<b><i>Chapter Four, To The Sky.</i></b>


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    …


    Two more hours, mesmerized by time and evolution.


    <i>Four hundred years. </i>


    For a group of ants, with short lifespans?… <i>That was thousands of generations.</i>


    Autumar watched with a hardened gaze. Entranced, as the ants built up to the sky.


    <i>Seeking god.</i>


    Watching the civilization rebel against their tyrant queen.


    Watching as the queen burrowed into the terrarium, attempting to hide from the bombardment of her own people.


    He watched intently, as the ants progressed to the farthest possible point they could with the resources they had.


    <i>And he watched as the queen herself experienced a breakthrough.</i>


    <i>As the central node of the hivemind, her brain was far more powerful than the other ants. She could sense each and every one of her kin, and she had a small influence over them all.</i>


    <i>Unfortunately they were growing intelligent enough to function entirely independently.</i>


    <i>But that didn’t stop her...</i>


    <i>While staying hidden from the world, she meditated, trying to surpass her mental limits.</i>


    <i>She did not want limited influence.</i>


    <i><b>She wanted full control.</b></i>


    <i>Something strange happened, and Autumar was left with his jaw agape.</i>


    <i>Like a singularity, the Ant Queen broke through some barrier. Her achievement reverberated throughout the entire terrarium.</i>


    <i>Her brain waves leaked into the air, causing small but tangible changes.</i>


    <i>She emerged from the depths of the soil, screeching.</i>


    <i>Her yells fell on deaf ears.</i>


    <i><b>Every single ant had lost their autonomy.</b></i>


    <i>Each and every single one, was fully controlled by her.</i>


    <i>She screamed, and shouted. Her mandibles clicked with pride, and Autumar watched as her knees bent.</i>


    <i>She leapt into the air, jumping towards the lid of the terrarium.</i>


    <i>Her claws attached the reinforced plastic, gripping onto it.</i>


    <i>Autumar’s eyes were wide open.</i>This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    <i>She clawed, cried, and shook the barrier in the sky with all her might.</i>


    <i>She pushed, punched, and even bit. But she just seemed to not be strong enough.</i>


    <i>Reluctantly, she screeched once more, turning her head back down towards her small earth.</i>


    <i>In an instant, the dozens of thousands of tiny ants moved.</i>


    <i>They climbed atop one another, crawling to the highest point into their terrarium.</i>


    <i>Then they started to pile up.</i>


    <i>They made a tower, growing tall until they barely scraped the roof of the small world.</i>


    <i>Then…</i>


    <i>With their powerful mandibles, they used joint effort to nibble away at the plastic.</i>


    <i>For the ants, it was years, but for Autumar it was barely minutes.</i>


    <i>The Ant Queen made the final push, breaking through the barrier.</i>


    <i>Autumar was not worried, the Bluelight film was tied thickly. It was sturdy, and woven well.</i>


    <i>But perhaps that wasn’t enough…</i>


    <i>The queen jumped through it like it was water, appearing on top of the construct she called home.</i>


    <i>She screeched into the darkness, all of her ant kin unable to follow behind her.</i>


    <i>Autumar gazes upon her figure, her guttural yell shaking even he.</i>


    <i>But then for a moment, he felt something strange.</i>


    <i>A tingly sensation washed over him, and he could understand.</i>


    <i><b>“God! Where are you! I have felt your mind!” </b></i><i><u></u></i>


    <i>The Ant Queens brain waves? He could infer what her screech had meant.</i>


    <i>After all, he was standing rather close to the terrarium.</i>


    <i>Of course, he had used Bluelight to mask his presence, so he couldn’t be seen.</i>


    <i>But he was very much right in front of her face.</i>


    <i>“Freeze her.” Autumar mumbled, the Bluelight moving into action.</i>


    <i>“Freeze them all…” He continued, the Bluelight swarming the entire glass.</i>


    <i>All of the movements within the dimension stopped.</i>


    <i>Autumar moved over to the soil bags, ripping them open with his bare hands.</i>


    <i>He poured their contents out individually, soil floated stagnant in space.</i>


    <i>With his hands, he clumped the soil together, forming a rough massive sphere.</i>


    <i>In all, it was huge. </i>


    He moved over to the terrarium, removing the lid.


    The ants were all frozen, sitting atop of each other.


    He grabbed the terrarium, bringing it to the soil planet.


    Turning it over, her poured the contents onto the sphere, thousands of ants falling onto the soil.


    The dirt fell as well, their ant civilization constructs shattering as they touched down on the ground.


    Then, Autumar turned away.


    He moved towards the queen, scooping her up in his hand.


    He brought her to his face, glaring.


    He could… <i>feel? Her mental movements.</i>


    <i>Despite being frozen by the Bluelight, her brain was still running internally.</i>


    <i>The wave of Bluelight failed in putting her to sleep like the rest of her kin.</i>


    <i>She could not see, nor could she hear, nor could she feel.</i>


    <i>But she was surely stuck to herself. Her mind was stuck in its own cold solitude.</i>


    <i>Rather unfortunate… But Autumar did not care for that in the moment.</i>


    <i>He had countless questions.</i>


    <i>Bluelight churned, more being produced by the second.</i>


    <i>“Is this like some spiritual mind evolution?”  </i>He questioned.


    <b><i>“I would say that is an elevation of the level of life. This probably one of the smallest level one creatures I have ever seen...” </i></b><i><u></u> The voice spoke in his ear.</i>


    <i>“Life level?…” He mumbled, confused.</i>


    <i><b>“Indeed.” </b>It replied.</i>


    <i>Autumar turned the insect all around in his hand. It had grown just slightly, becoming roughly an inch and a half.</i>


    <i>It was still tiny compared to he, but he could tell they differed intrinsically.</i>


    <i>This creature—as </i><i>much as he didn’t wish to admit—it was smarter than he.</i>


    <i>He could feel her thoughts seeping out of her body. They sunk into his hand, and he could feel what she was thinking.</i>


    <i>“What are the levels? What level am I?” </i>He questioned.


    Fortunately the Bluelight encasing the Ant Queen disabled all of her senses. She didn’t hear a word he said.


    <b><i>“I… Cannot give you that information. In this moment, I am an almost completely empty slate. Of course I have calculating and processing abilities beyond what you could ever imagine… But my memory is rather spotty. “ </i></b>Autumar tilted his head.


    He did not complain.


    <i>He would simply have to figure things out himself it seemed. </i>


    …


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