The Innkeeper

Lex opened his eyes when he reappeared at the Midnight Inn. Although he had said his first action would be to use his quest reward, in truth, the first thing he did was to go and check up on Luthor, Z and the others.

Not much time had passed for those at the Inn, but decades had passed for those who had taken the tavern to Abaddon. They had completed an arduous mission, and would be changed from it forever - hopefully for the best.

Though they had not shown it at all, Lex knew that they were weary. How could they not be, when even Lex felt weary?

The group reappeared inside a vast field, away from the hustle and bustle of the Inn, and discovered that the Innkeeper was already standing in front of them, waiting for them. Of course, in truth, it was merely a projection of the Innkeeper prepared by Lex for their arrival.

"You have all been through a lot," the Innkeeper said softly, looking at them all with kind eyes. "I thank you for your service."

The Innkeeper nodded to the group, and was about to even give them a small bow, but Luthor stepped forward as soon as he saw that, tears streaming down his eyes.

"Please, Innkeeper, do not bow to us," the hardened man said, holding back his sobs. "It is our utmost privilege to serve the Inn. A privilege!"

Lex, through the Innkeepers’ eyes, looked at Luthor fondly. See, he knew Luthor wasn’t a bad man! He just had a penchant for interrogating his enemies for the benefit of the Inn - nothing more.

"No, your actions deserve recognition," the Innkeeper said. "You have completed the first ever task of taking a tavern to our guest, and accompanying them with it on their journey. One day, in the future, you will look back on this day and realize that it was the foundation laid for much grander things to come in the future.

"There will come a day where the Inn will open its doors to the universe in full, and Abaddon will be just one of the many peculiar places across the universe that we will have to deal with. As such, every step we take towards achieving that goal, every one of our achievements needs to be acknowledged. The legacy of the Inn will be built over the course of a million such missions, but not a single one of them should be overlooked, and not a single one of your efforts should be denied."

The whole group was feeling very emotional, but perhaps none of them were more so than Little Blue, who had his first ever field trip outside the Inn. Now that he was back, and was even being acknowledged by the Innkeeper for his efforts, the little whale, or rather the little Kun Peng, could not help but swoon.

Sunny, who was feeling socially awkward, flew behind Little Blue, chasing it across the horizon, squawking and squeaking as it tried to keep up.