Three hundred and seventy five…

5.3 lbs of force

Three hundred and seventy six…

4.9 lbs of force

Three hundred and seventy seven…

5.0 lbs of force

Three hundred and seventy eight…wait, what?

My next throw collided with the target, but the resulting hit marker didn’t even register in my brain.

I’d done it. I’d hit the required five pounds of force.

“HONK!” Lex flapped his wings in excitement. “That was it! You got it!”

I stared at him with abject weariness. My brain had gone into autopilot somewhere around throw one hundred and was just now firing back up.

Kurian was lounging in his summoned chair again, looking at a tablet. Without even glancing up, he said, “Maintain focus.”

I immediately snapped my attention back to that last throw. The feeling of the energy, the weight in my hand, the force of the throw. With my trait-boosted Intelligence and Mastery, I could almost categorize that feeling. It crystallized in my mind and body and I knew with some certainty that I could—if not completely replicate—get very close to that specific throwing power.

Despite the elation of that success, I couldn’t help but be disappointed at the lack of notifications in my vision. I suppose I knew that hitting that specific target with the correct amount of force wouldn’t guarantee an increase in my Mass core’s Tier. But I had still hoped it would have happened at some point through the exercise.

Well, I had come this far. No point in dwelling on it—there were targets to hit.

The second target cleared much faster than the first—well under twenty five throws. The third target took a bit longer due to the increasing distance, but I conquered that one eventually as well.

So it went. Coat the baseball in energy, manipulate the mass, throw. I only had about a dozen baseballs, so the monotony was thankfully broken up by my retrieval efforts, but even that became tedious.

I had just cleared the seventh target when the door to my Personal Space opened. My throw went wide with my distraction and I turned to see Lacy peeking her head in. When she saw me, her eyes went wide.

“Dirk! You’re still here?”

I shrugged and gave her a weary smile.

“I love my job,” I replied sarcastically.

She pursed her lips and opened the door fully. As she entered, she studied the target range where seven of the ten targets were greyed out.

“What are you up to?”

Kurian looked up from his tablet at her arrival and I worried he would scold her for interrupting. Instead, he summoned a second chair next to him and Lex.

“Have a seat, young lady.”

She shrugged and took him up on his offer.

“Continue,” Kurian said tersely and I didn’t need to be told twice.

I was conquering this fucking task.

Normally, I might have felt an extra level of self-consciousness with Lacy’s arrival, but my brain was too tired for extraneous thoughts. It was easy to slip into a focus mode, even if it wasn’t at peak efficiency.

After a moment to coat my next baseball in Mass energy, I launched it toward the eighth target. It missed completely and I let out a hiss of annoyance.

Again.

38.1 lbs of force

I didn’t give myself even a moment to celebrate. One point nine pounds of force off sounded great, but I knew from experience that even a tenth of a pound could take me a dozen throws to dial in.

To the side, I heard Lacy whispering with Lex—my enhanced Perception picking up everything.

“This seems really…tedious,” she whispered.

Lex didn’t seem to have a volume filter and spoke in his normal voice.

“Unbelievably so! But he’s getting there…slowly.”

I ignored them, launching another Mass-enhanced baseball.

39.4 lbs of force

The red hit marker flashed up from the target before fading. Lacy squeaked in excitement, but Lex shook his head.

“What?” she asked. “That’s really close, isn’t it?”

“Just wait,” was his reply.

39.1 lbs of force

“Oh.”

Lex nodded. “Oh is right.”

Another dozen pitches went out before I cleared the eighth target. Lacy cheered and Lex honked his approval, but I didn’t spare them even a glance.

The job wasn’t done.

A notification flashed across my eyes and my heart pounded in excitement. But once I read it, I was forced back down to Earth.

Your skill with [Throwing] has increased to level 9.

The only saving grace—the only positive in this exercise in tedium—was the Skill levels I was gaining in [Throwing]. It had been a while since I had received Skill levels, and I had gained a handful just in this one session. It was difficult to correlate the increase in my success with the Skill levels, but I had to admit, I was getting better. The accuracy and intuition of each throw felt supercharged in comparison to the start of the session, and I had to attribute that to the Skill. Though, it was a bit of a chicken and egg situation. Were my new levels increasing my effectiveness, or were the level ups reflecting the hours of practice?

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

For now, it was an irrelevant question. The only thing that mattered were those final two targets in the distance.

I had no concept of time as the baseballs arced through the air. Throw. Red marker. Throw. Red marker.

And so it went, until finally, the ninth target went green, then greyed out.

Lex and Lacy cheered loud and hard, but I didn’t feel any sort of joy or accomplishment. It was all ten or go home.

But I was nearing my rope’s end. My Mass core was nearly drained and I was forced to scrape it raw in order to coax the energy out and into my palm. My hands ached and my throwing arm trembled. The sheer effort of keeping my eyes open made me wonder if I wasn’t inadvertently making my lids heavier with errant Mass energy.

It didn’t matter—none of it did. That final target taunted me like it was Kneer himself throwing Lacy’s body at me.

I pulled on my Mass core with painful effort—and found nothing. Shock took me and I dived deeper, letting my mind be drawn into my soul space to find any errant energy to utilize.

Nothing…

Kurian’s voice rang out.

“That’s enough for now.”

Those words hit me like a punch to the gut and I couldn’t breath for a moment. My lungs constricted like an iron band was wrapped around my chest. I tried to speak, but all that came out was a weak gasp.

“He’s so close, though,” Lacy complained. “Can’t he—”

My brain tuned her out, my breathing suddenly coming in fitful gasps. I clutched my chest, hyperventilating as I tried to pull in air.

Someone was at my side, grabbing my arm, but my vision tunneled and panic began to set in. Distantly, I knew someone was speaking to me, yet I heard nothing, felt nothing. It was like my senses had been dialed down, laser focused onto my panicked breathing, the pain in my lungs, and the weakness of my limbs.

A part of me wondered: was this what it felt like to completely drain a core?

Another part of me faced the truth.

I was having a panic attack…

My thoughts bisected. The surface level felt only sheer panic, bouncing from thought to thought and ignoring my attempts to direct them.

I can’t breath, I can’t see, I’m dying. I’m actually dying.

The smaller, detached part, tried to clinically draw me out of my spiraling panic. I’d been here before, as a child. Multiple times, in fact. The sounds of my dad’s voice echoing through the bathroom walls as I hid in the shower, my hands over my ears. The screams of my mom as she begged him to stop.

He never did.

Something reached down and ripped me from abyss of my thoughts, pulling me in close. A familiar presence engulfed me, protecting my sense of self from the irrational thoughts trying to suck me in deeper.

I’m here, the voice said. You’re safe. I’ve got you.

The who wasn’t important, didn’t matter. I clung to that voice, that sense of sanctuary, like a shipwrecked man clinging to driftwood. Floating on that island, I slowly came back to my senses. My thoughts ceded back control, my breathing steadying in increments.

When I felt myself enough to return to my body, I examined that saving presence in my mind.

Lex stared back at me through our bond, anchoring me with an unusually powerful steadying sensation. My own surprise reflected back on me, then was eradicated by the reality of what I’d felt. I’d never felt so safe and comforted as I did in that moment.

Before I could examine that connection further, a voice sounded in my ears, drawing me back to reality.

“Shhh, it’s okay. We’re here.”

It was Lacy’s voice whispering softly in my ear. Her hand stroked my hair as she cradled my head in her lap. A soft, feathery presence nestled against my chest, like a warm blanket. Wrapped around all three of us, Red held us tight with a soft pressure.

The three of them together had pulled me out of the attack and it took me a few seconds to gain the willpower to withdraw back into my own skin.

Slowly, I sat up. Though I could have rested in Lacy’s lap for an eternity, my own pride and need to go on propelled me forward.

My path wasn’t one of comfort and ease. Though, I had to acknowledge that even I had a limit. And it seemed that I had crashed into that limit like a brick wall. All the same, I think if I laid there a minute longer, I’d never get up, never have the strength to face the challenges I knew awaited.

“I’m okay,” I said wearily. “I’m okay.”

As I moved, Red relaxed her grip on us. Lex pulled back, his little eyes staring into mine. Lacy reluctantly let her hand slip from my hair, hopefully hearing the desperate need in my voice to get up.

Slowly, I put my hands underneath me and got to my feet. A wave of dizziness hit me, but I waited it out. Red helped stabilize me by anchoring to the ground.

Lacy rose next to me and put a questioning hand on my arm.

I glanced at her and nodded, then looked away with a mixture of embarrassment and regret. Decades I’d gone without a panic attack. Decades without wearing any weakness on my sleeve.

And now…

As if sensing my thoughts, Lacy gently pulled me around to face her. I looked away, unable to meet her gaze.

She didn’t let me, pulling my face to hers.

Our lips touched and an electric shock passed between us. I pulled away gently. A pity kiss was the last thing I needed.

“Lac—”

She put a finger to my lips and shushed me. Then she pulled me back in.

At first, I resisted. But the softness of her lips was the most inviting thing I’d felt in my entire life. I was weak in that moment and gave in.

The soft warmth of her body against mine was like a soothing balm and for a moment, I wondered if she was using her [Fortify] ability on me.

A moment later, I realized I didn’t give a shit.

When we finally parted, I took in a deep, shaky breath, then let it out with a cathartic sigh.

“That was nice,” I said softly. “But I don’t deserve it. I’m weak and pathetic and…”

I didn’t know what I was.

She didn’t scold me or shush me like I expected. Instead, she lay her head against my chest and just held me. For some reason, it was the perfect response—exactly what I needed.

A minute later, she pulled away and I hated her for that.

But when she looked up into my eyes, I saw moisture glistening there and a lump formed in my throat.

“You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met,” she said weakly, her voice hitching. “Even Superman has his limits.”

I ugly laughed at that, part-snort, part-guffaw.

“I don’t think Superman ever had a full-on panic attack from throwing some stupid baseballs at unmoving targets.”

“No,” she admitted. “But he never dealt with the trauma of dying, either.”

Biting my lip, I tried—I really tried—not to correct her. In the end, my inner nerd won out, and it wasn’t even close.

“Actually, he has…”

She pursed her lips with annoyance and rolled her eyes.

“Fine, but he hasn’t died over a dozen times. You’ve dealt with so much—”

She cut off as I clearly failed to keep my expression neutral. Her arms crossed defiantly across her chest, as if daring me to speak.

“He’s actually died fifteen times,” I said in a rush, dodging her swatting hand on pure instinct. My legs—still weak—nearly gave out, and I stumbled to catch my balance.

Lacy was there in an instant, supporting my weight with an arm around my waist.

“See what happens when you argue with me?” she asked with a joking tone. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll just nod your head and say, ‘Yes, Lacy.’”

I looked down at her, the corner of one lip turned up in a sly smile, as if I was going to say something snarky. She arched a brow at me and I pulled my expression in tight.

“Yes, Lacy.”

She smiled, a bright, beaming look that eased my aching chest.

I basked in that smile for a moment, but was pulled away when I noticed Kurian watching us from over her shoulder. Pulling away, I kept an arm around her shoulders—mostly for support, but also because I wanted to—and met his gaze.

Lacy noticed and followed my eyes, turning to see Kurian approaching. Out of the corner of my vision, I saw her squint and felt her body tense beneath my arm.

“Your core is dry,” Kurian said simply. “It will refill naturally—faster if you meditate. But there’s no time for that.” He lifted his giant hand and I flinched away, anticipating an attack as he’d done so many times against Athena and I. Instead, an energy began to coalesce in his palm—an extremely familiar energy.

Before I could react or process what he was doing, that familiar energy shot forward, penetrating into my chest. A burning sensation burrowed deep, passing through my soul space and into my drained Mass core. The weakly spinning core suddenly burst into life, filling to the brim and then some. The excess Mass energy sloshed out, coursing through my veins like liquid electricity. I staggered back, nearly stumbling to the ground if it weren’t for Lacy’s steading grip and Red’s stabilizing efforts.

“What did you do?” Lacy asked with a worried tone.

“It’s filled,” I muttered in surprise.

She turned to me with a furrowed brow. “What?”

Looking up at Kurian’s blue face, my eyes went wide. “He filled up my Mass core.”

“Why—” She cut off as the realization set in. “Kurian, no.”

“He isn’t finished.”

“He needs a break!”

Kurian ignored her, his eyes boring into mine with the heavy weight of expectation. It only took a moment for me to nod in acknowledgment.

Lacy felt me move, extracting my arm as I went to reach for another baseball from my Inventory. She stepped in front of me, staring down Kurian. If I wasn’t so tired, I might have laughed at the image of a five foot tall Lacy stepping up to fifteen foot tall Kurian.

“He. Needs. A. Break.”

I put my hand on her shoulder and she whirled around in surprise. As much as I didn’t want to, this had to be done.

“It’s fine, Lacy.”

Her face darkened and a tingle of fear traced up my neck.

“It’s not fine, Dirk! You’re gonna work yourself to death.” Her face softened and she lowered her voice. “A thirty minute break wouldn’t kill you.”

I sighed, my eyes tracking past her to that tenth and final target looming in the distance. It seemed to taunt me, standing there unconquered behind its greyed out siblings. There was no question about it, I had to do this.

Collecting my thoughts, I turned back to Lacy.

“This is why I am what I am, Lacy. Why I’ve accomplished what I’ve accomplished. For all my faults, this isn’t one of them.” I considered that for a moment, then rephrased. “Well, it might be a fault, but it’s also my greatest power. Forget the Friction or Mass energy in my soul space. Forget the powers Red gives me or the weapons in my Inventory.” Red bristled in the back of my mind, but understood enough not to take offense. “I’ll never give up. I’ll never quit.” Softly, just for her ears. “Because I can’t. Because if I do, humanity is doomed. Because if I do…I might lose you…forever.”

She stared into my eyes, searching for something—a crack for her to chip away at, maybe. But she found none and eventually sighed.

“Okay, I think I understand, even if I don’t like it.” She reached out and pulled something from her Inventory. “At least eat something, please? You need fuel that wasn’t magically injected into you by an overbearing demigod!” That last part she directed at Kurian, who simply shrugged one massive shoulder.

She handed me a small protein bar and I laughed as I accepted it.

“Yes, Lacy.”

She smiled at that, but her face dropped as she watched me scarf it in three bites. The food slid down my throat like a lead weight, but I didn’t care.

That tenth target loomed in the distance and I pulled a baseball from my Inventory.

I bounced the ball in my hand, injecting Mass energy around it in a thin coating. Sighting along my other hand, I took a breath, turned my body, and launched the Mass-infused baseball with an arcing throw.