…

Uncharted Lands

...

The darkness around Helena was silent as the two cutters escorted her towards the Overlander camp. Her captors spoke quickly amongst themselves in a series of clacks Helena couldn't decipher, but she was hardly listening. Her eyes could see nothing but the few feet of rock ahead of her, which made it easier for her to imagine home. She could see it in her mind's eye now. The looming, distant mountain peaks of rural Montana. She was chasing her sister through a sunlit meadow, the grass brushing up against her shins. A lone bird let out a long cry in the distance. Her sister laughed and beckoned her forwards, with a taunting smile. Helena picked up her pace, running as fast as she could. Suddenly, her foot caught a rock and she fell into the soft soil. Her sister stopped in her tracks far ahead of Helena, waiting. Helena pushed herself to her feet, but her sister began to disappear into the long grass. Her parents, watching her from across the meadow, began to fade. She cried out desperately and raised her arm, reaching toward her sister, clawing for a reality that would never be hers again. The cutter queen slowly rose from the grass in front of Helena, smiling as the world collapsed around her. All of a sudden, she was back in the cave. Fear shook her body and she slammed her hands against her stone tomb. The scabs on her fingers broke open once more, blood gushing out from her new wounds. She stared numbly at the blood and felt herself slowly sink backwards, falling hard onto the stone. She looked up at the dark ceiling in despair. Faintly, she began to hear a voice. "Killer… Killer… Killer…" and with a jolt, she was back in reality.

She was flat on the ground, the sharp rock floor digging into her back. Her captors loomed over her body. One nudged her body with an appendage, and she shrieked and rolled away, only to bump into the other. She scrambled to her feet. "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

The first cutter twitched its antennae slightly. "You… cannot do this with Overlanders."

Helena continued to back away from the cutters. "Get away from me you MONSTERS! DON'T TAKE ME BACK." Her heart beat faster and faster inside her chest. This… it all had to be a dream. Giant ants! Giant moles! She laughed, and laughed, and laughed, tears streaming down her cheeks. She sank to her knees, her head pointed upwards towards the ceiling, towards home. She let her thoughts fade and her mind went empty.

The two cutters looked at each other. Almost simultaneously, their antennae twitched and their heads both turned back towards her to stare at her directly. The cutter on the left spoke first. "Helena… you want to return to cave?"

Her pupils shrunk as she looked back at her captors. "No. No. No. Not ever. NO."

She tried to picture home again in her mind's eye, but the memory flickered out of her reach. Moments ago, she had had the memory within in her grasp. Why did it leave her now?

The cutter continued. "If… you wish return, you must treat us friends. You tell Overlanders that moles are ones with cave. Queen Azel rescued from cave. If you not friend now, you go to cave. You not friend with Overlanders, you lose light. If not friend, no home either way, yes?"

Helena's decision was easy. "I'm your friend. I... I'm your friend." The cutter twitched its antennae at her in acknowledgement.

When she stumbled into the Overlander camp hours later, she was instantly surrounded by people whose faces she recognized, but whose names she no longer remembered. Her cutter saviors were surrounded at gunpoint, but Helena firmly planted herself between the weapons and her friends. "Don't harm them!" She shouted. "They saved me from the cave!" The faces murmured in confusion, but the weapons lowered. "The moles!" her voice stammered and caught on itself. "The moles are the true enemy!"

…

Outskirts of New York City

…

Agent Green watched the security footage replay itself over James's shoulder. "That poor girl. Lord knows what she had to go through."

James nodded numbly. The girl, Helena, had been an excitable, curious young cave explorer who had gone missing over a week prior beneath Central Park. Now, she looked the opposite of how she had been described to him. Clothes in shreds, her hair frazzled. Blood on her torn-open fingertips. However, the part of her that stood out the most to James were her eyes. They had a light in them that told James she wasn't entirely there anymore. He knew those eyes well- he'd seen them on himself. Sympathy gripped his heart.

"It's obvious she wasn't telling the truth about the cutters. Look at her. She's all over the place." Agent Green pulled up a digital version of the scroll that had been delivered to the Overlanders from the Queen of the Cutters. "She's trying to use Helena to squeeze an alliance out of us against the Underlanders."

James leaned back in his chair. "So what do the superiors say? How do we respond? Surely we won't let the torture of Helena go unpunished-"

"That's exactly what we're doing."

James's mouth fell open. "How…"

Agent Green sighed. "Look, I don't like it either, but it's war. We can't take action against the ants because we need them on our side. Eventually, Helena will get her justice. This, the President has promised me. But not now."

"So it is war then," James said. Agent Green averted his eyes, and the rest of the agents in the room looked away as well. "I always figured it was as much, even if none of you told me outright. I mean, why would the United States allow a fully sovereign nation to exist underneath its feet? A monarchy at that!" James began to laugh. "You know, when I was being held hostage by the rats all those years ago, that's all I could think about. I wanted to destroy it all and return to the sun above, to my family. I only saw darkness down there, and I'm sure that's all you see too." James stood up and positioned himself so he stood face to face with Agent Green, then continued.

"But Gregor… he found love down there. He found life. He found happiness. He also found a lot of darkness, yes, but he wouldn't have fought a war for the Underland if he didn't believe in it. The Underland has known about the existence of the Overland, of us, for centuries, yet they never once attempted an attack. Peace can be made. There doesn't have to be a war."

Silence. Agent Green's eyes remained fixated on his feet as Agent Blue walked up to James. "James… we have as much choice in this as you do. We are only Agents. We don't make the decisions, we only carry them out. Besides, the existence of the Underland beneath one of our greatest cities is simply too dangerous. It needs to go, whether the Underland has good in it or not."

James shook his head. "'The Underland has never attacked the Overland, nor will it. All they want is to be left alone."

Agent Blue hardly seemed to hear him. "Sometimes, you have to make the tough choices in order to ensure the future of-"

James's eyes hardened as he snapped. "You're scared. You're scared of the unknown, of things changing from the way they used to be. You know that there is no logical reason to destroy the Underland, and so does the President. But-"

"This conversation is over." Agent Green's voice rang out. "You will work for us, or your family's safety is not ensured. You will help us destroy the Underland, whether you like it or not."

James's heart sunk in his chest. His last hopes for peace faded, and a bitterness grew in his heart. He was once again faced with an impossible choice- his family, or his morals. However, he found that he already knew the answer to that question. James was determined do his best to save both, but if it came down to it, he would choose his family over the Underland and his morals.

…

Regalia

…

The construction of the new section of Regalia had already begun. Gregor stood atop the wall surrounding the main city, watching the first bricks being laid into the ground. It would be several months before they finished. Next to him, Clara stood observing her own men, who had arranged themselves in a loose ring around the Regalian workers with their guns out, ready for action in case anyone tried to interfere with the construction. Gregor did his best to ignore the ambassador, but it wasn't long before she broke the silence.

"Gregor. What you've done for this place really is admirable. Not only in the war against Bane, but also helping us reach a peaceful middle ground the other day. Thank you."

Gregor didn't spare her a glance. "Thanks." he said abruptly.

The awkward silence that followed didn't last as long as Gregor hoped. "The United States government sees you as the middle ground between them and Regalia. We were hoping you would come over to the Overlander camp soon to discuss a more in-depth treaty that you can propose to Queen Luxa afterwards."

Gregor frowned. "Shouldn't Regalia have representatives in such a meeting? You said it yourself- I am the middle ground. I'm not fit to represent Regalia in such a meeting."

Frustration flashed across Clara's face briefly before it disappeared as soon as it had come. "Of course. But I'm afraid Queen Luxa won't be able to be reasoned with. She would have caused a conflict had you not intervened."

Gregor laughed, feeling his temper beginning to get the better of him. "Clara, had the situation escalated to conflict, you would have been just as guilty as her. We're done here. I'm not meeting you in the Overlander camp. The only meeting I'm willing to attend is one where both sides are fairly represented."

Clara took a step closer to Gregor. "I think your feelings for Luxa are getting in the way of your decision-making here. What's the harm in just hearing us out? You don't have to agree to anything. You seem to be awfully comfortable talking to Luxa behind closed doors. If you truly do represent the middle ground, how come the United States isn't afforded the same luxury?"

Gregor felt his vision start to fragment in anger. Almost instantly, he saw a dozen openings he could strike on Clara. He forced the anger down. Now was not the time to get angry. "I have been on many adventures with Luxa. I trust her with my life. No offense, but I barely know you, or anyone in the Overlander camp. Let me talk to someone from my family. Then, I might be more willing to have that meeting you were talking about."

Clara froze. Her mouth opened and closed and for several seconds, she was lost for words. Gregor frowned. "What's wrong?"

Clara recovered. "Nothing. I'll contact my superiors at once to send your father down to speak to you."

Gregor took an aggressive step forwards, towering over Clara. "You did something to my family, didn't you." The terrified look on her face said it all. Gregor saw his vision fragment again as he took another step forwards. "Of course you did. They are valuable hostages. You needed leverage on me if I didn't comply." He laughed a hollow laugh. "Kidnapping innocent civilians. How noble of the great American government. DID YOU HONESTLY THINK IT WOULD WORK?" Gregor screamed at Clara. "THREATENING MY FAMILY WILL ONLY MAKE ME HATE YOU MORE THAN I ALREADY DO." Anger blazing in his eyes, he closed the distance between him and Clara in an instant. Eyes wide, the ambassador stumbled backwards. With a cry, she tripped, her legs falling out from underneath her as she fell over the side of the wall. Gregor rushed to the edge, anger gone, arm extended, but it was too late. A moment passed before her body burst apart on the rocks below.

All was silent. The workers and the Overlanders below were all frozen in place. It gave Gregor enough time to quickly duck behind a stone pillar on the wall before the first shots rung out. Screams came from below as innocent Regalian workers were slaughtered by the guns of the American soldiers. Gregor felt the bullets impact the stone wall behind him, the impact vibrating his very core. Guilt ate at him. It was his fault. Every death from now until the end of the war, it was his fault.

How easily a war could begin.

…

Author's Notes

It's been a long time since I last updated. No excuses from me. I was simply unmotivated. Anyways, here's the long-awaited chapter. I promise you there will be another update, even if it's simply to publish my notes for how the story will end. Many, many thanks to everyone who reviewed over the long hiatus: frostking104, Clytuis (Guest), Defender of the Dogma, and Vengeous!

-Gyltig