PAGE 1 – THE RESTLESS DAWN
Panel 1:A low sun spills golden fire over the land. Mantis crouches on a high rock, staring at the light, eyes glimmering like mirrors.
Caption (Narration): The dawn came again — obedient, perfect, predictable. And Mantis hated that.
Panel 2:Close-up of Mantis's claws tapping the stone impatiently.
Mantis (thinking): The light rises, the light falls. It knows only one song. Boring.
Panel 3: He grabs a handful of sunlight — it ripples like silk between his fingers.
Caption: But no one ever said you couldn't touch it.
Panel 4:The air trembles as he stretches it, shapes it, folds it.
Mantis: Let's see what you can become.
PAGE 2 – THE ART OF CHAOS
Panel 1: Mantiss spins the light like a thread, laughing. The light twists into loops, arcs, and dancing shapes — glowing ribbons that float above the plains.
Caption: The world had never seen light move on its own before.
Panel 2:Animals wake, eyes wide. A herd of antelope stands frozen beneath floating orbs of light.
Sefu (off-panel): What in the ancestors' name is that?
Panel 3:Kura shields her eyes from the brightness.
Kura: It's like the Sun's having dreams.
Panel 4:Mantis hangs upside down from a tree branch, giggling as he molds the lights into figures — one looks suspiciously like himself.
Mantis: You see? Light can pretend! Just like us.
Panel 5:A figure of pure light stretches, waves, then melts into smoke. Caption: And thus, illusion was born — the world's first lie, told with laughter.
PAGE 3 – THE Gamiwe SEES
Panel 1:Gamiwe watches from her hut's doorway, face half-lit by gold, half-shadowed by dusk.
Gamiwe(softly): He plays with fire that doesn't burn.
Panel 2:Her reflection shimmers in a bowl of water — the Moon's image faintly glows there.
Gamiwe: The trickster dances near truth. He will either balance the light… or break it.
Panel 3:The Moon appears faintly in the sky, looking down with concern.
Moon: He has stolen a piece of me. But I am curious — what will he do next?
PAGE 4 – MANTIS DISCOVERS SHADOWS
Panel 1:Mantis tosses one of his light creations into the air; it hits a stone and splits into fragments. Each fragment casts a shadow that writhes on its own.
Mantis: Ah! The light's other face!
Panel 2:He cups a shadow in his hands, fascinated. It shifts like liquid smoke.
Caption: For the first time, light made darkness — not absence, but echo.
Panel 3:The shadows crawl and merge, forming strange creatures — half-light, half-dark — that mimic his movements.
Mantis: You're me. But opposite. I like that.
Panel 4:The creatures scatter, dancing across the plain.
Caption: The world began to shimmer — full of mirrors, doubles, and reflections.
Caption (cont.): Balance learned to laugh.
PAGE 5 – THE PEOPLE REACT
Panel 1:Kura, Sefu, and T'Laru stand at the edge of the glowing plain, surrounded by flickering lights and restless shadows.
Sefu: Are we dreaming again?
T'Laru: No. The dream has crossed over.
Panel 2: Kura kneels, touching one of the glowing shapes — it vanishes into her skin, leaving a faint shimmer.
Kura (quietly): It's warm… like it remembers me.
Panel 3:Gamiwe's voice carries on the wind.
Gamiwe (off-panel): Do not chase what you do not understand. Let it chase you — and learn its rhythm.
Panel 4:The lights begin to fade as the Sun climbs higher.
Caption: By day's end, the shapes were gone. But their memory stayed in the eyes of those who had seen the light dance.
PAGE 6 – MANTIS'S REFLECTION
Panel 1:Night falls. Mantis sits by a pool, staring into his reflection — half light, half shadow.
Mantis(thinking): If I can shape light… maybe I can shape everything.
Panel 2:The reflection blinks independently.
Reflection(whispering): But what if the world shapes you first?
Panel 3:Mantis grins, sharp and bright.
Mantis: Then we'll see who's funnier.
Panel 4:The stars sparkle above him like laughing eyes.
Caption: That night, the Trickster began his greatest game — teaching the world that even light has a sense of humor.
CAPTION (Next Issue ): "When Mantis First Broke the Sky."