The forest of larvae

By Charlotte Shum

Image by Dirk ‘Beeki’ Schumacher and Pixabay.

When winter left and spring arrived, the horrifyingly revolting insects returned. As the Cicadas began shrieking, the fire ants re-established their towering structures. During the short period of transition, the forest became an abyss of darkness.  

Within the Skotos forest, thousands of beady bug eyes judged every movement. Be it the rumble of slithering Earthworms, or the swift slice of a silverfish. The forest air was acrid and full of venom released by the insects.  

Several meters away from the entrance of the forest stood several tents made out of hairy animal skin and decaying branches. These tents belonged to a group of fetid hunter-gatherers, who had occupied the area since the dawn of time. 

“Did you hear? Little Dike tried to attack another Stag beetle again,” whispered Calliope as she thoroughly washed the nuts and berries. 

“Really? That girl! What will we do with her! Everyone knows that the insects are invincible. She'll ruin us!” responded Acantha, the wife of Mantodea, the group leader. 

A short distance away, within the main hut, squatted Dike, a lanky girl with wild rust-coloured hair and vivid sienna-brown eyes. Mantodea and Orien paced around the packed hut.

 “How could you do such a thing! Ugh!” grumbled Mantodea as he ate a strip of dried Auroch meat. “We should have just eaten you when you were a baby!”

“I had to do something! We can’t just sit in the dark and do nothing! We need to rise and take action! We need to take back our forest and protect our people!” yelled Dike as she bounced up and raised her scrawny arms.

“You can’t always be so reckless. We won’t always be here to protect you!” Orien calmly responded. 

“I would have been just fine without your help, Dad!” rebutted Dike. A beam of sunlight entered the room. The curtain swished to the left and Acantha sashayed in. 

“If we hadn’t gotten there in time, you would have died,” sneered Acantha as she grasped Dike’s left wrist and held it up. Her face greened and she gagged. “That nasty wound you got is proof that you needed help.”

Dike flushed red and huffed. She swung her head to the side and stormed out.  

“Dike! Wait up!” yelled Jace. The petite boy had emerged from the food store and jogged up to her from behind. Dike took a deep breath and sighed.

She speedily turned around. “Yeah? What is it?” She asked. 

“I heard that you got told off by Mantodea for trying to fight the beetle,” he replied casually.

“Yeah…,” grumbled Dike. “But it was the right thing to do ...”

“Nevertheless, you were so brave!” screeched Jerry, leaping from behind Jace’s back. Dike flinched at his sudden appearance. “But if you really were to defeat the insects, the journey would take a long time!” 

Jerry began to bounce around the Dike and Jace. “You would have to go to the heart of the forest and defeat the Cockroach King himself. You know, the 12-foot tall oval-shaped thingy that comes to eat one of us every month,” he said.

“Then...I’ll do that!” said Dike with newfound energy. “I’ll defeat the Cockroach King!”   

"Wait, lemme get something for you then," Jerry chirped. He skipped towards a small group of Alder trees. 

Several tiny firebugs crouched around the trees. Jerry climbed up one of the trees and stuck his sunburnt arm in the countless leaves. He rummaged through the basil-green leaves and eventually grasped a pole. Jace then climbed back down. 

"Here!" he said as he skipped back to Dike and Jace. "This was Uncle Nestor's spear; he gave it to me before he was eaten." 

The spear was long and thin. The shaft was firm and seemingly unbreakable as it was made with the bark of an oak tree, it was also a dull shade of brown. The head of the spear was made of sharpened bone, tied down with a piece of twine. 

"So we're actually doing this," stated Jace in disbelief. "We're running away to defeat him."

"Of course! As her best friends we’ll go to the ends of the earth with her. Anyways, we should go first thing tomorrow morning. Maeve's on duty," said Jerry, mischievously grinning.

------

As the sun steadily rose at daybreak the next morning, Maeve yawned and leaned against a tall alder tree, trying not to fall asleep. 

The trio crept behind the food storage, waiting for Maeve to fall asleep to make a break for the forest. 

Maeve, with heavily eyebags and pale skin, eventually did. The trio sprinted towards the unwelcoming entrance of the gloomy forest.  

The outskirts of the forest were utterly quiet. The pests swiftly skirted around the grass plains and the tiny ponds. Mammal bones were littered in every nook and cranny.

Dike and the twins dashed through the forest, following a crooked pathway. 

"Maybe we should stop for a rest," said Jace, exhausted from the constant sprinting. 

The trio decided to rest near a static elm tree, eating a fruit snack. Suddenly, the ground began to tremble. An earthworm sprung up from the dirt, like a seed sprouting in time-lapse. 

The earthworm was cloaked in twigs, dirt, and decaying bones, towering over the trees like a giant landfill. Holding on to the elm tree, Dike, Jace and Jerry remained at the peak of the landfill, viewing over the rest of the peculiar forest. 

“Hey! That the Cockroach King’s den! Whoa!” screamed Jerry, slipping on a puddle of saliva. 

The energetic boy rolled across the head of the worm, nearly falling into a giant hole. 

“I’m okay!” he yells, “I just nearly fell into a hole...wait…this is the mouth!” Petrified, Jerry held on to the mouth edge fearing for his life. 

“Hold on! We’ll think of something!” Jace replied loudly. “Ugh! We shouldn’t have taken a break!”

Frustrated, Jace grabbed Dike’s spear and jabbed it into the tree. Tree sap oozed out of the tree and onto the worm. 

The earthworm’s skin sizzled. The worm wailed and violently vibrated. 

“The tree sap! We can use the tree sap to defeat the earthworm and the Cockroach King!” exclaimed Dike, taking her spear out of the tree and smearing it in sap. 

Dike and Jace ran towards the mouth where Jerry hanged on for his dear life. Jace helped the poor boy up while Dike repeatedly stabbed the worm. 

Groaning, the worm tilted sideways and gently tumbled onto the many trees and insects. 

“Yeah! We did it!” exclaimed Dike.

“But don’t you feel bad for the earthworm? He was just doing what any other earthworm would do,” said Jace.

“They destroyed the forest, and that meant that they were evil! It's as simple as that!” She curtly responded. 

“Uh, anyways, let's go into the den of the Cockroach King!” chirped Jerry, pointing towards the direction of the den. 

The trio trekked on the winding pathway towards the Cockroach King’s den. ‘Great! I’ll defeat him and take back the forest, Mom will be so proud of me!’ thought Dike. The trio continued walking towards the den, finally seeing a pitch-black cave opening. 

“So, who's going in first?” said Jace, awkwardly fidgeting. Both Jace and Jerry stared at Dike. Gulping, Dike raised her sap-coated spear and wandered in. 

‘Come on Dike! You can do this!’ thought Dike as she suddenly regained her confidence and strutted into the darkness.

Dike, Jace, and Jerry tiptoed through the dark cave. Cracked ootheca lay on each and every surface, and cockroach larvae roamed the endless tunnel.

“What brings you here, trespassers? Have you not heard of me?” echoed the cave. The larvae moved to the sides of the tunnel and formed a pathway. A tall brown creature marched on the pathway.  

“I am going to defeat you, Cockroach King, and bring peace to the forest!” yelled Dike, raising her spear and charging directly at the king. 

Dike screamed as she rushed towards the Cockroach King like a wild boar. The Cockroach effortlessly dodged her attack and punched her in the head. Knocking her down on her bottom and giving her a nose bleed. 

“A-are you okay?” asked Jerry, cowering behind Jace, who helped her up.  

Dike nodded, then charged straight at the Cockroach King. Dike jumped on a large rock before launching herself up and pointing her spear towards the skull of the Cockroach King. 

“Death is not due to arrive today!” announced the Cockroach King, as he sprayed a pungent vapour at himself. Dike was shocked, the King had suddenly disappeared. Realising that she was about to fall and hurt herself, Dike pointed her spear towards the ground to help protect herself from possible injuries. 

"Darn it! Where did he go?" muttered Dike, abandoning her spear. 

"Um, Dike? Look down," said Jace, pointing towards the spear. 

"What?" 

"Just look down."  

Dike looked down. On the cold hard ground lay the squashed miniaturised body of the Cockroach King. His body oozed out transparent blood and the yellow gas that he inhaled. Red blood dripped all over the tiny cockroach due to Dike's bloody nose, drawing the diminutive blood-sucking leeches in.

The leeches gobbled, sucked and munched on the Cockroach King and had a hearty meal.

Meanwhile, the yellow gas expanded and flowed around the Cave, moving through different sections of the forest. The insects of the entire forest became miniaturized and could no longer roam the forest freely. Now cowering in the nooks and crannies, fearing that the infamous Dike would kill them.  

The trio decided to return to the entrance of the forest, where they and their concerned parents lived. 

“Dike! Where have you been? We were so worried!” yelled Orien, running over to hug his daughter.

“Dad! The forest is ours!” screeched Dike, also running over, and jumped on him. The two boys awkwardly shuffled towards their Mother, fearing the punishments that would be inflicted upon them. Mantodea walked up behind them and coughed.

“Though your actions have deeply benefited our tribe, all three of you are sentenced to do all cleaning for a month,” stated Mantodea with his arms folded on his chest.  

Days later, the trio sat on tree trunks, watching their parents pack their belongings while washing clothing. 

“I feel like the consequences of our actions outweigh the good. Their entire ecosystem has changed,”Jace muttered to himself, not knowing that both Jerry and Dike heard him.

Jerry fiercely nodded in agreement and Dike stared at him, confused.

“But we still got back the forest. That is the most important thing! We defeated the worm because it was ruining the forest, which meant it was evil,” said a confused Dike.

“Nevermind,” replied Jace, sighing and continuing to wash the clothing.

Eventually, the group moved to the heart of the forest. The tiny insects around them were harmless, yet many lived in fear and unintentionally passed down their fear of these hideous creatures in the form of campfire horror stories. The humans had nothing to fear, for they were the ones who ruled the forest. Yet the fear of these diminutive creatures would linger, for forever and more.