Gregor had to be insane. He was going back to somewhere he hadn't been in years. Somewhere where images of how he was going to die had flooded his mind, pictures depicting himself covered in the Bane's blood, on the ground, lying next to the big white rat. And even if those images hadn't come to pass, he still didn't like the place, it made him feel like a lunatic, it made him feel like Sandwhich.

Yet, here he was, standing in front of the only wooden door he had ever seen in the Underland, the only real door he had ever seen in the Underland, ready to go inside based on the chilling depictions of a dream.

Gregor didn't remember opening the door, just remembered standing inside the cold stone room, lit only by a small torch next to the doorway, which Gregor found odd, because there shouldn't have been anyone there.

Suddenly though, it didn't seem odd, as he saw a girl with a severely thin body, one that looked so sickly there was no doubt in his mind who it was.

"What are you doing here Nerissa?" Gregor asked trying to see what prophecy she was leaning over.

"Waiting for you Overlander," Nerissa responded in a manner which revealed to Gregor that she must have had some sort of premonition about the event. Gregor never really knew what to think about her 'gift' because it made him feel like if she could see the future then the probability that Sandwhich could see the future was greater, and that was something that Gregor did not want to think about at the moment.

"Is there something that you wanted to show me?" Gregor asked her trying hard not to sound too annoyed or skeptical. He had come here because he wanted to be alone. To think. Not to read another crazy prophecy written by the same old crazy man.

But Nerissa didn't tell Gregor that he had some great role to play, didn't ask that he give his life for the Underland, and for once she didn't tell him that a man a million years in the past and a billion miles away was playing with his life. No, instead she said, "Maybe something to tell you Gregor." But she didn't seem willing to elaborate so Gregor decided that he would just leave a sleeping dog lie, but finally Nerissa realized that Gregor's curiosity wasn't piqued and carried on. "I had a dream last night. Concerning you and the young queen."

At this Gregor looked up from a prophecy that he'd never seen engraved on the wall before. He looked at her before he spoke, thinking about all that had happened to her over the time that he had known her. Henry was her brother, and though Gregor had never really thought about it his betrayal must have hurt her the most of all. Gregor stopped to think how horrible things would have gone had he not come to the Underland. And he shuddered to realize that had he not come all of his friends would be enslaved by the rats, but he didn't say any of this, instead he spoke cooley, "I'm not going to like it am I?" The question was almost rhetorical he knew that he never liked predictions of the future.

"I fear not Overlander, in my dream I saw Luxa weeping in her room, as if she had just suffered a great loss," Nerissa stumbled through the sentence, then seeing the look on Gregor's face she added, "but I do not know precisely why she sobbed."

Sure, Gregor thought, there are a ton of interpretations for the love of his life bawling her eyes out into the pillow. But now that the thought was on his mind he couldn't help but wonder what might have caused her sorrow. Right now though Gregor had something else that had been bugging him, "Nerissa, why doesn't this prophecy look familiar to me?"

"I suppose it would not Overlander, for that prophecy is my own, I call it the 'Prophecy of Return' and you, fittingly, are the first to see it." It was as if Gregor's worst nightmare had just come true, a girl, woman now, had succumb to the same insanity that had possessed Sandwhich. And Gregor didn't know what to do. His mind went numb because suddenly all he could think about was whether or not she had been locking herself in this room just as Sandwhich had done, and all he could do was pray that that wasn't the all he said to her as they stood their was, "Will you read it to me?"

Warrior comes from above the Ground

To find his love was lost, now found

Dangerous flame still burns inside

A tale of love that has belied

All is not lost for this God-send

If his love he will defend

If the two will hold each other

And not give in, they both love another

Queen of Under one desire

to see but one come back from fire

wishes still her heart not broke

Would she bring him back from smoke?

Gregor was confused to say the least, he didn't understand what the prophecy could possibly be talking about. Obviously Nerissa thought that he and Luxa were going to have some problems, what those were going to be though he hadn't the faintest, so he asked the easy question, "Belied?"

"It means several things, though here, it means betrayed," Nerissa spoke softly, but Gregor wasn't sure if that was just because her frail frame wouldn't allow her to speak louder.

"So a love betrayed?" Gregor asked. Did she think something was going to happen to him and Luxa? Did she believe that they were going to have some sort of relationship issue. And what was this about both of them loving somebody else? He sure knew he didn't.

Nerissa took her time as if carefully seeking an answer that would satisfy all of his questions, even the ones he didn't ask. "It would appear so Overlander, but remember it is sometimes hard to interpret prophecies until the moment that they are upon us." She spoke coolly, which gave Gregor the sense that the conversation was over, and that he should leave, but when he turned to walk away she spoke again, "I have heard tell of a woman in the Uncharted lands who can solve any problem, but I do not know the whole story, you should ask Ripred when you see him again, he is the one who spun the tail to me."

Luxa was trying to listen to the conversations they were having, but her mind kept wandering, mostly to thoughts of Gregor, how she couldn't wait to see him again, and how her heart was aching now that she wasn't with him, but it wasn't only that, she was also wondering how the Council could seriously not be okay with her marrying the Warrior from the prophecies, should they not answer his call? Suddenly the words, "What does the young Queen have to say on the matter" woke her from her daydream. "Could you repeat the question?" Luxa asked, wishing there was a way to answer that wouldn't betray her lack of concentration.

"We were wondering your highness, what you thought about. . ." The councilman started, but he lost her attention before he even got to an issue. Was this how her whole day was going to be? She had to think of a way to get out of here. But of course!

"My apologies, I have just been so worried about my grandfather's safety, has there been no word from Vikus?" Luxa asked, embarrassed twice over, once because she hadn't actually been concerned for Vikus, and two because she just lied about being concerned for her grandfather. Who does that?

The councilman who had asked the question looked around the room for consent from the other councilman, seeing that they had the same thought as him he spoke, "Would you like us to suspend the meeting while you go clear your head?"

"If it's not too much trouble." Luxa said after a short break, she didn't want them to think that she was too eager to get out of here.

Luxa was right outside the room to her royal apartment, wondering what Gregor had done with his day, curious if he was even back yet. With the haste he had left with this morning she somewhat doubted it, after all he couldn't really get caught alone in the Queen's apartment, yet better alone than with her.

So naturally she was surprised to see not only Gregor sitting down in the main living area, but also Ripred, the two just sitting there chatting up a storm, talking about what to her sounded like them discussing everything from family to what they had been doing since the end of the war. The two looked up at her and Gregor spoke, "We've been waiting for you."

Luxa was puzzled, she didn't know what was going on but they obviously had something to tell her, so she sat down next to Gregor on the couch, across from Ripred, who was lounging on his side.

Ripred spoke, "When I was a younger rat I had begun wandering the Uncharted Lands, hoping for death, but I couldn't find it, nothing that could kill me, I had been wandering for years when one day a woman comes up to me, a human woman, she says that she could give my family back to me. It seemed suspicious to me, but it was what I wanted to hear, so I followed, she lead me to a cave, a cave with a spring. I can still remember the smell of the water, it was so pure, so clean. And she told me that the power of the water could bring my family back. I, of course, laughed at her, knowing that my family was dead and beyond help of the living. Then she proved it to me, first with a dead crawler, then by changing the color of the water. It was magic."

Luxa couldn't believe what she was hearing, could this really be true, "So this woman could bring back someone from the dead?"

Ripred paused, knowing this was a dangerous conversation, "Not just that, she could solve anyone's problem, grant any wish, but she only grants one wish to someone in their lifetime, and it can't be spoken aloud."

Luxa looked at Gregor, knowing that this could be the cure to their problem, the answer to their prayers, but when she looked at Gregor she knew something was bothering him, and when he spoke she knew what it was. "Why didn't you accept it, if she offered to bring your family back, why would you refuse?" When Gregor asked it Luxa realized that was a very good question.

"Because, when something dies it dies for a reason, I didn't need them back, I needed to move on." Ripred said. But it seemed like he was holding back, like there was something he wasn't mentioning, but she didn't have to wait to find out because he spoke again, "And I had never told her my story, how had she known what I wanted, that my family had just died. And I guess it bugged me because God doesn't ask for permission to answer prayers."

The rat's words fell like a hammer on steel. Was he saying he thought that this woman was evil? But how could someone with that kind of power possibly want to use it for evil?

Luxa felt Gregor's fingers laced inside of her's and decided that it was a chance worth taking, a chance that needed to be taken, because there love was something that was worth saving.