Chapter 153: Making Preparations The beasts took off into the air, and Finn ended up riding with Deacon. For the first few minutes of the ride, the golden-eyed man was silent. He simply watched Finn with a small smile on his face, while Finn put up a slightly confused expression, as if wondering what this was about. Deacon could’ve gotten to talking immediately they boarded the magic beast. The special artifacts on the back of the creature combined to create a magical effect of dampening wind noise, wind currents and any sort of disturbance to near-absolute silence. But he hadn’t. He’s trying to make me tense. Finn sneered internally, but kept his confused look on his face, trying to make it as real-looking as possible. "That creature..." Deacon started suddenly. "You know what it is, don’t you?" Finn stared at Deacon, choosing his words carefully. "Why do you think I do?" Deacon chuckled, but did not push further. He instead continued to speak like he hadn’t asked any questions at all. "I saw something back there... When I peered into the truth of reality after your warning." He paused, watching Finn’s reaction. Finn kept his expression neutral, waiting. Deacon continued, this time more seriously. "If not for your warning that caused me to peer with more focus, I wouldn’t have noticed anything at all." "Your concept seems to be tailored to finding wrongness and flaws. That has advantages sometimes, letting your eyes see things, even at your current level of Somatic Transmutation, that I can’t unless I focus." Deacon’s smile returned, but there was something contemplative behind it. "Your concept is perfect for peering into reality itself." Finn didn’t need to be told. Internally, his mind went to that memory of Arros in Brambleton. The version of him from that future time hadn’t just peered into reality... he’d forced the incomprehensible jumble that could make one run mad to display in a format that was comprehensible to him. Literally seeing the magical talent and fate of every single person like they were game characters. In a way, looking at Deacon, who would later go on to have a fragment bearer called Priest in the far future, he reckoned the Truth bearer should also be able to see something similar to that if he wanted. But then, thinking about it carefully, perhaps the reason why Deacon currently needed to focus to see wrongness as easily as Finn did, was because his current understanding and application of Truth was more focused on humans, objects, tangible things... Rather than reality itself. Deacon continued. "I’ll be guiding you personally from here on out. You need to get stronger as quickly as possible for what we might face." The weight in his tone was unmistakable. Finn considered trying to act like he didn’t understand the deeper meaning Deacon’s words implied. But he stopped himself and simply nodded. Deacon had chosen not to specifically mention anything regarding what he saw for some reason. And Finn was certain the guy wouldn’t even mention it to anyone at all. He was glad Deacon was tight-lipped. Though eventually, Finn realized it was logical. Who knew what else Deacon had seen? Not just now, but ever since he’d awakened his powers. He must be used to carrying so many secrets that he can even take this in stride... Finn thought. Deacon stared at him, then turned his face away and sighed. "Don’t think I’m on your side or anything," He said. "It’s only because of my sense for danger." He tapped his eyes. "When I see some things, there’s an instinct I’ve learned to listen to over the years. That instinct always lets me know when to keep silent, and when not to. It isn’t perfect, though that’s more me not listening properly than anything. But it works." He looked at Finn directly. "And this time, that instinct is telling me not to say anything about what I saw. That doing so... that even acknowledging it verbally... would give life to it in our world." Finn felt a chill go down his spine. Not like he didn’t know before. But now, hearing it from Deacon’s mouth, he became totally certain. There had really been a God. A true God. And probably one of a high rank too. Finn clenched his jaw and turned his face away as they rode in silence for the rest of the journey. . . . Things were hectic after their arrival back in the capital. A detailed briefing was carried out, with all six Transcendents, the two Archons — the King and Queen — along with other very high-ranking Crown Agents. The events inside the breach were thoroughly detailed, dissected and analyzed. The implications were taken to wild extremes. Even some that seemed extremely far-fetched. Especially for Finn, who knew exactly what was going on. He was genuinely impressed by how seriously the matter was taken. No idea was deemed stupid. Despite the rank of Archon the two Monarchs held, they carefully listened to even the ideas of the lowest ranking agents that were in the room. It made Finn more proactive in trying to subtly hint at a few things, seeing as he knew exactly what they were going up against. They all thought it was Transcendent creatures, thinking of how best to approach it. But Finn was part of the faction that encouraged not sticking to that single narrative. There were others that pushed for serious plans to be made in case this was something totally different from what they knew at all. Obviously, there were already such plans. But Finn joined the few that wanted it to be treated actively, approaching from the angle of their lack of absolute knowledge about how breaches worked, and emphasizing covering their bases. It was noted and treated more actively. All the while, Deacon never inputted anything to support or discard Finn’s ideas. He just participated normally. And Finn also didn’t look his way beyond what was normal, to prevent any suspicion. Thalia was another sharp person that Finn knew felt like he might know more than he let on. But with Deacon not calling out any suspicion towards Finn, she bottled it. Still, Finn noticed it during their talks. The way her gray eyes lingered on him just a fraction longer than necessary. With efficiency, the details of what they faced, their analysis, ideas and conclusions, were sent to the other nations with Transcendents, alerting them of the new development. . . The days after that were spent in waiting. But not a leisurely waiting. Finn’s training was kicked up several notches. Deacon took his time to guide Finn through his Somatic Transmutation, giving him tips and pointers, randomly giving him tasks, asking him to peer into seemingly random things. Finn didn’t mind the increased workload. In fact he wanted to become powerful much faster. He could feel his eyes adapting better with each passing day. He was slowly also increasing the load on his eyes. The pace was much faster than if he was doing it on his own, so he appreciated that. Deacon also helped him in other areas besides just sight. Over the next week, Finn created three new spells. The first was [Null Perception] — a spell that basically erased his presence from anyone’s perception. He’d learned the foundation from Deacon, but also with extensive help from Keeva. In fact, it was Keeva who had done most of the teaching for this spell. Deacon knew how to hide his presence, but he wasn’t particularly fond of it. Something Finn nearly laughed at internally, seeing as he knew Deacon would lean heavily into this far off in the future. That was basically Priest’s signature ability. The second spell was [Corrupt Input] — a refinement of [Invalid] that let him not just nullify mechanisms and logic, but feed false information into them. Make a lock think a wrong key was the right one. Make an artifact think it was receiving proper mana when it wasn’t. More versatile, more subtle. The third was [Regression] — his first true defensive spell. It allowed him to revert himself to a prior state for a split second, undoing damage taken in that moment. It was extremely taxing on his mind and only worked for injuries sustained within the last three seconds, but it could mean the difference between life and death. But during his learning process of [Null Perception], Finn had been extremely bothered by something. Keeva, who had taught him most of what he incorporated into his own understanding of Error to create the spell, eventually revealed her concept to him while teaching. Disguise. Her concept was Disguise. Finn had almost frowned when he heard her say it. That was the same concept as the Fragment Bearer from the Harvester Cult in his future timeline. The person Althea had fought while he was dealing with Nathaniel back in Xanth. The person that had shrouded them from Preceptor Elias’ perception... That totally changed the eyes through which Finn saw her. He didn’t know when the Harvester Cult would be created. But he did know she would become one of them... So did this mean she was going to betray the team at some point in the future...? The thought sat in his mind like a stone, heavy and cold. Keeva continued teaching him, patient and thorough, completely unaware of the calculations running through Finn’s head. Should he subtly warn someone? Should he even act on it at all? What if his very knowledge of the future was what pushed her toward that path? What if trying to prevent it was what caused it?