"Spaghetti... Sounds very good.. I can understand why a certain Italian plumber is so obsessed with this miraculous substance.." Anthony spoke as he slept. Drool was seeping out of his mouth as he thought of this.
Anthony was a full time worker at a restaurant barely scraping by. The only saving grace was the fact that he had inherited a large house and had no payments on it to make. It was paid in full. This allowed him to set his sights on his dreams!
Unfortunately, some rude burglar had to awake Anthony from his wonderful dream. Anthony failed to adapt his eyesight as he was jolted awake. Blur covered his field of view like a filter. The only thing he was able to notice was the gun barrel pointed directly at his face.
Anthony quickly wiped his eyes and saw a dark figure behind the gun. It was a man in a black outfit wearing a typical ski mask.
"On the ground! NOW!" The man in the dark ski mask forcefully barked. Anthony was in total shock. Not only at the situation but at the fact that the man was wearing muddy shoes directly on his carpet he had just cleaned last night. Oh, and the fact that it was currently broad daylight!
"I'm going, I'm going.." Anthony sighed and followed directions. 'That little shit.. I'm going to have to clean the carpet again!'
'Why is he bothering me? He could have just stolen everything in my house and left me alone to sleep. Now I have to deal with this stress and trauma..' Anthony thought as he rolled his eyes and began to lose focus of the current situation.
Shortly after Anthony refocused and thought that maybe he should be more concerned with his surroundings.. only he was no longer in his home?
"What.. What's going on?" Anthony said as he looked around. There was a large rocky wall to each to his left and right, and below he was in a dirt covered terrain. There seemed to be nothing around him but this.
'Did I get the legendary Cosby treatment or the Mr. Rag treatment?' Anthony thought as his heart began to beat faster and his blood began to pump.
"Okay.. Okay.. Anthony don't freak out.. Maybe he just wants a ransom? From who, I don't know. My parents are dead and I'm broke myself! Aghh!! Why does life always have to screw me over like this!!" Anthony began to frantically pace around in the area when he suddenly felt like an earthquake was occurring. He panicked and covered his head with his hands.
But.. when he covered his head he noticed that instead of 2 hands, there were 4 hands on his head..
Before Anthony could even question why he had 2 hands, the soil around him began to unravel as two large black heads jumped directly out of the ground!
"No way.. What's going on? Am I about to die?!" Anthony felt like he was hyperventilating. In front of him were two monstrously sized ants! These ants were impossibly large, monsters even!
"Shit.. I'm dead. Not even Mario could kill something like this!" Anthony held his head down deeper and hid his face in the ground.
The ants quickly approached Anthony and he counted the steps of the ants as he heard them inch closer. "1.. 2... 10.." Gradually, they were getting closer and closer.. He was now certain that these ants had one mission; to snuff out his light.
"Please god! I'm sorry!" Anthony cried as the ants stopped in their tracks.
"My lord! The dastardly purple abominations are closing in on our nest! What shall we do?" An old voice spoke aloud.
Anthony was shocked. Who was talking? Anthony slowly inched his head out of the soil, just enough to peek upwards.
Every ant present was now bowing down and awaiting his orders.
'It seems.. They think I'm their king?!' Anthony calmed his heart as he got up and thought to himself.
'Now that I realize.. it seems some way or another I'm an ant. Huh, ok. Weirder things have happened in life like.. Never mind. Nothing weirder has happened. I'll worry about this later, maybe that robber killed me and I reincarnated or something. I don't know. For now I should answer this guy.'
"Take me to the Purple Abominations, I need to speak to these cretin. I will have to see with my own eyes who dares to close in on MY nest." Anthony spoke with confidence as he answered the ant bowing down to him.
Gasps erupted in the room as every ant was terrified.
"My lord.. Previously the Purple Abominations had somehow managed to slay 600 of our army without losing a single member. I understand that your lordship would like to secure your generations and hold onto your riches, but I simply do not see how you will be able to accomplish anything!" The old ant spoke once more as he cleared the silence in the room.
".. Trust me." Anthony said with a serious expression. The other ants looked at Anthony with awe and exasperation. They swore that they could see the First Generation Ant Leader in him. Like he had been reincarnated and taken over their current king.
"I don't know why. But I feel like I should. My lord! I will believe and follow you!" The ant replied as he prayed fervently at Anthony's direction.
Anthony coughed. "Good, now show me the way!"
"Yes my lord, but before I go I have a request." The old ant said.
"A request? Speak."
"I have a chance to die if I do lead you, therefore this attendant wishes that your lordship would consider giving this unworthy one a name to be remembered by?" The ant begged.
"A name? Sure that makes things simpler on me as well. Hmm... I will call you.." Anthony was lost. He had never been good at naming anything in his life.
'Anty? Tony? Anthony- wait.. no that's my name.. I know.."
"Your name is Abel. Now, prove to me that you are Able to keep the name Abel." Anthony said as tears erupted from Abel's eyes. Only the most honorable ants in the kingdom would someday get a name if they were lucky enough.
"Yes my lord! I will show you the way now!" Abel said as he quickly scurried off on his feet.
Anthony had troubles keeping up with this elderly ant but the duo soon made their way to where the Purple Abominations were located.