Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from Hourglass!
I've been feelin' pretty damn inspired to write for the last couple days, actually. After I finished that huge Undertale animated project that I'd been working on for a month and a half, I felt like a weight really had been lifted off my shoulders and I could write. Plus, for some reason rewatching Over the Garden Wall got me thinking about writing my original book which in turn made me think of writing this series and AH! I'm just in the mood, alright! In fact, after I post this chapter, even though it's getting late, I'm gonna keep writing the next chapter! :D
Replies to Reviews...
Marshman101: Yeah, the Glitch's idea of a perfect future is pretty...twisted. I mean, "twisted" is still a bit of an understatement. "Mental" is probably better. XD
THEFIREKING: Yes, but it won't be a continuation of this series. After Hourglass, I will have completed the trilogy that I'm calling Divination of Dimensions and I'll be able to move on to my original story! Yes, ORIGINAL story. I think has hosted my work for long enough, now. And after this story, I'm gonna be leaving the site. I'd stay for longer, but...yeah, I don't have any more fan fiction I still want to write. It's really, really, REALLY bittersweet, man. :/
As the title should obviously imply, we've just got three more days before time's up for the heroes. Does anyone think they can make it? ...I dunno, I'm asking the, like, 20 people who still read this. XD
Now, let the story commence!
Chapter 51: Just Three Days
Speeding across the ocean with blinding steps, Mastermind found himself once again carrying Vanessa in his arms as he and Salutem got back on the run. Despite being almost a mile away from the pursuing waves, he could very clearly feel the evil energy tugging on him from behind. At roughly five in the morning, the moon was getting quite cozy with the horizon line as it prepared to set and give way to the morning sun.
"Salutem!" he called, shooting a glance leftward. "Was your call to the Palace of 0 successful, or did you just get a really wispy voicemail?"
While the Mastermind gave a small giggle at his own joke, Salutem nodded as well as a creature without a neck could and replied,
"In fact, I did. Evidently one of the Glitch's spies had hidden away inside of Firzon the Fifth and, once inside the palace, forced Firzon to shatter the 64th Hourglass. As a result, the entire world cycled three days forward before they could repair the fixture. You're aware of what that means for Arabaloca, right?"
The Mastermind grinned nervously, looking down at his blurry reflection in the water beneath his curly boots.
"It really did jump…sheesh! I wonder how the Ultra hero and his little friends are handling this! It must've been quite the wakeup call when they realized what happened."
"I still can't believe it…I just, like…holy buckets!"
Astrid swung her diamond sword overhead, slicing at thick blocks of leaves as she followed the rest of her group forward.
"Is it even possible anymore?" she added, looking incredulously at Norman.
"Is what possible?" interjected Adrian from behind.
"Our quest, duh! We've barely more than three days left to save Sycallion! I know I'm usually one to look on the bright side of things, but…man, we were fighting that last hellspawn for a reeeeeeeally long time! And if the current pattern continues, this last one is gonna be the hardest to beat."
"Astrid, come on!" said Bailey, putting effort into a smile. "We're not doing ourselves any good focusing on the negatives! If we can't look on the bright side—as in if there isn't one at all—then at least we can solely focus on the task at hand, right? Rather than complain about it? …we've lasted this long, haven't we?"
This time, Auconi gave his occasional bit of input and shouted,
"We're gonna have to last another two days in this forest before we even get there, don't forget!"
Once again, Adrian spoke up from the back of their pack.
"Well, why don'tcha just look at it as two more days 'til we get to see all our loved ones again! If we can stop the Glitch from succeedin' and makin' a pact with the Devil, we'll get back everybody we lost! Mark, Liz, Kelsey…Darcy, too."
On the left side of the group, Carol leaned over to Sabrina and whispered,
"Hey, think we should bring back Alexander?"
While the two bff's were snickering cynically, Auconi gave a definite "hmph" and turned his head to face forward.
"Alright, okay…I gotta try and not complain too, I guess. But I'm not doing it for you guys!" he said, pointing at them all with one finger. "I'm doing it so I can focus when we have to fight monsters again. Glowstone National Park is home to a lot of different animals, so there's no telling what kinds of mutants we'll see!"
"That's right!" shouted Adrian as all sorts of terrifying memories came to mind. "Out of everybody, Auconi and I've got the most experience dealin' with mutated mobs! That little planet in the Void was packed fulla them! So, just…y'all keep on your toes, alright?"
There was a collective sound of agreement that rippled through the group. As they put their focus forward again, Norman reached over with his opposite hand and pushed down the F3, bringing up the world data. They hadn't been on the move for very long yet, but he still wanted a refresher for how much time they had left. It looked like there were still a little under two days' walking distance from their final destination. Maybe if they kept jogging like this, they'd get there early and have more time to beat the last spawn…maybe.
"What're we supposed to do while we run? We can't just…run in silence!" Astrid declared, rolling her eyes.
Auconi frowned, staring straight forward with a look of utmost impatience and saying,
"Y'know, we actually can! It'll help us focus on the journey so we can get it done as quickly as possible."
He lifted his sword and swung it in a smooth circle, watching his passing reflection while he twirled it. After a few seconds of this, he halted its movement and got a good look of his own tired, frustrated face in the shimmering surface. Gritting his teeth, he added,
"Huh. I've been looking more and more emo as the weeks go by. Maybe it's the dyed hair…? Why does it feel like everyone with dyed hair in Minecraftia is the most edgy person alive?"
Speaking of edgy kids with hair dye, Raven was ready to go crazy—any crazier than usual—from hearing Darcy and Kenneth talk for so long. Unfortunately, she and Mark had been fighting for so long that she'd been reduced to a melty puddle on the floor, phasing in and out of her new plasma body as the Glitch's power took her over still. Mark, on the other hand, was standing above her and panting heavily, ready to collapse from the weight of the many black spikes protruding from his back.
"I don't know…which of you I'd kill…bleh…FIRST." She gasped, lifting her head off the ground to see her legs turning to black sludge on the ground. "Ugh…I can't wait to control this plasma thing…nobody fucking likes my real body anyway, so…what's the…GOD, THIS IS THE WORST!"
Mark, meanwhile, was just trying to get control of his own body again. Unlike Raven, who was currently being fueled with irritation, Mark could feel himself just getting constantly angrier; because of this, he felt almost completely in control of the plasma inside him.
But he didn't like it.
"This is the worst, you're right…" he grumbled, hands pressed into his knees as he struggled to stand upright. "I can't give into this stuff…"
Raven grimaced, looking up at him from the ground with a very nasty expression.
"Jesus Christ, Mark! What is this to you, an anime?! You can't just "resist" the plasma…I don't know why you'd want to, anyway." she mumbled, turning her head to the infinite blackness above her and letting a smile creep into her cheeks. "I know it's hopeless to convince you, but just imagine for a sec…imagine if you had the chance to take revenge on everybody who'd ever hurt you…that's so, heh…heehee…"
Mark's teeth ground together as the fury continued to fill him, even moreso with her nonstop talking about all these terrible, terrible things.
"Nobody…deserves to be touched by you." he growled, body flickering for a moment with a sharp static burst. "You've caused so much pain for so many people and you still think you're in the right."
Raven didn't move from her spot on the invisible floor, only her smile shifting as it grew in size.
"You're just as insane as I am, Mark. Just as crazy, messed up, fucked in the head, aaaaaaaall that…I'm always super shocked when I think of how Kelsey managed to deal with you—"
"Why can't you just SHUT YOUR MOUTH?!"
Kenneth paused for a moment as he heard shouts from behind, turning around the next second. His eyes widened when he saw Mark and Raven scrambling and punching in a dark blur on the ground, going absolutely nuts; he gave a short sigh and turned the rest of his body towards them, taking a step forward and pushing up his glasses.
"Ah, geez! Sorry, Darcy! They're at it again, I gotta…take care of that." he said, a hiss of air passing through his teeth as he continued towards them.
He lifted both his arms and concentrated his energy, mixing the harmful properties of the plasma with his own non-violent aura together. Despite how tangled together they were, he could single out both their bodies and separate them with the swipe of his hands. A pinkish glow surrounded the two, ripping them apart abruptly and holding them on the ground.
"What the hell?!" snapped Raven, voice warped. "Kenneth, I swear to Lord Glitch is you keep doing this with us I'mAGH!"
Raven had made the mistake of trying to pull apart the magic net around her, which turned black immediately and shocked her with electricity. After it reverted into pink, she let out an almost feral growl and screamed,
"DAMN IT! I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT FOR THREE DAYS TO BE UP!"
Across the dimly-lit space, Darcy shot up from the ground; he'd been ingesting the first round of dark energy the Plasma Realm was giving him when something Raven said really caught his attention.
"Hey, if you're talking about that plan to rule the bloody universe, I've got bad news for ya! Those blokes have still got about a week before Arabaloca gets here."
As he chuckled a little to himself—half because of the maddening effects of the plasma—Raven suddenly began to join in. Slowly, his laughter faded and he turned his head to look at her from where he sat. Kenneth looked especially unsettled by her bipolar reaction.
"What's so ripper?" he asked, raising his brow.
Raven took a breath and paused, leading directly into her response.
"Well, I don't know what the hell that means…" she started, going in and out of her glitched tone. "But you're super wrong with that. You know basically nothing. Heeheehee…"
Kenneth blinked, trying to read her expression as he held her and Mark in place. A new kind of determination had begun to bubble up inside of her. No matter how many times Mark beat her back, she returned with a frightening hunger. It was enough to make even Kenneth fear what she was going to say next.
"Lord Glitch had a virus sneak into the Palace of 0 and mess with the Minecraft Dimension's inner clock. Baaaaaaasically…you've got, like, half that time. Three. DAYS."
Kenneth's stomach dropped into his shoes. Instinctively, he did some quick mental math to figure out how much the others would have to do to still succeed, and…and it was not good. Not good at all.
"Oh crap, that's bad." he muttered as he realized the impossible nature of their situation. "You don't sound like you're pulling our legs…that's, uh, that's a weird way to phrase that saying…w-whatever."
Raven's power grew even larger inside Kenneth's trap, making him sweat a little as he tried holding both her and Mark in place. Raven stretched her arms behind her head, the plasma that coursed through her veins allowing her to bend into an unnatural shape.
"Aheheheheh…three days, yeah. Three days and I'll get to let out the real me. The me that doesn't need to follow stupid societal guidelines, standards, and shit like that…" she whispered, now completely distorted in voice and body.
"Stop talking…stop talking…" murmured Mark, clutching desperately at the black spikes now rising out of his forearms.
Kenneth shuddered in place for a moment, both from the sudden stress on his arms and the showing symptoms of insanity that Mark and Raven were suffering from. It was truly terrible what the Glitch had done and continued to do to everyone it took away. And especially now that he knew none of them were actually dead, but…stored away.
"Darcy!" he shouted, shaking out all dark thoughts that could distract him. "I know you just got here, but, like, could'ja try and help me out with this?"
Darcy was lying flat on the floor now, a mixed look of pain and intrigue plastered on his face. He looked like he was really trying to resist letting the plasma take him over, but even with his hardheadedness he was having immense difficulty.
"Aw, crikey…" he moaned, scrunching his eyes shut. "I thought I'd be done after I got shot through with that devil's fangs, but…hey…wait a sec, is this what the afterlife is? 'Cause I'm seeing things I've never bloody seen before, I'm telling ya."
Kenneth let out a grunt of effort as he clenched his fingers tighter together, continuing to hold the other two in place. He looked over his shoulder at Darcy and caught sight of him on the ground, raising both his bushy eyebrows.
"No, this isn't! There're only a handful of afterlife dimensions, actually…a-anyway, I need you to keep it together for just one minute, alright? One minute!"
Darcy couldn't really hear him, unfortunately. Kenneth watched in horror as he gave a violent shudder on the ground, a black glow rippling through him. He rose up off the floor and stood straight, an expression of both disbelief and terror on his face. His eyes were just barely darting around, pupils quivering in place.
"Ah…I…I…" he gasped, his irises flickering between black and their usual brown. "Kenneth, mate…I actually think it's it for me…again…"
Kenneth looked from eye to eye, frozen in place by Darcy's tone. Three more seconds went by in the deafening silence that plagued the Plasma Realm. When the time was up, Darcy lifted a hand and pointed at him with shaking fingers. He gritted his teeth, paused another couple seconds, and then muttered,
"I know…I-I know this…sounds weak as all hell, but…I gotta say it."
Suddenly, Kenneth shouted in pain as the two aura-bound prisoners behind him broke free of their bonds. They fell to the floor and shook the nonexistent earth, bouncing him up a couple inches. He shot a glance over his shoulder at them and watched as they got to their feet, both of them turning pitch-black in a matter of seconds.
"Can you…"
Kenneth whirled back around to look at Darcy, whose tears were the color of tar. Moments later, he was able to muster up enough strength to utter his final words.
"Can you tell Auconi…if ya see him, I…I mean…tell him to beat this bloody virus out of me when he sees me? And…tha…that I'm sorry for being such a thickhead…"
A moment of silence rested on top of the four of them for a couple seconds.
"…uh, Darcy?"
"…"
"…"
"…heh. While you're at it, tell him I'm sorry for hoggin' that chickie Morgan…the bludger deserved her more than me."
Darcy's eyes, which had turned wholly black by now, closed shut and scrunched in pain as he stopped struggling against the effects of the Plasma Realm. He began to mutate before Kenneth's eyes, turning more devilish and dark by the second and screaming in agony. The geek turned around in place and saw that Mark and Raven too were barely able to keep any of their unique physical features, turning into mere silhouettes of their former selves with big, wide red grins.
"She must not have been lying…" he whispered, now very afraid as the three corrupted teens around him started inching towards him. "If there really was a jump from six days to three, then everybody here would be advanced in their conditioning, too…l-logically."
Kenneth once again felt his mind drift to the heroes still stuck in Minecraftia. He certainly didn't like his current situation—only survivable thanks to his natural-born hacks—but he could only imagine the pressure the others were feeling as they hurried to finish their quest. In just 72 hours! Good God, that really wasn't a lot of time at all…
Returning his focus to the current situation, Kenneth put some power in his legs and leapt upward, surrounding himself in his aura to hover above the glitches below him. He looked down at them, grimacing nervously when he saw their six collective eyes shining back at him in the darkness.
"Threedaysthreedaysthreedays, oh MAN I hope that's enough time!" he groaned, licking his chapped lips and letting out an anxious breath. "Not just for Norman and them, but for me, too!"
Out of all his adventures, every escapade, every journey through mountains and plains and forests…after those five days spent in that glitched desert from his first adventures, and even after the seemingly neverending ride in Alexander's minecart, Norman somehow felt that this one day of travel through the woods had been the most uneventful, boring, uncomfortable, stressful trek he'd ever been a part of. From one o'clock in the morning 'til ten o'clock at night, they'd been walking through this same bland forest; somehow, in those 21 hours of travel, they didn't even get attacked by a mob—mutated or not. Eventually, Norman understood that they needed at least a teensy bit of sleep and called for everyone to stop.
"Oh GOD it's finally overrrrrrrah!" Carol cried, nearly tripping as she flopped forward into the grass.
She raised her legs sluggishly off the ground and flicked off her boots, one by one, and proceeded to spread herself out face-first on the ground in her fatigue.
"Hnnnnnnn…I'm ready for a long nap, I dunno about you guys." she mumbled, flexing her aching toes and stretching her arms. "Seriously, I think I'm gonna pass out in a couple seconds. Not in a bad way, but, like, in a "I'm so goddamn tired I would pay somebody to let me sleep for a day" kinda way…what am I even saying…?"
Sabrina fell down on her knees next to Carol, sagging from exhaustion and struggling to keep herself upright.
"I h-have no idea, but…I agree, I think."
It wasn't just their two weakest links that felt like collapsing. In fact, Bailey actually did collapse on the ground right in front of Norman without her control. He sat down heavily next to her and let out a harsh breath, groaning audibly as dark spots filled his eyes.
"Oooooh…wow, that was a long time to walk. That's probably the longest we've been on foot with no rest, huh?" he said, glancing down at Bailey.
Bailey didn't answer, of course. She was too busy breathing like a dying goat and sprawling out in the grass to care what the question was. It was honestly kind of funny to see her like this and he couldn't help but laugh; of course, he didn't have very much air left in his system, so he quickly stopped. He lifted a hand and patted her on the head, saying,
"Are you alright, Bailes? You seem…at least slightly tired."
While he snickered to himself, Bailey let out a single "ha" and turned herself over, grumbling slowly as she fell on her back. She let out a breath and suddenly smiled when she saw Norman laughing.
"Yeah, funny…hey, are you smiling? That's the first time I've seen you genuinely happy since we had our big adventure back in the day."
Norman stifled his laughter and sighed, glancing back down at her.
"It was only 20 years ago. We're not that old!" he said, smirking a bit.
Bailey gave a short laugh that sounded more like a cough, then let out a grunt of effort as she tilted over onto her side to better face him.
"Personally, I think 20 years qualifies for "back in the day" status." she started, rolling her eyes a little. "But geez, can you believe we've only got a couple days left before this is over? One day of walking, one day of fighting, and then it's all over! For good this time…right?"
Norman's smile faded slowly as his thoughts returned to the Glitch. He went silent, looking up for a moment to watch the five teens around them talk, kid, and obviously complain some. As he half-listened to their jokes about their aching feet and their excited words about bringing back old friends, just watching them all interact as a group rather than individuals, he had a sudden mental image of his dresser back home. On top of this dresser was a framed picture of himself standing among eight others inside the Aether Palace before it belonged to the Glitch. And now, looking at their mismatched, dysfunctional group, he thought for the first time that he could see them all in the picture, too. For all the terrors and tragedies they'd been through, a single happy photo to preserve their few good memories was something that they all deserved. No matter what generation of adventurers they were.
"Yeah." he said, watching as the Glitch dissolved into nothingness inside his mind. "For good. For real."
"For good. For real." ...I think I like the sound of that. :)
Will Vanessa, Salutem, and the Mastermind be able to actually escape the Glitch's plasma waves or will they just be stuck in an infinite loop of running for their lives? Is two days enough time for Norman, Bailey, Adrian, Astrid, Auconi, Carol, and Sabrina to rescue Sycallion and defeat the last Unforgiven Spawn? Will they survive another day of running through straight forest? And will Kenneth live long enough to pass on Darcy's message? Find out in...eh, either the next chapter or the one after that. Of Hourglass!
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 [~]
