The Innkeeper
chapter-1216

"Are you sure?" Lex asked with a worried expression. "Taking responsibility for the lives of others isn't a simple thing. It isn't a simple burden."

The day had finally come. Moon was on the verge of absorbing the planet into her body, completing the assimilation process in a way no one expected. Yet close to 30% of the population of the planet had refused to leave.

None of them knew what would happen to those people once Moon absorbed the planet. Chances were high that they would die. Whether she meant to or not, that would mean Moon had inadvertently killed 30% of the population of a planet.

It felt a little selfish of him, but he was more concerned about her mental state after doing such a thing than the lives of the people on the planet.

But Moon only chuckled at his concern.

"Don't I already know it?" she asked. "After all, I have taken responsibility for them from the day I arrived here. It is not so casually that they call me their Saintess."

Lex clenched his fists as in this moment, he was genuinely powerless. He could have forcefully evicted those who did not want to leave, but Moon did not allow it. As much as he hated to admit it, he did not know nor did he understand the depth of the relationship between Moon and the people of this planet.

When she had no one else, she had them. When she had no strength to save herself, she looked out for them. When all her freedoms were taken from her, she gave to the people of this planet the ultimate freedom to live as they wished without harming others.

In a way, they had been more of a family to her than anyone else, yet that was even more reason for Lex to not let them die. It was just a vicious circle.

Moon gave Lex an understanding smile, and then said, "it's time. You should step back as well."

Lex left, but not in the way she expected. He carved out the space around himself and separated it from that of the planet she was about to absorb, so in appearance he seemed to be standing right next to her, while in reality he was in another space altogether.

Now he was just being willful. Moon smiled even more sincerely this time, and then closed her eyes.

In truth, she had been keeping a deep secret from Lex, one that she dared not tell him. Having her soul fuse with the planet was only possible because of her unique situation, but that didn't mean it was without repercussions. Something more intrinsic to her than her own body was ripped from her and fused with the planet. Naturally, that brought with it endless pain.

How many years had she spent in pain? Even she did not know. Concept of time became obscured while in pain. Only through sleep could she normally escape it, for during sleep her body worked to repair the very thing that hurt her. But it was not a proper solution. She never expected a proper solution - never dreamed of it.

Yet now that it was in front of her… it was overwhelming in ways she could not describe. She did not care whether it would be successful or not, to be honest. She had long been prevented from even ending her own life so that she could escape the pain.

Later, when she regained that freedom, she had also found her brother. She had long become accustomed to pain, so she did not mind tolerating it some more to spend time with her brother. Now though… now she saw an end to that pain, and with it came a conviction she never knew she had.

One way or another, today would be the last day she felt this pain.

She closed her eyes and stopped holding back. Her body could never be complete because the planet was also her body. Her soul was incomplete, because most of her soul rested within the soils of Yildirim. There seemed no logical way for her to be whole again, and as if through a twist of fate, her brother decided then to use a very illogical way to resolve the problem.

For a moment she wondered if Z was right. Did her brother like shining in the spotlight, which is why he waited until the right moment to act? It made sense. Considering he was neglected by their parents, it would make sense for him to crave more attention. In that case, if Moon succeeded, she would ensure to create plenty of such situations for her brother to shine.

If she failed… then maybe her brother would do something else illogical and turn the situation around. Now she was suddenly confused about what to do.

Fortunately for Lex, Moon wasn't exactly in control of the situation herself. Her body was accumulating energy, and when it accumulated enough it resonated with the planet.

Everything, from the planet's core, to its crust, from the smallest atoms that made up its beings to the most complex laws that allowed it to exist as a celestial body, resonated with something deep within Moon's body, and a change began to occur.

Lex, who was watching the situation, was stunned, and then fell into a trance. He felt like he saw something his consciousness was not ready to see, and so everything he saw began to automatically seal itself in his memories, lest it affect his path. It was a self defense mechanism.

Yet what he saw was simple. He saw that the life that inhabited the planet… was actually a part of the life of the planet itself! It was so simple, yet it affected the way he comprehended the whole universe, which is why the memories needed to be sealed.

The way mortal humans had bacteria living in their gut as a key component of what allowed them to live normally and healthily, planets needed other living things on it, to live itself. It was such a simple concept, but it could be allowed on so many scales.

While these thoughts were being sealed away in Lex's mind, Moon's human body began to fade, just as the planet began to dissolve. Somewhere in the middle, a new body was beginning to form.

Elsewhere, far away in the Origin realm, Zuri Adissa, the sentient plant that had spread her spores across the entire realm, inhabiting trillions of planets, suddenly raised an eyebrow. She felt something interesting happening to one of her clones.