The Innkeeper

Chapter 1154  He is goading me

Velma cleared her throat, finally breaking the silence, before she asked a question.

"What can you tell me about this person? And anyone he might be working with. The more we know, the easier it'll be to find out exactly who or what we're looking for."

Lex smiled.

"The man is my grandfather. His name, I believe, is Damien. I have some information, but I am about to get more in a short while. If you have any questions, think of them now. It'll help me find out exactly what I need to ask. In the meantime, let me give you the little information I have, and some of my own theories."

Lex did not particularly want the details of his life being spread around, but in a matter directly related to his life it would be hard to avoid details. Even so, Lex stuck to the basics. He mentioned how his sister was taken away at a young age, kept away from everyone, and bonded to a planet to keep her trapped there, surviving only due to her unique ability that Lex strongly suspected his grandfather was coveting. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

He then mentioned the numerous assassins Moon faced, and how Lex suspected that they also worked for or with his grandfather. At this point, it was not just Lex who was angry. Every single person in the room was fuming.

To say that over the past fifteen years they had not become close would be a lie. Although they had managed to avoid any major conflicts, spending time together in peace was also a good way to get to know a person, especially since they had seen what he was like in a pinch.

More than once had Lex faced danger head on for them. Now, to learn that this entire time he had a sister who had been suffering… If it were up to Velma, they would have all left immediately.

But they didn't. There was a reason why Lex called them even before he got all the details he wanted. It was so that they could summon their family members and begin planning out how they would deploy them.

While they made these preparations, Lex would have a meeting with William. The last time Lex met him, William had tried to bring up the topic of his family. The fact that he had tried was the only reason Lex was even willing to meet with him again. William had claimed that he had some misunderstanding with his family, but at that time Lex had been too bitter and too angry to listen. Now though, things were different.

He also wanted to know how complicit William had been during this entire process of kidnapping his siblings, though he highly suspected that this ancestor of his had no information of it when it was happening. He also wanted to learn about Liz and Belle. Moon did not know much, but William probably would.

Lex had actually requested a meeting days ago, long before he even went to Dunya. But William had been busy. It was only now that he had sent word that he would be able to come. Considering their original agreement for Lex to help a few of their people undergo enhancements, and the latest happenings, there was much for them to talk about.

A few hours later, William finally arrived, though this time he was alone. Not only had Jotun not shown up, but William also looked pale, and as if he was recovering from some injury. Much more importantly, he wore an expression that told Lex the man was in his Flow state. He knew it all too well.

"I take it you have cleared up some of the issues between you and your siblings," William said, his tone completely neutral.

Now that Lex had aged a bit, their appearances resembled a lot, though Lex did notice that this time around, as his body grew, his features were slightly different.

"That's one way of putting it," said Lex. "I thought I was the one being kept in the dark, but as it turns out, my siblings were no better than I."

"Not just you and your siblings," William said, and then exited his Flow state. His exhaustion was a lot more apparent without it, which might have been the point.

"I have something to show you. Why don't we have our discussion after you see it. I take it that you're more amenable to listening to me this time around."

"Well, I'm definitely listening, though what comes after this is unknown."

William nodded, and placed a small black bead on the table in front of Lex. The black bead began to glow, and then projected a scene midair in front of Lex.

Lex could see a hint of a resemblance between himself and the man in the image.

"Damien," he said in a low tone, his voice filled with controlled emotion.

"Indeed. This is not a message or recording. This is a playback of a real interaction Damien had that Jotun was able to pull out of thin air using Time reversal, a technique that allows him to view the events that happened in an area in the past."

Lex nodded, and played the projection. Damien seemed upset at something, and then a monster appeared in front of him, out of nowhere.

At first he did not react, but as they continued to have their conversation, Lex realized that this must have happened only a few days ago. In fact, it must have happened exactly on the day he rescued Moon.

He thought nothing of the name Jeffery, right up until Damien mentioned rescuing the monster from Earth, and then things began to click in his mind.

Was Earth a political prison, or a convenient way for Damien to hide secrets? Jeffery was the man who had orchestrated many wars and conflicts on earth, just for his entertainment, and what he had been doing since his departure from earth had not gone unnoticed.

He was near the very top on the list of wanted beings in the Origin realm, and why wouldn't he be? As the foremost terrorist in the entire realm, targeting the entire realm itself, he was an enemy of the entire Henali, and it seemed that he was one of his grandfather's partners.

The scene ended right after Damien gave Jeffery permission to hunt down his family, and disappeared through a portal, but Lex kept gazing at the place where the projection ended.

"It was not just you and your family he had been tricking. It was all of us. The damage he's done since leaving… he almost single handedly destroyed the entire Williams family, and that's nothing compared to the damage he's done to the Jotun empire."

"He meant for you to find this," Lex said simply. "You're acting like a pawn in his hands. He wanted this found, and the reason he specifically mentioned me is because he anticipated you'd show it to me. He's goading me."

William seemed surprised at Lex's deduction, but Lex did not seem goaded, or angered, or even irritated. He seemed perfectly calm.

Lex finally looked away from the projection, and towards William.

"What can you tell me about my other sisters?" he asked. Lex's mind was completely still. The more dire the situation was, the more comfortable he was. He was all too used to thriving in chaos, so by now, he no longer let his anger cloud his judgment. His priorities were straight.

First he would rescue his sisters, and then he would kill.