The Innkeeper

Serene Williams was a beautiful woman, and though she was fairly thin, she could not be called petite. She had dark brown hair, like Lex, and fair skin that often tanned way too quickly. Most of all, she was a smart woman.

Though intelligence was not something one could see through appearance, something about her visage spoke of a mind that surpassed all her peers. Her gaze, though focused on a camera, seemed to look out from the screen and stare at Lex.

"I've been informed that no one can find you on the planet," she finally said. "You didn't even call your parents before leaving."

Lex had to resist his lip from twitching. Was that really the thing to be focusing on at the moment? But a trace of disappointment also filled his heart. That simple statement was more than enough for him to know that his parents had been, for whatever reason, keeping secrets from him.

"Actually, I don't even know if you will ever even watch this video. This is just one of many messages I have left on earth hoping you will find it. As you can imagine, this is not the most secure way to have a conversation, so I can't say much. I dare not even mention any names. All I can tell you is that your father doesn't have the best relationship with his family. Believe it or not, we tried to keep your siblings away from them, but owing to certain special circumstances, you're the only one we were successful in hiding properly. While you may not feel that it is accurate, your siblings have suffered a lot due to this, especially your youngest sibling.

"They are not in the wrong, but they are too obsessed with doing what is correct for the family, instead of the individual family members. For that reason, I hope you never try to find them. They will not help you as much as they will place numerous burdens on you. Your father and I are leaving in search of something. If we ever find it, we will reunite our family. If not… then it is fate that a few individuals cannot go against the might of an entire force. You will not find your siblings on this planet, so no need to feel any attachment to it.

"Build a good life for yourself. Be happy, be successful. Start a family. Have a bunch of kids…"

She paused, and smiled ever so slightly.

"I hope this goodbye is not forever."

With that, the video ended, and the file deleted itself. Lex was left feeling… feeling like flipping the table. What kind of stupid video was that? Was his brain tumor contagious? Was his whole family keen on making stupid decisions?

He stopped his rapidly frantic thoughts, took a deep breath, and calmed himself down. He purposefully entered his state of flow and began analyzing the content of the video. The first thing he noticed was that in the entire video, while his mother gave him a lot of information, she also did her best to be as vague as possible. In fact, she even referred to his sisters as 'siblings' instead of sisters. That told him that his mother was genuinely concerned about preserving as much information as possible.

The second thing he noticed was that his fathers family seemed to play a significant role in whatever troubles were plaguing his family. She even went as far as to claim that his sisters were suffering because they could not be hidden the way he was. For some reason, while he could conceive his younger sisters being troubled, who could trouble Belle?

The next thing was that his mother did not tell him to go and try to remove his sisters from whatever situation they were in. That meant that either the situation was bearable, or that they did not believe he would ever have the power to actually help them.

They also, apparently, were no longer on earth, just as his intuition had warned him.

Lastly, and most obviously, she told him not to go looking for his dad's family. He did not have to be a genius to discover that his father's family was the Williams family. He was pretty sure that their apparent 'ancestor' was already aware of his existence, at least according to what Larry had informed him.

But it was completely up to him whether he wanted to meet the old geezer or not. So what was he supposed to do?

For the first time, his flow state failed him, because there was no clear answer. What to do depended entirely on what he wanted. Should he follow his mother's suggestion and just live his own life? Should he try to investigate what was actually going on? Ugh, why was family so frustrating?

He closed his eyes and thought for a few moments. What should he do? He listened to his feelings, his desires, as well as his intuition. Surprisingly, for once, they were all on the same page.

Screw everything. He would just focus on the Inn. Although he had made a resolution to avoid running from problems, this was a problem his family had literally been keeping from him. If that was the case, why did he need to butt his head in?

With his decision made, he felt a rush of relief. Although he had faced no personal threat, thinking that his siblings might be in danger from the invasion brought him a lot of stress. Yet now he knew there was nowhere near earth to begin with. Whatever trouble they had, at least they were with his so-called 'fathers family'. He was sure they would be fine.

"Lex's there's a problem at the Inns entrance" Mary suddenly exclaimed, panic in her voice.

Lex was still in his Leo persona, but something told him he could not delay for even a moment.

Without sparing a single thought he teleported over to the entrance, just in time to watch as a massive, quadruped robot smashed one of its legs down on some guests. He could have instantly kicked the robot out, but instead he teleported in the way and held out its hand.

That's when his intuition finally reacted, and screamed danger! This was beyond the robots he had faced so far. This robot… was on par with immortals!

BANG!