Ryan sat cross-legged on the cold stone floor, the five Cracked Hourglass Pendants and the single Cracked Chronometer Shard arranged neatly in front of him.
They looked like the pieces of a very strange, very important puzzle. His system had confirmed it: these were the ingredients for the "Resonant Chronometer Key" he needed to get through the shimmering, time-locked door.
"Okay," he said to himself, cracking his knuckles. "Time to play arts and crafts. Spacetime arts and crafts."
He looked up at the giant, sealed door and the Chronal Barrier in front of it. Just then, the ambient light in the massive Labyrinth chamber began to shift.
The glowing moss on the walls dimmed, and the air grew colder, changing from a simulated "daylight" to a deep, dusky "twilight." As this happened, the Time-Locked Vault's barrier pulsed with a soft, pale blue light.
