Hello, this is Pastrinator64 with another chapter from Hourglass!
Ohhhhhkay! So, as you may remember me saying, I was just at an animation camp for over a week; I got to try out the program Blender, which is something I had already been wanting to experiment with beforehand! So, yeah! The college I stayed at for the week+ (Michigan Technological University) had a pretty nice campus, great food, and awesome courses for animation! I actually created a 3D model based on the Temple of Day and Night from VOiD and got to walk through it using the Oculus Rift! It was my very first time using a VR headset in general, so it was super cool! And so surreal, too... XD
Anyway, REVIEWS!
Replies to Reviews...
Marshman101: Exactly! The stuff spreads EVERYWHERE!
Airas Slayer: Hey, don't worry about it! I understand you've got a busy life, dude. I do too! I've got to draw, animate, write, do online classes, go on a billion friggin trips, and sometimes actually play video games if I have free time! XD Yeah, things are just crazy right now; most of my energy has been going towards writing, though! I did make my goal to end this series before next school year, after all!
By the way, sorry for this chapter coming out later than expected. I could've gotten it out, like, two days ago, but I didn't do any writing while I was at camp. In fact, I've actually been practicing my drawing skills instead! Thanks to an art class I had last year (I'm now going into my junior year by the way, so...urgh, high school's halfway over already!), I learned how to draw correct human proportions. So lately, after drawing a completely random original character over and over for practice, I've been drawing all the main characters from The Glitch! IT'S A DREAM COME TRUE! XD This is a picture I've only every had in my mind, but now it's on paper! So happy right now! :D
So anyway, thanks for your patience with this next chapter. Please enjoy! :3
Now, let the story commence!
Chapter 45: The A-Kids
Norman was unsure when exactly he fell unconscious, but moments after doing so he felt a quadruplet of fingers tapping his cheek lightly to wake him up. His eyelids lifted slowly, leaving his gaze open to the dull amber sky above; the sun must be almost done setting, he figured. He could also see Bailey in his peripherals, kneeling beside him with a deep look of concern on her face.
"Norman?" she whispered, looking from eye to eye to make sure he was okay. "H-how…how are you feeling?"
Almost immediately, Norman saw painful flashbacks of what had happened just hours earlier before he supposedly passed out. He saw Kelsey die a broken but happy young woman on the floor beside him. He saw the side of Baal Reincarnate split open violently to reveal Auconi, Darcy, Sabrina, and Carol, only with Darcy being carried out in Auconi's arms. He saw that important-looking manager of the art museum come around and argue violently with them all, about what he couldn't remember. He saw Sabrina take the dismembered head of an auburn-haired Minecraftian out of her hotbar and place it in a furnace, smelting it into a transparent spawn egg that revealed the true Firzon. Then, after the Spirit in Between rose up and disappeared in a blinding flash of white light, all his memories became a haze…
"Where's…what happened to…" he murmured, unable to finish a single sentence in his extreme fatigue.
He lifted his head, groaning as his entire body surged with an unbearable ache. Bailey eased him back onto the ground, which he realized at that moment to be covered in grass rather—far more comfortable than demented swine, to his relief. In his brief moment of movement, he caught a glimpse of a demolished pink and black city some fifty blocks away; they were finally out of New Pork City.
"Just lie down, man. We've actually decided as a group to, well…I mean…" Bailey muttered softly, folding her fingers through several tufts of his jet-black hair in a comforting sort of way. "Norman, while you were sleeping, we used F3 to check how much longer we'd get to complete our quest. It was a teensy bit hard to read, but we eventually figured out that we've still got seven days and a couple more hours-ish before we're out of time…so, essentially, we came to the consensus of taking a day or two to rest up before we start heading for Glowstone National Park."
The moment she finished her explanation, Norman felt a burst of urgency erupt inside of him and he jerked into a sitting position, gripping her shoulder and staring her dead straight in the eyes.
"No, we can't do that! One week might not be enough time to even get there for all we know! What if it's even further away than our last two locations, then what?! Every second is precious right now!"
A sharp pang in his back forced him to return to a lying position in the grass. Once he was settled down again, Bailey glanced around at the other five: Adrian, Astrid, Sabrina, Carol, and the dead-eyed Auconi. They were milling about quietly, setting out chests and beds as they constructed a brand new home for them all.
"Auconi's kept to himself even more than usual, but…" she continued, looking over at the blue-eyed boy as he half-heartedly threw supplies into a double chest. "When he did speak, he said that Darcy once told him about Glowstone National Park; it's about two and a quarter days' walking distance from where we are, so we DO have time. Besides, I don't think any of us are physically or mentally prepared to keep going right now."
Upon the mention of the Australian's name, he was reminded of the scene he'd witnessed amongst his other flashbacks; Darcy was being carried out of Unforgiven Spawn's corpse by Auconi himself, who had the saddest expression he'd ever seen on a human being. This particular image unnerved him considering Auconi rarely showed emotion around them. After a few seconds of silence, he glanced up at Bailey and raised an eyebrow, asking,
"Did…something happen to him? Darcy? I can hardly remember all that happened after I saw Kelsey go…"
Bailey took a slow breath, watching Auconi as he sat heavily down on his own bed and bent over, setting his forehead in his hands to hide his face. Moments later, she turned back to Norman, who waited patiently for a response.
"Well, it turns out that Auconi, Darcy, Carol, and Sabrina were eaten by Baal Reincarnate and survived. Carol recounted their obviously scarring experience running around through a maze of veins and muscular tunnels until they found the monster's literal brain. And inside the skull, they found the REAL Baal—the original Unforgiven Spawn, I mean. Darcy, he…he basically sacrificed his life to save Sabrina when she was in trouble. Auconi wasn't there to save him, so right now, he's…"
Norman forced himself to a sitting position despite his extreme discomfort and joined Bailey in observing Auconi from a distance. Every action he made was accompanied by the same lifeless look, not a single one of his movements retaining even a little energy. It was absolutely depressing to see him in this state and the two of them quickly stopped watching, staring at each other instead.
"And Sabrina?" he said, blinking once.
Bailey lowered her head, choosing on purpose not to look across the space at the girl in question.
"She's just the same. Auconi feels awful because he didn't react fast enough to help, but Sabrina is wracked with guilt because, well…I mean, she keeps saying she wishes it had been her instead of him. Over and over, it's all she says. I don't think there's anything we can do to cheer them up right now…honestly, I could use a bit of cheering up myself." she sighed, glancing over at Norman again. "Everything seemed to be working out perfectly, but now it's back to the same ol' depression as before! It just…it sucks."
She and Norman slapped their beds down on the ground in the corner of the room and sat down on them to rest their tired bones. The only good thing about the lack of conversation was that they were able to complete the entire house in under twenty minutes—in Minecraftian time, no less. Norman stared unwaveringly out the window at the full moon as it began to rise up past the horizon. While nighttime was setting in, he almost instantly felt his exhaustion kick in again. Coupling that with Norman's sprained spinal cord, and he was ready to go to sleep.
"I suppose one day of rest would be fine…" he murmured, yawning loudly when he failed to cover it up. "I mean…when the time comes to fight the last Unforgiven Spawn, it seems logical that we're all fully rested…"
He gave a second great yawn, nearly swallowing a small fly this time. He coughed and spat, shaking his head in disgust, but managed to calm back down as he slithered under the crimson covers of his bed. Just as he was doing, everyone else in the room prepared to hit the sack; dressing down into appropriate sleepwear, they all put themselves to bed and got ready for whatever nightmares Baal Reincarnate's lingering spirit had in store for them. Norman, in fact, was so utterly drained that he managed to fall asleep in just a matter of seconds, his right cheek burying itself deep in the soft rectangular pillow as he lost consciousness.
Unfortunately for him, not even the Ultra Hero of the prophecy had the power to stop the bad dreams that were coming for him that night.
Adrian had his eyes closed at the moment, simply enjoying the peace and quiet of the old, creaky, wonderful little house around him. All the damage done to the structure had been repaired seamlessly, allowing him to take a walk through the kitchen without having to worry about being impaled by the shattered floorboards or sprayed by freezing-cold tap water. A crumb-laded plate rested on top of his two crossed legs, swaying back and forth with the movement of the rocking chair. With a full belly and calm mind, all Adrian could do was—
"Ahhhhh…this is the life! No Ben, no problem…"
A few more seconds of near silence went by, the only other noise being the groans and squeaks of the house he was in. Then, amidst the lack of sound, a deep boom echoed just outside the walls of the home and disrupted the white noise enough to startle Adrian straight up in his seat. He froze for a moment, glancing sideways out the nearby window instinctively. He saw absolutely nothing, but that wasn't enough to settle him back down in his seat.
"Hm." he grunted, standing up slowly out of the chair and setting the plate down on the nearest coffee table.
As he made his way around the house and out the front door onto the porch, he detached the frying pan hanging from his belt and gripped it firmly in his right hand, beginning to descend the uneven staircase in front of him. He stuck his head out as he walked forward, trying to gaze as far as he could past the corners of the house, slightly unsettled by the sudden stillness of it all.
"...hello?" he called, raising an eyebrow at nothing.
The very moment he was finished talking, a second boom sounded directly behind him, causing him to jump violently. He whirled around and was immediately shocked by the sight in front of him; standing there with their heads down were his mother and father, totally quiet. After a moment of hushed gaping, Adrian got his bearings again and rushed toward them with little to no hesitation, shouting,
"Ma! PA! Oh m'God, are you alright now?!"
Just seconds away from grappling them in a bear hug, the two adults' bodies gave a great lurch in place and glitched before his eyes, momentarily showing their code and then returning to their normal state. Adrian slid to a stop in the daisies, pushing up several when he tried to slow his run, and raised his frying pan immediately.
"What?! Ben, yer supposed to be gone by now! Get out'a my dreams, already!"
In response to his outcry, the heads of his so-called parents lifted up ever so slightly, revealing just the whites of their eyes—or perhaps, the reds. The blue and brown of his mom and dad's eyes had turned the color of blood, glowing with extreme intensity and scaring the ever-living hell out of him. He quickly regained his confidence and secretly began thinking up all sorts of powers for himself as he started shuffling forward.
"Hey, Ben! Did'ja hear me?" he asked, gritting his teeth and raising his frying pan higher yet. "I said get…out…OF—"
Suddenly, his mother and father both lifted their heads the rest of the way and blinded him with a bright red flash. He cried out in surprise and shut his eyes, shaking his head as he tried to clear his vision. Before he could finish doing so, he felt a quadruplet of hands grab him by each limb and lift him off his feet, stretching him out to the open sky. When his eyes finally recovered, he glanced desperately this way and that at them, feverishly struggling in the unbelievable strength of their combined grip.
"Wh-h-hey! Hey, what the hell is happening?! None of my powers're…they're not…"
Adrian's words slowly faded away into silence as he caught sight of the horrifying figure that was materializing in the clouds high above him. A frightening face formed in the sky seconds later, the swirling white fluff changing to black ash in the blink of an eye. It let out a deep cackle, vibrating the very air around Adrian as he was held there against his will.
"The Glitch…that's definitely the Glitch…" he murmured, pupils quivering with fear.
Once the evil laugh was complete, the sky itself seemed to drop out of place and careen toward him. Unable to shield himself, Adrian could only shriek and writhe around in his parents' hands, his pan doing little to protect him. Just before the sky's gaping maw swallowed him up, everything went black and he dropped like a stone to the flowery ground.
"AH!"
Adrian shot up in bed, totally covered in sweat and with a pounding heart. For a moment, he just stared straight at the door on the other side of the room, positively scared stiff. When his breathing eventually slowed down, he looked down at his clammy chest and grimaced, instantly grossed out with himself.
"Bleh…well, that's pleasant…" he muttered, sighing through his nose.
He turned his head the next second and got a look of all the other unconscious bodies around the room. To his left, he saw Norman and Bailey looking rather peaceful in their slumber and Astrid spread out in the most awkward sleeping position he'd ever seen. And to his right, Sabrina and Carol were curled up side by side in a double bed, snuggling each other while they slept. As his eyes settled on the final bed, Adrian's eyebrows lifted a little; Auconi's bed was completely void of its owner, sitting empty in the corner of the room. Adrian's head darted around the rest of the room, even guiding him to stare up the ladder on the right wall.
"Where'd he go?"
Too curious to stay in bed, Adrian carefully eased himself out from underneath his covers and stood up. He slipped on the previous day's plaid shirt and his boots, and then stopped in place for a moment as he contemplated what exactly he was doing—or going to do. He took a second glance at the sleepy people lying around the room, just trying to make a decision.
"Well, ah'm already up." he thought, breathing softly through his nose. "Might as well take a walk…yeah, Auconi's probably doin' the same thing!"
Adrian walked quietly from one end of the room to the other and gingerly gripped the handle of the wooden door that stood between them and the monster-ridden outdoors. As he was leaving the house, he was pretty darn thankful that it didn't squeak like the door in that old place they stayed in with Rexum…gee, that sure seemed a lot longer ago than it actually was.
The night air felt legitimately nice, Adrian found. As the breeze ruffled through his short brown hair—yet again reminding him to craft himself a new hat—he couldn't help but stare wide-eyed at the smoking wasteland that was once New Pork City. Just fifty blocks away, it slowly dissolved into the air in massive billowing clouds of blackened code; it was the mark of the Glitch, alright. After a minute of watching the smog rise, he realized that the sight was making him a little sick and so he decided to walk around to the other side of the house. Maybe the view was prettier over there…
As he rounded the corner of the building, Adrian was startled by the appearance of a random figure in his view. He instantly whipped his frying pan out of his hotbar as he processed who was standing there. Moments later, his weapon of choice lowered back down towards the ground. He cocked his head, muttering,
"Auconi, partner? Whatcha up to?"
It was indeed Auconi Diamondore. He was wearing a pair of nylon shorts and a black t-shirt, both of which shivered in the light wind. Completely still and silent, he stood there with his hands in his pockets, glaring down at a single cobblestone block set atop the grassy ground. There was a chrysanthemum placed in front of it.
"Er…" Adrian started, looking from the flower to Auconi's dead-silent figure. "Auconi? Are you…?"
"Go back to bed, Grass."
Adrian was a bit taken aback by his blunt response, and so he was frozen in place for a moment. Then, when he got his confidence back, he cleared his throat and let his hands down, folding them behind his back and letting his pan dangle.
"Is that for…him?" he asked tenderly.
Auconi flinched where he stood but continued to stare straight at the cobblestone. Both of them were quiet for a half a minute then, neither of them able to get another word out for what felt like the longest time. Adrian was persistent, however; he wasn't about to give up and head back inside just yet. He took a couple steps forward, saying,
"Listen, Auconi…ah haven't known Darcy as long as you have, that much is obvious. From what ah've seen of you, y'just keep shutting everybody out and not sharing your actual thoughts on things. The only time I saw you really speak your mind was when we were all arguin' about the Unforgiven Spawn. You seem like y've got a lot of junk cooped up in that cold, hard exterior of yours. So, I mean…you really did care for him, didn'tcha?"
Auconi stubbornly kept up his furious silence, which gradually grew on the furious side as Adrian went on talking. He didn't know anything about him! How could he talk like that, all cheesy and crap? It was…it was just gross, really. Only a few more seconds of quiet passed by before Adrian continued to speak, much to Auconi's frustration.
"Ah don't mean t'be pushy, but maybe you'd feel a lot better if you just, um…open up!"
All of a sudden, Auconi's head lifted up from the grave in front of him as his patience snapped in one brief moment. He shot daggers over at Adrian, who recoiled slightly at the sharp look. Before Adrian could get another word out, Auconi opened his own mouth and growled,
"Open up? …open up, you say? Well, how's THIS for opening up?!"
He turned around fully this time, uncrossing his arms so that they hung stiff at his sides, his balled-up fists shaking with anger.
"Throughout my entire history as a living person, my own behavior has cost the lives of everyone I've ever known. Imagine every time you turn your back on somebody you love, they disappear from your life forever…and it's because of you." he snapped, teeth gnashed together painfully as he stared Adrian down. "My grandad was the only one to take care of me after I was born. I never told this to Darcy, of course, but he died because of me! I was fourteen at the time; I lived in Dread Valley and it was my last day of school at Redstone University. He came with me to watch during the finals so he could cheer me on, y'know? Well, it was thanks to him that I got a perfect score on every test, and he's the reason I got the Block power of diamond ore at the end of it all…I couldn't describe how happy he was for me.
"As we were leaving the school, my best friends Kirby and Hugo asked me to come out to a party that a lot of the other kids who were graduating were having and of course I jumped at the opportunity. Grandpa told me how tired he was from the day, and despite the fact that he looked like he needed an escort back to the house, I told him to just take the shortcut home; I convinced him to let me go, and so eventually he did just that…he and I separated for the night."
Auconi paused for a moment and turned away from Adrian, staring at the smooth wood of the building next to them. After a little more silence, he went on.
"Late the next morning, I came home to find him missing…at first, I wasn't too worried. I just assumed he'd gone out to work at the nearby town's guard station; he was a Tripwire, so he spent countless hours a day updating and recalibrating the traps in the building. After a night of waiting, I still wasn't unnerved by his absence. An entire day passed without any sign of him, making me slightly suspicious this time. Well, it took me a whopping three days for me to get off my lazy ass and walk around town to find him. I searched for him for hours that last day, slowly getting more and more concerned when I couldn't find him. And THEN, I opened the door to my house the following night to find one of the guards from where he works standing in the living room, waiting for me. Very carefully, he tried to tell me the truth about what had happened to Grandpa Tripwire. Apparently, he was ambushed by a duo of Strays on his way home that night and was overwhelmed…totally unable to run away…"
He glared back at Adrian, who winced again, and added,
"And where was I, Adrian? I was partying it up with a bunch of jackass fourteen-year-olds, cracking dirty jokes and snorting like idiots while we spied on cute girls from a distance while my last living family member was being shot to death. Ever since that day, I've had unending nightmares of what I imagined the scene was like…every night, Adrian! Every. Damn. Night."
Adrian and Auconi returned to standing in silence, merely watching each other intensely from six blocks away. The only sound left intact was the blowing breeze, which ruffled their clothes lightly as it passed through them. Adrian, now sensing an opportunity, took a couple more steps toward the other rage-filled individual with the most compassionate look he'd ever mustered.
"Auconi…that was nearly two years ago, partner! In that time, you must've grown so much more!"
Auconi scrunched his fingers tighter together along with his clenched teeth, anger building up continuously inside of him—both at Adrian and himself. He lifted a hand and jabbed his pointer finger at the southerner, directing all his hate into his one finger.
"NO, Adrian! I haven't grown at all! I'm still the same reckless piece of shit I was then! Every time somebody I care about sticks around too long in my life, I end up losing them forever! The two guys I mentioned before, Kirby and Hugo, joined me in the army ranks when our town had a shortage of guards at the city limits, and one night we were attacked by a whole horde of zombies. After we got separated from our outpost, I absolutely insisted that we keep on fighting the swarm by ourselves just because of my stupid obsession with mob fighting! With just a half a heart left, Kirby had to carry Hugo all the way back to the outpost while I stayed back and fought all the zombies at once. What a dumb decision that was, because I ended up falling down the deepest underground pit in all of Minecraftia, which is where I ended up meeting Darcy for the first time. I never saw either Hugo or Kirby ever again…honestly, they probably got taken down by the zombies on their way back home because I wasn't there to help."
He spun around in place, throwing out a hand to gesture at the grave he had created for his Australian colleague.
"And now I've gone and killed off Darcy because I wasn't paying attention! Despite how much he annoyed me to no end with his accent, and his cocky mannerisms, and his unyielding passion for women way out of my own league…yeah, despite all that, he was a seriously great guy. Without a second thought, he sacrificed himself to save the life of someone he barely even knew…how amazing is that, huh? S-stupid, but…amazing."
Auconi jerked his head away from Adrian to hide his face. If he started crying, he'd never forgive himself. Meanwhile, Adrian was just trying to figure out how to respond to all this; he had never had to go through many hardships in his own life, so trying to relate even a little was impossible for him to do. Still, he didn't give up and kept on looking for a solution. After another few moments' silence, he continued forward and said,
"So, you really did care for 'im, huh?"
Auconi rolled his eyes, sniffing away the tears that were starting to form before shooting a scowl back at him.
"Figure that out all on your own?" he spat.
Adrian and Auconi stared at each other for some time, the two studying each other's expressions. Adrian now felt like he had an idea of what to say, but it was hard getting the words out now that he had something in mind. Slowly, however, he took one more step forward, glanced once at Darcy's grave before looking back at Auconi, and cleared his throat lightly.
"Auconi…y'know, I—"
Adrian stopped speaking immediately when a second figure emerged from around the corner of the house, startling the daylights out of him. He jumped back, clutching the fabric of his shirt tightly as he tried to catch his breath again. There stood somebody he had definitely not expected to be up this late into the night.
"Astrid, what're you doing out here?!" he whisper-shouted, gritting his teeth together. "You snore like a full-grown man, sleepin' like a rock, and yet you're up and moving? …and, erm…could'ja maybe cover up some?"
Astrid, who was wearing just a white nighttime bra and a pair of shorts, crossed her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes in a similar fashion to Auconi.
"I get waaaaay hot and sweaty at night, alright? I needed a cool-down! Besides, I'm basically a rectangle, anyway…" she muttered, taking a moment to look from one of the boys to the other. "Anyway, what are you two doing out here? Here I was, trying to find a cold spot on my blanket, and I hear you guys chatting it up outside! You're gonna end up waking everyone else up if you keep going!"
Adrian raised a finger to his lips and shushed her, replying,
"Well then don't go shoutin' at me! Ah'm sure that rule applies to you also!"
As Adrian and Astrid started to bicker, Auconi turned away from them and gazed down at Darcy's grave, pushing their voices from his head. He contemplated his both his past and future, trying to imagine a life where everyone he loved was still alive. It was nothing more than a blissful dream, of course, but he still smiled lightly when he thought about that long-gone possibility. Eventually, he closed his eyes and pictured Darcy's stupid, smug face grinning back at him.
"Thanks for all your help…a lot of other people besides Sabrina would be dead if you hadn't helped us all out. Maybe I'll try to take a leaf out of your book and do something for somebody else for once…and hey, perhaps when the Glitch ends up killing me off too, I'll see you again and we can laugh about all the super dumb things we've done over the last two years together." he thought to himself, sighing out the nose.
Auconi quickly realized how mushy he sounded in his head and snickered quietly, opening his eyes to get one more glimpse of the orange flower at his feet. He glanced over his shoulder at other two, who were still blabbering on and on about…well, probably something pointless. Without them even noticing, he turned on his heel and started walking around towards the front of the house, leaving the grave behind for the night.
"Well, catch you on the flipside…mate."
...at some point, I've gotta write a chapter that's not depressing. But it's REALLY hard to get into a character's past without it being sad, especially with Auconi! From the very beginning, he's had this sort of constant presence that was so pessimistic and quiet, so...yeah, there was no way his backstory wasn't going to be a real downer. Sorry 'bout that, everybody!
Will all the sleepy heroes of the prophecy be able to endure their bad dreams for the night? Has Auconi actually come to terms with the state of his own life? Is he truly willing to change for the well-being of everyone around him? Why does Astrid constantly pop up in random conversations like she always does? And how will Norman be able to stand not being on the move for an entire 24 hours? Find out next time in Chapter 46 of Hourglass!
PS. Here's a quick question I've got for y'all: "Who is your favorite character and why?" If you've got on, just tell me in review form! I'm curious to see! :D
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 [~]