From the time when I was just a tiny ant with no friends and no followers, just a small being, lost and confused by the utter shift of perception I had gone through, to now, when I had evolved, when the foes of past were now my friends in present, and enemies had already been either buried underneath the ground we once walked together or been turned into nutrients to fuel my conquest; A lot changed.

My friends of old who used to eagerly and tearfully wait for my return from the world at large to hear the stories of my adventure had now also grown up and evolved into fascinating being with powers rivaling the others. From babies who couldn’t leave theirs mounds protection to rankers who would soon enter the struggle and prove their worth- they had turned out splendid.

Tiny, Bill and the other had finally ranked up.

Bill’s evolution shocked the other because it was an extremely rare change, and had been observed only once before in any ant of our colony- the king. While Tiny, he changed sex and evolved into a princess. No matter how absurd this may sound, but according to the others, this was a natural process and depended completely upon the evolving ant; because unlike what I knew, ants were sexless before ranking.

Bill’s friends, the brute twins, evolved into doom ants, with stats favoring strength, vitality, and endurance rather than agility, intelligence and dexterity. Their change, though different, was still expected. After all, they weren’t the sharpest or the quickest of the bunch.

With their increase in strength came their urge to run outside and destroy everything. Delusions of their naïve mind and shallow experience one must say, but in my eyes, they were just kids brimming with vitality. I wanted to keep their faces smiling as they were, but it wasn’t my decision to keep them arrested and bound in the plastic protection of our colony. I had grown mentally enough to understand that no room, burrow, or space was safe in this place, in this world. Their only chance at survival was strength, and battling others was the only way of experiencing strength: not only of the dangers waiting to hunt them but also their own strength.

Though my words may seem haughty and may dwell my confidence, in reality, I actually held considerable strength in my petite body. Though I might not be as strong as everything which flew or waited in the dark folds of the land or the high heights of the grass en-mass, I at least had the strength to face everything which an ant was supposed to face- maybe even more than that.

The passing day was not only the bringer of the night but also of my new mission. In the coldness of the night, I explained to my group the dangers which the world held; and at the first ray of light, I said my goodbyes, and went to meet my new team.

********

“Ready?” David, my captain asked me and I eagerly replied with a question of my own.

“I think so. So what is our mission?” but Pyro intertwined with a whisper of his own and sent shivers down my back.

“It is possibly robbing spider eggs or killing hoppers or something along those lines.”

His word even confused Mink who had the least amount of intelligence in the group. “Are we really going to do that?” He asked.

And dark scoffed at me and Mink who were being terrified because of simple words with substance.

“Are you afraid?” His words were as dark as his nature. He wasn’t being considerate and implied that we weren’t fit to follow him in the team. He was an obnoxiously eerie dude. If anything, my senses tingled every time he spoke; as if his words were venomous and he was attacking me with them.

“Pyro don’t scare the rookie and you Mink… you should know better. We have been together for a long time you bonehead!” There; even the captain wasn’t sane; hence, his title ‘The crazy’. His real nature almost came out, but he suppressed his crazy nature and calmed down. He thought he had suppressed his wickedness, but it moved around inside his eyes as a glint with unknown intentions- absolutely clear to everyone.

And as my new mates bickered with each other over nothing I heard someone coming with my impeccable senses. There was strength in the steps, yet, hurry in its movement. Its presence was heavy: not full of strength, rather burden; as if, the being had lost everything, and was riding along the flow of life with an unstable emotion.

If it was someone else then I might have had to look back to see, but I knew who it was and if it was anything, my presence made him stop in his tracks too.

“What are you doing- so, they scouted us both…”

“Hello, vice lead-… I mean Genma.” It was the ant who had believed in my last captain more than our whole team combined, and had emotional withered upon her death the most.

“You are late again.”

“I’m sorry,” Genma apologized while staring at me. I had spent enough time with him to understand the intricacies of his thoughts. He wasn’t questioning my presence; and if fidgeting antennas meant anything, he was happy to see me. And so was I.

“Hmm… it’s alright. Now, team… let's go.” David was the first one to leave the mounds, Pyro followed behind him- his body full of vitality. Dark was the last to leave from their group, and I… I reminisced about the first time I had left the mound and saw the sky outside from the eyes of an ant.

The sky visible through the tall blades of grass was still the same vibrant blue. The grains of sand still shone like a prism- scattering bright colors everywhere. The world appeared still so strange, so vividly monstrous and emotionally startling at the same time.

My first time in this beautiful, almost, phantasmal world was an initiation which woke me to the dangers around: be it the wind, whose prying gusts had blown some of the brothers climbing the tree, or the red apple whose one bite had sent me foaming into a coma from which I wouldn’t have woken again if it wasn’t for my blessings.

That’s how I was able to understand the weight every insect carries on their tiny backs. If Billy and the others weren’t brainwashed by the king to harass me then I probably wouldn’t have run away, gone outside, or had even fought with the invaders.

Heck, I might have run away at the first sign of distress and lost my chance of becoming a scavenger or become a part of Minnie’s team- the captain, I’ll never forget. I still have to get my share of Honey from the bees. If it was any consolation the thought was refreshing at least.

And there’s him too, that obnoxious giant horny hornet. I can only hope for him to stay away from me. But further thinking resulted in a positive chance of us meeting somewhere in the wild. No, the world is too big for us to collide in the middle of our scramble! It won’t happen. I calmed myself with lies.

Then there was the war. We gained some things during it but lost more than that. The colony lost warriors and I… I looked at Genma, who was staring at the backs of our new team member walking further and further away from us, and thought, ‘I’m not the only one who lost Minnie.’

I still remember the confidence and utter vibrancy she had welcomed me into her team with. She had believed in me when others had neglected me because of my age. I’ll never forget her ever jubilant character.

Enough talk about the past. My past shaped me, chiseled me into something unique and strong. But the world was still growing, still at large; and I hadn’t even scratched its surface yet.

“The past is the past. The future is still waiting for me with its vast trials. I don’t know how much death and suffering it will bring, but bring it on. I will face everything with my new team; with my ‘crazy’ captain, ‘the talkative’ Pyro, the ‘stone headed’ Mink, ‘the blasphemous’ Dark and Genma. We will show everyone what it mean-”

“Stop talking to yourself, newbie! Come on… We have got to make a long hike!”

“Yeah, I want to taste the sweet nectar. I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Hmm… I just want to bind that seer and do something’s to her.”

“What are you going to do for her?”

“Where exactly are we going?”

“Shut up all of you. Newbie’s going to misunderstand us.”

Their antics put a smile on my face. They had their shortcomings, but they were strong. Strong enough to not die in this world and that’s all I needed. My life as a warrior, a backer, a protector of the colony had ended. Now it was time for me to step into the wide world and face it head on with my new friends.

It was time for a new beginning.