The Innkeeper

For once, the time before the beginning of the next torture cycle was longer than a brief moment, if only to increase the mental torture Lex was going through. The name of the last cycle was Infinity, but it would last for a total of one second.

So then, why was it named as such? It was because within that one second, Lex would be exposed to the absolute and inalienable personification of infinity. Within that one second, he would experience unending time. In theory - at least as Lex understood it - there was no technical end to it. Time would go on forever.

This time, the torture cycle gave him plenty of time to completely fathom what he was about to face, as if pushing him to his very limit. Maybe the trick would be to break out of it somehow, or maybe it would just keep on going until the retribution ran out of energy or...

There were too many possibilities, but all of them were incredibly haunting. This torture cycle, too, was specifically designed to exhausted Lex’ spirit while preserving his body and soul so the parasite could take over his body.

Unfortunately, the parasite had been crushed by Lex’s instincts. Lex himself did not even know the details regarding the parasite, except the feedback he got from his soul about activating his instincts. Though, he also felt something when the parasite appeared, and the name of the torture cycle itself was enough for him to understand what might have happened.

Regardless, that’s how he’d known that there had been a parasite hidden within the necklace, ready to take over his body and soul.

As for the specific details, there was no way Lex could ever learn or even guess them. At the moment, he was not concerned about that at all. Instead, he could not help but laugh. Eternity, but that was it. Finally, Lex could take this moment to rest and recover. Of course, after he recovered his spirit, if he was forced to endure eternity, his mind would become exhausted once more, or maybe he’d just eventually reach a point of wanting to kill himself.

But it was also true that it would give him an endless amount of time to figure things out. He’d find a solution one way or another. When had he ever given up?

Besides, he still had that egg shell waiting for him to absorb, and that ability of his to unlock from the feedback given to him by the Disaster Rose. The Disaster Rose was still slowly channeling its energy into the necklace, and would probably take a couple of decades at this point.

Regardless, Lex was not daunted by the thought of facing Infinity in the least. If anything, knowing about it put him at ease. An infinite rest that actually only lasted 1 second? He could not have asked for anything better.

Of course, he was aware that there were secret, hidden aspects of the torture cycle too. He’d just deal with things as they came.

No sooner had he finished that thought that the torture cycle began. Lex saw endless darkness, all around him, for all of eternity, and a flow of time that didn’t make sense to him.

He furrowed his brows, but before he could figure anything out, a second passed and the torture cycle was over.

What had happened? Neither Lex, nor the Gilded Hollow could understand at all. He had successfully entered the cycle of Infinity, but instead of being exposed to infinity, Lex only felt the regular flow of time. That wasn’t supposed to happen.

Lex was just as surprised as the Hollow, though his disappointment was not as great. He could only think about his plan of resting for a long time reluctantly, as if he was not resigned to giving up his break.

Yet Lex had no time to rest, or regret. Whether he was prepared for it or not, whether he understood how it happened or not, the eight torture cycles were over, and thus he was immediately kicked out of the Hollow!

Though he was kicked out, he did not immediately return. Instead, he seemed to feel like he was undergoing a long range teleportation that wouldn’t be over so soon. Lex furrowed his brows and began to check himself, suspecting that he might be in some kind of illusion. How could the last cycle have finished so soon?

What Lex didn’t realize, or even notice, was a soft, warm light being emitted from the center of his projection’s forehead - exactly where Lex had created a seal on his real body. After a few seconds, the light disappeared, as if nothing had happened at all.

No matter how Lex checked, he could not find any signs of any deceit or illusion. Could this actually be happening, or was the last torture cycle the perfect illusion?

His instincts told him that was not the case, and that he had genuinely survived somehow. It was just that he wasn’t aware of how he had done it.

While he kept wondering, Lex also began thinking about the Nexus event. There were only a few months left before that happened, and he had to make the most of it. But first, a nice, healthy dose of long-awaited revenge. He was going to pay back his stalker for everything he had been through and more - regardless of whether it was the stalker’s fault or not.

When Lex disappeared, the corpse sitting in the ruins that had been ’watching’ him did not move. How could it? It was dead. But soon enough, a figure appeared in front of the corpse, and then looked in the direction he was looking at. There was nothing there.

The figure studied the corpse a little more, but upon being unable to discover anything of value, the figure moved on without a word.

Elsewhere in the Hollow, Romulus felt Lex’s energy leave, and he couldn’t help but curse. He knew that human would be okay, one way or another - he was the one who needed some serious help.

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