Time Twist

Chapter 20 Focus

The morning air was heavy, my head felt sore, and my joints felt like the old wooden boards in a musty attic. With every movement, I could feel my joints creaking. I swung my legs over to the side of the bed with a sigh. Liz rubbed her face,

"Why did no one move me from the couch? I am really feeling like I slept on a pile of rocks" Liz's raspy voice made her stretch back and forth. 

"Because when I attempted to lift you from the divan you promptly smacked me for touching without consent, so I let you have your slumber in the most uncomfortable position possible. Accept it as my rebuttal to the sleep smacking" Alex adjusted his cufflinks. 

"Sleep Smack, best superhero ever" I joked and got a fatigued smile from Liz and she fist-bumped me.  

"Well, ladies I daresay we should not remain here for too long, I let us stay the night because of the hour, and frankly neither Claire nor I were in any state to travel, but now we must away, if you consider yourselves decent we can depart immediately. I know a plate where I know we shall be safe. And where Claire, you can finish learning. And once you've trained we shall mount our mission to rescue our lamebrained acquaintance" 

"Ahem," Liz and I cross our arms,

"Alright fine, lamebrained friend then, may we?" He gestured to the study. We followed, 

Alex drew an odd symbol onto his pocket watch with chalk and then handed me the trophy from last night. He then inputted a time and date into his watch and soon the portal appeared. This portal had been by far the most calming it felt like a warm sea breeze. The smell of pine and oak swirled in the air and I landed on my feet and as did Liz, 

"Welcome ladies, to my home" Alex beamed, grabbing a stick off the ground and used it as a cane. Liz and I looked around and saw nothing but grassland, a few trees, and a vineyard way off in the distance. 

"Um, Alex as anxious I am to see what molded you into well you know, you, I gotta ask for a little more info" Liz tugged on Alex's sleeve as he continued walking up the hill,

"I shall inform you on the journey into town it's just a little ways past this hill come along" He squinted his eyes in the sun, and did a little hop as a village came into view. I could hear the sound of hoofbeats on dirt, people calling for others, arguing, I could smell food. The village was right there, but I couldn't believe it. Because around the whole area was a large, pulsating violet dome.

"How does no one notice the giant bubble gumball around them?" Liz started walking faster than Alexander. She was smiling too. Alexander tilted his head a bit at Liz's question but then shook it, tussled his hair,

"They simply cannot, we are not from here and therefore notice things they otherwise ignore. And it is called a Pompeii shield, not a bubble gumball. Catherine cast it, we hold our most cherished treasures here. She, however, modified it a bit a Pompeii shield is designed to work as a pocket dimension a little slice of time that continues without progressing only for a limited time. It was originally created by a roman witch who used it to spend one more day with her family before the eruption of Pompeii. Catherine twisted it to function indefinitely, and to keep unwanted visitors out. I am the Barone of this region and therefore I dictate trade and no one bats an eye as to why no new visitors enter. Genius is it not?" Alex waved at a skinny young man in a low ponytail, Alex waved the number 5321 in his hand and the boy nearly fell out of his stool. And quickly ran away. 

"Dude what'd you say to the kid"

"You'll see" His smile was a nice change from the darkness he had been suffering in for so long. Liz whispered to me,

"Does his weird crypticness creep you out a little? Or is it just me?" I stifled a giggle,

"Not just you" We laughed quietly as Alex's back was turned, he pulled a rather funny-looking black cap and pulled it over his eyes.