Void Spawn - A litrpg adventure fantasy

Samael, along with Aphemis, Ajax and Lilith, stood outside the room. They waited in silence, simply listening to the clicking of the clock sitting at the far corner.

After calling Icarius, the two decided to talk alone for a while. As time passed, the door to the room eventually opened as Icarius exited.

"How's Amelia doing?" Aphemis stood up as she looked at the man with arms crossed.

"She's doing okay now. She's currently asleep," Icarius sighed as he leaned back.

"It was a vision, wasn't it?" Aphemis mentioned. "What did she see? I've never seen her in a state like this."

Icarius fell silent for a moment. "She saw the location of a fell flower."

Everyone's head jerked towards the man as Samael bolted up from his seat. "Where?"

"Calm down," Icarius waved his hand. "I'm still trying to piece together where the creature is; Amelia's vision was... fragmented."

"Fragmented? That's impossible." Aphemis's brows furrowed. "Her visions are always clear and true."

"Not this time," Icarius shook his head. "It took out everything inside her to see through the visions itself. Whatever it was, it must have had some form of clairvoyance resistance."

Samael's jaw tensed. Another fell flower. If they were to kill it, they would need to venture deep within enemy territory. At the heart of where abominations remain.

A warm hand grasped Samael's hand as he looked over to find Lilith's comfort. Calming his tensed body, he squeezed the girl's hand tighter.

But Icarius was right. They needed to be calm and ready. Icarius didn't say to not be angry; he simply indicated to wait. And Samael was good at being patient.

Taking what they knew to the drawing board, Icarius took a massive map of Ergo, laying it flat over his desk as they all gathered around it.

"What do we know?" Ajax asked.

"Amelia said she saw towering mountains," Icarius said. "Not just a few but dozens."

Icarius's fingers dragged towards the Kakia mountain ranges and Pillari. "I believe it is either in these two."

"My bet is on the Kakia mountain ranges. That place is where all the troubles of Servan come from," Aphemis added. "It would make sense that that is the main dwelling of the beast.

"We're going to have to clear up the place, it seems," Icarius muttered. "For now, I'll arrange soldiers and teams that will aid us in this voyage. You all rest and prepare for now."

With that, the meeting ended as swiftly as it occurred. Samael spent the rest of his days honing his skills and mastering Void Plague for his next battle with Illial. He will not fail again.

During the week, Icarius's plan began to go into action as news of soldiers, knights and watchers forming and preparing for war travelled far and deep.

Olaf's forges were in full production while the rest of the High Table leaders began to make way for Erudicio.

It didn't take long for Amelia's condition to get better, as the woman called for Lilith and Samael alone.

As they arrived at the abode of the woman, Samael knocked when the door opened, revealing Amelia on the other end. "Come in."

Following her lead, the two went in as they sat beside each other. For a while, the Oracle simply sat there, watching the two as Samael cleared his throat. "Why did you call for us?"

Amelia took a breath as she pointed at Samael. "To clarify and to explain."

"What?" Samael asked.

"The reason I was able to see wasn't because of my natural talents. I saw because he allowed me to see," Amelia explained as she shuddered.

Samael's eyes widened as he held her hand, calming her fast.

"I will not hurt you," Samael's voice echoed as Amelia's fear vanished as fast as it came.

"I see now," Amelia muttered. "You're him."

Samael nodded.

Amelia's gaze darted at her cup. "When I tapped into my clairvoyance, I saw nothing but darkness. Not until it reached out to me." A soft chuckle escaped her lips. "I suppose it is true: the longer you stare at the abyss, the more it'll stare back."

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Lilith squeezed Samael's hand, her brows furrowed.

Seeing this, Amelia smiled. "When it reached me, I was able to see a mere glimpse of the greater things at work: what we are fighting, who we are against and why."

"What did you see?" Samael asked.

"I saw a vast kingdom in ruin, beautiful but shattered like a marble aged by time," Amelia explained. "Hills of dead, barren land riddled the place, and the sky was bleak and filled with roaring thunder."

Samael's brows furrowed.

"In the midst of the fallen kingdom, atop a staircase of gold and gems, stood a massive black flower with an eye in its midst. Imposing, powerful and sentient." Amelia's body shook for a brief moment. "It knew I was looking, and it did not like it, so my connection was cut short."

It knew? Samael's frown deepened.

"At the horizon I saw towering mountains that blocked the sky, creatures of all sizes and manners running amok," she recalled. "But as I tried to pry deeper, I was blinded by gold, and my connector was severed."

Samael's jaw tensed. Blinded by gold. It seems their worst fear had become reality. It may be speculation for now, but if it was true. That means only one thing.

They are fighting a god.

Taranius, the first light.

None of them were strong enough to fight a god. No one was, at least not a normal mortal like he and everyone else are. But Samael had so many questions. What was holding Taranius back from simply wiping everyone out himself? Was he protecting the flower personally? Why? Where did the flower come from?

Samael knew the fell flower was not of this world. The Void knew of it, and the Void was vast. It labelled it an intruder and sent it back from whence it came.

Could there still be another party involved?

Samael had so many questions yet no answers.

"But I also come bearing news, news that is neither good nor bad," Amelia said as he pointed at the two. "It fears you two, not because of who you are but rather what you wield."

Samael's brows furrowed. He knew these things were afraid of the Void. There was a grudge between the two, yes. But Lilith? How was she connected to this entire thing?

"How?" Samael asked as he looked at Lilith.

Lilith's brows furrowed. "I – I don't know. I've never truly dug into my element."

With all these new revelations, Icarius had no choice but to involve Samael in the raid itself. It was a given, considering his history with these beings. Lilith, on the other hand, wanted to come as well. Icarius asked Aphemis, but the two had a small squabble.

At the end of it, it was settled with Lilith's persuasion to her grandmother.

Fixing his gear, Samael shifted his gaze towards the door of his room as Lilith entered inside, carefully locking the door behind her as she eagerly hopped forward.

"Hey," Samael hugged the woman as he grabbed her waist, causing her to giggle. ,

"You know I'm ticklish!" She chuckled as she gave Samael a folder.

"What's this?" Samael asked as he opened the file.

"Grandmother said these were the details of the voyage and that we needed to memorise it," Lilith recalled as she held her chin.

Reading through the file, Samael carefully etched the details of this operation in his mind.

There were changes in their plan. With the information revealed by Amelia, they set their eyes beyond the Kakia mountain ranges and unto the ground zero, the dead zone.

Unfortunately, there wasn't real information about the place, so they had to rely on old historical records.

The dead zone was said to be the first place the rifts opened upon. Based on old documents, there used to exist a kingdom there named Ashborn. It was a massive and prosperous kingdom that would dwarf even the largest sanctuary, Erudicio.

Some tales even say that it had marble walls and pillars made of precious metals and gems. The last known record of the kingdom of Ashborn is recorded at the beginning of the Great Rift itself.

Without much knowledge of how much had changed, Icarius had settled for using the old paths created by the first survivors thousands of years ago. It was what allowed them to cross and rebuild here.

Luckily, they still had copies of the exact location of these places. But with the geological changes in the terrain, everyone knows it'll be a game of luck and persistence.

The reason the Kakia mountain ranges are so hard to clear wasn't just because there were too many monsters. While this was also a major part of it, the bigger problem was the difficult terrain.

Being a mountain range, the roads were rough and sometimes extremely packed with trees. Most caravans carrying weapons and munitions couldn't trek through the narrow and steep pathways.

But now, with the help of the forges Samael procured for the Mellaguns, there was a method. An ancient method the mellaguns used to scale their homes with efficiency.

They called the machines 'Crawlers'.

These machines had a more spiderlike appearance. It was a technological marvel discovered back in the golden age of smithing.

With a machine like this, they did not have to worry about steep and hard-to-scale mountains. But that didn't mean everything was going to be smooth.

While the crawlers were amazing on their own, they did not possess the speed that echoes possess. They're still rather slow even compared to caravans. This makes them more vulnerable to attacks, which means it will have to be protected at all times.

It would also require assistance with densely packed forests in the mountains, as it was technically built to scale rocky terrains.

Moving deeper into the file, Samael began to read the plan of approach.

Based on Icarius's and the rest of the High Table's calculations, they would spread their forces to first capture multiple specific and important places.

As Samael read down the list of squad names, he soon found his name.

He will be part of Operation Nighthawk. He was currently designated as squad leader, a rather odd thing considering the mission difficulty was quite high. One would think Icarius would've put a transcendent-ranked individual as the head. But Samael's power was nearly that of a transcendent in the first place.

The mission details were to be received from Icarius himself.

It seems he and Lilith were separated. But he understood. If Lilith were with him, he'd be too worried for her. The mission's efficiency will drop. Besides, it was better if she were with Aphemis, who could protect her readily.

Grabbing Lilith's hand, Samael kissed the back of her palm as the girl's cheeks flushed red. "Thank you for this."

Lilith tucked her hand behind as she hopped out of the room, looking back one last time as she smiled wide. "Love ya." She darted away but not before Samael saw her extremely red face.

Samael could only shake his head with a cheeky smile present on his lips. Yet, his heart was in turmoil nonetheless. The war had begun; he had never seen so many Saints. If he hadn't reached his rank beforehand, what could've happened? Would Nova have died? Would Oros have fallen? He didn't know.

Looking out the window of his room and unto the setting sun, Samael steeled his resolve.

Whatever may happen.

He will be ready.