Panic began to creep in. What was he letting Osmund know right now?

A part of him wanted to sever the connection immediately. Abort the whole thing.

But then the analytical part of his mind kicked in. He focused on what he was still feeling from Osmund — that surprise, repeating over and over like a loop. It was drowning out everything else.

That's deliberate, Finn realized.

He's using the surprise as a shield. Letting it be so prominent that it obscures the other emotions.

Finn could do the same.

He needed something natural, something he genuinely felt and that was prominent enough to overshadow everything else. Something that wouldn't reveal what he really wanted to hide.

My distrust.

Finn let it flood forward. His deep, bone-level distrust of Osmund. His wariness. His certainty that the short man was playing a longer game than he'd revealed. He thought about it intensely, repeatedly, letting it color every aspect of his emotional state during the handshake.

He kept it up for a time that seemed to stretch endlessly, until finally… the connection stabilized, and suddenly the emotional bleed stopped.

Finn couldn't hear Osmund's feelings anymore. And based on the way the connection settled into something more mellow and structured, he was certain Osmund couldn't sense his either.

The handshake was complete. That phase was over, and now the contract negotiation could begin.

A short second passed in total silence where their two consciousnesses seemed to wait for any action from the other...

Then Osmund struck.

Without preamble, his terms and conditions poured into Finn's awareness like a flood.

Finn had thought they'd treat the terms one-by-one, but instead, Osmund's soul projected multiple clauses simultaneously in an ever-shifting stream. The short man was immediately making adjustments on the fly. Modifying wording, adding sub-clauses, refining conditions, all at a speed that would have been impossible with verbal communication.

Finn's mind reeled for half a second as he tried to parse the information:

—that the Second Party (Finn) will undergo training in fragment utilization under the guidance of the First Party (Osmund) for a minimum period of—

—that upon achieving sufficient mastery, the Second Party will assist in—

—that the First Party guarantees protection from hostile entities within the Southern Territory boundaries, excluding—

—that neither party may disclose the existence or terms of this contract to—

—that the Second Party's obligations regarding the liberation of the Anaelle people shall be limited to—

It was overwhelming.

Finn realized instantly that this required immense soul strength. Entering the soul contract itself wasn't the issue, but he quickly realized that if you wanted to keep up with the speed of the other party's thoughts, your soul definitely had to match their strength.

Otherwise, they could slip things past you in the chaos, and even with the immediately understandable terms, they could hide vague wording in the torrent of information. Unless they deliberately slowed down to your level.

Osmund wasn't slowing down.

Finn gritted his teeth and pushed back.

His own soul rose to match the pace, parsing clauses as fast as Osmund could project them. Identifying issues. Flagging ambiguities. Rejecting terms that were too broad or too restrictive:

REJECTED: "Minimum period of two years" is excessive.

COUNTER-PROPOSAL: "Until the Second Party demonstrates sufficient mastery as determined by mutual agreement."

REJECTED: "All reasonable assistance" is too vague.

COUNTER-PROPOSAL: Specific list of actions the Second Party is obligated to perform."

REJECTED: "Protection excluding cases of divine intervention" creates a loophole. COUNTER-PROPOSAL: "Protection extending to all threats except those that would put the First Party's own existence at immediate risk."

The negotiation became a high-speed mental chess match. Osmund would propose a term with deliberately vague wording. Finn would catch it, reject it, counter with something more specific.

Osmund would try to slip a restrictive sub-clause into a seemingly reasonable condition. Finn would flag it, demand it be removed or modified.

And then Finn started to notice something.

His Error fragment was actualizing again.

It was subtle at first, the familiar, but faint sense of wrongness when Osmund tried to embed a particularly ambiguous phrase. But as the negotiation continued, it grew stronger and more precise.

Finn began spotting not just the ambiguities directed at him, but also lapses in Osmund's own concentration. Moments where the short man's attention wavered, where his focus shifted away from certain clauses he'd already projected.

And in those moments, Finn could sense vulnerabilities, places where Osmund's wording could be exploited, terms that could be interpreted multiple ways despite the supposed clarity of their soul-contract communication.

It was like his Error fragment was highlighting flaws in Osmund's concentration in real-time. The microscopic gaps in his focus, the brief instants where his guard dropped.

And Finn exploited every single one.

When Osmund's attention shifted to crafting a complex clause about training obligations, Finn slipped in a modification to an earlier term about protection that Osmund had already "agreed to" in principle.

When Osmund focused on the timeline for Finn's obligations, Finn added a small clause about Osmund's obligations to provide resources and information.

It was brutal and extremely methodical to the point where it was even almost unfair.

But Finn didn't care. This was his future being negotiated. His freedom. Possibly his life.

He felt Osmund's shock ripple through the connection when he realized what was happening. The short man tried to adapt and maintain focus across all the active clauses simultaneously.

But he couldn't.

Despite having more experience with soul contracts, despite his obvious practice at high-speed negotiation, he couldn't match the combination of Finn's raw soul strength that matched his, and his Error fragment's ability to spot every single vulnerability.

To Osmund, it felt like his own soul was betraying him. Like it willingly wanted to be fucked over by Finn, calling out eagerly to him, begging to be exploited the instant Osmund's concentration slipped even fractionally.

Finn felt the moment Osmund gave up trying to slip things past him. The short man's negotiating style shifted abruptly from aggressive exploitation to a very honest and straightforward proposal.

The man became much more calm and agreeable, hoping Finn would also be honest as well now that things weren't working in his favour.

The negotiation continued, and now it was actually 'balanced.' Both parties proposed reasonable terms, genuinely attempting to reach an agreement that served both their interests.

They negotiated Finn's training obligations:

Osmund would teach Finn to actively control his fragment and not just rely on passive manifestation.

Training would continue until Finn could reliably use his fragment in combat situations.

No specific timeline, but both parties would honestly assess when sufficient mastery was achieved.

They negotiated Finn's obligations to the Anaelle:

Finn would assist in one significant attempt to help them breach or permanently cross the Stagnant Sea.

The method would be determined jointly, using Finn's abilities in a way that didn't require him to sacrifice his life or permanently damage his soul.

If the attempt genuinely proved impossible despite best efforts, the obligation would be considered fulfilled.

They also negotiated protection and resources. And here, this was where Finn's error fragment had been utilized to the utmost. Finn had made sure to screw Osmund over thoroughly — but still within reason:

Osmund would protect Finn from hostile entities within the Southern Territory, including interference from the other fragment bearers, up to and including risking significant harm to himself, but not certain death.

Osmund would provide free access to the Anaelle's knowledge about fragments, Transcendents, and this imprisoned world.

Finn would have freedom to explore and learn, with only reasonable restrictions for his own safety…

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