Old Twins

“Here it’s that way!”, said Yona and pulled Alex by the arm.

Violet went behind them and seemed very annoyed. She glared at the dwarven woman clinging to Alex but said nothing. They were on their way to see the old master of the Berserker under whose tutelage Yona trained.

“How old are you by the way, Yona?”, asked Violet.

“Me? Oh, I’m twenty-six!”, said Yona casually.

“Really? Then why does everybody treat you like a little kid?”

“Oh, well for dwarves, everything below fifty is basically a child.”

“Ah, so you are a child basically then…”

Violet had a triumphant look in her eyes and stepped forward to the other side of Alex. While catching up to him, she made sure that a few of her loose hair strands touched him.

“Don’t worry it’s just a cultural thing… My… body… is all grown up… you can check if you want.”, said Yona cheekily and looked at Alex.

“No need… I believe you…”, said Alex slightly flustered.

Yona clicked with her tongue and Violet grinned.

“Here we are! Through here is the trainings hall.”, said Yona.

They went through a huge mahogany door. Inside was a huge training hall with tons of equipment on the walls and target dummies along the sides. In the middle was a huge open space for sparring. Two very old-looking dwarfs stood there. One sat on top of a rock and held a staff made out of stone the other leaning on the handle of a massive hammer. Yona went in front, behind her Alex and Violet.

“Master Gorein! Master Morein! I brought you someone interesting. This is Alex.”

The old dwarf on the stone scratched his beard. The other one slowly looked up. Alex met his gaze. The eyes of the old dwarf leaning on the handle of the hammer began to glow. Alex saw his whole life flash before his eyes. He heard Violet scream and the next thing he looked at was the massive Hammer only centimeters away from his face. His arms must have moved unconsciously, because he did not remember raising them in defense. But now they held the hammer in place and hurt like hell.

“Huh… didn’t expect you to block that. Interesting…”, said the old dwarf.

The other one appeared suddenly on his rock next to him and bonked him on the head with the staff.

“Gorein! You stupid muscle brain! What would have you done if he hadn’t blocked you?”, Morein reprimanded

Gorein pulled back his hammer and placed it on the floor.

“I don’ know…Get a mop?“, he answered and shrugged.

Another hit on the head. Alex noticed that the two dwarfs had identical faces.

“Now… sorry for my twin brother… he is the smash first and ask questions later type… But what do we have here… A little sorceress and… Alex, was it? But you’re no ordinary human, are you? I would be talking to a blood splatter on the ground if that would be the case… very intriguing.”

“My name is Violet and he…is a Berserker.”

Gorein furrowed his brows and Morein scratched his beard.

“A human? That… never happened before… How?”, said the dwarf on the stone.

“Well, it kinda did… first only with the help of the Berserker activation spell… but now he can do it on his own as well.”, said Violet.

“Well, I only ever once managed it completely on my own.”, added Alex.

“Wait, wait! You give one answer, and more question appear… How do you know the Berserker activation spell?”, asked Morein

“My teacher taught me… Master Yaeon.”, answered Violet.

“Ah… that explains a bit… okay… and you tried it on him, and it worked?”

“Kinda… I first tried it only with Fire and then with Wind… since those are the elements I have the most practice with…”

“Wait… so Fire AND Wind?”

“Yes, and he can do it with Earth himself.”

“Woah! Compatible with three Elements… most only have one… some two… but three? Interesting…”

“Can I have him?”, asked Gorein and grinned.

“For what?”, asked Violet cautiously back.

“To train the living shit out of him.”

“Oh… yeah sure, knock him out…”

“What? Oi!”, protested Alex.

“Yona and… you… with me!”, ordered Gorein.

Yona and Alex went with him in the middle and started sparing. Which meant for them getting pummeled into the ground by a massive hammer.

“Huh… he really can use earth element…”, commented Morein watching Alex activating the Berserker state, even if forced and just to survive.

“But how is that even possible… for a human?”, asked Violet.

“I don’t have the slightest Idea… Maybe he has dwarven blood in his ancestry… or was one in one of his previous lifes… Maybe he has someone looking out for him from way up above… maybe he is just a freak of nature… or any other reason… but don’t you think there is something more interesting than finding out why?”

“What?”

“Finding out how far he can go.”

“Yeah… I’m very interested in seeing that for myself.”

“How is your earth magic, by the way.”

“Could use a bit of practice, but I haven’t found a good teacher yet.”

“How interesting… I haven’t found a good student since teaching young Yaeon back in the days…”

Alex and Violet began to train daily with the two old twin dwarfs from that point on. Yona was present most of the time as well. She and Alex seemed to be getting along fast and very well. Too well, as Violet thought very often.