Chapter 14

The sight of the lifeless body of a close friend and the imminent approach of one’s death is enough to make one sick to the stomach. I was no exception. Tom was approaching, probably to kill me, and I couldn’t even move my fingers. My body still felt as if all my nerves had been frayed and weren’t capable of passing messages to my limbs. I felt helpless as Tom reached me and mentally prepared myself for my inevitable death.

To my surprise, Tom said, “You are lucky that I have been instructed to spare you. It seems that you are still of some use, even though I can’t see what it possibly could be, the absolute waste of an Untethered that you are.”

For the first time in my life, I felt nothing but revulsion for a person. I wanted nothing more than to tear him apart, limb from limb. But I could say or do nothing. I just closed my eyes and tried to focus on my core, hoping to find a solution to my shock-induced paralysis. In my current state of mind, even trying to calm myself was proving to be a Herculean task.

What I found once I could focus on my core was shocking, to say the least. Instead of the vibrant and pulsing core, I usually found, I was astounded to discover that my core seemed devoid of motion in general, almost as if it had been paralysed too. I instinctively knew that whatever Tom had done had affected my core along with my body. I was also certain that inducing some sort of motion in my core was the solution to my own paralysis.

Unbeknownst to Tom, I had a trump card. A trump card I had acquired just yesterday. In this area itself!

Just beside my unresponsive core was another core, very small in size compared to mine but beating rapidly, much faster than mine had ever pulsed. The strings of both cores were just floating in the air, almost in contact with one another but never quite touching. I just did the first thing that came to my mind. I just connected one string of each core with one another and the change was immediate. My core gave out a faint sound before starting to beat rapidly but erratically, almost as if it was struggling to get back its rhythm after the long period of absolute rest.

But that was all I needed. I let go of the strings and came back to consciousness. It took me a few moments to gather my bearings before I realised that I was on the shoulder of Tom, being carried to wherever his unknown boss supposedly was. I don’t think he realised that I had regained my consciousness.

That was my only chance of getting out of this. Before Tom had an inkling of what was going on, I conjured my scythe and proceeded to stab him in his back. Sadly, in my weakened state, the attack was lacking in power as it didn’t finish him off in one strike like I had thought it would.

But the momentary shock and pain I had caused provided me ample opportunity to escape his clutches. I jumped off his back and assumed my attacking position, ready to commence my offensive.

Even in his injured state, Tom had the strength to turn towards and take what I suppose was a defensive stance, his palms blazing with his trademark electricity. Concentrating on my core and ability more than I had ever done, I rushed towards him, intent on finishing this off as quickly as possible.

Tom tried to dodge my first attack but he failed spectacularly. Let me tell you something, the feeling of being trapped at the moment when I am slowing down time is highly disorienting. That combined with his general sluggish thanks to the injury on his back rendered him completely useless when it came to avoiding my attack.

My scythe struck him in the centre of his chest, spilling a lot of blood. I didn’t stop at that though. I knew I had the advantage for just a few moments before my core would give out. I retrieved my scythe from his chest and struck once again, this time aiming for his neck. In a way reminiscent of the grim reaper, I completely separated his head from his chest.

I just stood there in shock, as the scythe vanished in the air around me. This was the first Untethered I had killed, even though he had been the one to initiate the killing.

I was overwhelmed with emotions. The absolute horror I had felt seeing Samuel die in front of my eyes, the sheer helplessness as I watched Tom play around with him before ending him. And now the shock and frankly, disgust I felt for myself, this situation and the Dimension and the Untethered in general, all seemed to form a volatile cocktail of emotions that had me just collapsing on my knees, unsure of what to do.

That was how the next few minutes, with me, just kneeling there, silent tears leaking from my eyes. But the current circumstances forced me to collect myself as some important tasks to carry out.

I had to rush to the club and inform Frost about what had happened. We needed to prepare fast, as the traitor had already made his move. I was hoping that the council could also be informed so that we could have the necessary reinforcements we required.

But most importantly for me at the moment, I had to take care of Samuel. Or rather his dead body. I couldn’t just leave him dead in the middle of the street. He deserved more respect than that, especially after all he had done for me.

I silently stood up and made my way towards where I knew Samuel lay. I reached him and the sight of him, lifeless with his eyes rolled to the back of his head, nearly had me in tears again. I couldn’t get over the injustice of what had happened, the fact that Samuel hadn’t met his demise at the hands of a monster. Frankly, that would have been acceptable, even if it would have been just as hard to take.

One of the earliest things you learn when you become an Untethered, especially if you happen to be a combatant and part of a patrol team, is that chances of you dying while going up against the monsters is very high. You accept that it just comes with the territory.

But Samuel hadn’t gone down that way. He hadn’t died holding off monsters and subsequently protecting others from the same. No, he had been betrayed and stabbed in the back by a person who was supposed to be watching his back. A comrade. And at that moment, looking at Samuel’s dead body, I vowed that I would put an end to the traitor and their nefarious intentions, once and for all.