I’m flying. Not a near death, out of body experience, I sincerely mean actual flight. The minotaur shook his head like a dog stepping from a sprinkler, and I’m launched.

  The impact comes complete with a whole series of crunching sounds in addition to the sucking squelch noise from the hole that goes through me.

  A new kind of flashing notification fills my vision as I roll to my side.

  Bleeding Out Imminent.

  Apply Aid To Survive.

  Thank you for stating the obvious, System. I really needed that.

  There’s a red bar beneath the words and it’s draining fast.

  Apply aid. I have a hole in me like someone punched their arm clean through me. I touch the gaping wound. My fingers go into a space that should not exist in my body.

  I should not have done that. I’m going to throw up. My throat’s closing, I’m gurgling on blood. Vision’s dark. I cough and it’s more than blood. I spit out something chunky.

  Pressure on the wound. How do you do that when the wound is a tunnel through your body? This isn’t a cut with a kitchen knife. This was several feet of mythical monster run clean through me. I now realize my leather vest was more for style than anything else, as it proved completely useless against a two story tall minotaur.

  Blood flows freely from my gut and pushes between my fingers. That red line starts flashing. I need serious medical care, not a band aid. I can’t possibly survive this.

  No. I’m awake. I can’t let myself think that. I’ve been beaten before and I’m still here.

  I reach a hand out to Sadie and I try to call her name, but I get a mouthful of something that makes me gag. It’s not clear if she sensed me trying to call out to her or if she was already heading to help me, but she’s sprinting past the minotaur. Way too close to the monster, but he’s prioritizing Jes now. She actually kicks him in the ankle as she passes.

  You go, feisty satyr.

  My body feels light. In fact, I don’t feel a damn thing, not the wound in my front or back, not broken ribs, not the ground. The red bar is just a furiously blinking vertical sliver now.

  I burn every drop out of the last seconds of my vitality to translocate. My body convulses and then I’m back in her body.

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  “Idiot,” I hiss under our breath. I’m pretty sure we both chose that word and both say it. “Find the spear.”

  We’re scrambling. My prior shell is already gone by the time I look back at the red smear where I was bleeding out. Without a physical form, I can’t bleed out. We find the spear, leaning against a rock and snag it while sprinting past.

  “I’m back, you hairy piece of shit,” we shout.

  Baco snorts in excitement and starts prancing like an Irish step dancer.

  The minotaur turns, shrinking back to being merely huge. Shit, his wounds aren’t bleeding. He must get some massive vitality regen when he gets the rage boost. He was seconds from dead, I’m sure of it. He’s pulled a changing body healing trick of his own, just like I did.

  The look on his face when he turns to us is hilarious. Eyebrow arched on one side, half squinting, several fangs bared in uneven sneer. It is the embodiment of 'what the fuck?'

  In Sadie’s vision, there is no vitality bar. That must be attached to my physical form. But I think it’s been established that other skills translate at least a bit with the psyche of the user. I look at the spear and will it to javelin. It dutifully extends.

  “Oh, yeah.”

  Jes couldn’t do that, but at least some percentage of Dom Spear Skill is in Sadie now. I pull a flair.

  Sadie’s legs snap me into the air and the spear is whipping around my body as I somersault ten feet up and land solidly a few yards in front of the minotaur, hooves bringing up a cloud of dust.

  Holy crap, a satyr jump enhanced weapon flair. Thanks Sadie. It felt a bit awkward, like the skill wasn’t at full.

  “Of course,” we smile.

  Baco growls, but the minotaur’s attention is glued to me. I’ve lost Jes somewhere. I’m absolutely sure if the minotaur charges again, we simply won’t be there. The reflexes in this body are amazing. We take several long strides to the beast, spear holding him at bay.

  “COWABUNGA!” echoes through the grotto. It’s not me or Sadie. Definitely not Baco.

  Jes is sliding on her knees, labrys extended right behind Bullface, taking out both the minotaur’s Achilles tendons in one swoop.

  The monster howls and drops to his knees. I have the chance to end this right now, but I’m not sure Sadie’s body has the force required. I have a few seconds left in my old body. I leave Sadie, spear in my hand, landing directly in front of Bullboy.

  With my full-sized strength and every bit of effort in a battered body, I thrust the spear right into a glowing ember eye.

  The weapon thrust stops when I feel the tip strike the back of his skull.

  He flails wildly, arms and legs lashing out in all directions, a bug dying in the exterminator’s spray. The body lurches one tense twist and falls with a thud that reverberates through the cave.

  “COW,” I gasp, “abunga. That’s funny.”

  A series of skill ups pass my vision. Impale. Hard Landing tells me I have a new passive of all landing damage reduced by 10 vitality. Translocation. Those don’t matter. What matters are:

  CONGRATULATIONS! You have defeated The Minotaur of The Labyrinth!

  Vitality: Increased 5%

  Bondling Vitality: Increased 10%

  Vitality to Pneuma conversion increased 5%

  Choose if you would like to double increase:

  Impale, Perception, or Cooking

  I get a mouthful of dirt as I collapse to the floor.