The Innkeeper

Silence filled the room as everyone took in the sight. It was extremely rare for humans to get to see anything of the Crystal races society, let alone something as well protected as a sleeping bunker. Considering the fact that this minor realm had been unoccupied for a countless number of years, he could not even imagine how old these people- eh, crystals? He could not imagine how old these dudes were.

But the level of security suddenly made sense. It was no joke for a protection formation to continue running unsupervised for so many years, let alone the projection that 'welcomed' them once they came inside.

But, now that it had been established that this was a sleeping bunker, the next question was, now what? The implications of this discovery were monumental, but no matter what, they could not be allowed to wake up before Cwenhild took control of this realm. Lex did not want to speculate on whether they would be friendly or not, since he could not even explain to them why this realm had been abandoned in the first place should they wake. It would be perfectly understandable if they assumed the worst at seeing intruders as soon as they awoke.

"Do you think the other high energy spots are sleeping bunkers as well?" Lex asked, after the silence had gone long enough. Patrick had discovered 2 other high energy concentration places that they had yet to visit.

"Unlikely. It wouldn't make sense to have multiple bunkers nearby. Anyway, let's go. This glass wall should be the last barrier to the bunker and should not be easily penetrated. It will keep anyone else from trying to wake them up, but we should not waste any time."

Cwenhild's voice was even, and did not betray any emotion besides calm, but internally she was practically swooning. The value of this realm had suddenly exceeded anything they could have imagined, and as long as she obtained this realm before the crystals woke up, she could even negotiate certain terms with her own mother.

"What do you think it's like, sleeping for years at a time?" Lex asked while they rushed towards the next spot.

"Their consciousness enters an artificial dream shared by all in the sleeping bunker," Jade 1 answered succinctly. "They have to maintain such a state to provide stimuli to their spirit, since they're only asleep, not dead. Still, in the dream, time passes by much slower than in real life. A day in the dream may as well be a year."

"Cool," Lex commented, as he made a mental note of the idea. Maybe he could do something like that in the Inn for guests who rent rooms for extended periods of time.

While no one said anything regarding it, the speed at which the group moved betrayed a sense of urgency that filled them.

The second spot they reached seemed like some sort of temple. Countless students already filled the area, all of them exploring the massive structure in small groups or on their own. Lex and his group paid them no mind and directly followed as Patrick led them to their destination, and if anyone tried to stop them, or worse, rob them… Lex had learnt his lesson and no longer tried to play the good guy, meaning the least any of them got was multiple broken bones.

Deep underground, after exploring for a few hours, they finally reached an extremely well protected chamber. Formations, projections, and automated guards protected the chamber, but their strength had fallen greatly over the course of time and so, after some effort, they broke through.

For a moment, it felt like they had actually discovered what they were looking for. The room was filled with literal treasure. Crystal coins, weapons, clothes, books, tokens, talismans and more filled the room. As tempting as the sight was, it was a floating, gold and crystal crown that attracted everyone's attention. But, after probing it, Cwenhild revealed that the crown was not what they were looking for. Thus, as much as it physically pained them, the group left all that treasure and went towards their next objective. Trying to carry it would only slow them down, and the realm was more valuable than this measly treasure, anyway. The only thing they took was the crown. They did not know what it was, or what it did, but it clearly was significant and did not weigh them down.

The third and final spot in these ruins ended up being a crater. A deep, dark hole, tearing directly through a building and the ground was violently gushing spiritual energy. They could not even get close, as even Lex started to bleed spontaneously when he approached it, let alone anyone else.

Lex could not even absorb the abundant spiritual energy as it was not neutral, and had a very destructive nature. Whatever the cause or origin, it was beyond anything they could handle. With that, they were only left with one option - to head towards the mountains.

There were still other ruins they could explore, but they were out of the way, and it just seemed probably that whatever Cwinheld needed to claim the realm would be at the most energy dense spot in the realm. It was a shame, for crossing the mountain would not be a quick task.

Even if they ran uninterrupted, it would take them hours to simply reach the mountain. As for crossing the mountain and reaching whatever was causing the glow… it would take a while - to say the least.

Not wasting any time, they immediately began their journey, taking the most direct route. Their intimidating presence and urgency caused most to move out of their way, whether they were humans or beasts but a few still sought to stand in their way, either out of misplaced ego or greed. But with the group no longer pulling any punches, no one could stop them for long. Ness especially enjoyed such violent, full force clashes and kept hoping for more of them.

Since the only source of light in the realm was that glow behind the mountains it was hard to track time, but Lex felt like half a day passed before they reached the foot of the mountains. Here they took another break, using the time to eat and drink some water, and take short naps. An hour later, they resumed their journey.

Lex had been expecting crossing the mountains to be dangerous, since they were getting closer to the most energy rich part of the realm. Instead, the journey became even smoother. Let alone encounter a fight, the group did not even see another living being in the vicinity. While this was good for maintaining their travel speed, the eerie silence caused the group to raise their guard.

At a certain point, as they trekked through a particularly steep valley, the sound of their footsteps echoed for miles, and yet not even a sleeping bird was disturbed. The mountains had been as still and silent as death before their arrival, and after a while, the peaks started to weigh down on them.

An unknown pressure filled the air and began stifling them. Crossing the mountains unabated somehow became more tiring than their journey before. After what felt like an entire day since they entered the mountains, they took their second break. This time, instead of a short break, they rested properly since they had become mentally exhausted. Keeping their guard up continuously for an entire day was more exhausting than actually fighting.

But while the group took turns sleeping, Lex sat in a corner with a frown. A strange sense of déjà vu was hitting him. Normally this wasn't exactly enough to worry him, since the feeling would pass. But that was just it - the feeling wasn't passing, but getting stronger as they crossed the mountains.

Try as he might, though, he could not figure out what was causing this feeling. In the end, he chose to focus on the Inn instead. It would likely be another day before they reached their destination, and there was no point in wasting his time dwelling on nonsense in the meantime.

*****

Unknown Planet, Origin realm

A group of angry and anxious looking men were gathered around in a circle, their eyes focused on a young man, as well as a shaman who sat opposite to him. The shaman was burning some kind of paper with a pink flame, the smoke released blood red and the ash falling yellow like sand. His eyes were shut, and he seemed to be in some kind of trance.

Despite all the focus on the shaman, no one noticed as the tips of his hair started glowing red, and then burning away. At first, one could have mistaken the scene and thought that the group's attention was focused elsewhere, but even as his hair went from simply glowing to being fully aflame, no one noticed.

It was only when the flames touched his scalp, and the shaman screamed and let go of the burning paper, that the group suddenly became aware of what had happened. Like magic, the moment the shaman let go of the paper, the flame also disappeared. Yet even in the brief moment that the flame had touched him, all the flesh on his scalp had been burnt away to ash.

The shaman collapsed, losing consciousness, but the group, instead of attending to him, swarmed the young man to ensure he was unharmed.

Physically, he was fine, but his frustration was eating him alive.

"Trash! Vermin! Frauds! Can't do anything right! Find someone else, and this time make sure they're not a fake! I need to be able to track my soulmate before Lady Cosmos ends, or I'll never be able to find her!"

The young man had been trying to divine the location of one of the contestants of the Lady Cosmos show, but how could it be so simple to peek into the secrets of the Midnight Inn? Just like him, countless others all over the universe had learnt of the Lady Cosmos show as its popularity had exploded! And just like him, countless others were undeterred by whatever prestige the Inn may have had, and tried to find its guests, or learn its secrets. For now, only the shamans and prophets who were trying to learn the Inns secrets had suffered its backlash. For now.