Part two:
"Speak again," he rumbled."Speak long and clear… and explain yourself."
Era expected to crumble. But she didn't. Something steadied her.
Not peace. Not safety. Just… stillness. The same feeling which had possessed her before. A pause in her terror.
Era couldn't comprehend it. 'The stakes were higher now. She was one step closer to death, and one step closer to success.'
Everything relied on her next few words. Yet she was calmer now then before.
That was when her mind flashed back to Beira's riddle, and she understood.
'The gate keeper's confession was the source of this.
That must be the source of her courage. Beira had mentioned trials, she had mentioned Gods and she mentioned her fate.
This was not the end.
It was the beginning.'
The realisation flared inside her like oxygen catching on flame. Maybe it was the adrenaline. Maybe it was madness. Or maybe something deeper had curled inside her soul, either way her next words flowed clean and clear.
"I offer you a contract."
The chamber didn't echo. It accepted.
Her voice found strength.
"Four trials, crafted by four of you. Even those not present this moment. Make them cruel, make them impossible, make them how you see fit- i will not resist."
The air shimmered faintly, as though her vow had begun to take shape in the very fabric of the hall.
"If I fail even one, I will accept your judgment, whatever it is."
She took one small step forward.
"But if I succeed…"
Her gaze swept across the four seated gods.
"…you will consider me worthy of your blessing."
A pause. She swallowed once, but her voice did not falter.
"I don't ask for mercy. Only a chance."
The silence after her words felt cavernous.
Not empty. Reverent.
As though even the air had paused to witness what had just been spoken.
Era stood within the stillness, the weight of her declaration echoing into something deeper than sound. Time didn't seem to move. The gods didn't speak. Yet something in the fabric of the hall, the marrow of the space itself, had changed.
'She had offered a contract to the divine.
And they were considering it.
Not dismissing.
Not mocking.
Considering.'
The first to break the silence was the sly goddess with a laugh so shrill it shook the air.
"Oh, little mortal," she cooed, her words silk stretched over razors, "You've made my century."
She leaned forward on her fragile nest of a throne, violet-streaked hair dancing in an invisible storm.
"I accept. I'll craft you a trial so tantalising it scrambles your brain. I want to see what shape your scream takes when it breaks into song."
Era winced at her declaration. But, she couldn't dwell on it longer.
"A mortal who seeks to challenge the divine? Tell me, little one, do you intend to rewrite the rules of our own game? To shatter tradition and revel in chaos?" the fire god roared out. "Very well, I accept. Let the fire be lit, and let us see if your soul will hold its shape."
'That's two offers. Two more' Era chanted.
The grotesque God was the next to accept, simply nodding his head before falling back into his slumber.
'One more' Her heart dared to swell.
The silver goddess hadn't spoken during the others' noise and spectacle.
But now, she rose, slowly, like a blade being drawn.
Her gaze cut across the chamber and landed on Era with impossible weight. Not heat. Not cold.
Just truth.
"You stand in the presence of the divine and speak of terms."
Her voice was quiet, but it rang with the finality of a shutting cell door.
"You speak as if your will matters here. As if the weight of your life could balance even a grain of ours."
Frost spread across the veins of her throne, each crack glowing white.
"There will be no contract with me, mortal. No challenge. No cleverness. If the others consider this folly entertaining, then I will not stop it, but remember, mortal, there is only this: you are either worthy… or you are not."
She took one step forward.
"And if you are not…"
Her tone never changed.
"…you will be erased."
Era's heart sank.
'She needed one more to accept. Would they allow her to do just three?'
The weight in the room thickened, tightened, as if the very air itself paused to listen.
Then the flame God rose.
"So it is agreed."
"Four trials. Four gods. Let her fate be tempered by ordeal, and let her soul be weighed in the furnace of divine will."
'Four?' Era thought. 'Hadn't the silver Goddess refused? Had he spoken be mistake?'
She was given no more time to contemplate.
He raised one hand, and the space around Era shimmered like heat off iron.
"Should she succeed, her worth shall be considered beneath the gaze of eternity."
A final, crackling pause.
"Should she fail… She will learn what it means to beg for death, and be denied it."
The words struck like a spell.
The air fractured. The thrones trembled.
And from the shadows, they came.
Ten figures.
Draped in black. Shifting. Watching.
They took their places in the empty thrones without sound or ceremony.
Their forms flickered, indistinct.
And they were listening.
Era's breath caught.
'They had all come to witness this.'
Era felt her body being tugged backwards.
"Your trials will come soon, mortal," the silver Goddess spoke as the chamber crumbled around her.
And with those binding words, Era's soul was wretched out of the realm of Gods.