Chapter 194: The Mnemosyne Grace? Nonsense! Ally? Absolute nonsense! Finn chortled inwardly. Not to mention the fact that this was coming from someone who had tried to beguile him with her charm mere seconds ago. Even if she hadn’t, he wouldn’t have been interested in her offer anyway. The only reason Finn still stood was because the girl knew his identity as a Transcendent to an extent, and he no longer felt bad intentions from her — at least nothing beyond a passive caution that wasn’t enough to trigger his danger senses. Lucine continued: "Be honored. For the Goddess Luna to deem you worthy of her alliance is unprecedented," she said after noticing Finn’s blank reaction, but then stopped after he still remained passive. She sighed with a light, serene smile. "You’re like a child. An innocent child that fails to understand the value of an outstretched hand, despite being surrounded by fire." Finn chuckled at that. He knew he lacked knowledge, but the "know-it-all" tilt to the girl’s voice rubbed him the wrong way. Besides the awe and gratefulness she had obviously expected from him for her Goddess’s grace, Finn could almost sense another layer, as though she expected him to be fearful and eager to find out what trouble he was in, what "murky waters" he was to wade through. And that simply didn’t sit right with him. He was desperate for information, yes. But perhaps it was simply pride, or maybe there was logic to it, either way, he was no longer interested in what she had to say. He turned and began walking in the opposite direction, leaving Lucine in a state of visible shock. "You wish to know why you are here?!" She called out after him hastily. "You place your trust in ’The Mnemosyne’ to tell you of the histories you do not know, but she will never reveal the truth of your arrival. To do so would be her end!" Finn paused. The Mnemosyne? Ailin? He turned his head slightly, keeping his back towards Lucine as she continued to speak. "The God of Secrets. The Keeper of What Should Not Be Known. The Silent Observer. "He" is involved in your existence here," she said solemnly. "’His’ efforts, in concert with the grace of the Moon Mother, have kept you shrouded from the gaze of those who seek you out. Don’t think for a second that hiding in a cave is enough to mask you from the eyes of Gods like the Radiant One." She pressed on, seeing that she had Finn’s attention now. "I will not pretend to know the thoughts of my Goddess, Luna. Nor will I be daring enough to try and understand the games of the Great Moon Mother. I only exist by their will and for their will..." She paused. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞 "But I can tell you that not once in my history, or the history of any Incarnations that came before me, has anything as unprecedented as this ever happened. If only for the benefit of the doubt, I urge you: seek an audience with Her." Lucine was practically pleading now. Finn could sense that clearly, and it told him everything he needed to know. That her previous display was likely something done on her whim, thinking she would achieve the aim of her Goddess regardless. But after he didn’t succumb to her guile, nor play by her rules, she had no choice but to show her hand. Finn clenched his jaw, staring into the distance with his back still turned to her. He considered what she had said about The Mnemosyne, who was clearly Ailin. Part of his confidence for choosing to walk away when Lucine had been haughty, was because he had Ailin. But if what Lucine said was true, that Ailin would not speak of why he was here — which was very likely either way — then it would make sense to at least hear what this Goddess Luna had to say. But it would have to be by his own rules, and to his own advantage. It was She who wanted to meet with him, not the other way around. First off, knowing that Luna was a daughter-God born from the Moon Mother, Finn felt open being under the azure moonlight. He knew She already knew a lot about him — his hideout with Thalia and Ailin, among other things — but he still wanted to be somewhere Her light didn’t reach directly. "Let’s go." He grunted softly, activating a lesser version of [Null Perception] and heading east, towards the cave he had in mind from before. He didn’t bother to look back, but he knew Lucine followed. She could keep track of him in this state of [Null Perception]. He wasn’t running it at full throttle, or even half, partly because he didn’t want to show his cards fully, and also because he wanted to get a scope of how effective his Null Perception was against someone like her. He had sensed her pause a few times, especially when the light of the moon couldn’t reach them through the canopy of trees. But it could also be a ruse to simply make him think her senses dulled that much significantly without access to moonlight. They traveled for nearly twenty minutes, heading deep into the woods, where Finn finally stopped at an unassuming rock face. He pushed away some shrubbery and revealed an opening to a dark cave, then stepped in unhesitatingly. The cave was pitch black, the air was damp and musty with the smell of years of rodent excrement and dead plants. But it didn’t seem to bother Finn at all. He activated his Error magic, using it to create fire from thin air with practiced ease. His years disguising his error magic as elemental magic proved helpful again. A ball of flame flickered into existence above his palm, shining stably without much effort. Lucine squinted as Finn walked to the entrance and blocked it with the shrubbery to ensure all light inside the cave was from the flames alone. "If I didn’t know you better, I would think you had other intentions," she said in a playful, sultry voice, her usual charm back. "Stop talking." Finn deadpanned, walking to the walls of the cave where a torchstick was embedded. It seemed he had prepared this cave for urgent situations like this. "A young, virile man, and a dainty, innocent damsel... together in a dark, damp cave..." "Stop. Talking." Finn grunted harsher this time as the torch lit up and he dismissed his fire spell. "Firm and dominant. I like that. I can play along if—" Finn’s eyes twitched. "Do you believe I will immediately leave if you try that one more time? Call out your Goddess or—" His words were cut short abruptly as the air around Lucine abruptly changed.