Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had taken Grendel much longer than expected to get to this point, where he stood outside of a cave, in the darkest depths of the Hemlock Forest. Every day that had passed without him figuring out the location of the Crusnik felt like another day of failure.

At first, he couldn't have even been sure that it even really existed. He had an idea of where to start looking, though, just based on the disappearances alone. However, those leads ultimately steered him to one dead end after another.

The Crusnik, if it were indeed real, was elusive.

In between hunts, he had spent time with Ravnos, returning to him every 2-3 days to check in as he had promised. They would spend an entire evening together, discussing how things were going, and what the God would do next, though this was always followed by more vigorous activity. He had also reconnected with his mother, Lilith, in a very interesting turn of events, though he would need to unpack that more later when he had finally finished with this task.

Sometimes, his path would lead him to a Holykat or Werewolf that was killing vampires. Those were dealt with easily enough, though the Spear whispered to him urgently, wanting him to use it, telling him that he could just wipe out all enemies of vampires and be done with it.

He really could not wait to get this damned thing out of his head.

Though he never found the Crusnik, evidence that it did exist grew and grew. The hushed whispers became louder. He could feel the Fear in the younger vampire who spoke of it, and even some of the older ones. Sometimes he listened from the confines of his temple, and sometimes he chose to walk among them, questioning them himself. He'd tried to use is God powers to sense it, but he somehow couldn't, though this did nothing to reassure him against its existence.

It all, eventually, had led him here. He stood outside of that cave and breathed in the cloying scent of rotting death and blood, his face set in a scowl. Snapping his fingers, a glowing, pulsating red flame surrounded them, reflected in his eyes. Without any further hesitation, he entered the cave and followed the trail of blood, eyes taking in the massive pile of bones within, and inwardly, his rage seethed.

He was going to really enjoy killing this thing.

As he walked along the path, his eyes, still glowing with the reflection of the flames that alit his fingers, searched everywhere he could see. Bones, blood, and bones. He continued on, and as the caves got darker, the flames at his fingers brightened their glow, and as the air grew thicker, he pushed to stand taller against it. He walked, treading lightly along the cave floor, feet stained with dirt and old blood. Behind him, his tentacles writhed, a testament to the rage he felt, that only grew as he got closer to the stench, closer to whatever blasphemous creature resided at the end of the path.

Finally, he found himself in an open cavern. The smell was so thick now he felt like he might choke on it. Instantly his eyes landed on the creature in the middle of the room and swept over it. It was, as expected, absolutely horrible. His eyes narrowed, his jaw set, and he waited to see what it would do.

He didn't have to wait for long. It was moving almost the instant he stepped into the cavern, at a speed that was almost a blur. Its appearance was grotesque, with limbs far too long. It came at him with a weapon in hand, and he summoned his own. Not the Spear, no, because he (foolishly) wanted to test his own strength against the Crusnik without it. He flipped the cross-shaped weapon in hand, and the flames that lit up his fingers went out.

He moved, silently, through the shadows towards the creature that hurtled towards him at unimaginable speeds. His eyes bled to black, and when he found himself within reaching distance of that deadly scythe, he dodged it, sliding along the ground and stabbing at the Crusnik, attempting to embed his blade somewhere between it's ribs with a deep snarl.

He felt the blade hit something, but it was solid and gave no resistance at all. He could smell the black oozing blood before he saw it, and something about it made him wrinkle his nose. An acrid smell, a dangerous one.

Hissing a curse under his breath, he unsummoned his weapon and scrambled back to his feet. The Crusnik tossed away its own weapon, and instead of that being reassuring, it was anything but.

He backed away from it, arms opening wide and hands lighting up with the same deep red flame he had used in the cave tunnel to light the way. Forming a fist with one hand, he whipped a ball of flame with a flick of his wrist, aiming to hit it directly in the face.

The thing just moved so damn fast, and he wasn't really watching where he was going particularly well. Backing up as it advanced, he felt something under his foot, probably a bone of some sort, and it was enough to throw him off his step. One of those balled-up fists clipped against his shoulder even while he tried to dodge to the side, and though it was just a clip, it somehow hurt like hell.

This thing was stronger than he had bargained for. Well, no, if he hadn't bargained for it, he wouldn't have brought the Spear of Destiny with him. However, he was still hesitant to use it. After what Cernunnos had said, no matter how reassuring Ravnos had been, there was a part of Grendel that was still worried.

Attempting to shake off the hit, he flung another fireball, this time aiming for one of the wings.

There were a couple of times that Grendel got too close, and both times he was hit. He was trying, though, to find an opening, to see a weakness that he could exploit somehow. But there was nothing. The Spear's whispers grew louder, and he knew, that eventually, he was just going to have to use it.

Growling out a huff of indignation, he lashed out at the great, stupid beast with his tentacles, stabbing at it with their sharpened ends, trying to keep it at bay. The sounds it was making screeched in his ears, grating on his every nerve. He was gritting his teeth when he finally summoned the Spear to his gloved hand and held it at the ready.

"Come on then," He growled at it, tired of playing around.

Might as well try and get this over with.

What was it even doing?

"I said COME ON!" He yelled at it, flinging another fireball at its face, hoping to get it pissed off enough to come after him.

He wondered if it was afraid of the Spear. That could be promising?

Doot