Chromie's bright eyes blinked as she studied her senior Kairoz's Hourglass of Time. "Even so, why didn't you feel anything? The Hourglass of Time can't rewind time on its own."
Kairoz nodded thoughtfully without replying.
Chromie yawned, clearly having slept poorly the night before.
"Get some rest, Kairoz. When your own timeline gets scrambled, it can cause all sorts of negative effects," Chromie reminded him.
Kairoz put away the Hourglass of Time and rubbed his eyes with his right hand, forcing himself to stay alert. "Could you request a day's leave for me?"
Chromie tapped her lips with a pudgy finger. "Sure, but you'll have to give me an application to travel outside, too, Kairoz, so I can hand it to Teacher Anachronos."
Kairoz immediately picked up a pen, dipped it in a little flowing sand, and wrote on a bronze-colored stone slab.
Taking Kairoz's leave request, Chromie smiled. "Stay safe, Kairoz. Lord Nozdormu isn't here. If you run into danger, we might not be able to find you right away."
Kairoz crouched down and patted Chromie's shoulder, speaking in a low voice. "Don't worry. I'm just going somewhere to retrace my own timeline. Within the timeline, our existence is illusory."
That was true in principle, but the Infinite Dragonflight had been very active lately. They could follow certain special temporal threads to find bronze dragons traveling through the flow of time.
"All right. Watch out for the Bronze Dragonflight, Kairoz." Carrying his leave request, Chromie left her senior's lair ahead of him.
After Chromie left, Kairoz took the Hourglass of Time from his bag. He could clearly see a strange glow drifting inside it.
Those sparkling motes had never appeared before.
Could someone have tampered with my hourglass?
Kairoz looked around his lair but found nothing unusual. He tried