Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from Hourglass!

I was hoping to keep up the streak of one chapter per week, but Christmasy things happened and I got sidetracked. In fact, I would've actually released this chapter over a week ago, but the way I had it structured, it needed to keep going. Now, however, I'm splitting it into two chapters because otherwise it would've turned into a 6,000-word chapter. And I know you guys don't like super long chapters, so that's why I did this.

Hey, at least I can get one more chapter out before 2017! I'm not making anymore end goals besides just FINISHING this. No dates. I'm just gonna do it at my own pace. I guess the only promise I can make anymore is that if this isn't finished by June, I'm actually quitting. I really, really, really, REALLY don't think that's gonna happen, though. XD

Replies to Reviews...

Laner: I try and keep the humor present in this story, yeah. XD Considering the bleakness of everyone's situation. And yeah, I really enjoy writing for the Glitch! :D

Thanks, Laner! I know you're a relatively new reader, but your compliments mean a ton. Anyone else who has something to say about a chapter (praise or criticism) can leave a review and tell me themselves! :)

Now, let the story commence!


Chapter 53: The Great Escape

Evan could sense the threatening aura of the plasma waves as they came in from several directions, feeling the powerful sensation as soon as he left the top of the hill; nevertheless, he kept himself focused on the task at hand and sped onward. He shoved the rest of his porkchop in his mouth and chewed furiously, hopping from one level down to the next as he went, and swallowed the nutrients to restore some of his energy.

Underneath him, the Netherrack formations shook with the tension of the oncoming plasma, making it that much harder for him to run straight towards his target. If his minimal math was correct, he had just under two minutes to sprint out to the base, grab JB, and then run back to the portal: about 200 blocks both ways.

"Alright, alright, alright, alright, alright—" he muttered to himself, short grunts interrupting his words each time he jumped to a different level.

Without any hesitation, he leapt down a small ledge and did an awkward somersault on the broad Nether fortress bridge below, stumbling for a moment before getting back on his feet. From a much higher bridge overhead, a pair of skeletons shot at him with amazing accuracy. Evan managed to avoid both attacks initially, but found that the same two arrows had curved back around midair to keep chasing him. He groaned, sorely wishing that he hadn't dropped his bow in the lava.

"Why am I such a klutz?" he asked himself, proceeding to punch an unsuspecting Wither skeleton in the middle and steal its tailbone.

He was able to hold the large black bone behind him just in time to shield himself from the homing arrows, which embedded in the dusty material with a loud crack. Thankfully, Evan's zombified body gave him immunity to the Wither poison, so he was able to carry it without any repercussions. In fact, the toxins gave him a bit of a health boost when he absorbed them into his clammy, green skin.

"Yes!" he shouted, feeling his legs mend in under a second. "Mob logic!"

Evan quickly came to the end of the bridge, which broke off right at the edge of another Netherrack hill; just as he jumped across the four-block gap, he glanced down the other side of the small mount and was more than relieved to see their base sitting at its foot. It was only by magic that he could see—considering both his eyes were eaten by maggots back when he was still dead—so it was impossible to see if JB was still there.

"Man, I hope he's still there…" he muttered, nervously eyeing the massive black waves spilling over the distant landscape. "Or Amya's right. I'm screwed!"

He ran as fast as he possible could down the hill, trying his best not to tumble forward and break himself on the slope in a painful somersault. Thanks to the incline, he hit the bottom in under ten seconds and used his dangerous momentum to spring towards their small cobblestone fort. After making a beeline for the door, he smacked the stone button over his head and jumped inside. Much to his relief, he found JB sitting against the wall, legs dangling over the double chest under him. He jumped in place, scraping the back of his head against the rocky wall before saying,

"Evan! Good Notch, you startled me! …also, ow."

The zombie didn't answer him, instead choosing to waste no time and grab him by the arm with his free hand, practically tearing him off the stack of chests and dragging him back towards the door. While JB was trying to figure out what was happening, Evan pounded the button once again and shoved JB out the door, promptly following.

"Wh-whoa!" JB exclaimed, tripping a little before coming to a halt and staring at Evan wide-eyed. "Geez, Evan! What's the matter?"

Evan booked it towards the hill, Wither pelvis still clutched in his right hand, and called out,

"THE GLITCH'S WAVES ARE IN THE NETHER AND WE HAVE MAYBE A MINUTE BEFORE WE'RE DEAD SO LET'S GO DUUUUUDE!"

JB suddenly felt a rumble underneath him and glanced off to his right down the next hill. Past the plateau that they'd built their house on was a steep mountainside, which, to his horror, was filling up rapidly with millions of gallons of black liquid plasma, crackling and snapping at him from a distance.

"Gyah!" he cried, jumping to attention.

He whirled around the next moment and saw Evan already halfway up the hill. Immediately, he sped forward and screamed,

"Hey! Wait for me!"

He followed Evan up the 45-degree slope as fast as his legs would allow him to, this brand new shot of adrenaline actually pushing him to catch up to the undead archer near the top of the hill. When he came side by side with his greenish companion, he swallowed hard and yelled,

"Where are we even supposed to go?!"

Evan waved the black bone in his hand as a motion for JB to follow, returning his gaze to the approaching Nether brick bridge.

"Jeff's got a portal just past this fortress and another hill!" he screamed, hardly bothering to hide the fear in his voice. "We can make it if we keep running! DON'T get shot by the skeletons!"

The two of them took a big leap over the gap between the hill and broken end of the bridge, landing smoothly and continuing on their way. Immediately, a trio of Blaze hovered up to their left, groaning angrily and preparing to shoot. As the hellfire was starting to brew inside their mouths, Evan jabbed his head in their direction and exclaimed,

"Use your Block powers! I haven't got my bow anymore!"

JB nodded and thrust his hand directly at them, forming a floating wall of beds just in time to block the volley of fireballs. At this time, he again spotted the Glitch's waves in the not-so-distant distance, which suddenly spilled into the right flank of the Nether fortress, instantly consuming the thousands of reddish bricks upon contact. He gulped, having a nightmarish thought of what would have happened if Evan hadn't found him, but was swiftly brought back by the sound of Evan's shouts.

"Watch out, Wither skeletons ahead!" the zombie cried, jabbing a finger forward. "Take 'em out! And some stairs while you're at it; we gotta get up there!"

JB quickly followed Evan's finger past the black skeletons and to an approaching ledge, which hung nearly ten blocks overhead. He wasted not a second more, turning his arm to the left and concentrating on the set of Wither skeletons now charging them. He summoned a pair in the middle of both of them, splitting the skeletons each in half so that they clattered to the ground a useless pile bones. Seconds later, he and Evan jumped over said pile and scaled the plush staircase formed in a hurry. At the top of the ledge, JB felt his heart jump when he spotted the Nether portal at the top of the last mountain. He glanced over his shoulder as well, eyes widening as he watched the plasma slosh up onto the bridge behind them.

"Uhhhhh, Evan?!" he shouted, jerking his head in the direction of the waves.

Evan was a little busy staring off to his left with a look of pure horror. Right on their level, across a flat expanse of Netherrack maybe a hundred blocks wide, more black sludge careened towards them in massive waves. He kicked himself into an even higher gear than before, running much faster and making a beeline for the mountain; if JB wasn't scared for his life right now, he'd be pretty impressed. Instead, he closed his eyes momentarily and gnashed his teeth, using all his willpower to ignore the burn in his legs and keep moving.

The two of them reached the mount side in five seconds flat, both freaking out and desperate beyond compare. Somehow, the presence of the plasma now closing them in from all sides had increased the temperature of the entire Nether an alarming amount, making it almost impossible to breathe for JB and Evan as they climbed.

"C'mon…C'MON!" JB growled, pushing himself further and further. "There's no possible way I'm dying to this! I can DO IT!"

"Y'know, your talking isn't really helping the situation!" Evan retorted, eye sockets comically wide open.

All around the red mountain, plasma splashed and twitched and flowed, covering every bit of land except theirs. Distorted screams and whispers issued from out of the waves when they got close enough. Formations like claws and hands reached out in their direction, grasping at them from a distance in their desperation for another Minecraftian snack. Considering how unbelievably fast the plasma could and would travel, Evan and JB had very little time left before they too were to become prisoners of the Glitch. This one thought alone was chilling enough to keep them going despite both their food bars being completely empty; not even when starvation started to eat them from the inside did they stop running.


"Uh, Jeff? …Jeff! I really, really, really don't wanna leave the guys behind, but we're also dead if—"

"Amya! Just WAIT! All I'm asking for is twenty seconds, okay? Believe it or not, I trust Evan…"

Underneath the starless night sky, Amya and Jeff stood nearby a curvy blue river, a great forest to their backs and a jagged mountain range in front. At the moment, however, they weren't paying so much attention to their environment. Instead, their focus was on the Nether portal sitting at the river's very edge, bordered with TNT that was primed for combustion. Jeff new it would take exactly four seconds after being lit before the explosives would actually detonate, so that meant they really only had sixteen seconds to wait.

Then it was time to shut the gate for good.

"Let's go, let's go…" Jeff muttered, gently hopping from one foot to the other as he anxiously eyed the portal's purple, swirly insides. "You got it, guys."

If only Nether portals were slightly transparent, allowing you to see through to the other side. That way, he'd at least have some idea if they were coming or not. Instead, he just had to stand there and wait the agonizing sixteen seconds to see for himself what happened. A couple anxious moments later, Amya adjusted her grip on the redstone torch in her hand and looked at Jeff, who was in a state of pure concentration.

"Jeeeeeeeeff! Ten seconds!" she moaned aloud, eyes darting between the portal next to her and him.

Jeff didn't say a word, keeping his attention on the portal. In his head, he counted down the time:

"Nine…eight…seven…"

"Jeff, I'm gonna light it!"

Unnervingly enough, a vibration began to issue from the portal, making the violet substance inside its frame jiggle. Amya's torch hovered dangerously close to the nearest TNT block, a uncommon look of terror on her face.

"JEFF!" she cried, waving her other arm.

"Five…four…three…TWO…"

Time was up; he raised his arm with a horrible feeling in his gut and threw it at Amya, screaming,

"ONE!"

Amya slapped the torch on the block adjacent to the TNT, taking a huge step in the other direction as she rushed out of the way. She skidded to a halt by Jeff and whirled around, watching with him as the one lit block fell into place, pulsating white as it prepared to detonate. No signs of life came from the portal as the last four seconds counted down…not one. Jeff lowered his head, unable to watch.

"Three…two…one."

Just before he heard the massive explosion of the TNT, a mess of screams and shouts cut into his ears and jolted him to attention. Without warning, a pair of bodies were hurtled towards him violently and knocked him off his feet. One of the figures tumbled right over him, banging his head into the earth while the other flattened his middle and took the air right out of him.

"GUH!" he gasped, eyes popping. "Ohhhhhh…oh Notch, wha…?"

He groaned, jaw clenched as he sat up and stared at the person lying sprawled across his lap. His eyes widened in shock the moment he recognized the green skin, greasy hair, and scrawny build; he swallowed, then exclaiming,

"Evan!"

Suddenly from behind, Amya gave a loud shout of laughter that startled him.

"Holy squid, JB! You look like you're gonna wet yourself, man!" she snorted, almost falling back in hysterics.

Jeff shook his head a couple times to wake himself up to the situation. He dragged himself out from underneath Evan's limp figure and got to his knees. After being lifted up by the armpits, Evan's eyelids opened slowly so that he stared at the wreckage which split the twisting river before them. He gazed fuzzily through the floating Nether portal frame—which remained intact after the blast—and off into the distant mountains.

"Uhhh…I blacked out for a sec there…" he muttered, little energy left in his voice. "Geez, my brain hurts…ooooooooh, yum."

In his haziness, Evan's old zombie habits started coming out for a moment and he turned to look up at Jeff, who was eyeing him carefully. He reached out with a hand, trying to grab him by the hair.

"You've got a brain, don'tcha, Jeff…?"

Jeff tightened his lips, promptly pushing his hands back down and saying,

"Alright, junior. Just take it easy for second."

He let out a heavy breath, feeling his heartbeat finally settling down, and removed himself from underneath Evan so he could stand up. Setting him the rest down the rest of the way and placing a three-stack of cooked chickens next to him, Jeff spun around in place and jogged towards JB and Amya; she was currently struggling to help him to his feet—considering the difference in their builds, reasonably so. As JB was gingerly taking one of his own cooked chickens out of his hotbar, Jeff approached the two of them hurriedly.

"Johnny!" he shouted, coming to a quick halt. "Johnny, my Notch! How did you and Evan escape the waves? I'd ask Evan, but he's pretty, well…out of it."

JB sluggishly gnawed at the wad of meat in his mouth, taking the time to swallow before responding to the question.

"Lots of running. Endless running." he said, nodding once. "I'm just a little in shock, you know? The fact that anyone went back for me at that point is unbelievable. As soon as Evan wakes back up, I'm giving him a great big…thanks."

JB blinked, slowly turning his head to look around at their new environment. His eyes paused to watch the flow of the river, then the miniscule rustling of the breeze-blown leaves from the nearby forest, and finally the half-circle of mountains that sat together in the distance. Jeff and Amya both stood still, exchanging a soundless glance with each other. After a few seconds of unintentionally awkward silence, Amya looked back at JB and piped,

"J-Boy? C'mon, dude, this is getting a little weird with how silent you are all of a sudden."

He puckered his lips for a moment as he was finishing up a thought, popping them the next second; he glanced over at Amya and Jeff, eyebrow raised, and said,

"Um, guys? Where are we? I know it seems odd, but this all looks kinda familiar to me."

Amya took a couple steps forward, stopping next to him and staring at the mountains as well. After a couple seconds, she still had no idea what was so captivating about them and decided to nudge him instead.

"Been here before, huh?" she asked, giving him a grin.

Surprisingly, JB shook his head and replied,

"No, I haven't! But, like, the forest, the river, the mountains, the…the everything. It looks a lot like the setting in a storybook my older sister would read to me when I was little; way before I was old enough to take over the bed and breakfast."

Amya's smile turned a little less sarcastic as she accidentally started thinking about her family, softening her up. She paused for just a second before asking,

"So, DO you know where we are?"

Shockingly enough, JB gave her a confident nod and took one final glance around him, spinning slowly in place to get a great big eyeful. Eventually, he came to a halt and faced his friend, lowering his eyes to meet hers.

"I think we got teleported to Glowstone National Park."


Holy buckets! Glowstone National Park?! ...at least somebody made it there! XD

Will Jeff, JB, Amya, and Evan ever truly be able to escape the plasma waves? Just how close were Evan and JB to getting swallowed by the plasma waves? What will the four of them do now that they're back in the Overworld? How are Norman, Bailey, and the others doing with getting to Glowstone National Park? And what about Vanessa, Salutem, and the Mastermind?! Find out in the NEXT chapter 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 [~]

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PS. Happy New Year, everybody! ;D