Kakerlake was a decently sized Island. It was separated into to parts, a larger oval shaped, and a larger mountain on the second island. The coasts of the island was lined with smaller islets that were only a few hundred meters in length, three on each side with two near the mountain.
There were tons of ports around the island as many had began to be appropriated as a haven for pirates. But before then it was known for one thing…
"Ohoho! Look at that!" Azar said squatting down as he picked up a large cockroach on the ground. The sound of squeals filling the air.
Kakerlake, The Island of Bugs
The Entire island was surrounded by bugs. Roaches the size of dogs, millipedes that roamed caves that stretched to the size of anacondas, down the road were large rhinoceros beetles used like pack mules, boxes and cargo. Those beetles alone when normal size could lift over 850x their body weight. And now at the size of a horse and weighing 350 lbs, that strength was proportional allowing them to lift over 200,000 lbs.
Azar lit the cockroach on fire between his fingers, and tossed it aside as it burnt to a crisp.
He walked past vendors that sold Mealworms that had nearly 99% Protein per pound. With a sniff of the air, Azar smelled the strangely savory scent of the cooked insects. Poking a finger into the bowl will the cook wasn't looking and popping one into his mouth.
It was slimy, with a slick texture across the tongue, and had a crunch like eating a vegetable. But then there was a taste of smoke and meaty taste to it like eating teriyaki with a nutty flavor. Azar grimace turned into a pleasant surprise.
"Not bad…" 'They basically look like nuts…' he said at the bowl of fried bugs. He took another and popped it in his mouth and continued to crunch away as he strolled down the street.
The bugs were extremely ingrained in the Culture. From puns on signs like 'Hon-Bee-Livable Honey' where jars of honey sat out in many different portions. Large bumble bee sat on the counter almost like a cat. It was a little freaky looking. Having eyelids and everything. But the thorax and abdomen were very fluffy looking almost exactly like a shaggy haired cat.
"God this place is weird…" He put his hands into his pockets only to then see a large spider off to the thicket, and a few people chasing it off like a stray animal…It was then that he was glad he didn't wear any loose clothing and was again shirtless. He did NOT want any of these stuck in his clothes.
He then rolled his eyes at that thought. 'Yeah, like some bugs are gonna do anything to a guy made of fire. And a guy like me specifically…' he said as an internal boast of his strength
Butcher had said that he was set up deep into this island. But he hadn't thought that there'd be two islands and technically 10 totally land masses to search through. With a roll of his eyes he began walking away from the town and into the the tree line.
He did the same to anything in his way that he did on Slough. Cutting through bramble with ease and controlling the burns with extreme finesse.
The biome was far different than the previous as well. There were flat sections, wooded sections, rock faces and more all combined together. It was like a Terrarium without a glass. Actually, a island terrarium was a perfect way to describe it. It was a macrocosm of organisms. All of the bugs looked in strange ways, and were wholly unique to this island alone.
From giant ants, to tiny bugs that would usually be massive. Hive bugs now on their own, and lone bugs now in hives. The most gross thing about it was the flies and giant mosquitoes that were constantly trying to bite at him, but failing to do so. Though, unfortunately, he was being bitten by lesser smaller ones. The pain not being registered due to their size and non threat caused his skin to itch
It was another 3 hours of searching before he finally came out to another one of the coast, landing on the ground after flying around at ground level to search the island
But now, he was face to face with the mountain island and was met with a strange sight. "Well. I guess that's where he is!"
In front of his eyes on the coast of the rocky face was a large glass structure almost like a bottle sitting on in land, within were tall trees and green lining the bottom as in the middle was a structure that was like a fortress or a castle. And even from here he could see the dozens of insects in and around the structure doing all sorts of labor. From leaf cutter ants being tree cutter ands and dragging them into the the structure at a multitude of entrances in the shape of circles that were opened by the insects.
There was also a multitude of people in ships around the glass structure that seemed similar to the frigates that Butcher had. Confirming that this was exactly what he was looking for…