I am leaning to that having been the Dark One, now. He was telling Rand that he would not face him, that he must face his chosen one, Ishamael, instead. And then the magic steps appeared. Rand seems to have made them, which is odd, but I get the feeling like he was guided in some way. I might be wrong, but it makes sense to me.

Don't get too excited, but I will tell you the two facts that led me to this conclusion:

1. Apparently, you can only sense or read the residue of someone channeling the True Power if you are currently allowed to use it. At Theoryland, we have been arguing heatedly about Rand reading Ishamael's residue in the Stone. By all the evidence, Ishamael seems to have been using the True Power.

2. Nynaeve can see mental illnesses in people's brains like she can see Compulsion weaves. Rand has some seriously scary shit in his brain...but probably because of recent events, these hooks are warded by a force of Light that is probably protecting Rand to an extent. I theorize that the merge is still a danger, but Rand's state of mind is no longer so precarious.