Beyond the darkness that Cornell ran into was a grand entrance to a nobleman's villa. It was an odd thing to find within the castle wall to be sure. But this castle has had a strange history. The castle has been destroyed many times has always found a way to put itself back together again. But when it does, it is never quite the same as before. The castle is a creature of chaos. Its only purpose is the same as its master, to be a scourge to humanity. This is why so many parts of the castle seem so unconventional and unlivable. With the exception of a few areas, the entire castle is a death trap designed to be the ultimate defense for its master while he prepares to take the world by storm. But when the castle arose this time it found an interesting problem. Someone had built a villa where the castle had always appeared! So this time the castle integrated the villa into itself. The villa was now very much a part of the castle. This would be obvious to anyone who had stayed in the villa before its transformation. But at this point there were only four living people who had seen the villa in its prime. One of those four was sitting by a window ledge in the castle wall. He had been resting when the sound of voices and then the two iron gratings being moved, disturbed him. When he first looked outside he had seen a single figure walk out only to be met by those dogs. Those giant three headed fire-breathing dogs. The sole figure petted the multi-headed mutts and seemed to whisper some instructions to them. Though the window offered him a view of what lay immediately beyond the wall it was too far away to make out what he said. But their next acts more or less spelt out their plan. After giving them their instructions the figure walked away and the dogs jumped into the bushes that lay behind the fences on either side of the villa entrance. Now the watchful character watched as Cornell came into plain view. The watcher's hand clutched the handle of his loaded pistol. He knew that this trap was going to be messy. Even though he knew for a fact that this man-wolf could handle himself.
Cornell looked around and saw no sign of Ortega. His scent, like Ada's lead straight through the entrance of what seemed to him, a mansion. It must surely be the villa that the ferryman had told him about. But Cornell was now more concerned about another scent he now detected. It was the smell of a…
"…dog? On fire?"
Cornell suddenly felt himself pushed to the ground by such a huge amount of force that he yelled in pain when he hit the ground. He opened his eyes to see what had pushed him and was now holding him down with such force. His ears exploded with the sound of loud barks, all coming from right on top of him. At first Cornell thought many dogs were holding him down, but he soon saw that the three dogs that he was staring at were one and the same. He looked down their throats and saw a sudden spark of flame lighting in all their mouths. Balls of flame were forming in their mouths. Cornell tried to free his arms but could not. In his mind he saw this as the end.
"I'm sorry Ada…just couldn't make it…"
It was then that one of the heads exploded. Cornell closed his eyes as blood splattered over his face. The remaining heads turned to look at a now more interesting prey. Cornell looked in the same direction as the dogs. A dozen feet away from them, a figure dressed in a heavy green overcoat and a fancy hat was lowering himself from a rope that was coming down from a window ledge in the castle wall. He finished lowering himself and Cornell saw that in his hands were now two pistols. The man fired the pistols and off went the other two heads. Unfortunately Cornell was still trapped under the weight of the now dead dog. The gun toting man ran to Cornell and started to help him lift the dog off. Cornell thanked him in between breaths.
"No problem, I just hope your house broken wolf man," the man said with a husky Scottish accent. The man looked around wildly and put Cornell's arm around his neck to help him up.
"Come on, there are two more we're gonna hafta fight off."
"Two? Don't worry, I've got a little more warning now, so I shouldn't go down so easy."
"Hope so," the man said letting Cornell stand on his own. Then they both looked ahead of them, drawn by the sound of barking coming from directly in front of the house. The fence that blocked the house opened and immediately two more dogs came charging at them.
"Thank you, Coller," Cornell said.
"Anytime Cornell."
Then they both charged like mad men at the oncoming dogs. One of the dogs stopped and fired balls of flame, which blocked their path. Coller stopped but Cornell leapt high into the air and over the flames. Through the flames a second dog came charging at Coller. Cornell dug his hands into the eyes of one of the dog's heads. The dog howled in pain. Then with one of his energy blasts he sliced off another one of it's heads. Finally the dog collapsed. Cornell turned around to see how his new ally Coller was doing. He turned and saw Coller riding the huge dog like a horse and tying a rope around one of the heads. He then forced the head to look in the direction of the other two, yanked the rope and a fireball came spewing out of its mouth. The entire dog went ablaze and Coller leapt off it and landed near Cornell. Within seconds the dog exploded into flames.
"Not bad," Cornell told him as he helped him up.
"Thanks."
"Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine, all I need is a moments rest and a drink of water."
"Well I think we can rest here for a moment but water I cannot offer you."
"Come with me, there is a fountain ahead where we can both rest, drink and talk of old times." Cornell followed him past the gate until they reached, as he said, a large fountain. It was basically a large pillar with a circular top from which water fell into its octagonal base. Together they sat down at the fountain and began to drink from its water. After a few drinks Cornell turned himself back to his human form. The bright light made Coller squint his eyes for a moment but otherwise Coller did not seem shaken.
"That's something I haven't seen in quite a few years."
"It something you should never have had to see again."
"Aye, its good to see you Cornell and under better circumstances than the last time."
Cornell laughed. "Better circumstances? Coller, I'm beginning to think we are entering the gateway to hell and you think this is a good circumstance?"
Coller smiled, "Well a couple 'a years ago I woulda been aiming for your hairy head and not the dogs."
"Coller the hunter. Don't tell you've become bitter because you have no game to hunt."
"The complete opposite Cornell. Having to give up hunting your kind was the best thing to happen to me. Now what did you call the event? Ah, the 'final gathering' it was.
"You know before then you were the only human to kill one us and live. There were others but they never lived long enough to see and tell what happened when we die. Only you had seen that we were human on the inside."
"Aye. I have quite a reputation before me. I don't expect you ta trust me much. I've killed many of your kind. But I'll remind you that I only killed because your kind hunted mine. When you stopped, I stopped. Now I just hope we can be allies."
"I bear no malice toward you. I know my sins, and those of my people. I will not fight you because I know you are a man of honor. You did what you had to do to protect your people."
"I'm happy ta hear it" Coller said as he slapped Cornell on the back. "Now would you mind enlightening a poor highlander from Scotland as to why a man-wolf would be on this god-forsaken island? And how is it that you were able to release your wolf power? You did tell us the seal was permanent."
"A year ago I was chosen as the lone man-wolf who would undergo a form of ascetic training that would allow me to tap into the seal and release the power, for a time, and only for good. When I returned home I found skeleton warriors burning my village to the ground. The villagers were all gone. Dead or taken I don't know. All I do know is that my sister's scent was still fresh and it has led me here."
"Well I'm afraid I canna help you. I've not seen the likes of your sister. I recall the wee lass. White hair just like yours with bright green eyes. It always bothered me, your sister, at the gathering she…"
"Why don't you tell why you're here," Cornell interrupted.
Coller paused and looked at Cornell for a moment. "Well my wolf friend, my tale is a much lengthier one than yours. Its still night and the moon is out. I donna recommend walking about the villa at night."
"Why not?"
"Because lad, the forces of evil are at work here and they are strong by day but are twice as strong at night."
"I see. So why are you here?"
Coller sat himself down and leaned against the base of the fountain. The sound of the fountain's water flowing into its base filled his ears. He closed his eyes and memories several years past then flooded his mind.