Chapter 13
In the days that followed, Finn, Cosmo, and Oscar worked diligently to aid the recovery efforts, working hard to push themselves as hard as he could handle, taking the strain as training. Eventually, Petunia approached the trio as they were taking a break to ask them something.
“Finn, I’d like to introduce you to some of the village children, they wanted to thank you for your help in rebuilding their homes, and wanted to ask if you’d like to play.”
Finn looked hesitant, but Cosmo tugged his arm, and Finn realized Cosmo must have been bone tired and longing to play. Finn’s mental age often conflicted with the wants and needs of his physical age as Finn, and he berated himself for not realizing his own need for improvement had overshadowed Cosmo’s need for time to play and relax.
“Hi. I’m Nyx.” The girl in front said. She appeared to be the leader of the group, standing tall and proud at the front. She held out her hand, and Finn took it.
“Yow!” Finn yelped, surprised at the small girl’s strength, and the girl laughed.
Finn examined the girl, massaging his hand, and realized she was some kind of half animal and half human. Finn recalled that she was known as a demihuman, and likely got her strength from her animal heritage.
Nyx looked to be around 6 or 7 years old. She had brown hair, fierce green eyes, and fuzzy pointed ears. Her face was covered in freckles, and a tail that swung around every few seconds.
“Finn...Nice to meet you Nyx.”
With that, Petunia left them to their devices. Finn felt unsure about how to hang out with these kids, even though he was one of them, he didn’t feel like them.
“What’s that face for Mr. Grumpy britches?” Nyx said, and the kids behind her giggled.
Finn looked down at his pants, confused. “These aren't britch-”
But she preempted him, “good luck catching us wearing those baggy ol’ things.” With that, she took the last word, sticking out her tongue playfully, and ran off, as the kids all scattered.
Finn stood there dumbstruck, until Cosmo poked him. “Split up and catch them?” Cosmo asked.
“Catch…them?” Finn asked, still unsure.
“Yeah, silly! Just tag them to turn them on to your side. Have you never played Bandits before?”
Finn thought back to when was a child on Earth, considering. “I guess I have…let’s go get them, yeah?
With that, Finn and Cosmo split up, Oscar floating along after Finn, seeming excited to play along. Finn suddenly noticed a tiny dog resting on Oscar’s head, as slobber went flying in the wind behind them.
“When…did that happen?” Finn asked Oscar, who offered no explanation other than doing a barrel role as he floated, making the dog bark with excitement.
Finn shook his head, putting the thought aside for now. Instead, he decided that he would use this playtime as his own version of training. Even if he was supposed to be having fun, who said he can’t train while doing it?
Finn was getting better at mapping out his surroundings by getting a feel for the magic around him. His senses at normal rank were unrefined and blunt, but he had practiced enough to be able to sense living beings and powerful sources of magic.
For that reason, Finn was able to sense his first victim, a blonde girl who thought herself hidden inside of a barrel of what looked like hay, but was a shade of bright purple.
“Gotcha!” Finn said triumphantly, as he lifted the lid of the barrel to see the startled girl sitting inside.
“Aw mannnn!” The girl complained, but quickly hopped out, ready to help Finn catch the rest of the bandits.
Although Finn felt silly at first playing with the kids of the haven, as he ran around chasing down everyone, he began to foster a feeling of bonding and friendly rivalry. As he played along, he eventually began to realize that he didn’t need to pretend, because he was having fun.
Finn, Cosmo, Nyx, and the rest of the children all lay panting in the grass after Finn finally managed to catch Nyx, who had by far put up the most challenge in catching.
Finn didn’t have much trouble locating her at first, but was surprised at her speed and agility, she continued to slip past him every time he caught up.
In fact, Finn didn’t even manage to catch her until he formulated an entire plan for all of the other kids to enclose her in a circle until Finn could finally tag her.
“You’re…very…fast.” Was all Finn could manage to pant out, before letting his head fall back into the grass once again.
“You’re…relentless.” Nyx replied.
The sun began to set, once again casting a golden glow over the Haven, and the kids eventually got up to wash up for dinner.
At the dinner table, Finn sat between Cosmo and Oscar, and was joined by Nyx and some of the other children.
“I have to ask,” Nyx said immediately as she sat down across from Finn, “how did you manage to keep finding me? I never lose because of my stealth alone, let alone my speed.”
Finn looked at her curiously. “You’re aura, it gives you away. I was trained by my family to track people using normal methods, but your skill to hide easily outweighs mine to track you. But you didn’t hide your aura at all.”
“I don’t know how to do that. I don’t know anything about using magic, you normally need to be rich to get any real training. Are you rich, Finn?”
Finn frowned. “I don’t think I am. It’s a complicated story but I was adopted by a group of traveling adventurers and they taught me all that I know.”
That earned him a susurrous of excited “Ooo’s”.
“Adventurer’s, really?”
“What were they like?”
“Did they kill anything”
Finn’s thoughts briefly flashed to the image of Lia’s arrows easily exploding her attackers heads that night, years ago, but he quickly shrugged it off. “I’ve seen them kill. Monsters mostly.”
Alistair approached behind Nyx. “Let’s not probe Finn for all of his history, can’t you see you’re making him uncomfortable?”
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“No, no, it’s okay Sir-Mr. Alistair, I just miss them a bit, I suppose. I don’t know if I’ll ever see them again." Finn said, looking down at the amulet Elara had gifted him.
The table took a somber tone. Not everyone at the table still had all their family, and many understood what Finn must have been feeling.
Alistair nodded. “Just be sure to be sensitive to other people, alright guys?”
“Yes sir.” the table said in unsynchronized fashion.
With that, Alistair gave Finn a brief nod before moving back to his spot at the table.
Nyx shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “Do…Do you think you could teach me to use magic the way you can, Finn?”
Another susurrous of noise ripple through the table as everyone began whispering over one another.
Finn waited for the whispers to subside before responding. “Do you all want to learn magic?”
The kids began excitedly talking over each other again, and Finn’s eyebrows raised. Alistair ventured back over to ask what all the commotion was about.
Finn motioned for Alistair to lean down so he could whisper into his ear, the tension almost tangible as anticipation rose. Alistair rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Mmm, yes, I could see that working. Yes, that’s an excellent idea Finn.”
The table couldn’t hold in their anticipation any longer and burst into questions.
“Does that mean you’ll teach us?”
“I wanna do big fireballs!”
“PLEASE TELL ME!”
Alistair laughed deeply at the excitement. “Alright, alright settle down everyone. If you would like to train with Finn in learning to use magic. Meet me at the guild hall tomorrow morning at first light.”
On hearing that, the table began chattering loudly amongst themselves, and Alistair returned to his spot once again to explain what he had just agreed to, and Finn’s mind began racing to determine how he was going to teach such a large group of people something he was still new to.
After dinner, Finn and Oscar met up again on a hill that overlooked much of the forest and the Haven.
There wasn’t much need for talking, and they both sat and meditated for a while until Cosmo spoke up, now shrouded in tiny speckles of light.
“Are you ready for tomorrow Finn?” He asked.
Finn shook his head in thought. “I don’t know if I would say ready, but I am excited to help others learn to use magic. This world is dangerous Cosmo, I want everyone I care about to have the means to take care of themselves.”
Cosmo nodded, knowing better than most the weight of Finn’s words.
For the rest of their session, Finn instructed Cosmo as best he could on how to manipulate the magic he wielded. As it turned out, Cosmo’s Astromancy was fundamentally different from Arcane magic.
That wasn’t to say the magic didn’t have plenty of crossover, but rather, Finn could only guide Cosmo in certain aspects, needing him to find his own path that worked best for him.
While Finn is best connected to magic by focusing on the arcane magic around him, Cosmo actually sourced his magic from the stars and celestial bodies. For this reason, Cosmo made the most of his progress at night, because he had more of a visual connection to the cosmos.
Strictly speaking, Cosmo didn’t need to practice his magic at night, because the only difference between night and day was the amount of sunlight reaching him, but instead it was more of a mental barrier that he would need to learn to shrug off as he improved.
Finn instructed him as best he could in manipulating magic to his will. Cosmo was very receptive to both verbal and visual instruction, intuitively picking up all the concepts Finn had taught him.
Where Finn enjoyed creating powerful bolts of arcane lightning, Cosmo enjoyed creating complex representations of solar systems made of the magic lights he manifested.
Finn was unsure what Cosmo gained from manifesting them, other than looking cool, but imagined it was something more intuitive and out of his knowledge base. He absently decided he would need to look up Astromany in the tablet later.
Finn matched Cosmo’s example in creating more and more bolts of arcane lightning and encircling them around him, which he could direct to any target he decided, with a simple gesture or thought.
Finn learned as he instructed Cosmo that incantationless casting was not as intuitive for everyone as it was for himself. Cosmo often used words or sets of words to conjure his magic.
As Finn noticed things like this, he wrote notes on details like this for his own record, as well as for how he would approach teaching the others.
As the night concluded, Finn and Cosmo headed home. They had been allowed to stay in a small building that simply contained 4 bunks, a fireplace, and some furniture. Oscar had his own fluffy bed which he and now the tiny dog slept in.
Finn frowned in curiosity about the dog, but again decided to push it out of his line of thoughts. If Oscar had made a new friend, Finn was the last one who was going to protest. Besides, Finn loved dogs, which felt weird, because distinctly remembered being a cat person in his former life.
With these final thoughts, Finn drifted into sleep.
In his dream, Finn found himself standing before a pair of all powerful beings once again.
“You guys really like dropping in on my dreams, don’t you?” Finn asked.
The god to the left raised an eyebrow, and the god to the right looked down at Finn from his very great height. “Careful with your words, small child, many gods would have you smote down for speaking to a god in such a way.”
Finn paled, realizing what he had said.
The god that had spoken merely laughed in response, shrinking down to appear the same as Finn’s size and age. “Don’t worry, I have no interest in doing you any harm.”
Finn laughed awkwardly, unsure what to say, and the god continued.
“I wanted to give you thanks in person for assisting in the fight against the Corrupted Treant in my forest. What I can do within my sphere of influence is limited, but out of gratitude to you, as well as the people of the village you now reside in, I swear your village will have my divine protection, making it truly a safe haven.”
Finn was again unsure what to say, but blurted out his thanks. “Thank you! Sir..? Your godliness?” Finn cringed at his own display of decorum.
The god only laughed in response. Instead, the goddess next to him spoke up.
“We have met before, young Finn. I advise you to study up on your decorum with the gods. I have provided your tablet with some information you will find handy in this regard.”
The goddess pushed her glasses back up to her eyes, making Finn absently wonder why a goddess would even have glasses.
The goddess continued before his thoughts could stray any farther.
“I have come to aid you in your new mission to disseminate knowledge to the people of the village, as is my nature as the goddess of knowledge. For your benefit, I have also added my own additions to your tablet that will speak for themselves.”
With that, the gods were gone, and Finn woke up, leaving him to contemplate his dream encounter, and ready to start the new day.