12.
Just imagine being in such a position as that of which Samuel finds himself in. He meets and marries the lady of his dreams, his soul mate. Due to unforeseen circumstances, he cannot afford to take her away, bring her on a truly unique and amazing honeymoon though strangely enough an offer of such a thing comes his way.
No train, airplane or any other kind of transport will take Samuel and Delia to their vacation destination. They do not need money and do not even need to bring any luggage. All they need to do is simply pass through a door.
This door is not a hugely unordinary door, well in appearance at least though at that its position is unusual. Around a particular bend and in the middle of a wall is where this particular door stands. A door in a spot where a door would quite out of place. Samuel already has the key to unlock this door. He just needs to place the key in the lock and turn it and this is what he is to do.
As the key is turned a bright white light emanates from beyond the door. When the door is opened, this light completely takes over the immediate surroundings. Samuel and Delia step forward and through the door. Once this is done, the light begins to dissipate and all of a sudden Samuel and Delia are nowhere near where they had been a moment or so earlier. Not only that but, there is no sign of that door anywhere at all, nor the wall which stood with it. It had simply closed behind them and ... completely vanished.
Samuel and Delia are still outdoors. They seem to be located within some kind of park, a rather large park at that. There are plenty of trees and shrubbery of different colours all well-spaced apart. Before a word can be spoken these pre-dominantly green, brown, and orange colours all begin to tremble and shake.
The trembles soon become a whole lot stronger ... a whole lot heavier, so much so that even Sam and Delia themselves are shaking.
'What is this?' she asks, 'an earthquake?'
'No ... I don't think so' he replies. 'Look.'
Sam points and Delia looks towards where is pointing. The two quickly become frozen to the spots they stand in for off in the distance and fairly soon coming to pass not much more than fifty feet away, a heard of animals are stampeding from left to right. As long as Samuel and Delia stay where they are, they may not come into any immediate danger.
These animals stampeding are enormous, and some look like nothing that the two watching have ever seen before. A zoo of strange creatures moving at great speed is indeed a sight to behold. Delia's heart is pounding, and her eyes are open wide. She has moved to stand a step or two behind Samuel.
Samuel kinda likes what is happening and he feels safe enough to believe that neither he nor his newly-wed wife are in any danger. To him, to them both in fact, what they see is a fairly amazing sight. He is intrigued while also being almost as frightened as Delia is. Despite the fear, he feels as he is protecting his true love though in truth there would be nothing he could do if the stampede begins to move his way.
The safe feeling ... perhaps it is from the thought that they'd hardly be led to such a place as this only to be trampled on by a number of strange stampeding animals. There is not only one kind of animal running collectively, but there are many kinds, and they are made up of all sorts including the kinds of creatures that couldn't be imagined even if you tried.
Large creatures and small, those with multiple legs and those with only one, you may wonder how any kind of creature with only one leg can stampede? If you could see that creature then you would more than understand, not only would you understand but you would also ensure that you never stand in its way.
Soon the tremors begin to settle, peace settles as does the trinity of surrounding colour. The stampede has move on and out of sight, though not all the creatures have moved on. See ... safe as safe can be ...
There is a singular loud screeching squawk coming from above. There is something flying high in the sky. What it is which is indeed flying alone is not your typically viewed flying bird, for what it is just so happens to be a Pterodactyl, something that currently cannot exist.
'What the hell is that?' asks Delia.
'Dorothy, something tells me we are not in Kansas anymore.'
With the sights she has just seen Delia has dropped those flowers she had been given prior to having walked through that door. Oddly enough there is a camera, not unlike one that may be reminiscent of a time long since passed is set up on a tripod not so far away.
'Smile' speaks an apparent waiting photographer.
Delia may have dropped those flowers in the panic of seeing that stampede a moment or so prior however she had managed to hold onto one in particular and in in reaction to spying a camera and being told to smile and without thought she and Samuel embrace ... a photo is taken. Soon this photo is the possession of the couple themselves.
That photo and the flower set to be potential clues for a time ten years yet down the line.
***
Present day Samuel indeed has come to enter this door once more though for him on this particular occasion and when the light settles, Samuel is taken back to another memory ... to the point he once again feels as if he is in that memory and experiencing it in the here and now. He once more finds himself standing within Morgan Fay's Bar, and just like the last time he stood within Morgan Fay's Bar Samuel is alone.
The bar has itself and has always had itself an old-style Jukebox. This Jukebox comes to life as if someone has just turned it on but there is no one around to turn it on. A record selects itself and is mechanically placed on a turntable. A song begins to play.
Oh, she is my dear, my darling one, her eyes so sparklin' full of fun, no other, no other can match the likes of her!
As the song plays something else very peculiar happens. A single crow flies into the room and perches itself upon that Jukebox.
