Chapter 3- Humans?

"Leave?" Jared asks, confused by the Queen's message.

"LEAVE NOW," sensing the anger through her message, Jared looks around at the other ants moving closer to him.

"O-Okay!" Guided by the same ant who carried him to the Queen, Jared follows the ant out of the cave. Walking through the seemingly endless cave, Jared builds up enough courage to ask his "guide" why he is being kicked out.

"Leave, why?"

Without skipping a beat, the other ant replies quickly. 

"No mana, you useless. Queen says so"

[Pheromone Production proficiency increased due to use 3/10] 

Understanding the gist of the message, Jared looks down at his own body, dispirited. 'So, my defective body really is an issue.'

"What are cores?" Trying to gain more information, Jared tries to ask about the blue crystals that were being carried to the nursery and being fed to the queen.

"Cores make us smart. Give more choices."

'More choices? What could he mean "They make them smart"?' Deciding to ask, Jared suddenly bumps into the ant walking in front of him. 

"Why did you stop?" 'It seems like my messages can get more complex the higher the proficiency of my 'Pheromone Production' skill.

Not responding, the ant moves forward slightly, peaking his head out into the cave to their right. 

*CLACK CLACK CLACK* 

Snapping his mandibles harshly, the guide ant lets out an urgent, almost screeching message through the pheromones.

"HUMANS!" 

Following behind him, Jared peeks his head out, just in time for an arrow to fly towards him, piercing the last section of his exoskeleton.

'OW, WHAT THE HELL?!'

Piercing pain coursing through his body, Jared jumps back as another arrow flies towards him. Hiding behind his guide, he watches as the arrow easily penetrates its head, its body falling flat to the ground, not moving.

'Oh shit, oh shit, run Jared, RUN!'

Terrified by the sight, Jared turns around, trying to run into a small pathway nearby. 

*Crshh*

'OW' forgetting about the arrow, his movement into the small pathway drives it even further into his body before magically dissipating into the air as sparks.

As he drags his body down the path away from the humans, he hears countless ants scurrying to where he just was, obviously on their way to fight the intruders. Moving randomly in and out of different paths and caves, Jared eventually stops when he can't hear any more movement.

His body leaks little drops of fluid, and Jared can feel the energy slowly draining from his body. 

'Am I really going to die already? I was just born.'

Complaining to himself but unable to move his body, Jared looks around the cave he's currently in. 

'W-what is this place?'

Suspended on a narrow, rocky path, Jared can see the other end of the cave not too far away. Below the path lies an ominous lake, too still to contain any life but very similar in color to both the crystals that he saw earlier, as well as his own body.

Looking upwards, he notices a gaping hole in the ceiling, with small streams of blue liquid dripping into the lake. Moving his leg outwards over the path's edge, he "catches" one of the drops. He watches in trepidation as the drop sizzles and pops, seemingly acidic. 

'Hah, looks like my special exoskeleton isn't too bad.' thinking happily to himself, he lowers his leg back down, sighing again. 'Guess this is it, I don't see how to survive without being able to mo-'

BOOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Suddenly, the cave shakes as small pebbles collapse off the ceiling, splashing into the liquid below. Tiny shards of blue fall along with these rocks, falling right past Jared.