35- Masters of Time

Kaius was staring at the clock thinking to himself. From what they gathered so far they understood that the door seemed to open when the clock read 630, but the clock hands were so big that they covered the door.

"If we slow down the door, the hands will still be in the way, plus we cant even see the door until the hand moves, how are we gonna control it without seeing it" Zane said.

"Close your eyes and focus on the elements, don't wield them just focus on how they move and where they are. You should be able to feel how the elements are arranged and be able to sense the door" Kaius said.

Zane did as Kaius said and was able to feel the door and the time elements throughout the clock building. Zane was a smart kid, he decided to open his eyes and continued focusing on the elements. While he couldn't actually see the elements he was able to feel them and knew where they were, based on how they were scattered about he was able to tell the shapes and sizes of things. With his eyes open he could also see everything else enhancing his senses altogether.

Zane felt like a super hero, but was also mad at himself. Why had he never practiced focusing and feeling the elements like this before, he felt so much closer to them now.

"Let's brainstorm" Zane said. "We know the door only opens at 630, but when its open it's covered by the hands. The door also closes and opens really fast so we don't have a lot of time to walk through it. So we need to figure out a time when the door will open and then slow down the door to give us enough time to walk through it."

"None of that matters" Kaius said "huh what do you mean" Zane asked.

"We are Masters of time, all of this time for that time for this, slow down speed up. All that's irrelevant to us who control time."

Zane frowned as he thought about it, Kaius was right. They wielded time elements, if it wasn't time for the door to open then they would make it time.

"I think I know what to do" Zane said. He raised his arms towards the clock and it stopped completely. Then he focused on the door and the elements in it, he envisioned the layout of the mechanical functions of the door and twisted his hand wielding the elements in the door to go backwards in time to when it was open.

The door slowly swished open and Zane released the elements in the clock while continuing to hold the elements in the door still.

"I'll meet you inside" he said as he walked through the door.

Swish

As soon as Zane entered the door shut behind him. Kaius smiled, the little hint he gave Zane was the same as what he said to Skye, but being the genius Zane was he caught on quicker and gained a deeper understanding of the elements from it.

Kaius was still smiling as he waved his hand at the clock, as the door opened he could see Zane leaning on a wall further in waiting for him.

Kaius knew that what they should have done was speed up the hands of the clock while slowing down the mechanism of the door. If the hands were sped up enough, and the door was properly slowed than they would have been able to walk through anytime after the clock hit 630 and the open mechanism began.

Kaius and Zane's understanding was way beyond that and they instead rewound the door to a state where it was open, completely disregarding the rest of the mechanism. While it seemed simple, to a normal person it would have been very difficult to force an object through time.

Once Kaius entered the clock building the door swished close behind him leaving the two in darkness. Kaius waved his hand and a ball of fire hovered next to him lighting the area.

The two saw that they were in a long corridor with stairs at the other end leading down.

They followed the corridor and took the stairway down. When the boys first entered the corridor was smooth and seemed like a regular dark hallway, but as the two traveled further down the walls became rougher resembling more of an underground cave.

After a few minutes of traveling down the stairs they eventually reached a huge open area. They couldn't tell exactly how big the area was as it was shrouded in darkness, but they could hear swishing sounds and new something was up ahead.

Kaius created more fire balls and waved his hand tossing them into the corridor to light the way. One of the fireballs struck something above then the whole cave illuminated.

If the boys hadn't stopped at the bottom of the stairs they might have died. With the area now lit up they could see there was a bottomless pit in front of them. Further out were floating stones and every few feet were axe pendulums swinging back and forth. Some of the pendulums were swinging fast while some were swinging slow, it looked like it would be difficult to get across especially if you had to jump.

Far in the distance the boys could barely make out a landing and possibly another set of steps. "Seems there's more to this Wonder then just opening the door. Was there anything more after you opened the Giants Door" Zane asked.

Kaius shook his head "no once we opened the door there was a long tunnel which led straight to the training area. You got any thoughts on how to get across" Kaius asked.

Zane furrowed his brow, "I can't see how a time Elementalist could get past something like this. If it weren't for your fireball hitting the lantern up top we would have walked off the edge. There's no way a time Elementalist could do this alone."

Kaius thought about Saige's lessons and the element tiers. "Maybe you're not supposed to do it alone" he said.

Zane looked at him in confusion. Kaius saw Zanes expression and continued, "remember Saiges lesson? Time is an advanced tier element, primarily used in support. Maybe this is a test of our support abilities."

Zane looked forward into the cave and thought hard about Kaius's theory. Without a fire Elementalist they would have had no light to see, an earth or water Elementalist could create a bridge to reach the other side, as a time Elementalist could slow the pendulums to allow everyone to pass through unharmed. It made perfect sense, from the start this test was never about doing it on your own it was about supporting others.

Zane laughed, "how lucky of me to come with someone who wields all elements, I wonder how many get to this point and have to turn back. Well you take the lead and i'll support you."

Kaius nodded his head and waved his hand. All the floating stones came towards him and combined together creating a bridge. The boys began walking across the bridge as it formed in front of them.

When they reached the swinging pendulums Zane began slowing them down or speeding them up. Kaius believed in Zane and paid no attention to the swinging instruments of death.

Zane could see that Kaius was putting all his faith in him, he focused even harder making sure that not a single pendulum came close.

Reaching the other side of the cave, the boys could finally see the steps up ahead. But in front of the corridor leading to the steps was a clear transparent barrier. The boys didn't notice it earlier, but now they could clearly feel and see it. The barrier was very thick, earth spikes wouldn't be enough to smash it and fire would take all day to burn to through it.

While examining the barrier the boys could see a button on the other side that read open. But there was no way to get to it. Kaius thought of just creating a stone inside the barrier and throwing it at the button, but when he tried he realized that the area beyond the barrier was some type of different material and not earth.

"I'll handle this" Zane said, as he focused on the button he willed the time elements to revert back to a point where the mechanism was active.

Click

The button pushed in and the barrier lowered to the ground allowing the two to continue forward. The boys high fived as Zane took the lead, he hadn't gotten even a few steps before the ground began to fall dropping him down into the dark pit below.