Paternus: Berserker

"Berserker" is a stand-alone short story framed as a "missing chapter" from Paternus, the urban fantasy, mythic fiction novel by Dyrk Ashton. It tells of the time when one of the characters finally met his father, many centuries ago...

With the little humans dying around him, many at his own hands, Bödvar remembers craving with all his heart that he might experience that vibrant thrill of life, that sheer horror, excruciating agony, that genuine sense of impending doom.

Then, in that very battle, his wish was nearly granted. A Scyth leader cried out, pointing off to the east. On the horizon, riding out of the pallid blotch of a weak watery sun, Bödvar saw a figure bedecked in a gleaming copper breastplate, racing toward them on an enormous pale-gray stallion. The beating of Bödvar's heart nearly ceased.

It was his father, he knew immediately, and the steed he rode the fiercest "horse" in all the worlds, the dreaded Sleipnir...