Gregor awoke in the dark. He wasn't expecting that. Come to think of it, he really hadn't expected to wake up at all. The pain in his chest was excruciating, and he realized he was still curled up next to Ares' dead body, so it couldn't be that this was the afterlife.

A scurrying behind him snapped Gregor out of his confused stupor. He unstuck himself from the bloody ground to look around, but he couldn't find the source of the noise.

"I see you have awoken," a soft voice spoke from behind him. Gregor turned to find that himself face-to-face with a spinner. "I am she called Perflex," the spider said.

"Hey," Gregor croaked out. "What happened? How did I survive that?"

"I am surprised myself. I used my silk to sew you up. You slept for two weeks." Perflex responded. "If you wish to know, there is now peace between the species. Rumors spread that with your death no Overlanders survived this war. I am so sorry."

"What do you mean none survived?" Gregor asked

"I hear the great swatter succumbed to her fever, and the rest of your family did not survive either." Purvox said.

This loss was enough to make Gregor lose control for a moment, even though he didn't believe what he was hearing. Before he could stop himself he kicked Perflex across the cave, where she landed with a sickening thud and curled up into a ball. Realizing what he had done, Gregor set off towards the Plain of Tartarus to confirm what the spider had told him.

Fighting through his rampant hunger, stiff muscles, and the pain in his chest, Gregor worked his way back the way Ares had flown before the battle. Ares, whose claw he still clutched in his hand. The grief flooded his body, dropping him to his knees. Allowing himself to absorb what happened to his bond, Gregor wept until his eyes ran dry. "I have to get myself together and find my sisters," he thought to himself. Finally, after composing himself, he got back to his search.

After half an hour of scrambling over rocks down towards the river, Gregor finally arrived at the aftermath of the battle. The dead were strewn all about in various states of dismemberment. Rats, mice, spiders, crawlers, all were present. Humans and fliers, Gregor noted, were not. It was clear the Regalians had come back to collect their dead. Presumably to give them a proper funeral. "If they came back for all these other people, why didn't they come back for me?" Gregor wondered. From his position it seemed they either didn't care enough, or he had angered Luxa so much that she didn't want to honor him. Probably some combination of the two.

Working his way through the horror and stench left behind by the battle, Gregor climbed into the tunnel where he last saw his sisters alive. Clicking his tongue to get a clearer picture of his surroundings, the scene flashed through his brain. It took a minute for Gregor to recognize what he was seeing, but when he did, it was like every ounce of what made him himself died. In front of him were the dismembered, disfigured bodies of Boots and, to his utter surprise, his father. He couldn't see Lizzie, but from the level of chaos in the surrounding area, it was evident that she wouldn't have made it out alive either.

This was the last straw for Gregor. He had fought and killed for the underlanders. He had lost his bond. He had gone through such horrible things for them, and this was what it got him. His whole family dead, and Gregor himself left behind to rot in the deadlands. It was at that moment that Gregor decided he wanted nothing to do with the underlanders ever again. He would do everything in his power to see the sun again, and hopefully again go without it.

With that thought, Gregor walked into the unknown caves surrounding him. He would live the rest of his life for himself, and by himself.

These first two chapters set the scene for events to come. They start right before Gregor's battle with the Bane, and set out some important changes from the original books. I just got my wisdom teeth out and have some time off work, so I finally got time to get these written. This is the story I posted about post/145821570206/tuc-au-story-outline