Tango let his pickaxe hang limply from his hand, staring at the area he'd cleared while looking for ancient debris. He'd been confined to the nether for devs know how long, ever since the cold had started getting to dangerous levels for his higher body temperature. Sometimes being an immortal magical demon was a blessing, and sometimes it was a curse.

He puttered, rolling his neck, and went to wipe the sweat off his brow when he realised that he wasn't sweating at all. He didn't even feel that hot: it felt more like a nice spring day in the overworld than the usual sweltering, oppressive heat of the nether. He frowned, pursing his lips, before turning around and heading back down the tunnel he'd made to his nether portal.

What he saw when he got there genuinely scared. He'd never seen a frozen nether portal before. He carefully pressed his hand against the thin film of ice that had formed around the portal membrane and was starting to crawl out around the obsidian, despite the fact that the nether was still relatively warm. The ice melted as he touched it, covering his hand in freezing water. 

He pulled a bit of wool out of his inventory and wrapped his hand in it, both to dry his hand and to help it warm up, before turning his back to the portal. The film of ice had reformed in that split-second blink that he'd looked away. This was not good. Still, this is Tango we're talking about, so when he pulled out his communicator to notify the others, he made light of the situation.

TangoTek: Hey, um... if anybody was thinking of using 'when the nether freezes over' as a synonym for 'never'...

TangoTek: Ha. Maybe change your plans?

Keralis1: Shashwamy, this is more serious than we previously thought.

Keralis1: We'll need more blankets.

Vintagebeef: What are you two even up to!?

Tango chuckled at the chat antics and, keeping half an eye on it to make sure nobody was asking him anything, made his way over to the shore of the nearest lava lake. He sat down, staring at it and basking in the radiant heat, a sharp contrast to what he'd felt when he'd touched the portal. After the chat died down, Tango put his communicator away and got ready for stage two of operation: warmth. 

He checked around to make sure that nobody was watching, a cursory gesture more than anything, before shifting into his true form. He dipped his clawed hand in the lava, and grinned. Nice and hot. He quickly took off his boots and socks, rolling his jeans up to his knees. He then sat on the edge of the lava lake, dangling his legs into the molten rock. A familiar warmth spread through him, and he relaxed.

Hell freezing over or not, this was the life.

Meanwhile, in the overworld...

Stress put her communicator away, the chat having fully died down. The cyan parrot wriggled under the jacket Stress had swapped her usual cardigan with. It had tucked itself in there after the temperatures had started getting unbearable for it.

"We're playin' that warmer-colder game, except this time tha cold is what we're lookin' for." Stress remarked, a weak attempt at a joke. Etho turned to her, eyes twinkling with a weak, half-hearted smile.

"We would be." Etho replied, "If anywhere was actually colder than anywhere else." He finished, a hint of a grumble to his tone, accenting the complaint at the universe in general. Stress chuckled, nodding. The two continued north, until both of their communicators went off with a soft pinging noise.

Keralis1: If anyone wants, you're welcome at my base! Shashwamy and I have plenty of blankets and hot chocolate!

Pretty much every hermit then replied with something to the effect of being on their way. Stress and Etho looked at each other, communicating an entire conversation in a pair of glances, before Stress typed out a confirmation that she and Etho were on their way, and then the two turned around and started to head back to civilisation.

And back in the nether, meanwhile...

Tango was startled by the sudden isolated pinging noise. He pulled his feet out of the lava lake, and checke the message. Reading it over, and the avalanche of replies, he smiled to himself. He sent his own message saying that he was on his way - who wouldn't want to have a huge blanket party will all of their friends - and got ready to set off. He put his boots back on, and quickly shifted back to a more human appearance, betrayed only by his deep red eyes. He threw his elytra on, and flew off towards Keralis' nether portal.

As he was halfway there, he suddenly heard a sound like glass shattering - or nether portals breaking. He spammed his rockets, flying faster than ever to try and reach Keralis' portal. When he got there, however, he saw that he was too late. The portal had shattered, chunks of portal-tainted ice lying on the ground, nestled in a bed of frost.

Tango ran over to the portal, pulling out his flint and steel to try to relight it. The portal tried to open, but flickered and died before it could. Tango tried again and again and again before reality set in: he was stuck. Gasping, he slumped against the frame of the portal, before suddenly hissing and pulling away from that — it was colder than blue ice.

He typed out a quick message explaining what had happened, and crammed his communicator back into his vest pocket before taking off back toward the lava lake. If he was truly stuck here, then he'd just have to make the best of it.

Dun dun dunn! 

Whatever could be happening? What are your theories?

I've been Entropy, peace out from the present!