FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The insect kingdoms thrive in a land far from the Wildlands and far from the civilized port of Anteronia. They exist in a place with diversity unseen in other communities. It is a dangerous place, filled with creatures and monsters alike.

In the rotting boughs of the fallen Great Old Tree, a young Cynwrig lives his life, supping thankfully on fruits, leaves, and juices of the plants that grow up from inside its rotten trunk. After a nice meal, he sighs and sits back, basking in the sun and letting his shell shine with iridescence.

But his antennae twitch when he hears something, and he stands to his feet, trembling. What can it be that he hears? What are those flecks of shadow that drone about the sun?

Diving out of the air are fuzzy forms of black and yellow, landing all about the little food hollow and looking down with faces stern and purposeful.

"W... who are you?" Cynwrig gulps the little beetle as more female warriors land around that place of plenty.

The ground underneath him shifts and shakes, and up from it emerges a giant bruiser of a beetle, grumbling and ripping a hunk of rotten pulp from the wall. He shoves it into his mouth, chewing and staring at the newcomers. "Whatcha want?" he grumbles, pointing two hands at them. With his other hands, he points to his chest. "This is beetle territory. Stay out."

"Oh bee, oh by," comes the humming voice from among them, the originator walking up towards the edge of the opening. She's taller than all the others with legs for days and an abdomen trailing down like a dress. Resting upon her head is a waxy crown, tilted slightly. "Our scouts didn't tell us about this tree's brutish inhabitants. Surely, an elder beetle such as yourself can realize the good my new colony can provide to this rotten old hunk of wood and let us set up peacefully."

"Yeah, no way I'm lettin' you and yer squad get my prime cut of tree, toots." He spreads his shell, his elytra glimmering and buzzing toward the tall bee.

Her antennae twitch, and the soldiers are upon him in a coordinated strike of stings and jabs.

Cynwrig scampers under a leaf, covering himself. The big bully of a beetle is beaten by the bees. Cynwrig doesn't even peek out from under his hiding place until the struggle quiets. He perks a compound eye out from the hiding spot, seeing a black, high-heeled foot standing before him. He squeaks when he sees that tall bee with hands on her hips and arms over her chest. A smile spreads across her face.

"Oh bee, oh by, it seems we have a beetle boy beneath my new colony."

"I-I'm not a boy!" Cynwrig chirps. "I'm a muh-man!"

The taller bee presses her toe beside him, pauses a moment, and then kicks the leaf off him. Her form towers over him, the shadow of her height encompassing him. "Oh, but of course, I can see you're no longer a larva, but truly, in your spirit, you are a boy."

All around her, hundreds of bees slather a substance over the walls of the tree, hanging onto one another as they paste hexagonal cells around the once-full feeding grounds. Other beetles scurry away, hastened on by the soldiers' spears off to half of the territory.

The tallest bee rests her hand under her chin, staring down at Cynwrig. "So, why don't you run, little beetle boy? Do you think yourself some sort of hero?"

"H... hero?"

She moves her foot down again, her toe tilting upwards and pressing against his chin, keeping him looking up at her.

"A hero like that big lousy beetle boy who thought he could kick us out of what is best for our colony. At least he has the exoskeleton to take us on straight instead of running and hiding.

She moves her foot away to tap her toe on his forehead. "Of course, we're not here to cause trouble, and we're to make this place much more beautiful and prosperous. Soon, this rotten old trunk will be filled with the most fragrant flowers, and you and your kind will have all the fruits, dew, and rotten tree bark you can eat."

Cynwrig shudders underneath her toe, his arms quivering. "Y... you're just bullies."

"Oh?"

"Y... you never asked for our home. You just took it and said you'd do better with it than we ever could. I... I don't care if there are flowers, and I like my tree."

"Oh bee, oh by..." she coos, brushing fingers over her lips. "What a brave little beetle you are." "Well, my dear little boy," she coos, stepping away from him, still towering over him. "If you want your tree so badly, you'll have to kick us out. Can you do such a thing with such a tiny little body?"

Cynwrig clenches his fists, growling, his antennae standing on end. He leaps up and punches the tall bee, only for another bee to swoop in and grab him by the waist and a third to fly up behind him, pulling his arms behind his back.

The weight of the combined warriors pulls him down to the ground, pinning him to his knees.

"Sorry, little beetle boy," the tallest bee says, leaning in and patting him on his head. "There's nothing you can do, but don't fret. We like you, so you can stay, as long as you don't cause any trouble. Will you cause us trouble, little boy?"

Cynwrig deflates, sighing and shaking his head.

"Well, then," she says. "It's good for a bug to know his place. Come on, girls, we have a colony to create, and we don't have all season!"