Author's Note: Alright, so here's the big fight. Yes, I realize the fiend violates the usual standards of werewolves being territorial, and I also realize that Murdock beating one on his own is nigh impossible, but this is a story after all. I've taken a lot of liberties with things, but hey, I think it's turned out pretty well so far, regardless of the lack of reviews. I also know that there is still no dialogue in this chapter, and that is still to come. The latter parts do have quotes and such. Anyhow, here it is. Enjoy the adventure.

Welcome to the Jungle

I traveled at a leisurely pace, and soon I began to see green at the edge of the sand. Before long, the desert became a vast plain, and there were animals here that I had never seen the likes of before. I wished I knew their names, but my education was limited. If there was one thing I eventually intended to do, it was to do some gathering of knowledge. This plain began to grow dense with trees the farther south I went, and soon it was completely covered in them. I couldn't see below them. It was as if someone had taken a huge green blanket and covered the land in it. My curiosity was beginning to get the best of me, and I flew down into the trees, even though my instincts told me that I may be digging my own grave. Something was down there...I felt it. Unfortunately for me, hours later when I found out what I sensed, I was nowhere near prepared for it. I wandered in this forest for most of the night, and I heard all sorts of strange noises and saw the most amazing creatures. Naturally, none of them would come anywhere near me. The second I drew any closer than about forty yards or so, they would recede into the darkness. After some time, I noticed that there were deep growls and snarls mixed with the plethora of noises in the forest. At first I thought nothing of it, because I had seen animals large enough to emit such menacing sounds, but it began to sound angry, even furious. Whatever it was, I was sure that it was me that it was angry with. I had wandered into something's territory, but surely I had nothing to fear from any mortal creature. Still, a fear welled up in me, and try as I might, I couldn't suppress it. My thoughts turned to the horrible thing I had seen so long ago, tearing through a forest somewhere in a land far from here. If my heart still beat in my chest, it would have ceased. I was being hunted, and my hunter...was a werewolf.

As if it were cued by this realization, the thing let out a howl that I would never forget. It would haunt my dreams for the rest of my unlife, if I had one. I heard a loud snapping and shattering sound to my right as a tree was reduced to little more than a pile of splinters, and before me stood a towering being, eyes glowing crimson with a fury which had no equal. Even though I had done nothing to it, this creature hated me with such a passion that I could never fathom. It snarled, baring a mouthful of hideously sharp teeth, still wet with the blood of a meal it had enjoyed recently. It made its first hit, but before I knew what had happened, it had landed a great many more. Within the space of little more than three seconds, I had been hit at least a dozen times, and I must have been thrown through a good twenty trees before I finally hit the ground, writhing in pain. It took all of my will to get on my feet and face my adversary. For the first time in many years I was pitted against something that could easily make quick work of me if I let it. I let out a snarl of my own and jumped at the werewolf, digging my claws into it wherever I could land a blow. I didn't get too many hits in before the next flurry, but this time I was prepared, and I dodged a good number of its slashes and bites, using tree trunks and branches as stepping stones to get myself higher. Most of the trees in the area had been obliterated by our fighting, and so I ran around the edges, leaping from tree to tree, higher and higher, but the beast was hot on my tail. It was frightening to see something so large have such agility.

When I had reached a decent height, I sprung out into the newly made clearing and took flight. I was hit a couple of times on my way up, but my injuries were still minor. If there was one thing I could do well, it was to take hits. Stone skin is good for that sort of thing. I began flying around the edges of the clearing, swooping in for a hit from time to time, but this was very difficult. The creature was moving through the trees with such ease that it was mind-boggling. It slashed and bit at me as I flew, and its reach was much greater than mine. After about thirty seconds of this, I had an idea. It didn't take me long to find what I was looking for, and I dove down to the ground and grabbed a rather large piece of a tree trunk, at least as long as I was tall. It was sharp at both ends from being broken so violently, and large splinters stuck out from it like barbs: quite a decent weapon if I do say so myself. I carried it up into the air, the werewolf clawing at my backside all the while. When I had gotten about fifteen feet up, I began flying in circles around the clearing, keeping ahead of the monster by just a hair's breadth. I could feel the wind from its blows lashing against my feet. For a moment I sped up to get a little more distance between us, and then I turned toward my foe, grinning at it as its face contorted into an expression of agony. The sharp wooden pole I held in my hands was plunged through its chest, and large chunks of its flesh hung from the barbs on the other end. I let go of my weapon and the creature fell from its perch, hitting the ground with a loud thud, pulling at the tree trunk buried in its body. I grabbed another one of these convenient tools and flew about fifty feet up, then I came down upon the terrible and blood-soaked enemy beneath me. It let out a final roar before I drove my weapon through its head and deep into the earth. It lurched upward, then fell back and made not another sound. Death had come for this beast, and I had introduced it personally.

I sat down beside my vanquished enemy, staring at it and wondering how I had managed to take it out by myself. Damien had told me that these things were very capable of decimating a small group of vampires, and I believed him. If I had not been so resilient or swift, I would have surely met my demise there that night. My sense of fear was gone now, and it never returned. I truly believed that this had been none other than the werewolf I had seen so long ago, but I wasn't sure if they were also capable of living as long as we did. That particular one may have very well been dead some time back, but I could never know for sure. What I did know was that this night would be forever known to me as my defining moment. If there was something I needed to do to prove myself as a warrior, this was far above and beyond it. I sat there for awhile, and then I began to feel tired as the sky started to lighten. I buried myself in the ground and sank into a deep slumber. I had decided that now was the time to go into the long and well-deserved vampire sleep of torpor. When I awoke, the world had moved on, and I was in for some surprises.

A New Age

I emerged from the earth refreshed. I had no idea how long I had been asleep, but the trees that had grown around me told the tale. The clearing was no longer a clearing. It was once again part of a dense forest, and the monster I had fought was nowhere to be found. Judging from my surroundings, I could have been asleep for centuries. Having learned my lesson in wilderness wandering, I climbed up and out of the trees, once again flying above them in the safety of the skies...but soon I would find that even the air was not as safe as it had once been. I was high above the treetops, enjoying the strength that my rest had brought me, when I heard a strange sound. It was sort of a deep buzz or hum of some sort, and it grew louder by the second. Up ahead I saw lights blinking in the air, but this was impossible. How could there be any lights up here besides the stars? And why were they moving toward me? Soon I saw a peculiar object emerge from the darkness. It was some sort of flying thing, and the lights were attached to it. On its front, there was something like a very rapidly spinning windmill, which was surely the source of the sound I heard. I broke my hypnotism just in time to dip below it, and it moved upward at the same time. It was not a creature of any sort, but more like something built by men. I had seen simple machines such as catapults and wagons, but something that could fly? This was absolutely incredible, and it made me feel somewhat angry, for the humans had intruded upon yet another place where only certain animals and creatures like myself felt at home. I would destroy it.

I flew behind the machine, and when I had reached it, I tore the back end of it clean off. I heard screams come from inside of it, and it occurred to me that there were people in it, perhaps operating it. They would not survive the fall that had now begun. I watched it plummet into the trees below, and there was a bit of an explosion when it hit. The forest caught fire and began to burn, but I cared not. Humans making flying machines...how absurd this was! I wondered what other things the mortals had come up with during my sleep, and I was also curious as to how we vampires were faring in this new world. Surely those who had been awake had adapted accordingly, but I had to find some of them before I fell victim to some sort of new devilry. About an hour after I had the encounter with the flying machine, I spotted a town on the coast nearby, and it glowed with light that surely did not come from candles. Had mortals discovered a sort of magic? I didn't know, but I needed someone who did, and fast. I tuned my mind in the fashion I had used before to find other kindred, and I was surprised to find a great many of us scattered throughout the area. There was a congregation which had formed in an alleyway, and I landed nearby and crept toward them, using my camouflaging ability to keep from being seen. I wanted to make sure these were the type of vampires I wanted to be in contact with. As I got closer, I could hear them talking, and I recognized the distorted form of english in which they spoke: it was much like what I had heard coming from Damien and some of his cohorts. Their clothing was also quite like what that particular party had been wearing when they entered the castle for the first time. I began to form a conclusion in my mind, but I tried not to let it cloud my thoughts in such a sensitive time.

I stood and listened, and even though I couldn't make out all of what they were talking about due to the dialect they used, I understood that they were plotting some sort of thievery, but they were having a hard time deciding which one of them should go in first to "scope the place out" as they put it, which to me meant spying. I decided to make my entrance here, and I tapped one of them on the shoulder, still using my uncanny concealment skill, and he wheeled around so quickly I was afraid he would fall down. He looked frightened, as well he should be, for to him he was looking at nothing but the darkness of the alley. I asked if I might be welcomed into their group if I helped in their endeavor. The others turned, hearing this, and most of them looked quite alarmed. One, however, seemed as if he knew exactly what was going on, then I realized he was looking directly at me. He quieted the group and called me out of hiding, saying that he could see me regardless of my efforts to hide myself. I allowed myself to become visible, which caused yet more alarm to the rest of the group. Obviously they had never seen a living statue before, and I let out a short laugh. The one who had seen me also laughed a bit, and he told the others that there was no reason to be afraid, that this was simply another kind of vampire, not some monster.

I gave a bow and introduced myself as Murdok, child of Grimlok, of the gargoyle bloodline. The obvious leader of this group was smiling, apparently impressed with something, though I didn't know what. As if he had read my mind, he stated that I must be quite old to be using such a dialect, and to have such large wings, because he knew a lot about our kind. I told him that I was probably indeed quite old, but I wasn't sure how long I had been sleeping. I informed him that the last time I knew of a year, it was 1573, but I knew that I must have slept long, for I woke up refreshed beyond anything I had ever felt. He smiled, and then he said that it was the year 1998. I was taken aback by the realization that I had been sleeping for not one century, but four! He said that he knew what I had come looking for, and that he could offer it to me in any form I wished. There were books, of course, and other than that, he spoke of things called computers, which were capable of holding the contents of many books, and then there were always verbal sources, and something he called movies, which he did not explain. I told him I would accept anything he had. Little did I know that I would spend the next three years studying.

Knowledge at Long Last

My journey into the time of my slumber began with reading. I spent my nights at a library, which my newly found comrade had established control over many years ago. I did not delve into the section titled "Fiction", for I planned to learn only of historical things for the time being. These works of the imagination would be good for entertainment, but they held none of the precious knowledge I sought. At first I felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of books here, but when I considered the fact that I had an unlimited amount of time on my hands, it wasn't so bad after all. My occasional outings were simply to quench my thirst for blood, after which I returned to my studies, feeding my mind with written words. I learned of many wars that I had missed, and of other lands across the great seas that I had once believed to be endless. Even now, knowing of these foreign countries, I doubted that I would have the opportunity to visit them, for how could one such as me gain passage on any vessel bound for them? I could fly, granted, but I still needed shelter from the sun when it came, and the open sea certainly didn't seem to be an ideal area to find such accomodations. Some of the places I had already traveled through had been problematic for me, forcing me always to bury myself in the earth to rest while the days passed above me, and from the science books I had read, I knew that taking shelter beneath the sea was impossible, even for one made of stone such as I. The pressure would surely crush me.

I read about the flying machines like the one I had encountered while traveling here. I counted myself lucky for not having run into one of the faster and much more dangerous jet aircraft. I had found a book all about them, and I had also located many movies about them. I became fascinated with the concept of technology, which had come quite far just in the past century. Motorized carriages, known as automobiles, or cars, were the main mode of transportation these days, and boats had undergone a great deal of improvement as well, making ocean travel a popular form of recreation. This was hardly the case before my long slumber. If I were to travel back into my previous time and tell someone that sailing the open sea was fun, they would have surely laughed. There was now little manual labor involved in this field, as most of the calculations and even a great deal of the navigation and steering was done by computers, which, it seemed, had taken over a great many of the tasks men once did themselves. They were amazing machines, but I wondered if humans might be relying on them a little too much. There were many of these in the library, and I learned how to use them, though it did take a great deal of time, even with my new friend's help. I supposed he could have taught me quicker if I hadn't been asking so many questions, but I simply had to know how and why everything worked, and he seemed to know everything there was to know. He told me every detail, and I absorbed it. Before long, I was quite the expert on all of the things I read about, for my memory never failed me.

I also learned of the advent of firearms, which made the swords and axes of my time seem almost useless. These remarkable devices used small amounts of explosives to fire projectiles at incredible speeds, and with amazing accuracy, provided that the operator had some degree of skill in aiming them. I had never used weapons in the past, but I was interested in having some experience with these contraptions called guns. My friend, who I found out was named Grant, had considerable skill firing guns at targets, even those that were moving at a good speed, and he taught me what he could, but he told me that most of my abilities would come with experience, as had everything else I had ever learned. At least one night per week, I would take a break from "brain-cramming", as Grant had come to call it, and head to the firing range that he had set up for us. I became quite good at hitting targets, but still I needed real experience. Since nobody here knew me yet, I had no enemies, and therefore I had no quarrels with anyone. I was confident, though, that I could take on nearly any foe, should they choose to attack me.