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?”

Saying that she threw me against a wall which I was crashed into. My bones and muscles seemed to protest mightily as I tried to get up to face this insanely strong woman.

“You are wrong.”

“Hmm, whatever do you mean, Mr. Goliath?”

“This mark. The Grim Reaper’s mark. It isn’t a blessing. It’s a curse that I never wanted. I never wanted to be noteworthy for this stupid tattoo.”

That earned him a scowl from his adversary. “That only further proves that you are unworthy, unable to appreciate the gift for what it is.”

She was in front of him in a flash, kicking him before he had fully gotten up. The force behind the kick made him crash through a building.

Before he could even gather his bearings, Proatblad was in front of him once more as she said, “Get up. Prove to me why the reaper would choose you instead of a king like Sol Syntrivon. Get up!”

It took him all his strength and all his will to get up and try to strike her. As soon as he took a step towards her, he received a punch to the gut, causing him to double over, blood pooling in his mouth.

David knew he couldn’t take this punishment for much longer. Lying on the ground, he concentrated on his core, trying to draw out as much power as he could for one final shot.

Activating his ability, he rushed towards his enemy. Everything around him had slowed down. This was the fastest he had ever felt after activating his ability, the best he could do with the current mastery of his ability.

He arrived before Proatblad before she could even blink, scythe in hand, ready to tear her apart. Before anyone could possibly react, he had swung his scythe, fully intending to take Proatblad’s head off.

Only to fail miserably!

No sooner had he brought his scythe down than the air around him collapsed before exploding in a fraction of a second. The impact of that explosion caused him to be thrown backward, landing in a pile, dazed and unsure of what had just happened.

“Ah, the famed control over time!”

“Strong ability. Pity that such a valuable power has been gifted to such a weak and unworthy wielder.”

“I find myself disappointed. Almost irritatingly so. You are weak and unworthy of everything that you have and are destined to have.”

He saw her face approaching his own as she continued, “I wish I could grant you the mercy of a swift end. But alas, I can’t. Sol Syntrivon’s interest means that you will be on a table for a long time, in excruciating pain for however long it takes my leader to find out everything about you. And then you meet the Reaper.”

She proceeded to pick him up and haul him over her shoulders, only to have to suddenly jump back when the shadows around began to dance and surround her and begin to move towards her, with sharp edges.

She was forced to drop him as she found herself surrounded on all sides by the shadows. Before she could completely evade the intruding shadows she found herself under attack by a torrent of stars that sought to burn her to a crisp.

The brief second it took for her to weave around the falling stars all around her was all the time it took for a tendril of shadow to grab her ankles and pull her towards it, before all the shadows began to coalesce around her into a ball, surrounding her like a cocoon.

“I hope we didn't arrive too late, David.”

David found himself being picked up by the owner of that familiar voice.

“Shadow! I would say that you were almost too late.”

“Sorry about that.”

From his position of Shadow’s shoulder, he saw Nova approaching them with the rest of the Council and Eirini just behind.

Everyone looked towards the cocoon of shadows that Shadow had created, waiting for some signal to indicate that its captor was weak or unconscious.

Contrary to all expectations though, tears began to form over the shadows before it was completely ripped with a massive gust of wind.

“That was unexpected.”

Proatblad looked towards their group as she said, “Ah, the Council of Twenty-One. The weak leadership of a weak planet.”

Nova replied, his voice characteristically stoic, “Why don’t we find out?”

“You misunderstand me. You might be weak but I don’t underestimate my opponents or overestimate myself. I can't take on all of you at once. I know that. I have accomplished my mission here anyways. Determining the threat level of the Reaper’s chosen. He is no threat, I am afraid. Your hopes are resting on the wrong person.”

“That’s for us to determine, isn’t it?” Eirini spoke up that point, having come to the front of the group and currently looking at Proatblad with a steely gaze.

“Prince Eirini. I didn’t expect to see you here. Have you finally given up the farce of honour and abandoned your planet with your tail between your legs? If you pledge your allegiance to us, I promise you, Sybtrivon will be benevolent.”

Eirini was quick to retort. “I will tell you when I want advice from a tyrant’s dog, Proatblad. You would be wise to leave.”

All he received was a mirthful chuckle in response. “Touched a nerve, did I? Don’t worry I am leaving. I have no desire to stay on this planet for much longer. The air here is filthy.”

As soon as she finished speaking her words, a small spaceship arrived which she boarded immediately. The spaceship left Earth with haste, leaving us in its wake.

Fatigue seemed to overtake my body just after as I found myself leaving the land of consciousness.