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.

But beyond all this, I felt guilt. I felt myself to be highly responsible for Samuel’s death. Would he have been in this situation if he hadn’t been partnered with a third-slotter? Would he have been in this situation if I had been stronger and not just watching helplessly from the sides as he was killed by his supposed friend? All these questions just served to increase the turmoil I felt within myself.

I picked up his body, hauling him on my shoulder and began walking towards the club, not sparing the dead body of Tom even a single glance. I was tired, hurt and my core seemed to be warring with me, urging me to rest. But I kept trudging on, letting the silence of the night take over. I walked towards the club in a daze, not really on the watch for any monsters that might take this opportunity to attack me. I had had enough for tonight. I just wanted to talk to Frost and hand over this entire mess of a situation to him and the rest of the council to handle.

Sadly, it wasn’t to be. The first indication I got that the night wasn’t over just yet was when I was about two blocks away from the club, I saw a scene that was eerily similar to the one of Tom and Samuel fighting.

Two Untethered were going at it, unmindful of their surroundings or any monsters that might be approaching. Now that I was broken out of my reverie, I could sense that similar conflicts were taking place around me. I could see the sound of weapons clashing and as I continued to walk towards the club, I could see that similar skirmishes were taking place throughout the place.

It was a full-blown war. Two sides of Untethered were in direct opposition to one another. And they were going at each other with the firm intent to kill. I couldn’t fathom the sight in front of my eyes. I was confused and shocked all at once. I didn’t know the cause of this war but I suspected that it had something to do what I had been suspecting for the past few days.

It seemed like the traitor had made his move. The scenes suggested that the traitor had given up all pretences of subtlety and just gone in for the kill. Something must have triggered this change in attitude on part of the traitor. I didn’t know what but I also didn’t have the time to contemplate these developments.

It was imperative that I reached the club as soon as possible and met up with Frost and Frank. I needed to get a sense of what was happening and conclude which side I was on and differentiate between my allies and the enemy.

With these thoughts in my mind, I rushed towards the club, fatigue and despair all but forgotten. I still had the body of Samuel on my back but I refused to just lay it just anywhere. I determined that it would be best to put his body at the club so that he could have a proper funeral when this whole mess was over.

Just outside the entrance of the club, I saw what would have been a bizarre scene in any other situation. Frank’s girlfriend, Lucy, was fighting three opponents at once. But Lucy wasn’t outnumbered as I could clearly see that three copies of Lucy were fighting the three enemies. I decided to tilt the balance a little so that the fight would be over quick and Lucy could provide me with a picture of what was going on.

I rushed behind the enemies, Samuel still on my back, before I just slowed down time for a few moments, throwing the opponents completely off their guard. That was all the invitation Lucy needed, as he proceeded to knock them out cold in quick order.

I rushed towards her, intent on finding out what was going on. I reached her and realised that she was in a full-blown panic mode. Before I could get a word out, she said, “David, Frank is in grave danger inside the club. You have to help him.” After that she completely lost control of herself and started crying and rambling, muttering something about “How could he do this?” and “Please help him.”

I tried to calm her down but she was beyond any help at the moment. I just laid down Samuel next to her and asked her to take care of the body. I didn’t wait around to see if she had understood me or even heard what I had said. If Frank was in danger, I needed to help him and fast. I couldn’t lose two people close to me in one day.

I kicked the door of the club open and entered. The sight that greeted was the most horrific I had seen that night, even more, earth-shaking than witnessing Samuel die at Tom’s hands.

There, in the middle of the club floor, lay Frank, barely holding on to his consciousness. He was bruised and battered and looked like he was at death’s door. But that wasn’t the most shocking part of the scene. Above him stood three guys who were now looking at me with sadistic grins on their faces.

At the centre of this group stood Frost, acting as if his student wasn’t laying on the floor half dead. He addressed the group surrounding him, with a tone that sent chills down my spine, as I hadn’t heard Frost ever sound so... evil. “Look, my friends, the chief guest of this evening has decided to grace us with his presence.”

And then he told me, in a tone so casual that he might have been discussing the weather, “Welcome, David. You have arrived at the perfect time. You are about to play a major part in the coronation of a God!”

And that’s when the horrible realisation struck me! The traitor I had been looking for, the answer had been right in front of my eyes. The traitor at the council, the one who had set up the traps, the one who was close to Tom and the only one who knew me so well.

Frost, a member of the Council of Twenty-One, two-slotter blessed with the ability to freeze anything and the man I had believed to be a mentor, a friend and a confidant and the strongest Untethered I had seen in action, was the traitor!