We arrived back in Bloomsora without any other remarkable encounters along the way. We marched up to Sinclair Archives and entered.

Once inside, Sarah’s face lit up. She ran over to a towering shelf of books and ran her fingers across the line of books. “Wow. I love it already.”

“Amazing, right?” I said.

“I could live here forever,” she said. She picked up a tome off a shelf and scanned the cover. Her shoulders sunk. “It’s not written in English, though.”

“Guess not. Let’s find Alex,” I said.

Loud stomps echoed from behind a bookshelf. Alex turned the corner and walked toward me with heavy feet. “It is Alexander. Not… Alex. Got it?”

I arched backward away from Alex. “Does it bother you that much? It’s just such a long name and—”

Alex slammed his hand on the top of a small bookcase beside him with a resounding smack. “Yes!” He paused for a moment and recomposed himself. “Yes. Alexander, please.”

Alex had not noticed Sarah yet. Or if he did notice her, he didn’t pay her any attention. Sarah stood there gawking at him before chiming in with, “This is Alex?”

Alex’s face flashed red and screamed out, “It’s ALEXANDER!” He jerked his head to Sarah and his anger faded away as fast as it began. “Who is this? She’s in your party?”

Sarah was already beginning to speak before I had a chance. “I’m Sarah. Sarah King. Like a royal King. Asher and I are in a party, of course. Why wouldn’t we? He couldn’t just leave a child like me in the forest. That would be bad.”

Alex blinked and turned his head to me. I nodded at him. “It’s temporary.”

“Well, alright,” said Alex. “I have two people to share knowledge with now. That is great!” Alex turned to Sarah. “Let’s see what we are working with here.”

Alex began to, what I would assume was, examine her. Alex’s mouth fell open and took a few steps back, bumping into the small bookcase behind him. “You are a… Berserker? You… are a child. A Berserker… that specializes in Bloodfire.”

Sarah continued to stare at Alex with the blank expression she was so good at fronting with. Alex remained silent for several moments before clapping his hands together and speaking again.

“This is great! You two will pair nicely together,” he said with a large smile.

“Wait—what? Actually, I was hoping that we could figure out if we could find somewhere safe for her to stay. You know… because she’s a child,” I said.

Sarah’s blank expression changed to a frown as her head sunk to the floor.

Alex raised his hand and smacked me in the face with his palm. My cheek radiated with pain as I reached my hand up to touch it. “What the hell, Alex?”

“Asher, I need you to kindly be quiet. She does not need somewhere safe,” he turned to Sarah. “She is a Blood. Fire. Berserker. Do you understand what I am saying? A Bloodfire Berserker.”

Rubbing my cheek from the slap, I replied, “Uh, no. I don’t know shit about anything. Isn’t that what you are for? How about you enlighten me instead of smacking me, AL-EX.”

“Gentlemen! No need to fight over a child. Now let’s act like adults and talk it all through. Alexander, would you be so kind and inform my colleague here what a Bloodfire Berserker means?” said Sarah.

Alex nodded and smiled. “Right, of course. I apologize for my violent outburst, Asher,” he said. “Let me tell you, then. A classification of Berserker is rare. They are a power class. They are strong and ruthless. Damaging them only makes them more horrifying to fight against. The only humans to obtain the Berserker classification are the ones that have a fiery rage as well as the ability to control that rage. Most people only have the fiery rage.”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“A fiery rage, huh? Like smacking someone for saying a variation of your name?” I said, eyeing up Alex who didn’t react. “Well, that is great and all, but she is still a child,”

Alex raised a finger in the air.

“Let me finish,” said Alex. “The Bloodfire prefix is the game changer. It is incredibly rare. Much rarer than the Berserker type. Legendary, really. Access to a combination of blood and fire abilities… paired with a Berserker… is an unbeatable powerhouse. She’ll be able to heal herself as she fights. She’ll get stronger as she fights. She’ll get more resilient as she fights. She is a powerhouse tank. You don’t understand what you just found.”

“But—,” I attempted to say.

“But, nothing! Child or not, her classification will beat just about anything. In fact, I wouldn’t even be surprised if she were able to take on a Fresh Jade, although I wouldn’t recommend it.”

I sighed.

“Oh yeah! I need to assign my attributes still. Asher, you said you would help with that,” said Sarah.

“I can help you with that,” said Alex.

As Alex helped Sarah with assigning her attributes, I remained silent. I was processing all the information Alex dropped on me, running through scenarios and possible solutions. Was Sarah really that unique? She just about died from a harehound because she refused to fight initially. The thought of having to care for a child and have the responsibility of ensuring she stayed alive was not ideal. I liked to be alone. I liked doing things my way. God dammit.

“And that is all you have to do. I think if you follow that path you’ll do just fine,” said Alex.

“Thank you, Alexander. I feel stronger already!” said Sarah.

Alex recommended Sarah increase her Strength by two, her Constitution by one, and her Agility by one. He had explained that with her Berserker type, she should focus on being strong, fast, and resilient, with Strength being the focus.

And just like that, this 12-year-old female child was now stronger than me, a 33-year-old adult man. She continued to terrify me.

We decided to rest for a while before moving on through town. This gave Sarah and Alex a chance to talk and go over anything that I had missed.

Time passed by quickly. I was sunken in one of the plush chairs that were found in the many alcoves in this building. My eyes were shut. My head ran through the battles that had transpired this morning. It had been less than half a day since waking up here. It felt like weeks already.

Sarah and Alex were chitchatting continuously. Moving from one subject to the next without breaking the flow of conversation. It was impressive. Sarah bombarded Alex with questions and Alex gladly answered all of them as he went into detail. I had tuned most of it out as I rested.

A couple of hours passed by before I figured it was time we should head out and find somewhere to go or something to do that wasn’t just sitting around.

My knees cracked as I pushed myself up out of the comfortable chair. I twisted and stretched and let out a loud groan which interrupted the conversation between Alex and Sarah. They both looked at me as if I had just slapped a baby.

“Oh, oops,” I said. “I was thinking it was time to go.”

Alex stood up from the chair he was in and reached out his hand toward Sarah. “Sarah, it was lovely to meet you. I enjoyed our conversation immensely.”

Sarah took his hand and shook it. “Likewise, Alexander.”

“You know, if you guys stay in a party we can continue our conversations in a chat. I am able to communicate with all of Asher’s party members as well. Same reason why you were allowed in this building in the first place,” said Alex.

Feeling their piercing stares, I pretended not to hear as I continued my prolonged stretching.

“Anyway—if I don’t talk to you again. I hope you take care. I am sure you’ll do just fine,” said Alex.

Sarah smiled and gave him a nod. She walked toward me, dragging her feet. “Alright, I am ready to go to the orphanage.”

My mouth opened to let out a laugh but I quickly stifled it. “An orphanage? Do they even have those still? I was thinking more of a dog pound. Or maybe a sweatshop? You like to work, right?”

“Well—I,” she muttered.

“I’m kidding!” I said, laughing.

Sarah did not laugh back. Instead, she stared blankly at me, blinking.

“Alright. I’ll make you a deal. We can stay in a party until—,” was all I could get out before Sarah let out a squeal.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” she said as she barreled into me, wrapping her arms around me.

Unsure what to do, I just patted her head awkwardly. “Yes. You’re welcome. But I was going to say just until we find your family.”

Sarah let go of me and stepped back. Her throat was clear and with a more serious tone, she said, “Yes, of course. My family. Thank you.” After that, she extended her hand out toward me.

My hand grasped hers in return. Her hand was soft and smooth. It was tiny in comparison to my enormous hand but that didn’t stop how strong her hand felt in mine. I swallowed hard.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Asher. You won’t regret it,” she said.

I was grinning from ear to ear. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. “Likewise, Sarah,” I said. “Are you hungry? Because I am. Let’s see if we can get some food.” I turned to Alex. “Where can we get some grub? Also, do you think they’ll accept US dollars?”

Sarah laughed.