Jes looks up after the sixth iteration of different attack styles, each taking into account reactions of the minotaur. Her plans looks excellent for a bunch of chunks of leftovers. I’m extremely impressed by her understanding of ranges and speeds. The enemy reactions she’s accounting for are incredibly realistic. She’s incorporating Sadie jumping around, me both stabbing and throwing, although I opted out of any bolas attacks as I really don’t know how to use it yet.

  “Now,” she repositions the pieces. “Dom. Show me.”

  “Is this a test?” I ask.

  “Absolutely,” she states, dead serious. “You should be able to recreate the setups and patterns.”

  She’s right. If we’re going to have coordinated attacks against what is essentially a boss monster, it all only comes together if we play our parts. Her moves are smart. While I don’t get a 4.0 on the exam, I’m pretty solid on recalling her plans, which makes me even more impressed on just how precise and natural each move is. There are a few audibles where we call out timing, but no monster is going to stand around to figure out the moves in the middle of the fight.

  Jes stands and stretches her legs. “And now, you have to learn to use the bolas.”

  I heft the weapon from my belt. “I think we need to take on the minotaur first.”

  “How many times have we mentioned how fast we learn skills when they’re brand new?” Jes admonishes me.

  Sadie nods. “Imagine you can wrap his legs.”

  Just like Luke cabling an AT-AT. High risk, high reward.

  “It’s hard to ready and impossible to reload,” I point out. “It’s a one and done.”

  Jes walks back and forth, rubbing her chin. “No. No, I think we can work something out.”

  “How? This thing isn’t a boomerang. If it hits, it tangles and I don’t get it back. If it misses, it’s gone until probably after the fight.”

  “Can it be caught?” she asks.

  “You saw how it got wrapped on my spear.”

  She starts nodding and the tempo of her pacing back and forth increases. “We’re going to try something. Hold your spear up, like you did to catch the bolas. Good. Now, throw the bolas at Baco.”

  “Not going to do that,” I interrupt.

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  “Me,” Sadie offers. “I can just jump up out of the way.”

  My brave little bondling. “You sure?”

  Sadie nods and positions herself twenty feet away.

  “On three, you throw and put the spear up,” Jes instructs.

  “Why do I have to throw at Sadie?”

  “We need a target,” Jes says. “One. Two.”

  No time to argue. She hits three. I throw and hold my spear up right after.

  Sadie jumps and the bolas breaks all laws of physics. It passes where Sadie was standing and the thing is immediately headed back at my head. I flinch and catch it on my spear. It wraps around.

  “What was that?” I ask, pulling the weapon free.

  “If you miss a target, I can set up a slip gate behind it,” Jes says. “Then I flip the gate. It exits exactly where it went in and…”

  Jes stumbles, looking like a three AM drunk.

  I rush to catch her, but she waves me off.

  “You converted too much vitality to magic too fast,” I warn.

  She coughs and nods. “But I gained a new skill. Quick Casting. Damn. That spell doesn’t usually do that.”

  “You recast a spell before it was ready,” Sadie says, taking Jes’ hand to hold her steady. “That costs way more than the usual amount. The dizziness is the huge drop in vitality.”

  “I just collapse and puke after a summon,” I offer. I’m not sure why I thought that might make her feel better, but it’s too late for me to think better of it.

  Jes grips Sadie’s hand and looks her in the eye.

  “You have some funky eyes, girl,” Jes slurs as Sadie holds her up.

  “I think she needs some meditation time,” Sadie suggests.

  “Just a few minutes,” Jes says. “Not a fulltime.”

  “A full-time,” I insist. “We’re hunting minotaur. That means vitality and everything else at nothing less than a full hundred percent. Not ninety nine. One hundred.”

  Jes lowers herself into her meditative pose. “Look at you, planning ahead,” she smiles.

  In a few seconds, Jes goes so still she could be a mannequin. I don’t know if she needs quiet, but Sadie and I take a few steps away.

  “I think we’re going to work well together,” I say.

  Sadie looks at her hooves. “Maybe.”

  “Hey. Sadie. You’re my number one sidekick, right? Always.”

  She looks up with a barely there smile. “Always.”

  I practice throwing the bolas at Sadie while she practices jumping out of the way. Jes is disturbingly still. I learn I can flair the bolas, spinning in a pirouette to increase my throwing speed. It’s a move like a discus thrower gaining momentum. Sadie has to retrieve the weapon for me each time, since we don’t have magical teleporting slipgates happening, but it gives me a second to catch my breath.

  By the time Jes opens her eyes, I’m at Bolas Throw 3. Not bad, considering I never touched one until a few hours ago.

  Jes rubs her hands together and approaches.

  “One hundred?” I verify.

  She nods. “As requested.”

  I hold out a fist. Jes obliges with a solid fist bump.

  “What is that?” Sadie asks, bopping her own fists together. “Do I get to do that?”

  I hold my fist out to Sadie. She prances over and fist bumps me.

  “We ready to go kill a minotaur?” I ask.

  “I don’t know,” Sadie replies.

  “Not really,” is Jes’ answer.

  “Seriously guys? After all this training and getting ready? No time like the present and all that. We got plans, we got skills. But now what we need is the can-do attitude. Winners don’t win by thinking they’re going to lose. Jes, you have a family to reunite. Step one, no matter what step two is, is find and defeat the minotaur. Where’s the Jes that was so confident drawing up battle plans? I need you to dig down and find that Jes.”

  “You done?” Jes drones. “Because I’m not really sure pep-talk is one of your skills. That was super cheesy.”

  “I don’t think pep talk is an actual skill,” Sadie tacks on. “He definitely didn’t level up in it if it is.”

  ?? Even gods need to be held sometimes

  What to Expect:

  - An epic, multi-book space opera with a large found family and multiple POVs.

  - A powerful but emotionally vulnerable protagonist with chaotic powers he struggles to control.

  - Strong, capable, and sometimes morally gray women.

  - High stakes, cosmic threats, and detailed world-building.

  What NOT to Expect:

  - LitRPG/System elements

  - Lone wolf power fantasy

  - A story that is only about romance

  This story contains mature themes, explicit sexual content, and graphic violence. It is not suitable for readers under the age of 18.

  90+ Chapters in the first month

  500,000+ words already written and backlogged