When Cornell walked past the doorway the first thing he noticed was that all the sudden it became deathly quiet. Beyond the wall there was still a little more of the bridge to cross. Around him the sound of the ocean seemed stop. Ahead he could see that the island was surrounded with a forest and yet there was no sound of birds singing. Even more disturbing was the fact that his footsteps made no noise against the granite bridge. Then Cornell became suddenly aware that three small figure were…jumping towards him. They were small and green and although he couldn't make out what they were saying, they were making the only noise audible as yet. When they were close enough he saw that they were green hunchbacks jumping around in battered up blue pants. They were now close enough so that he could hear what they were saying but it took for a moment to realize why they were so difficult to understand their squeaky voices.
"Hmmmmwhatdoyouthinkofthisman-thinghmmm?" one said to the other two.
"Themasterwillbemostangrytoseethatithaskilledhisdragonhmmm," the closest to him said.
"Yesloveditlikeapethedidhmmm," said the other.
Keeping up with them was almost impossible, and the way they just jumped about was just…annoying. At last Cornell could take no more and was about to tell them to shut up…politely that is. In his mind he could hear himself saying "Could you be silent for a moment," but no sound came from his mouth. He tried to say it again and again but to no avail. Cornell grabbed at his mouth in disbelief. He looked around and thought to himself that it must be some kind of spell that has been put on this island. Meanwhile the three hunchbacks continued on with their annoying prattle.
"Whatdoyouthinkweshouldowithhimhmmmm?" one asked.
"Isaywekillhim," one said.
The third said, "Whybother?Weallknowthatallwhoventuretothecastledie."
"YessssAllwhoventuretothecastlewilldie," began chanting the other two. Eventually all three started to chant and jump about even more excitedly. Cornell clasped his hands over his ears to try and block out the sound of their voices but could not. Their voices reverberated in his head. Cornell got down on his knees and tried to enter a special trance that he learned during his ascetic training but found the annoying prattle of the green hunchbacks too much for him. He quickly grabbed one of them by the throat and slammed his head into the ground. The sound of the hunchback's broken skull was almost music to his ears. The other two he blasted off the bridge with two quick bolts of energy. Cornell fell to the ground relieved to have some silence. Whatever spell has been cast on this part of the island it must surely be to drive unwanted visitors mad. If the spell is over the entire island then Cornell might just very well do that. He could perhaps stand for a little silence, but not an eternal one. As he started walking he realized that he was not in total silence. He could hear certain sounds like the sound of his own walking. But the sounds he did hear seemed to echo all around him. After walking some distance he reached a sort of square. The square had a marble floor. At each corner was a pillar that towered over it and curved to meet with the other pillars. In the center there seemed to be a statue covered in mud. Facing one corner of the square he saw two concrete paths leading to the same set of large doors. At another corner was a bridge leading to what looked like a switch. The last corner led deeper into the woods. Cornell walked up to the statue and saw a base plate with an inscription. Cornell read aloud the words that were engraved in the base plate.
"The sage points to the right path." Cornell looked again at the statue.
"Well he's not going to point at much covered in mud." He then fired a short burst of energy to uncover a statue of what was apparently a sage pointing towards the two paths leading to the one door. Cornell looked again at the sage and noticed that he was pointing at the door using his left hand. Cornell reasoned that the idea was to take the left path. He wasted no time to think of what would happen by taking the right and just started walking towards the left path. Suddenly his ears were overwhelmed again by the sound of earth being moved. He looked around and saw that skeletons like the ones that attacked his village were coming out of the ground. Five skull warriors once again armed with swords and shields. Two tried to take a swing at him with their swords but got blown to pieces instead. The other three snuck up behind him and grabbed hold of him. Suddenly more began rising out of the ground and piling onto Cornell. He fought them with all his strength and managed shake a few off him, but they were making it exceedingly difficult by banging him in the head with the handle of their swords. At this point Cornell was beginning to feel large amounts of pain from his head. He was also getting dizzy from all the hits. With one big surge of strength he shook off a good three skull warriors and ironically onto the path to the right of the door. At once the path began to crumble and the skulls fell into the abyss below. Although overwhelmed Cornell continued to fight. But suddenly they started to grab at his feet and he soon found himself being carried. He put his head up and saw them walking through the left path. And as they approached the extremely large doors, they slowly began to open.
Beyond the doors there was more forest. As the skull warriors carried him they passed what looked like two crypts. The roofs of the crypts were missing. A few of the skull warriors actually started to knock on the doors of the crypts. Then, coming out of the top of the crypt's came out more skulls. Cornell looked around to see that some were even banging the ground apparently signaling for more skulls to rise up. They continued walking until they reached another marble square. This one was much larger and had no pillars or statue. The group that was carrying him took him to a spot in the center and forced him to the ground. Suddenly four hands came out from the marble floor. Two grabbed hold of his legs and the other two his arms. Cornell looked around to see that he was surrounded by hundreds of skull warriors all standing around him in a circle around the square. He looked around more and saw that he could see the castle wall. The drawbridge was raised. Cornell thought to himself, that if he somehow got out this, crossing the moat might pose a problem. Especially since at the moment he was seriously out numbered. The surrounding skulls were becoming increasingly excited. The only upside was that the sound of their rising out of the ground was keeping him from falling unconscious. But suddenly it went silent once more. No echoes, no sound at all. Cornell looked in the direction of the castle wall and saw a cloud of dust rising from the ground. Fastened down to the ground he could feel the ground shaking. The sudden blast of noise caused Cornell to almost scream in pain. From out of the ground he saw what looked just like all the other skull warriors, only ten times larger. Earth was thrown all over the place as it rose from the ground. Around him the smaller skulls were jumping around insanely. And from the giant skull warrior there came a thunderous roar. It walked towards him slowly; armed with a giant bone for a weapon. Cornell struggled to free himself from the grasp of the skull hands. Finally it was right above him. With its skeletal hands it ripped Cornell from the ground and held him close to its face. Had the giant had eyes in its sockets Cornell, would surely swear it was glaring at him, intent in eating him. "Good thing he's dead," thought Cornell. Although a small comfort since he is likely to be pounded to death. Cornell looked down at the ground beneath him as it slowly became further and further away. The giant skull held him high above his fellow skulls. Cornell grabbed a tight hold of one of the skulls immense fingers and began to send as much energy through his hands and into the skull. His entire arm glowed with the color of Cornell's energy. Cornell began to howl when suddenly the skull's arm separated from the rest of him. The arm began to fall hand first; when it hit the ground it broke off from the rest of the arm and the hand that had Cornell trapped broke apart and Cornell fell hard against the ground. When he looked up again he saw with blurry vision a giant silhouette coming down towards him. Out of instinct he rolled to his left and felt particles of dirt and rock hit his backside. Cornell cleared his head and saw the giant take it's remaining arm out of the ground where it had tried to squash him. Cornell started running towards the giant's legs. His plan, to do to the monsters legs what he had done to its arm. But as he ran the skulls' body began to surge with energy and it suddenly leaped into the air. Cornell stopped in his tracks. He watched as it touched ground once more. When it did it sent a wave of dust particles towards him. Cornell covered his eyes and prepared for the impact. After the wave passed Cornell got up from where he had fallen and once again made a charge for the giant's legs. This time he reached them and immediately grabbed hold of his immense left leg. He grabbed on tightly but was too late because the giant had already jumped into the air already. Cornell let loose as much force as he could onto the creatures leg and soon the giant's entire body was radiating with Cornell's man-beast energy. The creature broke into pieces in mid air. When the pieces hit the ground another wave of dirt and rock formed. Only this one struck the giant's smaller compatriots who quickly fell to pieces. Cornell got up from under the leg that he had landed under and saw the giant and the little skull's remains begin sinking into the ground. Cornell smiled at the sight and fell to the ground exhausted.