7 A change in perspective

Ant monsters are a numerous and diverse species. They vary in size from as small as 5 inches long to a foot long. Despite this, they are one of the biggest threats to kingdoms from small to large. The smallest of ant colonies numbered in the hundreds and most were at least numbered in the tens of thousands. Colonies numbering in the hundreds of thousands can consume small kingdoms and larger ones can be threatened by ant colonies numbering in the millions.

Because of this and how quickly ants can grow from a few thousand to a few hundred thousand in mere months every kingdom employs their own anti-ant military branches on a monthly basis to prevent potential antpocalypses. Despite these attempts, dozens of kingdoms and empires have been consumed by the ravenous appetites of the ants.

-Excerpt from the monster encyclopedia written by Xander freerider

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"I'm so booooored! Why don't any monsters come!? It's getting boring." Lora whined.

"Ever heard of the saying careful what you wish for? Besides its good things are peaceful. Just means things will be safer for the town." Rick said to her shooting her a stern glare. This made Lora blush in shame at the mention of the town's safety.

"Hey, go easy on her old man. I agree keeping the town safe is important, but the occasional monster isn't a bad thing." I defended her and Lora shot me a grateful smile. The aging guard sighed with a faint smile on his face.

"Sure, Jake. Sure." He relented.

The three of us were guards of the small town of Riveroak. Rick's been a guard here for over twenty years and was in his late 40's. Lora has barely joined a couple weeks ago but with her being a mage it made things a lot easier. There were also the Royer brothers but those two don't speak much but have been serving along with me for the past five years.

"Do you hear that?" One of the Royer brothers asked out of character.

This got the attention of the three of us more talkative guards. I strained my hearing as I tried to listen for what he heard. It didn't take long as I heard the stamping of feet echoing down from the tunnel we were guarding. And the sound was growing.

"That doesn't sound good…." I murmured and Lora nodded silently as she tightened her grip on her staff. It seemed she was getting nervous. Not that I was doing any better. I was gripping the hilt of the sword with so much force that my knuckles were white. Down the tunnel, the source of the sound revealed itself as a stampede of dozens of different types of monsters rushed towards them with a…. Is that a flower in the lead….?

"You happy now Lora!? You have your monsters!" Rick growled out as he unsheathed his battle-ax.

"Yeah, um no. Not at all. We can't handle this. Let's get out of here and get some reinforcements!" She replied with a fear-stricken expression on her face. The two of their bantering was enough to snap my attention away from what I thought was a rose monster leading the monsters and follow after my fellow guards as we rushed out of the tunnel.

I went to the gate with the Royer brothers and started to close the gate. The last sight I saw inside the cave before we closed it was that same flower-hopping onto one of the monsters and riding it… What is that creature…? Shaking my head clear of the questions swirling around in my head I went along with the others to warn the other people.

"MONSTER STAMPEDE INCOMING! ANY ABLED PERSON GRAB YOUR WEAPONS AND GET READY TO FIGHT! EVERYONE ELSE RUN!" Rick bellowed as we exited the dungeon entrance. Everyone else froze shocked at the thought of a monster stampede taking place. It was not the time of year for a monster stampede to take place.

Just as he finished shouting the warning though the monsters burst out of the dungeon and stopped in their tracks at the sight of the dozens of armed guards and adventurers and citizens. There was a short moment of silence between both groups.

"KILLL THEEEEM!!!" A random voice shouted in a rage-filled voice and as if it was the spark for the fuse both sides yelled and roared as we charged each other. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the rose again sprinting away from the battle with the top half of its stem swinging behind it. Before my eyes could track it any farther an armored rat leaped at me with its claws outstretched. With a single swing of my sword, I bisected it before joining the other people in cutting our way through the monsters.

Even children knew that for some unknown reason those monsters are driven by an instinct to kill sentient surface species like humans even to the point that they'd disregard their own survival. So, it was no surprise that these monsters reacted like this when faced with the village, but that was the exact reason I was confused about why the rose continued to run away. But I didn't have time to continue thinking it over as the monsters continued to attack relentlessly.

There were dozens of the monsters but against the combined efforts of us human warriors we cut straight through them like a hot knife would through butter. But then an ominous clacking started echoing from the dungeon entrance. This clacking made the monsters freeze I, terror, as they slowly turned to look at the cave. This odd reaction made even the guards and adventurers turn to look at what was coming from the tunnel.

Then an enormous red tidal wave of ants started flowing from the dungeon and dived forward in near-complete silence clacking their mandibles in synchrony while they marched. The first few monsters who were met by the ants were swarmed and shredded in seconds without having a chance to fight back. With the bigger looming threat any monster who didn't run were forced to fight alongside us to survive.

This was impossible. There were no colonies for three levels in this area but yet here there was evidence of an existing colony. The ants were small. Really small. But they were numerous. With every swing of my sword I took out several of them but yet they just kept coming. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see one of the Royer brothers getting swarmed as he screamed while his brother was desperately tearing the ants off with his hand's tears pouring out of his eyes.

All he accomplished, however, was allowing the ants to swarm him. Now both of them were being covered in a blanket of living red. The brothers realizing that their deaths were all but inevitable embraced each other one last time as they were torn to bits. There were similar scenes everywhere you looked with monsters desperately clawing at the ants eating them and people being eaten alive.

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Children being carried by their mothers as they were eaten alive as they ran. Fathers and sons trying to buy them time by fighting the ants with rusty farm tools and broomsticks only to get killed in seconds without accomplishing anything. Blood. Screams. There were now fires rising from several houses. This was hell. This was absolute hell. That flower was the only monster who kept running because it probably realized what was chasing them.

Burning pain in my legs woke me from my shocked stupor and I promptly started kicking and smashing the ants who were beginning to climb up my legs. Looking around I tried to search for the other two guards I was serving with. Everywhere I looked I only saw mounds of red ants as they devour everything in sight. Even now more ants were pouring out of the cave.

"Jake! Over here!" A deep gravelly-voiced called out to me. When I turned around, I saw Rick waving over at me and Lora blasting fire spells at the approaching ants. Without a moment's hesitation I ran over to them and Lora stopped her spell bombardment just long enough to allow me to group up with them before returning to barbequing the insect swarm.

"What should we do?" I asked.

"Simple. We run." Rick replied. I stared aghast at the man I knew ever since I was a child.

"But the people! They're-"

"THEY'RE ALL DEAD!" The older guard roared causing me to flinch back in a mixture of fear and surprise. Seeing my reaction Rick's stony face relaxed and he placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Look kid its too late. Anyone alive is already dead. Right now, we need to focus on ourselves and get out of here. Ok?" He told me with a reassuring tone. I glanced over to Lora whose face was warped in wide-eyed terror almost unconsciously casting her spells every time the ants drew close. I then glanced over to the ants. There were only a few people left and even they have already had ants crawling all over them as their agonized screams pierced the air. There weren't even any corpses or torn bits of carnage. The ants were so thorough I didn't even have any time to get a glimpse at the innards of the fallen.

Finally, I turned my head back to Rick and nodded my head I agreement. Seeing my reluctant agreement to what he said he finally relaxed a bit more before tapping Lora's shoulder causing her to jump slightly in surprise.

"Come on you two. Time for us to haul ass." Rick said before sprinting away with Lora hurrying after him. I didn't run yet though as I shot a remorseful glimpse at the village. It was a small place with only a couple hundred residents. The previous screams of the people were now all gone with only the ant's mandibles clacking and the few fires that crackled remaining as the only sources of sound. I was born in this village and raised in it for 19 long years. And now it along with nearly everyone I knew and cared for was all gone. I turned and ran with tears starting to gather and drip from my eyes.

Everything gone in five short minutes….