Now Liam stood here. The pain that had threatened to make him faint had faded into a dull background throb. The man stood in front of him, throwing him a perfect smile.

“I’m glad we finally have a chance to talk.” His voice rolled out like thunder. It came from everywhere and nowhere at once. It was deep and reverberating.

“Which one are you?” Liam asked.

“I´ve had many names over the years, most of which wouldn't mean anything to you. But you can call me Gravitas.” The sound of his voice droned in Liam's head.

Liam distorted his face. “What's with all the theatrics? I get it you're a god and all, but this makes it rather hard to listen.”

The god sighed. “Very well.” His voice lost its boom and now sounded nothing different than an ordinary speaking voice. “You mortals really have lost your flair over the years. I remember a time when people were all about theatrics like this. It was gods here, gods there. Too much straight to business now.”

“You should go to the capital then, I hear they take the gods a little more seriously there,” Liam said. “Are you one of the minor ones?”

“Minor ones?” the being asked incredulously. “Don’t insult me, boy.”

“Then how come I've never heard of you?”

“Well, we both know you're not the most avid churchgoer.”

“Creepy you know that, but not untrue,” Liam admitted. “It always felt a little too much for me. The same boring stuff over and over again.”

Liam hesitated, afraid he had just said something stupid. Had he unintentionally provoked the god? Gravitas seemed rather laid back, but still, a part of his mind whispered to be careful about throwing stones at the sky.

To his surprise, the god reacted differently than expected though. He laughed. “I can see how my brethren are so fond of your kind. You are full of passion.”

The gods smiled and widened. "I came with a proposition for you. An offer you might say. I see you find yourself in a very precarious situation."

Liam looked down at his stomach and couldn't disagree.

"I can fix this for you, and I can fix this for you," Gravitas pointed at the nobleman responsible for Liam's wound.

"I thought you gods were limited in interfering with mortal matters, especially concerning your favorites."

“I wouldn’t offer you things outside of my reach, would I?” He smiled cheekily. “Let’s just say the rules are a little different for me.”

Liam couldn’t say that he wasn’t intrigued, nor that this situation didn’t need fixing, but he knew that no good things came for free.

“What do you want in return?”

“Only that you accept my boon.”

“Your boon?” Liam hesitated. “So that means-”

“That you would become blessed by me, yes.”

Liam paused for a second. There was a feeling of heat in his throat.

“Well no thanks.”

“No thanks?” Gravitas looked confused.

“No thanks to whatever it is you really want from me. I can manage quite well on my own.”

The god looked around the street. “I’m quite sure of that, but-”

"No listen, I don't need any help. Not like your kind has ever helped me before."

"Really?" Gravitas raised an eyebrow. "Looked to me like you were about to bleed out by the fist-sized hole in your abdomen."

"You don't know anything about how much I can take," Liam flashed his most confident smile, a smile that came a lot easier now that he suddenly didn't feel dizzy anymore.

"Oh, I know more about how much you can take than you think. It wouldn't be the first time your bloodline has surprised me."

"Bloodline? What do you mean?"

"Well if we would have a little more time I would tell you quite some stories about your Larian, but alas keeping this pocket hole in time open isn't very easy, especially if I want to keep out eavesdroppers."

“Larian?”

The god's expression saddened a little. “You don’t know?”

“Don’t know what.”

“It’s not my place to tell.” Gravitas shook his head.

“Wait,” Liam had so many questions to ask. But there was another thing screaming out at him. "What do you mean keeping the other gods from eavesdropping?"

"I'm afraid that's a fact that you have to discover on your own. Time is drawing short, as I said."

Then he did something that Liam wouldn’t have expected, something that would have made most priests in the local church faint.

He dropped to a knee in front of Liam.

“I have promised a long time ago that I would give you the blessing of my boon, that I would make you a true cultivator after my line. I know that you might be skeptical, and you have every right to be after the experiences you have had with the blessed people in your land, but just know it can be different. You can have the power to change things, isn’t that what you wanted?”

That was something Liam couldn’t deny. Still, there was some distrust left. “But why would you do it? What do you get from it?”

“You will see it eventually. And then you can make up your own decision. I just need you to know that I’m not evil. You will learn things along the way and make up your own mind. I’m sure of it, that’s what you mortals are best at. I know this is what you wish for. I can feel your hatred for them in you." The being glanced at the nobles. "I can't fault you, but you shouldn’t let it consume you. You can be bigger than that. Now though, you have to make a decision. Do you accept this power, or do you not?”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

There was some hesitation still left in Liam. Despite all of the things the god had said and hinted at, he still was a little scared. If he was being honest though, there was no real chance he could pass up an opportunity like that.

"Alright alright, just get up," Liam said, pulling the god up from his knees. "You will help me in this situation?" He gestured towards the gaping hole in his stomach.

"I will help you in this situation. And I will help you in this situation.” Gravitas pointed at the noble. “As much as my boundaries allow."

"Well then, I suppose I can't say I have never dreamed of becoming a blessed one.", Liam smiled.

Gravitas only nodded solemnly. "So be it then."

There was a bright flash of light. A spinning portal opened up behind the god and he took a step towards it. “This might be goodbye for a while,” Gravitas said. “Although I’m already looking forward to seeing you again when you break the second cycle. We can have a longer conversation then.”

Liam nodded solemnly, watching the god stop in front of the portal.

“And Liam?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t think I will do it again.” Gravitas's expression hardened into iron. Liam shivered and felt cold suddenly, cold and very small. He continued. “I have used up more resources than you can imagine to appear before you here. The next time you get into trouble you will be on your own. Don’t make the mistake of thinking for even a second that I would come by and help you out of whatever mortal matters you will infer yourself in.”

Liam swallowed heavily. Before he could say anything else, the god was suddenly gone.

He only had time to look around the alley briefly, before he was carried away by a vortex of light. His body felt like it was filled with hot raging fire, and he lost all sense of where he ended, and the world around him began. A moment passed that felt like a hundred years. Then another one. Agony washed away Liam’s senses. Then, just as suddenly as it began, it ended.

Liam found himself back in the alley, blinking profusely. His mind needed a second to adjust. Liam stumbled forward, his body feeling strangely alien to him. He looked down and was greeted by a surprisingly whole stomach.

The noble on the other side of the alley seemed to have noticed something was amiss. Without warning he suddenly appeared in front of Liam and pressed him against the wall, hand on his neck. Liam fought for breath underneath the man's grip, his face was contorted in fury. The noble said something, but Liam only heard pieces through his struggle and the rush of blood in his ears.

"Abomination…Old…thrash…"

Black dots started in front of Liam’s eyes. He started to feel his life draining away. Then, a power that slowly awakened inside of him. A warm energy that hasn’t been there before, calmly flowing beneath the surface. It seemed hesitant as if waiting for something. His permission perhaps. Out of options, he embraced it.

Immediately a wave of energy surged through Liam's body. The world snapped into focus. The pain was suddenly less, the alley more clear. And he felt indescribably powerful.

The energy inside of him screamed to be used. Twisting and twirling through him like a thrashing river. He felt like he would almost burst with power.

The noble was close to him now, his face twisted in a manic grin, and blood dripped off his hand. He was a monster playing with his prey. Too bad for him Liam was the predator in this fight for survival.

Liam’s mind shifted into instinctual mode. He stretched out his hand towards his attacker, gripping the wild energy inside of him and making it his. He commanded and controlled it. A wave of force thundered outwards, throwing the nobleman away like a ragdoll.

He collided heavily with the thick stone wall. The man looked at him shocked, a mixture of anger and fear written on his face.

“You…”

Before he got further, Liam threw his arm forward again, collecting even more energy, and threw it at the noble with all the force he could muster.

The man was thrown backward even more violently, his body smashed against the wall with a sickening crunch. He fell with a gurgling sound, blood ushering out of his mouth.

Liam watched the man, waiting for him to spring up and continue the fight again. But nothing of the sort happened. The noble simply lay there, covered in his blood.

For the brief span of a second immense power continued to surge through Liam. Mixed with the feeling of invincibility and victory.

Then, as quickly as it came, the energy left Liam again. His body started feeling weak all of a sudden. His knees buckled and Liam had to kneel on the floor. He started blacking out.

The last thing he saw was the girl walking towards him with a concerned expression on her face.

Suddenly he was lying on the floor staring up. There were images of the girl. Why had she come back? Then his vision grew darker and darker.

He slowly opened his eyes and found himself back in the alley. His mind was still a little dizzy. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and slowly got up.

“I must’ve passed out,” Liam thought to himself.

Before he took full inventory of the heavy headache pounding against him, a shout caught his attention.

“Murder!”

Liam didn’t know what was happening, only that four guards suddenly appeared in the alley, apparently attracted by the absence of their fellow. They glared at him, and Liam could see that there would be no room for negotiation, not with one of their fellows dead on the ground. They drew their weapons and spread out, advancing towards Liam.

They didn’t bother with words. This wasn’t a jail situation, they had different intentions.

Liam turned to run but found himself stopped dead by the five-meter wall rising in front of him.

He tried to climb it but found no grip. The guards laughed behind him. Would he really die to this wall?

No, he refused to. He felt something stir inside him. The same type of energy he had felt before. He followed his instinct and tapped into it. The world suddenly shifted into focus.

It was a far cry from the amounts of energy that had surged through him before, merely leftovers, but it had to be enough.

Liam let his instinct take over. He walked a few steps from the wall, turned around, and started running towards the wall at full sprint. At the last moment, before he was about to hit the wall, he leaped.

Something clicked inside of Liam and a feeling of weightlessness came over him.

Strength filled his legs and he propelled him upwards with unnatural power. He soared through the air, jumping higher than he would’ve expected.

For one moment Liam feared it wouldn’t be enough, but then his fingers barely managed to hold onto the roof's edge.

Liam pulled himself upwards and turned back to see the guards standing there, staring at him in disbelief. All of this had happened in the span of a second and Liam was as surprised as them, but there was a certain satisfaction in seeing their dumbfounded faces.

His feeling of victory was short-lived as the guards started to recover and the first one of them started reaching for a small crossbow on his back.

Liam quickly turned around and let himself fall down the other side of the wall. He landed with a heavy thud, his knees budged for a second but held strong.

Barely had his feet hit the ground when he started running as fast as he could. He was exhausted, frightened, and in pain, but adrenaline kept him going.

Liam only stopped when he was sure he had put enough distance between him and the guards. He ran for what felt like an eternity. Panic drove him. He only slowed back down to a walk when he was absolutely sure no guards were after him, and when he did he found himself in the outskirts of the city.

By then a slight drizzle had set in, covering the streets in a slight water sheen. Liam took a deep breath. The smell of warm summer rain made him relax a little, as he pulled under the overhang of a roof for cover.

Liam only wanted to catch a little breather, but ended up sitting there for a while, lost in thoughts as his mind tried to process what had just happened.

At one point the light drizzle started to pull back, revealing a cold starry night sky. It was truly getting late. Liam knew he had sat there for too long. He could only hope the guards wouldn’t be swarming all over looking for him already.

Liam got up and petted his coin pouch, an instinct he had trained over the years. Only to find it empty. A ball of cold iron was inside Liam’s stomach and he started looking around hastily. Had he lost the coins?

Then he remembered something.

The little girl came over to him lying in the streets. Her face full of concern. Her hands feeling for something.

“That little bitch!”

Liam really hated living on the streets.