a moment earlier, and yet there was no way they could prove he had not been.  And so, not wanting to disturb another's meditation, they left him be. 

As he sat with his hands palm up upon his knees, an emerald green praying mantis crept slowly up his leg.  Apparently undisturbed, the man did not move, and his eyes remained shut.  The mantis stepped tentatively upon his fingers, and then continued onto the palm of his hand, where it stopped and waited. 

At that moment, the man opened his eyes – eyes as green as the mantis upon his hand – and took a deep breath.  He looked down at the beautiful insect and smiled.  It was a cruel, cold expression.  Slowly, purposefully, he closed his hand around the sacred animal, crushing it to death.

Wiping his hand upon his robes, he stood and walked toward the monastery gate oblivious to the shocked stares and muttered prayers of the monks.  "It has begun," he whispered triumphantly, passing through the gate, and continuing down the stone-paved path towards the village below.