At the girl's words, a smile slowly spread across the man's face, although it was not the earlier, strange smile, but a more genuine one, and stopped folding the hourglass. He then tore the paper to shreds, however, instead of falling, the small pieces of paper started floating around him, and gathered in his hand, forming a small compass.
"I am glad that you chose the sensible option, little girl," said the man as he looked at the compass. "Follow me, and I will lead you to a place where these people will not find you," finished the man, then turned into the direction the compass pointed, and begun walking slowly, so as to not leave Chiemi behind.
He lead her through the forest, only taking a few minutes to clear the seemingly endless trees, and before Chiemi knew it, they were already in front of an old house, far into the countryside. The building was hundreds of years old as indicated by its thick stone walls, lack of decoration and small windows, but seemed no older than a few decades at most. The door, however, was brand new as indicated by its metallic shine.
The man quickly opened the lock, revealing the inside of the long-abandoned house. Dust and spiderwebs dominated everything, small cracks were spreading across the wall, and some pieces of furniture already started decaying quite visibly. The man, however, paid no attention to this, but just smashed his hands together with the compass still in them. Suddenly, a gale-force wind shook the house, clearing away all the signs of neglection, as if they were not even there.
"I welcome you to one of my homes, little girl," said the man as he closed the door behind himself.