Chapter 2
He had two choices, the portal at central park or the long and dark fall from his apartments laundry room, neither of which seemed like a reasonable entrance, especially for an unannounced entrance. The adrenaline was still pumping through Gregors veins as he walked through the slushy streets, he needed a place to calm down, a place to get his wits together and develop a plan. Not home, dad should be home for lunch hour and Gregor was sure that he had already been contacted for his behavior at school today.
Gregor entered a nearby convenience store to use whatever little lunch money he had to purchase a single LED flashlight and lighter, since his plans of travel were somewhere dark. After checking out an idea stopped him in his tracks, "this has been prophesized" Gregor whispered under his breath. No travel to the underland ever goes un-prophesized either the underland needs him or he needs the underland, the two will meet in the very near future.
"And the warrior has been killed" verses of the previous prophecies echoed through his mind but quickly disrupted by the passing sirens of emergency vehicles. Gregor quickly flipped up the hood of his black sweatshirt and calmly began walking down the street even though every nerve in his body was tuned for a fight and defense. He heard the siren of a cop car come to stop and the vehicle park where he was previously standing at the entrance to the convenience store. Every instinct in his body told him not to look back, don't turn around, your just passing by, keep…on…walking… Yet Gregor took a quick look behind him only to make direct eye contact with the girl at the cafeteria, the one he had in his hands and should've knocked cold when he could have.
Gregor began to run.
Immediately following he heard sirens turn back on and the skid of tires on the slick November streets in pursuit so Gregor immediately took to a nearby alley. He thought of Lizzie and Marge, especially his mother Grace and how torn they'd all be when they learn he has left so unannounced. They'll understand, they knew this was coming anyways, too long has he woken up in cold sweats and been hiding his history from the world. At least now he was going a place where people knew who and why he was the way he was. The sirens became nearly nonexistent compared to the roar of cars on the street. He stopped his run as soon as he hit central park, taking a note of every person he passed and their interest in him, all of which were pretty non-interested to Gregor's advantage.
Then he saw the stone, the tablet that would let him escape reality to dreamworld; or dreamworld to reality he thought due to past experiences. His legs stiffened as he approached the rock which held back so many memories. In fact, he would probably cry if he had the tears to do so. The rock was frozen in place but no amount of ice was going to separate Gregor from the end of his nightmares, so thus used the butt of his flashlight to chip at the ice around to get in.
He landed in the dark tunnel in a battle ready stance, ready to confront any danger that opposed him but he was alone finally. He took off his backpack to look for his flashlight but when a puff of dust meandered into Gregors lungs it brought on a bout of coughing and his world was lit up in his head. Every cough painted a picture perfect portrait in his head of the tunnel: every brick that built the walls, every rock and pebble that made up the ground, and the long, long abyss the tunnel led to. Gregor began walking making a click every dozen seconds to make sure not to walk into the wall, he knew no flyer would know he would be here to pick him up, he even wondered if anyone would recognize him three and a half years later.
He noticed something ahead, a rock? No, something bigger, he put his back to the wall and approached the mass slowly now clicking his tongue several times a second in case of sudden movements. Too small to be a gnawer but could still be dangerous none the less. Then the smell hit him. Whatever it was, it was decomposing. At closer look, it had a segmented body, crawler? No, it was a cutter. But how?
Something wasn't right and it set Gregor on edge, he began running through the tunnels now with a sense of urgency but was caught off guard when his footing disappeared and he began falling. The tunnel couldn't go forever, and he knew the tunnel ended in the waterway so he braced himself for a hard and wet landing. Yet his fall was neither hard, nor was it wet, much like his first experience with boots, he was merely floating to the ground, as if he were sinking in water. Yet it was much shorter than his first experience and sooner rather than later his feet found a hard wooden floor illuminated by shiners.
Gregor took a look around and for the second time today, found a group of people staring at him dumbly, jaws nearly dropped at just what had happened before their eyes.
"What do you mean he just floated down from the sky?" A confused voice came from behind a door. With a ferocious swing open a mean appeared at the door, sword wielded and eyebrows creased in focus.
Gregor couldn't believe his eyes.
"Gregor?" Said Mareth just as confused, now sheathing his massive sword, "I thought I'd…." Mareth cut short out of shear disbelief
"Well…" Gregor started out in the awkward silence, "What are you doing on here on a boat like this?"
"My god she's right!" Mareth started now tromping heavily towards Gregor, taking him off his feet in a famous Mareth bear hug. "Come in, come in, we've got so much to catch up on! Men, set sail back to Regalia!" Mareth herded Gregor back to the captain's quarters as he felt the floor tilt and shift as the crew re-directed the ship back to Regalia.
Gregor took a seat at the captains desk, "So much wood!" He thought to himself. Then Gregor chirped in as Mareth excitedly pranced around the cabin, "Mareth, how did you come by all this wood in order to make a ship?" Gregor finally asked.
"Not very easily" Mareth replied, "The underlands supply of this stuff is very limited indeed" He said while tapping the smooth wooden walls, "Yet it is here nonetheless. But enough with the small talk. How? Why? You wouldn't believe your eyes once you get back to Regalia, it is simply spectacular!" Mareth chirped in a jubilant state, never once a smile leaving his lips. "But really, it is amazing you are here at the moment, Nerissa approached me at dinner a few days ago with her eyes misted over and said in an unreal voice 'the fishing is good this week'"Mareth imitated Nerissas voice in a raspy state, "Then she just sat back down, can you believe that! And now you're here! It nearly cost me an arm and a leg to even get this guy rented, Luxa was very insistent on my not going."
"Luxa?" Gregor croaked out. His queen, his love, all the old emotions hitting him again. "How is her queenship doing?" He stated now controlling his voice but with a twinge of weakness in his statement.
"Great last time I was at the city but who knows, a lot can happen in a week. You must be exhausted after all this travel and new news. Have some fish and sleep, I'm going to be working the outside shift now but just holler if you need anything." Mareth said as he handed a plate of raw fish to Gregor, the same stuff he ate how many years ago? His second expedition in the Underland seemed like an entire another life. The entire underland seemed like another life ago to but here he was.
Gregor layed down on the cabin bed, too excited to fall asleep yet a disturbing thought lullabied him into a trance. "What was a cutter doing out of the jungle," was his last thought of the day. Or of the night, he could never tell one from the other down here.
Gregor then awoke to an eerie feeling, then he realized he wasn't moving anymore, the ship had boarded land. But why hadn't he been awakened? Leaving the cabin Gregor found the entire ship desolate. In fact, the ship hadn't boarded land at all. Gregor vaulted over the side of the ship to land in a dusty shockwave that settled in a perfect perimeter around him, then walked a few steps to place his hand on the Arch of Tantalus. He looked at where he once remembered where the jungle used to be but instead his eyes only fell on the decaying rot of blackened vines and ill shrubbery. Gregor took a few steps into the jungle, his adidas sneakers trampling and destroying the shriveled vegetation that he remember to grow dozens of feet tall. A few steps more and his foot collided with the first object that hasn't broken under his light footfall, but saw nothing to prove this anomaly. Crouching down and brushing off some black and decaying leaves, his hand touched the smooth thing his foot collided with. Then it moved and Gregors eyes connected with the cutters, Its mandibles barely moving as if to speak its dying words. After staring at the fatal creature for several minutes, Gregor realized it wasn't moving anymore, and a light shake brought no more movement from this now clearly dead cutter. So wasting no more time he stood up and glanced back at the arch, the skulls and bones that were once slain by the creations of the jungle now stands towering above the defeated jungle. A single human skull stood noticeably prominent on the right post, about shoulder height to Gregor. It was a particularly bleached white skull. It jutted out further from any other bone on the post, and only had a handful of teeth in its black mouth. Yet every tooth pronounced the skulls harkening grin, the laughing skull enjoying every moment the jungle lies defeated with a sweet vengeance. Gregor felt his heartbeat spike and his feet take control of themselves. He didn't mind, he knew what his body was about to do and was perfectly fine with it. Approaching the arch now at a running pace, never once blinking as if the skull would move he cocks back his arm to strike the skull.
Gregor woke up finding himself lying on the floor of the again rocking ship, his hand pained, and found the arm he meant to punch the skull with elbow deep in the floorboards. He sat back up on the bed, and felt the melodious rock of the ship to verify that he was still on water sooth his beating heart. He wanted to draw but had neither paper nor pencil, so he sat with his face in his arms using his mind to regain control of his body.
There was a knock at the door and after a pregnant pause Mareth poked his head into the cabin, "We'll be in regalia within the hour. Are you all right?" He said once he noticed the hole in the floor.
Gregor just nodded and sat with his back to the wall hoping Mareth wouldn't notice the beads of sweat forming on his face. Gregor closed his eyes while regaining his wits, but tore them open again as to not fall asleep again. His dream was on replay in his mind: The dying jungle, the dying cutter, and the ecstatic skull laughing at Gregor. Gregor resorted back to his last method he used when he went out on the waterway to keep his mind, running through his multiplication tables. "Thirteen times two, three, four, five…" Then sooner rather than later, it couldn't have of been an hour, Gregor heard the yell of new mens voices besides those of the men on the ship and the familiar bump and reluctance of landing on shore.
Leaving the cabin Gregor saw the most beautiful thing in the world. The stone city of regalia stood lit up. Contrasting against the dark rock walls and ceiling jutted out pillars and towers standing within protective walls dozens of feet off of the sandy floor. Even a small town bustling town stood at the foot of the city but a constant ferry of bats brought people to and from the city to the great caverns floor. "Its definitely grown" Gregor thought remembering the last time he stood at the top of the city's walls, remembering the feeling of how puny they were against the hordes of gnawers scratching and assaults on the fortress.
Some voices abruptly brought Gregor back to reality, "Just in time Mareth, Luxa and the the council will be making some sort of speech today, not sure on what but it's going to be huge." A dock hand said to Mareth, who then shot a glance back to Gregor. "Luxa making a speech." Mareth restated, entering the boats cabin to return with some new underland clothes, "I hope you remember how to ride a bat."
Gregor couldn't help but to smile.