Deal With A God

Alan was startled by everything that had just happened. Even though he was severely shocked, he still had to deal with the three men lying unconscious behind the green baby.

The baby looked up at him as if it was looking through his soul.

"Don't worry... I can't harm you. I have the body of a newborn."

He didn't believe the baby's words, especially since he had learned of its identity. He decided to ignore it for now and deal with it after he dealt with the criminals.

Alan knew these men were bad people, and they most likely wouldn't have spared him if they had gotten their hands on him. If he let them be, they might remember his face and return later to kidnap him or even do something worse.

While he was walking around town earlier, he saw a building that he assumed was a prison. However, it was a couple of minutes away, and Alan didn't know if the men would wake up while he was going to get help.

The only solution he could think of was killing the three men while they were unconscious. 'These men probably have done horrible things in their lives,' Alan thought. He knew that if he had gotten kidnapped, he would have had horrible things done to him since they couldn't get any ransom money for him. After all, he was far away from home, and his family didn't care about him.

The only thing stopping Alan from killing the men was the possibility that there were more of them. Would they come after him if they found out he was responsible for the death of their comrades? He wouldn't have the means to protect himself if he caught the gaze of criminals. Right now, he got lucky with the appearance of the baby, but he didn't know if he would get lucky again.

While he was deep in his thought, the baby crawled up to him and touched him on his leg.

"I know what you are thinking. I can help you with this. If you decide to kill them, I can get rid of all the evidence."

Alan looked down at the baby and continued thinking for a minute before speaking.

"If what you say is true, then please help me," Alan said as he bowed toward the baby.

Even though he didn't completely trust the baby, he knew its identity and decided it would be best to show his respect.

"Smart kid. I will provide my help, but I can only help if they are dead. If you aren't able to kill them, then I'm afraid I can't do anything."

Alan took out a kitchen knife from his storage ring, which he had stolen from his family kitchen. He then walked towards the first man and placed the knife at his throat.

Both of Alan's hands were shaking. The boy was only 8 years old and never thought he would ever be in this situation. However, he knew what he had to do in order to live. Killing these men was the right choice, and knowing that the people he was killing were scum allowed him to commit the deed without any regret.

Alan proceeded to kill the three criminals one by one. After he was done, the baby spoke once again.

"Okay, pick me up and put me beside one of their bodies."

Alan followed the words of the baby, picking it up and placing it right beside the body of the first criminal. The baby's body then enlarged to the size of an adult man, and its massive head opened as wide as it possibly could before taking the man's entire body into its mouth. The baby then proceeded to eat the man, and the sound of chewing and bones cracking could be heard by Alan.

Alan looked at the scene with horror. In his head, he thanked the baby for not chewing with its mouth open. Had it done so, someone in the village might have woken up. After the baby was done eating the man, it licked its lips as if it had eaten something delicious.

"Bring me the other two."

Alan listened to the words of the giant baby whose head was now ten times that of a regular adult's. The other two men met the same fate as their bodies were destroyed entirely inside the mouth of the monstrosity that appeared out of Alan's vial. The baby then licked the ground clean of all the blood before doing the same to Alan's hands. It made sure not a single drop was left on the scene.

"Good, now that's over, we can finally talk," the baby said after shrinking back to its original size.

"Okay, but before that, I should move somewhere inside the town. I don't want to face another similar situation."

Alan looked at the baby and pondered how he would take it with him. If someone sees it, then it might bring him unwanted attention. The baby looked at Alan as if it knew his concern.

"Don't worry. I have a solution."

The baby then turned into green gas and flew towards Alan before all of the gas went up his nose. Alan started coughing as the feeling felt really strange to him. Once he calmed down, he realized that the baby was hovering in the air beside him.

"Now, no one should be able to see me except for you."

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking... What did you just do," Alan asked.

"First, call me Izmos," the baby replied. "What I did was send myself inside of your brain. Now you and I can communicate without me having a physical body."

Alan then put all his belongings into his storage ring and went into the village, looking for a place to stay for the night. Eventually, he found a spot close to a barn and decided to set up his tent there. If anything dangerous were to approach him, the animals would make noise alerting the townspeople. He then took out a pillow and a blanket and decided to lie down.

"Okay... now, are you ready?" Izmos asked.

"Yes," Alan replied. "I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Alan Fross. Thank you for saving me earlier."

"Don't thank me because I didn't do any of that on purpose," Izmos said. "Those three passed out because they witnessed my descent into this world, and their bodies couldn't handle my presence."

"But Mr. Izmos, why wasn't I affected by your presence," Alan said.

"That's because you were the one that freed me child," Izmos said. "In doing so, you and I became linked with one another."

Alan was shocked at what Izmos told him. He didn't know how to feel when he found out he shared a bond with a god.

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"It's a very long story," Izmos said. "However, I can give you a brief summary. Is that okay with you?"

"Yes," Alan replied immediately.

"Okay. As you saw, I am the god of knowledge. I was trapped inside that vial which you freed me from for several millennia," Izmos said.

"But how can a being as great as you get trapped inside a vial," Alan asked.

"Well... actually, it was my fault. I was careless," Izmos replied in an embarrassed tone.

"You see, I was the one that made that vial. I created that vial for the purpose of trapping a god, but I never expected that my own creation would be used against me. It's really embarrassing that I, the god of knowledge, was outsmarted and left to rot for thousands of years."

Alan let out a little chuckle while Izmos was telling his story.

"HEY!!! What are you laughing at brat," Izmos said.

"Sorry... I apologize," Alan said. "You may continue."

"Hmph... Anyways, the reason I got trapped was that one of the functions of the vial allowed only certain individuals to be able to use it," Izmos said. "I'm assuming this is why those bastards hid me inside the lower realms. They thought that a mortal would never be able to free me."

"Mr. Izmos... what was the condition that allowed me to free you," Alan asked.

"Good question... the condition for being able to use the vial is a minimum IQ of 200. The probability of a mortal having this is 1 in 76 billion," Izmos said.

"WHAT?! I have an IQ of over 200?!" Alan replied in shock.

"Yeah, you do... How else would you be able to free me," Izmos said. "Honestly, I never thought I would see the light of day again. I can't wait to see the looks on those bastards' faces when they find out I'm back."

Alan looked at Izmos, whose expression was as bright as a child at an amusement park.

"Hey... you saw the notification, didn't you?" Izmos asked. "Since you were the one to free me, I gave you a little gift. You're going to help me get my powers back so I can return to the upper realm."

"Huh... I didn't agree to this," Alan said.

"Don't worry child... you will also benefit greatly from this deal," Izmos said. "I'm one of the gods firmly believing in the law of equivalent exchange. While you help me get my powers back, I will share my knowledge with you."

Alan looked at Izmos and thought for a very long time before speaking.

"What are the benefits and consequences of this deal," he asked. Alan had already thought hard about this question but wanted to confirm his thoughts by asking Izmos.

"Well... the benefit of this deal is that I can make you into anything you want," Izmos replied.

"However, to provide me with the power I need, you will have to put yourself in a lot of danger. What do you say kid? Are you willing to do that?"

Alan pretended to think about Izmos' offer, but he had already made his mind up. He had already lost everything and had nothing more to lose. He opened his mouth and said one word before falling asleep.

"Deal."