GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

It is believed that queens are formed when certain grubs don't develop as they should and grow into adults. Instead, they develop ovaries and the hive mind. No one knows what triggers such changes except the queens. But what is known is that new queens will not form from grubs until the old queen has reached the end of her lifespan as a mana entity. The new queens will compete with the power of their minds and wrestle control of the workers and soldiers from their dying mother.

This competition will continue until the queen dies. The grub with the strongest mind will have the most workers and soldiers. It will chase away the other queens while it inherits the central room and the infrastructure of the colony. It will gain a strong start in life by feasting on the body of its dead mother while the others will have to start everything from scratch.

This queen is one of the many that didn't inherit her mother's resources. She started this colony as a small weak queen without an exoskeleton. She grew her exoskeleton herself and it grew to become what it is today. But just like her mother, she too will die in time. Nothing can change that fact apart from the evolution of her lifeform.

It is inherent in life to grow and multiply, to struggle, and to become stronger through competition until eventually immortality is achieved. This queen also wants to be immortal but she is already finding it impossible to become transcendent. How is she to overcome that hurdle within this plane that is under the thumb of the giants of order?

The queen has a pair of tiny limbs on each segment of her body but she can't move. There are two structures that connect to her back like two wings. These structures start out soft and fleshy but become hard as the toughest carapace where they join with the walls of the central room.

This central room is her exoskeleton. It expands little by little over the years as workers add their waste to it to become the mountain of an ant mound it is today. When your main food is sand, your waste product can be very hard. She is currently being tended to by a multitude of workers and no one noticed the plant spirit.

"What do you think, Creator?" The plant spirit asked its creator through their bond.

The plant spirit had visited other ant mounds and other species in the Zargoth plane. It will always ask for its creator's opinion. Then it would move on depending on what its creator says.

The tree father answered. "The location is perfect. She will do."

Plant spirit considered the location but couldn't find anything good about it. This ant mound is on the other side of the plane directly opposite to the forest of the tree father. It had to cross the entire plane to get here. There were other ant mounds closer to the forest but the tree father chose this and called it perfect.

'Your wish is my command, creator.'

It didn't question the tree father though. A god sees things farther ahead than a mortal. There must be something the tree father sees that makes this location perfect. Besides, it is just a tool of the tree father. It was not created to think or for its opinion.

The tree father used the plant spirit as its avatar. It descended into it and made his presence known to the queen. A plant spirit suddenly appeared in the central room. Its eyes are glowing with a green light from the green flame burning within it. The phantom of a giant tree appeared behind it. The phantom exuded majesty and awe.

The plant spirit is certainly smaller than the queen. It is about the size of soldier ants who are between 5-10 meters but the ant queen felt intimidated. She felt it in her being that the entity the plant spirit represents can kill her easily if it wants to. So she quivered in fear. All her workers stopped whatever they were doing and froze while staring at the phantom tree.

A voice said to her. "Fear not. I have not come to threaten you. I have brought to you a great opportunity."

The queen calmed down. She was panicking earlier because of the unannounced appearance of a strange entity in her most secure location. It is natural for her to be afraid. She is still afraid, but she has accepted that there's nothing that she can do if this entity is a threat to her. She might as well listen to what it has to say since it didn't try to kill her immediately.

"I bring you the promise of power. I can help you achieve your wishes. Do you not wish to become more than what you are? I can make that happen." The Tree Father said to her.

The tree exuded majesty in waves. A kind of majesty that makes its speaker very compelling. The queen has a powerful mind and so she is resistant to external mental influence. She didn't fall prey to the peace and warmth wafting from the plant spirit but she was still compelled. It is the promise of power that allured her.

"What do you want from me in exchange, my lord?" She asked carefully.

She knows that nothing is ever given for free. A deal with a god can be as insidious as a deal with a demon. But she also knows that she is not in a position to bargain. If things don't turn out well then she might die. That is the fate of the weak. She has no choice in the matter and might die even though she didn't participate willingly.

"There is a demigod that I need. I want to get my hands on him and hope to lure him here. I can't do so myself for some reasons that I can't share. So you will be my tool to lure that demigod here."