I slept for what seemed like days and was still tired when I woke up. Sore from sleeping on the hardwood floor and…itchy? Why does my face itch? My hand raised instinctively to scratch my…beard. Uh-oh. I ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror to shockingly learn that I really did have a beard, and my hair was a good inch longer. I had only been asleep for a few hours how could all of this possibly grown. Did Gabriel and Lucifer leave something out? Maybe the old man would know.
That little red charger of mine was pushing 90 all the way to the old man’s house. The sun was going down and the yard sale had already been packed up but I had to find out what was going on. I raced to the door and knocked loudly for a minute and finally a woman, maybe in her twenties, answered the door.
“Can I help you sir?”
“Yeah can I talk to your dad or whoever it was that was running the sale today I have something really important to talk to him about.”
“My…dad? Oh! No Alphonse is my husband. My name is Missy, can I ask who you are? He is very picky about who he sees.”
“Tell him a Knight is here to see him.” The frustration was becoming clear in my voice. Calm down man you don’t want to scare her. Don’t have the Sands to get away if they end up calling the cops.
“Knight? Oh no. this is about the hourglass isn’t it?”
“Very much so now could you go get your….wait, your husband? He has to be like 80.”
“He’ll explain. Please come in. Make yourself at home.”

The place wasn’t much but it was nice. It didn’t look like an old persons house which was a little off-putting but I could deal with that if someone could explain why I looked like a mountain man after a two hour nap. I followed Missy to a room in the back of the house that looked different than the rest of the house. In fact it looked more like a cross between a museum and an armory. The walls were lined with suits of armor and swords. Al was sitting in a small office chair huddled over something he was writing.
“Hey pops I would love it if you explained this.” I growled as I pointed to my beard.
“Using the Sands already Knight?”
“You knew damn well I would. Now why do I look so old? I thought the Sands were supposed to stop time. This doesn’t look very much like anything has stopped.”
“Yes it does stop time but no it doesn’t stop the users time, it accelerates the users time. As you can see.”
“So every time I use the hourglass I’m going to get older? How old are you?”
“I am twenty seven Ace. I couldn’t resist using the hourglass. For five years I used it selfishly. I am doomed to an eternity in purgatory when I die. Which may not be very long because I do have the body of an extremely old man.” I hoped that you could resist the hourglass and that the story that my grandfather told your great grandfather had been passed down to you. But I was wrong. I guess you signed the contract then?”
“Yeah I didn’t know I had a choice.”
“You didn’t it is just a formality, if you don’t you still would have aged but you wouldn’t have the hourglass or any recollection or reason why you aged.”
“So the only things I can do now are use the hourglass and die a painful death or resist the temptation of controlling time?
“No, the Sands can be stopped or given away. But if you just give away the Sands and they aren’t used right then that is a tarnish on your record, a very big one.”
“Then how do I stop them?”
“You have to use the sands to find the one person that is perfect for you, love conquers all. Even time.”