Finn stood at alert, straining his ears to pick up the slightest trace of the newcomer's chants, or even their movement. But as if the darkness beyond was a barrier that ate up every bit of sound, he heard absolutely nothing.

Without warning, a figure stepped out of the darkness, startling Finn into a tense attention. It was only after his brain processed who they were from their build and body features that he relaxed slightly.

"Althea…?" He called out softly.

Her head snapped up in surprise, and she blinked rapidly to adjust to the light.

"Finn?" She rasped with a labored voice, stepping fully into illumination.

Finn frowned immediately, noticing the terrible state of her body.

Her hair was disheveled, loose from the usual prim ponytail she tied it in. Her robes were tattered and scorched to the point where they looked mostly like rags. Her hands were charred black on the surface, but seeing as she still held on tightly to the plain sword she had brought out of her shadow, it seemed the damage wasn't deep enough that it affected her nerve-endings.

A deep, wary frown colored her face as she acknowledged Finn and took in the Grand temple hall and the colossal statues surrounding them. She also glanced up at the figure seated at the top and frowned deeper, standing unmoving at a spot.

"What is this place?" She whispered, gripping her sword tighter.

Finn mirrored her frown. He didn't know what had happened, but from the way Althea looked at him, it was as though she didn't trust that he was truly Finn.

But that didn't matter to him. Even he was a bit wary of her. He hadn't seen anyone for miles in every direction when he'd regained control of his body earlier, but yet, here was Althea, arriving just a minute behind him?

A tacit understanding passed between them to simply stay as they were till they understood better what was happening.

But just as they acknowledged each other, suddenly, Finn felt his blood run cold. His legs turned weak like jelly, and he felt an intense urge to drop to his knees immediately. An overwhelming feeling of obeisance, and piety like nothing he had ever felt in his life filled him immediately. It felt like he was in the presence of a higher being, one that couldn't be fathomed by mortal minds.

Finn fell straight to his knees instantly. But just as his knees were about to touch the floor, a fierce, defiant will that he didn't know he had, surged through his body and he stumbled, catching himself just before he could kneel. He staggered to a stop, crouched in a fight against the overwhelming compulsion to give in and kneel.

Slowly, he straightened up from his crouched position, and very slowly, raised his head to gaze at the figure that caused such an intense compulsion: The figure seated on the pyramid throne.

The figure's emerald eyes were trained on Finn, apathetically watching his struggle. Seated in a lotus position, a slow, amused smile spread on the figure's face and he leisurely brought his hand to his chin and hummed.

His voice spread through the temple sonorously, filling Finn with a sense of his might. Finn couldn't fathom how such a power could even exist. It felt as though the being before him was a literal concept, and what he could see was only a facade — a form simply suitable for his mind to comprehend.

"You're not wrong." The figure suddenly spoke, as if in affirmation to Finn's thoughts.

Finn trembled visibly, asking in a shaky voice, "Y—You can read my mind?"

The figure's lazy, languid smile stretched wider, "What do you think?" He asked, before tilting his head slightly to look at Althea.

"It looks as though you have succumbed to my dominion…" he chuckled lightly, before ordering: "Get up."

Immediately, Althea sucked in a deep gasp of air, as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She slowly rose to her feet from the ground where she kneeled.

Finn's eyebrows twitched slightly as he saw her face. This was the first time he had seen her look so frazzled and wide-eyed.

It made him wonder why he had been able to tough through the oppressive compulsion to succumb to the figure's… dominion.

"Scorch marks?" The figure noted, staring at Althea's arms. "Ah? You got bested by those petty matter-tinkerers?"

"Hmph," he scoffed condescendingly and waved a finger.

Immediately, as if watching a sped-up timelapse, Althea's hands rapidly went through the whole process of natural healing, visible to their eyes. It scabbed over, cracked and peeled away like dry paint, revealing the fresh, pink skin underneath, which then knitted back together solidly, erasing all traces of the previous burn.

Althea raised her hand up to her eye level in shock, observing her fully healed arms. She clenched and unclenched repeatedly, testing out their strength, which appeared flawless.

Finn's eyes widened slightly in shock. It wasn't like there were no "Healer Arcanists" out in Aethelos. They were rare, but they were still available. But in no way was their power close to this. Not even in the slightest. Healers were usually Arcanists who were good with liquid control, and by extension, blood control.

They were extremely limited in what they could heal, and now that Finn had memories of an alternate life on earth, even their 'healing' looked like a pseudo-medicine type of practice. Though an existing body of congregated knowledge was now available, for the most part, the healers — blood Arcanists, were blindly beating about the bush.

This, however, was a real, total and absolute healing without blemishes.

Finn looked up slowly at the figure again and swallowed a gulp. From the look on the figure's face, this had simply been something done on a whim. He didn't even consider it as something worth noting.

"T—Thank you." Althea whispered softly, but the figure paid her no heed. Instead, he settled more comfortably where he sat, looking down at them like they were his subjects.

"So, tell me. What brings you here?"

Both Finn and Althea exchanged nervous glances immediately, unsure how to answer the question.

"I understand those matter-tinkerers could have found entry into the fringe edges of this pocket space, and stayed because of the benefits the dense mana atmosphere brings to their petty souls. But you…" He leaned forward and stared pointedly at Finn with intrigue.

"...you pried open the core of this space purposefully. Why?"

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