"Aaron. Aaron! Wake up!" Something was pushing on Aaron's back, and when he opened his eyes, he was still on the horse with Darren in front holding the reigns, and Ryan in back nudging him with his arm. The horse was in a slow trot, and the path was well lit by rays of light, which trickled through the leaves of the trees.

Half awake, speaking as though he were in a drunken stupor, Aaron slurred out the words, "Where were you?" Darren looked back at him in extreme puzzlement. Aaron then opened his eyes all the way, and suddenly smiled. "Oh! I must have fallen asleep."

"Yes, you nearly blasted my ears open with that shriek!" He laughed.

"Are you okay?" Inquired a worried Ryan. Aaron nodded, and when he recalled his nightmare, he only told them that he dreamt he fell off the horse.

"You nearly did!" Ryan spoke. "Were it not for me-"

"You would've been asleep for a much longer time!" Darren interrupted, and then laughed again. Trying to settle into the cheery mood of his companions, Aaron smiled and produced a fake chuckle. But inside he was still uncomfortable, and when he closed his eyes, all he saw was the face; the awful face of the dark, mysterious traveler who had stood on the dirt path as though he had lost his way. It was the cold, white face of the dead, the dead who have been in that state for a very long time, so that all of their flesh and blood have rotten away; the white face, of Death.

-----

There was light at the end of the tunnel of trees, and the sun shone brightly on all their faces. The fear was starting to overcome Aaron, and he nearly grabbed the reigns from Darren and turned the horse around, but before he could do anything, they cleared the forest and could see, for the first time, Mount Sirus in its entirety. It was completely black as if the rays of sunlight bounced off its surface, or merely skipped over it.

And then, suddenly, Darren and Ryan watched as their friend's eyes opened wide and he gasped loudly. Aaron heard a voice, and it was identical to the voice in the fields, but this time it was stronger. And again, it spoke only a word: Seer.

"Did you hear that?" He said to his companions with an anxious, curious eye.

"Hear what?"

Aaron was dumbfounded. 'Could they not have heard it?' He asked himself.

"What happened?" Questioned a concerned Ryan.

Aaron wanted to tell them, but he wasn't sure that it had really happened. Had he slipped into another dream? Was the voice only inside his weary mind? Was the encounter in the fields a dream, as well? 'They must have been,' he thought to himself. 'Because I was the only to hear it! But maybe,' it occurred to him suddenly. 'What if they were all real?! The voice, and the dark traveler. Real! But only in my mind.' He was utterly confused, and his head began to hurt. 'Oh, what are they?' He asked himself in angst.

"Aaron, are you all right?" Ryan asked. "We're almost there!" He added.

'Oh, no!' It suddenly came to Aaron. 'They are warnings! We are riding straight into peril!'

"I think we should go back." He said aloud.

"Go back?" Said Darren. "But the mountain is so near!" He exclaimed.

"And that is exactly why we must turn back before it is too late."

"Too late for what?" Inquired Ryan.

Aaron suddenly realized that the argument he was about to put forward was the very same he had used and failed with before in the tavern. His heart sank, fear spread and diffused through his body. He choked on his words, and nothing came out of his mouth except, to his chagrin, "I'm sorry." So they went on, through the prairie, without another word from Aaron.

Finally, they came to the piedmont. They dismounted the horse and tied the reigns to a nearby shrubbery, and then turned to face the mountain; it had a dark, jagged surface, and it towered over them, tall and mighty.

Darren's confidence did not wither, but Aaron and Ryan expected what had been told and recorded by the elders; a sudden, intense, feeling of terror. But it never came. Instead, while they contemplated how to elevate themselves to the only entrance to the cavern at the top of the mountain, where the fires had been seen spewing out, a dusty, gray staircase emerged from the black, and it rose to the very top of the mountain.

Darren turned and smiled at Aaron and Ryan. "Look! We're not the first to have come this far!" But that didn't satisfy Aaron, for he saw that the staircase was very old and the corners were worn down. There were no footprints or scuffmarks of any kind to suggest any recent visitor. The bricks had to have been lain thousands of years ago, when the world was young and safe, and dragons were unheard of.

But again, Aaron kept quiet, and Darren and Ryan started up the stairs. Aaron hesitantly followed. The climb to the top took much time, and Darren's excitement grew along with their distance from the ground by which they came. Aaron and Ryan moved more cautiously, up to the very top of Mount Sirus.

-----

At the last stair, Darren turned and looked over Aaron and Ryan. "Look!" He said. They turned and realized that they were at the highest point in all of the lands. Aaron could see the Bella Crescent, and beyond it Mount Pire. They could see as far off as Sarod, for the sky was clear and blue. The view was a wondrous collage of color unlike any they had ever seen. But ironically, if they turned their eyes again, and looked down at the ground underneath their feet, they would see the darkest, coldest, blackest piece of land in all of the vast territories that lay before their eyes.

Balls of red and blue flame burst from the opening at the top, called the eye of the mountain. The burst nearly sent all three of them tumbling down the side of it, but they regained their footing quickly, and climbed the top stair. Ahead of them was a straight path not gray like the staircase, but jet black. The path went uphill until it came to a ledge, and beyond it is where they had seen the burst of fire. They slowly made their way to the ledge. Darren felt courageous as another ball of flame rose to the sky and vanished, leaving a signature of smoke. But Ryan and Aaron were overcome with terror.

At last, they came to the edge and could hear the fiery activity below.

"I'm beginning to agree with Aaron." Cried Ryan. "We should go back. Where there is so much fire and darkness, there must also be dragons!"

Darren spoke in irritation. "And what do you know of dragons, Ryan! Have you ever seen one?" Ryan made no response. "We did not come all this way just to turn back at the last moment!"

Then Darren nodded and smiled for the last time, and turned to peak over the ledge.

It took only an instant. Darren hadn't even the time to scream, for he was gone, gone, over the ledge, deep into the fiery abyss. There was an awful silence, and only the crackling of the fire could be heard.

"No!" Breaking the silence, Aaron violently shrieked. "Darren!" And Ryan, who was on his knees, reached for the ledge, and with his other hand he covered his mouth.

Suddenly, for only a moment, the mountain quaked and became very unstable. The tremor resonated from the base of the mountain into the ground, and it could scarcely be noticed, but when the mountain shook and then settled again, it had grown wider at the base, extending the reaches and depths of the cavern.

A moment later, Aaron and Ryan heard Darren's voice. It was a loud, horrible, painful, scream that pierced through them as a dagger to the heart.

"Darren!" Aaron screamed. Desperately, he worked up the courage to crawl to the ledge, and peak over.

"No, Aaron! Stop!" Ryan cried out. But it was too late. Aaron was looking down, leaning over the edge, staring into the fiery abyss.

Strange it seemed to Aaron that the fires did not illuminate the pit or emit rays of light; rather they burned cold and dark. Where there wasn't fire, there was blackness.

Aaron's eyes were surveying the movement of the fires, when bursting from the darkness again, the voice of Darren screamed in agony. Aaron spotted the source; it was the only object radiating light; a glowing, white sphere lying in the fire. And as the flame consumed it, it slowly grew dimmer and dimmer, until it was no more, and the voice of Darren was silenced with it. Fire was the only sound. Fear was all encompassing.

Another moment passed, and slowly, in dreadful silence, a shadow began to creep over the fire, quenching it, or blocking it; Aaron could not tell. It was like a black flame, eclipsing the fire. He looked closer, and was startled, for from within the shadow, emerged two eyes, flaming red. He was too frightened to run, and too shocked to scream. The eyes entranced him, as he could tell they were fixed on him; terrible eyes of red and gold flame. They burned and pierced through Aaron, who remained motionless as stone in awe and terror.

He was face to face with a terrible shadow.