Deal with a God

"Happy?" He asked with a small hint of spite hidden behind his voice.

I nodded in response.

"Now sit down." He said in a heavy commanding tone.

I shivered at the way he spoke and did as he said, now more afraid of the consequences of angering him.

Once I'd sat down he then spoke up about what he wanted, "I want you, to do a favour for me in the mortal realm, otherwise known as the world you live in. As for what that favour is, I'll tell you when you get stronger, as currently, you aren't capable of achieving it."

I started at him suspicious of what this favour might be, but I knew that pushing for more now would be a bad idea. So I just asked for what I wanted out of this deal.

"As you said, I've now made a connection to this crystallised core. But the reason I even did that, was because I wanted to turn it into a sort of gemstone for a ring."

"A ring!?" He shouted in confusion yet slightly intrigued as to where I was going with this.

"It's a gift for someone else. And if you can only offer me something within the Core's powers, then I want you to change the way the core itself functions, for her.

"Oooh~ Interesting~ Go on then, what exactly do you mean by that?" He asked with a sparkle in his eyes.

"She's a nature mage, and this Core is also of the Nature attribute, can you see where I'm going with this?"

He chuckled in understanding, "Indeed I do, and I most certainly can do that, but, is there anything specific, any special adjustments you might want just for her?"

I looked down and saw the cup of tea that was steaming and gave it some thought. 'What could possibly help her besides what would already be given?'

I stared into my reflection in the tea and came up with something.

So I asked, "Will she be able track my location?"

"No, but you'll be able to locate her provided she wears the ring. Since you're asking that, I will assume you want that then."

"And maybe some sort of distress signal for when she's in danger."

"I see that you love this woman very much. I'll throw in an emergency protective shield as well, I'm in a good mood."

"Thank you."

"You are most welcome. Now, the terms are set, let's make this deal official." He placed his teacup down and stood up, extending his hand out to me.

I got up as well and hesitated to shake his hand, worried that there might be some hidden condition, but I grasped it anyway as this would ultimately be a good thing.

And as soon as I shook hands with Loki, a purple green light burst out from our hands and formed a set of chains that wrapped around our arms, signifying our deal.

The lights faded and the scenery started to dissipate at the same time.

"Seems like our time here is up, and here I was , hoping to get to know you a bit better." He seemed genuinely sad that he couldn't spend more time with me, but I couldn't exactly tell if it was real or not.

"Well, I'm sure we'll meet again, and besides, I am a God, so you can always pray to me." He shrugged it off real easy.

Probably wasn't sad then.

"Wait! How will she know how to use the ring?" I frantically asked, worried that Cythistia wouldn't know how to use it.

"Relax~ She'll know how to use it for whatever purposes instinctively." He explained, his voice growing quieter, as though he was getting further away.

"See you later!" He waved farewell, his voice fading out as my surroundings began to tremble.

Before it could affect me though, I was pulled out of the Core and back into my body. The abrupt shift between the two was enough to force my body backwards onto the floor.

"Traytora!" Harmur yelled out in worry.

I got up from the floor as he ran over to me and rubbed the back of my head.

"Ye okay lass?"

I groaned a bit in mild discomfort before I responded, "Mmm."

He sighed in relief, "Well, thas good. In other news..."

I saw him look down at the floor, his arm's shaking.

I was about to ask what was wrong when he suddenly looked up with the biggest smile I'd ever seen on him with tears running down his face.

"We did it!" He exclaimed with an unbridled joy. "We actually did it!"

I was confused for a second until I realised that he was talking about the Core, which was now a small magical gemstone.

I quickly got up and went over to the stand that the Core was placed on and looked in, seeing an emerald coloured crystal that was shaped like a leaf.

Everyone else was marvelling at the sheer beauty of it, with its pristine shine and its clean cut edges.

It was simply stunning in its appearance, so much so that it would fetch a high price for how beautiful it, and that's just with its beauty, add on the magic one could do with it and it would essentially be a priceless artifact.

"Kay! Thas enough starin! Everyone back te yer stations!" Harmur yelled out, sending everyone else grumbling away to return to their normal work.

As for Harmur and I, we went to finalise the ring. I carefully picked the Crystal up into my palm and made my way over to where the ring itself was.

It was already finished half way through the compression process so we went and got some enchantments on it that help one with the flow of mana, making it easier to use magic at a slightly reduced cost.

There was an empty space on the ring that was around the same size as the crystal in my palm, although it was shaped more for an orb than a leaf. That was because we just assumed it would become smaller, not change form in the process.

Now that I think about it, it might have taken on this form because of the interference of Loki. Huh...

Anyways, now we had to reform the slot that the crystal would go in, and was actually really simple. I wasn't experienced enough to do this so I just watched, trying to learn something in the process.

All they did was carefully heat up the gold that made most of the ring and added a little more whilst trying not to damage the enchantments, then they placed the crystal atop the molten liquid as it was cooling and then left it to harden.

It didn't take that long, only half an hour and when it was done, the ring had hardened and now held the crystalised Core in place, not letting it budge one bit.

The feeling of actually completing this is exuberating beyond anything I could describe.

"So, what ye gonna call it then? A piece as fine as this needs a name." Harmur asked.

I looked at the ring and thought about it for a second. 'This is a gift, for Cythistia... Both are attributed to nature, so.'

'Nature's Gift.'