The Innkeeper

1126 Stop changing the topic

Lex and Moon sat together on the roof of her white palace, looking up at the World Eater, pulling their planet forward like a horse pulling forward a chariot. Even pulling the planet behind it, the World Eater moved at unbelievable speeds.

They were already far away from the Jorlam so that they were no longer visible. It had also replaced the space bubble Lex put around the planet with a forcefield of its own. This way, the planet and its residents were not affected by the speed at which they were moving, and the planet continued to remain safe.

A majority of the residents of the planet were not in good shape, though that was predictable. It's not everyday that their planet is kidnapped and then dragged through space. But the emergency response forces on this planet were truly well trained, and were preventing the situation from deteriorating too quickly.

Lex would get around to helping them, but first he was focused on his sister. She was very hesitant about recalling the past, but ultimately realized that it could not be avoided. But even then, she had not spoken yet. So the two of them just sat together in silence, and allowed their thoughts to wander.

"You look sad," Moon said, as she poked Lex once more in the cheek.

"A little, but you wouldn't understand why," Lex said.

"Try me. You know, I'm not exactly a little girl anymore."

Lex smiled weakly.

"How do I explain this? Well, I've been gone from the Origin realm for a while. For my return, I'd planned this huge event that would make me famous overnight. Not that I was planning on becoming famous. I just had to plan this major event that would have shocked a lot of people. But now… after all that planning… I think the impact of kidnapping a planet and… acquiring a World Eater will end up beating anything I had planned. Just feels like I wasted a lot of time."

Moon giggled. He was upset because he accidentally became more famous than he could have on purpose. These are the kinds of problems she also wished she had. But maybe, these were not the only problems he had - just the ones he was sharing.

It was a little strange. Meeting after all these years, they should have felt awkward or distant. But instead, they immediately returned to how they were with one another when they were kids. Considering the age gap between Moon and Lex, they shouldn't really have been friends growing up. Yet they were.

"Now it's your turn," he said, looking at little Moon. Technically speaking, Moon had not been her original name. But as a little girl she had been particularly enamored by the moon, buying every toy, poster and piece of merchandise she could find. One time she got the moon painted on her face during some kids birthday party, and since then everyone had started calling her little Moon. The name had stuck.

Thinking back to those times, Lex felt a little sad. Life was so different back then. How had they gone from that to this.

Moon looked at him with hesitation, but Lex met her gaze. Eventually, she sighed.

"I… actually I shouldn't be the one telling you this, but I suppose at the same time, it fits that I am the one to tell you." Moon sighed, and lifted her frail arm to grab the cup Lex had given her. It contained some liquid Lex gave her which was supposed to strengthen her. She had been drinking such stuff all her life so she wasn't expecting much, but she was taken by surprise when it immediately filled her with warmth.

"What is this stuff? It's amazing!" she said incredulously.

"It's juice. Moon, stop changing the topic. It's not going to work."

Moon, who looked like a full fledged adult, if a slightly frail one at that, looked at Lex, the one with the body of a teenager, with the expression of being wronged. She was actually interested in the liquid. But she relented.

"Mom and dad didn't really want to tell you because they didn't… they didn't want you to feel like any of this was your fault."

Lex did not say anything, and just waited for her to explain.

"I'll tell you what I know, but I don't know everything. It started with dad, who had a unique physique that made him especially good at using swords. He then met mom, who was just a normal mortal back then, but she had a keen interest in learning medicine because a lot of people in her village died when she was young. But she was from earth, and in the old days it really wasn't permitted for women to learn, or stray out of the house even, yet she did so anyway. It caused her to be shunned and exiled from her village… right up until a plague came and they needed her help.

"That's when dad and mom met, and apparently dad really liked her fighting spirit, so he taught her a form of body cultivation. But mom had an inquisitive mind, so while she cultivated, she also studied cultivation, and how and why it affected the body. At least, that's what Belle told me. I'm pretty sure there's more to it, because apparently over the years mom became so knowledgeable about cultivation that she convinced dad that he had cultivated incorrectly. He restarted his cultivation from scratch under her supervision. That's when the problems began."

Moon scratched her face and looked at Lex. Even now she was postponing, but with how unreactive Lex was being, she had no option but to continue explaining.

"Apparently, mom learned a lot about unique physiques as well, and thought of a way she could nurture them. When Belle was born, mom was able to prove her theory correct. Belle was born with a strange physique that was especially compatible with divine energy, which is what angels use. So dad got her some angel blood, hoping she could absorb some energy from it. Instead, she gained a bloodline that mimicked an Angel's powers. That attracted grandfather's attention."