True to Artemus' word, in the later years of his education within the Haven's Garrett did learn of the Sneak Thief and the role he played in history as the last human capable of connecting to the Primal…
"We have been studying the Primordial Sea and the Primal for the past few weeks." Was how Keeper Vairia began his lecture one day as he began to draw some strange symbol on the chalkboard, it wasn't a Glyph... Or at least, not any Glyph Garrett had ever seen before…
It was somehow round and jagged, composed of sturdy straight lines curled protectively around a center point.
"But there is something we haven't touched on yet." Keeper Vairia mused, "And every year, I struggle to find an appropriate time to teach this segment, namely because, this particular subject can fit perfectly into any point of this class, and yet I feel I can never do it justice."
Keeper Vairia signaled that his strange drawing was complete as he tapped the chalkboard twice with his noticeably smaller piece of chalk.
"During our olde legends lecture, I spoke in depth about many myths of the City. There is one in particular we will be re-discussing today, now, show of hands, who here remembers the story of Change's Child?"
Garrett did back then, and he still did, he could recite that lecture, that story by heart...
"The Keepers have been studying the Primal and the Primordial Sea for eons, as you know well." Keeper Vairia began.
"We have extensive records and logs on all manner of things Primal, which continues to grow by the day... But something we Keepers often tend to overlook is the inhabitant of the Primordial Sea."
Most of the class seemed disinterested, which was expected seeing as the majority of the students in attendance were only there for an easy mark... But not Garrett, the lecture had hardly begun and he was already at the edge of his seat, eager to hear whatever Keeper Vairia had to say.
"We call the story of Life and Death's child a legend only due to the murkiness around the truth of it... Whether or not any part of the story is actually true is wholly irrelevant as in this situation, the how is less relevant to the reality. And the reality is that there is indeed something living in the Primordial Sea."
Keeper Vairia caught Garrett's eye then, and thereafter, he was no longer talking to the class.
"They call themselves the Outsider." Keeper Vairia explained; "Though They have many names, the Pagans refer to Them as the Leviathan, believing Them to be the child of Life and Death from the legends. They worship It as a Deity of change as the legend would suggest."
Keeper Vairia scribbled that on the chalkboard before carrying on.
"Of course, many people either disregard the notion of the Leviathan's existence as myth or with scorn. The Hammerites once claimed that the Leviathan was the enemy of the Master Builder, seeking to destroy all they had worked to build. Similarly, the Mechanists despise the Leviathan as, according to them, the Leviathan was in part responsible for the degradation of their machines."
Keeper Vairia turned back to face the hall full of dull, bored teens and a very invested Garrett.
"We however know that none of this is true." The Keeper mused as he leaned back against his desk, crossing his arms casually.
"The Leviathan can neither control time, nor manipulate it in any way shape or form." Keeper Vairia paused for a moment to take a sip of tea. "The Leviathan is merely an observer to the changing tides, unable to interact with the flow of time besides looking."
A smarmy little smile tugged at the Keepers lips then.
"In fact, one could easily claim that the Leviathan could be considered a Deity of Knowledge or Foresight, having existed within the Primordial Sea for so long, the Leviathan is very attuned with the rises and falls of the tides, so much so that They can prophesize the future with frankly startling accuracy."
Keeper Vairia uncrossed his arms to lean back against them on the desk.
"However, the Leviathan is not worshipped as a god for no reason..." Keeper Vairia continued slowly as he reached for his mug again.
"What you see on the board behind me is the phenomenon known as the Leviathan's Boon." Keeper Vairia explained; "Though some refer to it as the Mark of the Outsider, what we Keepers prefer to focus on are the people granted this mark."
Keeper Vairia set his mug down beside him with a tired sigh.
"We have centuries of research on the Primordial Sea and the Primal, we have years worth of documents on the Leviathan... However, we have a remarkable lack of research on those marked by the Leviathan."
Keeper Vairia met Garrett's eye again, his expression serious, but his eyes bright and playful.
"Marked individuals are often regarded as harbingers of change, for better or for worse. Their Boons offer them a swath of abilities gifted to them by the Leviathan, fueled by the Primal itself… However, the Leviathan does not offer these Boons lightly, and thus far, the Haven has only ever documented seven individuals to have received the Mark on Morley'n soil… And out of those seven, only one has been from the Eternal City, and believe me when I say that that one Marked individual is very, very well documented in our histories."
Garrett sat up straighter at that...
He knew exactly whom Keeper Vairia was referring to, he remembered that portrait in the vaults with perfect clarity… And he may have gone on a three week study binge after his little Vault escape.
"The Sneak Thief." Keeper Vairia stated calmly, "Was a Keeper here in the Haven at one point, he walked these halls, learned these lessons, lived among the Keepers of times past until he decided to break away from the Haven to become a thief..."
Keeper Vairia continued to stare at Garrett as he spoke.
"The Sneak Thief did many things in his life, some good, some bad... Some necessary. And at some point, he drew the attention of the Leviathan and earned himself a Boon."
Keeper Vairia continued speaking directly to Garrett despite being in a room full of other students...
"The Sneak Thief was brought into the Haven just as many of you were, from the streets. He was raised just as you all were, taught as you were... But the Sneak Thief was ambitious, dangerously so, which brought him to abandon our ways and strike out alone.
We have many records of what the Sneak Thief did during his life, we have many accounts and logs of events that transpired, either as direct results of the Sneak Thief's actions, or by sheer coincidence...
There are however, three major events that were transcribed with absolute detail by Keeper Scribes as they unfolded, and thusly studied thoroughly by our historians ever since."
Keeper Vairia paused to take another sip of tea to dampen his throat before he rose from the desk to return to the chalkboard.
"The first event to be discussed is known as the Dark Project. When the old Lords began tightening their holds on the world, they disturbed the Tides of Time. The Leviathan who had already been dwelling within the Primordial Sea, was undisturbed by the shifting tides, but Life and Death set a ploy to right the perceived wrong.
While, arguably, Life and Death were in the right to attempt to re-align the tides of the Primordial Sea to their natural order, their methods would have irrevocably altered the world as we know it...
Now, the details of the ritual are long gone, buried beneath far too many myths for us to ever hope to recover, but one detail remains, a necessary ingredient for the ritual.
An eye from a living creature... And that was where Life and Death's plan faltered."
Keeper Vairia sighed heavily as he returned to his desk, looking out across the sea of students before him.
"Life did not want to use an innocent eye, claiming that such purity would corrupt the ritual. Death on the other hand claimed that they could not use an evil eye for similar reasons. Together they concluded that the eye they would use must come from an individual who was neither good nor bad, but that posed problems by itself, leaving them with few options when it came to finding their eye... Eventually however, they settled on the Sneak Thief."
Keeper Vairia huffed, shaking his head as he looked down into his mug.
"We have no idea how Life and Death discovered the Sneak Thief, let alone why they chose him to be part of their ritual, what we do know is that the Sneak Thief survived and surpassed every trial Life and Death set before him, cementing himself as the ideal candidate for their needs...
And in return, Life and Death stole one of the Sneak Thief's eyes, leaving him alive as the ritual dictated, but trapped, sealed away, safe, but alone."
Garrett swallowed thickly at that... He was not a thief back then, he had hardly dreamt of a life outside the Haven... But even he feared the powerlessness of loosing something so vital...
"But." Keeper Vairia continued calmly, "The Sneak Thief was a survivor, one eye or two, he managed to escape his tomb. And so the story goes, the first night the Sneak Thief slept with one eye, he fell through the veil and into the Primordial Sea."