“Under attack? Are they after me you mean?” Gaia asked nervously.

 

“That is possible, although it is probably more likely that they followed some of the workers who were hunting in their territories. Those spiders clearly look down on us, seeing us as nothing more than a mild hinderance if they come at us in such a small group. Well, I won’t stand and take that.”

 

Gaia heard the anger in the Scarlet’s voice as she spoke. It was pretty obvious to her that ants and spiders didn’t get along very well, that much she could tell.

 

“Mother, I must ask you something,” Scarlet said suddenly. “I know this is rude of me to ask, but I don’t see any other way. Those spiders aren’t the types for friendly conversations or negotiations. They will try to eradicate us as soon as they lay their revolting eyes upon us. So please, allow us to fight here. I’m asking this not just for our sake, but for yours as well.”

 

Scarlet sounded serious, but Gaia hestitated nontheless. Although it was embarrassing to admit, she was still afraid of the violence. The aphid’s gruesome death was still burned in her memory, and she still hadn’t overcome that trauma, even after all this time. But this was no time to think about that. Scarlet’s colony was in danger, and she wouldn’t let the ants suffer just because of her fear of violence.

 

“I’ll trust you on this one, Scarlet. But please, if the spiders show any sign of running away, spare them. I know it’s stupid of me to ask, but-”

 

Gaia couldn’t finish her sentence when she saw the grass on her right move. Turning around slowly, she watched frightened as seven ugly spiders cautiously stepped into her little area. Each of them was twice as large as an ant, and over ten times more frightening. Gaia generally didn’t like spiders, so you can imagine the fear she must have felt back then.

 

The seven spiders were now standing still at the border of her little area, looming over the ants with their massive frames. The ants weren’t nervous anymore, but seemed more determined that ever to rid the world of these creatures. Gaia didn’t look at the brave ants though, her gaze was still fixed on the spiders.

 

One of the spiders took a step forward, slowly. At that moment, the fight broke loose. Both sides started running towards eachother and clashed half a second later. Gaia’s little patch of soil was far too small for such a large amount of insects, so some of them disappeared into the tall grass, rolling over and trying to bite eachother.

 

Wherever Gaia looked, she saw insects ripping eachother to pieces. The spiders were far stronger than the ants in terms of size and physical strength, but the ants outmatched the spiders almost three to one, overwhelming the enemy with sheer numbers.

 

On top of that, the ants were much more agile than the large spiders. The spiders’ fangs were quick, quicker than Gaia’s eyes could follow, but they didn’t quite manage to finish off the ants. The ants always managed slip away at the last moment with only minor wounds, or even none in some cases.

 

The spiders on the other hand, didn’t have that kind of advantage. Because of their large sizes, they had much less space to move than the smaller ants. Their exoskeletons were soon covered in bites and scratches made by the ants’ strong mandibles. Not to mention their large individual eyes, which were the perfect targets for the ants to attack in the chaos. It didn’t take long before all spiders were completely blinded by the ants.

 

Gaia watched in horror as each spider hissed in pain and anger while the ants mercilessly continued attacking them. She saw one of the spiders fall over, its legs completely ripped off, before being completely covered by the ants. A bit further away, another spider was being subdued by an ant eating its way through the spider’s eye.

 

It took just one minute for the ants to finish the battle. All of the spiders were dead now, apart from one. The ants were closing in on it, and Gaia saw the spider shaking in fear and pain. Green blood seeped from the destroyed eye, and one of its legs had been ripped clean off. One of the ants was about to leap on top of the spider to finish it off, when Gaia suddenly screamed.

 

All insects, including the spider, turned towards her in suprise. Gaia didn’t stop though, she just kept screaming. She screamed because of the carnage, the bloodshed, and just because she wanted the fighting to stop.

 

She might not have screamed if she knew that it were just regular insects that were being killed here, but these weren’t regular insects. These were sentient beings, and although they weren’t as smart as humans, Gaia just couldn’t watch them ripping eachother to pieces like that.

 

Gaia finally stopped screaming after a few seconds. The ants looked a little uncomfortable and some shifted their legs a little, but the remaining spider saw its opportunity to escape. It dashed into the tall grass as fast as it could, leaving Gaia and the surprised ants behind. A few ants started running as well, but stopped in their tracks when Gaia screamed again.

 

“Stop, don’t go after it! Haven’t you done enough?! You almost k-killed it!” She yelled.

 

The ants were clearly dumbstruck now, and some even looked straight up indignant. Of course this was only natural ant behaviour, to eradicate everything that posed a threat to their colony, but Gaia had enough of the blind violence.

 

“Just… go away. I don’t want to see you at the moment. I need time for myself.”

 

The ants had no choice but to follow her order and started moving towards the anthill again, some of them limping from the fight. Gaia felt sorry for them, but sent them away nontheless. She needed some time alone to think things through.

 

“Mother, what happened? I heard you screaming, is everything-” Scarlet voice resounded through her head, but Gaia interrupted her.

 

“Not now. I need to think for a while.”

 

“One of the ants said you let one of the spiders go, may I ask why? It’s possible it might return-”

 

“I said not now,” Gaia said harshly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to sound like that. Just… leave me alone for now, okay? Please?”

 

“Very well,” Scarlet said.

 

Gaia could hear she was a little offended, and she felt bad for falling out against her like that. She would make up with her later, but not now. Now, she needed to forget. Forget the battle, forget the bloodshed and forget the fact that she was a plant in a strange world.

 

She closed her eyes, and in her head, she was laying on her couch in her home again. She grabbed one of her pillows and hugged it, like she had always done whenever she was sad, and she cried. She couldn’t cry as a tree, but in her head, she cried all night long.

 

 

---

 

 

Gaia’s eyes shot open when she heard the grass rustling softly. She looked around and found herself in her usual spot, surrounded by grass and dirt. It was dark already, and it was a quiet night. Only the wind blowing through the grass could be heard, not a single creature made a sound.

 

Gaia noticed that the dead spiders were gone. The ants probably took them inside their nest already, not wanting to waste their precious food. Gaia smiled bitterly. She hated this world, with its evolutions and magic energy and other things that were unheard of in her old world. She hated the world, but she loved the ants nontheless. They weren’t at fault of course, it was her. She was the one that was being stupid here.

 

Gaia wasn’t sad about the battle anymore. Things like that were only natural, it happened on Earth all the time too. The battle had just been the final straw for her. She had never really grieved for her old world, her parents and her friends, nor had she any idea how she had ended up as a plant here. She needed human contact, and information about why this was all happening. All those insecurities had piled up, until she had finally broken.

 

But now, things were a little better. At least she had the ants, which had been a great help to her. She had found a goal now too: finding intelligent civilizations. If she wanted to know what the hell was going on, that would be the best way to find out. Gaia didn’t know if humans existed on this planet as well, but she would search for them as best as she could.

 

She was about to speak to Scarlet again and apologise for earlier, when she heard the grass rustle again, louder this time. Nervously, she looked at the spot where the grass had moved and tried to make out the creature creating the sound.

 

She froze when a spider walked up her patch of soil, slowly putting one hairy leg before the other. It’s single red eye glowed in the dark, and Gaia couldn’t help but shiver at the sight. The spider froze when it saw her as well, which surprised Gaia a little. Maybe they weren’t here to for her after all?

 

Suddenly, the spider started rapidly clapping its large fangs together, which created a high-pitched clicking noise. Almost immediately, more of the clicking resounded in the grass, and Gaia heard more rustling coming in her direction.

 

Alarmed, Gaia looked around. More spiders popped up between the grass, all clicking their large fangs in harmony. They started surrounding her, but they kept their distance from her as well. At that moment, Gaia heard something coming behind her. It wasn’t the sound of grass rustling, more like grass being stepped on and trampled.

 

Slowly, she turned around. She looked into the single red eye, burning with hatred and anger while looming over Gaia. A deep clicking resounded over the dark hill, and Gaia was reminded again how much she hated spiders.