Gregor and the Prophecy of the Overland (Book VI)

Alone and Not

Two people, a man and a woman, face each other. They don't touch but they are close. Closer inside than out.
The stone beneath their feet starts to crack, and a line of darkness forms between them. It thickens and stretches and pulls the two people apart until they're almost too far to see. Then the rock beneath the man turns to dust, then cloud, and he's falling through it into darkness.
Away from the light he used to share with the woman.
She stands there. Alone.
And waits

I open my eyes to darkness.
It's the Underland equivalent of night right now, but because I've been in bed so much, I don't really feel tired. I want to get up and walk.
     It's been three days since I crashed the Overlanders' trial, and Henry's visit was this morning. No matter how hard I try to focus on the present, all these images keep coming to me. There are bodies and there are Overlanders with vaguely stick-shaped objects. And water. Always lots of water.
     I sit up on my bed and carefully swing my legs over the side. Howard can't believe how fast my wound is healing, and neither can I. The bullet hole should be keeping me in bed for a week, and on crutches for weeks after, but I'm already able to stand and limp around without help. I'm relieved.
     If I can get up and walk, then I can continue this prophecy and get the whole 'saving the Underland' thing over with. The green backpack I wore on the trip to find the miners is on the floor next to my bed. Luxa or one of the doctors must have left it there for me, and I have no doubt that the flashlights are waterlogged and probably broken, but there's still the Sprite can and the half-role of duct tape.
     And of course, the gun I picked up and put in there.
For a moment I consider drinking the Sprite, but I really want to share it with the other Underlanders. Luxa would love it, and Howard and Nerissa never got to try any Overland soda. We had root beer once on my first quest, but they weren't a part of it. Henry was though, and he never returned.
And now there's another Henry in the Underland. He's one of the Overlanders who were mining diamonds, one of the group who tried to kill me, one of the ones I saved.
But that brings me back to the gun in my bag. What to do, what to do...
Finally I can't take it anymore. I slide off the edge of my cot and onto the floor, carefully testing my healing leg. It doesn't hurt too much when I put weight on it, so I decide to go for a walk. Through the dimly lit hospital wing and past sleeping patients, down a few halls and up a few flights of stairs, around a torchlit corner, and another. Then out into open air where I can look out at the city of Regalia
The first time I stood here was with Boots. Margaret. My little sister who poked Luxa in the eye because her irises were purple.
Regalia is dimly lit. Most of the torches are out at night, but they never put out all of them. Vikus told me once that the torches stay lit because humans need light, but their gnawer enemies don't. Without light the humans would be helpless. Even though the rats are allied with the humans again and there's no reason to fear them, old habits die hard.
Out of nowhere, the torches in the city are blotted out. I blink hard, thinking I'm imagining it, and the torches are lit again. Then suddenly they're not, and then they are. I shake my head and look back out at Regalia. What the heck? But when it happens again, I realize it's just a bat flying circles around me. It's wingspan is tilted vertically so every time it flies in front of me my entire view is blacked out.
The flier's chocolatey brown fur is practically black in the dim light. I wasn't even paying attention to my echolocation for a minute, and now I'm in danger. I widen my stance a little, my vision splintering in preparation, and I regret not bringing my sword with me. But how was I supposed to know the she-bat who attacked me would be up and flying again?
In a rush of wings and claws, the bat is on me. I try to shove her away but my weakened leg won't hold. My fractured rager vision shatters as I fall backward and bang my head on the stone balcony.
I shrink away from the furry face, waiting for the she-bat to strike. But she doesn't move. She just sits there on my chest, pinning me to the ground, and examining my face with intense black eyes.
"Hello, Overalnder." She purrs softly, not a trace of friendliness in her voice, but not a hint of anger either. Her voice is dead.
"Hello, flier." I manage to get out past the weight on my chest.
"We haven't been formally introduced, have we?" The flier continues, sarcasm slipping into her voice. "I am Demetri. My bond was he called Daman. Now I should like to ask you a question, if your High Mightiness would deign to answer me."
"Of course." I huff, trying to draw enough breath to form a longer reply. Demetri is big for a female, and all her weight is on my lungs. I remember when Ares sat on my chest. He was bigger, but he didn't put his full weight on me because he knew it would hurt. "But--could you--get off--my chest, please?"
     She stares at me for a moment, contemplating my question, then slowly shifts over until I can breath. I gasp, then choke and cough on my raw throat. It seems really strange that my leg is healing so ridiculously quickly while my throat isn't going anywhere. Demetri watches while I catch my breath, and I glance around to see that we are still alone. Great.
     "What is your question?" I groan a little as I shift onto my knees.
     "Why is Daman dead?"
I should have known she would ask this, I actually was dreading it, but it still takes me a minute to formulate a reply. But it sounds hollow even to my own ears. "I'm sorry about your rider. I really am. And I'm sorry I cut your wing. I didn't know I'd start a prophecy when I came down here. I just couldn't live away from this place any longer."
Demetri continues to stare blankly at me, and for a moment I think that she's just going to fly away, but then she purrs, "What is so terrible about the Overland that you would come to this place again? What hardships do you face up above that are worse than the wars you bring with you?"
The wars I bring with me... Those words ring in my ears, making it difficult to focus on Demetri's question. I shake my head, trying to clear the words away as the bounce around and form images of dead humans and dead fliers and a dead Ares. I didn't cause that. I didn't. It would have happened anyway, and the humans would have lost without me. I didn't make the wars happen. And I didn't come back to bring more.
"It's not that the hardships up there are worse." I try to figure out how to explain my fears and memories. "It's remembering the wars in this place, all the creatures I killed, all the friends who died. It feels like it's all my fault and it was tearing me apart. In the Overland no one understands me. Up there I'm alone."
"But down here you are not? Without your bond Ares, are you not just as alone?"
"No." I say firmly, and for the first time I really believe the words I'm about to speak. "I'm not alone down here. Ares was my bond, but I have other people too. There's Luxa, Aurora, Howard, Mareth, Ripred, Vikus... Eris... And others. It's not so bad as it seems, Demetri."
She shivers as I say her name. Her cold gaze melts a little and her wings flutter a little, almost nervously. Her cold facade is gone and I can see myself in her demeanor. I can see someone who has lost their bond and is trying to figure out how to let go. I don't hesitate before wrapping my arms around her neck and leaning me forehead against her cheek. Demetri stiffens, then relaxed and wraps her wings around me.
It's an awkward version of a hug, hindered by our unusual forms, but it's comforting somehow. We both have lost our bonds, we both are learning how to cope, and we both need help dealing with the pain. A few tears slide down my cheeks as we lean against each other. And then the moment ends and we pull apart.
     "I don't have any other friends, Overlander." Demetri draws herself upward and lifts her wings. "Will you help me so I won't have to leave my home like you did?"
     Help her... Be her friend so she won't die from sorrow. I had the Underland to run to when my blood memories overwhelmed me, but Demetri doesn't have somewhere to go. She doesn't have friends to run to.
     But I can change that.
     "Of course I'll help you, Demetri. Of course."
     She blinks at me, bobs her head softly, then without another word Demetri leaps into the air and soars out over Regalia. A heartbeat later there's a flutter of wings behind me, and I turn around to find Eris settling onto the stone wall. "How long have you been here?" I ask.
     "Long enough." His silver fur glints in the dim torchlight. "Are you well, Gregor?"
     "Well enough." I grin a little at him. "Although it depends if you're asking about the bullet hole or the blood memories because there's a pretty big difference between them."
     "Blood memories?" Eris cocks his head. "Like in the prophecy?"
     "Ummm, well, not really." I mentally face-palm myself for mentioning them. Luxa and Ripred understand without explanation, but no one else in Regalia really knows what's haunting been haunting the Warrior's thoughts. "It's just all the battles I've been in. The creatures I killed. They bother me a lot."
     "And those you have lost?"
     "Yes. Especially those I've lost."
     An image of Ares comes to my mind, and I realize how similar Eris is to him. It's not just his identical voice, but the way he seems to care about me, and how he knows exactly what questions to ask. I only met him last week and yet he's already gotten me to talk about the very thing I couldn't describe to my parents.
     "You need to sleep, Gregor the Overlander. If you are well then the other miners must be found and stopped. Tomorrow may already be too late." Then with a flap of his wings, Eris disappears into the dark of Regalia's caverns. I feel him glide slowly away as my echolocation replaces me sight. Without really knowing why, I find myself wishing I could fly with him through the caverns. Right now I just want to be free in a way that I can't on the ground, but Eris is already gone and I really should get some rest.
     I make my way back into the castle and towards the hospital wing. I stop in the room just long enough to grab my backpack and sword, then hurry to Luxa's quarters. I'm well enough that I don't want to stay in the hospital, and I'm tired of being away from my best friend. I nod to the guards on my way in and quietly place my stuff on the floor of my room before curling up under the blankets.
     Sleep comes much faster now that I know I'm home.

     The woman is waiting.
She stands where she was before, and her body hasn't moved an inch. Her already slim frame slowly thins even further until she looks like a ghost dressed in gossamer sheets of fabric. Her fingers tremble and her eyelids flutter, and then her body collapsed onto the stone cliff.
     She can't stand any longer on her own.