Fire Beetle (Steem Monsters Individual Card Story Fantasy Contest Entry)

A lonely dung beetle was rolling his stash of winter food in the forest of Wyoming. This particular nugget came from a black bear and was sure to be a fruity meal. The dung beetle was a tunneler. He was thinking of the hole he would have to dig to store his ball when it suddenly burst into flames. The flames flickered around the poor beetle and it thought it would die in the searing heat as it felt it penetrating its body. Suddenly the flames stopped, and the ball became three balls: a blueberry, a cluster of dead ants, and a sticky honey candy. The dung beetle tasted each treat and found them delicious. They were good enough. He dug a tunnel and stored his food.

Spring turned into summer and one night, as the beetle was navigating through a prairie using the stars as his guide (the dung beetle is the only animal besides humans that uses stars to navigate) he heard a boom and then a crash in the forest nearby. One tree had been struck by lightening and caught fire and then another and another. Fire Beetle felt a sudden anxiety and ran towards the forest because wetness now made him feel like he was going to die. In spite of the pouring rain that accompanied the thunder and lightning, the small fire grew through the night and finally became a roaring forest fire by morning. The beetle ran through the forest and hopped through the flames watching as all the other animals in the forest succumbed but he was unscathed. He saw bears and foxes and wildcats and owls all fall and turn to ashes but still he wandered along with the firewall attempted to stay on the life-side of the fire as it consumed everything in its path.

Suddenly he came to the edge of a canyon. The fire stopped and burnt up its fuel. The beetle was left on the edge of a blackened landscape. He saw life on the other side of the canyon but there was water in the bottom and he knew not how he would cross to the other side. By this time, he was tired and hungry. The fire had raged for two weeks and he hadn’t had a bite to eat. He knew he would die if he didn’t find food soon. He decided to make a run for it and fling himself across the canyon’s expanse. He backed 10 feet from the canyon’s side and started to run as fast as he could. Suddenly, the ground disappeared beneath him. Then he fell for what seemed like an eternity. He was nearing the rapids in the bottom of the canyon when he felt himself floating and heard a strange buzzing sound. He looked behind and saw that he had wings. He could fly! Immediately, he directed himself to the other side of the canyon where he knew there would be the makings of a good supper.

All through the fall, he wandered while collecting dung and transforming it into its pre-digested form using his recently developed powers. One day he found some scat, started rolling it, and it turned into rabbit flesh. As he was digging a tunnel to store his meat, he felt a tugging on his hind flank and heard a scratching in the dirt. As he felt mortal fear, the dirt between his front legs turned into a fireball that he picked up and hurled at the predator behind him. The fireball hit a fox between the eyes and singed its fur. The fox yelped and whimpered and scampered into the woods. Once he realized that he had the power to transform Earth into Fire, the beetle used it to roast his rabbit meat before he buried it in the new tunnel.

Fire Beetle could now defeat all the predators who liked to eat his kind by throwing fireballs. Crows, owls, foxes, and wildcats ran from his projectiles. Fire Beetle overcame physical obstacles with his newfound power to fly and can’t be burned up in a forest fire. Because of his power to transform dung and secretions, he would never have to eat excrement again. He noticed one thing though. Whenever it rained, he felt weak like he was going to die. Shelter was important in a rainstorm. Most of the time now, Fire Beetle felt invincible.