The Innkeeper

The crown prince of Hum had lost himself in the intoxicating smell of his drink, his world now a clash of vibrant visuals and obscure concepts. He seemed to have lost himself in the world where grass grew in moments and life flourished in rivers of milk, where honey dripped from trees and the concepts of beauty and peace merged together to form angels with the sole purpose of giving him their love.

The blue skies were filled with Sol birds, dancing in the distance. Fairies formed communities in trees and the wind carried within it the sound of laughter always. It was heaven, for the world was perfect, and it was hell, because it was forever out of reach.

His eyes still shut, the crown prince moved the cup to his lips and took a single sip. As refreshing as the morning dew, the spirit sat in his mouth, refreshing all of his senses. He savored the soft flavor for a while but he finally drank.

The heaven that had filled his mind now enveloped his body, but not as strongly as it had captured his mind. It was like a tingle on the back of his neck, like a teasing wink of a lover just out of reach.

Unable to stop himself, the prince downed the whole cup in one go and let the sensation fill him. It was like the embrace he had longed for, the warmth of a hug he never knew he needed.

He felt everything that was broken inside of himself, and then he felt a gentle hand run through his hair, playing with his curls. He heard a whisper - no one would heal the injuries in his heart for him, but there was no rush for him to heal either. He could be weak, for as long as he needed, until he had the strength to heal himself.

Lex did not know what was happening inside the man's mind. He was simply curious as to the man's mission. He could guess much, simply based on the fork that he recognized.

That was not to say that he believed the fork was extremely unique or completely unavailable on the market. It was more of the fact that the chances of him running into a mysterious stranger who was incredibly powerful and happened to be walking around with a fork that was identical to his. He was more inclined to believe that the man had used it to somehow track Lex down.

When Lex had left the Hum nation, he did not actually know what danger he had been avoiding. He was blissfully unaware that the king himself had made an appearance in search of him, and wanted to procure his cultivation technique. He was also ignorant of everything that had happened after.

It was for this reason he did not immediately make the connection between the man and the King himself. His first thought was that the crazy professor Vernan had sent someone to track him down.

He was patiently waiting for the man to finish enjoying his drink, but was taken aback when the man suddenly started bawling his eyes out. One moment he was fine, and the next tears were streaming down his eyes like a waterfall and he was wailing like a baby. His face had turned completely red, and he had completely lost all control of himself.

Others, who were celebrating, and were caught in the emotional tempest that the announcement of the end of their self-imposed imprisonment in the tavern was ending, saw the man crying and began crying as well.

The triplets themselves were too anxious to work so Roan and Rick were passing out drinks the fastest they were able to, and the presence of the drinks made everyone even more vulnerable to the fluctuating emotions.

The doors to the tavern opened and Joseph and Bertram Noel stepped in, ready to encounter a life and death battle, only to encounter the scene of hundreds of men and women drinking and crying.

They were frozen still, unsure of what to say or do, when an annoyingly familiar voice sounded out from behind them.

"Drinks all around, barkeep! The Noel family will foot the bill today!"

Pvarti, who no longer had any responsibility towards helping his family out, strutted into the tavern and ordered a Dimmelon juice. He had forgotten the name of everything, but he did not forget the name of his new favorite drink.

The crowd did not cheer as he expected, but he could not be bothered as he crossed his family and made his way to the bar. He found Aegis, who he had spent some time with already, wailing away.

Slightly creeped out, Pvarti decided to ignore the man for the moment and just drank on his own.

Lex, upon noticing the arrival of Bertram, dissolved the illusion formation around the tavern. Even if his guests saw the mayhem that had occurred, there were others who would deal with it.

But before he could go greet the man himself, the mayor quickly arrived in front of the duo and began whispering something to them. Lex decided to let them have their privacy and kept their distance for the meantime.

Soon, the crowd began to notice the situation outside the tavern and were struck by horror and disbelief. What was happening? Where was Babylon? Had they teleported somewhere?

Too afraid to exit the building, they gathered by the door and windows and looked outside as a hush fell over the tavern, with only Aegis still crying loudly.

But the mayor was an accomplished man. He did not let chaos descend, and quickly conscripted most into his rescue party. He had sent a large number of soldiers to gather the town's citizens and lead them towards underground bunkers.

The bunkers had now been buried by the rubble, and needed to be excavated. The truth was, this was something that could have been easily achieved if he did it himself but the people could not be allowed time to wallow. They had to work, and helping to save people would give them some hope in this situation where they had been struck by despair.

Soon, the tavern was relatively empty once again. Many of the children had to be put to sleep because they became hysterical upon seeing the destruction, but some, like Roland, managed to keep themselves from acting out.

As he watched everyone leave, the triplets along with the baker and his wife included, Lex had a heavy heart. He was not sure how many survivors there were, but he'd venture that most of those who went out had lost someone.

Even the formerly spoiled workers at his tavern went out to search, doing their best to keep themselves from trembling as they saw the destruction.

Soon, only the now drunk Pvarti, Aegis, Bertram and Joseph were left in the hall. Lex exchanged a look with the two who still stood at the entrance, shrugged, and went to the bar as well and poured himself a drink.

He could not decide what was the best explanation to give as to how his tavern remained unharmed, but decided to be as vague as humanly possible about it.

Upon noticing that Lex was making no moves to approach them, Bertram stepped forward and ordered a glass of Sunset wine.

"We meet again," he said as he swung the wine in his glass, making no actual move to drink it again.

"So we do," replied Lex, as if there was nothing unusual going on at all.

"Your tavern has made quite the impression on me," Bertram said, slowly introducing the topic.

"Thank you, though I must say, the neighborhood isn't as safe as advertised when I bought the property."

Bertram smiled weakly. It seemed the tavern owner was taking a dig at him.

He readied himself to broach the topic directly, since if Lex hadn't shown any hostility so far there was no reason to believe there was any. Yet, as luck would have it, at that exact moment, the Midnight system finished updating!

Along with a mental notification beep that only Lex could hear, a sort of spatial tremor released itself from Lex's body startling Bertram and his father. The tremor did not travel far, only till the boundary of the tavern building, but that was more than enough to give the two much to speculate on.

Lex, who was also taken by surprise, felt an immense change overtake him. Moreover, the system kept giving him multiple notifications, drowning his mind with the repeated beeps.

"Excuse me for a moment," Lex could not help but say to Bertram. "I have a small matter to take care of. Please make yourself comfortable, I'll be back shortly."

Though he said he was back, the Noel family had already received the answer they were looking for. Lex was some kind of hidden expert, and a powerful one. But, he seemed to not want to get involved in others matters, which is why the tremor only went as far as the tavern premises. It was a silent way of letting them know that whatever happened outside the boundary of his tavern was none of his business.

In truth, they were forming their own explanation for what had been a coincidence. Or rather, a lucky coincidence.