Adam came back to himself to find his circumstances had not improved. From his position he could see the guards rushing the table, Harold beating back the guard who’d been at the door, and Dwarven Bob looking increasingly concerned. PeeBee was still limp against his chest, so nothing had changed there at least, although that wasn’t a particularly good thing. Groaning, he struggled to his knees, shaking his head in the feeble hope that it would clear the stars from his vision.
Kneeling wasn’t the best position to throw a child, but he didn’t think he could stand at the moment. Getting the others safely away was more important to him than his own wellbeing. Shifting the placement of his hands, he half threw and half heaved PeeBee to Dwarven Bob, falling on his face again as he did so. The bearded boy managed not to fumble the catch, though there was some bobbling. Once he had a secure hold, he gave a nod to Adam and dropped into the hole. At the same time, the table was ripped away, overturned and thrown through the missing wall. The noise of the table’s removal drew all eyes just in time to see both Bobs falling through the hole in the floor.
For a brief second all was silent and still. The Sergeant was frantically attempting to figure out how many of his remaining men he could send down the hole to catch the kids, while still retaining enough to control the rapidly deteriorating situation in the building, all while fighting a furious madman. Adam was contemplating how long he could sacrifice himself to block the hole while the rest of the boys made a break for it. Harold was losing his mind.
He’d finally found his Little Bobby again after months of searching, only for him to be snatched away by Adam and the damned city guardsmen working together. They were in cahoots! He wanted, no, needed to kill them, but they had to suffer first, so he couldn’t kill them quickly. But he also couldn’t let his Bobby get away. His sinister smile started to spread, he knew what to do.
Lashing out with his blade, he slashed into the thigh of the distracted Sergeant. Before anyone else could interfere, he started dashing to the hole.
Adam, who was already prepared to sacrifice himself to ensure his new family escaped the guards, suddenly realized it wouldn’t be the guards catching them. Sacrifice wasn’t even in the cards anymore. That thought had fled his mind with the realization of the danger they were all in. The only thought in his mind was protecting his family.
Memories ran through his mind. Like how those on the cusp of death had their life flash before their eyes, Adam re experienced every moment with his new family. His first day at the orphanage. The nights in the dormitories filled with the quiet mourning of families dead and gone. New friends, pranks on caretakers, stolen snacks, and the bond of pain shared. Some boys got adopted out, and new ones arrived. Dead families, abandoned children, parents lost to crime or drugs. None of them had it easy, but somehow they hadn’t given up. They formed their own little group of survivors. And when one of them got in trouble beyond their abilities to handle, they fled. Together. It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t fun, but they were together through it all. A family, not by blood, but by choice. And for better or worse, Adam was their Mom.
This monster wanted to destroy his family. It wanted to tear out the heart of their family and devour it. PeeBee might not be smart, or coordinated. He was terrible at almost every physical thing he tried to do. Chores, theft, cooking, cleaning, he failed at all of them. It was frustrating, confusing, and aggravating. But at the end of the day, no matter how many times he failed, he was still their brother. And they loved him for his heart. Peebee gave of himself like no other. He cared for everyone, something the rest of them simply couldn’t do. When he was begging, he somehow came home with less money than he started with because he gave it away to those he thought needed it more. He’d spend hours helping the elderly people of the market pack up their belongings, or get it all home. He never thought about the fact that they were significantly stronger than him, having long received and evolved their Classes. He was the best of them, and Adam would never allow that bastard to harm him.
He launched himself at Harold from the floor as he charged by. It wasn’t a good decision, but he was beyond rational thinking. Trying to tangle himself in the much taller man’s legs, he was instead kicked away towards the hole to the sewer. Even in his failure, he accomplished something. Harold stopped.
Once more Adam groaned and tried to stand, only rising to one knee. He focused his glare on Harold, one arm wrapped around his aching, likely broken, ribs.
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Harold laughed. “You really think you can stop me, boy? You’re unarmed, and half dead already. Let me by and I’ll make their deaths painless.”
Memories tried to push themselves into his thoughts, but he forced them back. It wasn’t time to relive the past. He stumbled twice while trying to rise before he made it to his feet. He was bent in pain, and only came to his adversaries belly, but he would not let the monster past. No one was touching his kids!
Harold’s words echoed through his mind, chased by his foul laughter, but Adam simply focused on the rage growing in his chest. His desperation was fading as he fed it to the growing flame the rage had become. The echoes of Harold seemed to only fan the flame higher, and he let himself fall into its burning brilliance, giving voice to his emotions.
“NooooOOOOOAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!” His scream of resistance became a roar of defiance. An undeniable declaration that he would not be moved. As the volume of his roar rose, so too did its timber drop. Adam felt his head pressing against the ceiling as he towered over Harold, so he dropped to all fours. The original difference in height meant next to nothing now, as even with his lowered posture he was still eye to eye with the monster in Man’s clothing. He shuffled forward slightly, placing the entrance to the den holding his children directly between his four paws. None would pass him by while he yet drew breath. He would stand until those who came for his children fled or died.
Harold was frozen. Part of it was the roar that seemed to contain some sort of stunning element, but most of it was the sheer shock of a four stone boy turning into a Gods only knows how heavy bear that looked like it would have torn through the roof with its growth if it hadn’t dropped to all fours and still been taller than him. He didn’t even notice the wetness trickling down his leg. The bear did though.
The acrid scent of the combined mix of urine and fear caused it to sneeze and shake its head. The sharp sound and motion snapped Harold back into some semblance of awareness again. Shapeshifting skills were rare, but not unheard of. Ones that caused the amount of change Adam had gone through, however, were exceedingly rare and often stunningly powerful. None of which mattered at the moment because a newly Awakened Apprentice would have neither the experience nor the increased strength of a higher level to actually make use of that supposed power. And so, with knowledge, experience, and reason on his side, Harold struck at the massive beast filling nearly half the free space of a dingy shack that was just recently a home to fourteen boys.
As the sword lashed out, drawing blood from the bear’s shoulder, the boy in question had no answer for Harold’s well reasoned argument. In fact, Adam didn’t really have any thoughts at all. His skill wasn’t just a shapeshift, it also carried with it a number of massive increases to his strength, while also carrying an even higher number of penalties to his mental state. The major source of both the increases and penalties was that the shapeshift carried with it the animalistic version of a Berserker’s Rage. In fact, Adam had been inflicted with the very state that the first Berserker’s tried to replicate for themselves. His mind was completely submerged beneath the instincts of a bear sow defending her cubs. And while Adam had no response to either Harold’s reasoning or his attack, the bear very much did.
The Rage of a Berserker was quite different to that of the bears they were trying to emulate. A Berserker’s Rage increased their power commensurate with their injuries, so the closer to death they were, the more dangerous they were. It was a change they had to make when adapting the skill to human use, as the original version was useless in an offensive action. The Rage of bears also increased their power with injury, but its initial boost did far more. It increased strength, toughness, speed, and reflexes all based on the perceived threat to their cubs. Bears could hold back a dragon long enough for their cubs to escape as long as they saw the threat coming. They wouldn’t kill the dragon, or even hurt it much, they just didn’t have the tools for that, but they could hold their ground if given the chance. And if they survived, just like Berserkers, they had a price to pay for the power they had used.
Hence, when Harold, an adult of significantly higher strength, and the unknown number of city guards with him, who were even stronger, attacked with intent to harm the children, Adam had forcibly Awakened his Gift which brought with it the starting Ability of his new Class. His newfound Ability activated, and he shapeshifted into a bear. Whereupon, the only current Ability of his bear form activated under the perceived threat level. The bear’s response to Harold’s attack was equivalent to the threat a thirteen year old boy felt at being cornered by the second greatest nightmare he had encountered in his life backed up by the entire army of the Queen of Night, represented by the city guardsmen. Afterall, boy’s can’t be expected to truly understand the concept of a small squad of guardsmen versus the entire army when said guardsmen are coming to hold them down while a nightmare made flesh tortures them.
Harold never saw the strike that ended his existence.
And Adam knew no more.