At the time when war broke out in the colony, chaos erupted.
The surroundings and time itself seemed to pause intermittently until sounds crept in, followed by loud cries. It was difficult to identify the sources of these voices, as pain was universal among both humans and non-human beings.
Not only did families lose their belongings, but wildlife also struggled to cope with the catastrophic changes.
Humans fought for existence and dominance, while animals attempted to camouflage themselves.
Insects had it the worst, as they could neither anticipate nor resist the disaster. Among the insects, there were ants, who would find little pockets in decaying trees and even in loose sand, which had once been home to antlions.
And the antlions were suffering as animals and humans walked through their territories with little to no notice, crushing them and giving them no chance to escape!
A young antlion, seeing that families were affected, decided to tackle the problem. Although young and angered by the atrocities committed against his kind, he realized that solving the issue was not something just anyone could do.
Humans, being giants who were ruthless and cunning compared to the kinder species—the animals—seemed indifferent, and it was hard to implement change that could save innocent lives.
Just when he was about to give up, one day, as he woke up, the young antlion saw a huge plume of smoke. His little eyes could barely see through it. He felt the ground move and quickly alerted himself and his family to stay alert. As his legs began to weaken, a strong wind blew across the terrain, engulfing all the insects in sand.
Ants, hoppers, flies—all were submerged, but the young antlion did not give up.
He figured out the direction of the wind and encouraged his family to walk backward in the sand instead of moving upward.
This was a monumental task, as no other insect had ever been trained to walk away like this.
But their courage and will to survive enabled the little antlion family to move past the smokescreen and the perilous war zone.
They eventually found themselves close to the walls of an old home where they lived silently—without making a sound, so that no predator could attack the brave little antlions who had walked away.
From then on, they would periodically crawl up the sand to check for smoke, which had become their warning signal against impending dangers.