Chapter 39

I dodged the oncoming strike of a literal zombie for what seemed to be like the thousandth time. I was finally beginning to regret assigning myself the task of buying time while Samuel went back to gather some reinforcements.

‘We really need a better form of communication!’ Unlike the undead of a fictional variety, these zombies were fast. Too much so. To add to that fact, they were well coordinated. Almost as if they were a hive mind of some kind. No sooner had I avoided an attack of one of these abominations than another was almost immediately upon me, giving me no room to breathe.

Even with the ability to slow down time aiding me, I couldn’t seem to outrun or outpace these undead. I could slowly feel fatigue setting in, knowing I couldn’t last much longer fighting and holding these zombies back on my own.

I quickly turned on my heels and ran, not willing to fight these stamina monsters alone for another second. The undead were hot on my heels before I saw something that had my blood run cold. In front of me, there was another squad of the undead, blocking my escape.

The only thing I could think of was a single word. ‘Trap?’ Paying no attention to the sudden dread pooling in my stomach, I jumped atop the nearest building, only to find the rooftops of the nearest buildings overflowing with undead too.

“There’s no escape today, Mr. Goliath!”

An alien voice reached my ear as the air seemed to still around me and the undead stopped in their tracks. Turning around, I saw a woman unlike any I had ever seen before.

My interaction with Eirini was the only thing that made me immediately peg her as an ‘extraterrestrial’. Her body seemed to exude an ethereal glow that enabled me to see her features.

She was tall, exceedingly so. I could clearly see that she would be described as beautiful if her features were normal on whatever planet she came from. I just couldn’t past the unblinking third eye though, that seemed to be gazing into my soul and delving into my deepest secrets.

This was trouble! The aura that seemed to emanate from her had me gasping for breath, almost as if I couldn’t breathe without her permission. An invisible pressure seemed to settle on my shoulders as fear struck my heart for the first time since my encounter with Frost.

“Who are you?”, I asked. “You don’t seem to be from here!”

The woman threw an unimpressed look at me before replying, “I am not from around here, Mr. Goliath. I believe the term is ‘guest’. I am a guest on your planet.”

I shrugged, trying to hide my fear behind false bravado as I said, “You seem to an uninvited guest.”

“Maybe. But I believe I won’t be a guest much longer. After all, this is to be my home pretty soon.”

I acted puzzled as I asked, “What do you mean?”

She started moving towards me as she said, “Sol Syntrivon has promised me this planet once we conquer it, of course.”

“You work for the necromancer then?”

Her look became frosty in reply to my question as she answered, “Work for? You are very mistaken, Mr.Goliath. I am more of a comrade than a servant.”

She straightened after saying that, fully imposing on me the magnificence of her impressive height as she said, “I am known as ProatBlad”

“People across the ‘Four Rings’ know me as the strongest general of Sol Syntrivon!”

“What are you doing here alone? I don’t know how strong you think you are but you can’t take on all the Untethered of this planet alone just with the help of Undead!”

“That is not what I am doing here, Mr. Goliath. Your planet will be conquered sooner rather than later. My sole purpose of coming today to this forsaken planet is you.”

That threw me for a loop. “What could you possibly want with me? I am not the strongest person on this planet nor the most interesting.”

My words brought forth an amused look on her face as she replied, “Oh, I know you are not the strongest person on this planet. Don’t confuse interest for strength, please. And frankly, I don’t find you quite that interesting, to be honest.”

“No, the person who seems to be wholly fascinated with you is my leader, Sol Syntrivon.”

I needed to buy time, that much was clear. The closer she got to me, the more overwhelmed I got. At that moment, she seemed to be strength personified.

“Why?”, I asked, hoping against hope that Samuel brought someone strong enough to actually take on this force of nature. I was afraid that anything other than a Council Member would be nothing more than cannon fodder to this woman.

“Oh, do yourself a little credit. Just because you don’t interest me doesn’t mean you aren’t interesting.”

“The first third slotter of this planet for close to a millennium!”

“The power to influence time!”

“Oh, yes! You interest Sol Syntrivon very much.”

“But what interests my leader the most is...” Faster than I could blink, she was in front of me and grabbed me by the throat. Removing my shirt from my body, she faintly traced the scythe inscribed on my chest.

“The Mark of the Reaper!”

Without letting go of my neck, she said, “ You referred to my leader as the necromancer. Then you know the hold he has over death. Some could even go as far as to say that he is the personification of death. That he is the mortal incarnation of the reaper!”

“Imagine his surprise then, when a new Untethered from Earth catches the Reaper’s attention, judging him to be worthy enough to be blessed with his mark!”

“What is so special about you, Mr. Goliath? That you would be judged worthy by death itself?”