Over the next week, by this worlds standards that must be at least two or weeks from my world, Sy put me through my paces as he started a rigorous training regime to get me ups to scratch. Worryingly, in this period I hadn’t had any form of contact from Fidget and concern was starting to creep in about her welfare. Sy had told me not to worry that she went of grid like this all the time and that when she needed to she would be back in touch.

The training had been gruelling to say the least, it turns out Sy was somewhat of a task master with his training and his methods were somewhat unorthodox. The other day he had me trying to balance on one leg all day while he tossed these strange nuts at me called Raenuts, they were about the size of a hazelnut and turns out when Sy flicked one it was like being hit by a paintball gun at close range. By the end of the day my body was peppered in bruises of different shades of purple. I didn’t want to waste resources so I just had to deal with it. Raven had found the whole thing hilarious, she would, she had the agility of a cat ninja, if that was a thing, why wouldn’t it be. She could balance all day on one leg without issue and dodge everything that Sy threw at her and trust me he tried, not once had he managed to catch her with a Raenut and his frustration on this was telling.

He had me climbing up and down trees, over and over again, some thin some thick, I preferred to climb the thinner trees than the big trees they were more reliant on my upper body streghth which I was still developing. No sooner would I get to the top he would demand I climb straight back down and repeat it over and over again. At first it would take me forever to climb up, but I was gradually getting better, still not perfect by any stretch. He even showed me how fast he could climb up and down and it was ridiculous, it was like he was part monkey, part tiger, the man was a completely different kind of animal.

For cardio he head me doing a combination of running around the jungle gym and strange exercises that felt like a HIT class, he started of with high intensity and it only got worse from here. The one saving grace here, was that my asthma wasn’t as bad as back home, in fact it didn’t seem to be bothering me at all, which was a good thing as I had no inhaler on me. It was strange being able to run and I actually found that for the first time I actually kind of enjoyed it, which was something I never imagined myself ever saying.

For strength training Sy had me using the stone weights he had fashioned and I had started off with the lowest ones, he would show me different positions to get into using the largest of the weights which initially made me feel kind of inadequate but he had told me not to worry and that over time we would build up the weights and that was ok. Still it was pretty intimidating to see him lifting the heaviest weights and getting frustrated as he wanted to go heavier but didn’t have anything in the gym to facilitate this. I would chuckle from time to time at the different postures he would make while demonstrating a new exercise, each one designed to target a different muscle. I couldn’t help but notice that the shapes he would make, would often leave him posturing like a duck, especially when we were working on my back or chest, he would squat down, stick his ass out and keep his chest upright and proud. I had lost count how many times he had made the duck reference, while Mal and Magenta watched on as he continued to patiently train us.

I say us but I wasn’t sure if Raven would class it as training, her skills were so far beyond me it was borderline embarrassing, the monkey bars, and the pit where she would fight agains the manackin, practicing her moves as she danced around it with a speed that would often leave her looking like a blur. It was insane watching her and again I kind of felt inadequate when compared to the two of them, I was so far behind.

Yes I was getting better but I was still clunky and clumsy, I felt stronger and fitter but I hadn’t been any physical change. My favourite part of the day was swimming in the lagoon, this was when I was at my most relaxed and the waters seemingly had some kind of healing qualities to them. I would spend what I assumed was hours swimming up and down, finding it a relaxing way to unwind after long brutal days of training with Sy. After swimming in the bright blue waters, I would find that my muscles no longer ached, that and cuts, grazes or bruises that I had would fade to nothing and I would come out with more energy than when I went in.

If you could bottle that water up, all then we would be millionaire’s, back home anyway. Even here the water must have some value, even the water felt different on my skin, it was a perfect balance between hot and cold, the perfect temperature for swimming and it had a slightly thicker consistency of normal water but somehow it made it easier to swim not harder.

On this day in particular I was in the training pit sparring with Raven, I was yet to land a jab on her as she weaved in and out of my own shadow to sucker punch me more times than I would have cared to remember. Sy stood on the sides like a boxing trainer, shadow boxing as he mimicked each and every punch that Raven landed on me which was many. That didn’t stop me from giving up however and I continued to jab and swing at her, a hint of a growl going in the back of my throat as my frustrations were starting to rise.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

“Well that’s one hundred missed jabs now,” Sy laughed as he continued to jab in the air, he mimicked Raven as she shot out of my shadow to slap me across the face with a gleeful smile. She was mocking me now…

“She’s too fast,” I said, panting heavily, I was covered in sweat and my arms felt like dead weights, we had been training like this for quite some time but Sy continued to push us.

“Sounds like n excuse,” Sy said, his tone was harsh, almost like he was yelling at me, maybe he did feel disappointed in what I could do.

“Your strength and agility have definitely improved since we started training but wow, for a berserker you really are bad at fight- wooo” He hollered as Rave sprung out again this time. Hitting me with a jab to my stomach.

It was enough to cause me to stagger back and lean forward as I tried to catch my breath, the wind being knocked out of me.

"You need to stop worrying about your guard so much, are you forgetting you're supposed to be a berserker. You should really start acting like one. Offense, over defence, your skills will compliment that style, you need to be able to adapt to your enemy and shit, if you can’t adapt to raven in here you are not going to last two seconds out there.”

“Do you not think I know that?” I snapped, sweat was dripping from the end of my nose, I was tired, my arms ached and my face and body throbbed form all the attacks I had taken from Raven. She seemingly was enjoying every second of this as she finally stood still in front of me, her arms crossed with a smugness that made me want to throw her into the lagoon.

“Raven did Silas just raise his voice to me?” Raven raised and eyebrow then looked at me.

I shook my head at her, almost begging her without saying a ward she raised her hands gave me the double bunny gesture then nodded to Sy.

“That’s what I thought,” Sy said. He rubbed his hands together like he was happy about what he was now going to make me do.

“Duck drops, I want one hundred of them, now.”

“Shit!” I cursed as Raven set about laughing silently, she sat on the floor crossing her legs as she got to rest while I was blasted even more.

I hated duck drops, they were literally the worst exercise, not only did they wreck my legs and my back, they were humiliating. Clearly Sy’s way of teaching me to quit answering back but it was hard, especially since I had this berserker class, it felt like there was a constant fire in my beady, like I was craving confrontation at time, even though in my head it was the last thing that I wanted.

Letting out a sigh I did as Sy asked and squatted down, sticking my ass out and keeping my chest upright, my arms were crossed across my the front of my chest so that my hands touched my shoulders. I completed the first one and my legs were already burning, only ninety nine more to go.

“Are you not forgetting something.” Sy said, there was a sterness in his tone.

Like a petulant child I huffed as I started the next duck drop.

“Quack,” I said with as much enthusiasm as you could imagine.

“That’s more like it,” He said with a satisfactory grin.

Mal and Magenta started quacking to one another where they were sat by Sy and it felt like even they were mocking me, having a giggle at my expense.

By the time I was done with the duck drops I had learnt my lesson, I was tired, like really tired and Sy knew that he had pushed me as hard as he could today. I was now in the lagoon, taking a swim like I did every evening since we got here, there was something about being in the water that made me feel like I was at peace. My sour mood was pretty much gone, my growing frustrations a distant memory on what had seemingly been the longest day of training. I had had to endure four rounds of duck drops through the day, a record by my standards, but Sy was pushing me harder every single day. I just wanted to be better, I just wanted to be ready. The water streamed around me as as I swam up and down at a slow and steady pace, I was glad I was in a better mood, I didn’t like getting angry and I didn’t like stomping around like a stroppy teenager. Sy was offering to help me, and I needed help more than ever. Even if I questioned his methods at time, it was coming from a good place.

“Dinner’s up!” Sy’s voice boomed down from the top of the water fall. Raven hopped down from the hammock she had seemingly claimed as her own and Mal and Magenta followed closely behind, her quacking quickly to one another as if they were in conversation. I pulled myself out of the lagoon and dried myself off quickly before throwing my clothes back on and climbing the rope ladder to the top.

The smell that greeted me mad my stomach grumble, I hadn’t realised how hungry I was until whatever Sy had cooked hot me. It was meaty smell, steak like and I followed it to a make shift table and benches we had fashioned at the side of his house. Five slate plates were laid out tow on one side and one opposite, two smaller plates sat side by side at the end. Mal and Magenta were already pecking away at their tea it looked like a sort of bread crumb mixture. Whatever it was the ducks were lapping it up.

When I sat down I looked down at the beautifully cooked steak, and appreciated the fact that Sy kind of made up for his at times brutal training methods by rustling us up some great food in the evenings. Raven wasn’t waiting for anyone as she was already boring into her steak and Sy sat patiently, waiting for me.

“This looks and smells amazing?”

“Make sure you eat it all top, the vegetables too, I made sure it's balanced to help your muscles develop, it will hopefully take the edge off you for tomorrow.”

At first I thought he meant tomorrow's training but I couldn’t help but notice the familiar smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

“What is happening tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow, you will undertaking your first mission or quest, call it what you like. But I will find out whether or not your training has paid off.”