Path of the Berserker

Kelsey crouched within the darkness of her spiritual domain, her spectral eyes fixed on the tiny red ember radiating a scant amount of Frenzy that resonated with her soul.

Two figures looked on with her, flanking her at her sides.

One was intimately familiar. Towering muscles and gray skin, with a shock of white hair—Ms. Venja in all her glory. The other was familiar as well, but in form only. There, standing opposite Venja was a spitting image of Max.

It was Xam—the spirit that now inhabited her axe, orrather, the small piece of Max’s soul that had brought her axe to life.

“So that’s Max’s kid, huh?” Xam said, looking at the tiny glowing ember illuminating the darkness between them. “Seems weak.”

“Weak?” Kelsey said with a scowl. “He’s just a baby! And what do you mean ‘Max’s kid’? Isn’t that like your nephew or something? Show some respect, man!”

Xam shrugged. “Just calling it like I see it. Plus, I’m my own man, Kelsey. Max is Max. I’m me.”

“I keep trying to tell her this,” Venja said.

“Well, yeah, no shit, V,” Kelsey said with a disgusted shake of her head. “Him and Max are as opposite as their damn names.”

Everything Kelsey knew about Berserkers said that this should be impossible, yet here it was. The first traces of an unkindled Flame.

“You tell me,” Kelsey said. “That’s why I brought him to you guys. Have you ever seen anything like this before?”

Xam folded his arms. “I have a few of Max’s memories from the Hell Worlds and some from when he was at the academy. But nothing like this, rings a bell. Smells like a real ember to me, though.”

“But how is it possible?” Kelsey asked. “Can a baby kindle an ember like this? Is it because it’s Max’s son? Or something else?”

Kelsey almost didn’t want to say it out loud, but she feared the trauma Fia faced in the ring had indeed affected the baby somehow. It made her wonder if little Bryce had faced death even before he was born.

“That’s a good theory,” Xam said, reading her thoughts. “He probably was at [Death’s Door] at some point.”

Kelsey rolled her eyes. “Keep forgetting my thoughts aren’t private in here.”

“They are,” Venja said. “Just not to us.”

Xam and Venja then shared a laugh.

“Damn weapons,” Kelsey muttered. “Anyway, there’s something else you guys need to see.”

Opening a window in her spiritual domain, Kelsey gave Xam and Venja a view of the outside world through her real eyes. There, nestled in Fia’s lap before her, was Bryce. The infant was just a few weeks old now, his cheeks rosy and bright. Kelsey was thankful to see him looking so well, but the true worry was no longer about his health. Fia had him resting face down in her lap while he napped, giving her a full view of the small, inverted triangle on the nape of his neck.

“See that?” Kelsey said, pointing to it. “That shape is too well defined to be anything natural. And it looks like a demonic gate to me.”

“So it does,” Xam said, nodding.

“I can’t sense any Dark Frenzy from it,” Kelsey said. “But I was hoping maybe you guys could maybe sense something I can’t?”

“I’ll have a closer look,” Venja said and leaned in towards the ember. Her eyes squinted for a moment and then shot wide open. “Oh…that’s not good.”

“What?” Kelsey asked. “What is it?”

“I can’t be 100% certain, but I do sense something there,” she said. “It’s small right now. But it will grow.”

* * *

Fia waited pensively while Kel Zhi meditated before her.

It was close to noon day now and the village center was abuzz with activity. People were returning from the fields with fresh produce, while others were setting up stalls for trade. There was not a huge amount of people within the village, but there seemed to be enough that each family had found a niche to pursue. Some grew crops using basic cultivation methods to enhance their yield. Others hunted for wild game and butchered their catches to provide fresh meat. There was also a smith of sorts who made and repaired tools. All told, it was a quaint and thriving community that seemed to work well together.

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Former residents from the Native Housing District soon came to intermingle with the villagers as they arrived within the square. The air quickly filled with a mixture of Yee and Terran language both as people struggled to communicate through an odd system of gestures, smiles and head nods.

They had been living here in the wilderness for nearly a month now, and in that time a lot had changed. The first few days were difficult, as she was healing from both labor and her wounds from battle, but Kel Zhi’s mother had made her a bed in her own home to rest and recuperate. In about a week, Kel Zhi and the men of Max’s village had constructed a house large enough to fit her parents and herself comfortably.

It wasn’t the finery of the Imperial City that she was accustomed to, but it was a shelter and given their circumstances a much appreciated one. From there she healed slowly, but the people of the village fawned over her like she was royalty.

Kel Zhi made a few trips back to the city in the weeks that followed, bringing with her fresh supplies, news from Jian Yi and even a few extra people who decided to make the trek out of the city with her.

The result was the population of Max’s village growing by some fifty people or more.

It was a strange sight to see people who all looked like Terrans, but that were as far removed in culture as cats and dogs. Still, there was a deep familiarity and bond that instantly seemed to form between them.

The elders of the village especially embraced the younger people from the city, some of them even bursting into tears of joy when they saw them. Max had explained how important this village was. That how this was the last remnant of his original home world and how his society might be reborn from it. But to see it unfolding with her own eyes sparked a sense of wonder within her soul like nothing else.

They were still all strangers essentially, but the strong bonds Max had forged on both sides were self-evident in the way the two groups immediately embraced one another. It made her even more proud to be with someone like Max. And soon, she hoped to be with him again in the flesh.

“So… what exactly is she doing?”

The question came from Yu Li, who was sitting next to her. She stared at Kel Zhi while simultaneously fending off little Su Ling who was pulling at the sleeves of her robes.

“It my turn to hold baby!” she yelled. “My turn!”

“Hush, Su Ling!” Yu Li chided her. “He’s not a toy.”

“But he my cousin!”

Fia laughed. “Yes. Yes, he is, little Su Ling. Auntie Fia will let you hold him soon, okay? Right after Auntie Kel Zhi finishes her meditation.”

Su Ling pouted and sat down, folding her arms crossly. “Okay. But my turn soon!”

“So again,” Yu Li asked. “What is she doing exactly?”

Fia eyed Kel Zhi as she sat in lotus position with both the massive sword and axe laying across her lap. “She said she needed to commune with the spirits within those artifacts to see if anything is wrong with Bryce.”

“Wrong how?”

Fia pointed to the mark on the back of the baby’s neck. “Kel Zhi said there was something ominous about the shape of this birthmark. She fears it might have something to do with the Awakened Demon she and Max slew that night.”

Yu Li bit her lip, looking worried.

“I know,” Fia said, anxiety building within her own stomach now. She decided to change the subject. “Have you heard the latest from Jian Yi?”

Yu Li nodded. “Kel Zhi shared the letter with me when she got back. I have to hand it to her. Being so professional even in a time like this. Who has time to write an actual letter, right? Anyway, she said the Warden is running amuck back home, placing new hardships on the Terran Community wherever she can.”

“Like what?”

“She’s tripled the taxes and even tried to invoke that crazy mixed-race thing.”

“What?”

“It’s a good thing Kel Zhi got us out of there when she did. Our children would not be safe. Jian Yi is doing her best to counteract it through the courts though. She believes the Warden will do anything ahead of her match with Max to antagonize him.”

“But why? Did she not see how powerful he has become? Does she seek to provoke his wrath intentionally?”

“Maybe,” Yu Li said. “She already thinks you and the baby are dead. That would mean she thinks Max would be coming for her head regardless.” Yu Li then shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe she’s taking a last act of vengeance out for her nieces before she dies.”

Fia shook her head. It was ridiculous, cruel and petty all at the same time.

But knowing her Great Aunt, it was perhaps accurate on all accounts.

“Max can’t come home soon enough,” Fia said.

“Do you think we’ll be able to go back to the city then?”

“I don’t know. I hope so. Eventually.”

“Me too,” Yu Li said blowing out a sigh. “This place is nice and all but I’m a city girl not a country girl.”

Fia laughed. She could only imagine what possibilities Max’s return held for them. The city was currently a mess, that was true. But when Max returned to face the Warden, he would control the entire province when he won.

“We just need to be patient, I guess.”

Kel Zhi’s eyes suddenly flashed open.

Her reanimation was so abrupt that it startled her.

“Kel Zhi?” Fia said.

Her eyes focused and she looked directly at Fia. “I have good news and bad news.”

“What does that mean?” Yu Li asked shuffling closer.

“There is something there,” Kel Zhi said, pointing to the birthmark. “It’s very small and not dangerous for now, but as he grows up, we think it could allow an influence of Demonic Qi to… I dunno. Affect him somehow?”

Fia’s heart leapt with fright. “What?”

“I think its going to be okay, though!” Kel Zhi said quickly.

But far too quickly for Fia’s liking.

“Tell me the truth, Kel Zhi,” she said. “What’s going to happen to Bryce?”

Kel Zhi remained quiet for a moment and then sighed.

“I honestly don’t know, Fia. But that symbol represents a gate of sort. To the demonic realm. That bastard must have put it on him, before we sent him back to hell.”

“What bastard?” Yu Li said.

Kel Zhi shook her head. “Never mind his name. Just know it’s like the source of the Demonic Qi. Which means it’s pretty serious.” She then looked back to Fia and frowned. “Sorry, Fia.”

Fia barely heard her.

She was beside herself, her heart pounding with fright.

She looked down at her newborn child and felt as if she were losing him all over again.

“What do we do?” she said. “We need to do something!”

But Kel Zhi looked at a loss for words.

This can’t be happening, Fia thought.

“What about the artifacts?” she said. “Did you commune with them? What did they say?”

Kel Zhi frowned again. “They could only tell me so much, Fia. They’re not all knowing.”

Her stomach was sick.

She almost wished Kel Zhi hadn’t told her.

“We need to wait on Max,” Kel Zhi said. “He’s experienced a lot more of this stuff than any of us have. And no way is he going to let anything bad happen to his son.”

Fia nodded. She was right of course, but it still did little to ease the anxiety in her soul.

“Don’t worry,” Kel Zhi said again. “We just have to be patient. Max will know what to do.” She then paused a moment. “I hope.”