"Cade tells me you are the one who caused quite a stir in the lower districts," the man said as he stopped in front of Finn. He offered a hand and his smile was polite but did not quite reach his eyes. "I am Cade XIV of the Sepulchre House Thorne."

Finn took the hand and gave a firm and brief handshake. He did not feel the need to be hostile but he was not about to be overly friendly either. "Finn."

As their palms met Finn sent a subtle pulse of his own awareness into the contact. He sensed the man’s soul density and found it to be impressive by the standards of a Preceptor. To Finn the man felt like a sturdy wall of stone, seemingly solid at all angles, without any apparent flaws. While that didn’t particularly move Finn, it still struck him as odd.

Either Cade XIV was exceptionally good at masking his true depth or he was actually at a level much greater than Finn had expected from a Sepulchre patriarch. He couldn’t even pinpoint the man’s Transcendent fragment, which suggested a level of skill in concealment, but Finn did not think it was worth the effort to probe deeper into such an inconsequential figure.

"You have a remarkable mount," Cade XIV said out of the blue. "I haven’t seen such a mount before..."

"He serves his purpose," Finn replied simply, ending the conversation curtly. He pulled his hand back and looked toward Helix. "Shall we continue?"

Cade XIV nodded and stepped aside to let them pass. A cordial smile was plastered on his face as Finn and Helix began to climb the grand staircase that led to the higher levels of the building.

Once they were out of earshot, the younger Cade turned to his father with a look of frantic curiosity. "So? What did you sense? What is his fragment? He has to be using something powerful to keep that dragon so docile."

Cade XIV remained silent for several long seconds. He watched the spot where Finn had disappeared around the corner of the landing and his expression was unreadable.

"Nothing."

Cade XV’s eyes widened and he stepped closer to his father. "Nothing? How is that possible? You are a Preceptor of the Thorne family. You have decades of experience in reading souls. You are telling me you couldn’t sense a single spark of a fragment?"

"I am telling you that I could feel nothing at all!" His father whispered in a low, sharp voice. "It was like staring into an abyss. There was no resonance and no vibration. It was simply a void of information..." he let out a soft breath, his eyes growing distant with calculation.

"For now you will give up every idea and every design you have on that young man and his dragon. You will not approach him. We will wait for the Ancestor to return. Until we know who exactly we are dealing with, we do not move."

Cade XV looked down at the floor and nodded begrudgingly. He looked like a child who had been told he couldn’t play with a dangerous toy but he knew better than to cross his father when he spoke with that level of gravity. The father watched him for a moment and knew he would have to keep a close eye on the boy to ensure he didn’t do something stupid.

Meanwhile, Finn, the subject of their distress, had entirely forgotten about the brief interaction. He followed Helix down a long and quiet corridor on the third floor. The walls were lined with a deep and crimson carpet that muffled the sound of their footsteps.

As he walked, Finn was hit with a strange sense of deja vu. The layout of the corridor and the way the door was positioned reminded him of the headmaster’s office back at the Seneschal Ossuarist School in the kingdom of Aethelos. It seemed the architects of power in this world all followed the same blueprint for intimidation.

His thoughts were interrupted by two figures who stepped into the hallway to meet them halfway. They were Ossuarists and their auras were heavy enough to mark them as Preceptors.

The man in the lead had a cold and condescending expression while the woman behind him was stoic and unmoving. They were clearly a probe meant to test him before he reached the final room.

Finn felt a surge of genuine disappointment. If the person behind those doors was allowing this kind of petty power play, then he had perhaps overestimated their intelligence.

He snorted softly as they drew close, and the sound echoed in the quiet hall.

The male Preceptor frowned deeper at that, opening his mouth to speak and raising his hand as if to block Finn’s path. But the moment his eyes met Finn’s, the words died in his throat.

Finn didn’t say a word. He simply allowed a faint and emerald glow to flicker in his eyes. To the Preceptor it was as if the hallway had disappeared and been replaced by a vast and uncaring abyss.

The man felt a heavy dose of primal fear that came from being in the presence of a being that was far superior to his own existence. He felt as though every single part of his soul had been laid bare and opened up for inspection. Every insecurity and every hidden weakness was exposed under that green gaze.

He knew with an absolute and terrifying certainty that Finn saw every vulnerability and could unmake him with a single thought.

But more than that, he saw a deep and flippant apathy in Finn’s eyes. This person could not even be bothered to take advantage of those weaknesses because they were simply too inconsequential to matter. It was the most profound insult the man had ever experienced and it froze him to the spot.

By the time the Preceptor came back to himself, Finn and Helix had already passed him. He felt a hand shaking his shoulder and he blinked to see the female Preceptor looking at him with wary and hesitant eyes.

"What happened?" she whispered. "Why did you stop?"