Zeryx couldn't tell how long it had been since the bull had appeared to him. If this was some sort of purgatory, the ram had no choice but to endure it, playing with the cards he was dealt.

"Do you go towards the light, or run away from it?" came a voice from behind.
Isaac had returned. "Is it salvation? Hope? Or a train that you need to get out of the way from?" The bull snickered.

"I don't see a light. Just your sorry hide." Zeryx snorted, almost tempted to headbutt the apparition.

"Look closer, then." Isaac stepped aside, and faint as it was, there was in fact a source of light behind him now. "Your choice, sheep. Keep running away, if you ask me. Nobody wants you out there." Isaac just laughed deeply, flicking his tail.

Zeryx forced his way past the jovial bull. "Out there? Has to be better than in here. But wait; where is here?" The ram turned to ask, but as he expected, the bull had vanished again. He decided to keep going. The light seemed to grow bigger, but it took an eternity to get there, or at least it felt like it.

As he grew close enough, he felt a chill run through him; it was very cold! Stepping out of the cave he was in and into the light, he blinked his eyes. All he saw out to the horizon was an empty landscape; frozen and lifeless with naught but a few trees. Snow fell quietly, melting when it hit his hide. Zeryx kept walking forward, taking in the view, but the chill was biting into him. He felt a familiar sinister presence behind him.

"Warned you, didn't I? It's much nicer in the warm, comfy darkness isn't it?" Isaac folded his arms, glancing down at the ram. "Nothing but a cold, lonely world to greet you out here. And you've not a shred of clothing to help you! What a shame."

Zeryx refused to look back at the taunting bull. He knew Isaac was right, but he didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing him defeated. He kept stumbling forward, even as he felt his body quickly being weighed down. He found a rock, sitting down and propping himself against it.

"They didn't want me. How could I want to be with them?" Zeryx didn't really believe his own words right now. He was always the loner. This place rather suited him, although he didn't want to admit that either. Nobody would bother him here, except maybe for Isaac. But the breeze felt like it was chilling his very soul. He found himself wishing that he had found a friend to confide in, instead of keeping to himself the way he had through his life.

"They'd just turn on you eventually, like always." Isaac chuckled, shocking the ram. "Your train of thought isn't that hard to follow." The brown and white bull's hooves crunched in the snow as he approached. "Be careful what you wish for, sheep. Worthy is the lamb, they say, but that lamb is quite dead no matter how noble it's sacrifice."

Zeryx found himself huddling closer and closer trying to stave off the freezing wind, but it seemed to pierce right through him no matter what he did. "Damn... I want to go back... "

Isaac just shook his head. "No can do. I warned you. Search all you like; you won't find the entrance. Enjoy your stay." With a sadistic snort and chuckle, the bull turned, and vanished.

Zeryx whimpered a bit, curling a bit more on that rock and let the cold embrace of winter's shadow overtake him.