As twilight deepened into the year’s shortest night, June 21, 2027, the sleepy coastal village of Ravenscar stirred with anticipation. Local celebrity historian Dr. Eleanor Fitch had managed to convince the town council to revive an ancient ritual at the nearby Woddenstone stone circle. “For tourism,” she’d said and promised them that Chronos Files, the popular TV show she hosted on historical mysteries would take an active interest.
No one expected what followed.
At precisely 9:47 PM, as the ancient ritual came to an end and the final rays of sunlight kissed the weathered megaliths, a brilliant, cold light replaced it in the gathering gloom. The light came from behind the dozens of onlookers focussed on the spectacle of the Solstice Sun. So transfixed were they by the moment of sunset that pierced the notch formed by two gargantuan megaliths, it was a feeling of unfettered dread that first alerted one of their number to what was happening behind. As he turned and saw the light, his entire nature of being — his ontological framework of how things were meant to be — performed a handbrake 180 degree turn and crashed the paradigm. He was the first to know without a glimmer of doubt what the Universe, indeed, truly was.
