The Tales of the Snails

The beginning

Snails had looked up and seen creatures of all kinds above them. Through all ages the snails had just idly watched as the bigger ones walked past them. Never giving the snails a second glance. For they thought themselves better, stronger, faster and smarter. No one thought the smallest, slowest and most harmless would be a significant threat.

But you see the snails had been around for a long time, seen oh so many things. For they existed alongside the dinosaurs and watched them as they walked around with their big bodies, dreaming about one day being the same. For dinosaurs they were never shunned, never cast away and considered worthless. They were the strong and they had the means to fend for themselves, protect their surroundings and help their own kind. Snails on the other hand watched their fellow kind being eaten every day by nearly every predator. Their only defense being to hide from everything, retreating back into their shells and just waiting for their fate to be settled for them. This was no way of life, not being able to protect or defend. So they evolved.

When the meteor hit that took out the dinosaurs the snails were safely tucked away deep beneath the earth. They'd been able to run because one of them had spotted the light shifting in the sky. You see this was back when snails only saw darkness and light, nothing else. They were weak creatures, frail and delicate. But due to their sense of belonging and connection to one another they all felt the shift, knowing that they had to seek shelter and fast. And with the help of thousands of ants they managed. The ants lifting up and carrying the snails to safety as a thank you for their warning. Ants and snails had always been close after this, for they both shared the feeling of working as a whole rather than an individual. So a mutual respect and understanding was formed after this, an alliance that never broke. For they truly understood each other, they knew and respected each other's values in a way no one previously had.

The speed of the snails had been the cause for their troubles since the dawn of their race. Due to their inability to escape they were killed. Even if they were to get away they couldn't retaliate, all they could do was hide in their shell and hope for the best. Though their shells in which they hid where not strong enough to withstand the force of their pursuers claws and teeth. So they were ripped to pieces. They watched their shells cracking and being ripped from their bodies, split open and then being dragged out from it. They all watched it happen countless times. Yet the race still stayed alive and kept up the fight. For it wasn't the pain of losing themselves they felt, It was the pain of losing others. Therefore they needed to develop a way to protect each other.

As times passed the snails started to slowly become bigger, they started to consume more food so they grew stronger. With their now enhances bodies they became more resilient. Their shells grew harder and became increasingly more difficult to crack. Their eyes evolved to that they now could make out more than just the light in a world of darkness, for now their world had opened up to more than just the darkness.

When humans entered the picture and started to rapidly grow more intelligent things grew more difficult for the snails again. The humans were reckless, not caring about what damage they caused in order to get what they wanted. They would smash everything in their wake just to have it their way. So the snails stayed away trying their best to keep each other out of harm's way. But the humans sought them out, digging them from their holes and picking them off the trees. This continued for hundreds of years. But the snails kept on evolving, they became fast and even bigger still. Now the smallest measured around roughly the size of a human fist.

Humans had always been destructive creatures, killing for pleasure rather than necessity was one of their specialties. When they considered something to be too much, they took it upon themselves to deplete the numbers. Because they wanted to control it all. To own what couldn't be theirs and to claim what was unclaimable. For something the humans failed to understand was that the ground they all stood on was all they had, the forests were holding up the weight of universe and the clouds were keeping them from burning. But the humans. They set it all on fire themselves. Never looking behind to see the damage they had dealt, the pain they had caused.

Snails had always learnt from the ones above them, always wanting to be better in order to protect. But their current role models didn't teach them how to protect, they taught them how to kill. So they grew into that role, killing everything in their path. Watching the humans had made them slowly become like them, filling with greed and want. The want to be the best.

A war came to be. Perhaps it cannot even be called a war, for it was more like slaughter. As they had evolved the snails had grown immensely in size and were now hundreds of times bigger than they originally were. So the humans didn't stand a chance and in the end they lost to their own creations. However unknowingly they had created them. The snails had devoured the humans with their saw-like tongues, ripping them up into tiny pieces before digesting them. Then they had wanted what they had, so they took over their cities. Formed kingdoms on their own and for a while they truly lived like humans. Conquering, killing and dominating. Both on land and in the sea.

These were times the humans had referred to as the middle ages, and truly it was an age in the middle. The transitioning times towards a more peaceful era. Though they weren't there yet, for they still acted like humans. Continuing with massacre and bloodshed.

An ant was what came to change it all. The queen herself was who came, she had requested an audience with the leader snail and was granted permission to speak. She came to remind them of the old values, not of the group's value to the individual but rather the individual's value to the group. How their sole purpose was to protect each other, and how she felt so deeply for her subjects. That she would die for any one of them, that her status didn't matter for their lives were made equal. This touched something in the heart of their ruler and since deep down the connection between the snails ran stronger than any greed, they were all able to feel it.

After years of killing they finally reached a place of peace. For when the snails stopped their violence they saw that others now feared them the same way they once had lived in fear. This was not the way of life they dreamt of. So they made it their mission to change it. They came together and decided to stop their mindless violence, for the point of it was non existent. When they put the group before themselves once again they found that now, they were equipped enough to protect their own. Now that they were the biggest threat to others. They swore never to harm another living organism and promised with the stars as witnesses to protect all. Not only their own, but all they could manage.

They were going to do what the humans never had accomplished. Uniting the species and bringing peace.