"Alright! I'll conclude the story at this point." A wizened old man calmly concluded his story in an abrupt fashion.
"Eh….?"
"What….?"
"You're kidding, right? Grandpa?" Sonia took the lead and protested. Just when the story was getting to the good part, it was abruptly stopped. This wasn't the first time such an incident occurred, there were a few precedents where grandpa Prakash had to stop his stories with his signature departing dialogue.
"Something came up; the elder's council has summoned me." The old man stroked his lengthy beard and vanished from the spot.
A few seconds passed in silence as the crowd finally broke out of their stupor and clamoured. Some of the younger kids began to shed tears as their story got interrupted while the older-but more experienced kids began to search for their 'Grandpa' even though they realized the futileness of such an endeavour.
Sonia almost teared up; she loved the stories her grandpa told more than anyone else and getting told only half the plot and leaving her hanging at the best part of the story brought a tear to her tender eyes. But, as someone privy to insider information at such a young age, Sonia knew that grandpa Prakash, as everyone called him would only be disrupted during the time of his stories if the safety of their village had been compromised.
"Everyone! Let's build some treasures. Grandpa personally told me the method to build an awesome treasure." Sonia wiped away her faint tears, turned around in a vibrant manner and immediately captured the attention of the crowd.
A couple of the older kids who were of the same age as Sonia made eye contact with each other and immediately began to help Sonia by diverting the attention of the crowd.
"T-That's one of Sonia's most priceless treasures!" A kid exclaimed in a loud voice.
"I could only see it once from afar but it was worth the effort." Another kid shouted in support.
"I saw it too."
"Me three,"
As the older kids kept shouting, the attention of all the younger kids finally became concentrated on Sonia. With bawling eyes and snot-filled noses, the crowd gazed at Sonia with anticipation, having already forgotten about the half-finished story.
"Ehehehe" Sonia gave out a sheepish laugh before she began to entertain the crowd with her antics.
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"What's the situation this time?" Prakash abruptly appeared near a man, giving the veteran warrior the fright of his life.
Even though he got frightened by Prakash's sudden appearance, as a General who lead hundred seasoned warriors into battle every day, he fixed his emotions in the fraction of a second and gave a respectful bow to Prakash.
"Elder, there has been a sudden increase in the insect army, especially the wasps." The General said.
"I can see that myself." Prakash gazed towards his right as he saw a horde of insects of all forms and sizes that numbered in the millions relentlessly charge at them. There was a distinct yellowish-red cloud in the air that gave off a sonorous sound and rapidly charged in their direction.
"Spider Battalion! Deploy the air traps." A commander shouted as he stood at the forefront of his 1000-man battalion like a sturdy mountain.
Immediately, numerous white silk-like threads cut through the air and fell upon the charging yellowish-red cloud. These silk-like threads stuck onto the wings and bodies of the wasps that composed the yellowish-red cloud and brought then tumbling down into the squirming black river that flowed below.
This squirming black river wasn't actually a water body of any sort. It was something formed by the densely packed insects that were trying to overwhelm them with sheer numbers.
"Frog Battalion! Attack the wasps and the insects that approach our defensive line." Another commander shouted as he transformed into a giant frog that was 15 centimetres in height.
When the cloud of wasps neared them; a thousand warriors transformed into frogs of all shapes, sizes, and colours. Tongues shot out like lightning from the mouths of the frogs, wrapped around a wasp each and reverted back into their respective mouths.
'Nom' 'Nom'
After chewing twice, the crushed bodies of the wasps were spat out from their frog mouths and the tongues once again shot out into the cloud.
The place that they were waging a war between man and insects was in an underground chamber.
Their current village was 10-15 metres deep underground with multiple pathways connecting to it that lead into the surface. They used these winding pathways to hunt other creatures and escape in times of danger. But recently, one of their pathways had been sniffed out by their enemies who immediately sent waves after waves of insects through it.
The pathway was only 10 centimetres high and 20 centimetres wide initially. But, once the insects started to attack them through the pathway, it gradually became enlarged to its current size.
Prakash gazed at the thousands of ants on the walls of the small passage-turned chamber that were removing dirt and carrying them to the surface. It was these little grubbers that had widened the once thin passage meant for human movement to the current battlefield-sized gigantic chamber that was 5 metres in width and 1 metre in height.
"Thankfully, this is just an outpost and not one of the entrances to an outer village." Prakash sighed in relief as he waved his arms at one of the stationed Commanders to relay some basic instructions and retreated towards the village.
Their army hierarchy was incredibly simple; a Commander lead a battalion comprised of 1000 warriors, a General lead a squad comprised of 100 warriors, and a Leader lead a team of 10 warriors.
Teams were generally sent to the surface as scouts while the squads were sent on various missions to destroy dangerous animals and birds. Battalions were used to defend their territory from enemy invasions or to destroy nearby insect nests. Anything that moved and wasn't human near their base were their targets to vanquish.
Currently, two battalions engaged the horde of insects along with numerous squads as one battalion was kept in reserve, just in case they started to get overwhelmed by the unrelenting swarm.
The entire village of humans consisted of a series of expansive domes that were situated at least 10-15 metres below the ground and extended till a depth of 30 metres.
There were three different dwellings in the village of humans that were categorized based on the size, usage, and proximity to danger. These dwellings arranged in the ascending order of their proximity to danger were labelled Central Village, Outer Village, and Outposts respectively.
Central village was a giant dome that was situated at the very centre of the village of humans and spanned 100 metres in radius. This dome housed most of their inhabitants and primarily composed of children and the adults who were necessary to take care of them.
Numerous passages came out from the dome called the 'Central Village' which connected to various other smaller domes that were scattered radially and were situated at least 200 metres away from the Central Village. These smaller domes were the Outer Villages that spanned between 10-30 metres in radius and was full of resources and the manpower required to maintain them.
Some outer villages were used to grow malnourished insects that would be used to train the young in the fields of martial arts and also to gain some emergency 'Karma' in times of war. Research institutions, armoury, training areas, insect rearing nests, and residence were what mostly occupied each outer village.
Numerous pathways further extended out from each Outer Villages and connected to various Outposts. These Outposts lay nearer to the surface and sometimes were even situated on the surface; like in the trunks of giant trees.
Each Outpost differed in size but they were all heavily garrisoned with troops. One Battalion was always stationed there to keep an eye out and to suppress the growth of other creatures. Outposts were also fortified and strictly camouflaged to prevent them from getting detected by their enemies.
Everything that moved and was not a human were considered to be their enemies.
'Either kill on sight or flee on sight to lead the enemies astray' was the only slogan taught to the warriors stationed in the various outposts.
Even with such careful measures, one of their outposts still got snuffed out by their enemies. The Commander stationed in that Outpost immediately called for reinforcements to combat the unrelenting horde of insects. It eventually got blown up to the current full-scale war.
There were a total of 3 million humans living in their village, the human village of Chennai.
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There were two small domes situated vertically above one another and were located above the dome of the Central Village. Each small dome was about 2 metres in radius and held significant status in the eyes of the humans. One was a location forbidden for everyone to enter except for the Elders, hence it was nicknamed, the 'Elder's Dome'. The other dome was less restrictive than the Elder's dome but entry and exit into it were strictly managed by the Elders. This dome was called the 'Inheritance Dome'.
There was another dome that was situated vertically below the Central Village which was a massive reservoir of water. An underground river channel flowed through it and continuously replenished its reserves. This was named the 'Dome of Life' by the Elders and the water requirements of the entire human village of Chennai got supplied from here. The outposts relied heavily on the freshwater supplied from this reservoir to heal their injuries sustained from battle, hence its monicker.
Currently, Prakash stepped into the Elder's Dome and gazed at the solemn faces of the many elders that were seated in a semi-circle. They looked young and immature when compared to the wizened looks of Prakash as their eyes lit up in hope the moment they gazed at him.