Hopefully, the two males would stay out of her way.
“You will retainsomeGifts, however, so do not despair. And, too, you will have the ability to understand and speak the local tongues. Your clothes will automatically be reshaped to fit the time and the place. The rest is up to you.”
The Master started to turn his back on them, when he recalled something at the last second.
“Oh, almost forgot to mention—there is a time limit.”
He spread his palm open before him, the other hand remaining behind his back. An hourglass appeared out of thin air, levitating above his hand.
“When the last grain of sand sifts to the bottom, you will either have retrieved the Jewel of Dreams or failed in your quest.”
“How will we return?” it was the heretofore silent Sorin who posed the question.
“A portal will appear when it is time,” the Master answered obliquely.
“What happens if we fail?” Rui asked.
“Nothing,” the Master said. “To you, treasure dragon. You will simply return to your home in the Four Seas as you were.”
He looked to the two males.
“You, on the other hand, must go on another quest at the Jade Emperor’s behest.”
Ere groaned and rolled his eyes.
A slight frown darkened Sorin’s brow as well.
“You must all return through the portal when it makes itself known,” the Master stressed with particular gravity.”
“You are beings from the future; you cannot stay in the past. You are sent to times and places that would never coincide with your other selves.”
Rui, Ere and Sorin all shared a look.
“For the sake of argument, what if we stayed in the past?” she asked on their behalf.
“The fabric of time will rip, the universe will crumble,” the Master intoned.
Right. She should have guessed.
“It is the same if you fail your quest. The Universe will suffer an Imbalance that will harken the beginning of the end,” the Master added almost as an afterthought.
“No pressure,” he said.
Right before he disappeared.
As did Sorin, Ere and Rui.
One moment they were in the opulent halls of the Celestial Palace, and the next they weren’t.
The only thing that remained was the hourglass, suspended in the air as if by invisible strings.
Slowly, it turned on its head—
And the sands of time trickled through the narrow opening between the top and bottom of the glass to mark the start of this adventure.