A/N:

OH MY GODS I'M SO SORRY FOR THE UPDATE IT TOOK ME FOREVER BLAME MY NEW WRITER'S BLOCK UMBRIDGE AND MY SCHOOL ASSESSMENTS AND MATHS AND YEAH. ;A;

And of course, I bet you already read the crossover in Flu's account…. Review please! :D I released the future mob villains in there, so if you want to access some 'spoilers', you're welcome to read Broken Realities. And some monster bosses designs are released in my deviantART page! Some healthy bit of spoiler for those who want some.

And I need to say this again since it's a start of a new story: I. Am. Not. Accepting. OCs. Not now.

P.S. People count their age when a new year starts in this world, 'cause I can't be bothered to create birthdays for all these people. Much easier to remember than English or American or whatever people know as anyway.

Delta824: Aw s***.

HPE24: *pounces* NO. PROFANITY. IN. FRONT. OF. THESE. YOUNG. PEOPLE.

Delta824: D:

P.P.S. You do realise that your moa shares the name with the Nether Praeceptors?

Alpha198: ._.

P.P.P.S. KyaniteArcher is making an encyclopaedia of Minecraft fanfiction characters, and we're REALLY excited! The form is in her deviantART page btw. She already made pages for Alpha and Aquillon! SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

X

"So you're saying…" said Omega, his eyes fastened on the glowstone pieces. "Notch came into your dream and gave you these and a map?"

"Yes," I answered. But more than that, I thought secretly.

"Seems real enough," shrugged Alpha. "Gods are gods; they're weird, freaky, nosy, and often invade privacies. At least in the books."

I wondered if Notch was in rage mode for this.

"Portal material acquired and a map to guide us obtained as well. Aether it is then," said Omega. He seemed rather unhappy, either because it was cold, or he wouldn't get to go back to his home.

"Hope Vulcan's all right there," muttered Alpha. "It's almost a year since I left the Aether."

Time did go fast, I thought. Now we were all fourteen, setting off to the floating dimension with that Phantom guy roaming the land.

"Hey guys!" Xi's voice yelled somewhere from his workplace, and the person himself soon followed moments later. "It worked!"

"What worked?" asked Omega, evidently confused.

"You know, the portal coordination experiment!" he exclaimed, grinning ecstatically. "I've been trying to perfect the calibration for a whole week. It's finally done!" Seeing the confused looks on our faces, Xi proceeded to explain. I found that he didn't stutter in his speech when he was genuinely excited in technical stuff. "I figured a way of programming the portals into teleporting to a specific coordinate. It works everywhere, as far as I can tell. Even within one dimension.

"Wait, you've been to other dimensions for this?" I asked.

"Um… I think so. I found myself in some strange cave with strange blocks. But yeah, the attempts all ended up around the places I intended to go, so I called it a success. And I spent another week redesigning the Redstone signal for the minor calibration issues, but turned out that the repeater had some problem with refreshing the signals. Yeah, that was kind of a waste."

"I thought Redstone stuff couldn't make things like that," I piped out. "It's impossible. That stuff is too complicated."

"Well, I kinda borrowed those technologies from the Remoterrarians," said Xi sheepishly.

"Who?"

"Um, they're extinct species of Terrarians that were said to live in the Far Lands. They were pretty high-tech, but killed each other off in the end. Probably trying to steal more gadgets from others."

Now that was interesting.

"So without all these intelligent words," summed up Alpha, "it's possible to set the portal's destination manually."

"Yep! Oh, and before I forget, I found these." Xi handed me heaps of purplish black blocks. "I- um- seemed to have piled my equipment over them. No wonder I couldn't find any obsidian."

"Thanks, but we decided to go to the Aether first," I told him.

"Doesn't matter. You can use those for future purposes."

"Hmm, I guess." Xi gave a quick smile, and made his way back to his workplace, muttering about getting a new anvil.

"Xi said this coordination stuff can work inside a single dimension. Perhaps we can use it to check your house back there?" suggested Omega. "We have obsidian."

Truthfully, I forgot all about my settlement outside the Place. But come to think of it now….

"No," I replied. "We can't."

"Oh? Why not?" asked Alpha, taken aback.

"I've seen what the Monster Allies are capable of. I'm pretty sure they've either destroyed it, or set a trap for us by now. They would predict that I would go back for it."

"Dude, you sure about this? I mean, you spent a hell lot of time building that. And you lived your entire life in there."

"I expected the worst. Besides, I'm not that attached to homes anyway, and there isn't anything valuable enough for me to go retrieve it."

"What about your diamond and iron stuff?"

"Oh, I can get them any time," I shrugged.

"Uh… how?" asked Omega suspiciously.

Oops. My bad, Notch.

"I have my own ways. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll take a little stroll outside," I said in the best un-hasty voice I could muster, straightening up and going for the door when Rho entered.

"Where're you off to, Delta?" he asked.

"Want some fresh air. I'll return soon." And I left the house, but not before hearing Alpha mutter to Rho: "Is it just me, or is Delta getting weirder?"

X

I trudged along the sandstone floor, keeping my head low and trying to press down my nervousness. Now that I was fully exposed to earth, the fear of unintentionally geokinating filled my mind. This whole place was made out of earth. What if I accidentally caused an earthquake? What if the ceiling fell down for my uneasiness? Soon I realised I was even apprehensive of walking.

What if the Creeper King discovered my identity? I questioned myself fearfully. Would he rally the rest of the Allies and destroy this place? And what would happen to me? Killed like my parents? But I stopped myself.

I'm thinking ahead. If I just stay cool like Notch advised, nothing would go wrong. Don't fret about these things, I told myself sternly. I need to get used to controlling my abilities first. Finishing that thought, I turned to face a sandstone block that jutted out from the ground unevenly. It stayed where it was.

I relaxed. See? It won't move.

Almost laughing in relief, I leaned on the wall with some extra unintended force. The wall shuddered and some part of it lurched out from the smooth surface.

HOLY- I yelled in my head, elbowing the pieces back as hard as I can. They wouldn't budge for some reason, but no one was around to see a fourteen year-old teenager shoving himself up the yellow wall. Thank goodness.

"Why- won't- you- move- godsdamnit," I swore silently, struggling to return the wall to its normal state. The pieces suddenly slid back to their position and I almost lost my balance thanks to that. Instead, my head had a rather unpleasant contact with the barrier.

"Stupid wall," I grumbled, massaging my head and glaring at the sandstone surface. I was tempted to punch the wall in retaliation, but resigned. I didn't want to risk the possibility of bringing this whole place down.

"Delta?" someone asked from the behind. Her voice made me jump up immediately and face her.

"Oh! Um… hi, Iota," I mumbled, trying to look as innocent as possible. "What're you doing here?"

"I was just passing by," she answered. "What are you doing here?"

"Ah… uh… well… I was just… erm… walking," I replied sheepishly. That was the truth anyway.

"You were walking," repeated Iota. She didn't look that convinced. "And you ended up on the floor?"

"Oh, I, uhm, I was thinking so I didn't exactly see where I was going." I hoped she bought this.

She scrutinized me intensely, but in the end said, "All right then." I sighed in relief inside my head. "Delta? Are you fine? You look nervous."

"I'm perfectly fine," I said in a not-so-persuasive tone. "I just have… loads in my mind these days."

I felt the sandstone block right under my foot nudge my shoe. I shoved it down in response.

Iota stared. "Really?"

"Oh yes. Really," I confirmed, adding a smile to make me look innocent. I got the feeling it didn't quite work out.

"If you say so," she shrugged. "Then I'll see you around?"

"Definitely." But impulsively, I added, "Oh, hey, Iota?"

She turned back. "Hm?"

My mouth went dry. Oh no no no no. Not NOW. It was too embarrassing. But it was just saying how beautiful she looked, I thought. What would it- OH NO that would immediately give away. Instead, I gulped and said, "Um… never mind. I… erhm… forgot what to say."

"Okay." She was looking at me weirdly now. "So… um… see you later?"

"Yeah," I responded meekly. Iota gave me a concerned glance, and walked away.

As soon as she was out of earshot, I started to curse silently. To myself, of course.

"Damn it, you idiot," I hissed, smacking my forehead. "What's so great about spitting it out? It would've been over in a matter of seconds. Gods, I'm such a moron." I kicked the wall in anger and made a hole ten blocks deep. "Oh, shoot," I muttered, hastily ordering the hole to repair itself.

X

It was the day we were off to Aether, and Xi had been building the portal that would take us to Alpha's place. Everybody was carrying on their normal routine, but in a remote corner of the island, a group of people were huddled around Xi who was fiddling with the Redstone wires to finish the last part of the glowstone portal. The only people present were me, Alpha, Omega, Rho, Xi, Omicron, Sigma, Iota, and Upsilon.

While the others were paying attention to Xi, Rho secretly pulled me aside. "Delta," he started as soon as we were out earshot. "I've been thinking about the trip to the Aether."

"Huh? What about it?" I asked, puzzled.

"I want to stay here."

"What?!" I sputtered.

"It's just that… I was apart from other Terrarians for a long time. I didn't even know they survived. Seeing them all here… well, it's like seeing my family again. It's selfish for me to leave you guys in the Aether, but I don't want to depart so soon."

"It's not like we're leaving forever," I argued.

"That's true. But I wish I can spend more time in this place… I might even be an asset for defending here just in case the monsters attack again. And truthfully, I was never a fan of heights," confessed Rho.

This really stumped me. I wasn't angry at him for sure; I understood the fact that he was apart from human civilisation for fourteen years and missed his parents terribly.

"Does Alpha and Omega know about this?" I asked quietly.

"Yeah. I told them while you were outside. Reacted pretty much the same as you did, but told me to do whatever I wished."

"But are you really sure about this? We can use some help in the Aether."

"I bet you'll do fine," said Rho. "You're the one that defeated the Creeper King anyway."

"With some cheats," I muttered.

He shrugged. "Nevertheless, I'm not so keen on leaving the Overworld. Also, I have a feeling that you guys are the ones to go, not me. It's not a coincidence that all three of you met in the same place at the exact moment."

"True…" I trailed off, thinking about what Notch said last night.

Rho waited.

"All right," I finally said reluctantly. Rho immediately brightened up. "I wish you to be comfortable, but if we get into any trouble, it's because you weren't with us," I added the last words cheekily.

"I'll take full responsibility," he replied playfully as well.

At that moment, Xi announced, "Okay, it's all set."

We re-joined the group to see the glowing threshold with bright red circuitries attached to it, the churning blue substance filling up the gap. Xi got up, taking off his protection goggles as he turned to face me. "That's done," he informed me. "If I got it right, this should take you guys somewhere around Alpha's place. He'd better be correct with the coordination."

"Thanks for everything, man."

"No problem," he grinned. I turned towards the glowing portal, where Alpha and Omega were waiting for me with the wolves close to them.

"Finally going then?" asked Alpha.

"Yeah, sure."

"Good luck, everybody," said Upsilon solemnly, shaking my hand. "I hope the problems in the Aether get solved quickly."

"Thank you, sir," I replied politely. Fighting the Aether monster bosses: a major problem indeed.

"Bye guys," said Omicron, Sigma nodding beside him. Rho smiled as well, his hand raised in farewell. I gave a fleeting smile until I realised Iota was approaching me.

"Hi, Delta," she started off. "I really hope you'll return to the Overworld soon. Good luck on killing the Sun Spirit."

"Thanks…" I mumbled.

Iota extended her arm and shook my hand. "And thanks for… everything." My face suddenly heated up so fast.

"Oh, uhm, yeah, no problem…." Alpha sniggered next to me.

"Come on, it's taking forever," he said impatiently, grabbing my arm and marching into the portal. "We'll see you all soon!" he called out cheerfully with Omega, Pluto and Thanatos at his heels.

"Dude, what the-" I protested, but the blue substance got us before I could finish the sentence.

X

It was a strange sensation, going through the gateway and into a different world. Quite chilly, but also distorting my vision and filling my eyes with bright blue light. This uncomfortable sensation lasted for only five seconds or so, and I soon found myself stepping out from the threshold and being greeted by a blast of cold air.

I slowly looked around. Greyish islands were floating in the sky, but there were no clouds above us; only the sun shining noticeably bright. For a guy who lived his whole life on solid ground, this was quite a shock.

Before I could register where we were, Alpha muttered, "What… the heck?"

I wasn't sure on what was wrong, but I had a feeling that Alpha's words were directed to the thick layer of snow beneath our feet. Now come to think of it, even the farthest islands had some white sheet over the grey soil, and some areas were even snowing.

"Oh gods, no," groaned Omega, slapping his forehead. "Not snow again…" Thanatos sneezed.

"But… the Aether doesn't snow," Alpha said, absolutely stunned. "H-how?"

"New weather phenomenon?" I suggested.

"Can't be," he muttered. "The Aether is too high up to be affected by weathers… And it's not this cold."

"Oh, yes, must have been a nice hot world back then," Omega said sarcastically, shivering.

Alpha shot him an annoyed glance. "I have no idea how this happened. Seriously. For my entire life in this dimension, I never saw a single flake of snow coming down from the sky. The clouds here are incapable of creating that stuff in the first place anyway."

"This is strange…" I agreed. "But… could it be because of the Monster Allies?"

"What makes you say that?" asked Alpha, frowning.

"When the Monster Allies attacked in the Overworld, the sky went dark, remember? It isn't natural for that area to have night-time as well. Maybe they're messing around with places again because of us, who knows?"

"Possible…"

"Look, can we discuss this matter indoors?" asked Omega impatiently. "Am I the only person who's cold or what?"

"Yes, yes, my house should be around here somewhere," Alpha mumbled, still distracted by the snow. We strolled over the snow-covered island with Alpha on the lead, looking at the scenery curiously and keeping our eyes on the wolves. Strange trees and animals were everywhere, but what intrigued me the most were the islands suspended in mid-air with nothing to support from underneath. It was as if gravity didn't exist in this place, but I wasn't so sure after seeing a trickle of water flowing all the way down through the white misty clouds beneath us.

The sky was starting to get dark when Alpha called, "Ah, I found it," and quickened his pace. The rest of us almost sprinted after him but started to slow down when a rectangular structure came into our view. It seemed to be made out of dark grey stones but with blue lights glowing faintly. Probably a native material in the Aether.

Alpha, who had rushed ahead of us towards his house, was suddenly halted when a dark mass shot out from a small yellowish building. It pounced on him and let out some kind of a moan that almost deafened me. I immediately suspected to be a hostile mob until the thing started to nudge Alpha affectionately, whimpering like a dog.

"Hey, Vulcan," Alpha greeted the creature. "Yeah, nice to see you again, man- alright, please allow me to get up-"

As the mob straightened up, I had a better view of it: the creature was completely black except for its reddish legs, eyes and the beak; the body covered with sleek feathers. It was bigger than Alpha, and I had to admit it looked very intimidating with little teeth poking out from its beak. The animal's anatomy somewhat reminded me of a chicken.

"Well, guys," said Alpha, turning around to face us. "This is my moa, Vulcan." The bird let out yet another mournful wail.

"A moa?" I asked.

"Yep, they're a great transportation in the Aether. Very loyal pets as well." His moa nudged him as if embarrassed, almost knocking him off his balance.

"Your pet is quite… huge," I commented. I wasn't used to seeing passive animals bigger than me.

"He was tiny a long time ago. Moas grow fast once you shove food down their throat."

"I see…"

The wolves seemed to be in a mix of inquisitive, intimidation, and wariness as they approached the bird slowly. Vulcan, curious as much as they were, lowered his head and studied the new creatures. At once, the wolves had their hackles raised, growling threateningly and preparing to pounce. The moa snorted and moaned sonorously, not alarmed at all by Pluto and Thanatos' sudden hostility. But the calm animal's cry was enough to make the two of them retreat and whimper in fear.

"Hilarious," Alpha sniggered as he watched Pluto and Thanatos returning to their masters, and patted Vulcan on the shoulder. With a happy cry, Vulcan flapped his enormous wings excitedly, blowing wind on Alpha's face.

"He got too hyper during my absence," he muttered, brushing his hair out of the way. "That's why I should never leave a moa alone for a year."

I was about to reply back, but I quickly spun on my spot to stare at a hill few blocks away from us. I swore I felt something… like a presence of someone.

"Something wrong, Delta?" asked Omega uncertainly.

"Er… it's fine. Nothing," I replied back vaguely, still gazing at the place.

"You sure?" Alpha queried.

"Yeah," I lied. "Um… you guys go in first. I just want to… well, join you all later."

Alpha and Omega glanced at me doubtfully, but went in with the animals anyway and leaving me alone in the snow-covered island. Something made me nervous greatly, whatever that was behind me a few seconds ago. I knew it was a living thing because… I couldn't explain it, but I was certain.

Slowly turning on my spot, I carefully searched the surroundings for any organism, but all I saw were the Aether mobs that roamed the chunks of land. But I was sure, very certain that I was being watched secretly…

My eyes suddenly focused on a tall, dark figure on the distance, two bright eyes staring at me. My insides turned cold and chill ran down my spine as I looked back at it with wide eyes. But after a blink of an eye, it was gone.

I found it hard to breathe as soon as I registered what I just saw there. So there was somebody spying us out there, whoever it was. Maybe it could have been my imagination, but those eyes were so real… real enough to fill my mind with dread and fear. The temperature seemed to have dropped ten degrees below, and I was soon shaking uncontrollably. Probably that was the cause of a random Aether dirt block jerking upwards right to my foot.

I almost lost balance but regained my footing to force the thing down to where it came from. Again, geokinesis wasn't in my favour: it completely ignored my will.

Alpha almost had the right timing to see me hammering down the earth if he wasn't distracted by Vulcan on the way out. I innocently placed a foot on the dirt block as he turned around and said, "Delta, you'd better come in soon. It's getting really cold now…"

"Ah, sure, alright," I answered back.

"Um… what are you doing?" asked Alpha, eyebrow raised.

"Nothing…" I replied. "Just… looking around, getting used to the Aether…" Out of the corner of my mouth, I was secretly hissing, "Damn it, dirt, move," while continuously heeling the block as unnoticeably as possible.

"You're acting suspicious these days," commented Alpha. "You're… jumpy?"

"Oh, I am?" I asked, laughing nervously as the block finally plopped back in. "Ahaha, oh, okay, cool."

"Just get in," said Alpha, glancing at me uncertainly. "Unless you want to freeze outside."

"Right." I followed Alpha inside, but I couldn't stop thinking about the mysterious figure I witnessed. What was it?

X

A/N:

GAH ALMOST ELEVEN PAGES NO WONDER IT TOOK ME SO LONG

Too high-tech inventions for an old world, blah blah blah. My world is like that, but not so much to affect the legit-ness. Bah, blame the Remoterrarians. They got ahead of time. So Rho's off for this story, thank you very much. Alpha, Delta and Omega are the maineys in this story anyway, so kindly step aside, Rho. Gah, that part held me up for so long… ;_; TOO MUCH AWKWARDNESS

And… SHNOWWWW D: Why do you think I had that poll months ago? I didn't like the Christmas update so I thought of using here in a… negative sort of way. IF YOU LIKED THE UPDATE, I'M SO SORRY DDDDD:

And I would be putting any little detail on my TMC progress on my profile, for those who are so 'lazy' not to go to my deviantART page. :P But seriously, want to see any extra work related to TMC, go to deviantART. I put up the link on my profile.

REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS :DDDDDDD