Out Of Time

Chapter 1: The Ruins

Eda handed Thyme the map. "This will lead you to where you need to go," she said, "That is, if you two wanna go see an old abandoned Emperor's Coven outpost." "We're both going!" exclaimed Azura. "But I don't wanna!" protested Thyme. "Too bad," said her sister, "You know good and damn well that I can't read maps. You're the nerd and I need your nerdyness to help me find adventure!" "Fine," Thyme sighed, "But I'm just going to lead you there." "Fine by me," Azura said, "I'll just take all the credit for whatever cool things I find in there. And not even mention you when I tell the story to our friends back home. All because you were too chicken!" "Fine!" Thyme gave in, brushing her violet hair out of her face, "I'll go in! But just for a few minutes!" "That's my sister!" exclaimed Azura, "Now let's go!" as the Noceda twins headed out, Eda stopped them. "Take King with you," she said, "It's about time he got his lazy ass off the couch." "My ass is not lazy!" shouted a 24 year old King, who had grown significantly. He was about as tall as Azura. "I'm just really into whatever I find on penstagram!" he continued, "It's a healthy addiction!" "So healthy that you sit on the couch, don't eat, don't piss or shit, don't drink, and don't sleep for five days at a time?" asked Eda. "Fine," said King, putting away his scroll, "I'm going." "Now let's go!" exclaimed Azura. The twins and King then headed out the door. Thyme was reading the map while Azura and King followed. "Are we there yet?" asked King. "Are you kidding me?" said Thyme, turning around, "I can still see the house!" As King looked back, Hooty stared at him. "Hoot!" shouted Hooty. "Run!" exclaimed King. Just as he said that, Hooty flew off the door and into the ground. He popped back up in front of them. "Can I come with you on your quest~?" he asked. "No!" screamed King, trying to push him back in the ground. Azura and Thyme laughed and kept walking. King finally gave up and left Hooty. Hooty defeatedly slithered back to the door. The three then continued on. "How much further sis?" asked Azura. "We're almost there," Thyme replied, "It should be just past these trees." The trio pushed ahead through the trees and found the abandoned tower. It was rumored to be the last one standing. "Let's go in," Azura said to her companions. Thyme and King followed her inside. "Wow," said King as he looked around, "This place is a dump." They looked at all the vines hanging from the ceiling. Thyme took out a light glyph and tapped it, causing a small ball of light to appear. "Hey!" exclaimed Azura, "I found something!" Thyme and King ran to her. They saw an old box of long forgotten weapons. "Eda's gonna love this!" said King excitedly. Thyme then began to wander off. She then found a hole in the floor. "Hey guys!" she called. No one answered her, but she could still hear them marveling over the weapons. Thyme rolled her eyes and used a plant glyph to make a vine. She climbed down the vine into the hole. "Now we'll see who's too chicken..." Thyme said to herself as she climbed down. When she reached the bottom, she noticed a pattern in the floor ahead. Some of the tiles looked like numbers were printed on them. One through twelve. All the rest were blank. But they were all mixed up. Not in order. Thyme picked up a rock and threw it ahead. It activated a boatload of traps. From fire to poison arrows. "I must have to step on the tiles in order," she said aloud. She hesitantly stepped on one. Nothing happened. "Like I thought," she said. She located two. She then jumped to it. And nearly fell. She steadied herself and looked for three. She found it and jumped to it. She repeated the same process all the way to twelve. There was a gap between her and the normal floor. She noticed a tile with the number thirteen on it, that was in the perfect position to get her across. She looked around her. She noticed clocks imprinted on the walls. Clocks that had only the twelve numbers on them. She remembered that the arrows looked like clock hands. The ones coming from the left being longer and the ones coming from the right being shorter. She looked at the thirteenth tile. She took a deep breath. She then took a huge leap over the gap. She rolled when she landed on the other side. "Phew," she sighed. She then got up and walked down the hall. She then saw something on the wall. "When the hand strikes five, prepare to take a dive," she read aloud, "What does that mean?" She looked and saw a clock on the wall. It only had one hand. She moved the hand to the number five. The floor then opened up and she fell down. She screamed as she fell down a very long rock corkscrew slide. She then landed on a pile of leaves at the bottom. "Ow," she said as she stood up. She then looked up and saw a giant rock tower. She climbed up what looked like a spiral staircase made of rock. When she reached the top, she found a locked box. Thyme took out an ice glyph and put it on the lock. She tapped the glyph and the lock froze, shattering to pieces. Thyme opened the box. Inside it was a glyph. It looked extremely old. The weirdest part about it was that the symbol on it, sort of looked like the hands on a clock. She carefully took the glyph out of the box. She looked on the back of it. There was a date. "January 27th, 1979," Thyme read aloud. The paper then started glowing. She then realized that she must've tapped the glyph on accident. It floated out of her hands and hovered just above her. She stared in awe as it, in a split second, unfolded into a big portal. It started pulling Thyme towards it. She screamed loudly as she was pulled into the portal. It closed right after she disappeared into it, her screams still echoing in the cavern.