Chapter 33

The entire ordeal with the monsters was easily resolved, the entire force of the Untethered in the city proved too much for the combined might of the monsters. To be frank, we weren’t even worried about that. Because the repercussions for the assault of the monsters would be felt after the actual confrontation.

Just as I was finishing off the last monster, a cyclops, in my vicinity, I became aware of the numerous cameras pointed at me, carried by drones or in fewer numbers, by actual people. I was quite anxious at the sight of these cameras and did something that I would come to regret pretty soon after that moment. I nervously showed off a victory sign towards one of the cameras after finishing off the cyclops.

That image, of me performing a victory sign, with an awkward smile frozen on my face would be plastered on all online newspapers and news channels within the hour, making me the unofficial and frankly, an embarrassing face of the reveal of the existence of the Untethered to the mortal world.

Before long, I was trudging along the street, hesitant to go home since I was afraid of confronting my parents. As I walking, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I spun around quickly, poised to attack. I stopped myself when I saw that it was just Samuel.

“Quite the clusterfuck, isn’t it?”, he asked, his expression sordid as he looked around at the cameras. I could only nod, since his word described perfectly, in my opinion.

“This isn’t even the worst for me. I am dreading going to my house because I know the grilling that awaits me. Not to mention, the world will be conscious of our presence now. And everyone knows how humanity reacts to anything outside their sphere of influence or understanding.”

Samuel didn’t react to that, as he knew I was speaking the truth. The future looked grim on all accounts as we would be faced with war on multiple fronts, fronts which we didn’t have any experience handling. Samuel just patted me on the shoulder before wishing me luck and turning around, probably to go back to his place to escape the media storm that was surely about to begin.

I reached home, entering through the window of the dining room, not wanting to announce my presence straight away by using the door. What I saw had me trembling and blushing at the same time.

My parents’ were glued to television at what must have seemed like a fantastical scene to the. There, on the screen, was me, posing with a victory with a dumb grin on my face and my other hand holding a menacing a scythe, all while an evaporating corpse of a cyclops lay at my feet.

I couldn’t bear letting my parents watch any more of the coverage as I would melt in embarrassment if it continued. I coughed loudly, hoping to catch their attention and to my simultaneous relief and terror, they turned around in alarm almost immediately.

They didn’t react for a long time seeing me. I was actually becoming worried about their health when they sat motionless for too long when my mother said, “What?” That one word was enough for me to understand the utter bewilderment and fear she felt at the moment and I could only sigh as I prepared myself for the inevitable questions coming my way.

I made my way over to them, resigned to my fate and said, “Mom, Dad, I am an Untethered?”

“Untethered? What does that even mean?”, my father asked.

“Untethered is a human that has transcended the mortal plane and moved over to a separate one, called ‘The Dimension’.”

“Transcended the mortal plane? You aren’t making much sense here, David.” My father’s voice was flustered as he said that and I could feel that he was close to shouting in his current emotional state.

“Look, there’s no easy way to explain this but I am going to try my best.” I could see my parents hanging on to my every word. I proceeded to give them a lengthy explanation of what an Untethered was and my experiences and actions over the past month and a half. To say they were shocked would be an understatement.

They had difficulty accepting the things I had told them as evidenced by my mother asking, “So you are off playing a superhero?”

I sighed, I seemed to be doing a lot of that, and answered, “No. It’s just that I have an ability that comes with a responsibility. A huge one, in fact.”

“What responsibility does a child like you have? How can anyone assign any sort of responsibility to you when you have been doing this for, what did you say, one month?” My mother was almost rambling at this point and I could see that she was getting too overwhelmed by this whole situation.

“Mom, it’s nothing that was assigned to me. It just comes with the territory.”

My mom was having none of it and began to talk about how I would not be allowed to leave home because I was grounded indefinitely. For what seemed like the hundredth time, I sighed and gave up on trying to explain the matter.

And after all, this was over, my father finally brought the conversation to the crux of the matter. “What are all these spaceships, son? Are the aliens real and are they attacking or something?”

I could only grimly nod as I said, “Yes and yes. Aliens are a reality. Not only that but from what I have heard, they are much more advanced in almost everything. And one leader wants to conquer other planets for his own domain. And now he has set his sights on Earth. That’s why you see this spaceship and the others around the world.”

“You are making it sound like there will be a war? Between planets?” My father’s tone was hesitant as if he didn’t believe what he was hearing or maybe he didn’t want to believe it.

“It looks like it at the moment. We have been alerted that war might be on the horizon. Already, there has been some escalation on the aggressor’s part, ergo the spaceships.”