The evening started much the same as last time. Samuel took the assignment from Frank and Frost while I was hanging out in the back, not really wanting to confront Frank after the debacle that had been our meeting. But much more pertinent than that was the fact that I wasn’t confident in my ability to control my emotions or actions if I came face to face with Frost. The bitter taste of betrayal was still fresh in my mind and it was imperative that I didn’t tip off Frost in any way.
Mirroring the events from last time, Tom was instructed to join us on our excursion. I could barely restrain myself from finishing him with my scythe once he came into my sight. I vowed that this would be the last red Luna he would be seeing. Samuel hurriedly led us out of the club once he saw that I was losing control over my emotions.
We reached the area we were supposed to patrol without much ado. I basically knew this area like the back of my hands by now due to the number of times I had been here. I always kept an eye on Tom because I couldn’t be sure if he would proceed with his plan earlier than when he had executed it the last time around.
And that was the major conundrum I was dealing with this time around. I had no way of knowing whether events would follow the exact sequence it had done the last time. The fact that I could control the flow of time didn’t mean that I understood how time worked. I literally had no experience of anything like this happening to me before.
Already, things had changed due to my direct intervention. I had told Samuel about the actions of Tom, causing him to be wary of Tom. I had told Frank about the betrayal of Frost. Even if Frank would find it difficult to believe, it would at least serve to plant seeds of suspicion in his mind. Everything I had ever read in scientific books and fiction of the mortal world was that time followed the ripple effect. A single ripple could cause a variety of other ripples that I couldn’t begin to fathom. I was essentially going in blind.
Before long, we reached the exact spot where we had encountered the herd. Like last time, we waited in silence before becoming aware of the approaching herd of cyclops. We made short work of the cyclops once again, with Tom doing most of the work as he was eager to gain our short term trust while I was more concerned with keeping an eye on him.
We had arrived at the moment of truth. There was no doubt in my mind that the result of Tom’s actions wouldn’t be much better than last time if Samuel didn’t help me out from the beginning. And for that to happen, Samuel had to have a semblance of trust in my words. Knowing that it was highly likely that I would get shocked once again, I turned my back on the two of them, preparing myself for the worst.
This time around though, I made sure to keep a reasonable distance from Tom, so that I could take some action to avoid Tom’s strike and also give more time for Samuel to react. And so, I stood, fully prepared for the inevitable paralysing blow, hoping against all hope that Samuel would be quick enough to act and take control of the situation.
Except the blow never came. Instead of receiving a shock-inducing punch to my back, I heard a dull thud as a body hit the ground. I quickly turned around, expecting to see Samuel on the ground after being hit by one of Tom’s attack.
Instead, what I saw genuinely surprised me, in a good way. Tom was lying on the ground, looking dazed and completely out of it. His hands still held signs of the impending attack I would have been on the receiving end of, with electricity sparking through his entire arms.
Before I could so much as lift a finger, Samuel was on top of Tom, pummelling Tom’s skull. The sight would have been disturbing had it not been so satisfying to me personally. Samuel seemed to be completely lost in his absolute rage, as he kept hammering Tom with utter disregard for his life or his own fist’s wellbeing.
He finally stopped when it seemed like he had had enough. It seemed like he had done enough to leave Tom on the brink of death without actually killing him. Seeing Tom’s battered condition, I actually felt a little pity for him, as I could actually guess the pain, he must be in.
I was broken out of my musings by Samuel saying, “Well, I believe you now. What next?”
I looked at him with amusement before asking, “What happened when I wasn’t looking?”
He just shrugged and replied, “I was just keeping an eye on him, wanting to see if he made any untoward movement towards either of us. As soon as you turned your back on us, he started moving towards you with electricity gathered in his palms. That was all the evidence I needed before I punched him in the head before he could anywhere near you. But, seriously, what next?”
I just nodded at him, knowing that I didn’t need to voice my gratitude. I said, “Now we need to get you past whatever guard is left near the entrance of the council headquarters so that you can alert the Council. Tell them I sent you.”
He nodded towards, signalling his assent before saying, “Let’s go.”
We quickly moved towards the location of the entrance, knowing that time was of paramount importance. When we arrived there, we saw that only two Untethered were left guarding the entrance to the Council headquarters, with the rest seemingly with Frost.
We took a moment before gathering our bearings before we looked at each other and nodded. We rushed towards the two Untethered, banking on the element of surprise. It worked magnificently as the two were caught completely caught off guard. Before they could begin to comprehend what was going on, Samuel had punched one of them right in the gut, causing him to double over. I didn’t wait for him to get up as I thrust my scythe through his unguarded back.
I didn’t wait to see the results of my actions as I rushed towards the second guard, my scythe still lodged in the back of the first Untethered. He was currently engaged with Samuel and was doing an admirable job of holding off Samuel.
The odds suddenly turned against him when I joined the fray. I quickly slowed down the flow of time, completely disorienting him and causing him to rush through his attack which missed Samuel. That left Samuel with a window of opportunity where the guard was left completely unguarded. That was all the invitation he needed as he proceeded to punch him right in the face, knocking him out completely with just one hit.
We stopped to catch our collective breaths before I said, “Time for us to go our separate ways, I guess.”
Samuel just nodded at me before saying, “Yeah, you take care and hold off Frost for as long as you can. I will bring the reinforcements from the council as soon as possible.” We stood there in awkward silence for a few moments, not really comfortable with our emotions at that moment before nodding at each other and moving towards different directions.
The past events were completely out of mind as soon as I was within the range of the club. I was wondering if Frank had heeded my advice or had he already been captured by Frost and his allies. I expected to see some sort of battle going on among the Untethered, reminiscent of the last time around.
It was with these thoughts and expectations in my mind that I finally found myself in the vicinity of the club. But contrary to all expectations, it was quiet, with no signs of any conflict or aggression. In fact, it was almost too quiet, with no signs of any Untethered around me.
The entire area seemed to be abandoned and the atmosphere seemed eerie to the extreme, completely opposite to the usual humdrum this area experiences as there almost always Untethered moving in and out of the club.
It was with great trepidation that I opened the door of the club, horrific scenes of Frank and Lucy’s dead bodies surfacing in my mind. Instead, what I saw inside the club was confusing. The club seemed crowded, too crowded in fact. But the crowd didn’t lend any voice to the club. The club was literally pin-drop silent.
I moved through the crowd, hoping to catch sight of Frank or any other friendly face so that I could find out what was going on. The crowd seemed to be surrounding someone and I was curious to see what it was. Before I could move to the centre of the crowd, I was stopped in my tracks by the scene at the centre of the crowd.
Frost was there in the middle of the crowd, flanked by the three henchmen I had seen yesterday. He was facing Lucy and seemed to be conversing with her on some matter, with a mild tone and a smile on his face. I moved closer, trying to get an inkling of what their conversation was about. When I finally was in hearing range of their conversation, I was stunned by Lucy’s words.
“I don’t know where Frank has gone, Frost. I just know that he didn’t feel alright, especially after some things he became aware of.”, Lucy all but shouted.
“Oh, can I know what he became aware of,” asked Frost in a sweet voice, a voice I now knew to be fake.
Lucy seemed to struggle with herself for a moment before saying, “He just heard some rumours. That’s all I know.”
“Rumours?” Frost seemed genuinely curious about Lucy’s statement. “Rumours about what?”
Lucy replied hesitantly, “I don’t know. He never told me.”
I could hear the hesitation, the brief pause in Lucy’s voice and it seemed like Frost had picked up on it too.
“I don’t think you are being entirely truthful, Lucy. You should tell me. You know you can trust me, right?” At that moment I wanted nothing more than to go and rip Frost’s head off his shoulders, for sounding so genuine and so trustworthy when he would be the one who would eventually stab us in the back.
Lucy gained a stoic look on her face and it felt she wouldn’t be helping assuage any of Frost’s curiosity. Before I could release a sigh of relief though, Lucy’s voice startled me out of my wits as she shouted, “Rumours about you, Frost. Rumours about how the man Frank trusted with his life may not actually have his best interests in his heart.”
Hearing that, a dark gloom passed over Frost’s face and I became genuinely concerned for Lucy’s safety. But to his credit, Frost checked his emotions before asking Lucy in his usual friendly voice, “Can you tell me where Frank is? Or bring him here? It seems like there has been a huge misunderstanding due to some nasty rumours spread by someone with nefarious intentions, probably to sow seeds of mistrust between us.”
Lucy opened her mouth to reply, making me fear that she believed his words and would tell him Frank’s location before she caught herself. Instead, after a moment of self-deliberation, she just breathed out, “I really don’t know where Frank is.”
Frost was silent for a moment as if he was contemplating something before his face contorted in absolute fury. He just looked at Lucy with rage written all over her face before saying, “Then it seems like you have outlived your usefulness.”
Before anyone could comprehend what was going on, Frost had conjured a sharp icicle and rushed to stab Lucy with it. I looked on in absolute horror for a moment before I quickly concentrated on my core and proceeded to slow down time in the entire club and quickly made my way through the crowd to stop Frost.
But my split second of indecision proved costly as Frost reached Lucy just as I had reached the centre of the crowd, even with the time slowed down. Before I could take any action to stop Frost, he had already stabbed Lucy, the icicle going through her upper torso.
Before the sight, before my eyes could fully sink in, something bizarre happened. Lucy’s body began to go through a strange transformation. I could only watch on in fascination as Lucy’s body expanded just like a balloon as if being stabbed had filled her with air. The whole sequence of events culminated in Lucy’s body bursting with a loud pop, much like a balloon or a bubble gum.
The loud noise served to break the crowd out of its catatonic state, as the club broke out in a cacophony of noises. Even Frost was genuinely thrown off by this absurd sequence of events and it was clear to see by the expression on his face.
Among all the noise and general confusion, I became aware of slight movement behind the crowd, before the club became silent once more. I saw that someone was trying to move through the crowd and the crowd was happily obliging, parting like the red sea.
I could only watch on in astonishment as Frank and Lucy came to the centre of the club, facing Frost directly. That’s when it hit me. The Lucy Frost had stabbed had been just a copy, while the real Lucy had been safe outside the eyes of the crowd.
Frank and Frost just stared at each other before Frank said, “I would ask you the reason for your actions, Frost but frankly, I really don’t care. Just know that you aren’t getting out of this alive if I have anything to say about it.”
Frost was just silent for a moment before he burst out in a fit of laughter. “Ah, even in your final moments, you continue to amuse me. How are you going to kill me, Frank? Although I am curious, how did you know about my plan and why now, when I was so near my goal?”
And that’s when he caught sight of me and looked at me as if he was seeing for the first time before muttering, “Of course. Time travel.”
Then he addressed me, saying, “Tell me, David, this had all happened before, hasn’t it?” I could only nod silently at him, seeing no use in keeping this fact a secret.
He merely nodded to himself before a smile broke out on his face as if he had just received the greatest news in the world. He exclaimed, pure joy lacing his words, “But that means I succeeded. That’s the only reason you would come back. Because the events of last time didn’t go in your favour. Which means I got what I wanted. I transcended to the Status of a God.”
He composed himself before telling me, his voice neutral, “I have to admit, your troublesome ability has thrown a wrench in my plans. But I am afraid, David, that this will all be for nothing. I will still succeed and both of you still die.”
I didn’t say anything in return, not deigning to reply to his remarks. He then turned to Frank and said, “If it means anything, I am really sorry it has to be his way. You were and will always be my greatest creation. My magnum opus, if you will. We could have ruled together, with you being the general of the almighty God, Frost! If only you didn’t have such a useful power. If you wish to blame someone, blame your core for giving you such a desirable power.”
His words were only met with a steely silence before we all looked at each other, preparing for the inevitable conflict. Looking around me, I could see that the other Untethered had also separated into two factions, facing off against each other. As I watched all this, I could only hope that Samuel succeeded in convincing the council quickly and came back with reinforcements.
Everyone and everything was still for a moment, a moment in which even the red Luna seemed to be holding its breath. The stillness was cut through by a shout from Frank as he rushed towards Frost with the intent to kill. That was the signal the others needed as two factions rushed towards each other too, weapons in hand and abilities prepared. The war had begun!
