The silence that followed Nicholas's ultimatum was deafening. He could feel the two sister goddesses communicating in a way beyond words, a silent, desperate exchange of flickering essence.
He stood patiently, his prescience not probing, but simply observing the ebb and flow of their fear and defiance.
He had laid out the logic of their extinction with cold precision. Now, he had to let them confront it.
Finally, Karta, the elder, spoke. Her voice was no longer just bitter, but hollow, the sound of hope's coffin closing. "A voice, you say? A partnership? We have heard such honeyed words from greater powers than you, child of Athena. They all end the same way. The chains may be gilded, but they are chains nonetheless."
"Your perspective is limited by your decline," Nicholas replied, his tone unchanging.
"You think in terms of master and slave. I am offering a symbiosis. Look at what I have achieved in a mere decade." He gestured with his staff, and the four elemental flames within his eyes flared briefly. The snow around his feet melted in a perfect circle, steam rising to form a faint, shimmering halo of mist.
"I have built this power from nothing but mortal offerings and my own will. I do not seek to enslave you. I seek to integrate with you. You possess the framework of an authority I require. I possess the means to fuel it, to make it relevant and powerful once more. Without me, you are a forgotten library, crumbling to dust. With me, you become the central archive of a new empire. Do not think I stand alone; the Goddess Athena herself will be on my side."
Dekla, the guardian of beginnings, took a hesitant, shimmering step forward. "You speak of faith... of sustenance. How? We are of the Baltic peoples. Their memory of us fades with each passing season. The stories are told less; the old ways are forgotten. What faith can you provide that the great Pantheons have not already claimed?"
This was the crux of the negotiation. This was where he had to offer the vision.
"You know the Ancient Laws wouldn't allow an intrusion into mortal affairs from Deities, but Demigods are subject to no such restriction."
"The faith of the future," Nicholas stated, his voice gaining a resonant, almost prophetic quality. "Not the whispered prayers of a dying culture, but the roaring adoration, and fear, of a global order. I do not plan to rule from a shadowy temple. I will stand in the spotlight of history. A Great War is a storm on the horizon; a conflict the Gods themselves are engineering. I intend to not just survive it, but to dominate it. I will become a leader, a symbol. And the world will believe in me, that is the purpose of my birth ordained by Athena herself."
He let the image form in their minds. "They will not pray to 'Karta and Dekla.' They will not need to. Their belief in my strategies, their terror of my inevitability, their awe at my foresight. And that faith will flow directly into the artifact that you will form. You will be the unseen hand guiding the perception of my influence."
"You will be the reason my enemies find their plans inexplicably falling apart, and my allies find fortune smiling upon them. Your domain won't be a small, regional folklore; it will be the practical, applied force of fate on the world stage, returning you to your previous glory and rising even further."
He saw it then, the faintest spark in Dekla's silver eyes. Not hope for freedom but hope for relevance.
Nicholas was offering a new beginning on a scale they could never have imagined.
Karta remained skeptical, but the defiance was crumbling, replaced by a weary calculation. "And our consciousness? You swear it will not be subsumed? We will remain... us?"
"On the River Styx, I swear it", Nicholas said without hesitation. He knew the power of such an oath to beings of their nature. "Should you go willingly, your sentience will be preserved within the artifact. You will be my counsel on matters of fate and probability. Your millennia of wisdom will be valued. You will not be a silent tool, I promise that."
The final piece of his persuasion fell into place.
He wasn't just offering survival; he was offering them a purpose that matched their original function but magnified a thousandfold. He was offering them a seat at the table of history.
The two sisters looked at each other one last time.
A long, silent communication passed between them. Then, as one, they turned back to Nicholas. Their forms seemed to solidify slightly, a decision made.
"We accept your... covenant, Nicholas, son of Athena," Karta said, her voice formal, imbued with the gravity of their choice. "We will willingly undergo the ritual. We will become the core of your artifact."
A wave of triumph, cold and sharp, washed through Nicholas. He had won. The first, most crucial step was his.
"Then we begin now," he said, his business-like tone returning. "There is no benefit to delay."
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