Path of the Berserker

I SPENT A few minutes investigating the ape’s body for a core. Sure enough, there was one, but quite small. Certainly not as big as I thought it would be for how strong it was. Perhaps it had been drawing strength from Threja’s sword.

That reminded me of the strange effect the sword had had upon me killing it.

Did the sword absorb part of the core perhaps?

So many questions, but I didn’t have time to be looking to them now.

After splinting Kelsey’s leg and applying a healthy dose of healing salve, I slung her onto my back, along with my axe and carried Threja’s sword on my shoulder as we made the trek home. It was a quiet journey. No one spoke, perhaps still traumatized by the ordeal and/or the giant, lightning-wielding titan travelling with them.

Besides the crunch of foliage beneath our feet, the only other sound was that of Kelsey gently snoring after her body finally gave into the pain and post adrenaline rush. By the time we reached the bunker she had awoken however, which turned out to be good timing as Susan was waiting for us accompanied by a squad of soldiers.

As soon as she saw Kelsey’s leg, she ran to us screaming.

“Kelsey! What happened! What happened to her!”

“Relax, Mom, I’m okay,” Kelsey said as I lowered her from my back. “It’s just a break.”

“Some things are best left unexplained, Susan,” Jim cut in. “Just know she’s okay now. Your boy Max here saw to that.”

I looked at Jim somewhat stunned. It was the first time he’d called me by my actual name, not to mention him backing me up in front of Susan. Maybe he had come around some on the walk back.

“We’re going to talk about this,” Susan said directly to Kelsey, her tone in full mom mode. She then went on a mini tirade about Kelsey not listening to anyone and putting herself in danger.

I sensed the anger building within her, but to her credit, Kelsey didn’t say a word through it all. When she finally did speak it was as if she was wearing a mask of [Indifference].

“I know, Mom, and I’m sorry, but I’m not going to stop.”

“What!”

“I’ll leave you all to it,” Jim said, heading for the bunker door with the rest of his men. “See you all out here at nightfall.”

Susan spun about perplexed as the soldiers passed her. “What did he mean by that?”

I eased the sword off my shoulder and slammed it into the ground. “Jim wants to see this thing in action for himself as proof.”

“And I’ll be here too,” Kelsey said.

Susan’s eyes widened with indignation. “You will not! Just look at yourself! And what really happened out there?”

“We killed a giant freaking gorilla, that’s what!” Kelsey said. “And it nearly killed us too. And I’d do it all again because Max needed me!”

“Kelsey, you’re not a soldier. You’re just a chil—”

“I’m 15, Mom!”

“Look… Susan,” I said with [Struggler’s Resolve] pushing in between them. “Everything you see Kelsey doing right now you can blame on me. I’ve lit a fire inside of her and it’s not going to just go out.”

I spoke it as a metaphor, but it was literal in this case.

Susan looked at me cockeyed all the same. “What?”

I released a sigh. “Kelsey is stronger than you know. She can even become as strong as me someday. But she’ll need guidance and instruction. Things that I can provide to some extent, but I’ll need to spend time with her. If that’s okay?”

“What do you mean spend time?” Susan said and then jutted her hand at Kelsey’s leg. “Time doing stuff like this?”

Probably… I wanted to say, but the Struggler thankfully kept my tongue in check.

“Max is going to be my teacher, Mom,” Kelsey said and then looked up at me for confirmation. “Right, Max?”

I smiled at her, even though I wasn’t sure if I even could become her teacher or not. Threja’s words came back to me when I had asked her to become my master.

“A Berserker has no master,” she’d said. “We have no sect. Even the manual I have given you, is but a guide. Rage, pain and struggle are our only true teachers.”

That was the key. Kelsey would have to go through this journey alone, and getting her a manual of her own would be a huge part of that. But until then, I would need to serve as Kelsey’s guide.

“She’s going to keep getting herself into trouble anyway,” I said. “It’s part of her DNA now. What I’m going to do is give her the tools to survive.”

“Survive? What are you—” Susan suddenly stopped herself and threw her hands up in the air. “You know what? I’m talking to two brick walls here.”

She then spun about and started heading for the bunker.

“I love you, Mom!” Kelsey called out to her with a cheeky smile.

Susan waved it away irritated.

Kelsey laughed. “Wow I think that may have worked. So, what’s the first lesson, teach?”

I glanced at Susan still walking away looking frustrated.

“The first lesson is to spend as much time with your family as you can.”

“Huh?”

I thought of my own family for a second. My parents and sister. I then thought of my present family—Yu Li, Gui Zu, Jian Yi and all the residents back home. “Having someone or something to fight for is one of the tenets of our faith.”

“Our faith?”

I chuckled inwardly. Perhaps I’d spoken too much. Although the Path of the Frenzied Flame was indeed a sort of faith. “I’ll explain more later. Now go on. Be with your mom.”

“But I want to train with you.”

“You will, but your mom needs to mother you right now,” I said and then gave her a nudge. “Go to her, Kelsey.”

Kelsey responded by giving me a deadpan stare. “Are you serious right now?”

“Trust me,” I said. “We’ll have years to study and train together, decades even, maybe even centuries.”

Her brow furrowed with incomprehension. “Centuries?”

“I’m not even exaggerating,” I said with a chuckle. “Actually, before you go, I do need to check something. Do you see any glowing writing on this?”

I showed her Threja’s sword, and she shook her head.

“Nope.”

“How about this?” I showed her the axe and got another head shake.

“What am I supposed to be seeing?”

“Nevermind, that’s it for now. Go spend some time with your mom. Get that leg splinted properly. I need to do some studying of my own to prepare for your first lesson.”

Kelsey grinned and then nodded. “Okay, see you at sundown, teach.”

She then began hobbling after Susan. “Mom! Wait up! I need you!”

Susan paused at the door of the bunker and then looked back at me. A bit of lemonade filled her heart as I gave her a nod and she mouthed the words ‘Thank you’. I waited for Susan to help Kelsey into the bunker and once finally alone I set Threja’s sword inside the crater Richards had made to dig it up and then sat on the lip of it to finally read from the sacred scrolls.

If Kelsey couldn’t see this, then it meant that Threja must have used some advanced form of writing technique to transcribe it. Something that perhaps only I could see after I ascended to the core realm or conquered the Fear of Certain Death. The only other possibility was that the Flame itself was revealing this to me and that Threja had not transcribed it at all, but I confirmed that couldn’t be the case as Kelsey had seen nothing on my axe either.

That meant I would need to transcribe the contents of the orb for her.

Not only for the purposes of her own insights, but the same way I had managed to master my mental refinement from spending hours staring into it would be hers to gain also. And when she had memorized it all she would eventually need her own orb to forge her weapon of choice.

All of that meant I needed to find more Corrupted Steel.

Not to mention that I would need to translate it all into English for her once I did get another orb. I could do it on paper, I supposed, but Threja had shared the orb and not a book for a reason. This was a clandestine path and I couldn’t go spreading it willy-nilly by writing some book on paper.

Only the Flame could reveal itself to those who followed the path.

And I needed an orb to do that.

But I needed to figure out how to write on the thing too.

After weeks of waiting, I finally dove into the scripts I had been longing for. As I stared at the tiny characters, they superimposed themselves within my mind’s eye, expanding to encompass my entire vision as I fell into a meditative state. I yearned to dive into the new shuras of philosophy and techniques that I saw as I scrolled by, but I’d just taken on a new responsibility and ensuring Kelsey proper education would have to come first.

After a few moments I found exactly what I was looking for.

Shura 943

On kindling Embers and spreading the Frenzied Flame.

A new excitement filled me as I began to read.

I had more than my own advancement to consider now.

I had a newly kindled Flame to stoke into an inferno.