Without warning, a flood of Aspects — parts of Garuda that made him Him — overwhelmed Finn.

His divine servitude. His loyalty. His extreme enmity toward serpents. Speed beyond comprehension. Strength to carry the cosmos. Wisdom of ages. The ability to shrink or grow at will. The power to devour poison. The authority to move between realms…

It was all-encompassing.

All of these divine aspects, simply at Finn's fingertips. The instinctive understanding that he could take more. That he could in fact, not choose divine servitude if he wanted. It was so easy. He could just pick power, or unparalleled wisdom, or direct knowledge about the path to the divine…

But the Ferropteryx…

The thought thundered clarity back into his consciousness.

He was doing this for the Ferropteryx eagle, to free himself from its debilitating debts. Not to become divine. Not to gain cosmic power. But just to change the egoistic nature of the soul mass.

He went directly for what he came for, pulling on the concept of Divine Servitude that Garuda had.

But still, it was not straightforward.

The fact that there was an aspect of the divine intertwined with Garuda's servitude meant that Finn either had to separate both aspects, or risk taking on more than he could chew.

In that moment, the logical choice was obviously to separate the aspects into two, selecting only what he needed…

But what is this…?

Finn found himself hesitant at the final step.

…What is this discomfort I feel?

He dropped his outstretched hand and stared at the Aspects that laid before him.

These are not mine to take… They were never mine at all, and they will never be…

The realization slowly dawned on him and he took a step back.

His mind went back to his first adaptation of Geri and Freki, trying to find similarities to what he was feeling right now.

But perhaps because of the confusion and the rush at the time, he couldn't recall sensing anything like this.

Finn stared at the divine aspects floating before him, each one pulsing with power that could reshape his very existence. And the more he looked, the more certain he became that something was fundamentally wrong with what he was attempting.

What even is an adaptation? he questioned internally.

Am I truly just... taking? Stealing pieces of these entities and jamming them into my soul masses?

The thought sat wrong with him. And if there was one thing that he had learned so far, it was to always trust his instincts anytime they flared this way. His Error fragment had saved his life more times than he could count by pointing out flaws, inconsistencies, and things that didn't fit.

And right now, everything about this felt like a flaw… like there was inconsistency here… something unfavorable that would occur if he made the choice to take the Aspect Garuda had willingly offered to him.

But he didn't know what to do about this inconsistency. Didn't know how to proceed differently. So he simply… waited.

The divine aspects continued to pulse before him, calling out with their promises of power. Divine servitude glowed golden and warm. Cosmic strength radiated waves of potential. Ancient wisdom whispered secrets of ages past.

And Finn just watched.

Minutes passed. Or maybe hours. But as he stood there, observing without reaching forward to take anything, he began to notice something strange.

His thoughts were becoming clearer.

The overwhelming pressure of Garuda's presence that had threatened to crush his consciousness when he first arrived — it was still present, but now it felt... less. Like he was acclimating to the divine weight. Getting used to breathing in this rarified air of godhood.

No. That wasn't quite right. Finn's eyes narrowed in realization.

He wasn't getting used to Garuda's presence...

Garuda's presence was weakening.

It was subtle, incredibly subtle, but now that he'd noticed it, he couldn't un-notice it. The divine entity's attention, which had felt like the weight of a collapsing star when this began, was fading ever so slightly. As if the tether that allowed Garuda to manifest here, to test Finn, to offer these aspects... was losing power.

Of course, Finn thought with sudden clarity. He's not truly here. Everything so far was just a projection. A fragment of his consciousness extended across... what? Dimensions? Realities? Mythological spaces?

Whatever it was, it required power to maintain. And that power was finite.

Finn kept his expression neutral, giving no indication that he'd realized this. Instead, he continued to simply observe the aspects before him, gleaning what insights he could from their mere presence.

Even without taking them, without forcing them into himself, he could feel trace echoes, insights of what they represented. It was like standing near a great fire. You didn't need to touch the flames to feel their heat.

A cold snort suddenly reverberated through the space.

Truly, you are a thief…

Garuda's voice came, no longer tinged with acknowledgement or amusement. Now it carried something darker. Realization.

…an even greater thief than I initially thought.

Finn's mental form tensed at Garuda's words, but he remained still, trying not to show it.

So this is why all Pantheons had never found The Errant… The one who wanders outside all established paths…

Because you were no longer in our realm…

Finn stood rooted in shock, first, because Garuda had directly called him by his title — at least half of it.

And second, because He spoke as though He knew him.

What is he talking about? Finn's thoughts raced, but he kept listening as Garuda's tone slowly became colder and his presence dimmer with each passing moment.

The space around them began to fracture. The 'reality' they were currently in started coming apart at the seams.

Garuda was breaking their connection. Severing the tether that had allowed this trial to occur. The divine aspects before Finn began to fade, their light dimming as the projection started to collapse.

It was in that moment that Finn finally tore his gaze away from gleaning as much insight from the aspects as he could, and turned his gaze instead to the next thing that drew his attention:

The link between him and Garuda.

Despite Garuda's immense might, the divine entity had still projected here through the link that Finn had created. The connection existed because Finn had reached out, had tried to latch on to the idea of Garuda, had opened a pathway between his soul and the realm where the divine bird resided.

Which meant that as the source, Finn had a measure of control over that pathway.

He reached for it instinctively, trying to hold the connection open, trying to prevent Garuda from severing it completely—

But immediately, he felt the utter uselessness of his attempt.

The disparity in their power was astronomical. It was like a child trying to arm-wrestle a mountain. If they had been on similar levels of strength he might have been able to hold Garuda's projection here for a few moments longer. But as it was, all he could do was watch as the divine entity methodically dismantled the connection Finn had built.

Still, for one brief microsecond, Finn's attempt to hold the link created a moment of resistance. A tiny pause in Garuda's retreat. And in that infinitesimal fraction of time, Finn felt something trickle into him.

A tiny fragment of divine essence.

Your greed knows no bounds, Errant!

Garuda snorted with heavy contempt and a tinge of anger as he redoubled his effort to leave the conceptual space.

But now I know where you are. And through me, so do all the pantheons. So do all the Greater Gods. The Errant who hides in mythological spaces, who steals from divine entities... you cannot remain hidden any longer…

His voice then took on a knowing air.

You will have no choice but to steal again… it is your very nature.

And then… I will be waiting — We will be waiting…

With those final words, the connection shattered. And immediately, Finn's consciousness snapped back to the real world, entirely bypassing his soul space where he interacted with his soul masses.

He found himself sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor of his room, surrounded by a pool of his own blood. It had streamed from his eyes, his nose, his ears, forming a dark circle around where he sat.

His body was still locked in a meditation position, but he could feel every muscle screaming in protest, spasming as if it was his actual body that entered into the conceptual space and had been in the presence of Garuda's projection.

And yet, in this state, deeper in his soul, he could feel the Ferropteryx raging.

The eagle soul mass sensed the change Finn had tried to make to its fundamental nature, and now that Finn was weak, exhausted and barely conscious, it was trying to corrode him. Trying to take advantage of this moment of weakness.

But it was futile.

Finn had been very thorough in his preparation. He'd spent two days satisfying every debt, meeting every demand the Ferropteryx had made. Which meant that at least for the moment, he wasn't in breach of their soul contract. The debts were paid and the clauses had been satisfied.

And without any breach of clause to give it leverage, the Ferropteryx could only rage uselessly as Finn's consciousness finally gave out.

The last thing he felt before darkness claimed him was a strange warmth in his chest. The tiny trickle of divine essence he'd stolen in that final microsecond.

Finn felt it settle deep within his soul, whispering traces of what it meant to be divine.

Then just before the blackness swallowed him whole…

[SOUL REGISTER UPDATE]

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[DIVINE ESSENCE DETECTED]

Classification: Rank II – Cosmic Enforcer

Quantity: 0.27%

Status: Dormant/Integrating

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