The Innkeeper

Extending their spirit sense to examine a peer could be considered rude, and some might even take great offense to it. But in the Earth Immortal realm why would they need to purposefully extend their senses? At this range, just their eyesight could gather more information than just sight. When they focused on Lex, mostly out of instinct due to the shocking news they heard, they immediately noticed that he was merely a projection. His real body was not around!

This once again startled them! How was it possible to have such a perfect projection without any trace of the link to the real body? If they had not focused they would not have noticed at all.

Before they could resolve their confusion though a tingle in the back of their necks, a sensation soft and barely perceptible, grabbed their attention. It was a sign of a warning. Their bodies were reacting defensively to something extremely, extremely dangerous!

While Lex was still smiling as ever, the warmth on his person changed to frigid coldness for barely a second. Still, the second passed and Lex returned to his usual self, while the sensation of impending danger passed. But now everyone was acting warily. Clearly, that had been a soft warning from Lex.

None here had any intention of acting rudely, since none of them could compete with the power radiating from the letter. Yet all of them were extremely confident, and had something to rely on should they get into trouble. Their deep heritage and secret weapons were the source of their confidence, but they were quickly reminded that they weren't the only ones with secrets.

Lex was quite pleased with the reaction the immortals showed. It was very important he retained control of the situation, which was harder to do in a room full of not only immortal beings, but leaders among their respective races. To stimulate the sense of danger, he had momentarily powered on his Dragon's wake formation.

The powerful and threatening aura it radiated was far above the limits of this world, so it was usually a strong deterrent. This time, Lex did not turn it on all the way, as he did not know how they would react if they realized the power was above their worlds limit, for if anyone had the potential to notice this detail it was one of those here. But just stimulating the formation was enough to pass a subtle warning.

"Yes, like I said, they attempted to assassinate me the moment I shared the news with them. As a result, I did not even get to share the invitation with them. It's hard to keep secrets when the invitations were sent to so many, but unless someone specifically shared the news with them, it is likely they do not even know about this meeting."

Silence pervaded the room as everyone contemplated what this meant, not only for this meeting but the general situation of their realm.

It was while they were contemplating that the final two expected guests arrived at the Inn. The Sentinel was humanoid and was wearing something that looked like a knight's armor, but instead of metal it was made of a bone like material. Beside him was a short yet fat insect like creature that looked like a large, chubby grasshopper. That would be the Poliod.

Lex teleported to them, and after extending his greeting, led them to the meeting room.

As he had done before, Cornelius was the first to welcome the newcomers.

"Abras, I see you haven't croaked yet," Cornelius said, looking at the Sentinel wearing a look of schadenfreude.

"Your fist is not as strong as you assume. You'll have to try harder if you wish to kill me," the Sentinel replied, once again speaking directly in the mind. The Sentinels were a unique spirit based species, meaning that while they were mostly spirit creatures, they also possessed physical bodies which is what made them unique in that category.

Unfortunately, their bodies happened to be their greatest weakness. But despite such a glaring weakness, they could not be considered a weak race for they were far superior in terms of spirit control and manipulation than humans could ever be.

"Kritter, I have long looked forward to meeting you," Cornelius said looking at the Poloid, not bothering to reply to Abras.

Kritter waved its antennae and its thoughts were transmitted to those around it.

"Cornelius, you bastard! I know full well that you grilled one of our Duke's to try as a delicacy!"

Everyone in the room looked at Cornelius with a strange expression, while only Edward looked at him with some admiration.

As completely unperturbed by the accusation, he responded, "Come now Kritter, it's not like Poloids haven't attacked humans before. Not to mention everyone knows what happens when Poloids take back their victims bodies to the hive. Don't be the kettle that calls the pot black."

Kritter's body trembled with rage, but he did not escalate the situation. It did, however, have to vent its anger somewhere, and the Kraven became his victims.

"Who the hell can tell me what's going on with the new Kraven invasion? They've yet to reach our new borders, but if we don't stop them now the whole realm will be their playground! This game has gone on long enough! We need to join hands together lest one of you soon repeat the history of the Poloids!"

There was aggressiveness and anger in Kritter's message, but Lex also suddenly realized something. His words… seemed to be referring to certain shared secrets. He instantly entered a state of flow and noticed peculiarities in the speech of the various leaders. At face value they meant one thing, but a deeper analysis would reveal hidden meanings.

"...for when last has history seen the representatives of so many of the races gather together for a meeting…" Cornelius had said while praising him, but the statement also left room for another interpretation. A meeting such as this, where the leaders of the various races were brought together might have occurred before as well. Who had the power to summon all the races save the Crystal race, but they seemed too uninterested in foreign affairs to do so.

"...it is not often when one receives an invitation radiating so much power. It is a habit of mine to make powerful friends…" was said by Elena when she arrived, but her words also insinuated that this was not the first time she had witnessed such a powerful aura! But the aura of the Innkeeper was deep and powerful, and only Dao Lords dared claim its equal, yet no Dao Lords could exist in this realm! Where had she felt such an aura before?

But wait…

"...what I want to know is where so many immortals came from…" Sabr had asked when talking of the Kraven, yet Lex recalled that no one explicitly answered his question, or even referred to it again. Instead, Elena had directly led the conversation into the Trelops ongoing fight with them. Later, when Sabr asked about requesting the Crystals intervention, Cornelius and Elena did not take it seriously, nor did they bother explaining why such an action was destined to fail.

So many hints yet Lex had overlooked them all. It was only when Kritter finally arrived and blatantly called the war with the Kraven a game that Lex finally noticed the strange environment. It was as if there were two different conversations going on in this room. One was on the surface, and the words were taken literally as they were said. The second conversation seemed to be hidden behind clever phrases and specific wording, and between those who were already in the know about certain matters.

No wait, perhaps there were even more than two secret conversations going on, but lex had not picked up on them yet. As far as he could tell, Sabr was left out and did not know the secret. There was also a possibility that Abras did not know either, though he had not said much yet so it was hard to judge his position.

Lex quickly recalled all his political and history related lessons back at the academy and to see what he knew about Sabr. Since the Varn were allies of the humans and shared a large border, knowledge about them was pretty prevalent and they had learned about them in great detail.

Right, he recalled in one of his lessons that the latest Varn monarch, Sabr, had only come into power around 100 years ago, and inherited the position from his uncle who was badly wounded in a battle with the Kraven. The old King had since then been in retreat to heal from his injuries.

Lex's eyes gleamed as stood in silence and allowed the conversation to continue moving forward. The more these realm leaders spoke, the more secrets Lex would be able to uncover.

"Even if we ally together, which battlefield would we tackle first? Whose lands would first receive reinforcements while whose lands would be left unprotected? Joining hands together is unrealistic. Or at least it would have been, but we have a new player on the table now."

Abras, who had just spoken, turned and looked at Edward. Before this, Monsters had only ever been viewed as the enemy of all life. Could that possibly change?