The horde of ant’s standing under the tower was a mess.

They stood without any structure about them, no dignity. They were scared, frightened even. Their doubt could be felt from afar. This was no army, but a disjointed mix of angry soldiers representing their colonies on the farm. Yet they were there, standing, waiting for their orders, displaying the essence of what being an ant meant. Yesterday, we all had our doubts about the said enemies, but today we stood united for the cause. The invasion had hurt us because of our nonchalance, but such wouldn’t be the case this time. Now we knew what we were up against and we were ready to bring them the fight. Or were we?

“There you are.” Pyro waived his antennas upon seeing me. “I told you all he would be there.” He said, turning to the rest of our team. They all relaxed upon finding me amongst them. David seemed like he wanted to ask me where I had been, but he decided to let it go and nodded before turning his head toward the branch where Glow and the elders stood. Mink sat in a daze, while Genma rubbed my head with his antennas.

I hadn’t given it much thought then, but I wasn’t the only one who had lost a friend in the invasion. I was too troubled to notice the sorrow hidden behind their resolution. Each colony had a small army of soldiers stationed at the farm, and so did we. Some of those soldiers, they had brought, had died under their command. My companions were also hurt but they didn’t show their weakness. Their nervousness was the result of their understanding of the dangers associated with our mission; my anxiousness, on the other hand, was because I believed we had wasted too much time already.

I was watching Glow when Commander Yuvi joined us and his army made an entrance. I noticed the bulbous ends of Glow’s antennas flash for a second before returning back to normal, relaying a small change in his mood. He had even looked our way, strengthening my dilemma.

All five hundred of Commanders Yuvi’s soldiers came, minus the ones who weren’t with us anymore. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Not even those injured were left behind! I peered at Commander Yuvi to figure out his thoughts and found his antennas standing stiff and up. He was flabbergasted. I thought he would send the injured soldiers back; however, he did no such thing.

His soldiers entered the site marching in a boxed formation, looking prim. Though the ones injured slightly messed the straight lines, the army of hundreds still looked better than the larger, but morbid group of ants which had gathered to their left. It wasn’t only the difference of their gaits which set them apart, but also their temperance and the aura which the army soldiers radiated. None from the army had their heads cast down. There was no whispering among them. They all silently stood facing their commander.

“Soldiers, at ease,” Commander yuvi bellowed, and at once, calmness replaced his soldier's eagerness. I hadn’t yet seen commander Yuvis army fight, but it didn’t stop me from believing that in case the two forces standing shoulder to shoulder fought for some reason, the battle won’t be as one-sided as their number difference let on.

“Sir,”

“David,”

They greeted each other.

Out of the blue Commander Yuvi turned toward me and bowed, putting me in an awkward position. I knew nothing of his reason, or how to return back his kind gesture without making a fool of myself. The awkward glances of my companions were of no help either. Thankfully, he didn’t keep waiting for me to act and sprung back up to look me in the eyes.

“You have my heartfelt gratitude for acting yesterday and saving all those lives without a shred of hesitation or greed.” He said out loud and proud as if talking about his accomplishments. “The soldiers and carriers you saved call you their savior. Thanks to you, the personal loss, which could have been in the tens of hundreds, remained limited to a few hundred.”

“I—” I tried to speak but Commander Yuvi interjected. “Let me finish. I bring good news. You may want to listen to this.” He said and I quieted down.

To tell the truth I hadn’t acted out of sympathy toward the wounded or with pure intentions, but out of frustration and helplessness. I had wanted to release some of my burdens and empty my mind. In no way or form had I intended a return for my effort, or had predicted my actions to bring about such a result.

“I,” Commander Yuvi continued, “and the rest of the captains going on this mission have agreed to give 20% of our supply of honeydew as compensation for saving the lives of our soldiers. Not only that, this agreement will stay until prosperity returns to your colony. They also send their gratitude and well wishes.” He said, his last words going unheard.

David and Dark glared at me with their mandibles open, while Pyro laughed out loud manically and Mink followed him in the act. Genma simply watched me from the side, but his eyes displayed the warmth of a proud brother. The last of nervousness pestering our group burned away at the rush of excitement. Our mission no longer seemed as impossible as before. Commander Yuvi had really brought the news at the right time. It had us jovially popping like beans on fire.

“Alright, alright, now calm down,” David said being unable to hide his excitement. “We may have reached our destination, but our work is only half done. The mission is still happening. We are still going to enter the bug’s residence. True. Things have changed.” He said becoming serious. “No longer do we have to worry about those back home. But is that truly the case?” He asked, looking at us one by one, instilling us with a sense of urgency. “If our enemies survive, the farm won’t. And we can’t let that happen.” His voice softened as he continued, sensing our discomfort. “It’ll be difficult. True. We have seen what our enemies can do. But we are not alone. Together, we can deal with anything. Not only will we destroy our enemies, but also take the supplies back. Do you believe in me?”

“Yes, sir!” We replied in unison.

The other commanders slowly arrived with their teams. Even those two who had decided to back out came to see the force that had gathered together. They all looked in our direction and curtly bowed. Pyro flailed his antennas in excitement and Mink followed his execution.

“Bastard,” Dark snarled as Glow stepped to the end of the branch he had settled upon and started talking. He didn’t use any skills to strengthen his voice and neither did his voice reach every mind present. His awe-filled voice laboriously reached us and we weren’t even standing that far from him. I believe none of the soldiers heard him.

While Glow went on with his speech, commander Yuvi neared me and give me a proposition which my companions had a very hard time believing. He started off by asking me what I thought of his soldiers. They are impressive. I sincerely replied.

He then suddenly said in a matter-of-factly manner, “How about you visit my army after we are done with this?” as if the upcoming battle was a done deal. “I’m sure your skills will be appreciated there.”

Pyro pushed me aside, and yelled, “Yes.” gaining a tentacle slap from Dark in return.

“By after you mean?” I asked instead.

I won’t say his proposal didn’t excite me. I already had his great urge to visit the army —to understand their culture and methods, for everyone had complimented them earnestly— but I had brothers waiting for me back in the colony and, to tell the truth, I was very anxious to meet them. To leave for a longer period of time without even getting to see them all would have been rude of me; and emotionally impossible. I had promised Tiny I would meet her soon after all.

“We’ll have to leave right after. The time constraints are very strict in the army.”

“Then I’m sorry. I won’t be able to accompany you.”

Commander Yuvi watched me closely, determining whether I was being difficult or what. His stiff antennas relaxed after a while, and then he asked me. “Any reason why you are declining an offer the rest of your companions,” he said pointing toward David and Pyro, who were lamenting. “Will accept without any condition?”

“I’m missing my colony,” I said without missing a beat, silencing Pyro’s lamentations.

“What a fine kid.” Commander Yuvi said softly, ending the topic.

By that time Glow was also ending his speech. The various commanders lead the soldiers from the colonies and started following the scout appointed by Glow to show us the site. David courtly bowed toward Commander Yuvi who nodded in response and was off to lead his army. David looked in the general direction of our colony, his eyes burning with ambition.

“Let’s go.” He said and we were off. And though the possibility of death was high and almost certain, he led us and the soldiers behind without a shred of hesitation. I wondered how I would fare in his position and found myself lacking in comparison to David. I may have more strength and skills, but he had something more important and necessary to lead. He had the experience.

*****

“Here,” The scout confirmed, pointing his antennas at a dark cavernous opening at the foot of a forgiving slope and set off to leave us. We all looked at his disappearing shape, some more insistently than others until he was gone. He had been the only one standing between us and what would come next. He had us traveling through a thicket of everything sharp and hunkered down stone paths. For hours we had travelled following him, most hoping for the trek to end, some hoping for the opposite. The opening our scout had shown us looked like a giant open maw, dark and sightless. The area around, however, appeared not disturbed in the slightest sense. There were no pheromones in the air, no scents, nothing to suggest the presence of our enemies. There were no sentries warning going off at our presence, no bugs entering and leaving the opening. It was all too silent.

“Did the scout make a mistake?”

“We’ll know once we attack.”

“But what if, a mistake this is?”

“Lives on the line ours will be then.”

The discussion erupted right after. Once again this whole operation smelled suspicious, onerous even.

I checked my map to see our position in respect to the farm, and found that we weren’t that far from the farm, only an hour’s distance away, had we taken a more direct route. The scout had us traveling around the mound at the base of which we stood. The bugs, however, could fly, shortening the distance for them and making them minutes away from the farm.

By the time I was done with my map the commanders had made a plan of action.

“Ready?” Dark asked me and I agreed. David walked toward us from commander Yuvi’s site. “Sir has sent his best wishes. He promises whatever happens inside; he will get our share back to our colony.” There was a hint of helplessness in his voice, hidden behind a cover of focus and care. He was feeling the pressure; we all were.

His words didn’t change anything but added a stamp of reality to our situation. We were really doing this.

“Attack!” One of the commanders yelled and we were running. The scent of battle perfumed the air. The soldiers moved. The opening was wide enough to let a whole battalion to enter at once without any resistance. We weren’t the first one to rush but weren’t the last one either. Anticipation gripped my soul. My feet took me forward. My sight opened up and activated night-vision, clearing the blinding darkness of the tunnel. The rush ignited my battle sense and I left everyone behind.

“Jack!” I heard someone call my name, but something clouded my mind, speaking to me in hushed tones, telling me to take all the glory, ignore the others, kill everything, and take all the prizes, for everything there belonged to me. The voice came time and time again, waking a primal hunger inside me and separating me from the rest. I left everyone behind me, rushed down a slope, entered an ant chamber and slammed hard into a softly shimmering wall of blue.

-30 floated out of my body dyed in red and disappeared as my mind cleared; the rush I had been feeling simmering down. The voice inside my head quieted, becoming inaudible again. My senses returned slowly as I sat gazing at the blue wall in a daze.

A blue hue lit the wide chamber in its gloomy luminance. A ghastly echo loomed over me stiffening my senses with its hum. A pressure descended on my body, which I resisted. Then I heard a voice, unlike the one from before, which had instilled foreign emotions in me, this one did no such thing. It was a familiar voice, one much more personal. It belonged to the system.

{Welcome, Intruder, to the Graveyard of feelings.}

[You are the fifty-seventh individual to have found this ‘E-3’ level dungeon.]

(+20%experience for the next 24Hours. 20% boost to skill acquisition and training.)

A gust of wind enveloped the whole chamber in a blanket of coldness once the voice finished the introduction. The sound of a whirl twirling in a wide-open sea followed the winds dominance, at the end of which five fear-inducing spheres of purple appeared on the other side of the shimmering wall of blue, which then disappeared abruptly as if switched off.

The purple spheres revolved ever so slightly, inducing ripples on their otherwise immaculate surfaces. I sat in a daze staring at them for some time before the first of the soldiers entered into the chamber behind me. Following him, the others rushed inside and I was no longer alone.

“Where are the enemies?”

“What is this place?”

“Form up, everyone, for up!”

“There—” I heard a familiar voice among the rest and saw my companions rushing to my aid. As they assembled around me, everyone stiffened and fell to the ground. Then the voice returned again.

{Each gate can house six participants and holds similar trials.}

[It isn’t possible to leave the dungeon once entered without clearing the floor boss.]

(Death in the trials means death in reality.)

{The dungeon will operate until everyone finishes the trial or someone destroys the core. Good luck.}

Everyone looked at one another. None showed any familiarity with the phenomenon we had involuntarily become a part of. What was a dungeon and what did it mean to destroy the core? Where were the bugs and the caterpillars and the plum carriers? Where were the soldiers taken from the farm? What was happening? Everyone had questions, but no one had any answers.

The soldiers tensed at the unknown, while the commanders held a meeting. At the end of a lengthy discussion, they reached the decision to send a probing team inside one of the spheres. At first, it was concluded to send any six ants, but the decision met oppression when the first team sent inside the spheres didn’t return and the sphere itself evaporated after some time. After that incident, our actions stagnated. While the rest glared at each other, David had a talk with Commander Yuvi. They argued about something and reached a concession. Commander Yuvi then went to talk with the other commanders, who first voiced out complaints, then hesitatingly agreed. No one knew what they talked about, but I did. I heard them.

David had just proposed to enter the spheres if the others could promise him fifty percent of their share of honeydew. The other commanders had decided to value their life more and agreed.

I watched David coming our way, leading a group of ten ants. He looked resolute. “We enter.” He said, and we stood up. No one showed any emotions. No one challenged him. We all knew what would happen if no one went to contest the bugs. The army would return, the bugs would attack, the farm would close, and our colony would die. We couldn’t have let that happen. Dark, Pyro, Mink, Genma they all disappeared into the left-most sphere, leaving captain and me behind. It was my turn, I took a step forward, but the group he had brought came to surround me, blocking my way. David looked dead into my eyes and apologized. “Not you.” He said. “You will join with sir and see to it that the supplies reach back home.”

“I’m coming!” I said, but he shook his head and apologized again and started walking in the sphere's direction with a soldier from commander yuvi’s army in tow. I saw him back disappear into the sphere. He didn’t look back, not even once. I woke up from my daze just in time as the soldier he had taken along looked back at the army, his antennas fallen showing his helplessness.

“You are not leaving me behind!” I yelled and rushed toward the sphere. “Stay!” I ordered using mystify, and the soldier froze right in front of the sphere. A single wave of shock from rhythmic quake pushed the soldiers guarding me away and I disappeared from the chamber right after, leaving a mess behind.