by Grendel226 a.k.a. Arren Dracone
Phantasy Star I is property of Sega of American and Sega of Japan. All rights reserved by their respective parties.
The sun beat down out of a blazing red Motavian sky. Any being
unaccustomed with the hierarchy of our
order would see lazy creatures basking in the blazing heat. This
watch had been quiet, thankfully. Not so
much as a desert worm had disturbed us, and a peaceful hazy repose
had settled over our guard's front
line. I sank back into the sand a bit, feeling my exoskeleton
absorbing the heat and in turn radiating it
outwards. A stir in the dirt next to me attracted my attention
and I experimentally gnashed my pinchers,
preparing to crush whatever reared its ugly head. "Sinjun!"
"Callan! Don't sneak up on me like that fool!
I almost snapped you off at the thorax!" Callan had been my companion
since we were both fledglings.
We had joined the Queen's Guard at the same time and he was now like
a brother to me. "The Queen
wishes to see you Sinjun. She says there's bad news from the
west." "What?!" Callan flicked an antenna
at me. "I'm a messenger, not a martyr. Godspeed Sinjun.
I'll take your post." Nodding, I burrowed
downward, feeling the baking sand close over my head.
As I navigated the tunnels to the Queen's Chamber, I reflected
on my existence as I often had. We
antlions were the most misunderstood race of Algo without question.
I remembered one day in particular
when I was on my usual guard. A woman and her child had just
exited the gates of the city called Paseo.
After living on Motavia for an age and a day, I had picked up some
of the language of these human
creatures. I felt it had been my duty: sharing the planet
with these humans dictated to me that through
common civility I should make an effort to understand them. The
child had grabbed her mother's sleeve
and cried, "Look at the monsters, Mommy!" The woman's face went
white and she scooped the child up
to her bosom and fled back through the gates of town. After a
while, I discovered that because we were
not created like them, these humans regarded us as monsters.
I was relieved of my quiet reverie as I reached the Queen's Chamber.
"Captain Sinjun," the Queen said in
her usual cordial voice. "Hail Queen!" I replied, reflexively
inclining my head in respect. "Captain, my
Western intelligence has brought me disquieting news. Twelve
antlions were killed by a party of
humans...and they are now coming this way." Shivering involuntarily
I asked, "Shall I prepare an assault
squad, my Queen?" She inclined an antenna towards me before stating,
"Captain Sinjun, when have we
ever resorted to violence? That is something that is reserved
for beings who have no other way to vent
their anger. We will rationally forgive the humans and grant
them safe passage through our land. Perhaps
they will learn from our example." She finished her sentence
with that unquestionable finality that she was
so fond of. The Queen had spoken true. War had never been
the way of our people. We held all beings
we shared the planet with in the highest regard. Our intelligence
lines were more for defense and
information more than anything. Starting back down the tunnel
my thoughts continued. 'Even if we DID
attack the humans, not even our full numbers would be powerful enough
to quell their attacks, if they are as
mighty as my Queen says.' Resurfacing next to Callan I imparted
the situation to him. "Very well," he said
with a decisive calmness, "We shall wait together."
And so Callan and I began our watch. The sun had just reached
the zenith of its arc and my eyes were
becoming heavy when four hazy shapes appeared on the horizon.
Their forms were distorted by the heat
waves rising off the sand. A girl with midnight hair, a fair
haired man holding a gun, a figure robed and
hooded in white of undeterminable sex, and a Musk Cat approached us.
"Look at the antlions Odin...we'll
never make it through," said the girl with the midnight hair.
"We can try, Alis," Odin said patting his gun.
Raising my head up I addressed the one called Alis. "We mean
to offer you peaceful passage through this
land, travelers." They all looked taken aback and Alis began
to draw her sword. "We mean you no
harm!" I repeated in a louder voice. It was then I realized
that they did not know our language: to them it
was merely a series of clicks and foreign squeals. I understood
the human speech, but I had no gift to
speak it. Suddenly, Callan raised himself up on his backmost
set of legs, his antennae flaying emphatically.
"Please understand us! We come to you peacefully!" Things
seemed to slow down then...or perhaps
speed up. I remember Odin yelling, "It's attacking!" and a blinding
shot from his gun...and Callan's
smoking corpse. "It doesn't hurt at all, Sinjun," he reassured
me. That was because the laser pulse had
cauterized the wound it made clean through his exoskeleton, making
a gaping hole through either side of his
body. Suddenly, Callan began twitching, his legs flaying helplessly
before they curled up beneath him like
fragile paper. Beside Callan's body, the Musk Cat engaged one
of my companions. "Protect the Queen!"
I cried, as our world came crashing down about us.
The sun beat down from a bloody Motavian sky. The red of
the setting sun may as well have been the
blood of my kin, spilled upon the clean white sand of the Motavian
desert. Those not destroyed in the
immediate battle were crushed when Alis and her friends returned in
their land rover. Our tunnels
collapsed beneath the weight of the treads, and our kingdom lay decimated.
The souls of two hundred
restless and emaciated antlions are bound here. And I am one
of them. I do not hate you, Alis Landale,
for hate is an emotion given to those with narrow understanding.
The truth, be it told, I pity you. Had you
but taken time to give us a chance to build a friendship you may have
discovered a race who could teach
you much, and who we could learn much from in return. Towns will
be built in your name, Alis Landale,
and you will be worshipped as the heroine of Algo, through deeds I
know not of. Years from now, when
your fame is cliche, a monument will be built here, saying "Here Alis
Landale, Odin, Noah, and Myau
vanquished the Antlion Hoard." The unkind feet of humans who
called us monsters will tread where we
laughed, loved, lived, and breathed our last.
And the world will champion those who destroyed an empire.