Berserker

Uriel opened his eyes to an unfamiliar environment. The whole place was pure white and seemingly endless. He looked down and realized he was standing up. He could have sworn he was fighting Hari just a moment ago, so what was he doing here? And more importantly what was this place.

He then heard a cold voice that sounded severely unimpressed "Pathetic, you let go so easily at the sight of a drop of blood."

"Who are you?" Shouted Uriel into the void. "What do you want?"

"What I want is not important, not now at least..."

Uriel wanted to ask the voice some follow up questions but as his lips were beginning to part he started to feel light-headed and his vision started to darken as he passed out.

.

.

.

Uriel started to open his eyes once again. This time he was in a room. It wasn't a big room it only had a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe. The bed was a modern bed with a minimalistic black frame and a simple black headboard.

The desk was white with a black wooden top. It had nothing on it and looked slightly dusty. An office chair was underneath the desk. A wardrobe stood on the opposite side of the room to the desk. It also followed the black and white scheme.

However unlike the bed and the desk. The wardrobe wasn't minimalistic. It was black covered in white dots which Uriel realized were stars and the wardrobe was covered in constellations.

The walls were painted white and the floor had wooden floorboards. Glancing down the side of the bed, Uriel noticed a round fluffy looking dark grey carpet and on top of it two white chairs. He scratched his head and wondered where he was and why was he there.

"Hehehe" He couldn't help but chuckle at the familiar situation and silently prayed that someone will soon come to explain to him what was going on.

'Creak'

As if someone heard his message, the door to the room slowly opened. Walking through the door were Hari and Leo. As they walked in Uriel couldn't help but notice their expressions. They both looked tired and thin.

Just as he was about to call out to them, Leo noticed that his brother was awake. His eyes finally looked like they cleared up and gained their light back however tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

Hari who was behind Leo and hadn't spotted Uriel yet went in front of her brother to take a look at him then teasingly elbowed him in his side and while trying to hide her laugher behind her hand "Why are you crying, you big baby?"

"L-look b-b-brother is awake!" Hari looked in the direction he pointed, despite knowing quite well who else was in the room she still couldn't help but turn.

When she saw her brother she hopped in the air and appeared right by him before leaping into him. "BROTHER!"

Her body flew into him causing him to fall back down. With the contact, he felt pain all over his body and realized all the muscles in his body were sore.

He had trained and worked out his body ever since he could remember. However, this was the first time he felt sore to this extent.

He was always diligent in his training and his grandfather was very strict with him and wouldn't accept anything short of perfection so he pondered as to what the reason was.

"...y… HEY!" Shouted Hari into Uriel's ears "Are you even listening to me?"

Uriel looked at his sister who went to sit in one of the chairs by the bed. Leo had already sat on one however his head was hidden deep within the hood of his coat.

"Sorry, sorry I wasn't listening" Uriel answered with honesty causing Hari to pout slightly and turn her head away.

Uriel heard her mumbling "I can't be upset if you apologize…: He chuckled internally at the adorable reaction before looking at Leo.

Seeing Uriel turn his attention to her other brother, she nudged Leo in his side indicating it was time to stop being shy and take his hood off.

He took his hood off revealing his face. Uriel blinked in slight disbelief at how red and snotty his brother's face was.

"Leo the Cowardly Lion" Uriel thought to himself. He then asked his siblings "W-what happened, where am I, what is this place?" Uriel asked questions rapidly in quick succession causing both Hari and Leo to frown slightly and ask in unison "What do you mean, what happened?"

"I can't remember anything after I dodged Hari's attack. Did I not dodge the attack and pass out thanks to it?" Hari and Leo paled slightly.

A moment of silence passed. Both Hari and Leo looked as if they wanted to open their mouths and talk but neither knew what to say exactly.

How do you explain to someone that they lost control and went berserk turning into someone with monstrous strength? Leo was about to be courageous and explain what happened but fortunately for him (not so much for his courage), Alin walked into the bedroom.

The three children saw the large older man and called out to him as he started walking further into the bedroom.

"Gramps!"

"Grandfather!"

"Alin!"

Alin smiled internally but his face remained expressionless and indifferent. The children all knew their grandfather's personality and were curious as to why he didn't react at all to the triple combo attack, especially when the grandchild he spent the most time with has just woken up after being injured.

Alin had reached Uriel and his bed. He stood right by his side and looked down at Uriel's face. "I see you are awake. Hmm, quicker than I anticipated." Alin raised one of his eyebrows at Uriel's visible confusion.

"Hmm, you look as if you were wondering what happened."

Uriel nodded at Alin's astute observation eagerly using all the strength he could muster despite feeling as if his body was made of jelly and barely being able to move a muscle.

"I knocked you out, this is a room within Expor's compound. It is unused as it was made for you. Lucky for us Expor changed the sheets and hoovered slightly while you and Hari were duelling."

Alin then moved his right index finger across the desk that was slightly behind him and saw that a large amount of dust had appeared on his finger.

A scowl appeared on his face before he scoffed "From the looks of it he has gotten quite lazy. I will have him deal with this filth soon"

He looked back at the kids, their faces told him 'That's not what he/I wanted to hear'

He resisted the urge to sigh "At the sight of your blood you went into a berserker state. Your eyes turned red and your physical strength grew to unnatural levels for humans."

"Berserker state?" Leo spoke up without stuttering causing a slight shock to everyone present within the room.

"It is a rare state of mind that happens most commonly to Orcs. Their mind goes blank giving into their pure battle instincts. Your blood starts flowing faster throughout your body causing your temperature to rise. Your muscles temporarily grow in size and you start to feel no pain. "

"It is a powerful technique that can turn the tides of battle however it has extreme side effects. First of all, you do not remember anything from the moment you entered the berserker state to the moment you wake up meaning anyone who dies within this state is not even aware of it."

"The second side effect you should be feeling right now"

Uriel nodded "Yes, all my muscles feel sore. I can barely move my mouth." Uriel closed his eyes and smiled helplessly while saying this.

"Hmm, you should be glad that you are feeling pain. The last side effect is a simple one. If you are in the state for too long or too often you risk losing your mind permanently. You will stay in the berserker state no matter what happens causing you to mindlessly fight and slaughter innocent lives until someone puts a stop to you."

He looked directly into Uriel's eyes and firmly commanded "Make sure you do not enter that state unless your life is threatened. The only way to get out of it is to get knocked out or pass out from exhaustion and that is dangerous in its own way."

Alin turned around and started walking away "Well I guess I will let you rest a bit more. Tomorrow will be a big day so rest well all of you."

"W-wait" Uriel stopped Alin in his tracks.

"Hmm?"

"Who won the fight between me and Hari?"

"Hari did"

"Oh" frowned Uriel before beaming into a smile "I guess I still have a long way to go and will just have to train harder"

Alin continued to walk out of the room as he smiled. He was going to tell the kids how if he didn't knock Uriel out at that exact moment his sister might have lost her hand in the best-case scenario. However, he had decided against it as he saw this as a good motivator for Uriel and didn't want to frighten his adorable little battle bunny.

As Alin had this thought a chill went down Hari's spine. She suddenly felt very fortunate and thankful but also slightly irritated for no apparent reason.