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"Turn and leave king, and take your followers with you." The blind youth said to the king minkey, who now was slowly advancing on him. It was easy for Silver to hear the crunching of the earth beneath the large primate. "I'm warning you now, come no closer or I shall be forced to turn you myself." The fog around Silver began to disappate and flow back into the ground.

The minkey continued advancing towards silver, heedless of the water that was now pooling on the ground in front of it. The water was soaking into the ground, making it damp, moist, and soft. Too soft for the heavy king to walk on, the panther should have no trouble though. "I have warned you king." Said Silver as the king sank further and further into the mire that he had created.

The minkey roared and tried to advance rapidly towards Silver, but the mud slowed it sufficiently to allow Silver to step backwards out of arm's reach. "He has made his choice." Silver said, drawing more and more water up out of the ground and into the mire, making it deeper and deeper so that the Minkey sank farther and farther into the earth. By this time the Minkey was trying desperately to pull itself out of the muck, but each thrash only sent it down deeper, soon it would lose the use of it's arms, as they would be stuck in the mire as well.

The beastly Karu snarled angrily as he began to give chase to the small minkeys. Already his wounds were healing, but to little avail being that it took a bit more time to disperse the poison his body. As he gave chase he paused upon hearing the dreadful roar, and began whimpering, his tail tucked between his legs. He shuddered with fear, and back up towards the group as he stared at the large monstrosity. He bared his fangs at the creature as his defensive nature took over. A small snarl could be heard emerging from his throat as he backed slowly away from it not once removing his eyes from the beast. He backed away still heading the front of the group, now snarling viciously. This was his hunting ground...and he'd be damned if some behemoth backed him out of his hunt.

He snarled once again baring his sharp canines. Turning his head momentarily, he growled at the group so that they would back up, but not because he cared if they died, but only because he wanted the pleasure of hunting them. They were his prey, and his prey alone. His senses heightened as he began to slowly regain feeling in his left arm. Although almost paralyzed with fear he was almost enjoying the adrenaline pumping through his veins. This was truly what he had been waiting for...a worthy prey. The harvest moon was in full affect, and the adrenaline pumping through his body was not only helping the poison fade faster, but enhancing the primitive beast within, and plunging the last bit of his humanity deeper into the darkness of his mind.

Without another thought Karu leapt at Grendel expecting to latch onto one of its large bulky arms to no avail. Grendel with great strength swatted the poor creature, making him whimper and, sending him into the deep mist of the wood, only to crash through several trees.

"Pain...what is this...pain..." thought Karu as he floated within the darkness of his mind flooded with bright red streaks of pain that illuminated the darkness, and then...it was dark again.

"Am I dead?" he asked himself as he stared for what seemed like hours into the darkness. It was almost maddening to a point until he saw a flicker of light. Something small, and faint flickered in the darkness. It was a bright orange that seemed to grow faster, and faster consuming the darkness. It made his very heart beat, and very soul burn.

"This feeling...I know this..." he said feeling such power rush through him like a conduit of energy. It was anger...and it was growing fast.

The beast burst from the very rubble of fallen trees roaring angrily. Its soft silver hair was now streaked with his crimson blood. It was angry, and it wanted nothing more, but to rip this beast apart. The wolf beastile emerged from the shrouded mist of the forest, bursting through the group at great speed, and flung itself upon the monstrosity's back, latching onto its shoulder blade for dear life.

The mud around the minkey king began to dry out as the water once again parted itself from the earth and evaporated into a mist in the air. It was not that the water was actually in gas form, it was just in millions of tiny little droplets that acted as one. They swirrled in the air around silver, but he would need more than a mist to deal with this monster. "I need time to gather more water." He asid, somewhat softly, though loud enough for people to hear him. "Keep him away from me, this may take some time."

Silver closed his sightless eyes, for no real reason. It seemed to help him concentrate, though he didn't understand why. It would have made more sense to plug his ears. He began to concentrate, and concentrate hard. The sound of the battle around him quieted itself to his senses, as he himself became almost completely still and quiet. The only movement in his body was the quivering of his right arm, which was outstretched with his palm facing the ground, as if pulling the water up from the center of the earth.

He would be completely vulnerable to attack in this state, and if this Grendal could dispel magic directed at him with his horns, it was very well possible that he would be able to sense the magic Silver was using, or possibly even dispel it. Then it would come down to Silver's martial skill and ability, which was probably no match for the strength of Grendal.

"Grendel? Well, that's odd, don't you think?"

Like birds seated atop the highest branch, two shadows watched from afar, keeping their distance just enough so that they could not be seen by human or beastile eyes alike.

In response to the first shadow's question the second did nothing but nod his head once, choosing to keep quiet despite the amount of space that separated the pair from the people they scrutinized. Rolling his eyes at the second shadow, the first sighed before opening his mouth to speak once again. Though his voice made it apparent that he was male, it had an odd ring to it, almost as though it was too beautiful to even be real.

"What do you think we should do, Coda?"

The one named Coda placed his hands on the hilt of a sheathed broadsword, his fingers tapping against it in a wild manner.

"I see. You've never fought anything so fierce, have you? His head would make a good trophy for Our Dark Lord. It's a shame that you don't kill."

Bowing his head a bit in embarassment, Coda removed his hand from the sword and stared at the ground. Smiling to himself, the first shadow placed a hand on his shoulder as he stood up, a slight breeze blowing his long, platinum hair to one side and revealing a face that was, like his voice, almost too beautiful to be real.

Quick to follow in the white-haired man's movement, Coda stood up to reveal a young, soft face, black hair, and an obscure scar running across his eye. For the first time in what seemed like hours, the boy spoke. "Lord Virgil, I would gladly kill in your name." Chuckling a bit, Virgil ran his fingers through his hair and looked at his student.

"I know, love. But I will take care of the Grendel. You make sure that these travelers don't get killed in the process. After all, we need as many recruits as possible if we want to raise Our Dark Lord." Sighing and blushing as the last few words escaped his lips, Virgil smirked.

This was beginning to get out of hand. Kyria wheeled around when Grendel crashed into the clearing, backing up a few steps as it took up a lot of space. She watched as Wilhelmina's magic failed and cursed silently under her breath. Kyria highly doubted that she could do any real damage to the creature with just her sais. This realization made her feel useless, a feeling she didn't enjoy in the least. She watched as Karu was batted through the air like a toy, cringing at the sound of him crashing through the trees.

So even he was outmatched by the beast. Or so it would seem for the moment. If none of them could even lay a hit on Grendel, they were just waisting time; they had to get out of the forest and fast. Taking a deep breath, she calmed herself down and tried to focus on their surroundings, in hopes that she would find a path leading out of the forest, or at least a direction to head in that would get them out of danger.

Wilhelmina watched as Karu jumped right at the creature, moving aside when he came running back through the trees. They were at a serious disadvantage; it seemed like the majority of the group at least were magic users, and since the beast absorbed magical energy, they would have a hard time even getting close enough to the creature to attack, let alone make any damage. Turning to Kyria, she saw that the elf was focusing on something, knealt down with her palm on the ground.

Kyria looked up to see Wilhelmina watching her. She could tell by the look in her eyes that they were thinking the same thing. "I'm trying to find a way out of the forest. Just give me a bit more time and we can all get out of here...if we're still alive, that is."

Not knowing who the man was did not bother Wilhelmina in the least. If he was offering to distract Grendel while they got away, she would by no means be ungrateful. Backing up a few more steps away from the beast, she turned to Kyria once more. "Did you find what you were looking for?"

Kyria did not reply at first. It was bad enough that they were pressed for time, she didn't need the human bothering her while she tried to do them all a favor. It took precious time and energy to use all of the tracking skills she had at her disposal naturally and from countless years of training. Once she picked up a trail, she had to follow it through her senses to determine if it would lead out of the forest. Several led nowhere, so she had to conintue to start over from the beginning.

Then, on a whim, she decided to follow the path that the girl who had changed into a panther had come from. She had to have come from somewhere, and luckily it had been from outside of the forest. Looking up at Wilhelmina, she nodded towards the way out of the forest. "Let's get going." she said shortly, turning on her heels and following the new path that would lead them out of the forest. She did not bother to look back to see if the others were keeping up; at the moment, selfish as it might seem, she just wanted out of the forest and away from that clearing. Dodging and weaving through trees, Kyria ran as fast as her legs would still allow.

Yes, it was clear to her now, as though the path was lit by its own aura. Within minutes they would make it out of that wretched forest and, Kyria hoped, to somewhere where she could rest and recollect her thoughts and energy. She could hear Wilhelmina following close behind, impressed by the woman's ability to keep up with her, and behind her several other feet dashing towards their exit. And, just as she had estimated, they emerged out of the forest and onto the span of fields between the forest and the all too familiar walls of Damasses. Kyria paused, finally allowing the others to catch up as she gazed happily on the welcoming lights of the elven city.