Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with the second chapter of Hourglass.
First, before I answer your reviews, I need to say what I said before… I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN I AM ACCEPTING OC'S! I AM NOT CURRENTLY ACCEPTING THEM, SO PLEASE SAVE YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR A LATER DATE! Sorry, I just had to say that; I've already gotten some OC's. They're pretty good, but I need you guys to wait for when I tell you to submit.
Speaking of OC's, I apologize for the guidelines because I forgot to include Age in there.
Anyway, NOW I can answer your reviews!
Replies To Reviews
spark n ' Jetz: I really like your OC, by the way, but I'll tell you when I need OC's.
Guest: Ahhh! You forgot AGAIN? Write your password down, my friend! It'll be worth it if you remember, because having an account is way better than being a guest.
Blaze 12345: When I do ask for OC's I'll need you to specify with the last name as the block power.
clubby789: Yeah, the Glitch never does seem to go away, does it?
Volcanic the hedgehog: Exactly! But that name's trademarked, so I have to come up with something else. Also, the Clock Chamber is different than the Hyperbolic Time Chamber because in the Clock Chamber you can manipulate time to your desire. In other words, it's a vast room that acts as a time machine.
Guest: Hi again, British buddy! You should really get yourself an account or at least add a name rather than just "Guest." Then I have no way of addressing you properly. Anyway, I assure you that all of your questions shall be answered at a later date.
Well, this is about where I start putting in my brief—yet usually not-so-brief—overview of the previous chapter, but I'm starting to think that I won't be doing summaries at the beginning of each chapter. I've gotten a lot of reviews from people saying that the summary was unnecessary or annoyingly long, so I'm going to ask you, as the audience, what your opinion is. Vote "yes to summary" or "no to summary," because I need to know if it's worth the trouble. Thanks!
Now then, let us get on with the chapter!
Chapter 2: The Fountain of Adolescence
While many of the residents of the Palace of 0 were reminiscing their pasts, Norman remained entirely neutral towards all of the deaths he had seen that were burned into his memory including Mark's. Farixz the First had put that dreadful emotion hex on him again in order to keep him from breaking down over the loss of his son. He was now the leader of this ragtag group of teenagers, so he needed to act like a leader that knew what he was doing and wouldn't get off-task.
It was Monday morning in the 0th Dimension. Norman was standing inside of a spacious room lit by lights of many colors, contrasting the multitude of silvery patterns of the palace. The source of the rainbow lighting came from the stacks of large hourglasses that lined the walls, ceiling, and even the floor. Every inch of space was covered by a different-hued hourglass, and every single one of them continued to flow with fine sand. Norman, fascinated by the entirety of the room, bent down on one knee to observe a neat icy-colored hourglass by his left foot; the sand within it continued to flow, but it would switch directions every two seconds, flowing upward and then down again, then in a circle through each end.
"That would be the Back to the Future realm, Norman—the 23,449th Dimension, to be exact."
Norman smiled as he watched the shifting sand.
"Neat," he remarked.
Serisdo the Second floated at his side. When Norman looked back up at the Spirit, he knew only that it was him because of the difference in their faces. While Farixz the first's was a more polygonal type with its pyramid shape and certain symmetry to it, Serisdo's held no borders and was swirling around slightly, appearing smoothly curved near his chin. Other than their faces, Norman knew not of the difference between each of the Spirits In Between. Even their voices were the same, pretty much.
Serisdo looked up at the ceiling, gazing almost dreamily at the multicolored surface.
"This room was constructed by Froace the Fourth and Firzon the Fifth; they were like inseparable brothers, they did. Froace, with his love for money, supplied all of the time-tracking "sand" for the room, which may appear to look like sand but is really extremely fine diamond powder, and then crafted each and every one of the hourglasses from fine gems of millions of different forms, each one a unique creation. Firzon, using his keen eye and great attention to detail, created the room and its space, putting the hourglasses in their places as he believed was most artistic. Finally, though, Farixz came in and breathed each individual hourglass into life, which made the beginning of time for all dimensions he brought into the universe."
Norman glanced at Serisdo and asked curiously,
"What about you and the other two Spirits In Between? Did you get a chance to refine the room at all?"
Serisdo glided around the gigantic room, observing it as a whole, letting himself go back a little in time. As he brushed his wing against the wall he could feel the magnificently flawless glass surface of each special time-keeper.
"Well, I was never a very artistic individual and neither was Thorvon. I am the intellectual one, the one who lets all past, present, and future knowledge exist inside of dimensions for their inhabitants and Thorvon created emotion for all capable beings of these infinite dimensions, so neither of us were wanted by Froace and Firzon; they wished to take on the project by themselves except for when they needed to get all the hourglasses to work independently, which was what Farixz's job was, for he was and is the creator with no limitations. As Farixz explained a night ago during that meeting, Froace, Firzon and Sycallion were very, well…outgoing Spirits."
Norman paused for a moment and noticed that the last Spirit, Sycallion the Sixth, had been left out of Serisdo's reply. He stood up from the ground and walked closer towards Serisdo, who was floating twenty or so feet higher up, still brushing his wings against the glassy, colorful wall.
"What about Sycallion?"
Serisdo froze in midflight and shut his eyes in sudden agony at the mere mention of the last of his brethren.
The gnarled hand of Satan held up Sycallion by his neck, his blackened claws digging into the Spirit's skin. Blood was dripping from his fingertips, blotting Sycallion's gloriously shining armor with crimson blemishes. To the side, Firzon was staggering helplessly away from the swirling torrent of flames that surrounded the Devil and his hostage. Froace, with his right leg nearly severed at the knee and his left foot absent, was hanging onto Firzon's back in order to keep himself upright, his eyelids shuddering with threatening fatigue. Both of them were a meager fifteen feet away from the vortex of fire.
Farixz stood outside of the blazing circle and did nothing but stare at the fallen angel. He did no such thing to attempt to save Sycallion—just gazed in a dreaded grief that seemed to have overcome him when he realized that not even he could defeat such an entity. Thorvon lay within the border of the flames, unconscious and blackened by the fire's wrath as a result of his heroic but unsuccessful efforts.
Finally, there was Serisdo, who lay beside Thorvon but remained conscious. Although he felt like he was struggling against falling into an exhaustion-induced sleep, he managed to keep his focus on the evil spirit that stood only a few feet away, holding the youngest of his brothers. He tried to lift any part of his body in resistance to the pain, but his labors were in vain.
Satan glowered down at Sycallion, whose eyes had fallen back into his head, his mouth agape with blood dripping from his lips, his entire body collapsed from the sheer suffering he experienced. Only a faint wheeze escaped his mouth in response to the crushing grip around his neck by the Devil's hand.
"I smell betrayal, Sycallion the Sixth!" murmured Satan with a sickly-sweet tone in his voice. "Although I may detect the scent everywhere I lurk, it is most strong in this vicinity!"
Satan lowered his head and let out a forked serpent tongue, grazing Sycallion's cheek and burning it on the spot, making the Spirit moan in pain.
"And speaking of which, you seem to be in luck today! I've been generous enough to pay you a personal visit for the day of your sentence! Your soul is in need of the appropriate damnation!" he muttered, his words dripping with wickedness. "You along with ALL your fellow creators!"
He waited for a moment, letting the roar of the fire drown out all the other screams coming from the tortured souls of the realm in which they were in. The villain's words were still echoing in Serisdo's ears, slightly jumbled and hard to make out due to his condition. He turned his head and glared outside of the ring of fire, his eyes staring daggers at Farixz, who remained motionless and unmerciful towards Sycallion. He mustered up what little energy he had to send his pleas to Farixz telepathically, as his voice had gone from him.
"Farixz! Help Sycallion! You are unharmed, untouched! You have the power to stop this spawn of Hell! YOU CAN CALL HIM TO US, PLEASE DO IT! DO IT NOW!"
There came no reply from Farixz. He stayed where he was, his misery blocking out all communication from his brother. Serisdo couldn't even strengthen his mind enough to speak to Farixz a second time. His head fell limply to the side from exhaustion, leaving him to stare at the ground, the fire's deafening crackle blasting in his ears. It only took a few moments before he completely lost his grip on his self-control and found himself falling into unconsciousness.
A flashforward—a vision into the future.
Serisdo exited the room at a frantic pace without any warning, leaving Norman alone in about three seconds. Norman stared at the large doorway where he had gone and was instantly meant with questions. What did Serisdo have against Sycallion the Sixth?
Fast-forwarding seven days into the future, the heroes of the prophecy were sitting in the dining room at the grand dinner table. The main course of the evening was a delicious flounder and everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves even with the certain threat that was the Glitch looming over their heads. Astrid Silverfishstone took her fork and knife and banged them down on the table, licking her lips and declaring,
"You know what the three happiest things to hear are? Breakfast is served, lunch is served, DINNER is served!"
To her left, Kelsey hit her on the shoulder and gave her a scornful look.
"Astrid, don't be rude."
Astrid just rolled her eyes and stabbed the entire hunk of fish with her fork as though it were a spear, and lifted the fish to her mouth to tear chunks off with her teeth. Kelsey scooted a little farther away from Astrid before starting on her food. She found herself picking at her food rather than eating it; it was just too difficult to think about food at all.
It had been over a week since they'd taken refuge inside the Palace of 0. It was nice, what with all of the servants that were around to get you what you wanted, the luxury spa, the gourmet food, and everything else. Still, even though she'd been pampered all that time, her mind was still on Mark. And the Glitch. And the fate of all the universe and its dimension. And everything!
Every time she wouldn't eat, she'd have to say to herself just one sentence.
"Mark would want you to eat." she murmured to herself.
Adrian looked to his right at Kelsey and spoke through his mouthful of flounder.
"What'd ya say?"
Kelsey sighed and continued to poke her food.
"Nothing."
On the other side of the table sat Norman and Lizzy, silently eating their fish. Everybody, except for Astrid, was pretty quiet, actually. The entire week had made them grow very, well, apart. Each person could do whatever they wanted, really, so everyone was off doing their own thing pretty much all day. This made it incredibly awkward when they came together to get served dinner.
Norman, however, was eyeing the end of the table where Farixz sat watching them all eat. He felt immensely uncomfortable just being watched and it was hard to focus on the food at all. He was able to last all the way through the key lime pie at the end of the meal, at least.
"Well, I'm pretty tired, so I'm just gonna head off to bed, thanks!" he said quickly, getting up from his finished plate and heading off towards the nearest hallway.
"Norman, I am afraid not. I have been waiting for you all to finish your supper for a purpose. There is a matter I must bring up that is in relation to your upcoming quest."
Astrid didn't seem all too amused at the word "quest."
"We're not leaving already, are we?"
Farixz shook his head slowly.
"No, but very soon. There is somewhere I must first take the elders of this group."
He nodded towards Norman and Liz, who looked mildly surprised.
"What for?" inquired Norman, a bit of skepticism in his tone.
Farixz glanced from Norman to Liz and back again a few times, observing them closely. Finally, he spoke.
"Yes, you are both suitable material for the transformation."
Liz got up out of her chair and said with much uncertainty,
"What transformation?"
The Spirit looked a little annoyed at them for a moment as he replied,
"All in good time, I assure you. Just please, follow me."
Farixz whirled around and hovered off immediately towards the doors to the kitchen. Norman and Liz got out of their seats quickly and followed him, not wanting to be left behind. As they entered the kitchen and hurried off after him as he floated up a stairwell near the back, Liz whispered to Norman,
"What do you think he's going to do to us?"
Norman reached out and squeezed her hand to calm her.
"It'll be fine, I'm sure. I know he's very odd, but he's definitely not insane. There'll be no Slenderman repeats, not ever again, I promise."
She breathed heavy through her nose in reluctant agreement. They continued up through the stairwell for another minute or two until they reached its end, leading up to a dimly lit hallway that went on for about twenty meters before splitting off in two different directions. They saw Farixz turn left and disappear around the corner just in time.
"He could slow down, though." grumbled Norman, his legs burning slightly. "I'm not as young as I used to be."
"You're only 34." pointed out Liz, who had found no trouble at all when going up the tall stairwell.
They rounded the corner and found a door in front of them. It looked old and moldy, its hinges caked with rust. Norman reached out for the handle and grasped it, pulling it to open door. It came right off of the door with a crunch and fell apart in his hand.
"Aren't there celestial janitors in this palace, or something?" wondered Liz as she stared at the remains of the handle on the floor.
Norman grabbed the edge of the splintery wood and moved it ever so slightly, making it give off a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. He cringed until the door was open enough for them to squeeze inside, which they did so, and then found themselves staring in awe of what stood before them in that dinky old room. There in its center sat a fountain of glowing blue water. The entire structure was cracked and dusty and the water was spilling out in rough streams, splattering the sides of the fountain slightly and spraying up into the face of whoever stood too close.
Farixz hovered in a slow circle around the fountain, gazing at it intently. Norman and Liz approached the fountain in curiosity, noting its ancient features.
"This," declared Farixz, "is the Fountain of Adolescence. It was specifically designed to revert the drinker to their former age of thirteen years old."
He suddenly slapped his wing down on Liz's wrist; she was almost about to dip her hand in the glowing water.
"Don't touch. Now then, as I was saying, this fountain was crafted from the stone of the Boundary Wall in the 755th Dimension—as you might call it, a favorite childhood dreamland named Neverland. You recognize it from the popular children's cartoon of Peter Pan, but as I have said before, every fictional and realistic world has its own place somewhere in the universe.
"Anyway, the Boundary Wall was an endless barrier of stone separating the magical world of Neverland from all dimensions. Its job was to let those under the age of thirteen pass through and to keep all other outside travelers out. Of course, when the notorious villain Captain Hook attempted to break in through the wall and invade Neverland, he did so by finding the kink in the hexed wall where the magic was weak enough, breaking through the weak point and creating a hole in the stone and the magic; although the magic has reapplied itself since, the stone was scattered away into the 754th Dimension.
"In the 754th Dimension where the realm of the popular animated story of Robin Hood, one of its eldest citizens came across the Boundary Stone and was accidently returned to the age of thirteen years old. Greatly joyful of the news, she caused a lot of racket throughout the dimension, letting everyone join in on the youthful magic. Rumors spread like wildfire, and soon other dimension leaders were finding out from the 754th's: Robin Hood himself. An entire span of five hundred sixty-four dimensions tried to invade their dimension to take the magic stone, so finally I was brought in to delegate. And THAT is how I came to possess it."
Liz looked at the fountain with a smile on her face, wondering what it would be like to return to being thirteen. Then she looked up at Farixz and asked,
"But why turn it into a fountain?"
Farixz shrugged his shoulders and replied,
"Firzon happened to be extremely bored at the time, so I gave him the stone and told him to make whatever he wanted out of it—simple as that. Today, though, it serves a vital purpose. As I explained to you at the end of VOiD, the immeasurably patch of space from which the other Spirits and I have come from is always connected to us on a spiritual level as it is the source of our origin. Its power guides my wings to etch into the Divination of Dimensions a new chapter whenever it must serve a purpose, and last night I found myself being controlled by the ancient impulse once more.
"This new chapter, the unexpected fourth of the Divination of Dimensions, stated in the very beginning that, "Having reunited the Spirits in Between, seven healed youthsof generations three shall unite in hopeless circumstance and wield the dimensional power gifted to them by I Fate, led by the Ultra Hero: purified product of evil. Just vengeance brought down upon the Discarder, Lucifer's flames shall be quenched before their kindling and the multiverse shall wholly be saved from eternal hellfire." It explicitly refers to the heroes as adolescents, you see?"
Liz glanced up at Norman swiftly and they locked eyes.
"So we have to..." started Liz.
"...become teenagers again?" finished Norman.
Farixz nodded his head and let the realization set in for both of them. Liz's grin widened and so did Norman's. Suddenly, Liz burst out laughing and clasped her hands together.
"Oh, yes! I can't wait to become a teenager again! Those were the best years of my life!" she said excitedly, hardly able to contain herself.
Norman was happy for a moment, but then frowned as another thought came to mind, and so he turned back to Farixz.
"But what will happen to our brains? Will our memory be returned to only what we had those years ago?"
Farixz shook his head this time and smiled at him, saying calmly,
"No need to fret, Norman Cobweb. Although your bodies and your personalities may return, your mind will still be filled with all the knowledge you currently possess."
Then another thought came to Norman's mind that was, quite possibly, even worse.
"Our bodies...oh man." he muttered, internally groaning about the evident doom that would come upon them once they were transformed.
Liz touched his shoulder and looked momentarily concerned.
"What's wrong, hon?"
Norman simply looked over at her with a grievous look in his eyes and muttered a single word.
"Puberty."
Liz laughed so hard that she started snorting. Norman gritted his teeth and snapped,
"It's not funny!"
Farixz lifted his wings and quickly intervened,
"Now then, now then! There is nothing I can do to alter your previous forms, so you are going to just have to deal with the consequences. There is no other alternative, I am afraid."
Norman groaned for real this time, dreading the "wonderful changes of youth" that were to come, but sucked it up and stood straight up again.
"Alright, fine, let's just get this over with, I guess."
As Morgan stumbled through the forest she could feel the harsh whips of wind hitting her from behind, blowing her long, brown hair all around. Her legs and lungs protested, begging her to stop running, but her measly willpower kept her going, keeping her from the fine line between life and death.
She's lost both her contacts, so she couldn't even see where she was going as she flailed her arms, pushing hanging vines out of the way. Her desperation to get away was only increased as the sound of snapping twigs behind her did the same. Little did she know, she was just about to rudely disturb a sleeping green creature only ten blocks ahead of her. Moments later, Morgan's shoelaces snagged on a low tree branch as she was jumping from a small ledge, sending her careening straight down into the mean, green, explosive animal beneath the tree who was woken up unexpectedly from its nap.
The Creeper's eye sockets widened as it zeroed in on Morgan's terrified face. It hissed, swelling up on the spot, ready to explode, when suddenly a vine from above snatched it and chucked it high into the air, never to be seen again. She momentarily ceased her breath, keeping absolutely quiet as more vines slithered down across the trunk of the tree she sat huddled beneath. She scrunched herself up against the ledge next to the tree, struggling to keep out of reach of the creeping green tendrils.
The vines were only an inch from her face, feeling around the tree, searching for her. Finally, after another ten seconds, they began to retreat, and she was able to start breathing quietly. She watched in relief as the vines slithered their way out of sight. She was safe.
But then she got a sudden itch in her nose, and without any warning, she leaned forward suddenly and sneezed loudly. The vines immediately whipped into life from above and latched onto her, wrapping her in a cocoon and carrying her up the ledge towards their owner. She screamed at the top of her lungs with what little breath she had, but was shocked into silence when she saw what came next: a giant, green, mutated-looking Venus flytrap just sitting there with a horrible grin on its face.
Moments later, both the large plant and its captive disappeared into the dark forest.
Oh no! I think we all know who THAT was.
On with QAA, then! :D
To Vanessa: I've never read Moby Dick. Is it good?
Vanessa: "Oh, you have no idea! I'm so glad you asked! Here, allow me to briefly summarize the entire plot of the story in a short twelve-hour monologue. In the beginning—"
To the Glitch: Dare: if you fail again you will be forced to play Sonic 2006, a game with more glitches than you can comprehend, for all of eternity.
The Glitch: "Challenge accepted, fool! If I win I am going to corrupt Sonic 2006's dimension anyway! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Here's another snippet from the side-story of Sugar Lords!
They reached the boundary of clouds within minutes and went from there. Each of them was well-trained and knew how to hide their powers, which they did well before they would reach their destination just in case of an ambush.
"How much longer?" shouted Pikale over the rushing wind in their ears.
"About two hours, give or take!" replied Pastrinator64.
"Why don't we just teleport?" suggested Kyle, pretending to do the finger-to-the-bridge-of-nose thing.
"I can't take all of you with me!" he answered, shaking his head. "Maybe one or two at a time, but not more than that!"
As he turned his head to look forward again, he thought to himself,
"I wish I could, but this is the price I pay for acquiring help. It'll be worth it, of course, but we still gotta make it there."
All he knew for sure was that there was a very long two hours ahead of them.
Well, that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed chapter number two, and I'll see you all LATER!
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 [~]