“You shall not enter the House of the Gods,” says Dan, the old ant.
“The Gods aren’t real, Dan,” says Ben, the leader, “I’ve never seen one, so they don’t exist.”
“There are the stories, my love,” says Becca, the future queen of their new colony. They’re part of a small group of a dozen ants moving away from their home colony to forge a new one. Ben has convinced Becca that he has the perfect idea for a new ant colony. He’s leading them to the House of the Gods. It’s unexplored territory, full of stories and mysteries.
The grass above the ants is tall, but the House is even taller. It overshadows the grass and blocks out the sun at dawn. Of course, what these ants see is only one wall. If they go too far to the left or right, they’ll enter territories of rival colonies. It was through their encounters with rival ant colonies that they’d heard rumors about the house having other walls.
Ben fears these murderous rivals more than he does these fictitious “Gods”. He’s faced the rival ants in battle before. He knows what they’re capable of. When taking prisoners back to the colony to be devoured, they would speak of these walls. They would tell tales of holes in these walls. Treasures were in the House, they’d say. Fields of white ground covered in brown manna, they’d speak of. They’d tell stories of food as far as the eye could see. How could Ben pass up the chance?
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Sharee’s in love with the house. It’s a small rental property, but she can make it a home with her new husband, Trevor. As she walks through the house, she can see it’s still dirty. She checks the bathroom. The white porcelain’s covered in brown filth. If she doesn’t clean it soon, bugs’ll probably come in and try to take over the place.
Trevor’s still at work, so she’s decided to surprise him with a clean house when he gets back. He’s worked so hard moving the stuff from both their apartments into their new home. He deserves a warm welcome when he returns. Unfortunately, Sharee and Trevor haven’t packed any cleaning supplies. Sharee will have to take her car to the store to get some. She’ll probably buy some bug killer too. He’ll be so pleased when he returns.
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They’ve dodged a couple of rival ant patrols, but the ants have finally made it inside the wall. Becca’s full of hope. She’s going to establish a new colony with her brave consort, Ben. He’s going to impregnate her with hundreds of thousands of eggs. She’ll probably spend the rest of her life laying eggs and making babies, but she’ll be doing it in the House of the Gods! She’s heard the stories too. Maybe the Gods are real. Maybe they aren’t. She isn’t sure what she believes, but she knows she believes in Ben. Old Dan, however, needs some convincing.
“We are committing the gravest of sins by coming here,” says the old insect, “The Gods are immense beings with limitless power. We should make our homes outside in the grass and soil where we belong.”
“Where you belong maybe, old ant,” sneers Ben, “I’ve got plans. Big plans. Becca and I are going to change the world. She will give birth to an army that will move and wipe out all of our enemies. Our colony will be the supreme colony. No animal will dare touch us, not birds, not squirrels, and not even your precious Gods. Today, we have a dozen ants. Tomorrow, we will have legions.”
Poor, old Dan shakes his head as they wander through the darkness of the wall. Ben is a great leader, old Dan thinks, but he’s corrupted by youthful ambition. Old Dan loves Becca. He loves Ben. They can make a beautiful colony, if only they would listen to reason.
“The old stories speak of deathly pheromones,” Dan says, “Aromas that fall from above, enter your body and devour you from the inside out.”
“There’s no such thing, old Dan.”
“How can you be sure?” Dan asks. “Our stories have been with us for generations, Ben. They are part of our culture, our heritage. They keep us out of harm’s way.”
Ben scoffs at Dan. “You mean they keep us limited and stagnant. Did the Gods save us from the wasp raids and ant wars? I’ve been on the battlefield. I’ve seen Death. Your stories didn’t save my soldiers from slaughter. I did. Have you ever had to carry your comrade’s severed head in your jaws? Have you ever tasted the secretions of fear while ripping open the bowels of your opponent? I have. And there’s one thing I do know: whether the battle was won or lost, it was fought with ant blood and ant wits. I’ve never seen a God on the battlefield. That’s where they were needed. If they weren’t there, then they’re definitely fiction. What Gods would allow such atrocities to occur right outside their own home?”
“The concerns of the Gods are far beyond our understanding,” Old Dan responds. “We can’t expect the Gods to interfere in the affairs of ants. There are things in this world that ants may only dream of.”
“I’m aware of that,” says Ben, “We’re heading to the land of dreams right now.”
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Trevor is God-sent, Sharee thinks as she drives home from the store. She’s spent years praying and fasting for a good man, and the Heavens opened and revealed Trevor. He has a decent job. He’s easy on the eyes, and he loves Sharee. Oh, how he loves her. He put in extra time at work to pay for the move. His friends helped. All Sharee had to do was pack her things and follow her heart.
She’d saved herself for marriage. Her friends had laughed about that. They’d said she was silly. Sharee thinks it’s silly to open herself to hurt, harm, disease, and single parenting. Her girlfriends at church told her to give Trevor a little taste after they were engaged. Sharee still waited, and so did Trevor. Sharee wasn’t a grandstander waiting for a big wedding and a platinum ring. She and Trevor were married at the courthouse. Sharee was just following what she had been raised to believe. Is it silly to believe in the irrational when it leads to rational decisions?
Sharee has to get the house in order for her husband, while her girlfriends from church are still mired in sex, lies, and drama. As soon as she gets home she heads to the bathroom. That bathtub will be the first thing she cleans. She flips on the light switch as she walks in.
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At last, they have arrived. Ben leads the troop of ants through a crack in the wall into Paradise. The ground is smooth, white, and immense.
“It’s beautiful,” gasps Becca. The white ground they’re standing on gives way to a humongous canyon. The other ants in the group move to the edge of the precipice and slide down. Ben and Becca walk together to the edge and wonder at the enormity of their new home. An ant crawls up from the bottom of the white canyon.
“Look, my queen!” says the ant, “Manna! Brown manna! Here, take some. It’s delicious.”
Becca grasps the brown matter between her mandibles and chews. Flavor inundates her with electric euphoria. Her head reels back from the oral sensation. She passes some to her consort, Ben. He’s also taken aback at the boisterous taste of the brown manna. They have truly entered the House of the Gods.
The couple slides down to join the other ants in their feasting and gathering. Everything’s going according to Ben’s plan. This is the profit of relying on one’s wits instead of some outdated fairytales. Old Dan stands away from the other ants, morose and unimpressed.
Ben places a piece of manna in front of the old insect. “Eat, old ant! Has your antiquated faith stripped you of the joy of success? We’re here. It’s the House of the Gods! And from here, we will establish an empire that will stretch to all sides of this house, to the fence, and to the forest beyond that. We will be conquerors of the known world. Aren’t you happy?”
“How can I be happy in the face of certain doom?”
“Oh please, Dan! For the last time: THERE ARE NO GODS!”
Suddenly, light floods the canyon, reflecting off the alabaster surface into their eyes. The ants scatter in fear and alarm. A series of tremors shake the earth. The queen hurries to her consort.
“Ben, what’s going on?” she screams.
Before Ben can answer, old Dan offers the explanation:
“A God walks upon the earth!”
Ben can take it no longer. The old ant’s ramblings are frightening the others. Dan has to be taken out to establish peace. He moves toward Dan. Then a shadow falls over the white canyon. Ben freezes along with the other ants. He turns around to look at what could cause such sudden darkness. What he sees is a creature, a being that is neither insect nor bird. It resembles a squirrel somewhat, but it lacks fur on its face and limbs. Its eyes aren’t on the sides of its head either, but squarely in front, like an owl hunting for prey.
It’s gargantuan.
Only Dan can find the courage to speak. “Behold, you unbelievers! You stand before a God!”
The Great Being looks on the dozen ants. Then it opens its great mouth and punishs them with a deafening shriek, dizzying them.
“The Great One is angered!” shouts Dan.
“Gee, old Dan, you think?” scoffs Ben. He’s seen enough. Wounded squirrels and birds have been ripped to pieces under his leadership. This “God” will be no different. “Troops! Fall in. You’ve trained for this. Alpha formation! Let’s take it down!”
A large cylinder appears in the Great Being’s hand. With the slightest movement of its finger, it shoots mist from the cylinder at the ants.
“Behold, the Deathly Pheromones!”
Ben stands his ground. “Stand firm! Pheromones only take effect if you breathe them in.”
“Aaargh! My eyes!” shouts an ant.
“It burns!” shouts another.
The ants fall into chaos. Panicked breaths suck in the toxic gas. Vomiting soon follows. Ben stands firm. He is no stranger to pain. It was pain that taught him how to survive, not some silly superstition. He shouts at the Great Being, “Is that the best you’ve got? Giant farts from on high?”
As if in reply, Ben feels a thud to the left of him. He looks and sees the flattened, mangled remains of one of his troop. He feels another thud behind him. He looks and sees another crushed corpse.
“Beware, unbelievers!” Dan cries out, “It is digito Dei, the Finger of God!”
Ben glances at the vast, white battlefield covered in vomit and carnage. Every strike of the Great Being’s Finger brings it closer to Becca. He rushes to Becca’s side, but the digito Dei, the God-finger, is faster than anything he’s encountered before. The other ants are running to protect the future queen as well. Then the Finger smites them, one by one. Ben runs as fast he can, but it just isn’t enough. Becca is crushed beneath the Finger of God.
Ben can only watch as the Finger rises, taking Becca with it. The viscous fluids of her broken body have glued her to the tip of the Finger. The Finger rises up and up until it reaches eye-level with the Great Being. It looks at Becca with disdain. Ben can still hear her screaming for help. The Great Being lowers its hand and, with a slight gesture, sends Becca hurdling to the hard ground next to Ben.
In the throes of death, she utters, “…we could’ve…been…happy.”
Ben’s lover is dead, but he has no time to mourn. He and old Dan are the last ants standing, and Ben doubts the Great Being will smite the old believer. He jumps quickly to the right just in time to miss the digito Dei striking the ground. He leaps upon the Finger and holds on with his six legs. The Finger rises up and he is soon face to face with a God. Ben stands up to the Great Being, and says,
“I am Ben and you are a False God. I am not afraid of you. Your powers are great, I’ll admit, but you are responsible for the great atrocities that happen right outside this House. You do not help us conquer our enemies. It’s your fault that my ant colony battles endlessly with our rivals. If you would simply come outside your House and smite our enemies, my colony would prosper. But you neglect us. You ignore us, so I will sin against you. I will go back to my colony and find another queen to create a colony in your House. You will not stop me. I smell your flesh. You are a female God. You serve no other purpose than to give birth. I am a male. I am a fighter, a disciple of pain. You know nothing of hardship or suffering. I will hurt you, and you will crumble beneath my wrath!”
Then Ben bites the digito Dei, the Finger of God. The Great Being bellows at Ben.
“Yes, you felt that. Now kneel before—”
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Sharee smooshes the ant on her finger. The little bastard bit her. It hurt too. She looks down in the bath tub. There are ten, tiny ant bodies down there, not including the one on her finger. Sharee is not happy. These creatures have invaded her perfect little home. Trevor would not like insects in the house he chose for her. The ants have transgressed against her, her new husband, and the love that has brought them together. Sharee sees one final ant crawling around the tub, and an idea pops into her brain. She leaves the bathroom to get a long-nosed lighter.
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Old Dan wanders among the bodies. He warned them. They scoffed at him. They said Gods weren’t real. Then a real God smote them quickly and mightily and allowed the one believer to live. He looks up and sees the Great Being returning with a wand in its hand. Has the Great One come to reward him for his faith?
“I am here, O Great One!” he proclaims, “Give me the reward for my belief!”
The Great Being points the wand at Old Dan and destroys him with flames. As his juices boil and his organs pop, Old Dan realizes: he should not have entered the House of the Gods.