Making himself as small as possible, Anton hid behind in the entrance of a side hall. He was inspecting a long corridor at the back of the hive, counting in his head. All of a sudden, a warrior ant walked out into the open, looked around the corridor exit before heading back in.
"Damnit, they are faster than last time. Five seconds to get to the intersection..." Anton mumbled. He waited for another two seconds before sneaking to the corridor and looking inside. The warrior's back was blocking the entire hallway, and he rushed inside the softly glowing tunnel. He tried to keep quiet and made it to a small hole in the side of the wall. He could barely squeeze himself inside but managed. He really should make it larger, but it would mean the warriors would be alerted, and the entire attempt would be for nothing. Feeling his heart rate spike, he waited. As soon as he heard the warrior ant come back, he held his breath.
As the footsteps got closer, he heard the heavy, difficult breathing of the insect, and he tried to sit perfectly still. Any sound, any movement, and the insect would find him and eat him alive. He suppressed a shudder as he recalled one time that had happened, and it was not something he wanted to live through again. But he had done this before, and like the last few times, he managed to be quiet enough. The soldier ant moved passed him, and as soon as he was a bit further along, Anton squeezed back out, before noiselessly running to the other entrance.
Looking outside, he took a quick look to see nothing would jump him before inspecting the maze. He was standing halfway up a wall, and below him was the only way towards the third level exit. Counting the crossings, he saw nothing had changed this time, so he should be okay with what he remembered. Taking a left, he ran along the steep slope down, keeping an eye out for any movement below. Reaching the bottom without a hitch, he looked at the many different roads leading into the maze. All of them had warriors patrolling them he knew, and they all led to the creepy throne room.
Picking the rightmost entrance, he snuck up and looked inside. It was empty.
"Fuck, this is going to be my lucky day, isn't it..." He whispered, the corners of his mandibles twitching as he attempted to smirk. Moving inside the tunnel, he kept a slow and steady pace, stopping every few steps to see if he could hear anything.
Every few meters, the halls would branch out, and he followed the path he remembered. Halfway through, he stopped and hid in a dead-end corridor.
"Something is wrong; something is bloody wrong. Why are there no soldiers anywhere? He cursed some more as he tried to come up with a logical reason. But there was none, so he decided to continue, as careful as possible.
Sneaking through the maze, he didn't come across a single soldier, and he was getting spooked. At the last corridor, leading towards the large open room lined with soldiers and some hideous chair in the middle, he stopped. He heard some chittering from inside, but nothing he didn't expect. Taking a deep, shaky breathy, he slowly snuck inside the opening, taking a look inside.
He froze and almost turned around to run, but managed to keep still. The soldiers were there, but that wasn't what got his first attention. Limbs, gore, and blood lay around the room, dead and dying soldier ants everywhere. Some of the worker ants were already busy dismembering them and hauling them away while two even lines of soldiers stood at the sides of the room looking at the happenings.
Taking a quick count of the soldiers still alive, Anton felt elated. Less than half remained alive! And most importantly, the one that was usually blocking the entrance wasn't there! That meant he had a better chance now than ever. Taking note of the workers, he waited until they were blocking the sides a bit, and rushed inside the room. No time like the present, he thought, grinning.
Sprinting full speed across the floor, he made sure not to step in any puddles of gare, lest he slip and fall. Dodging the beetles that still ignored him, he heard screeching, and the warriors at the sides moved.
"Not fast enough, buddies!" Feeling his prize within reach, he whisked passed the last beetle, around the throne, and towards the final stretch. He heard the warriors behind him, coming closer. But they wouldn't make it, he rushed into the tunnel and saw the final hundred meters in front of him.
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"~ Aren't you just the speedy one ~."
Anton almost tripped when he heard the honey-sweet, high pitched voice. At the same time, a large portion of the top of the tunnel moved and began lowering. As he looked on, shocked, he saw a tall woman of astonishing beauty block his way, a large billowing black cloak on her back. Slowing down, he felt his heart skip a beat.
"~ Thought you could slip passed my guards, after your friend? ~" The women's voice.
Anton stopped, just out of her reach, marveling at her perfect, jet black face and luminous red eyes.
"What? Friend?" He said, swallowing.
A red glow rushed from the Demoness her eyes, enveloping him, while her mouth curved down in a look of scorn. It quickly changed into a look of astonishment, and she raised her hand.
"~ Stop. Leave him to me and go back to your posts. ~"
Anton heard the feet behind him slow down and stopped so close he could feel the heat of the foul breath on his skin. Something scratched along the carapace covering his back, like nails across a school board. After a moment of suspense, he heard the guards walk back until it was just him and the Demoness.
"~ So, you don't know about the other one. A nasty piece of work that one, using one of my beloved children to draw my attention and stealing from my horde. ~" The woman's face twisted into a horrid grimace of rage for a moment before switching back so fast it almost seemed a dream.
"~But I digress, you are the resilient one. I recognize you now! Almost a thousand attempts, and still you come back, giving me entertainment. Although I can't let you pass without a real ordeal, I think you deserve a reward. ~ Licking her lips, a husky look came to her face as she moved closer, bowing toward him.
Anton wanted to back up a bit, but he couldn't move, petrified by the gorgeous red eyes staring straight into his. Swallowing, he tried to speak but couldn't.
"~ Let us make a deal, yes? You can have a small reward or a large reward. If you take the small reward, I will give it to you and kill you swiftly. ~" A look of sadness crossed her face as she shook her head, causing her black hair to swirl around her sharp face.
"~ But if you take the large reward, you will have to entertain me at your best ability. But I promise you. It will be worth it. ~" The Demoness laughed in a dusky voice, desire on her face.
"Large..." Anton whispered, scared to the bone, and feeling like puking. But he needed to get out of here. And if he had to do everything again, he wanted something out of it.
The Demoness laughed, showing her sharp teeth for the first time.
"~ Good, good. Aren't you, the brave little bug! Now let us playyyyy ~"
Before Anton could react, she pounced forward, knocking him over and dragging him along by his ankle. He felt the world turn upside down as she dragged him along the wall up through the ceiling that he now saw had holes in it. As he saw the darkness up ahead, he knew he had made a horrid mistake.
--
Flagging consciousness, pain everywhere, and weightlessness that was abnormal. Anton slowly opened his eyes, looking at the floor beneath him, covered in bloody pieces of meat. His meat. To the side, a soft crunching and swallowing sound was followed by a gentle sigh.
"~ Ahhh, so delicious. You survived till the end, little one, and now you get your reward. ~" She followed it with a horrid laugh.
Feeling his lifeblood flow freely, Anton had no energy to reply. He had long since figured out he should have taken option one. All the pain over the last years could not stand up against what he had just been through, he knew.
"~ Awwww, is my brave little ant tired? It is fine. ~" The Demoness licked her lips clean of blood and puss before moving towards Anton, smiling at him.
"~ You have done well coming this far, but to do so, you took this horrid shape! And she pointed at Anton and the parts of him covering the floor.
"~Look, ~" She raised her hand, and a figure of light and clouds grew on her palm, held in front of Anton.
It was a horrid monster, with long, overly muscled black legs and white uneven chitting growths. A black shell covered most of the torso that seemed meant for a beetle. To its sides were four lizard arms, crooked and uneven. The head was even worse. A spider's face mixed with a serpent head, two red eyes above an open maw with a red tongue visible to all.
"~ Do you see what you became to get this far? Ahhh, and here is the secret. From the fourth floor onward, you reach another point! And from that moment onwards, you cannot change yourself anymore, not like now. You can change small parts, color, size, and material but not the rest. Imagine if you had to look like this forever! The only way would be to regress alllll the way back to your initial shape. And start over! ~ The beautiful face warped in one of insanity as she laughed.
Anton let his head drop, looking at the ground. He felt darkness creep around the corners of his vision, and he felt a hand raise his head.
"~Bye bye little one. Do come back to entertain me! ~"
The Demoness tenderly wrapped her hands around Anton's head and snapped his neck, and there was nothing.