The magnificent creature was going about its domain, staking its territory lest another one of its species start having illusions of grandeur. In its own corner, it is king, its power unchallenged its sovereignity unchallenged. But for those foolish enough to do so, a clamp of its menacing mandibles ensure a most unpleasant disembowelling.
As per routine, it went about its usual itinerary, along a worn jungle trekking trail. It was both daring and foolhardy on the creatures part. The Trail was a notoriously dangerous highway for its kind and other denizens of the jungle, with millions perishing on it. This highway was traversed by dozens of even bigger creatures every day, bipeds who have a tendency to squash hapless slackers, intentionally and unintentionally. These bipeds do not factor into the natural order of the jungle, making it extremely risky to encounter them, but the lordling did not mind. It was a way of exuding confidence and showing its dominance, and the bipeds do drop sumptious morsels every now and then. Nevertheless it did not hurt to be cautious.
Today was very quiet though, with relatively few bipeds passing through. The creature decided to come out from under the safety of the foliage to catch a whift of the morning breeze. After all, what use is a fief if you cannot even walk proudly in it. Its antennae felt a little vibration in the air, something which did not entirely correspond with what is natural, however barely any biped passed through this way since this morning, so the creature decided to disregard the instinct to run. The instinct proved to be correct though, as a few gigantic shadows materialised out of nowhere and crowded around. Frantic, the creature dashed for the safety of the trees, to no avail. It knew it was sighted, and worse, it was targeted. The creature was very fast for its kind, but still definitely no match for the bipeds. A single stride from them would cover any gulf that would take the creature minutes to cross. It was trapped.
The bipeds came at it with a vengeance. They used a transparent portable prison to try to ensnare it, really methodical these bipeds, using the prison itself to catch it. They have definitely killed before. The creature evaded the first run, narrowly ducking the cage and darting between the legs of its persecutors. It was overmatched, but it was going to make a fight out of this yet. The bipeds reacted quickly, blocking its escape with a wall made of material similar to the prison's. The wall moved quickly and slammed into the creature, knocking it into the prison. Although dazed, its will to survived drove it to run, anywhere would do. Its efforts were rewarded when its feet touched the damp ground of the trail. Never had it been more grateful for the touch of the ground, but from its brief brush with the prison, its fears were confirmed, they are killers, the deathly stench of their previous victim, a distant kin, was still hanging inside.
On and on, both hunter and hunted kept up the game of wits, both unyielding. For the hunters, this was another trophy for the collection; for the hunted, this was for its life. Having continuously thwarted the bipeds' attempts, the creature thought that it would win this battle when the hunters eased up. To its chagrin, this was just the lull before the storm. Frustrated, a biped decided to abandon the refined approach, and proceed to just drop the prison on top of the creature. Game over. Putting on the cover took some creative manipulation, but it only delayed the inevitable, there will be no rescue party to take advantage of the stall.
The whole prison was inserted into a dark cavern-like structure worn on the back of one of the bipeds. There was another bigger prison of similar make in it, containing another one of its species. This one was very much smaller though, just a youth in comparison. Understandably, the young one was also agitated, constantly running around its enclosure, probing for an escape outlet. But the newly deposed lord knew it was futile though, the prisons are impenetrable, even by its own deadly mandibles. The young one, will probably die of exhaustion soon, running itself to death. Resigned to its fate, the lordling resolved to face death with dignity.
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At least, this is how I imagine the giant ant I caught this morning would see it. As of now, its smaller counterpart had its death throes hours ago. The big one is getting agitated itself, and it is beginning to show the signs exhibited by its departed kin. I have tried feeding it, with bread, water and even sugar, but it is not eating. It is running around madly, but not at the intensity of the other two ants, perhaps this will allow it to last until tomorrow morning, when Shy Yan or Ju Ping will preserve it.
I am worried that the ant will die, but for all the wrong reasons I feel. I want to make sure my efforts were not for naught. Having spent the morning trekking through the hills around the Botanical Gardens (mostly alone), and having some harrowing moments with the terrain, I want to at least have something to show for it, even if it is an ant. And now in all likelihood, even that hardy ant might not survive. Even as I type, I hear the desperate escape efforts of the ant, a rhythmic 'tap-tap-tap', the sound of it clinging on to the cover of the plastic container and then falling, again and again.
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