by James Hunter
Loxo had also been killed by Praxidike, but I’d resurrected her, too. She had short dark hair, black eyes, and smooth skin like polished ebony. She was my lead Huntress, an assassin in the dark, and as dexterous as she was beautiful. Loxo loved to give me tons of shit. Out of all my Amazons, she was the one that flirted with me the most.
Seriously, the woman was shameless.
Calla and Loxo dropped from the air, landing lightly on the mammoth’s back as my two Teleporters vanished as quickly as they’d appeared, gone in a puff of sulfurous purple smoke.
Before the tentacles could grab them, Calla launched a gout of flame as thick as a telephone pole, flash-frying the squidy head of the uber centaur. Its HP dropped into the critical zone, then Loxo finished it off with an arrow at point-blank range. The mammoth swayed drunkenly for a moment, its eyes glazing over in death as its body teetered like a felled tree deciding which way to fall. Loxo scooped up Calla and flipped away as the beast finally toppled, hitting the ground with the force of a small earthquake.
Both Amazons landed safely, thanks to Loxo’s agility.
By that time, Asteria and Toxaris had taken out the harpies and the Stymphalian birds, and had helped mop up the last of the centaurs. I checked my gaming display and saw that we hadn’t lost a single Amazon in the most recent battle. Not too shabby, though everyone was wounded. Me included. I glanced down, noticing the splatter of fresh blood on my chest and my legs. With the battle adrenaline wearing off, all those cuts were starting to burn and throb with renewed vigor.
Otrere and I would have to work overtime to get everyone healed before the next attack.
Myrina unraveled the dead tentacle clutching her and rose, smooth and unperturbed. She looked like a queen in her throne room, instead of a bloody warrior who had just nearly died a horrific death. “Jacob, once again, we are victorious. But once again, you put yourself in harm’s way.” She crossed her arms, glaring at me with a look that could strip paint. “Remember, if you die, we die. Our lives are connected to yours and the godstone in your chest.”
“Yeah, Mom, I know.” I rolled my eyes.
Myrina frowned. “I am not your parent. If anything, you are my father.”
Loxo walked up and smacked my ass with her palm. “Oh, Daddy. You have been a naughty boy for not listening to mean old Myrina.”
I blanched. “You know what?” I raised my hands. “Let’s drop the whole parent talk thing. It just makes this situation way too creepy and awkward.”
Myrina ignored me completely, her frown deepening into pissed-off territory as she rounded on the Huntress. “I am neither mean nor old, Loxo. And you are not making my castigation of Jacob any easier.”
Loxo laughed, quirking an eyebrow. “Do not castigate him, Myrina.” She ghosted forward and grabbed a handful of my junk before I could stop her—in my defense, she was a Huntress, speed personified. “I am going to want to play with it before too long.”
“Wrong word, Loxo.” I playfully shoved her back. “You’re thinking of castration. And we’ve already talked about this like a billion times. It’s not going to happen. We’re comrades. Friends.”
The Huntress gave me a smile sexy enough to melt diamonds, then shot me a sly wink. “I can wait, War God. I remember your passion and stamina well.”
“I don’t know what you think you remember, but we have not had sex.”
She paused and canted her head, eyes hazy. “No”—she shook her head—“I remember the Temple of Apollo.” She cocked an eyebrow. “I remember your nakedness.” Her smile broadened. “And what came next.” She licked her lips. Loxo had always been more sex-crazed than the rest of her sisters, but ever since I’d brought her back from the dead, she’d been worse than ever. Her memories were hazy, faulty, and damn if she wasn’t convinced she’d gotten freaky with me. Nope. So far, only Asteria had managed to get me into bed. And I meant to keep it that way.
I had the world to save. If I let myself bang all the Amazons, it would only distract me. Like, really, really, really distract me.
Asteria landed with a half-eaten harpy in one of her giant eagle talons, effectively ending the conversation, which I was grateful for. She stuffed the broken, feathered body into her craw, choked it down, bones and all, and then turned into the beautiful blue naked woman I knew and loved. Asteria was trim, but womanly, with blue skin and black hair. Her short pixie-cut hair framed a gorgeous face with glowing golden eyes.
“Another battle we have won!” she said happily, jumping up and down, her … let’s go with assets … bouncing in some rather interesting ways. “And more KFC for me! Did I get it right? Keentuckee fried chicken!”
“Close,” I said, drawing her in for a kiss. I didn’t care that she’d just been snacking on harpies. She was hotter than a furnace on the surface of the sun, so I could ignore little things like that. Besides, the godstone inside me loved the blood. The violence.
Loxo stared at us, a mischievous hunger in her eyes. I don’t mind sharing, she sent.
I cleared my throat and ignored her suggestion, turning toward Myrina. “Alright,” I said, clapping my hands together, “better get back into town. We’ve got less than eight hours before they hit again, and we have about a gajillion things to do.” I sighed, my stomach rumbling, reminding me just how long it had been since my last meal. “Antiope,” I called, “you’re in charge here. Get these corpses looted, then head back for a meal and some well-deserved rest. Everyone else, let’s move out. No time to waste.”
THREE
Upgrades
I was feeling pretty good after our victory. We’d pushed the attackers back again, we hadn’t lost a single Amazon, and I’d inched closer to level twenty-one. To top it off, watching my Amazons in action was always a treat. As I walked, I pulled up my interface and toggled over to my character screen. An avatar of me appeared on the left, spinning slowly in the air.
Once, I’d been an average looking schlub with pale skin, hazel eyes, and dusty black hair trimmed into a neat crew cut. Not ugly, but certainly not a ten on the knock-out scale. Probably not even good-looking enough to earn a second glance at the bar.
Well, that sure as shit had changed since acquiring the powers of a god. Now I had a body that would put an Olympic athlete to shame and sun-kissed skin that even the crew of Bay Watch would be jealous of. I’d also traded out my old Marine Corps gear for Grecian war equipment: a bronze breastplate that showcased the godstone, bronze greaves covering my thighs, hardened strips of linen forming a battle skirt—called a fustanella—and leather sandals that threaded their way up my calves.
Hovering below my sandals, currently stained with muck and blood from the battle, was a typical red Health Bar—I was at 523/690. To the right of that was a brilliant gold bar, labeled Divine Essence Points, which was sitting at 262/393. And to the right of my floating avatar was a character sheet that wouldn’t have been out of place in most D and D campaigns or online MMOs. I scanned it over for the thousandth time:
Hot damn. Not long before I got that next level. I closed out of the interface and hit the mess hall, grabbing a quick bite of roasted lamb on pita bread, some olives, sundried tomatoes, and hunks of feta cheese. Taking my meal on the run, I walked through the city toward the forge, where I’d meet with Myrina, Phoebe, and Asteria. We needed to plan our next steps before the 8 PM attack. It would be a sunset battle. How romantic.
The central landmark of Lycastia City was the Temple of Ares, a huge structure like the Parthenon in Athens. Inside was the statue of Ares with the sigil on his chest, though now that sigil was weak and fading. Dying a little more every day. To the west was my palace, which had terraces overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and the ramparts leading down to the beach.
Our forges, clay pits, and stables were in the southern section of the city. To the north were the barracks, training grounds, and the main dining hall. I’d also jammed orchards, wheat fields, and vineyards into the northern pasturelands, because an army—even a mythical one
like mine—needed to eat. Oh, and I couldn’t forget my crowning jewel: the legendary Mountain Dew fountain, which I’d installed because what gamer worth his salt doesn’t need a metric crap-ton of caffeinated Mountain Dew to function properly?
Still, some of the Amazons didn’t like the soda—no accounting for bad taste—so they drank plain ol’ noncaffeinated H2O from the fountain in front of the temple or the wine Myrina preferred. I walked by the water fountain and the huge statue of Ares presiding over it. Man did that guy love to look at himself. Narcissist.
I made it to the forge just as I finished my lunch. Myrina, Asteria, and Phoebe were already inside. The central fire pit glowed hot, which was good, because the first order of business was to create more Amazons and I had points to burn. More than enough to do some serious damage around the forge—build some new troops, maybe crank out some upgraded weaponry.
The central forge was surrounded by twenty bellows, helping the fires burn hot enough to liquify even tungsten, which had a melting point of 6192 Fahrenheit. The heat punched me in the teeth the second I stepped into the forge proper, and the superheated coals dried out my nose in an instant. The familiar smells—the smoke, the metals, the herbs, wine, and olive oil—brought me back to that first night when I’d created my three generals.
That seemed like ages ago—though in reality I’d been on the island just a little more than three weeks.
My three Amazonian generals stood over a polished onyx orb, roughly the size of a basketball, which sat in the center of a bulky wooden table. The black crystal pulsed with seedy red light; hanging in the air directly above it was a holographic projection of the island. A perfect 3-D map. My Rune-Caster had first created the onyx orb to access the gaming interface Ares had devised for me, and she’d done a bang-up job, since it could flawlessly emulate my helmet interface.
My generals stared at an image of our city, their gazes flickering over the battlefields to the north and the beaches to the west. It also displayed our current supply of Thymos Crystals, clay, and miscellaneous materials for creating Amazons like powdered gold, copper, and platinum. Our food supplies were also listed—everything from chickens to lambs to units of bread. As I watched, our number of chickens went up one, which meant an egg had just hatched. It was normal to watch my supply number increase and decrease in all the RTSs I’d ever played, but this was the first time I could go out and hold the baby chick in my hand.
Myrina had her arms folded across her chest, and she was scowling up a storm.
I grinned at Phoebe, who grinned right back before shooting me a playful wink. “What’s with Myrina?” I asked in a whisper, nodding toward the Warden. “Let me guess, I did something else stupid that has her all worked up?”
Naw, not you, Phoebe sent. Just Myrina being Myrina. She’s pissed that we’re on the defensive and getting our asses handed to us every eight hours. Plus, there are other concerns—like the fact that we’re damned near out of Thymos Crystals.
“This is unwinnable,” Myrina declared a second later, throwing her hands up in frustration. “We simply do not have sufficient forces to hold the city long term. Honestly, I do not understand how our enemies produce so many forces, so quickly—it is a mystery. No matter how many monsters we kill, there are always more. Thousands.” She shook her head.
“And their attacks are becoming more sophisticated. In this most recent assault, they hammered us on every side. Probing for weaknesses, checking our response times. We need to come up with a better strategy—we cannot keep doing this indefinitely. We are barely managing to repel their assaults as is. But I do not even know where to start.” She sounded far more flustered and far more desperate than I had ever heard her before. “Thoughts?” She finally finished, glancing around, first at me and then at my other two generals.
For a long beat everyone just stood there, silently staring at the map.
“Krill,” Asteria said, breaking the quiet.
“Krill,” Myrina replied, voice flat and unamused. “How does krill help us win this war?”
“Oh it doesn’t,” the Beastiamancer replied with a shrug. “I’m just hungry and this conversation is making my head hurt.” She placed her hand to her gut, which promptly growled like an angry lion. “I think I’ll go for a swim.” She grinned and giggled, bleeding some of the tension from the air. “I miss being a whale. Whale lives are far less complicated than people lives, and there’s nothing like krill to kill an appetite.”
“Asteria,” Myrina scolded, her eyes narrowed, “this is important. We need your guidance and wisdom.”
The shifter laughed and rolled her eyes. “You tell me where to go and what to kill and I’ll do it. But this?” She waved a blue-tinged hand at the map. “This isn’t for me. But it is for you, Myrina.” She turned on the Battle Warden and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “I believe in you even if you do not believe in yourself. I have complete confidence that you three will come up with a solution.
“It is in your nature, just as it is in my nature to kill and eat. You, sister, are a wolf, and the wolf finds a way to bring down the bear no matter the difficulty. Don’t worry, sister. Have faith that things will be as they should be.” The shape-shifter squeezed Myrina’s shoulder one last time, a sweet display of affection. She turned on me next, slipping over to plant a kiss on my cheek before skipping out of the room like she didn’t have a care in the world.
Myrina just sighed and shook her head as the shifter disappeared. “I love her dearly,” she mumbled, “but sometimes I think all that shifting has melted her brain. And what about you two?” She glared at me and Phoebe in turns. “Do you have any ideas or are you both going to abandon me as well?”
“As if you could get rid of us that easily,” Phoebe replied. “And as for ideas … Well, that’s simple. We need more Amazons and more tech.” The Rune-Caster shrugged as though the answer were self-evident. “But that means we need more resources, and that’s the real problem. Our Thymos Crystals supply is damn near empty. Fortifying the northern and southern gatehouses drained our resources by a metric shit ton. And finding more is proving difficult because of the constant attacks. As we speak, Loxo is out scouting the land, but we’ve depleted the sources closest to Lycastia City.” She paused, surveying the 3-D map. “In short, we’re sorta fucked. This is a siege, and it’s only a matter of time before they break us.”
I altered the orb’s projection, toggled over to my character sheet, and pulled up my three skill trees. The Path of War, the Path of the Builder, and the Path of Miracles. I flicked through them and brought up the Path of the Builder Skill Tree for all to see:
“It all comes back to me,” I said, hunching forward, palms pressed against the table. “I just need to level up faster. If I can add another ability point to Craftsman, then everything becomes cheaper. And really, we need to max out Innovate.” Unlocking Innovate Level 3 would allow us to build modern-day weaponry, which would definitely turn the tide of battle. But sadly, I couldn’t do that until level forty. I also had dreams of grenade javelins and ice ballistae, but for that I needed Battle Forge Level 2, plus a point in Elemental Smithing. So much cool stuff, so few Ability Points.
“If only I could access god-mode,” I grumbled under my breath, before laughing. “Ha, god-mode. Get it? I’m a god. But I don’t have god-mode yet. Get it?”
Myrina glowered.
Phoebe rolled her eyes and messaged me. Too bad you can’t add Ability Points to humor.
“Enough jesting,” Myrina broke in. “Our situation is dire and we have no time for joking. What if we further upgrade the Artemis’ Blood option in the Path of the Builder so we can make the Amazons we do have stronger?”
“Naw, that’s a waste,” Phoebe said. “We already have a point in Artemis’ Blood, and since none of our Amazons have hit the level cap, there’s no point in adding another. But that does bring up another issue I meant to mention earlier. All of us have been leveling, but we’ve been waiting for you to bless
us with added abilities, Jacob.”
“Wait. What?” I asked, shocked. “You mean to tell me the Amazons haven’t been adjusting their abilities with every level gain?”
“Nope,” Phoebe said. “Ares forbade it. He said we were his weapons, and weapons should be crafted by their master. You are our master, and it is up to you to bestow your favor upon us.”
I groaned and paced around the forge in frustration. “Fuck. You’ve got to be kidding me. And no one thought to mention this earlier?”
“I’m mentioning it now,” Phoebe said with a lopsided shrug. “But you need to cut us all some slack, Boss man. One, we’ve sorta been busy around here if you haven’t noticed, and two, the gaming system is complicated. Most of the Amazons simply don’t understand how it works. The concept is too foreign. They intuitively know battle, weapons, and magic, but RPGs and Attribute Points are outside of their wheelhouse. I only understand it because I loiter around in the back of your brain all day long. And to top it off, they can’t even access their character sheets without assistance.” She tapped the orb affectionately. “I’ve upgraded this bad boy to help though.”
“Games, games, games,” Myrina barked, placing her hands on her hips in defiance. “It is always games with you two. We have real problems to fix, yet you both prattle on about systems and RPGs and points.”
“See what I mean,” Phoebe said, cocking an eyebrow at me. “Even our dearest Myrina doesn’t really get it.”
“What is it that I do not get?” she replied with a scowl. “What secret am I missing?”
“What you’re missing,” I said, “is the fact that we have a bunch of Amazons who have valuable attribute points and Ability Points that are just sitting there unspent. And that includes you, Myrina. You have a treasure trove of untapped skills and abilities and you don’t even know it. But in a way, I guess this is great news. I mean, it’s not a long-term fix, but once we take care of this we should have a small edge, at least for a while. Phoebe, show her how it works.”
