Morning sunlight slowly crept into Leon Ford's small room as the hands of the quartz clock ticked to 7 a.m. Leon stretched his stiff back and finally realized his legs had gone numb. He had sat far too long—almost half an hour—watching the extraordinary transformation of the ants living inside his teacup and on his desk.
This wasn't just idle curiosity.
It was the birth of something new—something nearly impossible.
For the last thirty minutes, Leon had watched the ant named Fate communicate desperately with the twelve ants outside the teacup.
Through the Dream Device connected to Fate's antennae, Leon had received a steady stream of the ant's thoughts and emotions. The translator allowed him to understand pheromone messages as if they were spoken words.
Slowly, he pieced together what was happening.
After naming all twelve ants earlier, Fate instructed them to return to their nest, report everything to the queen ant, and bring the queen here. This was no small request; in an ant colony, the queen rarely left the nest unless forced by extreme danger.
Yet Fate wanted her to see everything personally.
When the message was received, two ants—Life Two and Life Nine—obeyed instantly and marched off the table, heading toward the nest. They moved with the mechanical precision of soldiers carrying out a mission.
But the others reacted differently.
Life One stayed in front of the teacup, bowing its head as if worshiping it. It was convinced the teacup—named Destiny—was sacred.
Life Ten kept circling the rim, trying repeatedly to climb inside, eager to witness Fate's miracle firsthand.
Life Eleven wandered across the table searching for crumbs, more concerned with food than philosophy.
Life Twelve curled into itself and trembled, still terrified of the strange information Fate had shared.
Leon opened his worn notebook and carefully recorded everything—their names, reactions, personalities, and behaviors. He categorized each ant like a scientist documenting a new species.
He named their colony the Destiny Ant Nest.
He named Fate the Ant Sage.
And he called the group of twelve the Twelve Ants—the first generation of individuals in their kind.
After writing everything down, Leon gently removed the Dream Device patch from Fate's antennae, placing the machine back into its storage case. Fate needed rest.
Leon then dropped a few tiny crumbs into the teacup for Fate to eat and placed a lid loosely over the top. Fate was too important to risk starvation.
This little ant was carrying the future of an entire new civilization.
He then glanced out the window. The courtyard outside was already buzzing with morning activity. Most residents were workers at the Red Star Rolling Mill. Although their clothes were worn, their spirits were bright. They walked confidently, with a sense of dignity unique to this era.
Women washed clothes under the taps while children laughed nearby. The entire courtyard seemed filled with life and optimism.
Leon took a long breath, allowing the positive energy to wash away the heaviness that had been lingering inside him. There was something contagious about the spirit of this era—a raw, honest pride.
He muttered to himself:
"If everything goes well with Aunt Wang, there are only three days left before the blind date with Evelyn Winter… I still need to prepare gifts."
Blind dates in this time period were very formal. A man was expected to bring six types of gifts—usually fruits, biscuits, or simple snacks—but he still needed to buy them. So Leon grabbed some breakfast and walked out of his room, preparing to ride his old 28-bar bicycle to the Red Star Department Store downtown.
But he didn't know that the moment he left, something monumental was happening back inside his room.
---
The Queen Arrives – And Everything Changes
Barely a minute after Leon closed his door, nine ants returned to the Destiny Ant Nest. They marched with purpose and carried something incredible with them.
A creature nearly four times larger than any ordinary ant.
The queen.
She was the mother of the colony—the one who created and guided every ant under her rule. She had just awakened from her winter hibernation and hadn't even begun laying eggs for the season.
But the soldiers had dragged her out of the nest before she could begin her duties. The queen now stood before the teacup named Destiny.
She released a loud stream of pheromones:
an angry roar of authority.
Her powerful scent filled the air, carrying a command that made all twelve ants instantly crawl down in submission. Even Life Twelve, who had been shaking in fear minutes ago, no longer dared to tremble.
The queen demanded an explanation.
But before any of the twelve could speak, Fate inside the teacup awakened. The Ant Sage immediately released a chain of complex pheromones that flowed toward the queen.
It explained everything—its awakening, the knowledge from the sky, the creation of names, the birth of identity, and the miracles it had seen.
The queen froze.
Then she trembled.
Her massive body began stepping backward in fear, her pheromones thick with panic. Something like this had never happened in the history of ants. To her, Fate's knowledge felt like an earthquake shaking her world.
That was when Fate used its last strength to do something extraordinary.
It named the queen.
"Queen, the message I received came from the heavens.
I name you… Heavenly Fate."
Fate's pheromones were elegant, layered, and full of meaning. The queen absorbed them rapidly. Her brain, simple and instinct-driven, suddenly began to change.
Fate wasn't done.
It sent an enormous wave of pheromones—everything it had learned, everything it had named, every idea and fear and truth.
"Heavenly Fate, record everything inside your body.
Pass it to the next generation.
Let the children of Destiny remember all that happened in this cup."
The pheromones were so large and complex that Fate nearly fainted from releasing them. Its signals became weaker, fading.
It whispered one last dream:
"I want to name everything we touch.
I want to understand the sky…"
The queen absorbed everything.
Then her own mind transformed.
Her instincts shifted into thought. Her awareness grew. Her simple brain developed structure and memory. She combined Fate's teachings with her own pheromones and created a new scent—one that represented her own name.
The first ruler of the Destiny Ant Nest was born.
The first monarch of ant civilization.
The First Generation Emperor of Destiny.
---
The First Order of the Emperor
Her very first command was unlike anything a queen ant had ever issued.
"I need food.
I will build a tribe."
Under her command, the twelve named ants raced across the table with astonishing efficiency. Even though there were only twelve of them, their speed rivaled a full colony.
Within minutes, the incubation chamber in the nest was filled with food.
Now fed, the Emperor began to eat rapidly. Then she started laying eggs—dozens of them. As she laid each one, she injected the group pheromones she inherited and the massive knowledge Fate had given her.
These eggs would hatch into a new generation of intelligent ants—ants who would remember life, destiny, naming, hierarchy, and thought.
A new civilization was being born under Leon Ford's table.
Fate had given his last strength to rewrite the destiny of his species.
And the Emperor of Destiny would carry that legacy forward.