The Innkeeper

Chapter 1736: Old friend

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.

Kaemon was kneeling right beside him, panting heavily.

“Are you okay?” Lex asked, placing his hand on Kaemon’s back, trying to heal his wounds. Yet there was nothing to heal. He was perfectly fine.

“Yes, yes I am,” Kaemon said, standing back up, though his knees were still wobbling. “The vision was mostly obscure, as if it knew I could not support much more weight on my soul. Still, it was not fully blurred out. Some bits of information came in. This used to be a city of refugees, once.”

Lex nodded.

“I also got some information. Apparently, it was visited by someone who ’worshipper of those who were plagued with corruption’. The people of this city… the refugees seemed to be at odds with them.”

“Yes, I got that feeling too,” Kaemon said. “In fact, it reminded me of the things I told you before – the two factions during the Forgotten Age. One belonged to those who abandoned everyone and escaped, causing the creation of the Chalice of the Abandoned. The other belongs to those who created the Well of Forgotten Dreams.”

Lex nodded.

“That makes sense. In that case, these refugees must be the ones who abandoned those who were weak, and the person visiting them must be from the group who created the Well.”

Kaemon shook his head, as if clearing his mind.

“Why would those who abandoned everyone be considered refugees? Should they be shunned and called cowards? And why would those who willingly gave themselves up for a better cause be called worshippers of the plagued?”

Lex did not answer, but he had a few potential answers. If Abaddon was created as a prison for corrupted systems, then those plagued with corruption were the hosts for those systems. Lex almost wondered if he could try to absorb the systems trapped within the chalice to improve his own. Yet he quickly shot that idea down.

Lex was nowhere near strong enough to around messing with systems, let alone corrupted systems. Best to stay clear. In fact, he was even beginning to doubt whether saving Xerxes was even a good idea.

“You think you can keep going on?” Lex asked. “Or else we’ll have to come up with another plan.”

Kaemon nodded.

“It’s tough, but it’s manageable. I think this place is designed to bring us close to the brink of what we can tolerate, but not past it. I’ll survive.”

“Well then, do your best not to dwell on the images. In fact, avoid them entirely if possible, and let’s focus on our mission,” said Lex, even though he knew that wasn’t possible.

The whole issue with the weight on his soul was that it made him unable to dismiss the knowledge he gained, and forced him to think about it. That was one of the reasons why he started thinking about the characters from the Book of Changes so much.

Together, the two of them took another step forward.

This time, when Lex appeared, the situation with the city seemed somewhat worse. There was some damage that could be easily seen, and though there were no corpses in sight, many of the people seemed worn out.

“I told you that you should not have come,” the blurry man said. “If not for old times’ sake, I would not have given you the opportunity to turn back. Unfortunately, you squandered it.”

The character through whose eyes Lex was seeing the scene must have said something again, but this time, the reaction did not garner any anger, only deep disappointment.

“Worry not, old friend. We will use your blood to set the foundation of the new age. Your contribution cannot make amends for your sins, but at least it is something.”