Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with yet another chapter for Hourglass!
It's weird. I was so amazingly inspired to write the first half of this chapter, but then I got to the, well, really cool scene at the end and I ran out of creative juice for some odd reason. I'm really not sure what happened! So, if the last bit seems kinda lackluster, which I think it still shouldn't be, it's because I was drawing only blanks for a while today. Though enough of my whining, we've got reviews to talk about! ^^
Replies To Reviews...
Marshman101: It's really difficult to describe the actions of the Amalgamob considering how UNBELIEVABLY COMPLEX ITS BODY IS. It might look cool on paper, but it's hard to write! -_-
Airas Slayer: I never once forgot about Vanessa's training. I just couldn't figure out where to slip it into the story! And yeah, she'll be able to improve upon her magic powers! :D By the way, I don't plan to write anything more for this series after this book. It's been a pretty huge burden on me for a long time and it's kept me from doing other creative projects I'm working on, such as my animation channel! I still REALLY want to finish it, though, because I super love this series and otherwise I'll never feel satisfied with completing any other project for the rest of my life! ...so yeah, no more Minecraft fics. :/
In regards to your question about the SkyDoesMinecraft video, no I have not seen that! You wanna tell me what the title is so I can find it and watch it for myself?
Badgerman: Basically, whatever heads are the closest get their fair share of the catch. Soooo, multiple ones. Ew. DX I felt a TON of emotion while making that last part! Lots of dramatic sacrifice scenes in books can look really forced and full of cliches, but I felt like I did a legitimately decent job with this one. ^^ Glad you didn't forget Amya, too!
And thanks for subscribing, I saw the second addition to my sub count! :D
tony22445: UNDERTALE FOR THE WIN, BABY! XD I plan to upload my first video once I'm finished with this book. I've been working on this one animation, a brawl between Doopliss and King Boo, but I need to format it and make the analysis part of the video before I put it out. I'm actually considering making a separate animated fight to put out so that I can wait until Halloween to post the Doopliss vs King Boo one! Does Garnet vs Knuckles interest you? Cuz' I might just be doing that ooooooone! ;D
Herobrine may or may not appear again...who knows! *laughs mischievously*
Before we move onto the actual story, I first want to thank all of you guys who are reading my story now! It's been a tough rode for this last edition to the series, so I SUPER appreciate all the support and comments you guys have been giving me! Thanks a ton! ('specially you, Marshman, Airas, Badgerman, and...Tony. XD)
Now, let the story commence!
Chapter 31: Sisterly Hate
A dreamless unconsciousness swept JB by. As his eyes were just opening to stare up at the leafy branches above, he was quickly greeted with a mental picture of Morgan's tear-stained face being pulled down the throat of an Enderdragon. The image unexpectedly jumpstarted his muscles, causing him to stand right up off the ground with a very brief gasp of air. Turning his head full-circle, JB couldn't see anything but forest.
"Ohhhh, no!" he murmured, feeling a bit panicked.
He'd lost Morgan and Jeff. Normally, being almost totally alone was a familiar feeling for JB, but this time he didn't have his jungle or Matilda or his cabin…
JB's eyes widened as he remembered Ol' Malcolm's Bedroom; he pulled on the collar of his shirt and stared at his chest, instantly receiving a punch to the gut as he acknowledged the certain lack of weight around his neck. The key to the bed and breakfast, the family heirloom that had been passed down a whopping eight generations, no longer rested just beneath his collarbone. Once again, he jerked his head left and right in a hasty attempt to spot it from where he stood.
"AGH!" he cried, grasping his hair in a fistful of brown. "Dang it! Dang it, dang it, DANG it! I can't believe I lost it!"
He shook his head angrily and stomped up to a nearby tree, smacking its trunk with his foot. After a few rounds with the oak, he groaned and leaned his head up against it; he was also unhappy with himself for losing his helmet, which he realized the moment his scalp hit the rough tree bark. It took him all of ten seconds to snap out of his fit, however, and a separate thought came to his mind.
"How did I get here?" he muttered, blinking hard.
He removed his cranium from the tree and looked around again, trying to remember what happened after he got attacked. Morgan asking him to kill her…the monster around her biting a chunk out of his helmet…an arm linking around his…
"Yeah, that's it." JB said to himself, lifting his head as the blurred memory came back to him.
All of a sudden, JB's attention was caught by the sound of an Enderdragon roar not all that far from his position. Having lived in the jungle for so long, JB had trained his ears to ignore the echo provided by the towering trees so he could find the source of the sound. It only took him a few seconds to determine its northwest-bound location. He sprinted off in the appropriate direction, his mind dead-set on finding Morgan again. Or Jeff, who, when he really thought about it, might have been the one who saved him back there. How else could he have ended up somewhere else besides the Aether? He was only running for nine more seconds when a second roar caught his attention; he sped up the pace.
A bit more time passed in between the second and third roars, but the moment the last one hit, JB found himself at the end of the forest and back where his nightmares had started, only this time everything was a bit more, well, demolished. The manor had fallen onto its side, several chunks of its natural earth scattered to either side of it. The trees that had unfortunately been caught underneath it were reduced to hundreds of floating pieces on top of and around the tower. Countless zombies shambled about in confusion, some missing more body parts than usual as they slowly crawled through the tall grass.
"EEEEAGH!"
JB's attention was caught immediately by the high-pitched shriek, though he was surprised when he saw that it had come from another zombie that had just slid down off the side of the fallen fort and was making a beeline for the forest.
"RUUUUUUUUN!" he screamed, unintentionally smacking JB in the chest with the bow in the mob's hand.
He was only able to watch the oddly-animated zombie flee for its life for a few seconds before yet another ear-piercing sound hit him in the head. His body tensed instinctively as the roar of the Enderdragon sounded from behind the tower. When he looked up at the building, he saw its head poke into view at the edge, staring at him just twenty or so blocks from where he stood. The moment he was spotted, the rest of the beast he'd seen earlier rose up into sight and reared its ugly heads, letting out a barrage of mob groans and yelps. JB automatically went for his sword, only to find that it was missing from not only from his hand, but his hotbar as well.
After a few seconds of analyzing him, the Amalgamob recognized this new prey as the meal that escaped earlier and sprang into motion, hurling itself off of the platform. While it appeared to have lost some body mass, what with a few mobs missing from its arms and several spots of exposed code visible on its chest, the powerful legs of the creature were fully intact and push it off the ground and high into the air, sending it careening toward him at full speed. JB's life flashed before his eyes for the second time that day and he nearly blacked out from pure fear, when suddenly—
A blinding flash of gold light appeared in front of him and he shut his eyes, adding some additional shielding with his crossed arms. As quickly as it had come, the light faded and his eyelids unclosed, allowing him to take in the new individual standing in front of him. To his incredible shock, he recognized it instantly to none other than cranky ol' Matilda. She was hunched over and looking just as scraggly and weak as usual, though just with the lift of her one finger she was able to keep the Amalgamob suspended three blocks from the ground, its many complex features frozen. With his mouth stuck permanently open, JB couldn't get a single word out. Matilda gave a slight cough, clearing her throat, and then spoke without turning around.
"I'm teleporting that boy Jeffrey to you now. You two need to run as far away from here as possible once you're together. Now that your friend Morgan here has been activated, she will soon be set into Creative Mode by my sister, and then…well, I can say for certain you won't want to be meeting even the most innocent of sheep."
She then turned just her head so she could look at her favorite young visitor. Her body seemed to not be in any more pain, though it truly showed in her dry, paling gold eyes.
"It's because of you, Johnnykins. Now I've found Maria and I can bring her to the whapping she rightfully deserves. Thank you."
JB's eyes widened even further and he took a hesitant step back, lifting his hands.
"Are you going to make it back? If you've got Morgan and your sister to fight, then what—"
But he wasn't permitted to finish the rest of his sentence, for a moment later Jeff popped into existence right next to him and startled the ever-living hell out of him. Jeff too looked extremely surprised to be standing there all of a sudden, but one firm jerk of the head from Matilda told him all he needed to know. JB took a second step away from the sorceress, then another, and several more. In a matter of seconds, his legs were carrying him far into the forest, Jeff running by his side. As the two of them raced past countless trees, the Ironblock glanced over at Bed and shouted,
"Will she be okay by herself?! I mean, she looks just as old as my pal Benny Carrot just before he kicked the bucket!"
JB gritted his teeth, struggling not to think about all the terrible outcomes for Matilda. Despite how much her pet names bugged him, thinking of her dying brought a sick feeling to the pit of his stomach.
"She's a witch!" he responded, sugarcoating his real thoughts. "She can manipulate code way better than her Maria, she said!"
That seemed a comforting enough answer for Jeff, who returned his attention to what was ahead after hearing it. JB inwardly sighed and darted past another oak that stood directly in his way.
"But if she has to deal with a monster like that, much less one with Creative Mode capabilities, AND fend off her sister… oh Notch, please bless Matilda and keep her alive throughout her battle. I don't want her to die."
Of course, JB had no idea that Notch couldn't hear his prayers. Not as long as he was still trapped inside the Plasma Realm, at least.
When Norman opened his eyes, he was greeted with a great amount of sunlight. He squinted, switching to staring at the wall to keep from going blind. He didn't need to look around to know that many other of his companions were getting ready for the upcoming day: eating, shuffling around, putting on armor, etc. Considering the fact that they had another demon to defeat that day, they really should have made an effort to get more sleep. Norman reached over his head and into his Blockpack, which he'd used as a pillow that night, and fingered around inside for the hourglass. He pulled it out and held it a few pixels in front of him, blinking away the blurriness in his eyes to get a look at the numbers floating above it.
"Eight days, thirteen hours, fifty-six minutes…and two seconds." he sighed, feeling as though it were the hundredth time he'd read the magic timekeeper's numbers aloud.
Just to be sure what time it was exactly, he lazily jammed a thumb on the F3 still pressed into his left wrist, opening up the world data. The hourglass wasn't lying: it was 8:04 exactly. Well, to be technical, it turned to 8:05 right after he opened up the results, but what did it matter that he was a few seconds off? After closing the F3, he pushed himself up off of his seat and sat back against the wall of the minecart, hazily watching everyone going about their own business. He picked up Shatter, which had fallen to the floor at some point in the night, and set it over his lap. He spectated each person's early morning routines for a couple minutes before glancing over at Alexander; his early morning routine was staying asleep 'til, it looked like.
"Alexander!" he piped, raising his head briefly at the lanky teen. "Wake up!"
Alexander made a deep grumble behind gritted teeth, his eyes remaining shut tight. He buried the side of his head further into Nikki's blonde locks, trying to remain comfortable with the two girls using him as a body pillow.
"Talk to me and perish…" he said bluntly, sniffing.
Norman rolled his eyes and looked back around the compartment, eventually spotting Darcy near the open doorway.
"Darcy!" he called, grabbing the lava-wielder's attention.
Darcy gave him a big ol' cocky grin upon making eye contact. He strolled over to Norman and sat directly next to him, unintentionally smacking the hilt of his sword on Bailey's hand and causing her to jump three blocks to the right. While she was busy nursing her new injury and trying not to curse at him, Darcy raised an eyebrow at his leader and crossed his arms, replying,
"You called, mate?"
Norman hadn't done a whole lot of one-on-one talking with Darcy, but he could already tell that it was a most unpleasant experience for anyone not of the female variety. Even then, all bets were off.
"You seem to have good amount of knowledge on where these places are—the ones where the last three Spirits have holed themselves in. Do you happen to know if we're, well, relatively close to New Pork City? We've only got a bit more than a week to get all this rescuing done, so I'd be just ecstatic if you told me we're almost there!"
Darcy gave a laugh that sounded oddly forced, proceeding to put an arm around Norman and begin treating him like he was his misinformed son. Norman didn't really take this well and tried to shove him off, but the Australian twit insisted on keeping a grip on his shoulder.
"Cobweb, New Pork City is WAY out there in the Overworld! You might be mad as a cut snake to hear me say this, but…yeah, from the looks of it we've still got enough hours left to frisk seven in the afternoon! We'll still be here a while yet, so I suggest you take a load off and do nothing for a while."
When he finally let go of Norman, he stood up from the seat and backed away, still facing Norman, and pointed a single forefinger at him.
"And hey, you might want to loosen up a bit! I know you got your young'a body back, but that doesn't mean you need to go back to being stiff as a board!"
Norman frowned at the tan teen as he whirled around on his heel, walking confidently back to his seat. It wasn't just Darcy; there were so many characters that he was working with now. Both Alexander and Darcy were cocky as the dickens, Auconi was silent except for when he made a complaint, and Astrid was just…Astrid. The only ones with any genuine personality seemed to be Kelsey, Bailey, and Adrian. And even Adrian seemed to be more reserved than he had when they first met. He wasn't usually one to throw himself pity-parties, but that morning Norman felt like he could make an exception. At least HE had a reason to be mad at the world.
Many reasons, really.
Matilda dashed to the side as a tentacle of black silk tried to stab her through her middle. Despite wearing similar articles of clothing, only one of theirs was pounded full of black magic. Now, Matilda was relying purely on the hundreds of commands she was running through her mind as she ran, desperately trying to keep her ripened body moving at the same speed as her younger sister's. She bounded high into the air and enabled her flight command, soaring towards her sister at great speed.
"MARIA!" she screamed, hand outstretched and fingers glowing with gold. "Stop all this!"
The Mistress leapt from the tree she'd landed in just moments ago and bounced off a couple more, moving herself around with the versatility of her living cloak. She wrapped her folds around the top of tall oak and shot herself toward her sister through the makeshift slingshot, grappling onto her with all four limbs and careening into the tower. They smashed through the ores and stones that made its wall, falling diagonally through the many floors of the enchanted spire until they reached dirt again. Twenty-ish blocks into the earth, Matilda activated her explosion command and erupted with the force of ten TNT blocks, blasting her sister off of her and back through the tunnel they'd created. As she sped up the length of the dim passage, she enabled the healing command and restored her health, promptly breaking back into the tipped tower.
She'd just landed on the lopsided floor of the warped stronghold, a surface that had once been the room's wall when the tower stood upright, and raised her crisscrossed arms to avoid a hardened fistful of black cloth that came flying into view. The moment she tried to regain her balance, Maria swirled up into view to her right and threw out both knobby hands to ensnare her older sis. Matilda gasped for air as the binds tightened and began to throw her repeatedly up against the back wall. The series of brutal impacts were enough to cause the protective code coating her bones to crack and splinter. Just as the white numbers and letters began to leak out from her back, Maria let out a shriek of maniacal laughter and raised her hands high into the air, throwing her up through the side of the building and back into the open air above the forest.
Matilda managed to regain her senses just as her body began its rapid return to the ground far below. She reactivated her flight and pushed off of nothing, barely evading a distant stab from Maria's cloak. More sharp jabs came from out of tower beneath her, forcing the good witch to zigzag through the air. The attacks quickly turned repetitive, however, and Matilda recognized the pattern in Maria's code that was causing her cloak to attack. Moments later, she was able to catch a fistful of the animate cloak in her hand; her hand burst with golden light, causing the fabric to shred into a thousand golden ribbons. She could just hear her sister scream out in pain from wherever she resided inside the stone fort below.
What followed promptly were several more aggressive shots from Maria's sentient shawl, which were just as predictable as the previous ones and gave Matilda many more chances to strike back. Fold after fold she reduced to ribbons, whittling away at whatever was left of her sister's other body. Finally, when Maria realized that she was on a losing streak, she teleported directly above the golden witch and clasped ten wrinkled toes around her skull, spinning around midair and hurtling her into the trees using just her feet. Matilda smashed through ten or more trees from the sheer force of the throw, creating a shower of green and brown particles to rain on her face when she landed on the forest floor.
Matilda groaned, struggling to even hold her beating head as she lay buried a full block deep into the dirt. Just as she was regaining her strength, Maria appeared above her and landed on her chest, pinning her permanently; she bent over and gave her goody-two-shoes sis a great big grin.
"I'm surprised you were able to find me, Matilda." she murmured, the smile frozen across her lips. "Very clever of you to send a couple of kids after me instead of coming yourself. They all looked like just another group of miscellaneous lost souls!"
Matilda grimaced up at her, trying to run a couple healing commands in her head as long as his sister was distracted by her own words. Unfortunately, the code around her bones had shattered completely, leaving her in extreme pain that could easily translate into her thoughts.
"Although, I'll have to quickly take back that statement." added the Mistress, her tone positively dripping with satisfaction. "Sending Morgan to return to me was a rather terrible decision on your part. If only you'd used a small bit of the sense in your wizened old mind…"
Matilda grasped the foot pressing into her torso and twisted it, trying desperately to remove it so she could properly breathe. It didn't stop her from replying, however, and she glared up at her sister.
"Stop trying to sound so wicked and important, Maria. Talk to me like I'm your sibling. You know as well as I do that getting revenge on me won't cure the hole inside your heart…mom and dad were fools, I can agree on that, but they loved you. Enough where it broke them to force you out of the house. Enough to kill mom after the first month!"
Maria's smile faded slightly, leading her to a straight, tight pair of lips.
"They didn't love me, Matilda." she growled, pressing her foot further into her victim's delicate ribcage. "If they truly loved me, they would have never sent me out into the wilderness to DIE! If they loved me, it would not have mattered that I was a Zombiewhisperer! IF THEY LOVED ME—"
She stopped herself suddenly, trying to regain her composure again. These outbursts were becoming more and more common, it seemed.
"If they loved me," she continued, staring her sister deep in the eyes, "I would never have had to be introduced to the horrors of Dark magic. I'd be just an old woman with her however-many children, grandchildren, and maybe even great-grandchildren. I'd be living happily with both my spouse and my undead friends. The little ones would be excited to come over and see me. I had a dream when I was little that the first zombie I befriended would be named Johan and we'd grow up together, allowing him to live far beyond a zombie's normal lifespan purely by the loving power of a Mobwhisperer…"
She paused for a moment, the pressure on Matilda's chest decreasing for a moment. Unfortunately, Maria snapped back into her twisted mindset and dug it deep, causing her to gasp for breath.
"But that's the biggest, wildest, most utterly impossible dream in this world! No one has or will ever enjoy the company of a Mobwhisperer! And our mother and father were no exception to that rule!"
Matilda continued to breathe heavily, groaning in agony from the pinpoint compression on her bones. Now that their code was removed, the bones themselves could easily crack and decay if they came under too much stress.
"Maria, please…" she whispered, tears starting to come to her eyes. "You've lived in the forest for almost all your life! Times are different, I swear! I may have been holed up inside my own jungle home, but that does not mean I have not met a million and one other Minecraftians roaming the Overworld: Ghastwhisperers, Blazewhisperers…even the Creeperwhisperers who had been denied of so many Minecraftian rights; they've all been accepted into society thanks to the success story of the famous Bailey Creeper. It's not too late to reenter society and contribute. With your magic, you could provide the Slayers with some much-needed members. In this day and age, when we're on the brink of dimensional collapse, we need as many fighters as we can. You can help!"
Upon hearing that last word, Maria threw out her arm, stabbing the ground with one of her black spikes and missing Matilda's head by a mere three pixels.
"HELP?!" she screamed, eyes wild with anger. "No one has stopped to ask me if I needed help! Not for the last eighty damn years! Only I've been around to help myself, Matilda! You ask me to assist the very people who cast me out in the first place?! You disgust me!"
She directed her outstretched hand ever so slightly to the left, taking aim square in between the gold witch's eyes with all five fingers. The black sleeve, which had healed from its sword wound earlier, slithered up her wrist and covered her hand, forming a sharp, spear-like end around it. She held the tip not far from Matilda's forehead and eyed her with looks of one intent. A single powerful determination to satisfy her ever-growing hunger for revenge on the world.
"You talk about love and yet you too said nothing when I was told to leave from their sight. You are just as heartless as they were then…and as I am now."
The two of them stayed perfectly still in the cold breeze; even with the activity among the leaves of all the surrounding trees, the entire forest had gone completely silent.
"Our souls have been bound far too long considering the circumstances of our relationship. It's time to cut the tie." murmured Maria, eyes wholly devoid of any emotion but her rage.
Matilda's eyes red with tears, both of fear and regret, she shook her head and closed them. There was nowhere left for her to run now.
"Perhaps we'll see each other again someday."
It's odd to see individual characters switch between certain personalities depending on the situation. I mean, there are characters like Darcy and Astrid, who'll act the same regardless of what's happening around them. Then there's Matilda, who up until now has been seen as the weird old lady who took a crash-course in coding and magic. Did you forget that their souls were bound together? I sure didn't! ...granted, I'm the author and I'm supposed to keep track of things like that, but whatever.
Were Jeff and JB able to get to safety before the Amalgamob found them? What exactly will happen to Morgan now that she's been consumed by said monster? Will the Mistress become unstoppable with an army of the Overworld's mobs at her side? AND WHERE IN NOTCH'S NAME IS AMYA?! Find answers to these questions and more on the next episodes of Dragon B...sorry, 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 [~]