William threw the money to the Taxi driver, "That should be enough. If we are not back within the hour, then don't wait for us."
            Llan gave his friend an exasperated look "What in the name of hell are you talkin about!? What do you mean? Why wouldn't we be back??"
            His friend didn't answer as he jumped from the back seat and began walking across the plain in the direction of Stonehenge.
            Llan hurried along behind him, coat wrapped tightly around his body as he shivered against the icy cold winds of Salisbury plain.
            "You are insane! Did you know that? Totally BLOODY INSANE!!!" Llan mumbled to his friend as he stumbled through the dark attempting to keep up. "I cannot believe I am stumbling across a bloody freezing cold field at 4 o'clock in the morning, toward an ancient monument. And why I ask you? Yes why? Talk to me!!!"
            Llan rushed forward angrily and grabbed William by the shoulder and turned him about face.
            "Why!? What *are* we doing here?"
            His friend spoke softly as a breeze picked up, chilling them to the core. "Because I know that I should be here. Something beckons... something... I know not. But we... shall know soon... I hope..."
            Llan's jaw dropped slightly as he stood there shivering intensely "You....you are SCARING me."
            William turned to continue walking but Llan stopped him. As he spoke his voice was serious and slightly afraid. "Promise me...PROMISE me you will get some help my friend? Promise me that you'll do what your parents say and seek some counseling."
            "The dream was not a dream. It was..." William sighed quickly, finding it hard to explain. "...I just know I am supposed to be here, as though..."
            Llan just shook his head. "I will never play any more campaigns with you agan until you get some help. At first you were scaring your parents. Now you are scaring the hell of out me!"
            William didn't respond and turn away, continuing across the field toward Stonehenge.
            "Bloody hell" said Llan frustrated as he once again followed him. "Bloody insane!!!"

***

            It took a good thirty minutes of walking before the giant stones of the ancient site suddenly loomed visible out of the darkness. Within minutes they stood before the great circle of stones known as Stonehenge...
            William stood there for some time staring into the center intently.
            "So much... suffering, greed and hatred in our world, Llan. The people here often confuse petty differences with the concept of evil. If only there was a true evil, something that could unite people..."
            "Uh..." Llan began, the silence beginning to disturb him. Both the teenaged boys were shivering again, as the bite of cold returned to embrace them after their hurried walk. "..Will?"
            "There!" said William sharply.
            "Where!? What?"
            "There!!!"
            "Uh, WHERE?"
            "THERE!" said William, pointing at something he could have sworn had glimmered briefly.
            "I see nothing," said Llan, his worry for his friend's sanity beginning to rise.  William stumbled forward into the circle of stones.
            "Uh, should we be doing this? I mean...Will?" Llan didn't finish but just sighed deeply as he watched his friend.
            "It was supposed to be here, I could have sworn I saw something..." said William falling to his hands and knees and searching the ground obsessively.
            Llan slowly shook his head as he spoke. "Wha...what was supposed to be here? WILL??? If we don't get back before your parents wake, we are *really* going to be..."
            "LOOK! This is what I saw in my dream!? This!" interrupted William, hurrying towards Llan with something clenched in his fist. He held it up in the soft moonlight for Llan to see. "THIS!"
            Llan looked down at the small object in William's open hand. It
was a small amulet with a thin style of chain that seemed fragile but in fact
was very strong. The amulet itself was shaped like a serpent and it glittered
of silver in the soft starlight. Llan gazed at the serpent amulet in William's
hand and then back up at William and spoke, his voice a mixture of
disbelief and worry for his friend's mind. "Uh...a necklace?"
            William laughed "YES! I am so excited. Look at it! This is what I saw in my dream!"
            Llan stared at his friend's smiling face for several long moments and then threw his arms up in the air and shouted. "You pulled me out of bed at 3 oclock in the morning, to trounce across a bloody freezing cold field to Stonehenge! STONEHENGE!!! What the hell are we doing here?!? And for what? Some necklace you lost!???"
            "Llan, listen..."
            Llan backed away. "No, we are leaving. Your parents are right, you need help my friend. I am going back to the Taxi, I will see you there..."
            His hippie friend began the long walk back across the field toward the main highway where the taxi was parked.  William looked at it from his friend's point of view and he agreed. It did *seem* insane. But he knew it wasn't.
            All his life he had known that he was not a part of the normal way of life. He never felt like he had a purpose in life, or that he fit into society. He was always a dreamer, one who looked beyond the physical and imagined that there must be so much more than one could see. So much more than Earth. He knew there was something else out there and he needed to be a part of it.
            Or then again, his own obsession with his lack of place in society could have led to a psychosis that subconsciously conjured up these dreams and visions and his delusion had become so real that he also subconsciously fed that delusion by talking his parents into coming to Stonehenge, by dragging his only friend out of bed to Stonehenge in the early hours of the morning and finding a rock.
            So he had a dream that he had to come to Stonehenge to find a necklace? How convenient. There had to be something laying in the grass somewhere that somebody had lost, what if whatever he found he assumed was the item he came to find? Wouldn't be a very hard delusion to fulfull. Perhaps he *was* feeding a delusion?  But the silver amulet didn't *seem* like a normal amulet. What if it was...
            William took in a deep breath and sighed heavily. He did not want to face reality. It would be too painful to admit he had problems and try to fit in. Dozens of emotions flooded through his mind and heart. Llan was right. He was losing it. The reality of where he was and what time it was suddenly hit him. And it hit him hard.
            William looked down at the strange little serpent amulet in his hand. It felt smooth and cool to the touch. It should have been a LOT cooler due to the freezing temperature. It felt like it was going to snow. With one last look at the ancient circle of stones, he sighed and headed off in the direction that Llan had left a few minutes before, slipping the necklace over his head without any conscious thought.  He hoped they could get back to the Hotel before his parents realised they were gone. This surely would have convinced them of his need for help. And they would be right, he assumed.
            As he walked from Stonehenge into the field, he began to detect the sound of a high pitched keening noise, and the area around him suddenly lit up in a soft blue glow.
            Something...had appeared behind him.
            William froze in his tracks. The blue light and the high pitched sound sent a spark of fear into his heart so intense that he could not turn around for several moments.
            But he knew he had to. It was almost as if he would turn around, and his whole life's purpose, his destiny, would be there to greet him.
            And thus he turned.
            "Beautiful!" was the first word that escaped his lips as his jaw dropped and his eyes widened in amazement. Right there, in the middle of Stonehenge stood a tall, blue shimmering phenomena. It was rectangular in shape and roughly the height, width and depth of an average door, maybe a little larger.
            He stood there gasping in awe. His mind racing with a thousand thoughts. "Please god, please do not let this be an illusion of a sick mind!"
            The gate swirled and shimmered as pulsating colours of blue swam about within.  Controlling his fear and his ecstacy, he took a deep breath and shouted at the top of his lungs. "LLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!"

***

            Llan turned at the sound of his friend's cry. He managed about one hundred meters from the site when he had heard the sound.  He could not quite make out what was within the stones, but it was a blazing blue light. He didn't think no more, but sprinted across the field toward the stones, worried for his friend and being too alarmed to even begin to surmise what the light could be.
            As he burst into the clearing where the stones where he suddenly skidded to a stop. His thoughts were pretty much the same as William's as he beheld the blue portal shimmering in the darkness and lighting up the surrounding area.
            He noticed William was in awe and was circling the portal cautiously. He then looked up and smiled. "You see it too don't you? DON'T YOU?" he yelled in excitement.
            Llan smiled and nodded and then returned to gaping at the portal in disbelief. "Wh...what is it?"
            "Not an illusion," answered William, his voice bursting with excitement, yet slightly fearful as well. "For we both can see it!"
            "Now what?" Llan asked, knowing all too well what his friend would say.
            "Well? It looks like a gateway does it not?"
            Llan shook his head "Friend, I-- I am not even...thinking clearly. Is this real even? I mean, *gasp*, can it be a trick?" He then set to thoroughly searching the area for any lights or mirrors muttering "This...this can't be real...it...it can't be..."
            William grabbed him by the shoulders, his eyes alight with a new sense of purpose "Who knew we would be coming here? Who would play a trick like this?"
            Llan continued to stare at the portal in disbelief.
            "I'm going in," said William abruptly. "Coming?"
            "Madness, William Cantabrigian! You are crazy!" replied Llan backing away.
            "Well if it's a trick, nothing will happen. If not..." William smiled.
            "If not.." Llan repeated. "What will it do?"
            "Let's find out!" suggested William, barely able to contain his excitement.
            Llan shook his head, eyes still locked onto the gate. "No..."
            "Llan!!! You know what I say is true. Part of you knew that or you would never have accompanied me here in the first place. Please my friend. This is... this is... there are NO words to describe what this is..." William pleaded.
            As he spoke the high pitched sound coming from the gate began to wane and the light around the area began to slowly fade.
            "It's leaving!" Said William and then he looked Llan square in the eyes "No more arguments, I am going. This may never happen again. Do you wish to go to your grave wondering what this night was? Wondering what it could have meant?"
            Without another word William walked into the stones and into the shimmering gate and was no more.
            "Will? Hello?" Llan asked. His friend had vanished. He was had walked into the gate and vanished. The portal was buckling and crackling, it's shape began to break up.
            "Oh no, why did I ever do this....arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" said Llan as he screamed and sprinted into the portal and vanished.
            A second later a loud clap broke the silence of the plain. Once again Stonehenge was covered in darkness. There was nothing. Only the sounds of the soft crickets and the occasional swaying of the long grass could be heard.
            William Cantabrigian and Llan FitzOwen had vanished.
 
 
 
 

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