“Why didn’t you tell me you’ve lost an arm?”

“Gypsy, I don’t like talking about the fact I’m missing a part of me!”

“And your leg?”

“Same! We need this job, and I think we’ve proven ourselves after last night!”

“How’d you even lose your arm, oh great adventurer?”

“To the Berserker.”

“Don’t lie! No body survives the Berserker!”

“I told you that me and Barbara met on a battlefield. What do you think we were fighting that could make enemies team up?”

“You both fought that thing! Your lying, your…”

Jackson leaned into her face. She could see his honesty. Gypsy stepped back and hugged herself.

“We also fought it again last night. Barbara killed that big guy, but most of the others were done by the monster.”

“How is she doing?”

“Fine, I think. Thank you for the clothes.”

“Can’t have a girl like that running around naked after all. Dare I ask?”

“No.”

The Caravan was currently moving on the following day. After the sighting of the Berserker, everyone wanted to get as far away from the natural disaster as possible. Gypsy had called Jackson over shortly after leaving in order to inquire as to why her guard was missing half his limbs. Jackson went back to his post, and found Barbara still pouting in the corner. She just hugged herself and didn’t look at him as he took his seat. She was now in a red skirt showing a mature amount of leg, and a white shirt that emphasized her breasts and showed her stomach. Jackson had given her his leather shoes as he thought fighting in high hills would be difficult. He went to sit by her, but she seemed scared and moved away. The event was clearly hard on her.

Elsewhere, the news of the Berserker spread fast. Joseph was sitting with the Princess. She was telling him of the propaganda for the new Feminist group. In all honesty, he didn’t care. All her nonsense of how women were mistreated just sounded like normal complaining, but Joseph was a nice boy and couldn’t tell her. However, when the guard busted in, shouting that the Berserker was found to the south Joseph was the first to call a meeting.

“Friends, the Berserker has been found! As the heroes, we must destroy this creature before it can claim another one of us! For Jackson, we must kill this beast!”

Everyone knew that Joseph was upset that Jackson died, and knew he wanted to kill the monster that took his friend. No one was willing to say that they didn’t care, and in truth several of them did. They might not have liked Jackson, but they never wish him dead. Plus, if anyone could kill the Berserker, it was Joseph. In order to prove that the heroes were truly the answer, the king had Joseph fight all the elite guards. The fight ended in five minutes, it would have ended in one, but Joseph wanted to show off his power to the people. He wanted them to see him as not only a hero, but as a source of hope. He was the perfect pawn for the king.

“I’m with Joseph, we can’t let that thing do as it wants!”

“The Berserker will pay!”

“We can do this!”

Everyone seemed to forget that the Berserker was known for taking entire armories on and walking away unscratched. Not to say the Heroes weren’t strong, but they could not know just how truly terrifying their foe was. Their war cries echoed deep within the castle. It was decided that a small task force would hunt down the monster. Joseph was the leader. Angela, Alice and Carley all signed up, and a boy by the name of Franklin. Franklin was rather large for his age and enjoyed using blunt force weapons like hammers. He was an expert with earth magic, with dirty brown hair, and brown eyes. The other who joined the party was a sleazy little boy by the name of Kevin. He had black hair and brown eyes and had learned he was good with several different forms of magics. He was also very clever, which is why Joseph was glad he signed up. By sunset the party had mounted horses and started to charge south after their foe.

Their foe in question was still sulking in the bird’s nest. Jackson watched the sun set as he continued to study his magic. He couldn’t help but watch her out of the corner of his eye. While doing so, a memory came to him. It was of the end of the fight, and Barbara came so close to him. Back then he was terrified and reacted on impulse. He couldn’t help but wonder why she tried to kiss him at that moment, even under the Devil’s power that just felt odd. There was also this little voice in the back of his head that demanded to know why he stopped her. His mind was replaying that moment repeatedly. He could see her golden eyes field with such passion, smell the odor of death and blood that at that moment might as well been flowers, almost taste her lips. He gulped down his thoughts and continued to read his little book.