Chapter 5

Tryst calms down and tries to realize what just happened, because what did just happen?! Tryst sees the two dead bodies, one against a now broken tree and one with his face flat in the grass with an arrow piercing through his body. Tryst hears horses with a wagon approaching. Tryst immediately start running away into the forest of Illian, a very large forest with all kinds of trees, plants and mythical creatures like: Centaurs, manticores, pixies, griffins, dryads, unicorns and according to the legend there is a giant fire dragon that lived in a large cave in the forest of Illian named Illian. Tryst runs through branches and large leafs, he is moving so fast he can hear the earth get pushed away where ever he places his foot. His heart is pumping in his chest and his feet are starting to hurt, but the adrenaline keeps him going.

 When he stops to catch a breath, he has gotten way deeper into the forest than he has ever done. He looks at the sun that has almost fully set and decides to sleep in the forest tonight, he will return to The Knights Of Faith castle tomorrow. He is trying to figure out where he is so he can find the hole he found in a tree five years ago, and starts walking north. It has been two hours, and it's completely dark. He is still searching for the hole, the only source of light are the pink pixies that fly around the forest. Tryst hears noises from every direction, some are normal and some are a bit off. He tries not to focus on the sounds and not to think about all the creatures that roam here at night. Especially the Manticore, he has been scared of it since he heard three people got killed by one six years ago. It has the size of a big lion, has a shaggy, red fur and blue eyes. The face and ears are human, but the mouth has three rows of teeth. His head has large and dangerous spines on it, and he has a scorpion like tail. The manticore is strong and fast and can jump over almost any obstacle. The sound it makes is a little bit weird and kind of sounds like a flute. It likes to eat human flesh, and he can fire his spines, which get immediately replaced by new ones. The only animal that can survive its attack is the elephant, because of that the famous manticore hunters ride elephants.After three hours of sweating and walking through the forest, Tryst finally finds the tree with the large hole in it. He even finds the little door he made for the hole, Tryst whispers, trying to be as quiet as possible: "I forgot I even made that little door." Tryst crawls into the hole and closes the door, he finds the lantern he put in it when he was a child, and he turns it on. The hole is small, Tryst has just enough room to fully lay down, he gets all the large leafs he brought with him on his way to the hole out of his backpack and tries to make a headrest. Tryst lays down and puts his head on the leafs, it's not comfortable but better than on the hard ground, he only now realizes the pain he has in his feet and lower legs from all the walking and running he did today. He thinks about what happened today: The focus, the speed and the strength he felt, and what was the thing he did with the arrow? Was this what Alaran was seeing in him, it can't be, right? His father was way stronger than this, he knows that for sure. He gets sleepy and closes his eyes.

Tryst finds himself in the middle of a large grass field, he sees a man with blonde hair, he looks somewhere between twenty-five and twenty-seven-years-old. Tryst gets lifted around two meters into the air and now sees the enormous army facing the man with only 20 meters between them. The army looks angry and aggressive, while the man looks calm and has his hands in his pockets. The entire field is covered in short grass, no trees or water to be seen. The army is wearing all black knight armor, and they are all carrying a sword and shield, they look ready to kill the man in front of them. The man is facing down, Tryst can't see his face clearly. It looks like the man hasn't noticed the enormous army behind him yet, "This man is about to get slaughtered!" Tryst thinks. "I must help him, but I cannot move." The army gets closer and closer to the man. Tryst opens his mouth and shouts: "LOOK BEHIND YOU! YOU MUST RUN AWAY!" Slowly, the man turns his head upwards towards Tryst, it looks like the man is putting his finger on his lips like he is telling Tryst to be quiet. He then winks at Tryst and turns around. He points his open hand towards the army, he opens his mouth and calmly says the words: "Verdant Inferno" Out of nowhere Tryst is almost blinded by an enormous wave of almost black fire that spreads insanely fast towards the opposing army. The grass is on fire and Tryst hears a loud noise the entire time. The wave reaches the army and burns every knight down to ashes, they try to run away, but it's impossible. The wave leaves nothing behind but destruction and death. Tryst hears people screaming before they fall onto the ground and get removed from the world. In thirty seconds the man has destroyed an entire army consisting of almost a hundred thousand people and the man doesn't even look exhausted or tired. He is in the exact same state as before, Tryst does not believe his eyes and looks at the man again. He squints his eyes and can see the man's face now. Tryst takes a breath and speaks: "The man looks exactly like.... me.

"Tryst wakes up and immediately sits right up, it is still dark outside. Tryst is entirely covered in sweat, and he thinks about the man and the moment. Was this a dream or something else? Tryst is completely lost in thoughts before he gets interrupted by a weird calming noise that couldn't be further than two meters away... Tryst listens carefully, and he is immediately fully awake, the sound Tryst hears is the sound of a... flute