Humans are their own kind of monsters.

For many years, I have lived peacefully in a cave deep in the forest of Heorot with my
mother and my father. Our cave was filled with legendary, magical human treasures.
There were shining swords piercing through the walls, golden crowns scattered on the
floor, dented shields propped up against rocks, and many other items lying around. All
these items made it hard for us to safely move around, so we decided to stash these
items at the back of the cave where it would not bother us. We lived far enough from the
humans that we would rarely have to be on guard against them. Even if we were
monsters, we never hurt anything out of spite. Sure, we needed to kill animals for food
and scare off those few humans who wandered too close to our home, but we never
killed just for the sake of killing.

One day, when the leaves were falling in vibrant reds and oranges, signalling the end of
warm days and the start of shivering, cold nights, came a group of humans. We heard
them from far away because of the loud thumps of their horses’ hooves and their joyful
shouting. Why are there humans so deep in the forest? This made my father anxious,
most humans would not venture this far, for the trees would be so thick that the nearest
village would not be seen. So he went outside to make them leave. Compared to the
humans, my father was huge. He towered above them, with hands displaying sharp
claws, and his fangs protruding from his mouth. The men on horses now grew pale with
fear and they moved away from our cave. My father did what he always did, screaming
and beating his chest, as well as growling at them. The humans started moving back
towards their village and my father turned his back on them, thinking that they were
going to go straight home, but as he turned his back to them, they stopped retreating
and started to get ropes from their packs. In only a few moments, they unfurled these
ropes and flung them around my father. Most of them held him down from both sides,
while others went to tie his feet and struggled to tie his arms. My mother who was
watching with me, had to force me to stay put. “Quiet,” she said while holding me against
her, “you’re too young to take them down. Your dad will get free, he is stronger than
you.” Even if I tried to push her away, I could not move. I was too weak. Resigned, I just
watched my father fight against his bonds. He was able to knock one of the men down
and pin him underneath his horse, but the others just went back to tying his arms, this
time using more ropes. 4 men broke away from holding him down and tied his ropes to
their horses. Signalling to the others, they mounted their horses and brought the injured
man with them, leaving his horse behind and went back to their village.

I let my anger consume me. After my mother let me go, I headed straight for the horse.
The humans’ saddle and bag were still attached to the horse. Even if the horse didn’t do
anything to me it was the only thing that I was stronger than. At that moment, when
anger and fear was all I felt and I felt weak and useless, I did not regret what I did. Its
neck was broken in two, blood spilling over the leaves and the dirt, and that was the only
time I realised how strong I was. If only my mother let me go, I could have saved my
father from those humans. I could have freed him. And so I started my quest to become
stronger.

My dad did not return. My mother told me not to worry too much over it and that he was
still alive but I would hear the humans who would go to the forest say otherwise. They
spoke about a horrid monster that was tied up and brought to the palace. A monster
captured by their king and his men. A monster that was killed and placed outside the
palace for the party. A monster that was dead. When I told my mother what happened,
she left and went to our other family far from Heorot to deliver the news of his death. I
chose to stay at the cave so that I could train and become stronger.

One day, as I was looking around the treasures in the cave, I came across a pendant
with strange symbols on a black rock. Once he picked it up, strange lights started
emerging from the ground in front of him and cracks started appearing. Foul smelling
smoke came from those cracks and scorching heat filled the cave. A human-looking
creature came from the ground. He wore a black hooded robe and when he lifted his
head, his eyes were redder and brighter than any fire I have seen. There were two horns
growing from the top of his head, curling and pointed. He was horrifying. “Grendel,” he
said, “descendant of Cain, you have found my stone.” “This on the pendant?,” I asked, “
What does it do?” His lips formed a malicious kind of smile, the smile that told me that
whatever the stone did had consequences. “Well, it could grant you one thing, like
strength or maybe immortality, whatever you choose.” “But why happens next?,” I asked
again. “I take something from you in return.” I needed to avenge my father and as a
monster, I was stronger than most grown humans, I did not need that much more
strength. I needed to be safe from any weapons the humans might use. “How do
humans fight?” I asked the man. “Humans are very creative, they use steel to cut their
opponents apart, sticks with metal points to puncture through the armour and they train
animals to fight for them.” “That’s it. I want to be invincible to any human weapon, I do
not want to be pierced or sliced by anything made or used by humans.” “Really? Are you
sure?” he asked. “Yes”. “Well, if that’s what you wish,” he said, “but in return, I take your
happiness.” I was confused, “Why my happiness? It’s completely useless.” With that, he
smiled that horrible smile once again, “Useless for me, but not for you. So, do we have a
deal?” “Yes.” And with a a blinding red light, he disappeared. The cracks on the floor
sealed themselves, the only thing that told me that what happened was real was the
heat and the faint odor flowing through the cave. The symbol on the pendant was now
also branded on the palm of my right hand where I held the pendant, so I assumed that I
was now invincible. I picked up a sword nearest to me and sound it down on my arm.
Nothing happened and it just bounced off. I tried using another weapon and the same
thing happened, I was unaffected by the weapons. I was invincible.

For years I trained with my mother on the basic ways on how to protect myself and how
to take down an enemy. I learned how to kill and hunt animals quickly and quietly, and I
learned how to win. One night, I went to the palace. The village was closer than I thought
and streets were quiet. At the sight of me, people went into their houses and locked their
doors and shut their windows. But they did not matter, I would deal with them later. I
needed to go to the palace.

The guards guarding the palace were weak and brittle. Their weapons did nothing to me,
and they were not strong enough to stop me from killing them. All the attendants were
weak as well and I was able to reach the centre of the palace in no time. When I got
there, there was a lone woman standing in the corner but no one else was there. I tried
to form words and said “Where is the king?” She just looked at me and shook her head. I
asked her again and again she did not answer. Infuriated, I lifted her by her neck and
threw her on the floor, killing her immediately. More guards came into the room, each of
them protected by their swords and shields. Each of them tried to stop me, but none of
them succeeded. I left their dead bodies outside the doors, as a reminder and a threat to
anyone in the palace. I stayed in that room for days and for days they would send more
men to try and subdue me, but none of them succeeded. Each night I would venture out
of the rooms and around the palace. Each human I would see, I kill and I leave their
bodies lining the corridor, soon, no one came to bother me.

I have been terrorising the palace for months when a new person came into the room.
He was tall and strong and was healthy in a way that told me that he was from another
place. His skin was golden and he looked powerful. He advanced towards me with his
arms outstretched and he moved quickly. I got down decided to play with him for a bit. I
put no thought in fighting him because no human had ever beaten me before, so there
was no chance that he could defeat me now. I moved towards him and pretended to hit
him but then quickly over back. He had no chance of defeating me. But then, he started
running toward me and jumped onto my back with a speed and strength that no normal
human should have. I stumbled forward a bit but then quickly recovered and tried to get
him off me. We fought like this for a while, neither of us giving up. He did not even use a
weapon, just his bear hands. But then something happened, he grabbed for my arm and
started pulling and twisting it. A unbearable pain started coming from my arm and I tried
to swat him away. It was no use. He just kept on escaping and moving just beyond my
reach. With a defiant roar he pulled my arm off my shoulder and raised it above his
head.

I stared horrified at my arm. My whole body hurt and so much blood was coming from
my shoulder. Was this how the people felt when they saw me? I hated being afraid and I
hated myself more from fleeing from the palace. I knocked humans out of my way and
tried to run home. I hated that I thought of my father and how disappointed he would be
if he found out that I have killed so much creatures out of spite. I hated that I was not
even able to avenge my father because I could not find the king. And I hated that I was
defeated by a human.

When I came to the cave, my mother immediately came up to me and started shouting in
agony. “What happened? What did you do!” she cried. I knew that I was about to die.
The days I spent fighting the humans sapped my strength and I have lost too much
blood. I weakly reached for her hand and whispered to her, “I tried to avenge father, but I
was not able to. Stay away from humans and do not provoke them. They are stronger
than they look like and they could kill you in an instant. Promise me you’ll stay away from
them.” “I promise,” she said. And then I sorrowfully realised that I spent most of my life in
anger and focused on killing humans that I never really took the time to be a good son to
my mother. I was so bent on revenge that I let hate consume me, and I wasted and
ended the lives of so many for no reason. And then I took a final breath and let myself
go.