The sound of steel against rock and dirt echoed through the English countryside. It was an extremely hot and bright summer day in Yorkshire, England. A group of men and women, all in light clothing, were working in a fairly deep pit. They'd been digging all day, and it was obvious they hadn't found what they were looking for. Most of them looked to be in sour spirits.
"Neal, do we really have to keep doing this? There's nothing here!" One of the older men asked with a sigh as he looked to a young redhead that was digging furiously in the opposite corner. The young male paused and looked over his shoulder at him, giving a look that stated he'd not noticed his companions' woes until that very moment. He stood straight and sighed, wiping some sweat from his brow.
"Sorry everyone. I know you've all been working hard." He said, glancing about them with his green eyes. They had soft golden specks in them that gave his eyes a strange brilliance.
"We'll stay just a little longer. Please bear with me."
The others said nothing, but it was obvious they weren't with him at all. He was the youngest of the group...so why was he in charge? He wasn't THAT smart.
Neal Whittaker went back to work, throwing dirt into the air like it was nothing. He'd only just recently graduated from the school of archaeology at the top of his class. This was his first real dig, and he was certain he'd find something. It was nearly an hour when suddenly his shovel hit something, something hard. He crouched down and moved away dirt with his hands. At first it just felt like a rock, and it was, but it wasn't just a rock, it was some kind of storage device. Neal blinked and, with some trouble, lifted the heavy rock lid off of the small storage unit. The others had gathered around him now, all curious. He carefully reached in and pulled out......well...it looked like some kind of pendant; like a necklace or something. It was a single brilliant gem looped through a faded piece of leather.
"I wonder what its significance was..." One of the others murmured. Neal wasn't sure himself. The gem was pretty though. He reached out and grasped it, and at that exact moment the gem began to glow a brilliant color. Everyone gasped as the light engulfed Neal. The young man heard them shout and the next thing he knew he was standing in a field that expanded for miles without end. The air felt different....no one was there, not even the pit he'd been standing in moments before. He looked around himself, in shock, the gem still held tightly in his hand.
"What..........what happened......? Where am I?"
