Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with the evidently long-awaited return of Hourglass!

Hey guys, sup? I'll be honest, I have no idea what came over me. Maybe it's just the start of the new year, but on New Year's day...yes, just yesterday, I felt a big surge of inspiration and hope for this series. I've been reading all the reviews you guys have been putting out and it made me feel both sad and happy in a way. I looked at where I was in the story and just made the decision that I would give it another go!

And now here I am! Chapter 25 is up and I'm glad to be back! I've made the decision to clean up some things. First of all, I've decided to reduce the extreme slang that Darcy and Adrian use to make them more like real people instead of cartoonish stereotypes. In addition, I'm going to get this story moving in terms of plot. It's always been slow and I've got some things in mind for the future of this book that I'd like to eventually get to.

So yeah, this is happening! I'm legit going to finish this darn thing! Now, I'm not promising anything on release dates for my chapters since, well, that never worked out for this book. Instead, I'm just going to go with the flow. Although I'll say that I'm hoping to finish around 40 chapters. So, yeah, length-wise the story is over halfway!

But seriously, let's get on with it! Here's Chapter 25 of Hourglass, here for you to enjoy hot or cold!

Now, let the story commence!

Chapter 25: Minecraft's Sweetest Ride

Norman popped out of thin air and landed hard on the ground, absorbing the impact painfully, the others landing in similar fashions around him. Darcy got up off his sore knees and brushed grass from his pants.

"Blimey! My draks got grass stains now! Couldn't Froace have teleported a little closer-ground?"

They stood just outside the borders of Blocks Vegas. The flashy lights of the city burned behind them, casting their shadows on the street to their backs. Ahead of them stood a vast area of plains, stretching farther than their render distance could load.

"Hey, I'm just glad that we're away from all that is blinding, flashing, and blaring. It's an epileptic nightmare out there." said Bailey, looking relieved to be back in nature. "Besides, I haven't been too fond of being in urban areas ever since my home city was destroyed by Bacon the Bloody." she gave a little shiver and stopped talking after that.

The eight of them stood there in silence, just listening to the wind in their ears. It had picked up since they entered the city. After a little while, Kelsey turned to Norman and said,

"So, is it New Pork City next?"

Norman paused, then nodded in confirmation.

"It seems like it! I'm just wondering how we're supposed to get there."

He turned to look at Darcy, who raised an eyebrow at him for being paid attention to.

"You don't happen to have another mineshaft that leads to New Pork City, do you?"

Darcy laughed half-heartedly, saying,

"Hell, I wish I did, mate. I'd live there if I could. It's bloody amazing, that block is! Rumor has it some porker runs the whole place."

Bailey raised both her eyebrows upon hearing that.

"Wait, how does one pig take care of a whole city? I mean, unless it's another Gentlemob like Professor Pigson, it wouldn't be possible."

Unfortunately, these suggestions got most everyone else declaring their own theories on the possibilities of a governing swine. Norman, on the other hand, was trying to think of a way to even reach New Pork City. When he came up blank, he quickly regretted letting Froace leave so soon; perhaps he could've transported them to the city just as Farixz had done back at the Palace of 0.

After another half minute of the group's loud babble, talk died down a bit and Kenneth parted the crowd to approach Norman. Despite being in his teenage body, Norman was still taller than the geek, who at least looked three years older.

"Norman Cobweb," he said, positively beaming, "I first just wanted to say again how honored I am to be in your company...I mean, what with you being a total legend and defeating the Glitch twenty years ago and all its mutant armies and—"

Norman promptly cleared his throat at full volume, stopping Kenneth's fanboy rant in its tracks. A few awkward seconds followed, one of the two's face getting redder and redder as time passed.

"Er, sorry." apologized Kenneth, rubbing one of the fat folds on his neck. "What I was getting to is that I can locate New Pork City just by, um, including a lot of information on a command block write-up. I'm not sure that I can teleport all of us there as it's probably protected by an admin seal, but at least we'll know where to go...right?"

It was then that Norman realized that he didn't even know where the city was. He mentally slapped himself in the forehead for not thinking about it just once, but let himself be cool and normal on the outside. He looked down at Kenneth with a look of approval and nodded, replying,

"Well then, get to it! Block block!"

Kenneth returned an eager nod and sat down on the ground as he had down in the cave, placing a command block on the space in front of him. He closed both eyes and fell into that sleep-like trance, holding the block by the corners with two hands. As he went to work on that, Norman glanced back up and searched for Bailey. He found her near the back, in a furious conversation with Astrid on whether flying pigs really did or did not exist.

"Bailey!" he shouted, grabbing the blonde's attention.

She turned away from Astrid, pushing past Auconi and Darcy to reach Norman. She stopped directly in front of him and gave him a look of acknowledgement.

"Yeah, Norman?"

"Listen," Norman began, walking closer to her to close out any other listening ears around them. "You and I are the last hopes of keeping this group from falling apart. It was bad enough when Alexander was here...I just need help rounding everyone up. In this body, none of the new kids are going to listen to me for long."

The Mobwhisperer put on a small smile, briefly glancing around at all the impatient chatter that surrounded them.

"Here, allow me!" she said with a hint of wit.

Bailey wiped her expression clear of any joking nature and donned a look of pure seriousness. Stepping through the crowd of seven more, she swiftly found her way to the very front of the bundle of bodies and stood up straight.

"Hey! Everybody listen!"

Unfortunately, the sound of her shouts just blended in with everyone else's, causing the mass of conversation to get even louder. Bailey sighed, blinking a good, hard blink. The next moment, she dug her heels into the ground and took an enormous breath.

"EVERYONE SHUT UP! LISTEN!"

All seven of the teens, even including Norman, looked up or down at Bailey with startled stares. In addition, the babble had been drastically reduced to mere whispers amongst the group members. Once she knew she had all eyes on her, Bailey let out a huff from her mouth and sagged at the shoulders.

"Sorry, you guys were just so loud."

She nodded to Norman, who understood the cue and stepped forward, standing beside her.

"Norman and I have been talking about the condition of the group and the mission. Night's already falling, so that means that we've only got about nine and a quarter days before Arabaloca reaches our dimension. If we don't get to serious work on finding the fifth and sixth Spirits, they'll just stay where they are and never be able to help their brother Spirits retake Arabaloca. THEN, the Glitch would claim it just as it planned, find Salutem and kill him too, go to Hell, join forces with the DEVIL, and wipe out literally EVERYTHING IN EXISTENCE! ALL GONE!"

Her furious yells had shocked everyone into a total hush now. Even Darcy, who in serious moments still didn't care to put a lid on it, was gawking at her in dead silence. Bailey had to humble her own attitude in order to stop shouting at all of them. She was the adult here.

"Okay," she said, calming herself. "I just think that we need to refocus here. So we defeated the first Unforgiven Spawn. Awesome. But now we need to put every ounce of effort into getting to New Pork City, finding the next Hellspawn, and taking care of it so that we can save Firzon the Fifth! I know that 222 hours sounds like a lot of time, but in reality it's hardly enough for what we want to accomplish. Heck, spring break is longer than that..."

Bailey joined in the silence once she had finished, looking a little hopeless herself. A few moments like this passed, everyone looking around at each other as they one by one began to recognize the task ahead of them. Finally, Auconi turned his gaze to the front, looking at Bailey curiously, and stepped out of the throng.

"So, what are we going to do now? How are we really getting to New Pork City?"

Darcy stepped forward as well, bumping his partner out of the way to take the attention of the group.

"Auconi's got a point...for once." Auconi glared, but let him continue, "I told you, I have got any bloody carts for all you wankers! One free ride was it!"

Before Bailey or Norman could even think of a reply, a sudden rumble came upon them from beneath their feet. In one short moment, the ground underneath them had begun to quiver, almost as though something huge was crawling through the earth towards them. Prowling, stalking, ready to unearth itself and—

BOOM! A large patch of ground beneath them erupted violently, scattering the entire group several blocks from where they had all stood just a second ago. Just after hitting the grass again, Norman held Shatter above his head and made a magnetic shield to protect himself from the heavy fall of dirt particles.

"Hellooooooo!" called a voice from the dirt clouds. "What's up, losers?"

The sounds of painful groans and grumbles signified that debris had stopped falling. The shield dissipated above Norman and he dug his trust spade into the ground, balancing himself on it as he stood up shakily. God, that really scared him. It was like a nightmarish déjà vu from when the Mechablast Factory blew him into the clouds.

The haze of particles dissolved into the air very quickly, revealing the most massive minecart he had ever seen. It stood nearly five blocks in height and 46 in squarecumference. When Norman squinted down at the shadow cast underneath the vehicle, he could see that the four wheels that supported it hadn't changed in size or distance from each other, resulting in Barbie-esque proportions.

"Hey! Eyes up here, everyone!"

Norman lifted his gaze to the rim of the giant minecart to see a tall, slender individual leaning over the edge. Upon seeing their rodent-like face and greasy black hair, he gritted his teeth painfully hard. For crying out loud, why him again?!

"Miss me at all?" teased Alexander, putting on an even bigger snide grin. "Yeah, I was just out having the best time of my whole frickin life! It was probably a lot better than whatever you guys did! PLUS, now I've got this baby to cruise around in!"

Alexander flicked his deadly stick into view and tossed it from hand to hand, just waiting patiently for anyone to give him a furious response. Taking the bait, Auconi stepped forward and just started shouting at him out of nowhere.

"Where in Notch's name did you even go?! We sure could've used you and your stupid twig during all the different battles we were in earlier!"

Alexander turned with his back facing them, leaning over the edge so extremely that his head drooped back enough to still see them.

"Well, hop in and I'll tell you all about it on the way!"

Astrid raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, replying,

"On the way to where? Your mom's basement?"

She laughed at her own joke and nudged Adrian next to her, who refused to join in. The slippery teen bent himself back a little more, staring at Astrid through one opened eye.

"New Pork City, smartass."

Mark and Raven stood just ten blocks from each other, the two of them panting as they attempted to catch their breath. Mark raised a hand to his eye, tenderly feeling the dark welt that was swelling beneath his brow. Raven in turn lifted a finger to her lip, wiping a thin stream of blood that trickled from inside her mouth.

"Mmmhm, Mark," she breathed, giving him a teasing smile, "I just love how much you've given in to Lord Glitch! Slowly, I see you becoming just like it! Powerful, hot-blooded, vicious..."

Mark grimaced and rushed forward with blinding speed, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her up with the force of the virus inside him.

"I am not vicious, you slimy black clown!" he spat, his rage towards Raven increasing with every second.

His vice grip around Raven's neck didn't seem to be hurting her at all. She tilted her head like a curious pup, showing her newfound fangs in a sadistic toothy grin.

"Oh?"

Mark stared at her intensely for a moment, trying to understand her short response. Quickly, he realized what he was doing, looking over at the throat between his clenched fingers. He grunted angrily and threw Raven to the ground, turning on his heel and removing himself from the situation.

As he was just about to return his hand to his head, prepared to nurse his wound, a pair of feet smashed him in the back and toppled him to the inky-black floor. Her weight had seemed to increase tenfold and he struggled greatly to push her off. Raven's head leaned into view, her snakelike tongue lolling out and hovering just before his ear.

"I've already seen what you can do with the power of plasma, Marky." She whispered deviously. "For example, you could definitely shove me off if you just gave in entirely. Go on, put away those dumb little morals of yours and BECOME A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH!"

The frustration inside of Mark burst for a moment and his entire back erupted in spikes of black, stabbing the Goth in multiple places, launching her off of him a few moments later. He stood up from his vulnerable position and clenched his fists, the needles on his back melting back through his shredded tee. When he turned around, Raven was shakily getting on her feet once again.

Her stomach, which showed underneath her spidery crop top, was drenched in red now. Despite this, she showed no signs of pain or anguish. The smile across her cheeks had not wavered in the slightest.

"See what I mean?" she said, giving a brief chuckle. "It's been only a few hours and your body's already being replaced more and more by the plasma itself. Not even I was that fast..."

Mark gritted his teeth and glared at her with pure intensity. He was sick of hearing her talk about how amazing the Glitch was. He knew he was different. He wasn't at all like Raven or the Glitch or anyone. He was Markus Cobweb, son of Norman Cobweb, and he was a hero. The good guy. Not a sadistic torturer like all the monsters he had encountered in the past. Raven was no exception.

"Shut your mouth!" he snapped, absentmindedly cracking his knuckles one by one. "I have reasons to be violent towards you of all people, Raven. I take back what I said about hurting you. The torment that you put on me those months ago was enough to push me to the brink of insanity. I'm not about to let your so-called lord do the same thing!"

Mark turned on his heel and walked away from her for a second time, his fists still clenched. He didn't know where he was going in all this endless darkness, but keeping his distance with Raven was his only desire at the moment.

"And now I'm going to find a way out of here. After I escape, I'm gonna find my dad, help him destroy the Glitch, and get back to my actual home. All far, far away from you!"

Suddenly, Mark heard the rush of wind behind him and whirled around with his newfound speed, catching Raven's fist in his hand. Her arm started to tremble as she pushed hard against her ex, a frightening mix of anger and gleeful madness showing in her unblinking gaze.

"If you won't give in willingly to the Destroyer of Dimensions, then I'll just have to infect you MYSELF!"

Her other hand came at him in a blur, connecting with his chest and knocking him back quite a distance. Mark gasped on the ground, the wind punched right out of his lungs. When he raised his head, Raven was speeding up towards him again; she lifted her hand mid-run and her claws grew even more in length, turning pitch-black and crackling with static.

Mark bounced up off the ground just in time to avoid being stabbed by Raven's plasma nails, spinning around a second later to block another swipe from her hand. He grabbed her by the arm that pressed against his and twisted it, throwing her to the ground. He made like he was going to strike her in the chest with his own fist, but her body shifted around the attack while she was prone.

"Wha...?"

But he took too long in trying to process the dodge and was kicked with both Raven's feet, sending him flying once again. After hitting the ground some thirty feet blocks away, he gave a pained cough as he tried to regain his breath. Raven landed on top of him, pinning his arms to the ground and putting her nose nearly up against his.

"Heheh...yeah, so you haven't figured it out yet, have you?" she snickered, her eyes wide.

Mark blinked hard and long, trying to break her murderous stare.

"W...what you do mean?"

"You still feel pain. The first thing that Lord Glitch taught me when it took me under its wing was that pain was an obstacle on all those who felt it. Now I can't even remember my own past. All I remember is what it said would empower me the most: you."

"Oh my God..." Mark murmured, looking deep into the darkness that was Raven's pupils and searching for some sign of humanity left in her. "What did it do to you?"

For crying out loud, Raven! I swear, she's doing a better job of driving Mark to madness than the Glitch's plasma...oh wait.

Now, I'm still not going to do any QAA. That stuff takes a HECK of a long time to complete! Same goes for the side story, so I apologize to anyone in the story and to those who wanted to find out what was going on. It's been so long that I've forgotten the plot almost entirely! ...it's kinda sad, yeah. :/

But now I think I can get back on track here. For now, this has been Pastrinator64 with another chapter to Hourglass, the third and final addition to the Divination of Dimensions Trilogy. Yes, that is what I've decided to call it! Pretty good, huh? :D

This is Pastrinator64, your fellow writer and reader, signing out!

*throws sugar bomb and disappears behind its cloud of fine white sugar*

...Goodbye for now...

~Pastrinator64 [~]