The Innkeeper

Anita was not having the best day. This day her pregnancy was particularly difficult, causing her to feel all sorts of muscle spasms and cramps in her undead body, not to mention the bouts of nausea that were suddenly coming.

This was common, since she was not getting close. Only a little over four more decades and she'd give birth, meaning she was in the final stage of her pregnancy, so it was to be expected.

Even so, she did not give up her duties as a mother, and through great effort and resilience, put her other baby to sleep. Finally, she could get some rest.

Then the ground exploded beneath her, and she froze in fear and shock! Her eyes locked onto her baby's crib, now destroyed, and she saw the most devastating sight a mother could see!

Her baby, who had just gone to sleep, had woken back up. She was in denial. She refused to accept what she was seeing, and for a few seconds, as carnage erupted all around them, her baby stared back at her.

Then five seconds passed, and the baby started to cry.

Qawain, being a dutiful father, immediately appeared and took the baby.

"I've got this Anita, it's okay. It's okay, I'll put him back to sleep. There's no reason to be upset. In fact, don't the explosions remind you of our honeymoon when-"

He did not get to finish, because Anita grabbed her hair, pulled, and screamed. That was when the ever bright sky of the Midnight night realm, across the entire realm, turned black.

"Mary, is the Inn okay?" Lex asked, all the way on the other continent as a premonition struck him, but he did not need a reply because the shriek of an exhausted Anita roared across the entire realm.

Luthor, who had summoned his flames and was about to cause havoc, the countless devils who were rightfully about to retaliate out of anger, Gerard who had summoned his cart because his date was interrupted, Velma who was about to go berserk because the latest romance novel she was reading was ripped to shreds, and everyone else who was about to fight back against the Tree were hit by a premonition that this was an enemy they should not steal from Anita. They were right.

The beautiful Lich, whose more drastic tendencies had been softened by the approaching grace of motherhood, completely drowned in anger.

"HOW DARE YOU WAKE MY BABY?" she roared, and grabbed the nearest emerging tree, blaring her power as an Earthen Immortal in full.

Using naught but sheer might, she ripped the tree, its entire root network, and every single other plant it was connected to, right out of the ground as her body began to fly.

In her dainty little hands was a mass of wood so large it practically formed a mountain as she pulled it out. The tree resisted. The roots tried to wrap around her and pulses of energy tried to attack her. But they were like gusts of wind trying to fight a hurricane. It was just not possible.

"YOU WILL PAY!" she said through gritted teeth, completely unaware that the baby cthulhu was now staring at her and clapping its hand and laughing. All she could recall was that moment of anguish when all her hard work was for naught.

Green flames, filled with endless rancor, appeared in her eyes and then spread from her into the skies, turning into flaming arrows. At first there were a hundred arrows, then a thousand, then a million, and then beyond count as the sky itself was blotted out, and they all pointed at the mass of wood.

Then, they shot with such devastating might that a ripple traveled through the space of the entire realm.

Lex, who had just teleported back to the Inn, arrived just in time to watch as the incarnation of evil unleashed its wrath upon the tree, burning not its body, but its soul!

New notification: The realm is destabilizing due to excessive energy that it cannot tolerate!

New Emergency Quest: Stop the energy leaking out to the realm before the realm is destroyed!

Quest time limit: 1 hour!

Reward: Keeping the damn realm is the reward!

Quest failure punishment: The system is incredibly fragile at the moment! The destruction of the realm will result in the destruction of the system!

By the time Lex read the notifications, an ear piercing wail shot out from the mass of wood! Anita's flames burned souls, but did not harm them. How could she bear to do that? As a Lich, she had many uses for the souls of her enemies, so it would be best if she got them whole and undamaged.

The wood did not burn, but Anita squeezed it into itself, so that it went from a giant mass into a more easily handled container. She was using the Tree's own body to imprison its soul as she punished it!

Lex looked at Anita, then the state of the Inn, and then at his quest. He had an entire hour, so it was best not to disturb Anita prematurely.

"Honey, don't forget about its underlings," Qawain reminded her, and suddenly her gaze turned from the mass of wood down to the Inn, where the 'guests' who had attacked all the Inn workers stood frozen in abject fear.

It would have been easier for them to accept that their world was on the verge of destruction than to believe their Tree was so effortlessly thwarted - and yet, both of those things were happening before their eyes, though they only knew of one.

Green arrows formed once again, this time pointing at the ground. All the attackers finally remembered to run, but their efforts were for naught. Countless undead had appeared all around them, and held them down where they stood.

Even the undead knew not to steal from their Unholy Queen.

"YOU WILL ALL PAY!" she said once more, and let the rain of green, flaming arrows fall.