Queen Teresa lived at the center of the community; her benevolence was renowned from the lowest tunnel to the end of their territory at the edge of the forest. She was mother to all the members of the tribe, except for a handful of workers who were still living well beyond their normal life span, they were known as The Sons of Marian. Jeremiah was one of the long-lived ones, a common worker ant, a dedicated soul who always did his duty to his Queen and community. His brother Merick, who was incubated in the pod next to Jeremiah, was a different sort, he was calculating and conniving, the sort who is never satisfied with leadership, no matter how good the governance. Merick knew his days were coming to an end; however, he envisioned a better life for those who would follow in the future of the colony. Queen Teresa came from another ideology, a colony on the other side of the forest, somewhere over there, where the humans live, they were known as The Warriors of The Mist, feared by every colony in the entire hectare. They were known to be a tribe that was always at war, the current conflict was with the human who they call the oppressor of the vanquished. The legend goes that Queen Teresa followed a scent message sent on the air by Queen Marion, the scent message was weak, but Queen Teresa was of superior strength and understanding, she, by her great wisdom was able to read it, the message is said to have told that Queen Marion was dying. She arrived just in time to save Marian’s colony known as The Diggers of Black Dirt. Merick resented Queen Teresa simply because she was not one of their own, even though in these circumstances succession to the throne, is commonly given to a Queen born of another tribe. Merick became obsessed with his hatred for her and made every effort to undermine her leadership. It would be his final effort to replace her with a Queen from the genetic lines of Marian. In a tunnel deserted in times long past, sat one large pod, one that all The Sons of Marian knew of, except Jeremiah, who was deemed too simple to keep the secret. Plotting to replace a living Queen would be considered the highest form of treachery, even speaking of it would result in one’s head being removed by one of the large guardian ants whose mandibles were three times the size of those of a worker. Merick plotted and schemed with all The Sons of Marion, they concluded that they needed to prove that she was unworthy to be their Queen if she was to be overthrown, they needed some proof, this proof need not be truth. The council of The Sons of Marian called Jeremiah to their embrace and told him of a great mission that he and only he had the fortitude to accomplish, being one of trust, he accepted the mission without doubt in his brothers. The task was to carry a message to The Warriors of The Mist, a simple task for a simple ant. Jeremiah was illiterate, he could not read the complicated scent messages that ants of higher standing passed back and forth, but he could carry them. It was the dead of night when Jeremiah was sent on his way through an old tunnel leading to the surface. He made his way to the end of the forest, the glow of the sun cut long shadows as it rose in the sky, he journeyed long without stopping. The shadows were laying in the opposite direction when he arrived at the colony of The Warriors of The Mist. He was quickly discovered by the guardians of the colony, they read the scent message that he carried, they didn’t report the message to the council of leaders in the colony, instead, they led him to the private quarters of the distinguished guardians of the Warrior colony. Torrid, the leader of the guardians was a very large ant, bigger than any that Jeremiah had ever seen. Torrid led Jeremiah to his personal quarters where he was fed sweet nectar containing strange substances that he had never tasted before, the scent of humans was strong, by the next day he had grown a full size bigger. Torrid was as wise as he was large, the schemes of the Sons of Marian where transparent to him, the message that Jeremiah carried showed weakness, an opportunity for an easy conquest. Torrid knew of Teresa, she had left the colony before he emerged from his pod, however he learned of her from the elders, he was taught about the politics that she took with her when she was run out of the colony. His hatred for her type was widely known in The Warriors of The Mist tribe. Jeremiah and his message were kept secret from the rest of the colony until the guardians could come up with a plan to spin the information in such a way that it would cause panic in the masses. Torrid sent his manager of communications to wander about the colony with a scent message attached to him. The message said, “the tribe known as The Diggers of Black Dirt was in turmoil because of the horrific leadership of Queen Teresa, rebellion was eminent, and the violence was most likely to spread out to other colonies.” A great fear travelled through the tribe; it was within a quarter of the suns movement that Torrid was called before the council. It took little convincing to compel the council to send their forces to quell the revolt and establish a righteous queen. The message that Jeremiah had carried to the Warriors spoke of failed leadership, weakness and discontent in the members of the tribe, these messages were lies of course. However, the lies gave justification to the attack led by Torrid who hated the feel-good leadership of The Diggers of Black dirt. Torrid expressed his gratitude to Jeremiah for making the long journey carrying such an important message for their colony and asked him to return with a message of equal importance. Jeremiah set out as the sun came up, it cast long shadows toward his own colony, his return trip was much quicker than his journey to the Warriors. He arrived as the sun was laying shadows back toward the place he had come from. Jeremiah had laid a direct scent route back to his own colony, he unknowingly led a dark force of destruction behind him. The guardians of his colony were quick to read the scent messages he carried. Panic ensued. The guardians abandoned their posts and ran toward the forest, their flight was cut short by a group of large ants who cut their heads off with ease. The warriors met with little resistance when they conquered the peaceful tribe that was once called The Diggers of Black Dirt. By the end of that same day all the leaders of The Diggers of Dirt were slayed. All The Sons of Marion were executed at the top of the main tunnel, everyone in the tribe was forced to watch. Queen Teresa was devoured in her nest by the guardians from The Warriors of The Mist, the pod hidden by The Sons of Marion was uncovered and injected with a poison brought from the human nest. A new Queen from the Warrior tribe arrived the next day, she would be known as Garish, Queen of The Warriors of Black Dirt, her rule was harsh and ungiving. Her first order was to end the existence of the weak, the old and any ant with any deformity whatsoever. Those individuals made up ten percent of the old tribe, their carcasses were consumed by her new army of guardians she called, The Defenders of the republic. The colony under her rule grew to be twice its size within one full cycle of the four progressions of the sun. The new wealth brought great prosperity to those who were considered to be of higher standings, but it would not last, she had reproduced new workers at too great a rate, their genetic makeup was week which resulted in poor yields in the harvest. The colony collapsed, the workers turned on the elite and devoured them. Queen Garish prepared a desperate scent message and delivered it to the wind. It said, “my glorious reign has come to end, my magnificent kingdom will rise again with a new Queen, my council awaits your glorious response.” A new Queen from the colony known as The Conquerors of The Hectar arrived within 24 risings and fallings of shadows cast by the sun. She wandered the tunnels and found only a few still alive. She came to a statue in the center of the colony, a plaque at its base read. “Jeremiah, hero of the revolution.” She founded a new colony which she would call, The Heros of Jeremiah and she would assume the name, Queen Jeremenia, and the sun rose, and the sun fell, and the sun rose, and the sun fell, the history of tribes of the hectare continued on into perpetuity.
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