A Fire Ant's Adventure

The ant mound was in a total state of shock. The queen, the mighty Queen Ira, had been kidnapped. The crazy eight-eyed black widow spider, Rivana, had tricked her into coming out of her chamber by posing as a beautiful flower. The queen herself ordered the guards to take a leave of absence that night. The mound council called an immediate emergency meeting to plan the rescue. They knew the task would not be easy since the spider’s web was across the backyard. Many tribulations and obstacles would need to be conquered to rescue the beautiful Queen Ira. Only on ant possessed the skill to rescue the queen. It was the strong red fire ant Zane. The mound lit the flames signaling the mighty ant. The rescue was on.

Source: FoxNews

Zane brought only his best troops and his brother along for this dangerous mission. This was more personal to him than anyone realized. Zane and Queen Ira had grown up in the same mound and had a past of friendship and passion. He was an ant on a mission. With weapons sharpened, the group started their trek to Rivana’s web knowing very well that he knew that they would be coming.

After marching halfway across the yard, Zane felt a chill run down all of his legs. He knew they were being watched by something, but he did not know by whom. As he led the formation, he heard a large rumble behind him along with screams from his troop. The last ant in line was squirming around in the hands of an enormous praying mantis. His name was Khamton. The ants moved into attack formation before launching wooden spears into the giant praying mantis. Spears broke as they hit the rough hide of the enemy. All seemed lost until Zane took out his secret weapon, a holy staple given to him bythe mighty beetle Shimma. He slid under the legs of Khamton, jumped on its back, and cut off the mighty praying mantis’s head. Zane stood atop his fallen enemy. Rivana, revengeful, jumped on his speedy dragonfly and flew into the battle with thousands of spiders at his side.

Source: Metro

As Zane and the ants fought off all the spiders with his mighty staple, Rivana decided to counter the troop of ants. Zane sensed this with his antennas and turned around just as Rivana attacked. Rivana launched a string of web towards Zane, sticking the first ant to the ground. His brother quickly cut the web, freeing Zane. Rivana nosedived his dragonfly towards Zane, trying to use the speed to defeat Zane. Zane, at the last second, jumped to the side and launched his staple into the stomach of Rivana. Rivana fell to the ground, dead.

With the eight-eyed spider now dead, the Queen was now free. Zane untied the royal captive, looking deeply into the eyes of the beautiful queen. Zane spoke sweet words to his old love, “My queen, my love. You have been dearly missed. You are the light in my eye. Forever and ever I will serve you with love and affection.” Taken back, Queen Ira walked away from Zane with guards surrounding her. She knew of her responsibilities to the mound and that she could never marry the rugged Zane. Zane was heartbroken, but he understood her decision

As the years passed, Queen Ira thought of Zane, and Zane thought of Queen Ira.The two yearned to be together but would never cross paths again. As both of the ants took their last breaths, they slowly slipped into a dream of a wonderful land. The land was full of flowers and the best meals on Earth, crumbs. They both were in heaven, together. At last, the two ants could spend eternity together. 

 Author Notes: I received inspiration for this tale from the Ramayana. It followed the parts B, C, and D. I utilized the story of Rama and Sita being in love and wanting to always be together. While the ten-headed Ravana is portrayed by Rivana, the eight-eyed spider. I played off the physical appearance of Ravana. These two are very similar throughout the story. I, however, did not include the part where Lakshmana hurts his sister. He kidnaps the beloved Sita from Rama, and Rama attacks the rakshasa to rescue her. This is exactly what I wanted to accomplish in my story with the ants and spider. Also, the praying mantis Khamton resembled the giant Khumhakarna and his mighty battle with Rama (Zane). Khumhakarna was important in the original Ramayana because it was a great battle that showed Rama's strength. I thought about potentially making Zane and the Queen get together immediately unlike the original Ramayana. This would have made a better dynamic but I wanted to stay true to that part of the story. Overall, the story from when Sita was kidnapped on was very interesting to me and that is where I got my overall inspiration. Thanks for reading.

Source: Bibliography: Ramayana, The Epic of Rama, Prince of India, condensed into English verse by Romesh Dutt (1899).