Chapter 7

A whole month passed with me following the same cursed routine. Training, patrols, rest, repeat. And contrary to my experiences the first night of patrol, there were no more monsters strong beyond the norm. In fact, I could handle most of the monsters myself, without any assistance from Samuel.

Speaking of Samuel, that guy was a big, hard reality check. I had assumed, incorrectly, that since his ability hadn’t yet unlocked, he would not be that great in the field. I had experience patrolling with the likes of Frank and Frost, I was sure patrolling with Samuel would pale in comparison. I couldn’t be more wrong if I tried. The guy was a monster in his own right, his lack of an ability not hindering him in any way.

Today, though, was not going to be an ordinary day. There would be sparse training and no patrol. No normal ones, at least. You see, today was the night Luna, the second moon would be red again, after my first night as an Untethered. Due to mishaps of the last time and the attack of the hell-kite, Frost had arranged for double the usual patrols for tonight. There was a sense of anticipation welling inside me, borne from the fact that the last time Luna was red, there had been great breakthroughs for me, personally. Through some trials and tribulations, I had become an Untethered and had received my tattoo too, all on the same day.

Don’t get me wrong, the last month had been great, training-wise. Samuel was a great teacher, although not the ideal one. He was never one for praise, always pushing me to the extreme so that I don’t waste my potential. It wasn’t that I was ungrateful, it’s just that I needed some form of credit and encouragement from time to time.

I did receive a lot of encouragement though, from unexpected sources. Random Untethered pulling me away from some task, just so they could wish me good luck. If any Untethered encountered us on our patrols, they would take huge pains to introduce themselves to me and praising me for going on patrols, as if they weren’t doing the same thing themselves, much to Samuel’s consternation. To add insult to injury, they acted as if Samuel wasn’t even there. This hero worship was getting on my nerves frankly but due to the risk of sounding ungrateful, I didn’t voice my feelings.

Frank and Frost had been no help in that regard, though. They were only too happy to let me wallow in my misery if they were not actively adding fuel to the fire. On a personal level though, they were a major help. Frank still treated me normally and buffered my introduction to the Untethered in general. He was always happy to listen to my frustrations regarding my training, my patrols and the lack of a true challenge. Frost was a stable leader of the Untethered in general, happy to offer help to whoever asked it. No one would be able to replace Frank in his eyes though. All in all, my social life was much different from the one I had in the mortal world. From the social pariah to the guy who everyone yearns to befriend, it was a complete shock for me.

On another note though, the month had been frustrating and disappointing. I had been fighting monsters and training hard, growing by leaps and bounds. Or, at least, that’s what Samuel said once when he was in a sociable mood. But I couldn’t help but find myself disappointed. Maybe it was because of the never heard of progress I had made on my first day as an Untethered, but my recent progress had me tearing my hair off. I did not doubt that I was improving but there was just no tangible evidence for it. Samuel still whooped my ass in training, although, to be fair, I lasted longer nowadays and could even land a few punches on him sometimes, if I was lucky. But the lack of challenging monsters and no other training partner other than Samuel made it very difficult to measure me against some level or even someone.

But, by far, the most perplexing and mysterious thing of the past month was the arrival of Emma in my life. The angelic girl was an enigma, always finding ways to talk to me or offer me guidance. Most of the times though, she was just trying to gauge my intentions or my thoughts. I would have thought she was flirting with me or trying to gain my attention, just because I was ‘special’, but no, she was aloof most of the time. Not in the playing hard-to-get way but the couldn’t-care-less-if-you-live-or-die way. But much to my display, I found myself developing a schoolboy crush on her. She was definitely a mystery that I couldn’t even begin to comprehend the depths of.

It was with these thoughts in my mind that I reached Frost’s club. There was a large crowd gathered there. Unlike the crowd of other nights though, this was a group consisting mostly of fighters. Patrol groups were made of two, three or even four members, depending on the individual strengths of the people making up the group. Groups were never tinkered with though; Frost was high on teamwork. The fact I had been given to Samuel as his sole partner was a testament to the promise Frost saw in me. At least partly. It was also because Samuel was without a partner and no one was available. And no one, not even Frost, could patrol alone. That made Samuel angsty and that made Frost give me to him as a partner, even though I was a complete rookie. I suspect I would have joined Frank and Frost in their patrol group if things had been different.

When it seemed like everyone had gathered, Frank began giving out his instructions. “Okay, as you all probably know, the last red Luna coincided with a series of mishaps. I think it’s in everyone’s best interests that the amount of patrols is increased from now on red Luna nights. We don’t want any causalities in our ranks, nor do we want any interference from monsters in the mortal world. That’s why I have selected various sectors for each of you to patrol. It’s very important to maintain communication, so keep on the lookout for any distress signals or calls from others.”

After that he unveiled a map which had various areas marked, I guess indicating where a group would be patrolling. I was surprised to see that the map contained more than the city itself. In fact, it seemed to contain the whole country. My mind was boggled. I quickly turned to Samuel and asked, “Why is Frost handing out responsibilities for the whole country?”

Samuel just replied, “The entire country falls under the jurisdiction of Frost when it comes to the matter of the Untethered.”

‘What?’, I mentally screamed. Why had no one bothered to mention it to me? Before I could ask any more questions though, Samuel just put his index finger, signalling me to remain silent. I felt like a petulant child being told off by his teacher. The shame!

When most of the crowd had been assigned its duties, we finally reached Frost and Frank to get our own assignment.

It was Frank, surprisingly, who designated us with our duties. “Samuel, you will be staying near the general area of the club. This city is where most of the monsters gather anyways, so we are assigning a major chunk of our forces here. You think you can handle it?”

Samuel just nodded before proceeding to walk out the door. I quickly followed him but not before showing a thumbs up to Frank, as he looked stressed with the various duties he had to perform.

I caught up to Samuel and finally asked the questions I was dying to know the answer to. I enquired, “Hey, what did you mean that the whole country was under Frost’s jurisdiction? Is he some sort of appointed leader or something?”

To my utter disappointment though, Samuel refused to answer my question, saying it was a question for another time as it would take a lot of time to explain the facts. I was not discouraged though. I had more questions to ask, after all, and I was determined to get some answers.

“Were all the Untethered of the country in that club right now? I mean, if they were, I have to say, we aren’t that many.”

Samuel looked at me like I was a fool for even asking that question. For a moment I thought he wasn’t going to dignify me with a response, but then he said, “No, of course not. They were more like representatives from certain areas of the country. Kind of overseers of certain areas whom Frost trusts enough to hand out responsibilities to.”

I nodded at that. That made much more sense, of course. While we were walking towards our destination, we ran into the enigmatic beauty that is Emma Turner. Like a lovesick puppy, I quickly greeted her, my actions earning a snort from the normally reserved Samuel. To top it off, Emma didn’t respond to my greeting, preferring instead to just say to Samuel, “Be careful out there.” Samuel responded, in a tone as dry as stale bread, “I will.”

I preferred to stew in my embarrassment rather than speaking and somehow making the situation worse, although I had no idea how that could happen.

To my utter surprise, it was Samuel who initiated the conversation this time around though. “You should stay cautious of her. She has more puzzles and mysteries stored in that brain of hers than a sphinx on a sandy day.”

That stoked my curiosity. “Okay, do you know her somehow? And more importantly, are sphinxes real?”

Samuel just responded with another snort of amusement. What’s happening? Does Samuel become fun on red Luna nights? I was broken from my train of thought by Samuel saying, “You really should stay careful.”

I could see that he was serious and just responded with, “ I can take care of myself, don’t worry. And what about the question regarding sphinxes? I really want to know.”