7. Strategizing

Patro and Achilles rouse Alexis, mock her condition, and order her to clean up. In the shower, Alexis spirals over leaving her brother Charlie, steadied by Nyx. Nyx reveals she’s already bonded to another Spartan and cannot speak about them directly, but promises to stay with Alexis.

Outside, Patro speculates Zeus is Alexis’s father and challenges her to reveal her power; Alexis admits she has none. Patro explodes, then gives her a founder’s manual on the crucible (Latin and translation). Alexis reads about a mental war of pain, starvation, paranoia, and a binary fate: succeed or die, and is shaken by nightmares featuring a raspy voice commanding her to survive.

Patro returns with a brief primer on the four disciplines: Thagorean (advanced math with philosophy), Lost Classical Lore (archaic history in Latin), Discipline and Power (oaths, mental shielding, leaping, powers), and a long-term animal bonding challenge. He warns that Spartans will kill the powerless, instructing Alexis to hide her lack of power; he notes his brother Augustus will teach D and P and is ruthless but principled.

When Alexis demands a plan, Patro offers only “survive,” explaining his own and Achilles’s winning strategy was to dominate from day one, and that falling behind means death. Alexis feels abandoned but resolves to continue.

Before dawn, Patro outfits her in a shoe-less exercise toga and leaps her to the mountains. The mentors withdraw, leaving Alexis with nine other finalists, including a lone Olympian heir wearing a gold laurel. She faces the grand edifice carved into the mountain: the Spartan War Academy. The crucible has begun.