Chapter 244: What The Hell Is Going On? The vision shattered. Finn’s consciousness was violently ejected from the memory, his eyes snapped open in shock to meet the stone ceiling of the chamber above. He gasped, his chest heaving as he dragged in deep breaths like he’d been drowning. His body was drenched in sweat. His heart hammered against his ribs. Every muscle trembled with exhaustion that didn’t match the fact that he’d been lying unconscious the entire time. Being immersed in the Tyrant’s memory had been far more strenuous than it appeared. Was that me? The question burned in Finn’s mind as he stared at the ceiling. The figure at the end of the vision. The man with glowing green eyes standing over the Tyrant’s millennia-buried body. Those had been the Errant’s eyes. His eyes. What the hell is going on? Finn’s frown deepened, his thoughts churning with confusion and growing frustration. How was he somehow in the distant past again? This wasn’t his first experience with temporal displacement, his entire presence in this timeline was evidence of that. But seeing something like this again...? Did he end up going back in time again at some point? Was there another journey backward waiting in his future? Or was that scene from an entirely different branch of timeline? A parallel possibility that might never come to pass? His head throbbed just from thinking about it. The paradox of everything was becoming impossible to untangle. Each time he thought he was beginning to understand the temporal mechanics at play, something new would surface to throw him into a spiral of confusion. For fuck’s sake, he’d just started coming to terms with the fact that the soul masses sealed in his soul in the future had ties to this temple. Now he’d learned that he might have been the one to first make contact with them? That he might have been the one to seal them within his own soul in the first place? An ugly scowl twisted Finn’s face as the implications roiled through his mind. Was he creating his own future? Or had he already created it and was simply living through the predetermined steps? The circular logic made his skull ache. The voice returned, cutting through his spiraling thoughts. [Congratulations. You have successfully completed the third phase of the Crimson Fist Tyrant’s trial] [You may proceed to the next chamber to claim your rightfully earned inheritance] The announcement should have brought some measure of satisfaction. At minimum, some anticipation about what reward awaited him after passing such brutal trials. But Finn felt nothing. The curiosity and excitement he should have felt didn’t come at all. Instead, it was only the exhaustion and the weight of too many unanswered questions that pressed down on him. "A... Arros?" Althea’s voice came from somewhere to his left. Finn turned his head to see her pushing herself up from where she’d been lying nearby. Her face was flushed, and she quickly averted her gaze from him, embarrassment coloring her features. Finn felt heat rise in his own cheeks as memories of the second trial came flooding back. The crushing pressure. The erupting desires. The way they’d both nearly succumbed to base impulses while the sailors completely lost themselves. The way Althea had grabbed him. The way he’d almost... He forced the memory aside. They’d both fought it. They’d both maintained enough control to pass the trial. That was what mattered in the end. Althea was looking past him now, toward where the Blessed stood. Ailin hadn’t moved from her position the entire time, still watching the darkness ahead with those ancient, knowing eyes. Finn sat up slowly, his body protesting the movement. Then he paused, frowning. His body was protesting, yes, but... not as much as it should be. He pressed a hand to his chest where he was certain a rib had cracked during the second trial. Yet there was no pain. He flexed his arm where blood vessels had burst. No damage. Even the exhaustion from the third trial’s memory was already fading to manageable levels. They’d been completely healed while unconscious. Finn glanced at Althea and saw her making similar discoveries, testing movements that should have caused pain but didn’t. Her expression shifted from surprise to wary acceptance. The temple had restored them to prime shape as if preparing them for whatever came next. Finn pushed himself fully to his feet. He looked toward where he thought he would see the three sailors still lying in a heap, but they were not there. So they died... Finn though grimly. They’d failed the trials. Their fates were sealed the moment they lost themselves to the pressure. He let out a sigh and faced forward again, addressing Althea. "Did you..." Finn started, then cleared his throat. "In this third trial. Did you see anything?" Althea finally met his eyes, confusion evident on her face. "See anything? What do you mean?" "A vision. A memory. Did you experience anything like that...?" "Nothing of the like. It was just sleep," Althea replied, her brow furrowing. "Dreamless sleep, in fact. I was unconscious, and then I woke up. Why? Did you see anything?" Finn studied her carefully, searching for any sign of deception. But her confusion seemed genuine. She truly hadn’t experienced what he had. No immersion in the Tyrant’s life. No vision of its struggle and defeat. No glimpse of the green-eyed figure at the end. Why? Why had he alone been shown that memory? Unless... Had the trial been specifically designed for him? Tailored to someone who would understand the significance? Someone who’d carried the Crimson Fist Baboon’s soul mass in another timeline? The implications of that were deeply unsettling. "Nothing," Finn said finally. "Just wondering." Althea didn’t look convinced, but she didn’t press. They both had secrets. That was understood between them. The Blessed turned her head slightly, those black-abyss eyes fixing on Finn. "The inheritance awaits, Errant. Will you claim what is yours?" Finn looked toward the darkness ahead. A doorway had appeared in the far wall during the trials, or perhaps it had always been there and was only now visible. Beyond it lay the final chamber. The place where the inheritance waited. He took a deep breath and nodded. "Let’s finish this."