The Innkeeper

The fairies were slightly taken aback by Lex's impatience, as well as his willingness to help them out so easily. In their defense, they had a very long time to imagine being saved from their grim fate, and this definitely did not reflect what they had imagined.

First of all, the moment that they realized that the destined savior was a human, they felt a slight bitterness. They did not expect a human to work against his own race for their benefit. They also did not want to associate any positive feelings for the race that was responsible for trapping them to begin with.

But he just seemed to be concerned about getting into the final chamber. He neither cared for the great secret of the domain, nor what they would offer him in exchange for their help.

"The heart of the domain is a treacherous place," the armored fairy tried to warn Lex. "It is surrounded by powerful beasts who will not be cowed by the aura of your projection, and by a treacherous environment."

"Yes, yes, I got it. Just tell me where it is, or would one of you like to come with me?" Lex asked.

He didn't want to seem too pushy, since these fairies had been suffering for a long time. But it was also difficult to explain to them that it was unlikely anything here could really harm him.

The fairy was stumped, and looked back towards his people.

"Great savior, if you give me some time, I will get ready to accompany you. It will be easier for you to navigate the trials of the domain's heart if one of us accompanies you."

"Sure, go ahead," said Lex, letting out a defeated sigh. It was as if there was some all powerful mastermind, carefully orchestrating the events of his life, some diabolical figure, authoring his exceedingly long journey so that he would just stay in suspense about the use of the resin longer. What did a guy need to do to get a break?

The fairy returned to his city and walked to the very castle through which he had arrived down here. But the castle in the small-scale replica did not have an underground tunnel network, but was instead housing what seemed like a supervisory council.

The fairy met with them, and must have had a long conversation with them using his spirit sense, because he didn't hear them actually speak. Lex could technically spy on their conversations if he entered their minds, but he didn't want to pry.

"Hey Pel, is there some way I can secretly listen in on spirit sense conversations held by other people?" he asked, out of pure curiosity, and no desire to spy or misuse the ability at all. "Secretly is the main focus here," he specified.

"As long as your cultivation realm is higher, or your spirit is significantly more powerful, it is not difficult at all."

The ring transmitted the method to Lex, and it was simply a different application of his own spirit sense. At the same time, he sent Lex ways to keep his own spirit sense hidden from others, as well as sense if someone else was trying to spy on his conversations.

Being stronger than everyone else was truly a huge hack. It took Lex only a dozen seconds to learn everything. He eyed the fairies once more, but then shook his head. He let them have their privacy.

The meeting did not take too long, and the fairy soon left, though Lex could not help but notice all the looks it was getting from its fellow fairies. It was as if it was going on a pilgrimage from which it would never return. Even the fairy himself wore a somber expression, as if his entire life had been leading up to this moment of great sacrifice.

Lex felt like facepalming, but restrained himself.

"Do you know the location of where we are going?" Lex asked. "As in, relative to where we are?"

"I can sense the location of the domain's heart. We will have to journey to the west."

"Well, hold on," Lex said, as he allowed the fairy to grab onto his sleeve. Then he teleported away, towards the west.

The fairy, who was not mentally prepared, was stunned. It had never experienced teleportation before, nor did it know of it, so it could not comprehend what had just happened.

"I'll keep teleporting over large distances, you just keep guiding me on where to go," said Lex, as he looked at the fairy. If one ignored loose, wrinkled skin the fairy had accumulated, it was actually kind of cute.

"I will guide you, savior! You are even more powerful than we imagined."

"You have no idea," Lex said while chuckling, as he teleported once more under the fairies direction.

"By the way, my name is Lex. You don't need to keep calling me savior. If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you get trapped in your situation?"

"Indeed, savior Lex, it would be my honor to tell you our history. My name is Leroy, and I am from the Haka bloodline. Long ago, before we lived in the domain, fairies and humans had formed a temporary alliance. We both had been exiled from under the Tree of Heaven, for other, stronger races took our place. As the Tree of Heaven requires only the strongest and the best to tend to its roots, our failure meant that we had lost our homes, and our protection.

"Banished to the unshaded lands, we were sentenced to a nomadic life, looking for refuge. But no matter where we tried to settle, we would be found by the races that had replaced us. They were not satisfied with just exiling us. They wanted to eliminate the entire race so that we could never recover and retake our place.

"Weakened and hunted, we ran and ran till it seemed there would be no hope. That is when the humans discovered the domain. But there was one significant flaw in the otherwise natural fortress, which were the many openings that would appear from time to time. Although the openings were selective in who they allowed in, we could not risk it.

"That is when the humans proposed a joint sacrifice. Using the immense knowledge of their race, and the amazing abilities of ours, they devised a way to close the domain to outsiders. It would require a major, joint sacrifice, as the strongest of the humans from back then would need to give up his own life to create the enchantment that would affect the domain. At the same time, the leader of the fairies from back then would need to tolerate the impact of the enchantment with his body, and allow the change to take place.

"But that is when we were deceived. Although the human back then, did, indeed sacrifice himself, he also lied. It was not just the leader of the fairies at that time who was affected, but any fairy who would ever bear the burden of leadership, for as long as our race existed.

"So when our leader died, the next one immediately suffered the overwhelming pressure of the enchantment that was used to affect this sealed domain. This temporary refuge became our prison, and our once allies became our prisoners! This was because the enchantment needed a living body to support it, and unless it was shifted from fairy to fairy, the effects of the enchantment would fade!

"Over generations, we supported each other by electing one another as leader, and shifted the burden of the enchantment from fairy to fairy before they died. During the shifting process, we also learned how to change the enchantment slightly to give us hope of escape and freedom, though we were limited in just how much we could change it.

"That is why, nearly the entire fairy race is withered and frail, having suffered at the hands of the enchantment. But there is one possibility of escape, one that even the human who crafted the enchantment could do nothing about, as it has to do with the rules of the domain itself.

"Once the secret of the domain is accessed and revealed by one who follows the rules of the domain, the domain will fall into a temporary dormant state while it recharges, and creates a new secret treasure to take the place of the one that was taken.

"That dormancy is the opportunity we need. The fairies have hidden for generations, out of sight of the humans, and have worked to build the misconception among them that all the fairies have died. This is so that once the dormancy period comes, we can escape the domain in secret. Otherwise, in our exhausted state, we will not be able to fight against the humans if they try to trap or make use of us again.

"In such a case, all we can do is fight to our death. In the absence of hope, we can-"

"I don't mean to interrupt, but is that the great secret you're talking about?" Lex asked, pointing to a shining treasure.

At some point, unnoticed by Leroy, they had made their way through layer and layers of deadly traps and barriers that had prevented humans from reaching it for thousands of years.