Just when I think I’m coming out ahead, like right now, when I’m sitting on top of a huge fucking attack dog covered in bone armor that could eat a rhino for breakfast, some-fucking-how I still feel small and unaccomplished. The trees are huge, the deer are huge, the river is huge, my dog is huge. I’m gonna need some fucking therapy by the time I’m done with this shit-show. “Oh hell yes!” Gungnir screamed, “Get them bitches, go on, don’t you let prey get away!” Apparently Spot heard the encouragement he was looking for as we are all mentally linked together through me. Time slowed for just a second as I felt his haunches bunch up and his body aim at the herd of deer, his snout zoning in on the fleeing deer. I used that second to grow a set of handles and footrests on Spot’s armor, which I barely grabbed in time as the living crotch rocket took off. In my panic, I hadn’t even noticed Gungnir slipping out of my hand and morphing into a sphere the size of a bowling ball, one half of it was crystalline while the other half was wood shot through with the precious metals from when I crafted it.

It was floating by my head, keeping pace as Spot tore through the forest, it was all I could do to hold on for dear life as I knew that I let go or somehow slipped then this dumb dog would chase the deer to the ends of the earth. “Gungnir,” I wildly thought at the satellite that was my weapon, “For the love of fucking god, shoot one of those deer! But just one, and in the leg!”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a blue flash pulse from the ‘eye’ of Gungnir, a long spear of ice ripping out of it and downing a giant deer. There was no hesitation whatsoever from Spot. As the deer was tumbling from one leg being taken out, the furry linebacker hauled ass and trucked it right into a tree, then grasped its neck in his jaws and whipped it around like a chew toy, its spine clearly broken from the nasty pops that echoed out. “Bullseye bitches!” Gungnir celebrated, “Another one bites the dust!” I felt it condensing mana, “WAIT!” I commanded, “Go for one with horns, a male.” Another bright blue bolt shot out, I turned my head to watch it travel, mist trailing behind it. “Pooper shot!” the modified floating sphere cried out as the ice spear disappeared from view. “Spot, come on . . . “ I started, but after seeing him enjoying his meal as if he’s never eaten a day in his life, I decided not to get between a mammoth dog and his food. “Gungnir, with me, you’re my eye in the sky,” I said, drawing on the energy flow from Gungnir to buff myself up. It felt weird not actually holding a weapon, especially the one that I crafted and is now bound to me. I’m not sure how much or what exactly I did when I bound it to me, or what the effects of the Chaos shard spearpoint are. Did I give Gungnir true sentience, or did he copy/absorb a part of me, so I’m fighting with an extra limb so to speak. What I would give to speak to an experienced magic user.

Sprinting to where Gungnir shot the ice bolt took no time at all as the magical energy blasting, smart ass, partially psychotic satellite had really damn good aim. The deer was less than fifty yards away from where Spot was feasting, lying on the ground with its vitality pooling on the ground. It was humbling. What used to be a deer that I could throw over my shoulder would now take a tow truck to move. “End it,” I said, “Always be respectful in the hunt.” Without snark, an ice bolt speared the deer through the head, instantly killing it. A deep growl came from the left, stepping out of bushes, shadows pooling around something I had never seen before, something as big as Spot. I took a step back as scaled forearms revealed themselves and giant gorilla head roared at me. A freaking cross between a gorilla and a monitor lizard, complete with scaled limbs and torso with a thick tail dragging behind it, slowly stepped forward, confident in its size and prowess, the alpha of its territory. Basically, an armored gorilla came here to take my kill. Gungnir displayed no reticence, no fear, no hesitation, and began pumping out lightning and ice spears and high powered balls of condensed wind. As Gungnir was my weapon that floated instead of staying in my hands, I stepping back and whistling for Spot while yanking on our mental link. The various magics crashed against the scaly chest of the gorilla, the ice spears barely piercing while the air cannons hit him like decent punches. What really got him angry was the lightning, momentarily paralyzing and burning him.

I gathered power from Gungnir and began pooling it, condensing it in my right hand, raw mana ready for molding, and then began injecting my flesh sorcery into it, molding concepts of domination/submission/obedience into it. The mana became visible and morphed into solid rune that looked like chains with thorns wrapping around a heart. I felt Spot getting closer, the ground vibrating with his stampeding fury, already angry that his beloved friend and master was in danger. In combat, words were too slow. I sent Gungnir a quick mental picture of a giant lightning strike knocking the mutated gorilla to the ground. Not even a second went by before Gungnir made it so, a white hot bolt of lightning the thickness of a man’s torso rammed into the gorilla’s forehead. The lightning hit so fast the gorilla didn’t even react, just took a step forward and began falling, right into the charging giant armored dog that tackled him into one of the redwood sized oak trees behind it. I sent Spot an image of subduing the beast, his jaws around its neck and a truck tire sized paw on its chest. As Spot finished his tackle into the tree and came back down, Gungnir unleashed another lightning bolt, smaller this time. Spot bit the lead foot of the gorilla and yanked him off his feet then lunged and secured the gorilla by the neck, just tight enough to make breathing difficult. I waited for ten seconds, just to make sure the gorilla got the message. Walking around the gorilla, my mind idly wandered for a second, thinking of Norn as our mental link was so thin, probably meaning he’s very far away. Back to king kong over here though, his eyes tracking me and the pulsing red rune of dominating flesh magic vibrated in my hand. I used earth sorcery and conjured stone all over the gorilla’s limbs and then cranked up the weight by adding a temporary gravity enchantment on all four limbs. It was shaky but I only needed it to last for a minute. I quickly walked to the giant head of the gorilla and slammed the basketball sized rune into gorillas forehead, he roared and the world shifted.

“Enter my mind and think to restrain me?” the reptilian gorilla roared, his voice reverberating off the dark cavern we found ourselves in. He was oddly small, suddenly small enough for a normal dog to take him out, and I was huge. I didn’t really understand his words but the thoughts in his roar communicated well and my flesh sorcery was kind enough to translate the gist. My body was less solid but far more powerful than I remembered, the rune I had slammed into his head was back in my hand but smaller by half. I conjured stone and nothing happened, I couldn’t feel my magic except for the flesh sorcery. The little ape launched itself at me and I caught it by the throat and slammed the rune into its head again, this time slamming it with the full force of my flesh sorcery. “Serve me,” I sent, my flesh sorcery making it shake this mental realm inside of the ape’s mind, “Bound to me, to my will, bound to mine, tighter still.” The rune of a heart bound in thorny chains unwound and speared into the small ape in my hand. I let go of the ape and it fell to the ground, ethereal blood leaking from the small wound. The heart itself moved down to its chest and sank in, then the chains sank in after it. The ape sat up, hate in his eyes, his tail whipping like an angry cat before it lunges.