"Morning kiddo," my grandfather Seth greets me in his usual chirpy way. "Heard you had a bad dream or something? Want to talk about it?" 

Grandpa Seth is as ancient as they come. Not many can claim to be well into there nineties and still be able to function, relatively well, bowls included. He is wizened from head to toe. Garbed still in his nightly clothes. Seth is as bald as an egg and has one eye virtually closed. But like me, Seth has the sixth sense. He tries to read me, but I hide my inner thoughts well from him. 

"Not really," I answer confidently. I reach into the cupboard near the new black oven and get a decorative bowl, Chinese in style. 

"Something must have troubled you?" Seth persists to inquire offering me a keen eye over his morning newspaper. 

Damn it, we are all out of Crunchy-Nut. "It was nothing," I say, "just a bad dream is all." 

"I sense-"

"Did Mari eat all the Crunchy-Nut?" I ask now in a huff its clear in my tone I am. Why does she always have to eat the last of the Crunchy-Nut?

"Well yes, she did. But eh....don't go changing the topic," Seth counters my diversion, now putting the grossly large newspaper down. I know grandpa is trying hard to sense the sinister presence that is Boogey. I pretend like it was nothing more than a bad dream.

"Have you ever had a dream that felt so real?" I ask him. 

"All the time," Granpa answers then he takes a sip of his camomile tea.

I take a seat opposite him and settle for a bowl of muesli. The milk is already out on the table and the coffee in the glass pot is still warm so I know mom and dad are not long gone. "Are they a way into town?" 

"Yeah," grandpa answered. "They are still not best pleased with you kiddo. I mean what were ya thinking bringing a wild animal like that home." 

"Are they eh...they still pissed?" I ask.

"Livid Cain absolutely livid. I mean what did you expect? He is a Mud-Blood, ya know."

"Mud-Blood?" I answer.

"A creature spawned from Hell Cain." 

"Oh right. Where is he now?" I swallow a spoonful of muesli.  

"Well....he is still here," grandpa informs me. 

"In the shed?"

"No, not exactly." 

"Where then?" 

Seth looks at me and pays me a cheeky grin and I soon find out where the wolf is. 

***

I walk over toward the barn where the cows are kept. I follow the trail of hey. Inside, there is a rancid smell, no doubt I will be having to clean up. Then I behold a man. He is taller than I and slender too but muscular. He is pale like the milk he is taking from the cow's tit. He lifts his head and proceeds to smell the air, he smells me. The man cocks his head around. He is an albino. He has white hair and a bit of beard. I know this to be the wolf I saved because he still has the one red eye and the one blue eye.  "Bout time you got up," he notes, then he goes back to milking Dasiy.

"Are you the wolf that Nikita and I saved?" I ask him just for clarification taking a step closer. 

"That I am Cain Magia, I guess now I can thank you."

"My parents did you eh-"

"Tell them about your duel? No, no, I'm not much of a grass. You and your girlfriend-"

"She is not my girlfriend-"

"Whatever you say, kid-"

"Hey look at you, you cant be much older than I."

"Point taken," the albino notes.

We had not started off so positively. He was a smart-alec who always had an answer. I guess the same could be said about myself. Like two peas in a pod, we thought alike. 

I walk closer to him, "I see you are doing my chores," I note. I look into a steel bucket and it is full of fresh milk. 

"You can thank me if you like," the wolf again has a smart answer.

I was just going to play it cool, "Yeah," I say, "thanks."

"It is the only way I can win your parent's trust."

"Yeah, I should have warned you, shouldn't I."

"Ah its cool Cain, besides I have been looking to settle down in a nice place. I like it here ya know."

"My grandpa says you are a Mud-Blood, is he right?"

He stops milking Dasiy I guess she is all out of milk. "He would be right, but a lot of Mud-Bloods are good people."

"Sure...tell me, why did you not appear to me as a man yesterday?" 

"I couldn't. I lost a duel and had to stay in my wolf form for a day."

 "What is your name?" I ask him.

 "Madrabán," he answers, " Madrabán Síocháin." 

"I guess I'll be seeing ya," I say as I move away. 

"G'luck," he answers.  

"Yeah...g'luck."

***

I had spent the evening getting better acquainted with my Playstation. I was trying to finish this mission on Final Fantasy 11. Who knows when I will get to play it again. If the message from that Boogey creature is true I must be on my way soon. 

Mari had already been put to bed and Im certain mom is also in her room grandpa Seth is asleep by nine. My auld man knocks on the door of the plush living room. I'm zombified off course drawn to the game I can not put down. 

"Get to bed early," my father tells me sternly, he is still not best pleased that I invited the Mud-Blood Madrabán Síocháin home. But the albino Mud-Blood has proven his loyalty to my folks and has been given a room in exchange he will help out on the farm.  

I play the game for a little bit longer and wait until it is dead quiet before packing up a few belongings I sense I don't need much. Then, I turn off everything and leave the house. Who knows when I will return.

At the end of the lane, a man appears from the shadows, he seems to be waiting for me.  As I get to the end of the lane I notice who it is. It is Madrabán Síocháin.

"Think I would have left you to go on your own?" He asks me. 

"I guess not I reply."

"I know where you are going," he tells me. 

"Where?" I ask the albino.

"I know you are going to the Underworld," he says.

"I suppose you are here to persuade me otherwise-"

"On the contrary young Cain, you have no choice but to go, it is your destiny you should return to, well, you will soon learn the truth." then   Madrabán morphs into his wolf self without saying anything else. We were on our way.

 But what will I learn?