The Innkeeper

Kaemon had disappeared. Lex stood alone in front of a city off of countless races, and they had all stopped to turn and look at him. For some reason, Lex got the feeling that all the beings who were looking at him were Celestial Immortals. Considering he could not feel their auras at all, it was an unusual feeling. Maybe the reason he felt it was because their gaze made him uneasy, and that was not a simple thing.¹

"You should not have come here," said one of the people staring at him, walking from between the crowd until he revealed himself. Yet oddly enough, the sight of him was blurry, as he was being protected from the sight of the one speaking.

Lex wasn’t sure how to respond, and was coming up with a plan when he realized that what he was seeing was a memory. He was standing in place of someone, and though he did not know anything about who he was supposed to be, nor could he hear what the person said, he could at least see everyone’s reactions.

Whatever the person said, it did not seem to relieve the crowd. Instead, they seemed even more riled up.

"We are not like your ilk, worshipping and sacrificing yourselves needlessly for those plagued by corruption," the man said derisively, his expression not in the least friendly. "Your ideas are a poison upon which you will choke yourselves. We have no need for your kind here."

Lex gulped, not only because the threat he felt from the memory was very real, as if any damage he suffered during it would translate to his actual body, but because the weight of the memory was quickly beginning to weigh on his soul, as if he was learning grave secrets.

Was this the final test of this quest? To see how much weight his soul could bear, and if he could reach the chalice before his soul’s capacity was reached?

Whatever the man who Lex was supposed to be responded with only caused the crowd to become even angrier, and they drew their weapons.

"Since you want to sacrifice yourself so much, then die," the man said and attacked. Lex leaped back, but the scope of the attack was too wide for him to avoid. Fortunately, he fell out of the memory before the attack landed.

Lex was much closer to the ruins now, and incidentally, heading in the direction of the lighthouse. It was as if his destination guided his path.