I had three weeks to master this new world or Hades and his monsters would sweep through the world and kill everyone. And after meeting Ares, I had zero faith that Hades would be up for a round of civil dialogue about why mass genocide of all life was a bad idea. Which meant war was the only option on the table. This was going to be tough, but I’d spent weeks at a time immersed in video games before. Now that my life had become one, I was going to embrace it.

I picked myself up from the dusty floor and left the temple the way I had come. The sun was sinking ever lower into the white-capped waters to the west, and I wanted to get my generals created right away. Three weeks wasn’t much time, so I couldn’t afford to waste a minute. As I walked, hunger ripped through my stomach like an angry bear, but I ignored the empty void in my middle. Not like there was much I could do about it anyway, since there wasn’t an abundance of food lying around.

So instead, I beelined for the fountain, dipped my hands into the cool water, and drank my fill. Water was a poor substitute for pizza and Mountain Dew, but it was better than nothing.

“Behold the baby war god,” a silky voice floated down from above me.

Pistol in my hand, I spun and glanced upward.

The bat-thing I’d seen before sat on the shoulder of the Ares statue above the fountain. Now that it was closer, I saw that it was a she. Her feminine form was visible, even in the fading pink light of sunset. Her gown was like poured ink across her midnight skin. One breast was exposed like she was in a renaissance painting or something. Her eyes were a bright red and striking against her dark skin.

Long straight hair framed in her heart-shaped face. She was beautiful in an utterly horrible way. She stroked something at her waist, and I realized it was a snake’s head, and that the snake was a cobra, and that the cobra was her belt. Looped around her shoulder was a studded whip. Her other hand rested casually on the pommel of an obsidian dagger with a jagged blade. “You are a child playing with toys you can’t possibly understand nor control,” she hissed through a smile that never reached her eyes. “Good for me and my Master.”

I didn’t have much of a snazzy comeback against that, so instead, I said, “Nice cobra belt. Way to accessorize.” Yeah, that would show her.

“So, you have come to stop us from smashing the sigil,” she replied, mercifully ignoring my idiotic comment. “I heard there was a man on the island. I thought it was impossible. But there you are, standing before me—though you’re certainly not much of a man. A pathetic opponent, unfit to battle me.”

Damn, what was with all these women busting my balls? “Keep talking shit,” I growled, the godstone in my chest growing strangely warm in my anger, “and I’ll teach you exactly how pathetic I am.”

“Do you think I fear you, freshly-minted war god? I am Praxidike, demi-god of vengeance. I was born from the blood of a castrated Titan. I don’t fear you, godling.” She squinted, red eyes narrowing. “No, I have come to warn you of your doom.”

It was a lot to take in. Castration and all that. I snapped my fingers. “Oh, you’re one of the Furies. Like a daughter of Hades? But that name, Praxi-whatever. Nope, I’m gonna have to call you Praxy.”

In a flash, she unwound her whip and snapped it across my face, even from thirty yards away. “I am no daughter of Hades, but I serve him. And you will not call me Praxy. I am Praxidike, and I have come to bring the justice of death to all of your mortal race. Prepare your forces, human, for we are gathering our dark armies and you will soon feel our fury. We are going to teach you the true meaning of fear and remorse.”

The pain of the whip shook me. Instead of firing on her, or throwing a quip, I clutched my cheek, wiping away the blood trailing down my jawline. Shit, I was bleeding. Apparently, being god of war didn’t mean I was invulnerable.

Praxidike offered me an arctic, feral smile, unfurled her bat wings and soared away, her whip trailing down like a tail as she disappeared over the wall.

Ares said he thought I might have three weeks, but Praxy had just flown into the city, sat on the Ares statue, and whipped me in the fucking face. Unlike the other creatures who had paused at the walls, she didn’t seem concerned about breaking into the holy city. Obviously, the shot-clock was running down.

I picked up my pace and jogged to the workshops on the south side of the temple. Entering the barn-like structure, I noticed a bulky fireplace with several dusty anvils surrounding it and at least twenty bellows—huge accordion-like contraptions—to make the central fire as hot as possible. Laying in the cold ashes of the forge was a massive hammer; one side of the hammer-head sloped into a wedge, while the other ended in a flat square of hardened steel.

I stepped up, gripped the leather-wrapped handle, and lifted it from the ashes. Damn, but it was heavy. I turned the thing this way then that, inspecting the army of intricate carvings etched into the metal. There were pictures of swords, shields, and armor, but it all orbited the faces of two beautiful women. One, with a helmet, was obviously Athena. On the other side was Aphrodite, goddess of love and the wife of Hephaestus. Since this was the hammer of Hephaestus, that sort of made sense.

Could I really be holding the hammer of a god? And not just any god, but the same one who’d fashioned Hermes’s sandals, the armor of Achilles, and Apollo’s chariot which drug the sun across the sky every day? Ruins surrounding the two women’s faces glowed, throwing light in the gathering shadows as twilight approached. The handle quivered in my grip, a potent thrum of energy buzzing in the metal. I could sense that the hammer was ready to create—excited to get back to work, after countless centuries lying in wait.

Idly, I wondered what had happened to Hephaestus or the other Grecian deities for that matter? Were they still alive and kicking, or, like Ares, had they too passed on? I had no clue, and since Ares hadn’t spilled the beans, it was possible I’d never know.

Then it all came crashing home. The idea that I was holding such an impossibly ancient artifact made me dizzy. I had to take a minute to get my bearings. I set the hammer on the ground and sat down on a low anvil and removed the helmet. Suddenly I couldn’t breathe.

I touched my chest and felt the warmth of the gem beneath my skin, reminding me this wasn’t just some dream. After a few deep breaths, I stuck the helmet back on my head and triggered the interface. Once again, the main menu flashed before me, listing my options. I knew I needed to get busy creating, but I didn’t want to jump the gun before I knew what my stats did. I focused on my MANAGE ABILITIES feature, summoning the Character Screen.

If I focused my attention on the primary attributes, a tutorial box appeared:

Attributes and General Skills

- Strength: This is the primary attribute of the hard-hitting warrior god. Adding points to strength increases your physical size, while simultaneously improving your Health, Health Regeneration Rate, Attack Damage, and Armor Rating.

- Intelligence: This is the primary attribute of the strategist god. Adding points to Intelligence will increase your control limit, allowing you to create ever greater numbers of Amazons.

- Willpower: Willpower is the primary attribute of the divine god. Adding points to willpower increases your Divine Essence Points and boosts your Miracle Damage. ·

- Fortune: This stat represents the blessing of Lady Fortuna, goddess of luck, which factors into every skill, every battle, every decision.

- Divine Essence Points: Essence Points function similar to mana, and allow you to utilize the power of the godstone to transform reality to your will—at least for a time. Any use of your divine powers, including miracles and crafting, require Divine Essence Points.

- Control Limit: The control limit effects how many Amazons you can create.

- Attribute Points: For every level you earn, you gain five attribute points which can be used to increase any of your four primary attributes.

- Ability Points: For every level you earn, you gain one ability point, which can be used to unlock the special abilities located in your three skill trees: Path of War, Path of Miracles, Path of the Builder.

Okay, so I could use my Essence Points to create, alter, and upgrade the Amazons, but at my current level I could only form the three generals Ares had told me about—Myrina, Asteria, and Phoebe. As of now, I had zero experience points, or EXP, but as I leveled up, I would grow and gain access to more of the godstone’s power reverberating in my chest. At the peak levels, I would rival Ares himself. That idea made me excited and nervous all at the same time.

Part of me wanted to go back and examine the Skill Trees again, but at this point, it was a waste of time, since I was still a level one god, with zero ability points to invest. Ha. Funny. Praxidike had called me a baby god, and while I hated to admit it, she was right. The humor slipped away as the weight of the situation dropped on me. I was a baby-god, and Hades would be here in three weeks. And even at the height of his powers—surrounded by an army of Amazons no less—Ares hadn’t been able to defeat Hades.

I shivered, recalling the vision of the faceless god I’d seen. His power had been off the charts, but then he’d been one of the old gods, swallowed by his father Chronus, and freed by Zeus.

A new fear gripped me. If Ares hadn’t been able to do it, what chance did I stand? Even a slim chance was being generous. But I couldn’t let the overwhelming pressure break me—that was the path to defeat, too. Right now, I needed to focus on what I could do. And what I could do was create three Amazonian generals to lead my armies, and hopefully give me a little guidance. That was intimidating in its own right, though. These weren’t going to be pixels and artificial intelligence, but living and breathing women.

What was that going to be like? I couldn’t even begin to guess.

With the sun slipping below the horizon, though, I had no choice but get to work.

Big problem. I had no idea how to begin.

***

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