We were left stranded in the desert with no way forward. Nothing grew or lived there. There was no greenery, no trees, or even shade. You may think the last one was a boon in disguise, but in the desert, you yearn for shade, even if it hides the deadliest of predators known to you. The desert is one such place.

You queen spared our lives, for which we are thankful, but we didn’t stop hating her. We hated her from the bottom of our hearts, some of us still do, others not so much. I had only been a month old then, recently out of the community service. Yes, even we go through the hell named community service.

It happened too suddenly. We were defeated in a single day. Most of us didn’t even know what happened. One moment we were going about our lives, repairing the wall, digging the drains, deepening the well, and suddenly there was panic circulating in the city, filling the tunnels, chaos spreading.

Anyways, that is not part of the story that I wish to convey. War brings chaos; that’s the truth. But you can’t even begin to fathom what we went through in the desert. Out here we die once and that’s it; there we died every day, killed every day, survived in the body but died a little more inside. Every day was a fight for our survival.

The desert burned in the day, growing hot enough to melt exoskeleton and burn flesh; while at night, it froze anyone that dared sleep under the sky outside. We had to constantly dig burrows in the sand to survive day or night. We could only travel in the early morning before sunrise, and in the evening during the sunset. Death roamed the desert at all other times. But there was nothing to eat. No critters, no tress, grass, creatures, nothing. You could keep looking for miles and miles and see nothing, but shimmering glittering grains of the same sunburned sand.

We would have been better off if your queen had just ordered to kill us; but no, she had to let us survive, put us through the misery that would make sure that we wouldn’t return. That is a journey you don’t dare take twice.

Some of us lost our minds. A few others never woke from their night sleep. Some burned away to the sand at day and many… we ate. We ate our own. We ate the weak first, and the old, but soon there were none of those left, so we started fighting each other, killing each other. The winner got to eat while the loser was eaten.

You might think that during this time we must have hated your whole kind, but you’d be wrong. The desert forces you to forget everything. We also forgot everything. By the time our numbers dwindled to a tenth of what we had started with there was no hate left in us. We only wanted to keep going, to reach the end of the desert and survive. Many who got afraid of the way we lived separated from the main group and disappeared into the sand dunes.

A whole week, that’s how long we walked in the burning heat of the desert, killing and eating each other. We never knew nature could be so scary.

For us hope arrived in the form of a giant tree. Incredible, that’s how the royals defined it. They said it was inconceivably huge. It stood in the desert like a lush brown wall. The shade it created alone was a huge overtaking to cross; it took us a whole day of continuous walking to get to its base.

We anchored at the tree-like termites to a tree. I know that’s a popular saying among your kind.

We ate, filled our strength, ate some more, and we never left. It was the most delicious meal I had ever had.

The tree gave us strength and helped us prosper. Since it was large enough and its branches many, there was no need for the royal females to take flight. They mated with the few males that were still alive and carved cities in the depths of the tree.

They took control of the different sections, dividing the branches, the trunk, the crown, and the roots among them. The first generation of newly turned queens took over the trunk, and slowly but steadily we digested the tree. The next generation grew upward, taking over the branches, and creating cities of their own. It has been years and the tree still stands strong. We are still eating it, living in it, but no longer out of need, instead of necessity.

You asked me what caused the infection.

I’ll confess that it originated from us, but we are not the cause. The tree is causing it all! It is different from other trees. It gave us strength and helped us prosper, but also bound us without us noticing anything. We can’t leave it any longer. If we don’t feed upon it we change. We become like this creature.

Many tried to leave, but they all return at some point, changed into mindless husks of their previous selves, stronger, impressive, and invulnerable, but also crazy, enraged, and murderous. They then attacked their own brothers and sisters, not distinguishing one from the other, killing and eating them, and growing even stronger.

However, we were handling that. Yes, we killed our own, but that’s the only solution to the complex problem. Just to be clear, there is no returning back for someone who is infected. The change is permanent. And the Tree has absolute control over those creatures.

But things changed when a large group, a battalion, thousands strong, attacked us in the middle of the night. They were ants, from here, the hidden city in the rocks. At that time there was no guessing. They pushed through our tunnels, crazy and out of their minds, killing and eating anything they saw moving.

We stopped the raid, killed them all, buried our dead, and followed their tracks to this place. And we have been here ever since because we don’t want to imagine an army of undying ants raiding us in the middle of the night. They become stronger the closer they get to the tree, out here they can still be killed. But in the desert, they regenerate torn limb and heal wounds in a moment. You have never seen ants that look like beetles and move like wasps, but they exist and you don’t want to meet them.

As for us, we are stuck on the tree, unable to leave, and neither do we want to leave. We were happy there until the infection spread to your kind. And don’t even think about bringing the war to us. We have been evicted from our land once. It won’t be allowed to happen again.

With the warning, the termite elder slipped into rest. A soldier brought her water and she drank by the mouthful’s, allowing her abdomen to expand freely.

It was one heck of a story, alright. I felt pretty overwhelmed. Star was not feeling any different. And according to lie detection, it was all true. To think there was a tree out there that could control others to curb the infestation raging through its body. That alone was a big enough reason to destroy it. Common sense dictated, the termites should have eaten through it already, but that was clearly not the case.

I could refuse to believe her despite the confirmation by lie detection, but that wouldn’t get me anywhere. Anyhow, the elder termite hadn’t told us everything; there were still some holes left for me to fill.

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It is an unbelievable story. I scented. I just have a few more questions to ask. I’ll believe you one hundred percent if you can answer them.

Ask away.

She was confident. Well, she might slip and tell more than necessary if she was over her head, so it was not a problem for me.

Alright, I accepted her offer and asked away. How was the 47th city infected? According to you, your kind —I apologized and changed my words when the soldiers buzzed their heads in warning— I mean, one needs to eat your home tree to get infected, right? Then how did the infection spread so far and into us ants, when we only eat meat and mushrooms?

There was no suspicious movement from her. She was prepared and answered confidently. Someone of the infected must have made their way here and gotten eaten. You ants consider us a delicacy, don’t you?

That was a fact I couldn’t deny.

Seeing that I had no comeback this time, she continued haughtily.

There must have been a spreader among the infected. That’s the only explanation I have.

What’s a spreader?

Not all that change can infect others, but there are those among them that can. We call them spreaders and they are what we are trying to stop with our barricade.

I needed time to digest that information, but she pressed to put pressure on me.

Do you have any more questions?

Just one more, I hurriedly scented when I saw her getting up. The rock city… it is dead. Yes?

Yes. She nodded. Good, she allowed me another question.

Then what was the ant that we found in our territory, near the Agnee-rath-Ji? Why were there termites carrying it?

Suddenly, she released… sympathy? That got a rise out of me. I couldn’t help getting annoyed. I didn’t want her sympathy; I wanted an answer. This was an answer in wanted to hear the most. Who was the ant and what was it doing so far from home? If it wasn’t bringing us news of termite attack on the 47th city then what was it bringing? It was the mystery that had stubbed Princess and I, and the best of us; and launched me on this quest in the first place.

I could see that she was hesitating. No, she wasn’t afraid, but considerate.

Do you really want to know?

I’m here to find the answer to this one question. That’s all I’m here to do.

She shook her head. You might not like the truth.

I’ll take my chances.

She persisted still but gave up when I stared back without hesitation.

Pointing her antennae straight at my head, she straightened her slouching back and dived right into it. It was a carrier of the infection —She dropped the poison— another spreader; similar to the one that changed this city into a dead zone.

Heart thrummed in my chest. She continued regardless.

The termites were already infected and they were trying to infect your city. We raided to kill it, but when that plan failed we made sure that your queen would go to war with us, and send as many soldiers away from the city as possible. So the elder at site ordered to kill as many they could. The city couldn’t be saved, but at least the entirety of your army was.

No… It was the truth and I was in denial. Silence followed, but soon I was going at her again, making excuses.

Bu-butt you killed the ant! We found his mangled corpse hidden deep in the mushroom farm. And we know it was done by a termite because princess found a wooden scent, and she has a great set of antennae.

However, the termite elder wanted nothing to do with our failure. She denied the accusation, even though it was a matter of pride. That is wrong. Either your princess was mistaken or someone duped you because one of us would have never taken the carrier to the mushrooms.

I had a bad feeling about this. Why? I found myself standing on my feet, denial changing into anxiousness and fear. Princess and I, we both knew that something was wrong, but the confirmation of it… it still came as a heavy blow to my head.

The infection needs a medium to grow. The elder answered. It needs something to feed upon before spreading. And what could be a better medium than the nutritious mushrooms?

Then the city—

I’m afraid…

I was walking backward, fear and horror leaking out of my antennae. The infected ant screamed ahead of me, banging her head on the ground as if laughing at my fate. The elder had to be lying — but the skill confirmed the truth! The system might be harsh on me, but it was also fair. Then what did it mean? What the hell did it all mean?

Princess can’t be dead!

Star looked at me silently, a quiver of helplessness waking his antennae from slumber.

SHE IS NOT DEAD! I burst out the pheromones, causing the soldiers to grow alarmed and come into action. The elder raised an antenna, telling them to let me be. The prisoner grew frantic; Star grew solemn instead. He tried to stop me, but I was already pulling back toward the hallways. My heart yearned to escape, to rush out of the post and its confinement, to leave for the city, my home, for the princess.

She can’t be dead! I told Star one again.

He didn’t react, only kept advancing toward me, to grapple and tackle me to the ground. I was hyperventilating.

I have to go back to tell her the truth. There is still time. There has to be.

How could she be dead? I still hadn’t told her about my adventures, about the birds, the frogs, and the bees? How could she die without fulfilling her dreams? She had so many things to do, so much to achieve! There was no way she was dead. I could still feel her inside me, I could— the feeling wasn’t there. My emotions didn’t churn because of her. My heart was silent as the world inside the pouring rain.

I couldn’t feel her.

This is why we need to work together. The elder scented. I heard her but didn’t understand. Your city might be dead, but you can still help by taking the information to the soldiers. Her scent was a drone over my consciousness. We might have pulled them away from harm’s way, but they are still adamant about revenge. I was starting to smolder. They might listen to you. Do you understand the role you have to play!

I was about to burst when someone collided with my back. The sudden shock numbed my mind, calming my nerves. I would have gone in to rage, but the shock came at the right time. Feet shuffled behind me. A termite’s soldier rushed past me and into the hall.

She was bleeding. No. It was not her blood. Well, someone must be bleeding. Distractions, yes, anything would do; anything that would take my mind off the truth, the cold, jagged, piercing truth would do. The soldier had come at the perfect time.

What happened?

The infected — The Infected from the city are attacking, elder! Soldiers around me came to their feet one after another. It was grave news.

Excellent! I scented. Thankfully, everyone was too occupied to hear me.

The soldier continued. They are coming right toward us.

How is that possible? It’s still daytime!

They are chasing someone.

I turned on my claws and ran out. It had to be her. They had to be chasing Bella.

Where—

Whom?

A wasp—

I heard behind me, but I was already out of the hall and pushing through panicking soldiers. It was too much information for me. Were the termites really protecting us?

What a load of bull. The elder had already clarified that they were trying to save their neck. They couldn’t leave the city alone even if they wanted. Unchecked, the infection would spread and take over all there was, and where would that leave them? They might have the population on their side, but they were still stuck on the tree. Well, most of them were, considering there were so of them roaming around me, so far from their fictional tree. Maybe, I should have pressed her about this. The thought came far too late.

I fell back on the dream I had when I connected with the termite. I had seen the termites and the tree that she talked about. I had felt the cry of someone’s rage pass through them, changing them. Turns out I had always possessed the answer, just didn’t know how to interpret it? How amusing was that?

Well, not as amusing as the outside, for it was turning into hell.