3.

It was five days before the wedding when Delia arrived at a café to meet with her husband to be. He was already there, sitting alone and looking quite distracted. Samuel had been so distracted that he didn't even notice Delia arriving.

'What cha doin'?' she simply and almost playfully spoke in the hopes to gently bring him out of his trance also hoping and almost expecting a positive reaction.

'Huh?' he says just before realizing that company has arrived. 'Oh hey'. Samuel stands, forces a smile onto his face and hugs the love of his life, kisses her briefly.

'So, what's happening buddy?' she says punching him in the shoulder. 'You're a million miles away, is everything alright?'

He smiles again but the smile doesn't remain on his face for long, his eyes more than suggest something is wrong. For the moment she will wait. Whatever it is he has to tell, it will come, soon. They both go order themselves some coffee and then move to go sit down right where Sam had been sitting when Delia arrived. Clearly Samuel has something to say and he struggles to get any words out. It takes a moment or two, but the words do come.

'It's work ... they ... they let me go earlier today ... cutbacks apparently. I didn't even see it coming. I should have. I should have seen it.'

Samuel clenches his fists upon the table and turns his head away in an attempt to contain just how it is he feels. With her own hands Delia reaches and takes those clenched fists, aiding them to relax in a way that only she can. There is silence between the two for about half a minute, thirty seconds that feel so much longer.

'It's alright, we'll get through this, you will bounce back.'

'But we're getting married, haven't even booked the honeymoon yet' says Samuel, struggling to keep his emotion in check.

'Don't worry about that, we can sort that again soon. It's not so important.'

'Of course ... it's important, Delia, you deserve the world. I'd give you the whole of it and more if I could.'

'I know that. I have everything I want right here. You and I forever, right? We'll be fine ... we will be fine.'

***

The next few days passed quickly, and the time came for a wedding to take place. It was nothing fancy or expensive though was in its own way perfectly perfect. Closest family and friends were in attendance including the group of friends who unintentionally brought Samuel and Delia together. In the church and close to showtime, Samuel waited nervously. At the moment the organ began to play he turned to see the most beautiful sight in the world come slowly down the aisle.

A beautiful sight indeed and all dressed in white, moving down that aisle, stepping forward upon fallen red rose petals, an amazing sight if there ever was one. He is beside himself and love is most definitely in the air. She arrives at his side. He lifts her veil, then takes her hands as she has done his so many times before. The smiles on both their faces are contagious. The ceremony is fuelled by an overwhelming joy. There were tears, many tears, tears of joy. It is all perfectly perfect indeed.

Tears ... if this had been somewhere else after almost any point a darkness began to intrude then a quickening war would end almost instantly. This, however, is not a faraway place though perhaps this moment is where an attraction of another sort actually took hold.

The afters go swimmingly. This was not a time for financial worry, not a time to worry about stability, not a time to worry about the future. It was a time for celebration and for happiness. There is love, laughter and dance, a non-stop evening of dance. As Samuel remembers that evening it is as if we danced all night then we danced some more, we danced until we could dance no more.

There was a face in attendance on this evening that Samuel does not know. It was the face of a man and Samuel had seen this face once before. It is a face he will see again.

***

A knight, in full armor, and not shining armor at that, enters the castle still upon his steed. They enter the main throne room where his queen awaits.

'What news does thy bring me?'

'My queen ... as you foretold, the great nothing has come, two small breeches detected so far. We have lost three good men. Our swords and steeds are useless against it. It consumes all in its path ...'

'What is the status of these breeches?'

'Two of our finest wizards, each with an apprentice, are managing to hold both breeches at bay though my lady, this can only last so long ...'

'Alright good knight ... do all that you can ... a search for the cure to destroy these breeches has begun ... stand tough ... stand firm ...'

'Yes ... my lady.'

The knight leads his steed away, ready for battle ... even if he believes it hopeless.

***

Those keys I have come across, the ones from back at that oak tree, I know what they are for. Well, I know what one of them is for and I've a fair idea about the other two. There is this door I promised to stay away from. I promised to stay away from a door? When did I promise that? Isn't there someone in particular somewhere on the other side of that door? ...

4.

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water.

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after.

As devastating as that rhyme is, it is not seen in such light, and it is deemed something to be told to children almost as to say whatever you do in life ... you will fail, and such a thing is simply untrue. So, if either or both Samuel and Delia are to be ... recruited, are they doomed to fail?

Anyhow, Jack and Jill may have had a hill to climb but as for Samuel and Delia, well they had a door to go through, a door unlike any other door in existence. You see, this particular door is a porthole to the kind of place with which most people, if they were told of its existence, would not believe in even if they were to get to see it with their own eyes.

If there had actually been a Jack and Jill, then quite possibly they came from the far side of that door. Are Sam and Delia destined to have their own rhyme? Perhaps a story will one day come to light of an adventure taken.

The thing about this place beyond that door is that it does not care what anyone believes, it exists all the same and is most definitely a place which is very real indeed ... if anything it thrives on disbelief. And in this there is a kind of paradox for there is a dependance, a reliance to find a cure, not a cure so much but a fix, to find the tool to fight and end a war. Find that answer to bring peace and a darkness in one place will not spread to the other.

This door, when they go through it, indeed takes them to a world far, far away yet right there just past the door, a world where myth and legend reign free. A door to a world so enchanting that one could be forgiven for believing they have stepped into some kind of dream. Such a thought might go a long way with explaining why Samuel has such a difficult time in remembering anything at all.

Sure, as it is in the present-day, Samuel is still somewhat unaware that he and Delia ever went through any kind of door or porthole to a world far, far away, still there is some sort of recollection.

It is only a matter of time until that changes, only a matter of time before forgotten memories come flooding back. He already has the key which will take him back through that door along with a vague remembrance of there being a door. There may have been a friend and a stranger involved but there was something else too. What was it that brought Samuel and Delia to that door in the first place? And what is it that compels him to return to such a place?

***

The wedding reception rocked for hours. The perfect hotel had been carefully chosen as the reception venue well in advance of the wedding and long before Samuel knew he was to lose his job. It had been booked and paid for in full, so they were indeed going to enjoy everything they possibly could about it.

Samuel and Delia had danced all that they could dance, well not quite. They of course saved what they hoped would be the best dance of all for the end of the evening, a dance they could share behind closed doors.

So darling', save the last dance for me.

The party continued long after the newly-weds made their departure for some alone time. As stealthily as possible they made their escape from the ballroom that hosted their own wedding reception. It would only be a matter of minutes before Sam and Delia would reach their hotel room and as they came close to the door, they hoped to close behind them, Delia would ask a particular question.

'Do ya think they know we are gone yet?' this of course was asked with a smile and an implicit giggle.

'Of course, they do. They knew the second we made an exit.'

There are kisses, ear-nibbling, and innuendoes all the way down the final hallway. The kingdom waits. Anticipation, does it enhance or take away? Maybe that depends on who you may ask. Clothes were almost already being removed before the destination is even reached.

'Why does the bridal suite have to be so far away?' asks Samuel who is almost carrying Delia at this point in an effort to get to that suite all the quicker.

'Steady now cowboy, you need to hold onto your energy levels.'

'Oh, don't worry about me. I'm good to go.'

Destination has been reached, door is opened and there is a slight pause.

'Once we enter there is no coming out' he says.

'Oh really?' she says with the largest of grins.

'Really ...'

She smiles and he soon lifts her properly and carries her into the room, pushing the door shut with his left foot. Still being carried her position changes, becoming more upright. Freeing one arm at a time he removes his suit jacket as she removes his tie, going on to unbutton his shirt.

Kisses become longer and more passionate as they approach the bed, and she is released upon it to lie on her back and from right to left across it. He removes his shirt as he takes up a hands and knees position over his wife. A lengthy kiss is now shared though before it ends there is a knock to the hotel room door. Samuel briefly turns his head and looks towards the door then looks back at his wife.

'Expecting someone?' she asks.

'Of course not, you?'

'... No, I most definitely am not.'

He gets off the bed, moves towards the door, puts his jacket back on then opens that door. There is no one there. He moves out into the hallway and looks both ways. There is no one nearby and not a soul is to be seen at all. Something is caught through the corner of his eye for as he looks down towards the right side of the corridor ... something comes at him from the left.

He gasps and almost jumps a step backward. He questions things for a moment before heading back out of the room. A crow had come at him then had flown on by. If he hadn't taken a step backwards it surely would have hit him. A crow? ... in a hotel corridor? He goes to look again, and it is long gone. So back into the room it is, and it is not long before normal business is resumed.