Author's Note: Hi Everyone. Thank you all for your support and I'm glad you are enjoying this story so far. I'm almost finished it - just one more chapter after this, whoo-whoo!

I realize that there has been a delay in updating this chapter. Well, the reason is I've been quite busy in preparing to go to Sakura Con in Seattle, WA on April 18-20. I'll be presenting artwork based for my animated series called "Tales of Mytherwrel".

Just a warning, the last chapter won't be updated until after the 20th. Please enjoy chapter nine...and as usual, I look forward to your comments!

Chapter Nine - Open the Gate

Craig wondered how his life ended up in this predicament. A week ago, he would never have seen himself risking his own life to rescue someone else's. He normally enjoyed quieter, less adventurous situations. However, a friend needed him, a friend that once risked his life to save his own.

With great effort, Craig tried the best he could to keep Kenny away from the crazy men in hooded cloaks. So much good that did, now he's the one in danger and the person he wanted to protect is about to sacrifice his life to open some invisible gate that would unleash an evil to this world.

'Some hero I turned out to be,' he mentally punished himself with a heavy sigh.

Craig felt the vice grip on his shoulders from the man holding him. He jerked his shoulders forward to no avail. The cloaked man behind him gave a forced squeeze to assured Craig he was not been let go for any reason.

"Ow, quit it!" Craig complained.

"You're not going anywhere, boy." The man said aggressively.

Craig looked up to see the Cult leader guiding Kenny in the middle of strange symbols painted on the ground. He grew worried when he saw that Kenny was walking in a hypnotic state, as he did back in the hospital. It all seemed to start when the Cult leader pulled out the Cthulhu pendent. Craig watched fearfully as the cloaked man held out the pendent in front of Kenny once again as he chanted:

Through strange angles are the Gates
Through which my ancient Lord may come,
Come forth, and increase in all your strength!
The very curves of space shall break and be undone
And open to your kind who move in primal serenity
And dwell forever between space and beyond time.

The red eyes of the pendent glowed with intense eeriness. Craig didn't have to be a genius to figure out that that pendent was causing Kenny to go along with this charade like a mindless zombie.

"In a mindless, black abyssal sea," Kenny began chanting in a hypnotic state. "A Crawling Chaos howls in Eternal Night."

As soon as Craig saw Kenny lift up a dagger that was when he knew, he had to take action - no matter the cause.

"Kenny...! No... Snap out of it!" He screamed. Craig attempted, once again, to squirm out of his captor's hold.

"Stay still! This is your final warning!" The man growled. He reached his hand over to cover the boy's mouth, only to have it bitten down hard with small sharp teeth.

"Ow! Son-of-a-bitch," the man spat. He reached out to recapture the boy, but it was too late. Craig was half way down the field, and headed straight for the Cult leader.

"Break the Barrier of Light, I set you free!" Kenny continued his absent-minded chant, only this time a single tear ran down his face. "All will be stricken, as if blind, by this One Whose Being cannot be." As he spoke the last word, Kenny started to cut the inside of his left wrist, starting from the base of his hand and slowly sliced down towards his elbow.

Craig leapt up to grab the Cthulhu pendent from the leader's hand and instantly slammed it against a nearby rock. It shattered into several pieces.

"You little bastard...! How dare you!" Jim growled, as he charged after him.

Dodging his reach, Craig ran straight for Kenny.

"Black Lord of Chaos come unfold." The blond boy extended his left hand out to allow the blood to drip from his fresh wound.

Before a single drop made it to the ground, Craig tackled Kenny, and both boys tumbled out of the circle and away from the drawn symbols. The second they hit the ground, Craig felt a sharp sting on his forearm. He instantly slapped his hand over to what he soon discovered was a cut. On the ground beside him, sat the dagger Kenny had used to cut his own arm.

Craig looked up to see Kenny slowly coming out of his trance.

"Kenny!" Craig shouted his name again. Before he could do anything else, someone grabbed him from behind and yanked him up off the ground.

"You lousy piece of shit, look what you did!" Jim spat as he shook Craig violently. "I will kill you myself!"

Craig let out a yelp, as he tried to pry himself out of the man's grip.

Dazed, Kenny could still hear all the yelling and screaming beside him. He attempted to stand up, but fell forward instead. His bloody hand landed on the edge of the symbol on the ground. A wave of energy overtook Kenny instantly. He rose to his feet, and opened his eyes that began to have an eerie glow to them.

"STOP!" He bellowed.

The sound of Kenny's inhuman voice had everyone in the area froze in their tracks. They turned to look at the small blond boy in confusion, including Craig. As soon as all eyes were on Kenny, he began to chant aloud:

I am the Key and Guardian of the Gate.
Past, Present and Future, all is one in Yog-Sothoth.

Before anyone could respond, he continued. "Those whom requested the Gates to be open are denied!"

"Wait," Jim raised his hand up and pleaded.

"You hard of hearing mortal?" Kenny cocked his head to one side. "First you cast a spell that stole that which belongs to me, and then placed it in this child," he said, addressing himself, "All in the name of Cthulhu, so you can open the Gates without my consent." Kenny spoke in a bitter tone.

"You are Yog-Sothoth, so that means you know that the Gates are supposed to open again. The great Cthulhu will rise and rule this world once more." The cult leader described.

"Only I know when the Gates are too open, and I say it is too soon." Kenny sneered. "...You may have found a small window of opportunity, and at a different location, yes, but that will close in a moment. In fact, the sun is rising right now." He pointed up to the eastern horizon.

"No, you can't do this - not when we worked so hard to get this far!" Jim cried out desperately. He lifted his gun in a threatening manner; however, this did not deter Kenny.

"Your foolish argument holds no grounds with me." Kenny sighed. His eyes glowed more intense as he continued, "This pointless ceremony is done." He waved his hand aggressively forward from left to right, causing a gust of wind that knocked down all the cloaked men. The power seemed to have passed Craig, and left him standing. He looked at Kenny in awe.

Without warning, Kenny's body swayed slightly before collapsing forward onto the ground.

"Whoa, that was weird." Kenny groaned as his head cleared. He glanced down at his injured arm and noticed that most of the cut was starting to heal.

A sound of sirens echoed through the trees. Everyone in the field knew that the police were on their way.

Craig helped Kenny back up onto his feet. "Come on, let's go." He said. Kenny nodded and both boys turned to walk towards the path that would lead them to the road.

"Hold it," the Cult leader spat. The two young boys stopped and looked over their shoulders.

"You," Jim pointed accusingly to Craig. "This is your fault! If you hadn't interfered, our Dark Lord would have risen and began conquering this world, as he is meant to be."

The rest of the cult members behind him stood up, and shook the cobwebs out from their heads. They each looked on with worry in their eyes.

"Ah, weren't you paying attention when Kenny just said the Gates are not supposed to open now?" Craig explained.

"Yog-Sothoth," Kenny said weakly.

"Huh," Craig turned in confusion to his blond friend.

"That is the name of the God that spoke through me. He is the one and true Guardian of the Gates. I'm only a small link that was created to be a, sort of jerry-rigged version of the Key." Kenny explained tiredly. The look in his eyes showed he suffered a lot of physical and emotional stress.

"It's ok now," Craig said soothingly. "It's over, isn't it?" Kenny nodded an affirmative.

"No it isn't," The Cult Leader spat angrily. "I'll kill you for interfering!" The man growled, aiming his gun at Craig.

"Jim no, don't do it!" One of the cloaked men pleaded.

"Yeah, like the kid said...it's over!" The other said upon hearing police sirens drawing nearer up the dirt road.

"No, it wasn't supposed to end like this. This kid will die for his intrusion." Jim snapped and pulled the trigger.

The split second the gun fired, Kenny leapt in front of his friend and took the bullet in his back. He instantly felt the hot lead burning through his skin and puncher through his left lung. This would be a fatal wound. The force of the bullet caused Kenny to be hurdled up against Craig, and both boys fell back onto the ground. Kenny swallowed hard before looking up at Craig.

"Kenny, no..." Craig choked.

"I'm sorry...You won't remember..." Kenny gasped as he explained. He lowered his head and closed his eyes, falling into an eternal sleep.

"Kenny...?" The blue clad boy called out, but got no reply.

"Damn, I missed." Jim hissed. He went to aim his gun again, but stopped by an authority voice.

"Drop the gun and put your hands up in the air!" An officer shouted, he and eleven other men in uniform jumped out and surrounded the field. Each one pointed a gun at the cloaked men in the area.

As eleven of the officers arrested the remaining cult members, the twelfth officer walked up to Craig and Kenny.

"Please help him," Craig pleaded to the uniformed man, tears threatened to escape from his eyes.

The officer reached down to check the blond boy's pulse. He found none and shook his head before looking back up at Craig.

"I'm sorry son; there isn't anything that can be done. He's gone." He told him.

Stricken with grief, Craig glanced down at his deceased friend. The tears rolled freely down his cheeks.

"We got here as soon as we could. When the officers at the hospital woke up, along with the other victims, they called us straight away. It's obvious we didn't get here soon enough, though." The officer sighed with regret.

Craig sniffed back some tears as he wiped his nose with the sleeve of his right arm.

"Come on, let's get you home." The officer suggested.

Reluctantly, Craig lowered Kenny's body to the ground, allowed the officer to guide him to his feet, and walked him off the field.