A thin, grayish mist blankets the vast vivarium. Blessed by the moisture from the droplets of water, many plants swayed in joy, while a few of the colorful ones recoiled in surprise.
Hiding under the cover of the lush foliage, the kingdom of soil critters thrived in their burrows and under decaying leaves.
Shhk—Shhk…
Carrying its bravery, a giant cockroach, measuring about five inches long, sped toward the nearest vine with heart-shaped leaves. The leaves of the vine were eye-catching, as the color of each leaf transitioned from green to red as it neared the center. From above, it would look like red hearts at the center of each leaf.
Less than a blink of an eye, that was all the cockroach needed to get under the leaf.
Chhk!
Using its barbed, hind legs, it scratched the underside of the leaf. Then, it lay still, keeping a watchful eye for potential predators or a delicious meal.
Fooo…
Bleeding from the scratch, the leaf drooped down, bringing forth darkness to the giant roach. However, having already experienced this mystical experience, the cockroach stood still. After this, it expected another burst of growth… as well as hunger.
Silence once more reigned in the vivarium, an eerie tranquility picturing the land. No insect could be seen crawling about, neither were there any frogs, or the occasional snakes hunting. The underwater life was still, hiding in hidden caves or in between thick plants. Even the mist was creeping throughout the land, unbothered by any gust of wind.
Peace lasted for a minute, before being broken by the movement of the gray mist. With the balance disrupted, the vivarium came to life!
Fiery ants could be seen dashing about in a frenzy! All the soil critters panicked, migrating from the eastern rocky side of the vivarium, to the southern wetlands of the vivarium. They carpeted the floor, and the rapid movement of their legs sounded like the squelching of bloody guts and organs of a freshly butchered pig.
Then, a bright light shone on the vivarium. The creator of their home entered, placing another lifeform inside the tank, before promptly leaving.
On that day, a storm began brewing under the calm waters.
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Seeing the bright red insects for the first time, the tiny three legged bugs gathered, bolstering their defense by covering each other's backs.
The Spawns could sense danger from those red ants.
CLACK! Clack. Clack.
The Spawns clacked their mandibles one after the other, repeating it rapidly to scare off the ants. Unfortunately, their attempts were in vain. Slowly, more and more ants crawled in the vicinity, surrounding the mere thirty with hundreds!
Clack!
Tang. Tang! Tang!
Hearing the clacking of mandibles from the Spawns, the red ants couldn't keep their patience and retaliated by doing the same. The result was a resounding war drum that could be heard by any observing human, if they were present.
The two sentient colonies faced off, both feeling a sense of danger from each other, yet also knowing the rewards they could potentially reap.
Tang!
Clack!
TANG!
CLACK!
Alas, war broke out between the two.
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With their numbers, it was impossible for the red ants to lose. If they did, then their queen would surely kill herself in shame!
The ants picked up their spoils of war, while carrying the dead bodies of their sisters with them. On their way home, they didn't forget to kill whatever prey they encountered.
Unbeknownst to these abnormally intelligent ants, someone was watching their feats.
Helzar saw it all. He saw how the red ants stung his Spawns. He saw how his Spawns melted into blue goo after being stung, and then exploding in a splash of black bits and blue blood.
He even saw how the ants easily tore his Spawns limb by limb while his Spawns could barely cut the hard exoskeleton of the ants.
‘What kind of witchcraft is this nonsense?’ Helzar hurriedly used his telepathic link with his Spawns and ordered them to return without being followed. He even ordered them to die fighting if they are. If they win and live, then they are allowed to return home!
‘I spent a lot of energy doing that…’ Helzar tasted a glass full of bitterness, yet he didn't regret savoring the taste. It was a price to pay for being careless.
‘I should've known that the scientist wouldn't place me in a normal environment,’ Helzar cursed his own foolishness.
‘If my guess isn't wrong, then this garden should be tampered in some way. For example, those ants are just ridiculous!’ Helzar clacked his mandibles, barely missing a Spawn nearby. The Spawn was tasked with protecting him, but when it saw Helzar clacking his mandibles, it unblinkingly offered itself to be eaten. Not that it could blink anyway.
Helzar pushed the Spawn aside. He already lost thirty, he didn't want to lose one more.
‘I have yet to start fixing my Eaters, and I already have to deal with a nasty neighbor and a food problem,’ Helzar sighed.
The Swarm wasn't starving, they could easily survive in this environment unless something ridiculous happens. For example, an ant raid.
‘To produce Eaters, I have to spend some energy, about the same as five Spawns. After “harvesting” the Eaters, they'd give me back four Spawns worth of energy,’ Helzar hummed in his thoughts.
‘While it may seem like a loss, it's actually a great storage unit… if I can stop it from automatically “harvesting” itself,’ Helzar shook his head.
He wasn't a black hole, nor could he contain an infinite amount of energy, even though he can rapidly digest anything and turn it into energy.
‘I can only hold 100 Spawns worth of energy at a time, and just by existing, I constantly consume energy. Around 1-3 Spawns worth every day. On the other hand, the Nest can produce a maximum of around 100 Spawns a day, and not all at once,’ Helzar slumped.
‘It can at most produce 50 Spawns at a time, although it'll take nearly a day before it can produce more…’
After using the Nest for a while now, Helzar found that producing 20 Spawns per three hours was the most efficient method. By doing so, the Nest wouldn't be overwhelmed by the production speed.
‘Thinking about it, maybe I should focus on upgrading the Nest rather than fixing the issue with the Eaters?’ Helzar thought about it, deciding that the idea was sound.
When the rest of the Spawns returned to the nest, he saw that only a hundred was left. He already expected such an outcome, and thus was unfazed. He had fifty Spawns hunt for more prey, but in the condition that they must all return after successfully hunting one worthwhile prey insect.
They were of course ordered to avoid any type of ant.
After doing so, he had the remaining Spawns protect their underground home before trying to upgrade the Nest.
The result was himself cursing his luck even more.