Chapter 264: Vengeance of The Errant

“With the number of soul masses you have right now, you are already powerful enough. Assimilating any more will hinder you from being able to ever reach Eternity,” The God of Secrets warned.

“Why this is so, I don’t know myself,” he continued. “But the fact remains that it is true. Normally I couldn’t care less what some otherworlder, no matter how powerful, chooses to do. But your decision here directly affects some of my… interests.”

The hall went quiet.

Finn was surprisingly calm and silent despite all the God of Secrets had just said. There were so many questions he could ask, and knew he should ask:

What was Eternity? Why did it concern him? What did his assimilations have to do with it? Why did a God, especially one so elusive, feel the need to caution him on not being able to get to this grand-sounding “Eternity?” What were the interests of the God of Secrets here? Did it benefit Finn also?

The questions could keep coming. And even if he could get answers to all them, there was still the fact that he did not need to comply. If he wanted to assimilate more soul masses, it was purely his choice, and his choice alone.

Yet, after a couple of seconds, Finn simply nodded unhurriedly and said:

“Alright.”

The God of Secrets blinked. It was the first involuntary thing he’d done since arriving. He was entirely taken off-guard. Despite all the secret knowledge he might have had of Finn in his arsenal, he hadn’t predicted this at all.

And it wasn’t only him who was taken off-guard. From the corner of his vision Finn was aware of Althea going very still. Of Vara’s expression doing something complicated. Of even Ailin, the Mnemosyne who had stood through everything in this temple with absolute composure, shifting her weight slightly — a movement so small it was nearly nothing, but present.

Finn kept his gaze on the God of Secrets, whose composure had returned, though the God remained silent, simply nodding at Finn slightly. He looked like someone who had prepared a thousand responses and counter-responses, only to find he had no use for them.

This was a being who trafficked in the hidden, the anticipated, the known-before-knowing. Being caught completely flat-footed by a single word from an otherworlder was not something that happened to him. And yet here it was. Finn could see the recalculation happening behind those composed eyes, the God of Secrets quietly revising whatever analysis he’d built of who he was.

“I truly thought I would have had to try a lot harder to convince you. But I misjudged your decisiveness…” The God of Secrets started to say, but his voice trailed off as Finn suddenly moved, heading towards the corridors. And not just any corridor, but the first one.

Corridor No.1

The unnumbered corridor. The one that didn’t correlate to any rank in his inventory of future soul masses.

“Wait—” The God of Secrets’ voice came from behind him, the pleasantness gone entirely. “Errant. Do not enter there. You don’t understand what—”

“Don’t move,” Finn said in a chilling voice, making the God of Secrets pause immediately.

The Errant Sword in Finn’s hand started to make the air groan more violently. The green light around its edges pulsed cold and steady now, the glitch trails spreading wider with each step, reality stitching itself back together in its wake with slightly more effort than it had managed before.

Finn continued walking, heading straight for the first corridor, but it seemed the God of Secrets simply couldn’t watch him do it. He took another step forward, intending to take action and stop Finn, but Finn stopped first and glanced over his shoulder with a stone-cold look to his eyes.

​”I said don’t move,” he whispered. The sheer authority in that low breath sent a shiver down every spine in the hall.

​”I do not care if you are a Rank 1 God or not. I do not care if the body before me is truly you or a projection. Take another step, and I will pour my entire might into a strike. I will make you bleed here, and wherever you actually are. A wound of Errant essence that never closes. And then I will escape this place, and I will make sure to finish what I started with you.”

The groaning of the sword filled the silence that followed.

The God of Secrets stood very still. His eyes were on the sword with an attention that was, for the first time since his arrival, not entirely controlled. One would think the Errant’s threat to be conceited, especially directed at a being of the God of Secrets’ nature and rank. But the look on the God of Secrets’ face clearly showed that he took the threat very seriously.

It wasn’t the threat itself that gave him pause — beings of his rank heard threats constantly and from things far more imposing and more terrifying than Finn. Rather, it was the sword. Finn’s sword. The Errant Sword. That was what made him stop in his tracks. Whatever the God of Secrets knew about what Finn had built in Chamber 12, it was enough to make him stay exactly where he was.

A dark look crossed his face and he turned his head towards Ailin and Althea, who were just as shaken, if not more, by Finn’s blatant threat. “Talk some sense into your friend, Order bearer, Mnemosyne… You know what lies beyond there. He is not ready yet…”

Finn’s gaze flickered slightly and his eyes went to Althea’s. An understanding dawned in them, and they seemed to say to Althea: So I was right… You knew… about me, about what I truly am, and even more… Ailin revealed it to you.

Althea saw the unspoken words in them clearly, and she met them without flinching, as if affirming that she truly did know. She then sighed softly and steeled her gaze before speaking.

“Finn.” She spoke his true name and not his name — Arros — of this world and time.

Immediately Finn heard that name being spoken. His name. Here in this world and this time, it changed something inside of him. His gaze softened involuntarily, as if he had just found a long lost friend. Someone who truly knew him. Two souls speaking across the vast river of time. It was a strange feeling. Two years of being Arros. Two years of performing a name and a role and a history that had never belonged to him, and here was someone standing in the same room who had known the whole time.

Despite the conflicted feelings that came with realizing she had known about him all along while pretending otherwise — he didn’t know whether to be angry, or whether to understand that some things simply couldn’t be revealed — he gave her his full focus and listened.

A mixture of different expressions crossed Althea’s eyes. Weariness. Relief. Gratefulness. Guilt… All of it jumbled together, but the general feeling underneath was relief that Finn, despite being obviously conflicted, didn’t seem to be holding the silent knowledge against her. She straightened and spoke with conviction, trying to get her point across.

“As much as I don’t want to side with the God of Secrets… Finn, you are not ready to face what lies beyond there — Weare not ready.”

“You know what lies beyond that corridor.” Finn stated rather than asked.

“No,” Althea shook her head. “But I know what the end result will be.”

“And what will that be…?” Finn lowered his gaze and asked silently, expecting no answer to the question.

But surprisingly, Althea responded after a silent beat.

“Vengeance.”

Finn raised his head and met her eyes, frowning slightly. His mind churned rapidly, turning the word over, looking for the shape of what it implied.

The God of Secrets sighed. “You should not have answered, Order Bearer. Congratulations. You have just started a war.”

As he spoke, berating Althea, Finn turned and walked straight towards the first corridor with steady strides. No one tried to stop him this time. The God of Secrets knew it was no use. Ailin the Mnemosyne looked curious to see the result, her eyes dark and ancient as if another entity was watching through them entirely. And Althea looked somewhere between unwilling and relieved. At least she had helped Finn come to his own conclusion. She was willing to face what came after.

She turned her head towards the God of Secrets, uncaring of her sharp tone towards a being that could unmake her in an instant.

“War? There has always been war. It has been nothing but war since before I even understood what I was part of. Do not make the mistake of thinking my silence so far means I am on your side. I do not know your goals or your aims, but I sure as hell know you all wish to leech off the Errant!” Her tone rose as she spoke, meanwhile Finn continued walking straight for the first corridor, hearing what they were saying, but also not really hearing them over the drone building in his ears.

As he drew closer to the first corridor, his heart started to beat faster. His body felt hot. Anticipation built in his chest, mixed with uncertainty and the fear of the unknown. Of what he would see inside. Of what he would become when he stepped back out.

Vengeance…

If what awaits me inside this chamber is vengeance… then so be it…

With the voices of Althea and the God of Secrets droning in the background, he stepped in.

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