Who the hell is this?!
Lucien Graves was speechless.
Even after crawling out from the corpse of that abominable beast, nothing could have prepared him for the collapse of all familiar reality. His worldview shattered.
Suddenly, a torrent of fragmented memories and seismic revelations flooded Lucien's mind. Excruciatingly vivid. Overwhelming.
He realized the truth:
He had transmigrated once more.
He possessed the uncanny ability to deploy multiple "vests"—distinct identities, each with its own timeline, background, and Sequence within their world.
The child sitting atop the monster? That was Vest No. 1—autonomous and fully embodied within its own timeline.
Each vest came complete with a persona, affiliations, even mystical allegiances. And—critically—should his primary body perish, he could forcibly transfer his central consciousness into one of his surviving vests. But such a spiritual reset came at a devastating cost. It was a last resort.
Lucien surveyed his current vessel: an adult male.
The identity belonged to Lynn Sotos, detective of Backlund in the Kingdom of Loen.
But beneath that façade lay a deeper truth: Lynn was actually a Sequence 9 Hermit Pathway Beyonder—a MysteryPryer of the Moses Ascetic Order —a clandestine sect venerating the Hidden Sage. He also secretly served the Nighthawks of the Church of the Evernight Goddess, which oversaw the Sleepless and Darkness Pathways
This explained his fate—buried alive.
The memories unlocked the sequence:
Lynn had been investigating a colleague, Zreal Victor Lee, suspected of acting as a Feysac spy.
He discovered the existence of the Hermoshuin Manuscript, a forbidden text tied to occult knowledge of the Roselle era.
He continued the investigation in secret.
The Zigman Gang, also chasing Zreal, ambushed and murdered him, burying him in the forest.
Lucien sighed inwardly.
Back in his prior existence, he was a lab-raised loner with an encyclopedic understanding of Lord of the Mysteries—from its Pathways and Sequences to its horrors and heroes.
He understood now: he wasn't safe here, either.
Yet Lynn's demise was not fatal. As long as Lucien stayed hidden, he still had channels of refuge among the Nighthawks or in rotund parishes of the Church. Disappearing into another city was still possible.
The real threat lay with Vest No. 1.
By sheer chance, Vest No. 1 had been established as a Sequence 2 Weather Warlock. Angelic. At divine intensity.
Lucien had already encountered the vest's influence—but narrowly escaped full assimilation. Even brief contact risked spiritual contamination, meaning any prolonged interaction would drive him toward fanatic zeal or madness.
Lucien paused. Vest No. 1 could yield miracles — but only if handled with mental precision.
He remembered how Klein Moretti sought therapy from a Sequence 7 Psychiatrist of the Spectator Pathway (Miss Justice) to resist Sanguine-induced insanity.
Psychological intervention wasn't just therapeutic—it was strategic survival.
If Lucien could locate a trustworthy Spectator Pathway therapist—someone versed in mental fortification—it could stabilize him enough to wield Vest No. 1's power without losing himself.
But heaven help him, such resources were rare.
His internal monologue stilled. Thinking of known Sequence 7+ Spectators was dangerous—their heightened mind perception could sniff out residual spiritual intent (turn0search5).
They can sense. They dig. They perceive thoughts tied to them.
He needed concealment.
Lucien chipped off the dangerous threads of thought, embedding them within Vest No. 1's mind-timeline. His current body remained blank to those thoughts.
He effectively emulated Klein's use of the Sefirah Castle—with his mind's division in place of a literal Sefirah fortress.
"They perceive only what pertains to their self," he deduced—"so by isolating the vest's cognition, I can shield my true intent."
A principle of high-Sequence Beyonders in LoTM lore.
It was a precarious defense—but essential.