The Great Belligerency [Round 4: Static]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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As Cole drew nearer to the beacon, the environment became stranger and stranger. Grass grew into trees in the space of seconds, and the trees then started to walk around and loudly demanding an end to war. A pool of water emerged seemingly out of nowhere, and a moose jumped out, did an impressive backflip, and then dove back in. On its second jump, a shark swooped down and devoured it, then flew off.

None of this made Cole feel any more comfortable with the fact that the horse on his back had changed into a gigantic rhinoceros beetle about eight minutes ago. Now, thanks to Anansi's curse, it would be stuck to his back for a good while, and if anything it seemed to be heavier than it had been as a horse. In order to move at all, Cole had been forced to spend nearly seven minutes changing his entire body structure to mimic an ant's so he could carry more weight, and he was still struggling to advance.

At his best guess, it would still take him an hour to reach the beacon. How much of the Eternity Plateau's intelligence would be wasted on this pathetic war by the time he arrived? And how many more ridiculous sights would he be subjected to along the way?

As if in response to Cole's unspoken question, a molehill suddenly sprang up to his left and began spewing lava. A hummingbird croaked and hopped its way over, stuck its beak in the newly-formed lava pool, and began drinking.

Cole groaned, partly due to how stupid it all was, and partly due to the beetle on his back. He tried to push his body to move faster, not wanting to be around if the volcano decided to grow up suddenly. He only succeeded in making himself even more exhausted. Five minutes later, he collapsed from the exertion.

And he had barely moved at all. The village around the beacon seemed no closer, the miniature volcano seemed no further away, and the tortoise speeding past him was just adding insult to injury.

If the damned horse had just stayed a horse, at least it might have chosen to pull itself off of him on its own. But a paralyzed rhinoceros beetle was another matter. Now Cole was stuck, exhausted, and nearly helpless if the changing environment decided to send a mountain-sized anteater towards him. He felt as though he was sinking into the ground.

And then he realized that it wasn't simply a feeling. The ground below him had changed to quicksand.

He almost wished he had the energy to struggle, to speed up his demise. But no, he was powerless. He could do nothing more than sit and wait for the ground to consume him while a pointless battle raged on in the distance, or hope for some savior to come to his aid. Considering that the most likely candidate was that damnable Spirit, he was genuinely unsure which fate would be worse.

Then, before his eyes, an enormous beanstalk sprang up from the ground beneath the city, lifting it and the beacon high into the sky. His goal had grown even further away.

Was the beacon doing this? Was it sending obstacles his way, and then, just when he seemed broken, it twisted the knife in a little harder just to make sure? Was it actively tormenting him?

Was it toying with him, like some cruel god?

The thought filled Cole with rage and determination. He would brook no further humiliation from any god.

Despite the beetle on his back, despite the quicksand, despite the sheer distance, he would find some way to that beacon.

But how? He was barely mobile as it was, and the quicksand gave him little margin for error. He had tried to copy the gigantic beetle, in hopes that it would be more suited to carrying itself, but he found himself somehow unable. None of the Earthly insects he had acquired seemed to fit the task, and the two he had found in New Shambhala gave him no further ideas.

And then he realized there was one insect unaccounted for. One that he had found on neither Earth nor on New Shambhala, and aside from the enormous beetle.

If the changes he was witnessing were spreading through the Plateau, then the bee that had flown into him some time earlier might have been affected. Granted, Cole had no idea if any new abilities it had acquired would help him, but he could see no other options.

He focused on the bee. As he copied it, he could sense that there was, indeed, something unusual about it. Something unrecognizable, unlike any other insect Cole had encountered.

Unfortunately, in copying the bee, Cole found himself losing strength. He could no longer maintain full ant-powers. He had little option but to try the new power, and hope. Hope that somehow, it would bring him to the village.

And then he vanished.