Gregor clutched his head as he got up from where he lay. He was in a strange pristine white room, on a bed. Further inspection led Gregor to find he had some strange fibery clothes on, and his belt and weapons had been taken away from him.
The room looked like a typical hospital room. If we were living in the 1600s. Gregor thought to himself dryly as he surveyed the only other thing present in the room, a table with a tray of food on it.
'Ah, I see you are awake, here, take this.' A kindly middle aged woman handed him a cup with a strange mixture in it.
Gregor just stared. The woman had pale white skin, platinum hair and violet eyes.
Where in the world do you find humans with violet eyes?
Gregor rubbed his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. 'This is a dream. This is a dream. This is a dream.' He muttered to himself.
The woman laughed. 'I can assure you, it is most assuredly not a dream.' Her face became more stern. 'Now drink this, your immune system needs it.'
XIXI
Gregor pushed past what he assumed was a guard as he barrelled down a hallway. He made his way to an intersection.
Left? Right? Right. He decided and bolted in the aforementioned direction.
Gregor slowed down as he noticed this part of the building, (what even is this place?), Was much more empty.
Gregor quickly hurried into an entrance into what he assumed was what passed for accommodation in this godforsaken place, quickly pushing through the gauzy curtains which served as an entrance.
'About time Vikus.' He heard a melodious female voice call from down the hallway into the room proper. 'What is the condition of the overlander?'
Gregor froze. He hadn't expected to find anybody here, and his lack of preparation for this eventuality showed in his highly intelligent answer.
'Uhhh, whazzat?'
He winced as he heard a gasp from inside, followed by the unmistakable sound of metal being drawn.
Gregor tensed. Welp, here goes for nothing. He thought to himself as he waited for the mysterious woman to show herself.
Gregor's breath got caught in his throat as he regarded the woman in front of him. She's beautiful. Gregor thought reverently. Platinum locks, violet eyes, and a rapier pointed directly at his chest.
Gregor glanced down. 'I don't suppose you would be inclined to point that somewhere else?' He tried weakly.
The woman scowled. 'You should not be here, Overlander.' She began menacingly, stepping ever close to him. 'Guards!' She called out suddenly.
Gregor sprung into action, hitting the side of her rapier with the palm of his hand, knocking it off course as she tried to lunge. The woman tried for a kick, but Gregor deftly blocked it with a forearm, before grabbing onto her right wrist which held her sword, pulling violently, causing her to call out, and drop the thin piece of metal on the ground.
The woman jumped away from him, gaining some space between the two of them. She obviously hadn't been expecting him to be able to defend himself, as evidenced by the look of curiosity in her eyes.
Gregor this was probably a good time to get some answers. 'So, where am I exactly?'
The woman narrowed her eyes. 'The royal wing of the palace, why?'
Gregor shook his head. 'I meant like the place, not just building. I assume there is more than just this place?' he gestured to the walls around him.
'You are in the city of Regalia.' She frowned in confusion. 'Where you not informed of this upon your awakening?'
Gregor had the the decency to look slightly abashed. 'I… may or may not have escaped wherever it was you guys were holding me.'
Luxa stared at him in shock. 'You overpowered the guards?'
Gregor thought for a second. I could use this to my advantage. 'Yes- I mean yes!' He amended quickly. He tried for his best menacing look. This would be so much easier if I had my glock… 'I want answers!'
The woman stepped backwards slightly. 'I… I am sure we can figure something out, but I need you to calm down.' She said nervously. Gregor felt a twinge. I did that. I'm scaring her.
Suddenly the fight went out of Gregor's body. He slumped down against a wall opposite of the woman. Suddenly, something clicked in his mind. 'Hold on a second, did you say royal wing?'
Something resembling a ghost of a smile wormed its way to the womans lips. 'Yes Overlander, this is the royal wing of the royal palace.'
She held her head high as she regarded his form leaned against the wall with contempt, as Gregor heard shouts and men entering the compound.
'I am Queen Luxa.'
Then everything went black.
XIXI
Gregor groggily opened his eyes. I really need to stop getting knocked out.
'Ah! The Warrior awakens!' A cheerful voice came from beside his bed. Gregor looked over to see a muscular, with the same pale skin, hair and violet eyes that Gregor was coming to expect from everybody he met.
'Hello?' Gregor asked unsurely.
'Good that you are awake, I am Mareth, I have been tasked with bringing you to the great hall for supper, but first, you must bathe!' The man continued in his upbeat manner, and
Gregor quickly slipped from the bed he had been placed in what he now recognised as a hospital, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head where he had been knocked out.
Gregor was brought out to a large open atrium.
There before him stood a sprawling city.
Mareth laughed at the expression on his face. 'Most react the same way, it is a picturesque scene when viewed from above.
He jumped on a giant- lord help me that is a giant bat. That is a giant bat. Gregor blinked. Nope. Still there. 'One hell of a dream.' Gregor muttered to himself.
Mareth motioned him to get behind him. 'Come on!' He shouted cheerily.
Gregor just stood there, before finally coming to his senses and awkwardly climbing up behind Mareth.
'Hold on tight Overlander.' A rich and soft female voice spoke.
Gregor only had a second to realise that it had been the bat who had talked before they took off.
'MOTHERFUCKER!'
XIXI
The meal had been adequate. Gregor had learned much about Regalia, the city-state that he was in, and the underland as a whole. Gregor found it surprisingly easy to understand for the most part.
Except for the talking giant animals and that there was a secret society underneath New York.
Everything apart from that was fine though.
Gregor had been reacquainted with Luxa, and her, her grandparents Vikus and Solovet, and her cousin Henry had all laughed at her recounting of her fight with Gregor.
As the food was brought away and Vikus bid goodnight, Solovet turned to Gregor.
'Overlander,' She began. Gregor rolled his eyes. He didn't quite know why, but he disliked the sobriquet. 'We have need of your advice regarding the weapons you use.'
Gregor's ears perked up at that. With all the information dump about the place, he had completely forgotten about his pistol and knife.
Henry looked up in interest as well. 'I would like to join in that discussion. I find overland weaponry fascinating, it is very different from that used down here, in our rare encounters with it.' Luxa nodded her agreement.
Gregor shrugged. 'Lead the way.'
The trip was short, and lead to a room, with weapons for walls. Literally. Every surface that wasn't necessary to walk on was covered in all manner of different weaponry. Solovet led the three to a small room, with a table and three other men and a woman discussing.
'Ladies and gentlemen, may I present you, the overlander.' Solovet stated as she entered the room. Gregor waved sheepishly.
The woman smiled at him. 'Greetings, overlander, I am Perdita.' She said with a smile that Gregor returned. The other three men simply nodded at him coldly, and Gregor got the feeling he wasn't the most popular with these guys.
After a moment of awkward silence, Henry impatiently motioned Gregor to the gun and knife, both still in his belt. 'Well go on then, show us! He said excitedly.'
Gregor shook his head. Picking up the belt, he instinctively fastened it around his waist.
He pulled the knife out of its sheath on the rightside of his hip, joined to his gun holster. 'This is a knife.' He said deadpan. 'I'm not going to insult your intelligence by explaining it to you.'
He pulled the gun out, and could see the curiosity in their eyes, the obviously had no clue what it was or how it worked.
'This is a long range weapon, and quite loud, so better to try this in an open space.' Gregor said seriously.
The group nodded, and Solovet walked out, everybody else following her.
The demonstration had gone fairly well. The underlanders had brought him to what they called the 'arena' which seemed to be a massive staging ground, and were shocked at the damage and speed of the gun, often citing it's efficiency and velocity among them in awe-inspired voices.
Gregor sighed as he put the safety back on and the gun back in its holster.
'So!' He began, clapping his hands. 'What happens now?' He noticed that everybody in the group looked to Solovet instead of Luxa. Isn't she supposed to be queen? He asked himself.
His question was answered though when a bat quickly came flying in, an underlander soldier jumping off and quickly bowing to both Solovet and Luxa.
'General, Your highness, the crawlers have brought another overlander.'
XIXI
Gregor quickly sprinted after Perdita as the group ran after the messenger and Solovet, who had once again taken control of the situation.
'What's happening?' He shouted after her.
'Another overlander has dropped down, we have to negotiate for her to be passed over to us!' Perdita shouted back to him, never slowing down in pace.
Gregor found that he kept up with their pace just fine. He had always been a fast runner, competing for his school track team when he was younger, and the skill later saved him many a time when running away from cops or rival gang members. Gregor shook his head, thinking of Cal. All this time…
When they made it to the opposite side of the arena, Gregor spotted a large conglomeration of what looked like… cockroaches? Gregor made a face. Just a dream. Just a dream. He repeated to himself like a mantra.
'Greetings, Temp.' Solovet began diplomatically.
'Greeting to you, we bring princess, we do.' The aforementioned cockroach responded, and they made way for a small child, no more than 5 years old, to stumble forward happily.
Ice started to consume Gregor's heart. 'Boots.' He said instinctually. The other underlanders turned to look at him in surprise, but he payed them no heed as his eyes were locked on the child stumbling her way through the ranks of roaches staring at her with… was that reverence in their eyes?
The strange behaviour from the giant bugs spurred Gregor into action, as he swiftly shoved his way through the group of underlanders as he came to kneel down before the little girl.
'Boots?' He called out softly, 'Margaret? Is that you?'
The little girl looked up at him, confusion in her eyes. 'How do you know my name?' She asked in her toddler voice.
Gregor let out a nervous laugh. 'It's me Boots! It's Gregor!'
Boot's eyes lit up in recognition, and she readily jumped into his outstretched arms.
'Grego!' She exclaimed happily as snuggled into the crook of his arm.
Gregor smiled, although inside his heart was turning to ice. How had Boots gotten here? Hadn't Perdita mentioned bargaining? Were they going to Barter his sister away from him!?
Gregor stood up and turned around brusquely. 'She stays with me.' He said decisively, 'If the roaches want Boots, they go through me first.' He said firmly.
He gauged their reactions. Perdita and the other three underlanders stared at him, their cool expressions honed from years of not showing emotion in trying situations. Solovet had a steely look in her eyes, as if trying to figure out how to use this against him. Gregor felt distinctly uncomfortable with her. But what surprised him most was Luxa's reaction. She had a half smile, staring at him in interest, before turning to the cockroaches.
'We offer you five grain baskets as compensation, no more, no less.' She said with an authority Gregor hadn't heard in her voice before.
The roaches started clicking to each other, and Gregor vaguely realised they were communicating between themselves, although he was too preoccupied with his sister to care.
'We accept your gracious offer queen Luxa, we do accept.' An unnamed roach announced finally, before the host turned around and began to leave.
Gregor saw the tension leave Luxa's shoulders, as she turned around to face Gregor, curiosity in her expression.
'Who is this "Boots", Overlander?' She enquired, looking at the baby dubiously.
'She's my little sister.' Gregor look down at her with a smile, although it soon became a grimace. 'I don't know how or why she got down here though.'
Luxa gave him a weird look. 'It is strange to you that your family would search for you?' She asked. They had walked some way away from where the other underlanders were discussing something furiously with each other.
Gregor's face darkened. 'I haven't exactly been around.' Seeing her confused face, he elaborated. 'I ran away from home when I was twelve, I have been alone for four years.' That was a lie, but Luxa didn't need to know that he had been part of a criminal organisation this early into getting to know each other.
'Oh.' She said eloquently, looking down. 'I… I lost my parents when I was nine, to a gnawer attack.' She said sombrely.
Gregor remembered being explained that Gnawers were rats, and were sworn enemies of the Regalians and their allies.
Solovet and Perdita walked up to them. The other three underlanders were nowhere to be seen.
'Luxa, Gregor, take Aurora to the prophecy room.' Solovet ordered. She turned to Luxa. 'Gorger is advancing. The prophecy is coming to pass.'
Gregor wasn't sure what was going on, but before he knew it, he was on Luxa's bond -a type of personal alliance between two people-, holding on for dear life and trying not to drop Boots, who seemed very intent to crane her neck to see everything of the admittedly impressive city she could.
Eventually they made their way back to the great hall, where they set down, and Luxa promptly was off already, Henry showing up out of nowhere on his big black bat, the two of them talking nervously and glancing back at him on their way to the prophecy room.
Gregor was quite irritated by the time they made it there, and it didn't help that Boots was being a constant nuisance, wanting to be held, and constantly attempting to take detours to explore other parts of the palace.
They were met in the so called 'prophecy room' by Vikus, Solovet, Mareth, and Perdita.
'Gregor!' the old man smiled as he saw him.
Gregor smiled without thinking. The man could be a little naive at times, but his positivity was infectious.
Solovet quickly set the tone for the meeting. 'King Gorger has declared war on Regalia, and his armies advance on Regalia as we speak.' Gregor guessed from the steely looks around the room that this was not unexpected.
'Now, what makes this war different to any other we have had with the Gnawers recently is the resurgence of the prophecy of Grey.' There were murmurs around the room at the information. 'I believe that Gregor is the Warrior.'
Now the room exploded.
'How can he be the warrior? I bet he doesn't even know how to hold a sword.' Henry shouted above the din.
Vikus held up his hands. 'Now Henry, remember that Sandwich's prophecies are rarely literal in meaning.' He motioned to Gregor. 'But that aside, Gregor must have skill with his overlander weapons, we cannot be so quick to dismiss his fire stick.'
Gregor rolled his eyes at the name that had quickly become the accepted term for Gregor's gun.
'Now hold on a minute.' He turned to Solovet. 'What the hell is the prophecy of grey, and who is the Warrior?'
Solovet smiled at him. 'The founder of our city, Bartholomew of Sandwich, left behind a series of prophecies detailing the future of Regalia, when it would be in peril. The Warrior is said to be an overlander hero who would save Regalia from bloodbath.'
Gregor let out a humourless laugh. 'Lady, I am no hero.'
Solovet nodded patiently. 'That may be, but there is another incentive.'
'What do you remember of your Father?'
AN:
So. That's done. Not really much else to say.
I don't know when I will update next, could be tomorrow, could be next year.
Who knows?
I promise I will finish this though. I hate incomplete fics.
Over, Murph.