The ruins were still smoldering.
Fragments of the dungeon gate crackled faintly where they'd shattered against the forest floor. A few glowing shards pulsed like dying embers, slowly dissolving into the mist as unstable magic bled out into the night.
Reynar stood quietly at the edge of the clearing, his hand still on his sword. The battle was over. He was alive. But his thoughts churned with more questions than relief.
The [System] chimed in the back of his mind.
[System Notification]
🧠New Quest Unlocked: "Veins of Darkness"
Objective 1: Investigate the source of corrupted dungeons
Objective 2: Locate and defeat a Lesser Void Spawn
Objective 3: Clear three unstable dungeon nodes
Reward: Trait Unlock • Rare Equipment Chest • ???
Warning: This chain quest is integral to the fate of Eldwyn
Reynar stared at the words.
Lesser Void Spawn.
Just reading it made the hairs on his arms stand.
He turned to Liora. She stood a few meters away, kneeling by the collapsed gate. Her fingers moved along the cracks like she was feeling something invisible—reading a language etched in memory.
"Liora," he said, quietly. "What's a Void Spawn?"
She froze.
Her back tensed ever so slightly, like she'd been struck.
Then she stood, brushing her hands on her tunic. "Why do you ask?"
"My system… just gave me a new quest," Reynar said. "One of the objectives is to find and kill a Lesser Void Spawn. It didn't explain what that means. Just that it's connected to the corrupted dungeon."
Liora stared at him for a long moment.
Then, slowly, she turned toward the forest.
"Let's walk," she said.
They walked side by side under the moonlight, the night air thick with moisture and fallen leaves. The sounds of insects buzzed softly around them. Reynar didn't push her. Not yet.
Finally, Liora spoke.
"Void Spawns…" she began, choosing her words carefully, "are abominations. Fragments of something much worse."
Reynar frowned. "Fragments of what?"
She looked at him.
"The Void King."
The name settled like lead in the space between them.
"I thought the Void King was… some ancient myth."
"It's not," she said. "Not entirely. The myths have been exaggerated over time — but they came from real events. A long time ago, a being breached this world from beyond the stars. The oldest records say it wasn't even a creature. More like a will. A hunger that took form."
"And Void Spawns?"
"Seeds," she said. "Pieces of that will. Corrupted lifeforms born from the Void King's essence. They take over dungeons, twist beasts into horrors, and spread their infection slowly. Quietly."
She was silent for a long time after that. Just the sound of their boots on the trail.
Reynar glanced at her. Her eyes weren't on the trees. They were somewhere else entirely.
"Have you seen one?" he asked.
Liora's jaw clenched.
"…Yes," she said. "When I was a child."
Reynar felt a knot tighten in his chest. He waited.
"My family lived high in the northern cliffs," she continued. "Far from most cities. My parents were scholars—historians of magic, obsessed with what they called 'pre-cataclysm artifacts.' They thought the world had forgotten something important. Something dangerous."
She stopped walking.
Her hands were clenched into fists.
"They were right."
Reynar stood still beside her, silent.
"They found it," she said. "Fragments of glyphs that referenced the Void King directly. That knowledge wasn't supposed to exist. But they uncovered too much."
She looked up at him now, her voice steady, but stripped of emotion.
"And then the murders started."
Reynar's heart skipped.
"You… mean your family—"
"They came one night. A cloaked group. Armed, fast, silent. They weren't thieves. They didn't take anything. They just… executed."
Her voice didn't break, but something in it did.
"I only survived because my mother used a spell she swore never to cast. She hid me beneath a collapse barrier. I couldn't move. Couldn't scream. I watched them slit her throat."
The weight of her words stole the breath from the air.
Reynar swallowed. "Liora… I'm so—"
"Don't," she interrupted. "Don't say you're sorry. Just… listen."
He nodded.
"After that, I wandered," she said. "Barely alive. I ended up near this village. They took me in. I trained. I learned how to kill. And one day, I found one of them — one of the assassins who murdered my family."
Her eyes gleamed now—not with tears, but memory.
"He wasn't human anymore. He had become something else. His body warped. His magic twisted. That was my first encounter with a Void Spawn."
Reynar looked at her. "Then you know more than anyone else. You've faced them."
"I survived one," she corrected. "Barely. They don't fight like beasts. They fight like ideas made flesh. You'll see."
She turned to him fully.
"So listen to me, Reynar. If your system is leading you down this path… you need to understand what you're walking into. This isn't about leveling up or proving yourself."
"It's about why you were sent here."
Reynar felt the words settle in his bones.
She was right.
There was something deeper about his reincarnation — something he hadn't fully understood yet. The system didn't just give him power. It was pointing him toward something. Something only he could stop.
Or unleash.
His hands trembled slightly as he opened the [System] window again.
[System Reminder]
Main Quest: Veins of Darkness – Active
→ Lesser Void Spawn: Location – Unknown
→ Next Dungeon Window: 7 Days
Side Quest: Companion Affinity – Liora (24%)Unlocked
Hint:"Some wounds never heal. But trust lets them scar over."
He exhaled and closed the screen.
"Liora," he said quietly, "I don't want to just get stronger. I want to be strong enough that you never have to fight them alone again."
Her eyes flickered.
Then, softly, she said, "…That's a dangerous promise."
"I mean it."
She studied him a moment longer, then gave a rare, faint smile.
"Then we start tomorrow."