Curselock

Chapter 188: Berserk

In the awkwardness brought on by Leland’s outburst, it was Jude and Glenny who were on their feet chasing after the young man first. Having been friends with Leland for their whole lives, each could count on one hand the number of times he stormed off like that. They both understood, however. Parents, worry, fear. Each was cursed in their own way.

Which was fitting for Leland, right?

They found him at the far end of the forest section of the dungeon, a good fifteen minute run from Floe’s cave. The dark forest was calm and secluded, anything larger than a squirrel was crushed by frozen magic before the previous section was completed. Courtesy of the Guardian bear, of course. No one would be harmed on her watch.

And while that carved away any danger the dungeon could throw at them, it didn’t prevent the air from being thick. Palpable like a sauna, the dark forest twisted and sparkled with flickers of fireflies and luminescent plant life. Yet the magic of the trees had nothing to do with the crushing weight in the air.

Glenny and Jude recognized it instantly, as they had experienced it several times by this point in their lives. Emotions. Raw and unfiltered. Illusory, yes, but as real as an angry glare.

“Leland?” Glenny called ahead.

Instantly the ghastliness of the forest disappeared, the thick air evaporating and the worry and fear scabbing over like a scraped knee. Would it catch on some stray thought and bleed again? Surely yes, but Jude and Glenny would try to cauterize it before the mess got any larger.

Laying on his back staring up at the canopy, Leland took a long deep breath before saying, “I’m here. I’m… here.”

A moment later Jude and Glenny appeared around the trees, finding him and the not so subtle tears he whipped away with his sleeve.

Glenny elbowed him in the gut. “Ignore him… but also, yeah that was an exit.”

Leland didn’t respond nor did he look at them. They, in contrast, looked between one another before plopping down on either side of him, each staring up at the leaves and hints of a dark sky.

They stayed like that for a long moment before the silence ate away at Leland and he said, “She’s not really dying, you know? I just… I just…”

“The Huntress told us,” Glenny said. “Sybil’s changing. Not ‘dying.’”

“And well, I’m scared for her.”

“And?” Jude asked, his voice just a touch too loud for how close each was laying next to one another.

Leland flinched at the question, and not because of the volume. “And… and—”

And what?

“And well— I made a contract with the Lord of Pathways. Whenever I summon Lodestar, I see the path toward what I want most. And in the arena, it pointed me toward the monsters we were fighting.”

“Powerful contract…” Glenny muttered.

“But when it doesn’t point to what I think it should, I feel like I am cursed. The same thing happened in the Archon Valley. Or, at least, something similar enough.”

“What do you think that means?”

Leland took a deep breath. “That I just haven’t figured the path out yet.”

“The path seems pretty obvious to me,” Jude announced.

Frowning, Leland sat up a bit and stared down at his friend. “What do you mean?”

“It pointed you at the monsters, it wants you to get stronger.”

“But… that isn’t my goal? I mean, obviously it is, but I want to make sure Sybil is safe first and foremost.”

Glenny coughed. “War council.”

Leland turned to him. “What?”

Jude spoke, “To go see Sybil, you are going to have to fight your way into the castle.”

Laying back down, Leland blinked a few times. “Yeah, I suppose I am.”

“And that means you are going to have to get stronger to not die,” Glenny added.

For a moment they laid in silence. Leland said, “I’m about halfway to another Legacy rank, what about you two?”

“Just over for me,” Jude said.

“Same,” Glenny said.

“Huh.”

“What? Surprised we weren’t just sitting around while you were missing?” Jude asked with a cheeky tone.

“No that’s not it,” Leland said dismissively. “It's more that we haven’t even been at this a year and are already pushing the third rank.”

“And,” Glenny added, “we haven’t really been trying to rank up. At least I haven’t. I’ve been focusing on my father’s blade dances.”

“Same for me, but with rage and Floe’s blessing control.”

Leland clasped his hands on his chest. His fingers flickered, like he was playing a scale on a piano. “And I’ve been focusing primarily on contracts…”

“And yet, here we are. All pushing into the third rank.”

“Huh,” Jude said.

“Huh,” Leland said.

And not to feel left out, Glenny said, “Huh.”

Leland fully sat up, the others followed. “I… I am going to the capital. On the way, I am going to rank-up. Do you two want to come?”

Glenny’s lips curved up. “Of course. I was waiting for you to say so since you got back.”

Jude clapped his hands, sending an echo through the dark forest. “Same for me.”

Blinking slowly, Leland said, “Thanks guys. That means a lot.”

“It’s what friends are for.”

“Don’t worry about it. I just want to fight things, you know?” Jude went quiet for a moment. “But I might be a liability.”

They looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“I still can’t control my rage, even with the blessing and my mom’s advice. I… I don’t want to put you two at risk again.”

“Eh,” Glenny said.

Jude glared.

Leland went thoughtful. “You know… I still haven’t spoken to the Berserker Lord for you like I have the Chameleon Lord for Glenny.”

Frowning Jude asked, “What is he supposed to tell me? That I’m weak and to just fight better?”

“Well no… the Chameleon Lord gave me a shard of glass for Glenny.”

“A shard of glass?”

“A magical shard, but yeah.”

“I don’t want a shard of glass.”

Leland frowned. “I doubt the Berserker Lord will give you a shard of glass.”

Jude groaned. “I just want to know how to control my rage better.”

“And I will ask him that. The worst he can say is that he won’t help you. And, as I have learned, most Lords actually wish to help their Legacies.”

“Don’t…” Jude paused, took a deep breath and said, “Don’t accept any contracts that will be a hindrance for you for my sake.”

Leland smirked. “It can’t be any worse than becoming Draconic.”

Glenny whistled. “A Lord wanted you to become Draconic? Please tell me you didn’t accept that one.”

“Who do you take me for?” Leland asked, puffing out his chest. “Of course I accepted it. I got cool wings out of it.”

He then took the moment to open his grimoire and invoke the contract in question. Soon leathery scaled wings sprouted from his back, ripping his shirt.

“See? Pretty cool, right?”

Jude was smiling while Glenny was trying not to smile. “Yeah,” they both said.

Then Jude added, “Actually, I changed my mind. If you can broker a contract between me and the Berserker Lord to get me wings like that, then I don’t mind you accepting a contract that hinders you.”

Leland stared blankly at him, then smiled. “If that is offered, I will gladly accept.”

They both looked at Glenny.

“…If you could also broker a flight-contract for me, I would appreciate it.”

Jude clapped him on his back, laughing.

Leland’s smile fell and he sighed. “Unfortunately I don’t think that is possible. But who knows, magic is weird, especially the divine kind. I will ask, but no promises.”

The others nodded in understanding.

“So, then. I’ll be right back.” Leland took a small step back and said, “Lord of the Berserker I humbly wish to create a contract with you.”

The Berserker Lord gnawed a chicken bone but also spoke at the same time, “So let me get this straight. You do not want to make a contract with me despite my generous offer?”

Leland tried not to sound disingenuous. “Correct.”

“Why?”

“Because I have too many other contracts to master before I add Berserker Rage on top of it all.”

The Lord swallowed the bone. “I see. That is a shame, my rage would propel you to the height of power very quickly.”

Yeah and I’d lose my mind because of it, Leland thought silently. He took a moment, sipped from the goblet the Lord had offered him. It was very pungent grape juice, which was surprising to him. Apparently the Berserker Lord did not drink alcohol.

Eventually he said, “I know and I thank you for the offer. The only contract I will consider making with you would be on the behalf of Jude Brown and Glenny Red. They both want wings… you see.”

“Impossible.”

Leland nodded. “That’s what I figured as well. But I told them I would ask.”

“Jude Brown is an interesting fellow,” the Lord said, eying another drumstick. After a careful minute of deliberation, he picked up the chicken and ate it whole. He burped a little.

“Jude is a great friend of mine but he is also quite troubled.”

“And you’re coming here today to ask for advice on his behalf.”

It wasn’t a question, but Leland still answered, “Yes.”

“What is his problem?”

“He can’t control the rage.”

The Lord scoffed, now picking at his teeth with a toothpick. For a brief moment the wall of welded weapons flickered, casting deep shadows across the feast table. Red blazed from his eyes, anger unlike any other. Then, like a ghost walking through a wall, it was gone.

Leland shivered.

“One is not meant to control the rage.”

Steeling himself, Leland challenged that notion. “I don’t believe that. Because if the rage was supposed to control him, then Jude would be nothing more than a mindless monster. Why would anyone accept your Legacy if the power you provided is corrupted?”

“Because they are fools.”

Leland didn’t budge.

“Because they are dullards,” the Lord tried. A breath went by, he spoke again, “Because they are greedy. Yes. Because they are greedy little monsters whose greed knows no bounds.”

Frowning, Leland asked, “You call your own followers greedy?”

The Berserker Lord stopped, cold. He stared at the mortal, divine rage building in his irises.

Leland felt his back go wet, hot sweat pouring from his skin like a trickling waterfall. Still, he kept his spine straight and forced himself not to show fear. He was fine, everything was fine. He wasn’t about to be killed for questioning a Lord, right?

The moment passed and the rage died in the Berserker Lord’s eyes. “Some mouth on you.”

“And some rage in you.”

Leland jolted. Why did he say that? Why egg on the super powerful Lord anymore? It came out too fast. It came out too familiar, like he was bantering back and forth with Jude rather than a deity. Execution was surely coming—

The Lord laughed, shaking the table and walls of weapons. “You are quite funny for a mortal! The Calamity was right about you!”

“Y-you spoke to the Lord of Curses about me?” Leland asked, his sweat turning cold.

“Ah. Forget I said that. You were not supposed to know that.” The Lord rapped his heavy knuckles on the table, each one scared from centuries of nonstop battle. “Anyway, rage. Now I guess I overreached when I said those followers of mine are greed—”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Leland waited a moment himself. “Uh, please?”

The Lord did.

“What did the Lord of Curses say about me?”

The Berserker smirked. “Ha ha. I am no fool, young Calamity. I can smell a trap when I see one. And this is most definitely a trap. Is the old hag still looking to collect on that bet we made, oh, sixty years ago? Because If she is making you ask me about her so she has another reason to visit, then I am not going to be a happy little warrior.”

Leland swallowed. “Uh. No. She didn’t ask me to talk about her with you…”

They stared at each other for a moment. “Then let’s not get distracted.”

“R-right.”

“Rage. It is the essence of sin and the glory of power. It can gift you with unparalleled strength but also cause ruination. There is no way to control it, not like how young Jude and most other Berserker Legacies of the world think.”

“Then how—”

The Lord smirked, this time showing off his teeth. He held up an item wrapped in cloth. “I have placed my advice in this shard of glass. This information is for Jude’s ears only. If he wishes to share with his mother, so be it. But no one else and that includes you.”

“I understand, thank you.”

“Just remember, young Calamity. Rage was the first emotion created in this existence. It is timeless and forever.”

And just like that, Leland was sent back to reality via the endless white Void. A few minutes later, Leland handed Jude the wrapped shard of glass.

“Really?” Jude asked, holding the shard like it was a dirty diaper. “I specifically said I didn’t want a shard! Is he messing with me!?”

Leland scratched the back of his head. “I’ll tell you what… I’ll ask him the next time I see him…”

Grumbling something, Jude snapped the shard in half, a glittering dust exploding out. He breathed in deeply , inhaling all of the new information. “Oh I’ll tell him myself one day—”

Jude went silent. “Oh. Huh. That makes sense.” He stared off into the distance. “Huh, my mom was right. But also not. This is too confusing. What does time have to do with rage!? That makes no sense… wait there is a part about music in this as well. Is that… is that a song? I think I might be able to play that on my harmonica. Oh it’s really complicated.”

Refocusing on Leland, Jude said, “Thank you Leals, it looks like I need to practice reading sheet music. Apparently the secret to rage is that you don’t try to control it but rather you learn to manipulate it into helping you with your goals! Music is one way, as is time magic! Haha, that’s crazy though. Can you imagine? Me, being a time mage!”

Sitting beside Jude, Glenny laughed along with his friend.

Leland, however, was stunned silent.

“What’s wrong Leals?”

“Ah, well, you see… The Berserker Lord told me to tell you that the information in that shard was for you and your mother alone…”

Glenny froze over.

Jude blinked a few times. “Ah, well. What’s he going to do? Smite me down?”

Hesitantly, the boys looked around for divine justice. The dark forest was silent. They breathed a sigh of relief.