THE LEGENDARY STORY OF INAMORTA ?

THROUGH THE FOREST INTO THE CASTLE

After moving deeper into the forest, Grendale felt something staring at him from above the trees, but when he looked up it suddenly vanished. Something wasn't right. Thinking it might have been his imagination or the forest playing tricks on him, he moved on. A moment later, once again, he felt the same eerie feeling of being watched from behind. He quickly drew his sword and spun around to hear quick scurry of feet. Something definitely wasn't right. Cautiously looking all around him, he continued further and came to a rickety bridge over a lengthy river. Considering he didn't have much of a choice, Grendale was about to set foot on the bridge, when a loud screech came from behind. Quick as lightning, Grendale turned around to see a big white flying...'thing' zoom towards him at top speed. He ducked in time for it to sail past his head and a huge ball of hair with 8 greenish hairy legs jumped from behind the trees and landed with a THUD!!! In front of him.

' Holy light!!! What is this? ', Grendale thought loudly at the sight of this strange creature. It almost looked like a jade spider, but usually jade spiders have 6 legs with a greenish bioluminescent body and white eyes that looked cute. But this…thing… had 8 feet, porcupine hair, red ruby eyes with huge pincers and looked very scary. It screeched once more, showing off its yellowish teeth dotted with the blood of its fateful victims. Grendale raised his sword to eye level and kept looking it in the eyes without fear. The spider slowly posed itself to attack by lowering its hind legs. Grendale swung his sword a little and braced himself for the attack. Swiftly and with light speed, the spider dashed towards him and aimed to gobble him whole. But Grendale had other plans, "Sorry spidey. I am in no mood to die today", and ran forward. He slid under it smoothly and evaded its attack. The spider landed with a thump and turned around growling. This time Grendale ran towards it brandishing his sword and when it was close enough, he leaped onto the spider and landed on it's back. The spider slid to a halt and tried to unseat him, but Grendale swung his sword and sunk it into the spider's back. The spider screamed and jumped around wildly but Grendale held on tightly. While jumping, the spider slipped on the edge of the bridge. Grendale immediately removed his sword and jumped off it's back to safety, pushing it in the process. The spider falls into the river with a huge splash and gets carried away thrashing violently.

Grendale stopped for a minute before continuing to cross the bridge. He reached the edge of one side of the bridge, but the other side was nowhere to be found. "Weird. There must be something here to activate the other side just like Master Shifu had once said". Near a particular corner hidden in the bushes under a great big tree, was a red button, but even on pressing it nothing happened. ' Maybe the power supply is off ? ", thinking thus, he looked around for help when just a little distance away on the west side on top of a hillock a little hut comes into view. Grendale went over and knocked on the door to see if anyone could help him cross the river. An old man opened the door, but he had a terrified look on his face. In a scared tone he asked," W... who… who are... you?..what do you want from me now? ". Grendale politely introduced himself to the old man and asked if he could help him cross the bridge. On learning that it was a warrior, the old man grew a little suspicious, but the mark on Grendale which Shifu had branded him with cleared his doubts and he let him in. The old man then explains that after the great evil settled, the whole forest was heavily mutated. All the animals and birds grew vicious and attacked the people who came this way. Grendale reassured him that he'd do everything right and asked how to reactivate the escalator. " A foul creature forced entry into the control room and stole the 'Pot of Excalamus'. Without it, the power supply to the escalator wouldn't be possible. You, great warrior, must help retrieve the pot so that the bridge can be reactivated."

Saying so, the old man pointed out a dark looming castle just a little away," That castle had been abandoned for a long time now. The creature who stole the pot went in there. You must be careful ". Grendale promised to bring the pot back and set off towards the castle. There were paw prints everywhere on the front yard of the castle. Anticipating sudden attacks, Grendale drew his sword out and carefully ventured into the castle. Everything was quite inside, which was definitely fishy, knowing that evil creatures resided there. Soon Grendale reached what felt like the great hall. He kept moving while looking around at the damage that had occurred there and up at the ceiling. Grendale's eyes widened. CRIKEY!! Three large bats were hanging on the chandelier sound asleep. Grendale gulped and slowly moved away towards a set of stairs which led to the east wing of the castle and started climbing it cautiously, keeping his eyes peeled for any quick moments.

On reaching the east wing, Grendale could hear a sound coming from somewhere. It sounded like deep breaths of a huge animal but muffled by lots of walls. Following the sound cautiously, he came across a large room where books were scattered everywhere like they had been hit by a tornado and there was a HUGE gaping hole in one of the walls. The sound had gotten stronger inside what was supposed to have been formerly a library. Watchful for any sort of movement, Grendale peeped into the hole to discover a long, dark tunnel dug unevenly that went deeper underground. Grendale carefully entered the tunnel but at some point slipped on something slimy and slid down the length of the tunnel.

After what felt like sliding a hundred feet below average ground, he landed outside an entrance to what might be called a dungeon. Gosh, it stinked like something had died and rotten in here. Blocking his nose firmly, he stepped into the dungeon. After passing through a number of cells, a few of which contained skeletons of ancient prisoners, he came to a huge room which looked like the dining chambers for the criminals. As soon as he stepped inside, his mind went blank with shock. There it was, standing before the 'Pot of Excalamus' was a humongous animal which looked very familiar to a bull-y porcupine. It seemed to be devouring something which unfortunately looked (very ew-ishly) like a dead hippo. Whether it sensed something or not, but the needle hairs on its back stood up sharp. It turned around growling with its b****y mouth, flesh still sticking to its mouth, and looked at the warrior with ruby-red eyes. Gulp!!!," I am so screwed. How do I get past it now without being tossed around like rags or punctured like bubbles? Master, grant me strength", Grendale prayed. The creature shook its horns at him, rubbed its feet on the ground like a bull and charged at him. Just when it was about to get ugly, Grendale made a swift jump and landed on the other side. The beast crashed into the wall, showering debris everywhere. Grendale turned heel and ran off towards the pedestal on which the pot was kept. He jumped upon it in time as the beast came charging, and merely slammed into it. Although it backed away dizzy, it didn't look like it was giving up the chase anytime soon.

How does Grendale succeed in carrying this pot back to the bridgekeeper?

Find out in the next episode.

Stay tuned