There was the scent of pain in the air, of panic, and a general sense of urgency. A worker was lying still before me, her legs were contracted, antennae silent, and still. She was dead. Another, a soldier, was on her back, flailing the top half of her legs, the only set remaining. She was pushing away anyone trying to help her.

My situation was different. I was a survivor. A worker, my partner, was thoroughly disinfecting my body with her saliva. However, I was distressed from the death around and my stiff antennae were making sure that she would know my thoughts.

That’s our duty, too. She scented. To deny help when there is no hope.

But she can survive if we take her to the colony. She’ll—

She interrupted me. The soldier will only be a burden to the colony if she lived. And there is no crime heavier than that. That’s the fate of a hunter. You have to understand that if you want to be one of us.

She went as far as to feed me a drop of flower nectar. It was sweet, very delicious, and nutritious. It was a little bundle of energy that instantly put me back on my feet.

I didn’t forget to thank her properly by bowing my head and putting my antennae as straight as I could. A touch on the tip told me she accepted, but I stayed in the position for a bit longer, afraid of looking back at the sight of the dying soldier. By the time I tired myself into straightening my head she was gone to help the others in need. It was surprising that she had decided to help me before the soldiers.

I noticed a few antennas turning toward me. I ignored the attention and busied myself with cleaning my sensory apparatus as thoroughly as I could. To say I wasn’t fazed by the carnage would be an understatement. I was bidding time to stable my distressed mind. My thoughts were leaking and I couldn’t stop them.

My antennae were covered in dried acid crystal. They were in much worse shape than I had first imagined. I rubbed them between my jaws as many times as I could to break the crystals, before polishing them with the wet tips of my front legs. But time was short and the result unsatisfactory. The soldiers, those not injured or already recovered, were actively pilling the termites together. There were nine of those large succulent bodies. Not many. However, we were only on the first floor; and no one knew how deep this base went.

I noticed upon standing that one of my legs on the left side wasn’t working as it should. It was stuck in a narrow back and forth motion. The acid hadn’t managed to drill a hole in my carapace, even though it had tried and thinned it considerably; my leg tissues, on the other hand, were open to its chiseling. There it had successfully damaged me. Still, considering everything, the reward of my recklessness wasn’t as bad as it could or, should have been. And there was also this thing,

Damn! You one nasty ant, brother! Skewering your enemy in the eye… You make me speechless.

You have acquired Skill: Barehanded Mastery.

You have six legs for a reason. Don’t run about changing your anatomy on the snap!

You have acquired skill: Balance.

[Bare handed][Lv-1][Tier-1][Mastery]

[It takes guts just to kill someone, much less with your BARE HANDS!]

[Effect: You deal 1% more damage to your opponents with bare hands.]

[Reward: You have acquired skill Charge.]

***

[Charge][Lv-1/10][Tier-1][Active]

[The skill gives you a sudden rush of speed for a few seconds.]

[Cost: uses 10% of your Endurance.]

***

[Balance][Tier-1][Lv-1/10][Passive]

[This skill improves your mobility.]

[Reward: You Agility increase by .1 points every skill level.]

I had an inkling that these graphical anomalies were the reason behind my recent success —or survival, as I should be calling it. I decided to put away some free time to look into them, and as soon as I could.

I never knew a harvester’s job was so dangerous! It was no wonder the ex-soldiers and hunters preferred to work in the narrow, dark and awful mines after military service. I felt relief that I wasn’t a harvester, and also disgusted by the thought at the same time. I couldn’t believe I was giving up my dream so easily.

Eventually, when all preparations were done we went down the tunnel. In the chamber below we found six more termites, their bodies. They were already dead. It was a surprising turn of events, baffling to all including the Princess and the captain. Moreover, there were no more paths leading to the deeper depths of the colony, or any signs of them.

The soldiers spread into the chamber, abdomens pointing forward and mandibles open. They didn’t want to take any risk. Their caution eventually proved to be for naught, for the termites were not faking death. Everyone relaxed. That’s when a soldier called the alarm. All the soldiers moved toward him at the end of the chamber. The princess followed them, the captain and I followed her, my partner right behind me.

What he had found wasn’t an enemy, however, but an ant. And surprisingly, it had our passport pheromones! The ant was one of our own, just not from our city. The captain ordered the soldier to check its identity, which he quickly finished. The soldier read: 171113, first-generation, 3rd lay and number 7111, a soldier of the 47th city Door-Darshan-Ji (Heavenly view of the world).

That can’t be, right?

That city is too far!

Is it a messenger?

But even a messenger would not be alone.

The soldiers murmured before the captain silenced them.

Door-Darshan-Ji, the farthest city connected to the Kingdom. It was almost in the abandoned territory and would have remained so if it wasn’t for the technical advancements that it presented, and for its number of inhabitants. Very little was known about the city, but it was said to have enough inhabitants to hold its fort against the enemy colonies, all alone. And if that wasn’t an amazing feat then nothing was.

An internal connection was tried with the ant and there was a response, but not strong enough to solve the mystery. The ant wasn’t dead, just unconscious.

Alright, let’s pack up everyone. And someone, please carry that ant for me. The captain ordered and the soldiers became busy tearing the termites into sizable chunks. A worker could carry a whole termite, but the soldiers didn’t possess such stamina. While they worked, I stood there gawking.

There was nothing I could do to help. By injuring my mandibles I had lost my only weapon and tool. The harvesters shared an alarming intensity and work ethics, but I wasn’t a part of them. I was useless. I had saved the princess but how was that helping the colony? I couldn’t determine.

It is our duty to not burden the colony; to deny help when the situation is hopeless. The words stung more than the poison and the acid combined could have. Did I have hope? I couldn’t determine. Everyone ate their share and I also shamefully filled my belly before we left.

The trek back was very subdued. I couldn’t make contact with anyone. Everyone worked their share, and even the princess carried a termite in her large mandibles. I-I followed them empty-handed, dragging my feet. The soldiers laden with food walked at a slow pace. There were no interruptions on the way. None tried to stop us. We reached the colony just before noon when the temperature outside was just right.

The sentries let the city know of our return, and we were welcomed with applause and water and honeydew. City workers took the food from the soldiers as they enjoyed the refreshments. I couldn’t enjoy the moment. A worker asked me if I would like some water, but I couldn’t say yes. Don’t waste resources! The voice rang loud in my mind.

Princess found me at the entrance, head bowed, antennas sulking, dazed, and lost. I didn’t notice her and was genuinely surprised when she touched my head, and caressed my melted exoskeleton.

Does it hurt? She asked.

I replied: yes. And she was taken aback by my straightforwardness or lack of flair. She apologized to which I answered with silence. She must have realized my solemn mood because she asked me what I was thinking. I let everything out like a broken record.

I saw a soldier denying help today. She was in pain, but alive, yet she decided to die. The worker I was paired with told me, the soldier knew that she would only be a burden on the colony if she survived; Hence her decision. But I-I was also of no help to anyone either.

I didn’t think, but I was pretty loud with my scent and gathering quite an attention.

The captain took me on the premise that I would share their burned, but the only way I helped was by eating a portion of their hunt. While everyone else, including you, helped to carry the termites, I was the only one not helping. No one said anything like they expected nothing better from me. Doesn’t that make me as worthless as the dying soldier? And I am disabled. I can’t work as a worker or hunt as a soldier anymore. I am nothing. So am I also not just a burden on the colony that needs to be replaced?

The princess listened quietly and tapped my head when I was finished with my rant. I expected many things from her, but she only scented one thing, something unexpected: Why don’t we let Mother decide that?

I don’t think she could have said it any better. Her words were precise and true. She didn’t give me time to start thinking negative thoughts again and tapping my head she started walking. I watched her as she stopped a few steps ahead and looked back.

Aren’t you coming? She scented and I limped after her.

The soldiers at the entrance moved out of our way. I did notice them paying much attention to me. At the time I thought they found me suspicious, and only let me inside because I was with the princess. That was true indeed, but to a certain degree, they also pitied me.

You stay close to her. One of the soldiers told me and I followed the princess glued to her back.

Inside, a festival was growing in the tunnels. The harvesters were being lauded with appreciation. The celebration was on a whole different level because it was termites that made the feast, our eternal enemies. The caretakers were running around carrying mushroom mead instead of the usual water, the tunnels were filled with an electric scent; and for the first time in my whole life as a digger, I saw the miners lazing about. If the miners were allowed to rest that meant the win against the termites —though small— was pretty serious.

We went into one of the larger elevator shafts leading straight down. It was brimming with much activity. Workers were moving about, mostly going down for the feast.

Only a few caretakers were carrying the large white oblong eggs up the shaft, to the top of the constructed tower where they could be incubated in the sunlight.

There weren’t any soldiers in the shaft, for they were concentrated on the surface floors. The feast was for the workers to enjoy, who usually only got the leftover from the hunt.

The Queen's quarters were a great distance below the surface. We left the elevator shaft on the tenth floor and worked our way down one-way bridges and narrow tunnels of the storage chambers. There weren’t any singular artery that directly connected the surface to the bottom floors. That was a recipe for disaster. The feat was progressing here and resultantly the pathways were brimming with ants of all castes including some of the lower caste soldiers. We took another elevator shaft from the fifteenth to the twentieth floor bypassing the mold farms and finally reached the nursery.

I still remember how perfectly chaotic the place could get since my time as a caretaker. Those were harsh days. Here, there was a population explosion as soldiers and caretaker caste mingled together, both trying to protect a part of our society. Soldiers made most of the numbers here on the twentieth floor with the young, recently released kind making a higher percentage of the total. Similar to a young worker, a young soldier was also worked hard to protect the nursery for a month before being allowed to join the army or the other parties.

Every floor below the twentieth contained sentry posts, that housed a large number of ants with heavy stone-hard skeletons protecting them. They checked the incoming traffic with precision and had the power to deny entry to almost all workers and low ranked soldiers. They checked the princess’s passport and she didn’t let them stop me.

I was nervous beyond belief. I had made a good decision by forcing Princess to help me. No way I could have sneaked past this many soldiers, and managed to meet the queen. That wouldn’t even have been hilarious. They would have used me as target practice. I became sure of that one when I saw a few marksmen pointing their abdomens at me.

The number of caretakers and nurses increased on the twenty-third floor. Even then, their ratio didn’t dip below six to four. The twenty-fifth floor, however, was crawling with egg carrying caretakers and nurses. There were hardly any soldiers there, but the ones I could sense were battle-hardened soldiers with more battles behind them than the number of days I had lived.

Finally, we were in front of the impenetrable hollow stone that made the queen’s quarters. There were only three entrances, all guarded by living doors, a caste of guards called coin ants that had heads large and strong enough to seal and protect the entrance.

Princess presented her Id to the door guard and we were let inside. A princess could meet the queen anytime. It was her birthright. I won’t say I wasn’t jealous, but I had many more important things on my mind.

Inside, it was a singular thirty by thirty heads large cathedral with an arching ceiling and minimal pillar support. The queen, an obnoxiously fat ant, was lying in the middle of the chamber with her upper body and feet dangling in the air.

A number of caretakers were massaging and moisturizing the queen’s body, while a pair of nurses was stimulating her abdomen, a dozen or so caretakers quietly watching from behind.

She was Agnee of the heavenly colony. Agnee she had named herself, for she was not an ember flying in a storm of ash, but a fire bright red and hot enough to burn everything around her. She was the fire, the city’s nerve stimulus, and we were her chariot, the force behind her domination.

She was the force behind the heavenly kingdom's expansion in the southeast territory, the one who made the termites run to the west

Her looks had sparked rumors about heritage being connected to an empire of fire ants from the north. It was yet to be proved true.

One of her large antennas singled us out from the thirty caretakers and nurses in the quarter. It followed us from the door to the rest of the way until we were in front of her. Being so obtrusively large she couldn’t move on her own.

She was happy to see us. Being a queen of a large multi-level city is boring unrelenting work, and there were not many ways for her to enjoy life. That is until her advisers decided to help their queen pass her time.

When I worked there she only had a ‘touch me not’ plant that used to grow shy at her touch. Now among the three different varieties of plants --including one that blossomed a bright beautiful flower upon sensing danger-- there was also a glow bug trapped in tree resin. It glowed when tapped on the bottom. It looked healthy and quite content with its life. It was smaller than the queen and surprisingly an odd addition to her possessions.

Queen sensed our passport and identified us. For us our passports were no different from another pheromone, but she could sense one's intentions from it. The city was yet to produce a better perfumer than her. And she had the finest olfactory nose that came with her body. For her, the pheromone was not just identification but the record of our lives. The loss of my passport was essentially also similar to a loss of my old life.

After she finished reading the pheromones she commenced the scent communication.

From Fire comes an ember. Though free, you are mine and forever you shall be until the ember in you grows cold and only ash remains. She greeted us in her usual.

It was the only bit of mystique about her. Finishing the greeting she went back to tapping the ‘touch me not’ and the ‘glow bug’. A shudder passed through her body when the ‘You scary-I’m scary’ plant opened into a bright flower, intrigued by the activity. A set of five slimy and small eggs came out of her behind, which the nurses quickly moved away with the help of the caretakers. An equal number of caretakers filled the now empty space, waiting in line to carry an egg into one of the hundreds of incubation chambers lining the queen quarters.

Mother, Princess scented. This child has lost his passport and I promised to help him retain his identity.

And why did you make such a promise to him, daughter? Queen asked.

Because he saved me when I was in danger and it’s only right that I save him, too.

We have a knight among us. Tell me more. The queen said and the princess started telling the tales of my death, escape, and rescue.

Excellent child, The queen rubbed my head. So that is the reason behind your appearance.

Her words stung where I was burned. I tried to hide my discomfort but I knew the Queen read me like a blown leaf.

Truthfully, I had almost forgotten about this part. Needless to say I was nervous again, almost on the verge of fainting. This was where my fate was going to be decided. The queen could see my missing mandible and my injured leg. She had smelled the scent of acid from my head and the damage it had done. I knew it.

I was so afraid of being denied an identity my thoughts grew a scent and pushed out of my antennas. The nervousness made me let out, again. Please let me stay a worker. I’ll dig without complaint and mine all day without stopping to meet the quota. Don’t make me a slave. I’m injured, but I am not defeated yet.

Are you? The queen asked. Not defeated, yet? She was not polite. How will you work with a face so beaten or fight? Can you even walk properly with your bad leg?

So I am a burden. My thought was heard or sensed again. She didn’t need I.C to do that. We were the embers of her fire. She knew our temperaments because we were once hers.

We don’t know about that. She rubbed my head. You are only a burden to my home if you don’t add any value to it. Do you have anything to add to my home? You can’t be a worker or a soldier. But you need a way to earn food. I believe you already know that hence your dilemma.

My head fell. It was true. I had nothing to give.

Don’t be shy my child, look up. You have not done anything to deserve mockery. You might think the loss of a mandible and a leg has made you worthless, but you should know that which is worthless to one might be priceless to another.

Really? I solemnly asked.

Yes, of course. The queen said. You saved my daughter, not once but twice, moving in favor of the colony without caring for your own wellbeing. You are not a burden, my child, but a proud member of my city.

She tapped my head and I had my passport again. With that, I could roam the tunnels without fear of being chased by the soldiers. I could go outside and come back in. I could do all those things again, but, but—

The queen continued: As for your job — I think, someone has already decided what to do with you. Haven’t you, TinbuJi?

Who was that? The princess spoke. I would like permission to dub him my royal guard. Her request was granted without delay or question. And just like that, my problem was resolved. I had questions, confusions to clear, but my queen had more to tell her daughter, so I could only close my antennas and keep my thoughts to myself.

You, my child, should understand your position. You might think you are doing a great job by acting like a soldier, but in fact, you are only creating problems.

You might be wingless, the Queen definitely knew she was touching a rotten nerve, but she carried forward anyways. But you are a princess still — a fertile female. Your wings will come. You don’t have to bind yourself to this tower. It’s good that you are preparing a space for yourself. Preparations are important, but you have to look far ahead for the sky and learn to fly. If you don’t believe in yourself, who will believe in you?

I’m sorry mother.

Alright, at that point she broke the connection with the princess and told me one last thing before releasing me too. From today onwards you are her guard. You will follow her, listen to her, advise her, and god forbids, protect her if it comes to that.

She broke the connection before I could reply, and we were out of her quarters a few moments later.

This was not what I had expected. I couldn’t help think that the princess had created a path for me where there was none.

The princess turned toward me before I could become lost in my thoughts.

Let’s go. She said and started toward the path that led to the… lower floors? I had no idea where she was taking me, but I could only follow, for surprising as it may seem, that was my duty as her royal guard. It was my job, and she had asked me to follow her.