Instinctual need

At the dead of the night, the moon hidden behind thick clouds, no light shined other than the lanterns held by the various guards of the castle, the only sounds that was to be heard was that of their armored footsteps that resonated slightly in the large, empty hallways.

A young guard stopped in his track as he thought to have heard an anomalous sound, he stood still for a few seconds to try and hear the sound again, this time, he heard it clearly and was even able to guess what it was exactly.

It sounded very much like someone tearing some paper slowly, the guard headed toward the source of the noise as silently as he could, his hand gripping the handle of his sword as he approached, for some reason, this action was particularily nerve wracking, it was most likely just some petty thieves trying to steal a painting and doing a horrible job at doing so but the guard couldn't stop his hands from trembling.

Reaching the place where he had heard the sounds of paper, the guard saw no one, he first throught that they must have heard him coming and had ran away but this theory was rapidly crushed as the sound of paper being ripped once more sounded.

It had felt as though someone had teared a piece of paper right next to his ear, the guard turned around in a panick and was able to witness what was truly going on.

A painting depicting a nice landscapes, a green plain and beautiful forest with a brilliant sun, this painting was indeed being ripped to shreds slowly but no one was there doing it, the marks of ripping appeared like cracks on the painting.

The guard took a step forward to inspect the painting from a closer point, that was however a mistake as the moment he took that step and long and thing grey arm bursted through the painting, shoving its claws through the guard's head and helm without any issue.

The creature removed its claws with a swift movements and soon its other arm also came into view, each grabbing a side of the painting as if it was trying to climb up.

All of this happened under the sight of a guard unfortunate enough to walk here at the wrong time, the guard's mind was flooded with thoughts, many were of no use in this situation but he remembered that even when this painting had arrived three years ago, he had already felt like something was wrong with it.

Pushing away the useless thoughts, the guard ran off to go get the rest of the royal guards as the unknown being managed to get through the painting, the monster slowly took in its surrounding as many things appeared on its head, eyes, nostrils and ear canals.

The venerer had no knowledge of castles but it could smell that some people in this building were important, their smell were different, they smelled like they possessed something the others didn't.

To the venener this place was the den of some leaders of the advanced apes, it had been encountering again and again, still, something the venerer was not content with was the lack of anyone possessing the smell that one human girl had possessed, the venerer knew that if one possessed that smell then it could accomplish something it craved for.

Unfortunately, it had encountered only a single owner of that smell.

The venerer noticed the approach of many people, not moving from its position it let them come, as had become common for the beast, none of them were able to do anything against it, there weapon were inneficient and even broke when striking at its body and a single swipe sent the guards to their doom.

When the venerer exited the castle, no life remained inside of it, in fact, only a bit of blood was left behind, walking for a little while, the monster was met with another of those places where the advanced apes gathered.

This time, no one was able to stop it from slaughtering them all, once again, no owner of that particular smell were around, in the past, the venerer had been after something else and had chosen to put finding one with that smell after that thing but now that it had completed its first goal, it needed to find one with the smell.

The venerer's rampages didn't go unnoticed, however, it had taken some time before the information of such massacres was heard as the venerer had left no witness, nobody knew that it was the doing of the venerer.

Some people however, were certain that it was the venerer's doing, Hellianix had come to know what had become of the painting in which The Red-Hood was locked in, the fact that the venerer had been able to break out meant that it had actually defeated her, a feat she could have only seen the greatest hero accomplish.

And of course, Telikoritsi was able to feel the venerer coming back into this world, just ike back then, she had suddenly had visions, she had been able to see the venerer's point of view as it rampaged through guards and civilians alike.

Hellianix may have failed to get back in time back then, however, she had indeed managed to find Telikoritsi and had chosen to keep her within reach as she definitely was of some importance to the venerer.

Hellianix would have prefered if it had stayed locked within the painting but she had still thought of the possibility of it breaking out and had prepared another prison for it.

The issue with the painting was that there had been a clear link with this world and its own, as such, Hellianix had sought a passageway to another place with no easy way out, her choice had fallen on a portal to the abyss, not the location in oceans but the plane of the abyss, a place capable of corrupting anything which no one other than the natural inhabitants of the abyss could stay in.

It did not matter whether or not the venerer would be destroyed or corrupted by the abyss, what mattered was that the abyss couldn't be easily escaped, on top of that, the portals to the abyss could be repressed, making them disappear.

While Hellianix was plotting against the venerer, it was still in search of someone possessing the smell, the smell that indicated that the owner of it was a suitable mate.