The Innkeeper



An unstoppable tide was sweeping across the Crystal realm, targeting those lands owned by the nations as well as those farther, disconnected lands held by mere nobles or less powerful races. There was no forewarning for this attack, nor had there been such a massive invading force of Kraven ever before.

The number of immortals deployed was far beyond a number that any one nation could employ. Perhaps if multiple nations worked together, they could muster up the number of immortals required to fight off the force invading a single one of them. Yet, as things stood, there seemed to be little to no recourse.

The only remaining advantage they had was that the Crystal realm was so ridiculously vast, it would take even immortals a lot of time to traverse if they were not taking teleportation formations. Moreover, since the force was invading, they had to ensure they thoroughly swept each and every spot, so not only did they move slowly, they could not utilize teleportation formations.

A state of emergency was declared in every single nation, and mass evacuations were underway. Martial law, code black, and various other such names were thrown around in almost every conversation and the countries decided how much of their territory to give up while they prepared their own defenses.

Despite their clear disadvantage, it was not as if there was nothing they could do to retaliate. The Sol and Frio birds depended on the massive populations, just as much as the people living there required those birds. This was a secret well kept, but was now put to use in every battlefront.

Although enemies of this level would not do any harm to the Kraven, yet, the birds pulled out of the territories being invaded, plunging the land into darkness. Such was the case with all the territories controlled by the Kraven. Yet despite being inundated by endless monsters spawned from the darkness, they always seemed to have enough forces to spare for attacks.

For now, the trend seemed to be set. The Kraven were advancing forward, and none of those being invaded seemed capable enough to stop them. The process had just begun, so there was no indication yet of how the nations would retaliate once they got a hold of the situation, but many were already praying that the Crystal race would get involved. Well, at least the citizens were praying for such.

Meanwhile, at the border for the Crystal nation, Lex continued to wait in line. In stark contrast to much of the realm, he enjoyed the peaceful environment and continued to wait in line. In fact, he bought some of the local fruits from a peddler who continued to walk beside the line, hoping to attract the attention of those waiting. It was quite a pleasant experience.

Several hours later, when Lex was nearing his turn to proceed through the investigative formations, a worried Mary contacted him.

"Lex there's a situation I think you need to be updated on," she said, hesitant yet concerned. "We have some new Pro bono guests, which is quite normal. But the issue is the information they revealed. When they arrived, they were in quite a wounded state. Such situations are quite normal among Pro bono guests, so they were brought to the Recovery Pods. It's when they woke and began conversing amongst themselves that I noticed something unusual. They seem to be mentioning a massive army of Kraven! They were overwhelmed and their city immediately fell under their siege."

"As unfortunate a thing as it is," Lex replied, "such things happen quite regularly here. The war with the Kraven hasn't stopped in hundreds of years."

"If that were all, it would not be worth notifying you. I thought the behavior of the survivors was unusual, and so sent Velma to investigate and interview them. As it turns out, the county they were in was four counties away from the battlefront. The Kraven should not have been able to just appear there overnight. Most importantly, while the survivors themselves were too weak to be sure, they claim that the number of immortals was way too high. Their city was ont able to put up a defense at all."

Lex frowned. He did not have enough information about the situation to judge it accurately.

"Keep an eye on guests from the Crystal realm. See if you can learn any more information about the situation. What race are the guests from?"

"The guests are Sentinels. They don't feel too comfortable at the Inn considering the number of humans and humanoid beings, but they are too afraid to return home."

"I recall we made a spot at the Inn for all the spirits and encouraged them to go there. Recommend that area to the Sentinel race, they might be more comfortable there. In the meantime, keep investigating. If you learn anything relevant, don't hesitate to contact me"

For a moment, Lex wondered if the anxiety he had been feeling had anything to do with the aforementioned Kraven invasion, but concluded that he did not have information. Although the timing seemed to match, there was no saying for certain if the matters were related. After all, Lex's instincts would only come into play if he would be the one affected. How could he possibly be influenced by an invasion far off?

He turned his attention back to the line, as soon it would be his turn. Feeling as if he was walking through security at an airport, Lex eventually walked over the illuminated path through a number of formations. As he passed, he could feel himself being probed by various senses, though he was not sure exactly what the formations were looking for.

There seemed to be no problem, though, and at the end Lex was led to a private room by a massive Earth Golem.

Inside the room, surprisingly, sat a human in a security guard uniform, studying a document. Without looking up, the man asked, "Name and purpose of visit?"

"My name is Lex," he said, feeling a mix of amusement and disbelief. "My purpose here is to visit an elder of the Crystal race. He invited me to meet him upon completion of a task he gave."

"Do you have anything that can corroborate your claim of an invitation? Or do you know the name and address of the elder you are referring to? We can ascertain the veracity of your claims ourselves as well."

"I have this," said Lex, as he handed over the letter given to him by the Crystal race elder so long ago. It was sealed, and Lex had not tried to open it, yet he had read the name and address on the letter. It bore the elder's name, alongside some numbers the purpose of which Lex could not yet identify, as well as the name of the place the elder asked Lex to meet him: Valesco.

The guard read the elders name, which was Ezio, and showed no reaction, but when he read the name Valesco he was startled and sat up straight. He gave Lex a bewildered look, before turning his attention back to the letter. Despite his station, he did not dare open it himself.

"Please wait here a moment," the guard said, and scurried out the door, letter still in hand. Lex expected somewhat of a reaction, since he had learnt that Valesco was a prison. Yet this was too much, right?

A short while later, a small cat made of tree roots walked in, followed closely by the guard, and jumped up onto the table. This was the smallest Trelop Lex had ever seen, but the aura he radiated was one of the strongest. It reminded him of Aunty Jeena, one of the first Trelops he had ever met. To date, Lex felt like she was the strongest Trelop he had ever encountered. This tiny cat was a close second.

"Dear guest, do not be alarmed. Your admission into the Crystal nation is all but assured. We just need to ask a few mandatory questions for our own record keeping purposes. Can you share with me when you received this invitation?"

"I can't remember exactly how long it's been, but it's already been many months," Lex said. To be honest, since he left Earth, he had stopped paying attention to the calendar. He didn't even know what month it was. Maybe he should create his own calendar once he has his own realm, so that he can keep better track of time.

"Can you share the location you were at when you received the invitation?"

"Inside a Minor realm."

"Were there any… significant events that took place, during your visit to that particular Minor realm?"

"A couple I suppose. For one, we discovered a sleeping chamber of the Crystal race. I don't know what happened to it, but we reported it to our seniors at the time. The second was a run in with a Kraven. To this day no one knows why a single Kraven was able to infiltrate that realm, and why it did so alone."

The more answers Lex gave, the more grave the cat looked, until Lex eventually realized something was wrong.