The Only Hope

     Jim had trouble sleeping through the night. "What would astros demand of him in return for his help?" He thought, remember how the request to have Astros stop winking turned out. "Maybe Astros would behave himself. Maybe he was worried over nothing." Jim kept worrying. "Shit. Maybe I should try without his help." Jim said to himself as he finally drifted off to sleep.

     "Jim breakfast!" Yelled Susan from the other room.  Jim was out like a light he had stayed up most of the night with worry.  After a few minutes foot steps can be heard coming into the room. It was Susan. "Wake up sleepy head!" Susan yelled. "Your breakfast is going to get cold. Get in there and eat."

    "Ok, Ok I'm getting up." A groggy Jim said. "I'll be there in a minute."  Finally arriving at the table Jim finds that he has slept quite late. Astros and Susan had already finished eating and it looked like Susan had reheated his food for him.  "Sorry, had trouble sleeping last night." Jim said. "Got a lot on my mind, becoming the leader of America, I just don't know how I am going to do that." Jim just stared into his plate. "Everything depends on me, but I am just one man, I am not political, I don't even know where to start." Jim was beginning to ramble in self pity.

    "It's ok godling." Astros said with a smile. "You have the help of a god remember.  Mortals are easy to control, all you need is power." Astros' smile changed to that of an evil grin.

    "I don't want to control them. I just need them to listen to what I say." Jim said, realizing what he just said. "Oh god, I do need to control them."

    "Glad your finally on board godling. So power is what we need, is there a spell of yours that could show off your might?" Astros asked.

    "Most of the spells in the tomes are basic, there just isn't enough magic left in the world to do grand spells until the seals are broken." Jim answered.

    "So normal means are out." Astros said. "How committed are you to your task of conquering the mortals? What would you give up to achieve it? Would you surrender yourself?  Astros asked.

    "This is important." Jim paused for just a moment. "If everyone is not on board, humanity could start another war with the magical beings and that would not be ideal.  Instead of fixing this broken world we would further break it. I could see it as a grand war between science and full powered magic. It would not bode well for humanity.  Yet I can still see humanity picking that fight. I have to do it, I have to save the human race from themselves Astros. I will do or give anything to bring it about." Jim said while staring Astros in the eyes.

   Astros accepted what Jim said and the evil grin returned to his face.  "Godling, I have been around since the beginning of time, all of us gods have.  We have offspring with the other lesser races, creating godlings like yourself. Through time we have studied and perfected every form of magic.  A few of us gods even know a spell to transform a godling into a full fledged god." Astros looked directly into Jim's eyes. "We have everything we need in the temple to make you as god, young godling. Be warned however, we have no created a new god before in the history of time.  This spell is untested, its affect on you, nor its effect on the universe is known." Astros places his arm on Jim's shoulder. "Are you sure you are ready to join the glory of god hood and leave your mortality behind?" Astros asked.

     Susan was shocked by all this. Jim was going to become a god? "Jim…" she said but was cut off.

    "I said anything Astros, I meant it." Jim said with a serious look on his face.

     Astros lifts his arm off Jim's shoulder and his even grin turns into that of a smile. "Then let us prepare the spell. We will need to be in the main chamber where the door to the realm of the gods is." Astros said while walking into the main chamber. "Please remove your clothing godling. The protection spells on them may interfere with the spell."

    Jim was worried Astros would try to pull a stunt like this, but at least what he said did make sense. Never a good idea to have conflicting spells. "Ok" Jim said as he stripped.  Jim was now just standing in front of Astros and Susan with nothing more than his birthday suit on. "Now what?" Jim asked.

    "Go to the door and place both hands upon it." Astros instructed.

    Jim walked to the door and placed both his hands upon the door. "Like this?" Jim asked.  Jim was now standing there with his back to Astros and Susan, arms up on the door.

   "That's great godling." Astros said as he walked over to Jim.  Astros places his hand in the center of Jim's back. "Well mortal any last words before becoming a god?"

    Jim turned his head to look at Astros. "This… This isn't going to open the door will it?" Jim asked with a worried look.

    "Beats me mortal" Astros said. "This spell has never been cast before, There's no telling what kind of crazy stuff will happen.  Are you ready?" Astros asked again.

    "Lets do it." Jim said as he braced himself for the spell.

    Astros then began to speak in the ancient language of the gods in a voice so deep the entire temple shook. The spell was beginning to take shape. This spell was so powerful its effects could be felt across the entire planet.  The blue sky turned a sudden yellow, the clouds all over earth started moving quickly to be above the temple. The clouds that reached the temple did not descend upon the temple however, they shot straight up into space. A giant beam of light ascended from the temple that spread outward.  It was so bright that it could be seen across the horizon and it reached far out into space. Suddenly the beam shrank and retreated back into the temple. As this happened the Earth itself shook, the entire world had an earthquake all at once.

     Inside the temple you could see what was going on all the light outside was being sucked into Jim's body.  Jim's body was also experiencing changes. His muscles became even more defined, so much so that he was far more muscular than Astros. His short blonde hair grew rapidly down to his waist as changed to a silver color. His skin changed from being pale to a bronzed tan. He grew a few inches taller from six foot four to six foot eleven. After all the light had entered Jim's body and the Earth stopped shaking.  Jim began to glow.

   "It is done Jim." Astros said. "You are now a god. The first new god in the history of the universe!" Astros had became excited at this tremendous feat they had just accomplished.

   "Jim? You actually used my name for the first time?" Asked Jim, even after all he just went through, having his name called by Astros was the most concerning to him.

   "Of course, you are a god now. Speaking of which no longer use the mortal's names, it is below a god.  Speaking their name is saying they are equal to you. A god is only equal to another god." Astros explained. "Please address the fairy girl, as fairy girl from now on."

   "I see." Jim still naked, glowing, and extremely buff, then turns to Susan. "Susan, I will never think I am better than you. Don't worry." Jim said with a smile.

   "What did I just say?" Asked Astros, upset that Jim defied his orders immediately. "Please refrain from calling other mortals by their names.  We cannot make this a habit." Astros just glared at Jim. "As much as I love this view, and I do love the view. You need the attire of the gods."  Astros then waved his hands and a new outfit appeared on Jim's person. It looked just like Astros' clothes only instead of a black vest, Jim's was a royal red.

   "Thanks Astros. They fit perfectly." Jim said as he checked out his new look. "So any idea what kind of god I am?" Jim was curious about his new godhood.

   "No idea, never seen a vest like yours. Of course there has never been a new god before." Astros said. "I guess we will find out soon enough."

    "So I feel powerful… Very powerful… Like nothing is outside of my reach." Jim said as he looked at Astros and Susan. "I think I absorbed an incredible amount of magic." Jim looks at his hands. "I think I can use magic outside of the temple.  Let's go try it out!" Jim said as he excitedly started to walk toward the exit.

    "This I gotta see." Said Susan as she followed him out.

    "Wait for me!" Astros said as he ran to catch up.

    Outside Jim looked around for an opportunity and found one. A roaming zombie horde was just about to make its way to them. "Perfect." Said Jim as he raised his hand towards the zombies.  After just a second of his hand being pointed at the zombies, his hand began to glow and the zombie horde started to turn to dust. That's not all that occurred, everything between his hand on the zombies were purified as well.  The scorched ground was healed, the rust on the metal came off, everything that the fog had twisted was corrected by just a wave of his hand.

    "That's amazing Jim!" Susan said with joy.

    "That's what I would expect from my Jim." Said Astros.

    "With this power, I can do it, I can conquer the mortal world and save them from themselves." Said Jim.