3 – The BeetleField Voyage

After a few minutes of walking in silence, Antonio finally spoke: “Sooo… Where exactly are we going, Nanthan?”

“Oh, right… sorry… It’s just that… well… I’m not really used to traveling with anyone. Most of my trips were lonely… We’re going to the land of BeetleField.”, Nanthan answered.

“BeetleField? I’ve heard of that place! Aren’t three out of the five Great Knights from there??”

“Yes, both Dan, Diablo and the beautiful Lucana are all from BeetleField. I figured it would be the best place to start…”

“Wow! Great idea, Nant! Can I call you that? Nant ?”

“……. sure…….”, Nanthan let him, even tho he thought the nickname was quite childish… “Tell me, Antonio… Have you ever wielded a weapon?”

“Hmmm… I don’t think I have, Nant.”, Antonio answered.

“Well… I guess I’ll have to teach you how to use the blade… Let’s make that the first thing we do when we arrive in BeetleField, what do you say?”

“Woooow!! I’ll learn to wield a sword from none other than Nanthan, the sturdy!!”, Antonio was jumping around.

“W-Wooah!! Where did you hear about that old nickname?? I haven’t heard it since…”, Nanthan started.

“Since the Ultimate Showdown?”, Antonio asked.

“Yes! How did you know?”, Nanthan asked curiously.

“What do you mean? Everyone in Anthill knows about you, Nant! Afterall, you’re the last ant to have competed in the Ultimate Showdown…”

“No, no, I mean how did you know about that nickname?? Nobody in Anthill had ever called me that… The only bugs that ever did so were those who competed with me back then…”

“Oh! Well, me and my friend Tan read a few books about the history of the Showdown… All the famous ants who had ever competed… And among those, we found you: Nanthan, the sturdy, the last ant to ever participate in the historic event! You were, at the time, in the top ten strongest warriors in Castanea, I’m sure of it!! You’re a legend, Nant!!”

Nanthan blushed. “Y-You’re overexaggerating! I did make it far into the tournament, but that was mostly luck…”

“No way! I don’t believe you, Nant!”

“…”, Nanthan slowed down… Sudden memories of the time he spent brawling flashed through his eyes. He remembered all the fierce opponents he had faced… all the challenges he had overcome… all the great friends he had made…

But all of that was in the past…

“… Are you alright, Nant?”, Antonio was worried when Nanthan stopped moving.

“I’m alright, Antonio… It’s just… now that I’m walking up this path… the memories… the nostalgia I get…”, he looked Antonio in the eyes and continued: “I changed my mind, Antonio… I want to do something else before I start teaching you how to fight…”

“… aaaannd what is that thing??”, Antonio did not seem to mind postponing his training.

“I… I used to have this friend… a beetle folk… He had also fought in the Ultimate Showdown with me… I wonder how he’s doing after all this time…

I wonder if he’s… if he’s even still alive…?”, the thought of his old friend being long dead made Nanthan’s eyes drop a few tears…

Seeing this, Antonio, too, felt sadness… “We can take a short break if you want…”, he said, this time not adding ‘Nant’ to the end of the sentence.

“N-No… we should be there soon… I’m-I’m sorry, Antonio… Sorry for my selfishness… I got a little emotional… I shouldn’t have…”

“W-What do you mean, Nant? Everybody gets emotional sometimes! Especially in situations like this!”

“Maybe you worker ants do… But for us, soldiers it’s different… One of the first thing they teach you is to not let your emotions get in the way… This is to prevent a soldier going against the Queen’s orders… Considering how disobedient I were at the Palace, I can safely say that I no longer deserve to be a soldier – let alone the Queen’s Guard!!”

Antonio wanted to say something – anything – to prove Nanthan that he was wrong! That it was okay to show emotions, but… he had nothing… Nanthan was right after all… they may both be ants, but their similarities end there… One of them has no combat experience, and has been collecting crumbs his entire life, while the other has been through countless battles and challenges, overcoming each and every one of them with pure strength and iron will…

Maybe that was why Antonio was so weak… he always expressed his emotions honestly with everybody… maybe that was why he didn’t have many friends… maybe that was why he would always carry less crumbs than everyone else…

That was what Antonio was thinking about… and these thoughts saddened him, so he decided to switch the subject… to avoid any depressing thoughts…

Just like he always did when anything sad was going on…

“Uhm… Nant… you had traveled all across Castanea, correct?”

“… Yes…”, Nanthan simply answered.

“So I wonder… What are they like? The other kingdoms I mean? Which one is your favourite?”, Antonio was genuinely curious.

“Hmmm… that’s a good question…”, after thinking for a few moments Nanthan continued: “I guess you could describe each one as… unique… in their own way. For example the Mantisian Tribe folks are really really into their Queen… she’s more like a Goddess to them than a Queen… The Hornest folks, however, are completely different… They constantly overthrow their Queen… it’s madness… I guess the most peaceful, thus my favourite, is the place we’re headed to: The BeetleField. Folks there are usually pretty friendly towards bugs of every kind… at least that was the case prior to… you know…”

“Yeah…”, Antonio answered, then he turned towards Nanthan and yelled: “A MAP!! DO YOU HAVE A MAP?!!?”

“Wh-What?!”, Nanthan was surprised by Antonio’s sudden change in tone. “N-No I don’t! How the hell did you even come up with that?”

“S-Sorry… it’s just that… we’re going on a grand adventure and all… how can we possibly travel without a map!?”, Antonio was upset that his co-adventurer did not understand him.

“… Don’t give me that look! We don’t need a map! We got me! I know all of Castanea!!”

This, however, did not make Antonio any less upset. In fact it might have made him slightly more annoyed at his friend.

When he saw this, Nanthan finally gave in: “…… Fiiine… I’ll draw ya a map of Castanea… I can not promise how accurate it really is, as some stuff may have changed over the dozen of seasons I was in Anthill, but this…”, Nanthan took a small thin piece of wood he had carried in his little bag. Other than the small paper, the tiny bag contained a few crumb pieces, as well as twelve Trao[1].

Nanthan spit his venom in his front leg and started drawing with it on the piece of wood. The wood reacted to the venom, becoming darker at the places where the venom touched it. The denser the venom was, the darker the wood got.

As a final touch he took the feather blade and poked himself with the tip of it.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? YOU’RE HURTING YOURSELF-”, Antonio screamed in confusion.

“Shut up! It’s alright! I’m making you a map…”, Nanthan insisted he was fine, but Antonio did not believe him.

“I DON’T WANT YOU TO HURT YOURSELF!! Stop it, please!”

“Oh, for Dabir’s sake! You really never traveled have you?? This is the way I always draw! I use the venom to make the drawing, and I mix my blood[2] with my venom to make a red supstance to highlight the important details! Look…”, Nanthan showed Antonio the map he drew.

“W-Wow! You draw really well!”, Antonio was amazed. He was happy that he finally had a map.

“Thank you… Oh, look! We’ve almost made it! See that burn mark that looks like a dung beetle?”, Nanthan asked Antonio as he pointed towards the said mark, “Well, that is the emblem of BeetleField… That is where our voyage begins…”, Nanthan finished his sentence and, for the first time in a while, smiled as the two of them approached the BeetleField Gates...

The BeetleField Emblem

* * *

In front of the Gates stood an old dung beetle. He looked quite bored when the two ants approached him. “Oh! Well, hello there!”, the old beetle greeted the ants with a smile on his face. “I haven’t seen an ant in a long time! What brings you here, friends?”

“Hello-”, Antonio started, but Nanthan stopped him by asking in a cold tone: “It’s none of your business, alright… how much to let us through?”

Antonio gave a confused look to Nanthan, who was looking like a serious soldier again… The old dung beetle hesitated for a bit. He gave a frowning look in Nanthan’s direction before answering: “4 Trao each.”

Nanthan looked at Antonio and asked: “Alright, how much do you got?”

Antonio became pale when he heard this, as for he did not bring any Trao on his journey… in fact… he didn’t bring anything besides what was given to him by Nanthan and Elderanta…

Nanthan rolled his eyes and pulled out eight Trao from his tiny bag and gave them to the old beetle.

He then whispered to Antonio: “I can’t believe you didn’t bring ANY Trao…”

“S-sorry, Nant, I-”, Antonio felt guilty.

Nanthan sighed and said: “It’s alright… I guess you didn’t know… After all you’ve never traveled before…”

As they were talking amongst each other, the old beetle had single handedly lifted the heavy BeetleField Gates and told them with a bit of struggle in his voice: “Come on, move it! These old muscles ain’t as strong as they used to be…”

Antonio was amazed by the old beetle’s strength, while Nanthan seemed to not give it any praise, as if it was normal for a bug to be able to lift 1000 times it’s weight…

They passed through and could hear the Gates closing behind them… The two ants were now walking along a long empty tunnel. They could see the light at the end of it. This meant that the tunnel lead to the outside, where the center of BeetleField was. Antonio looked at Nanthan and said: “THAT WAS AMAZING!! That old beetle is so strong!!”

“Eeeeh, if you’re impressed by a mere old dung beetle, wait until you see… well… if he’s still alive that is…”

“… Your friend?”

“Yes… His name is Hercules… he’s a hercules beetle…”

“You’ve met him at the Showdown, right?”

“Yes, but you will not find him mentioned in any of the Showdown’s history books, as for he did not make it very far into the tournament… in fact… He was eliminated in the very first round… and the one who eliminated him was… well… it was me.”, Nanthan seemed to once again recall the time he had spent brawling in the Showdown…

“Woah… uhm… can you tell me about it? About the Showdown?”, Antonio was curious.

“… Say, Antonio… do you know how I got the nickname Nanthan, the sturdy ?”, Nanthan asked Antonio, seemingly ignoring Antonio’s request.

“I… I don’t know.”, Antonio was honest.

“Well… I don’t think that you would be surprised to find out I earned it in the fight against Hercules…”, Nanthan stopped walking and looked towards the top of the tunnel. He then looked at Antonio and suggested: “Say… I know you’re excited to see BeetleField and all, but… what do you say we take a short break… you know, refresh ourselves with a crumb or two… Who knows what awaits us when we exit the tunnel… And while we’re resting, I’ll tell you the story of how I got my nickname, which is also the story of Hercules, our rivalry, and our friendship…”

When he heard this Antonio’s body shook in excitement. Ever since he and Tan were little, they dreamt of one day seeing the Showdown. ‘This is basically the next best thing!’, Antonio thought. “Yes! I can’t wait to hear it!”

“Alright then, sit down…”, Nanthan pulled out two pieces of crumb from his bag, gave one to Antonio, looked upwards again and said: “The story begins 10 seasons ago… the Ultimate Showdown was just a few dozen hours away…”

* * *