-=Grendel the Really Old=-

The entire island was still in a fairly strong uproar over the emergence of the Victorian Oni, even after the maroon moon girl returned to Kerning City. Though she made a fast run to get there, she was instantly on her knees trying to catch her breath as soon as her feet hit the concrete. Her mind was wracked, her nerves were shot, and her emotions were all but beyond complete control. Tears dotted the ground beneath her as she struggled unsuccessfully against crying. Of all the things that could’ve happened that day, this was something she prayed wouldn’t happen, no matter how certain it really was.

At that moment, a series of beeps went off. She sighed angrily as she pulled a device out of her pocket. *Blasted comlink,* she thought angrily as she pulled it out. The comlink, which was palm-sized and was decorated with a light, a small switch and a few buttons, was not easing her pain in any way as it vibrated and beeped in her hand, its red light blinkinking constantly. She wasted no time in clicking the switch, which silenced the comlink immediately.She stuffed it in her pocket and headed for home.

-Woobledywop!-

Shadow Viper, Lance Redford, Skye Summel, Emma and Genya Raine, and Amber Sage made it up to the house that belonged to Grendel the Really Old. Though they had done little more than talk and climb the trees on their way, they all couldn’t help but feel tired; their hears were heavy with sorrow and anger, and the distress and grief of the entire town of Ellinia only added to it. Shadow felt the worst of the mental fatigue, as he had no idea what the Victorian Oni was. To the others, however, the attack was the latest in a series of terrible attacks that left despair and tragedy in their wake.

Inside the house, they looked around for Grendel. Despite its grand size, the building had a fairly simple layout; round-shaped, clean and well-kept, and with a mostly-wooden interior. A portion of the house had an upper level balcony, upon which were two towering bookshelves filled to the brim with books, nearly all of them written in a language recognizable only to most Ellinians. What really attracted first-time visitors to the abode was in between the bookshelves: a giant, beautifully crafted window, through which sunlight sparkled and dazzled as it illuminated the house.

“He isn’t here,” Emma noted after everyone looked around. “No doubt he heard about what happened, and is most likely offering what aid he can. I’m not sure how long it’ll take.”

The others nodded, and all but Shadow proceeded to gather chairs to sit on and attemp to clear their minds of the horrid situation. The one-armed bandit himself, however, walked up a flight of stairs to the balcony. He stopped in front of the window and stared out below. The view of the town was magnificent; much of the upper half of Ellinia could easily be seen, and the rays of light that appeared through the trees added to the beauty of it all. It was unfortunate to him, however, that his first glimpse at this amazing sight couln’t have come during better circumstances. With nothing else on his mind, he asked, “What is the Victorian Oni?”

A minute of silence passed. “The Victorian Oni is just about as much a mystery to us as it is to you,” Emma finally said. “All we know is that he is a being of terrible power and astronomical evil. He has the appearance of a masked, armored knight, but many of us are convinced he’s something more. It is believed he is a demon. With his strength and mercilessness, he lays waste to one of each of the five town’s citizens, for what appears to be absolutely no reason, once every three months. Each successive invasion leaves one more dead in his wake. His very prescense strikes fear into every single island inhabitant, no matter how many times they’ve seen him before. Worst of all is that not a single adventurer yet, not even the most powerful on the island, has ever defeated him. This fiend is utterly invincible.”

Shadow drew in a breath. For his first visit on the island, evil had certainly made a strong foothold on the island. “How does…he kill?” he asked, beating out hesitation.

“The pillar of darkness that can be seen thoughout the island is one way,” Emma explained. “Every time he invades, one person falls to that kind of attack. His other…is even worse: he can extinguish anyone’s life by MERE THOUGHT.” The rest of the sat-down group shuddered at the emphasized words.

Shadow turned towards the others, with disbelief written all over his face. “Mere THOUGHT?” he repeated. “I’ve never heard of such a power. That….that can’t be possible.”

“It is,” Emma said. “I should know; I’ve seen it before. It was three years ago, the first time I ever saw him. I was running home after everyone heard of his arrival, with my boyfriend, Richard, and sister on either side. We were almost there when he suddenly appeared right in front of us. I was prepared to fight, but Richard simply told me to take Gen and go home. I pleaded with him to let us stay, but he wouldn’t have it. As the oni got closer, he shoved us out of the way. I was about to return, but was frozen by a terrible sight. Richard was about to cast a spell when the creature looked at him…and he simply fell to the ground and stopped moving. I shouted out to him frantically, but stopped when the oni began looking at us. At that point, we finally ran home. After the oni left, I checked on Richard….he was gone. According to the clerics, he died instantly, the moment he fell.”

Everyone was silent after the story. At this point, all anyone could think about was how powerful the Victorian Oni truly was, and how easy it was for him to decimate populations of people, just by looking at them. It was easy to see how much of a threat the oni proved to be for the whole island, along with the belief that nobody, not even the strongest adventurer, had any chance to bring him down. If it wasn’t for the fact that the monster only appeared a few times a year, the Maple World would be in serious trouble long before Shadow arrived.

Eventually, Shadow spoke up. “I won’t believe that some fiend can simply be completely unstoppable.” The others looked up at him, all suprised at his words. “Maybe he is as strong as you all say,” he continued, “but that doesn’t mean he can be completely undefeatable. I know I sound crazy, but…something tells me he must have some sort of weakness.”

Everyone looked at Emma, who in turn shook her head. “I’ve seen many different attempts made,” she said with disdain. “Weapons don’t work, spells don’t work, combined attacks don’t work, no part of his body reacts to any attack made against it….we’ve tried so much already, and so little, if anything at all, has come from it.”

Shadow merely returned his attention to the window. “As bad as that all sounds, I just….I have this feeling…this talk of him being invincible just doesn’t make sense to me. There just has to be some way to defeat that thing.”

“I’m certain there is, my boy,” an unknown voice said. “We all just have to keep searching for it.”

Everyone turned towards the entrance to see a wizened old man walk in. He wore a shining white robe and hat. A large, ornate staff was gripped in his right hand, aiding him as he walked. His long, white beard all but touched the ground as it dangled from his chin. He looked somewhat exhausted as he moved, though his face showed a warm and welcoming expression.

“Grendel!” Emma exclaimed. She and everyone else gathered around him. “Thank goodness you returned; we were worried about you!”

“Yes, I’m here,” Grendel replied, “and it is good to see you and your sister are still alright. I was out making sure the demon had truly left. It appears he has; no part of the forest is any longer occupied by his foreboding form.”

Everyone else breathed a sigh of relief at the news. “That’s good to hear,” Emma said. “Right now, though, we were hoping you could help us with some information regarding that fiend. For about as long as he’s been around, many people on the island, you especially, have continually been doing research on the Victorian Oni, and after all of this time, very little has been found, other than what he is and what he can do. It’s been a long time since I last asked…have you found anything new yet?”

Grendel thought a moment before he answered. “Ah, my student, it has been long since you asked, but many other townsfolk have inquired about it constantly,” he said. “I don’t blame them; this demon has stalked our lands for over twenty years. During this time, I have looked into every source available pertaining to this creature, finding very little about it. However, I have recently managed to come across some new information that could be of use. It isn’t about the demon directly, but it does talk about some things that may be related to the demon, including what seems to be a prophecy.”

“A prophecy?” Emma repeated while the others looked on with intrigue. “What sort of prophecy?”

“It is a rather old prophecy,” the old wizard explained, “and it has something to do with a way to prevent a possibly great evil from taking over Maple World.” Shadow thought about this as he listened. He was slowly but surely getting the feeling tha this discussion would be similar in many ways to the talk he had with Dark Lord.

“That’s great news!” Emma said, visibly excited from the update. “Could you please tell us what you’ve learned?”

“In time, I will,” Grendel said. “However, there is other business to take care of. As you know, many people were lost in today’s attack. After returning from keeping watch for the demon, I heard that all preparations have been completed for the victims. Thus, before we do anything else, it is time we performed…the leave taking. Emma and Genya Raine, are you ready to begin?”

The sisters exchanged solemn glances in response to the news, then bowed before Grendel. “We are ready, Grendel,” Emma acknowledged.

“Then we shall all go to the bottom of the village, where the townsfolk are likely waiting,” Grendel explained. “You two know what to do when you get there.”

“What about them?” Emma asked, pointing to Shadow and the others. “These are friends that came here to see if they could help us with anything we needed.”

Grendel nodded. “They are welcome to watch, but nothing more. The leave taking is your responsibility.”

The Raine sisters nodded, then led Shadow, Lance, Skye, and Amber out towards the bottom of the village, with Grendel following close behind. “So, what is this ‘leave taking'”? Lance inquired as they walked.

“The leave taking is an Ellinian funreal practice handed down for many generations,” Amber answered. “It’s a very intricate process of sending the human spirit off in peace.”

“Sending the spirit off in peace?” Skye asked in wonderment. “How does that work?”

“You’ll have to see it for yourself,” Amber replied. “It’s an event that is never easily explained to those who don’t know about it.”

——————————————-

Hey guys! Sorry again about taking so long with this chapter. In addition to playing Maple Story a lot lately, this one was simply more difficult to come up with than the others. Sorry again, hope you like it nonetheless.

Previous installments:

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