The Innkeeper
chapter-1322

Up above, in the air, there seemed to be a sun illuminating the sanctuary, though Lex could tell it was artificial.

The bridge they were on had statues of various birds on both sides facing each other every twenty feet, all leading up to a large, ancient temple that seemed to be covered in some kind of ivy.

The air in this place was thick with divine energy, so much so that there was no spiritual energy present at all.

"This is a unique place within the Crystal realm. The only way to enter here is to be brought in by one of the original Deities, such as myself," Vinei said, walking down the bridge.

Lex followed quietly, observing everything. Just as Vinei said, this place felt special, as if it were some kind of divine kingdom.

"In truth, I also have a motive of my own to bring you here," Vinei said, in a matter-of-fact way. "You see, when the Crystal realm was created, five beings were born, and held supreme power over all living beings, attaining their eternal worship, and so four of those five became Divine. Only one disdained such power. At the time, young and ignorant, we mocked the one that refused. The power of Deities is vast and versatile, and so for a time we rejoiced in our capabilities. It is only with time, exposure and experience we learned of how limiting Divinity can be."

The bird opened the massive double doors of the temple, revealing that the building consisted of only a single hall, a massive skylight letting in the light from the sky.

Spread around the hall, in equal distances, were five statues of birds, each one distinct and incredibly lifelike, not to mention filled with incredible power.

At a glance, Lex easily recognized the statues representing Firin, the progenitor of the Sol birds, Aizel the progenitor of the Frio birds, and that of Vinei. Instead of statues, they looked like a perfect replica of the real thing, even radiating a bit of their elements.

The remaining two statues caught his eye because of how unique and interesting they were. One of the birds was made entirely of Crystal, and gave off an aura that vaguely reminded Lex of the Crystal race.

The last one, however, was a multicolored bird which was mostly brown, but had feathers containing each color in the rainbow.

"Fortunately, even in our youthful ignorance, we left some contingencies. Stored here is the source of our power - the one we were born with - before we became Deities."

Vinei walked up to his own statue, but before he approached near it a hidden staircase revealed itself, leading to a hidden chamber beneath the statue.

Lex followed, and saw a small room filled with numerous black feathers, and a bowl containing a heart, soaking in black blood.

Suddenly Mary appeared on Lex's shoulder, looking stunned. "Lex, if you can get me one of those feathers, that would greatly help my chances of being reborn and creating a new body for me!" she said, her voice containing palpable excitement, which confused Lex a bit. Even the Amber Chaos Resin did not get such a reaction from her.

"What is so special about the feather?" he asked her, trying to sense what was so special about them. Oddly enough, for once, the feedback he got from the Glyph used to find treasure gave him contradictory information from his own instincts as well as Marys reaction. It was as if the Glyphs did not want to recognize that the feathers had any value at all!

"Those are phoenix feathers!" Mary exclaimed. "Not just Phoenix feathers. They're the first feathers shed by a Mythical Phoenix!"

Lex's eyes gleamed with recognition, and finally understood why Mary cared about them so much.

"You're a phoenix?" Lex asked, almost in a whisper, looking at the feathers.

Vinei shook his head in disappointment.

"Unfortunately, I lost my status as a Phoenix when I became a Deity. Now, though I seemingly have more power than before, the price I paid was truly too tremendous. I am now looking for a way to turn back."

Lex could understand why Vinei was willing to give up his status as a Deity to become a Phoenix, as well as why Mary was so excited to see them.

Phoenixes were, across the entire universe, the only true immortal race in existence. Compared to another race, such as the Crystal race, which had immortality unless killed, Phoenixes could come back to life even after they were killed. In fact, it was not a matter of could. Phoenixes, one and all, came back to life no matter how they were killed, though their revival was not necessarily immediate.

While not inherently powerful the way Dragons were, Phoenixes were still some of the most revered races in existence, and were the ultimate personification of immortality and rebirth. As such, a Phoenix feather was also considered to be the ultimate tonic, able to bring back anyone from the verge of death back to life. It would no doubt be very useful for someone trying to recreate their body and come back to life.

There was also a bit of funny history between them and Dragons. While not completely willing to treat their bodies as treasures, Dragons resented the fact that objectively speaking, every bit of a Phoenixes body was more valuable than a Dragons.

"As a reward for your cooperation, I would like to award you with one of my old feathers," Vinei said, sending a single, small feather Lex's way. He did not complain about its small size and just put it away.

"You said you had another motive for bringing me here," Lex said, looking at the black bird. He wanted more feathers - specifically, he wanted 2 more. If he had a total of three Phoenix feathers, he could keep one for himself, give one to Vera as payment for all the help she had given him, and then give the final one to Mary. But this was not the kind of thing he could just take.

"Indeed, I do. Your strength is adequate to complete certain tasks on my behalf in other realms. All of those tasks bring me one step closer to reverting to my original state, and so I propose a transaction. If you can help me complete my objectives, I can pay you back using my old feathers, and maybe even a few drops of my blood."

Lex was intrigued. Although he claimed to have countless treasures on hand, even he would not say no to a Phoenix feather. Who knows, he might be able to absorb it into his body and gain some benefits.

"I can agree to your requests if I find them to be suitable. I have a few requests of my own in the meantime. Since we are going to be cooperating, and might even be future colleagues, it's reasonable to help each other out."

Vinei was silent for a moment, and then assented.

"What are your requests?"

"You see, I have a couple of enemies who are Deities," Lex said, thinking back to Ra and Sekhmet. "I want to get a better understanding of how to defeat them - once and for all. One Deity, in particular, keeps surviving from all my attacks, and hides in the shadows even though I've supposedly even killed most if not all of his followers."

"Eliminating a Deity is one of the most challenging tasks in all of existence," Vinei said with pride. "That is one allure of becoming a Deity. Killing followers and eliminating the associated religion is a way to weaken a Deity, sure, but it is not enough to kill it. Followers and worshippers allow a Deity to grow stronger, and at the same time, serve as the source of the Deities divine energy. But if you kill all the followers, the Deity can just go and find new followers to replenish his energy, and keep them hidden.

"There are only two ways to kill a Deity, as far as I know. In fact, I think a combination of both is likely the only way to get a real result. The first is that any and every Deity must, in their religion, reveal a weakness or fatal flaw. The more powerful the Deity, the more they can obscure the weakness, but they must never be without one.

"The laws of the universe do not support the existence of a Deity that can claim to be all powerful, omnipotent and omnipresent, perfect in every way. The more powerful Deities obscure their weaknesses in stories of trials they overcame, and hide them among many such stories so that no one can know the true weakness. Even so, they must present their weakness within their religion. "That does not, however, mean that their weakness will be common knowledge. In fact, though the story must be included in the religion, it is not mandatory that all must know it. As long as someone significant knows it, it will suffice. So finding a Deities weakness within their own doctrines is the first challenge.

"The second path to eliminating a Deity is to extinguish their Divine fire."