Elayra scowled at Ghent’s question. “If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be walking, would I?” she snapped as they cleared the few feet remaining between them and Hollow Forest. With her foot scarcely half a step from the dirt floor of the woods, she released Ghent and hesitated a moment more.
	She contemplated giving Ghent a warning, but then, there really was nothing anyone could say to prepare someone for their first step in Hollow Forest. So instead, she cast a glare at him.
	“And don’t you [i]ever[/i] shout someone’s weakness again!” she hissed, her gaze hard, then she turned on her heels, braced herself as well as she could, and stepped into Hollow Forest.
	As soon as they passed beneath the protective tree barrier, an eerie silence settled around them, a silence that made one appreciate exactly how much noise is always there, even in the quietest of moments. The oppressive sensation of emptiness, regret, and despair greeted them, as if the sorrows of the world had sunk into the earth and coalesced in the soil of the forest. The intense hues of the foliage around them created a beauty that looked more like a Photoshop job than reality, a beauty ill-placed among the emotions that prickled at the edges of their consciousness, waiting to be allowed full entrance into the minds and hearts of any soul too weak to block it out.
	Around them, the morning sun peaked through the emerald leaves, dappling the vines meandering their way about the forest floor and climbing up any surface they could cling to. Dust motes floated lazily in and out of the young rays, glittering in a peaceful façade, as immune to the aura around them as the vegetation. 
	Elayra shivered. She placed her left hand on her sword, gripping the hilt tightly. A few paces out, she turned to make sure both Ghent and Drust followed, incapable of hiding her unease as she tried to guard her mind and emotions.