Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from Hourglass!
On an entirely random note, I found something very rare the other day: Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo on DVD! It might be the absolutely most pointless anime of all time, but it's so unlikely that I'd see something like that again and I decided to get it. I also got Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh!, so that's even better! :D
Anyway, let us get on with the replies!
Replies To Reviews
Volcanic the hedgehog: Mmmmmmm...nah, I'm just weird. XD
Nwinds: 1. That was a confusion for both me and probably more readers like you who wondered the same thing. He's actually from the South, not the West.
2. Well, I've been having fun with the return of Mason Mushroom, so yeah, probably! I love cameos. If you have suggestions you're free to give them.
3. I'll just have to keep away from having too many characters and I guess I'm good.
4. Awesome! Thanks for checking up on it all! :D
5. Sure, I'll make all of the snippets one big chapter, or two, or even three depending on their length, then continue it at the end. Sound good?
6. Ohhhhh! I didn't realize that before. Now I actually understand your name, because before I was always like, "Nwinds? What kind of name is that?"
7. I'm only concerned about getting the actual character of Satan accurate. I don't want it to suck and I don't want it to be the same sarcastic evil glee that the Glitch has. I need to make them differ somehow.
spark n' Jetz: The whole "rad boobs" thing is actually a line from an episode of Bravest Warriors. Ever seen it? By the way, I'll keep in mind to refrain from having an overload of characters; in fact, I said this exact same to Nwinds in the review above. ...Psst! Hey, Nwinds, I know you saw your name in bold and are now reading this! XD Sorry, couldn't resist.
Just a brief announcement, everyone! I would like to clarify that I will NOT, repeat NOT be accepting any more OC's at this time, but will be sometime in the future. Keep on the lookout for any further notifications from me on the topic if you really want to see your character make a debut! Thank you! :)
Get ready for a little bit of Fourth Wall madness, because here comes CHAPTER 5!
Now, let the story commence!
Chapter 5: Her New Calling
"Satan?! We can' beat up a godfersaken demon!"
Farixz hovered past them absentmindedly, not looking back as he said,
"Unfortunately, Ms. Ice is correct."
Adrian closed his eyes tight as a headache came upon him.
"Darn it all. I can' believe it!" he muttered, still in disbelief.
Norman gritted his teeth and whirled his head at Farixz, who was now hovering in circles around them. He ran up to the Spirit and stopped in front of him, clenching his fists.
"You mean to tell me that we're going to have to fight Satan?! The Antichrist?! The Beast?!"
Liz ran up beside Norman and looked up at Farixz as well, angry and confused.
"Farixz, there's no way we can fight Satan! It's SATAN!"
"Yeah, we ain't exorcists, y'know!" piped up Adrian from behind them.
Farixz lowered his gaze to them and observed the emotion in their expressions for a moment before speaking again.
"You will not be fighting Satan, exactly."
Norman raised an eyebrow and replied,
"What do you mean?"
"I have already explained some of this before, I will for the sake of the Readers who joined this series just recently."
A scream from behind them spliced through the air and the three of them turned in alertness to the noise. Astrid was on the ground and there was a large transparent shard of what look liked blue-tinted glass stuck in her right arm.
"What the hell?!" she screamed, taking out the shard with a grimace and staring at it.
She stood up, otherwise unharmed, and turned in a full 360 for the source of the shard. All of them gasped when similar shards of the strange glass appeared all around them on the floor.
"Wha...?"
Suddenly, a portal appeared three paces to the Astrid's left and out stepped a very burly man that resembled John Cena, only with a beard. He was wearing what looked like a janitor's uniform and was carrying a chrome hammer similar to something that Thor's, only it had a big WH printed in navy blue on each side.
"Phil! Old friend, how has the business been treating you?" inquired Farixz, spreading his wings in a welcoming gesture.
The Fourth Wall Repairman—real name being Phil Drake—shot a glare at Farixz and shouted,
"Horrible, thanks for asking! I'm breaking the Fourth Wall just by saying this, but the Author recently found that dumb anime Bobobo-Bo Bo-Bobo on DVD at a pawn shop yesterday and he started watching it this morning, so I keep having to come in and fix the Fourth Wall because the idiots in that show can't stop breaking it OVER AND OVER!"
He then jerked his head down at Astrid and gave her a nasty scowl; she returned his expression with an even nastier one.
"And now, just a few hours later, I have to come back into this series again and try not to strangle YOU for breaking the Fourth Wall! I thought that after I left in VOiD you would've gotten the message, but evidently not!" he growled, pointing out the wall shards all over the floor and adding, "I've got to clean up all this crap now because of you!"
He lifted the silver Wall Hammer in his hand and held it in Astrid's face, but she didn't even flinch. In fact, she snickered a little when, just by being near the Fourth-Wall-induced cut in her arm, the Wall Hammer accidently sealed up the wound perfectly.
"You, young lady, had better not continue to break the Fourth Wall or I'll have to come back here and teach you a real lesson!" he spat, furious with both her and the fact that he'd just healed his least favorite individual.
Astrid grinned deviously, paused for one silent moment, and then cupped her hands to her mouth.
"WE ARE INSIDE OF A BOOK THAT IS CALLED HOURGLASS AND IT IS BEING WRITTEN BY A HUMAN ON PLANET EARTH IN ANOTHER DIMENSION! RIGHT NOW THE WORDS I'M SAYING ARE ACTUALLY JUST WORDS HE TYPED UP ON A COMPUTER!"
Instantly, the shards of the Fourth Wall exploded unnecessarily and got their dusty particles all over the entire throne room. The Fourth Wall Repairman clenched his fists and shook with rage, screaming,
"DAMN YOU, YOU LITTLE—"
He made a move to grab Astrid around the throat, but she evaded him and started running in the other direction, whooping mockingly.
"Come and get me, Buttbeard!"
The Fourth Wall Repairman screamed with fury and charged forward at super speed for such a massive guy. He was immediately upon her; he grabbed her by her collar and lifted her up, Wall Hammer raised by a shaky hand.
"ENOUGH!" exclaimed Farixz.
Using his powers, he put a permanent barrier between the two. The Fourth Wall Repairman smashed his Wall Hammer against the barrier, but it still didn't do anything.
"Phil, I am sending you back to 4444th Dimension so you can return to your duties! This is a mess that I myself shall clean up."
Farixz clapped his wings together and the Fourth Wall Repairman disappeared in a gray mist. He proceeded to zoom over to Astrid and tower over her in anger.
"Astrid Silverfishstone, Hero Three of the Divination of Dimensions! You must control yourself at all times or mistakes such as these will occur without the odds being in your favor! Be thankful that this happened when I was here or you would have perished!"
He turned on his—heel?—and glided towards Norman and Liz. Astrid flipped him off from behind.
"Lower your finger, impudent minor." snapped Farixz, who knew exactly what everyone was doing at all times with his seemingly infinite power.
In response, she raised both instead. Farixz sighed at her rudeness, but carried on. He appeared to be going towards Norman and Liz, but he passed them up and continued, stopping moments later at Vanessa, who looked up suddenly.
"Yes, Farixz the First?" she said, keeping herself from stuttering.
He looked down upon her with utter seriousness before uttering the following words.
"You may be unpleased to know of this, but you will not be joining Norman Cobweb and the other heroes on their journey to retrieve the last three Spirits In Between."
Vanessa's eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth in a slight gape. She shook her head slowly, so very confused.
"I know. Rexum told me." she murmured, solemn about it, almost.
"The power within you is a combination of Rexum the Wizard's and a once Dark magic that became your own upon contact with that book Cantatis. Now you are combined, and that means that Rexum has embedded its soul within yours. You are the next predecessor to fulfill the tasks that require the type of magic you possess. An alternate path has been chosen for you, for you will be taking over the job that Rexum once had: protecting the world of Minecraftia as a whole."
Norman ran forward and grasped Vanessa's hand instinctively.
"Farixz, you cannot possibly let my daughter go out on her own on another mission!" he shouted.
He tried to sound angry, but his voice cracked on his last word, embarrassingly enough.
"Damn it all, puberty." he thought, grinding his teeth.
Farixz couldn't help but suppress a smile upon listening in to Norman's thoughts, though it vanished a few seconds later.
"You must understand that this is not my doing. I was guided by the infinite Arabaloca when I wrote the Divination of Dimensions and it did not specify that a witch was one of the adolescent heroes. I am sorry, Norman, but she has other obligations. While you and your fellow heroes of the prophecy are out in search of Froace, Firzon and Sycallion, who will be there to protect the rest of the people of Minecraftia now that Rexum has passed from the physical world?"
Norman was silent for a moment as the thought came to mind. He'd never thought about who looked after the Minecraft Dimension—or 64th Dimension, or Minecraftia, or whatever you wanted to call it. He just assumed that the Spirits In Between did it all, but then supposed that they couldn't do that with every dimension and just had another powerful figure keep a watch over the dimension. Perhaps there were other figures like this Rexum character out there? Could there possibly be beings out there with the power to protect entire dimensions besides the Spirits?
"Norman,"
He snapped back to attention; he must've phased out a little while he was thinking. He lowered his head a little in discomfiture and murmured,
"Sorry, Farixz." he raised his head back up again and glanced over at Vanessa, whose face was almost as serious as Farixz's. "But Vanessa, if you're protecting the Minecraft Dimension, who'll protect you? It's not logical to just go out there alone."
Vanessa turned and looked up at her father, her dark brown eyes alight with a surprising glimmer that he'd never seen before in her. All solemnity had vanished from her expression as she spoke,
"Father, if it is my duty to finish what Rexum began, then it is my personal priority as well. Rexum was the single-greatest figure I have ever followed and he has taught me several vital things that could have never learned besides through his own teachings. It is my main concern that the people who brought him to his demise are brought to theirs so that no others may suffer in the same way."
Norman froze at how intense her tone of voice was; she was really serious about this. He wished more than anything that he could've met this Rexum person.
"But if you get hurt—"
"As long as I have Rexum's power combined with my own then there is nothing for me to fear. If Farixz believes I am ready to protect this dimension, then I have to do what's right."
Norman shook his head incredulously. This was not the Vanessa he knew. The daughter he remembered was shy and shut herself off form the world as much as possible. His child was becoming a delinquent! He was about to scold her for her rash actions, but Liz put her hand on his shoulder from behind.
"Norman, let her go. If our little girl is willing to sacrifice her time and energy to save the universe and if it is absolutely required in order to keep this dimension safe, then I'm sad to say that we're going to have to let her do what she wants."
Norman scowled, greatly disliking the idea of his daughter going off on an adventure by herself. Finally, he turned to her and said,
"Before I let you go anywhere, you tell me about Rexum. Who was he?"
Surprisingly enough, Vanessa actually smiled at the question. She lifted Cantatis, which was in her right hand, and held it with both. She pushed her red-rimmed glasses up her nose with her ring finger and flipped through the pages to the 64th page.
"Anima contactus." she whispered.
Norman jumped a little when he watched the book in her hand shapeshift into a glowing red mirror made of some kind of solid, transparent, red material. He greatly disliked witchcraft as he found it both sketchy and unchristian-like. Vanessa handed the mirror to Norman, who grasped it in his weird little fourteen-year-old hands and stared at his own younger reflection. Without warning, his face swirled and contorted into another and he gasped aloud.
An ancient-looking man stared back at him from the mirror. His face was worn by many years, though his icy-blue eyes had the vigilance of a wary feline. A full head of countless braids of musty-looking gray hair fell over his shoulder and down his back and, from as much as Norman could see, he was wearing very well-used green robes.
"Ahhhhhhhh..." he gaped, eyes as big as dinner plates.
"You must be Norman Cobweb's younger form." murmured Rexum, his voice dry and tired. "I am pleased to finally meet you face-to-face."
Vanessa gestured at the mirror with an I-told-you-so smile.
"This is Rexum, father." said Vanessa importantly.
"How...?"
Auconi and Darcy emerged from the sloping tunnel and stepped out onto the sandy surface of a small beach. Behind them, as well as to their right and left, was a nearly endless jungle biome. The only thing in front of them was the great ocean blue, its border unable to be seen by the naked eye.
Darcy was currently carrying Morgan on his back; she'd passed out from exhaustion soon after they started their way back up. He kept flashing grins back at Auconi, looking smug as ever. Auconi would always return him with a good-for-freakin-you sneer.
Finally, though, they walked forward to the beach's edge and their feet hit jungle planks. Both of them were walking down an enormous wooden walkway towards a mansion floating over the water. He and Darcy found that, although they disliked each other at times, they worked well together when building, and so they combined their talents to create a gigantic house that looked fashioned using a mod: four bedrooms, four bathrooms, two kitchens, a spacious rec room, a comfy living room as well as an upper and lower deck.
They were still working on the house's defense mechanisms, but after a month of building they'd finally finished the house itself. It was absolutely worth it, because they had all the room they wanted. The walkway was about twenty blocks in length and five in width, which he and Darcy cleared in a matter of seconds. Darcy stopped at the door and gracefully lifted up his foot, flicking the six levers in front of him according to the house's entry code: up, up, down, up, down. The diamond door clicked open and he entered, Auconi following close behind.
Auconi trailed Darcy as the Australian carried Morgan up the stairs and down the short hallway decked in Glowstone lamps. Turning left into the third bedroom ahead, Darcy laid Morgan down on the bed, covering her up with the blanket. She sighed in her sleep as she felt the comforting warmth of the pillow and quilt. Darcy tiptoed about the room, gathering clothes from his...his...late friend, which he figured would fit her well, and laid them out at the foot of the bed. When he was finished, he stepped back next to Auconi and gazed at Morgan.
"Poor Sheila. Scared straight, I'll be she was." he murmured, a smile on his face.
Auconi was still glaring at Darcy; when he noticed, he turned and stared right back.
"What're you looking at, eh? Now, I'm trying my hardest not to be a downright knocker, but you really should be rapt! We found ourselves an attractive chickie baby down in a cave who was nearly in the nuddy and now she's gotta trust us from now on, mate! The possibilities stand out like dog's balls!"
Auconi threw up a little in his mouth and he muttered in reply,
"Don't ever say that again."
Darcy shook his head and gave a mocking laugh.
"What? It's not like I'm saying I wanna have a naughty with the—"
"Darcy, just shut up already." Auconi snapped, turning on his heel and walking out of the room in annoyance.
He made his way into the kitchen and opened the nearest cupboard, snatching up an apple and bit into it furiously, taking out his anger on the bright red fruit. He felt really stupid doing it, but it helped get his irritation out. He used to end up kicking a wall or something whenever he got mad, which was a lot of the time because many things got on his nerves, but that would end in him injuring himself and so he decided to turn to food instead; now he ate when he was upset.
After staring at the apple core for about five minutes, still pretty mad at Darcy, Auconi remembered the leather boots he'd thrown aside back down in the cave.
"Damn!" he suddenly thought to himself as he stood up quickly and rushed out of the kitchen into the living room.
He still needed those boots! They were special to him because they once belonged to a now-deceased family member of his, but in the moment he'd been so annoyed with them splitting that he'd tossed them carelessly aside. He had to find them before they despawned, otherwise a piece of his family history would be lost!
He almost made it to the door exiting into the sun-drenched outdoors, but Darcy came down the stairs nearby moments later and said,
"Hey, what's the rush now, you fruit loop?"
"Nothing!" Auconi shouted back, opening the front door. "I left something in the cave and I have to quick get it back! Kay, bye!"
As soon as he left the house, Darcy rolled his eyes and sat down on the stairs in boredom, muttering,
"Good onya."
Somewhere else in Minecraftia, Jeff, JB and Mason were still wandering through the jungle. It'd been a couple hours, so Jeff was starting to get paranoid. As JB was helping him up a rugged slope covered in slippery grass, he noticed again how much his left leg hurt from carrying his weight. He'd be willing to give up his only leg just for a chance to switch and use his non-existent right for a change. About halfway up the slope, his knee buckled and Jeff toppled over, falling on his back on the side of the hill. He panted, sweat dripping down his neck, dotting his gray polo. He painfully craned his neck to look up at JB as he was being lifted back up into a standing position by him.
"Are you sure the lady is here? I'm a tough guy, but even I have my limits. Hopping badly injured through the jungle on only one leg is taking its toll on my entire body."
JB's strong build helped him lift Jeff up, who was taller and even stronger than he was, and carry him over his back. He breathed heavily as he trekked up the hill and replied,
"Trust me, we're almost there. She'll be able to help you get your leg back. She knows Konami Kokumajutsu, see."
"What...is that?" gasped Jeff, taking deep breaths to satisfy his strained lungs.
"It's a special kind of magic having to do with the code of everything in this dimension. She can retrieve deleted code and reinstall it at will. I think that's how she describes it, at least."
Jeff definitely disliked the idea of being tested on with sorcery, but weighing the consequences of going on with just one leg, he knew they were too great for him to refuse the opportunity. He felt like a whiny little kid asking, but he said what he was thinking anyway.
"Are we almost there?" he moaned, feeling a little lightheaded all of a sudden.
JB chuckled a little at the tone of his voice and replied,
"Yes, we are. She's just over this hill here, I think."
A minute or two dragged on by, but finally they reached the top of the hill. JB glanced down the other side of the hill and grinned toothily upon seeing what looked like a quaint little cottage raised above a pond at the bottom of the slope.
"We're here! The old lady lives just down there in that cottage." he said, pointing down at the house.
Jeff lifted his head and caught sight of the lodge, immediately sighing in relief. FINALLY! And THEN, Jeff's head snapped back up in alertness. He jerked his head left and right frantically, observing the surrounding trees.
"Wait, what happened to Mason?!" he questioned abruptly.
As if on cue, a horrified shriek echoed from inside the cabin.
"Oh, my apologies, madam! Perhaps I should have knocked!"
"GET OUT, YOU PEEPING TOM! I'LL BLAST YOU TO HELL!"
Without warning, Mason came crashing out of the window covered in flames, screaming his head off, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke just before touching the water below. There was a tense silence for a moment, and JB glanced up at Jeff, who looked just about as frightened as he was at the moment.
"She seems nice." whispered Jeff, unsure beyond compare.
"She is, just don't make her mad." replied JB.
"I'll keep that in mind."
What happened to Mason?! He just went...poof. Well, I hope wherever he went has mushrooms.
Anyhow, time for QAA!
To Doughbelly: *gives fun toys*
Doughbelly: *sits down sadly as he stares at his fun toys* "Master gone for business trip. No one to play with. Toys too small for giant dragon like me..." *whimpers miserably and lays his head down*
Hm. Not much QAA this time, huh? No questions, guys? If you have any, just ask away! :)
Now then! Here's another snippet from Sugar Lords!
Left of the gigantic mysterious figure, Pixelized was gliding slowly towards the figure—just enough to be able to see it. He knew he was concealed well, so he was not nearly as worried about being detected.
"Man, this thing's gotta be pretty awesome if it's got a power level like this." he said to himself.
Suddenly, Pixelized stopped in midflight and felt his blood run cold. Barely a couple hundred feet in front of him, a cloud gave way to a massive creature. What looked like a five-hundred-foot-long red alien was floating there, similar to a gargantuan crimson lizard-like animal. Its torso was decked in gaping holes that emitted a strange fume that smelled surprisingly like cinnamon rolls. It was a quite deceiving scent, for this creature was long, slimy and contorted.
A tail covered in layered prickling scales that raised up slightly, supposedly to be used to seriously damage its enemies, lolled out from its backside. It remained in the air by some unknown force, for it had no wings of any sort. The head was small compared to the body and was shaped in a form almost inspired from the monster in the movie Alien.
"Oh mercy..."
Coming to his senses, Pixelized remembered what the task at hand was and, with shaking hands, put his two index fingers to his head, one above each eye, and whispered,
"Seishin-Tekina E."
He blinked quickly and heard the snap of an old-fashioned camera inside his ears, and his head felt a little buzz. He'd taken the mental picture and quickly decided to contact Pixelized. The two of them may have been separated momentarily, but their souls were connected by the force of an Author; at will, they could speak to each other through their psyches.
"Pikale! Have you taken the mental picture yet?"
"Yep! This thing's freakin huge!" replied Pikale's nervous voice. "I think I'm g-g-gonna leave th-th-th...after-r-r a-a-a-a...d-dude! It's b-brea—"
Without warning, Pixelized's connection with Pikale ended.
"Pikale?!" he shouted aloud, even slapping his head as a dumb attempt to get the connection back; surprisingly, though, he could just barely hear Pikale say a few words again.
"...m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-m-mov-v-v-v-ving! G-GET OU-OU-OU...OU-OU...THERE N-N-N-NOW B-B-B-BEF—"
The connection was lost a second time and Pixelized became even more frustrated. Before he could try and regain connection, he heard a bloodcurdling screech and jerked his head back up in attention. The creature, whatever it was, was look right in his direction, its horned nostrils flaring as it sniffed the air.
"Oh...God..."
It's beady red eyes landed right on Pixelized, and so it screeched a second time, making Pixelized slap his hands over his ears.
"OH GOD! NOOOOO!"
Pixelized raised his power level to its highest and forced all power into his flying abilities, rocketing downward into the clouds below. This monster, unfortunately, was right behind him, though behind it was everyone else who were now in pursuit.
The chase was on.
Oho! Now THIS is getting interesting! Will Pixelized survive?! I KNOW, HA! XD
Well, that's all for now! I hope you enjoyed chapter number five, 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 [~]