Lost In Time _Jelsa_

A Time Slip

Chapter 2
A Time Slip

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Outside the mansion, where Elsa and the others sat at a table set for ten... A lavish coach remained stopped just past the gate, the Coachman tending to his horses.

"I've decided not to stay."

The man who at times, was as king, a prince, a lover, but always a lair... Left the moonlight to re-enter the coach.

"But Monsieur, what about the banquet?" The Coachman asked flabbergasted.

"Capricious fate has invited a guest of fairer mien than mine to take my chair. Hers is center stage tonight, though I shan't stay to see how she performs. Let us depart anon." The coach hurried off through the night, it's passenger relaxing into a seat cushioned against the harshness of the road.

Quietly, he spoke to himself- a hard playing to an audience of none.

"O, what upturned expectations have come at the arrival of this new guest?"

The bard had seen Elsa but for a moment, and yet, he found himself haunted by her.

"No devil can beguile men to persuasions more than she with an angel's form. Or be she one if heaven's messangers behind the horns and wings of temptation?" The coach rocked as it hit a divot in the path, sending the script in the Bard's lap tumbling to the coach flour. Visible on the cover was a signature, scrambled in fresh ink, belonging to that of one Kristoff Bjorgman.

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"Ah Xuan, if you would make us a cup of herbal tea. I think anise would be--" I interrupted Hans.

"None for me, please." Dinner had ended with no answers and me passing out of shock. Hans invited me to his suite for an explanation as promised.

So now I was sitting in his office, with an Ice pack pressed on my head. I hit my head pretty hard when I passed out. It was already forming into a bump.

"I have only one question. How do I get back? Does that door have a deadbolt? Where's the key? Is it your fingerprint?... Whatever. I don't care, I just want it open." I finally lost my cool, I was clearly frustrated and I just wanted to get out of this freaky mansion, back to America, to my friends and family.

"The door isn't locked. Opening it is easy. But it only opens under very specific conditions." Hans poured himself a cup of herbal tea and before taking a sip offered it to me, but I refused, I was already very full.

"What conditions?"

"The specifics are a bit hard to explain." Hans got up from his chair and stopped in front of an oversized hourglass. The top half was full of sand.

"It will open when all the sand in this hourglass has fallen, it's quite precise, and I rely on it's timing myself." His long callous finger traced the intricate gold design of the hourglass.

I don't like how much sand is in there.

"I see. And approximately how long does that hourglass run for?" I impatiently asked.

"It takes a month, on average." He smiled a charming smile, he was so calm like we were talking about weather.

A month?! On average?!

I accidentally pressed the ice pack on my injured head harder, making me wince in return and let out an 'ouch!'.

"Did you say it takes a month?" I once again got ready to pass out, I could already see black dots forming in my vision. I can't possibly stay here for a month, I will go insane.