Aaron tried to calm himself by hearing his own words in his head; it is just a silly trip. But he knew they weren't true, and fear was burning his mind.

Aaron met his two best friends at the gate to Sarod not long after sunrise, and Darren, as promised, had a horse with him. By the advice of Ryan's father, they rode north along the Tulsa River, easily bypassing the Isil Mountains, and past the abandoned territory of Isilius, to the Isil Forest. The forest provided a direct route to Ilrom, where they wouldn't have to pass through the rough, barren, wasteland and around Lake Detore.

The Isil forest was not unsightly. The edges of the path were lined with eighty-foot oaks, and rays of sunlight trickled through the leaves, lighting the trail. But the deeper they moved into the forest, the worse Aaron felt, and he was frightened for a reason he could not fathom. His alert eyes were focused straight ahead, on the dirt trail that lay before them, which seemed to lead to a dead end after every turn as it twisted and winded around the slopes of the forest. The endless road grew narrower and darker as the ride continued. Very little light now shone through the trees, and Aaron's eyelids became heavy as the boring scenery seemed not to change. The same trees kept passing by, leaving the trail caught in shadow, and around each bend was the same dark path leading nowhere but to another bend. Aaron's eyelids slowly came together, and his vision was reduced to a narrow slit of lit of light that slipped through the small crack left between them.

As they rounded the next bend, Aaron's eyes were open again, for he noticed that something was different at the end of this path. There was not another bend, rather a round, empty blackness, blocking everything including the light from passing. Aaron stared in wonder, and as the darkness came closer, a more complicated shape emerged.

The figure was tall but stocky, and at its top it grew narrow and sharp. Suddenly, to Aaron's awful astonishment, it moved. And it was then that he realized that this was the silhouette of a man, a tall man, and in his hand he held a staff. "Look!" He hissed, but no one answered. Curious, he turned and discovered that he was riding alone on the horse. The fear in Aaron's heart was suddenly aroused, and it began pumping into his veins. 'Where have they gone?' He thought in horror.

He searched around him in panic for an answer but found nothing but passing trees and their shadows.

The horse continued galloping toward the dark figure, and when Aaron turned and saw it, he became stricken with a terror he had never felt before. At the top end of the staff, gleaming in the only ray of light yielded by the trees, a long, metal blade protruded, sharp and deadly. And its wielder, as Aaron could now see, wore a dark, black robe, whose hood hid his face in shadow.

As the horse drew closer, and was nearly upon the dark, mysterious man, another ray of light burst through the trees, and revealed the man's face.

Aaron screamed, and without hesitating, he jumped from the horse.

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