Just after the last grains of sand in the hourglass fell, the portal in the garden of the city chief's castle spat out Vince.
In the final two seconds, he managed to surface from the river with the key. With all his speed, he ran to the pathway, where he saw an opening to jump straight to the base of the mountain, and he immediately passed through the exit portal, which instantly transported him back to the garden.
"See! He managed to get the key!" Lexus chimed.
"But…" Ace smirked, "I don't think he passed this test."
"What do you mean?"
Lily spoke. "Are you a fool? The set time has ended, and even though he was late by only a second, he was still late regardless. It means he failed the test."
There was a murmur among the crowd. People began to talk about how unlucky Vince was for being late by just a second.
