the teardrop between them and watched it turn to stone, connecting the two formations. They were one column now. Heaven meets Earth. Just as he had promised. Instantly, Dor felt himself rise from the fl oor, as if being pulled by strings. All his carved symbols lifted off the wall, moving across the cave like migrating birds, then shrinking into a tiny ring around the narrow throat that joined the rocky shapes together. With that, the stalactite and stalagmite crystallized into smooth, transparent surfaces—forming an upper bulb and a lower bulb—the shape of a giant hourglass. Inside was the whitest sand Dor had ever seen, extremely fi ne, almost liquid-like. It spilled through from top to bottom, yet the sand in each bulb neither grew nor diminished. - e “Herein lies every moment of the universe,” the old man said. “You sought to control time. For your penance, the wish is granted.” He tapped his staff on th a w the hourglass and it formed a golden top and bottom with two braided posts. Then it shrank into the crook of Dor’s arm. hi his hands. Yo ye D O ni He was holding time in “Go now,” the old man said. “Return to the world. Your journey is not et complete.” sa Dor stared blankly. His shoulders slumped. Once, the very suggestion would have sent him running. But his heart was hollow. He wanted none of this anymore. Alli was gone, she would always be gone, a teardrop on a cave wall. What purpose could life—or an hourglass— serve him now? He brought a sound up ho of go go w lif se from his chest and, in a faint whisper, fi nally spoke. fa “It is too late.”
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