Notch and Steve were ready for another day of mining. Steve yelled to his brother, "Hurry up, we're gonna be late!" as he was pulling on his bag. Notch stumbled into a wall, trying to run and pull on his boots at the same time. "Dammit!" He hollered quite loudly, and Steve stifled a laugh as they finally made it through the door.
Walking down the road they heard a muffled moan, and looking at each other ran to the source: a man lying face-down in the dirt. Steve grabbed his medical supplies from his bag- boy, was he glad he brought his bag- and examined the man as Notch turned him over and held him up in a sitting position. "Our… our vill… village… It's gon… Gone mad!" the man tried to say more, but Notch held his mouth shut and said, "Wait until Steve heals you, then tell us what happened." The man nodded and took the potion of healing Steve gave him. When the man had drunk it completely, Steve asked, "Now, who are you and what is the problem?"
The man replied after taking a slow breath, "My name is Jeb, and my village was inflicted by some strange disease or something! Everyone's gone mad! They're eating each other raw, and we need someone- a witch maybe- to help us!" Steve nodded seriously. "Okay, I'll go check it out." Notch handed Steve a potion, saying, "Good luck, brother." Steve nodded as he went down the path and left his town.
(Time-skip, One week later...)
Steve entered the empty village, thinking, "This place is empty… There's nobody here." As he walked down the abandoned streets, he noticed that all the houses were in perfect condition. "Well, they weren't attacked," he listened for sound, and heard nothing.
Meanwhile, Notch and Jeb were sitting on the couch in Steve and Notch's house. "The poor boy…" Jeb said sadly, shaking his head and leaning forward to rest it in his hands. He knew that Steve was as good as dead once he stepped into that village. He had barely escaped himself, and that was before they- No. He mustn't think such things. Notch looked over at Jeb worriedly, and asked, "What causes you to have such a doomed look on your face? Surely it can't be that bad." Jeb just looked at Notch tiredly and replied, "What will happen when the desperate meet the manic?" Notch blinked, and his brow furrowed as he asked, "What does that mean?" Jeb laughed exhaustedly, "Just what it sounds like, and so much more."
Steve walked through the ghost town. "Hello?! Is anybody here?!" He cupped his hands around his mouth when he yelled, pulling them down to listen for response. A small rustle was heard to his right, in some bushes in a garden nearby. "Hello? Are you okay? How can I help?" Another rustle, this time to his left. Then another, and another. Steve swiveled his head wildly, looking for the source of the rustles. He yelled in surprise when he felt himself being lifted into the air. Looking down he saw a massive crowd of- things, mutated villagers- holding him in the air as they ran toward a house ahead of him. "Hey!? What're you doing?" Steve struggled against their grips as they brought him into the house, and strapped him to this strange alter-like thing, two blocks of gold and a space between them and a block of netherrack, in a tower formation. The things gathered around him with many different kinds of stuff, soulsand, bones, bowls, a book, a bucket of lava, and what worried him most- a very intricately designed dagger, straight and long. The one with the book opened up to a page somewhere in the beginning and started chanting, and Steve thought, 'Am I a sacrifice of some kind?' He tried to move but whatever the thing was chanting was sapping his strength, and soon he hung limp from the bindings. He raised his head slightly at a movement near him, diamond-colored eyes widening as he saw the guy with the dagger preparing to stab him. "N-" he couldn't finish the word before he was stabbed through the chest, not through his heart because he'd be dead, but somewhere very close to it, just above it. Steve inhaled and let out a bellow of a scream from the pain this simple action caused, and the things held the bowls underneath his wound, collecting the blood. He couldn't stop screaming or crying from the agony he felt, even as the things continued their dark ritual.
(One week later…)
Notch worriedly paced the house, raking his hands through his hair every minute or so. "Where is he? He should be back by now, he wouldn't have stayed away for so long without sending word, I'm going after him!" Jeb caught Notch by the arm as he was stepping towards the door and tried to talk some sense into him. "Notch, you have to relax. You're not thinking clearly." Notch just gazed at him with his big worried black eyes. Jeb led him slowly over to the couch and sat him down, continuing to speak in a soothing voice. "Steve is probably just really busy, rebuilding a village is hard work, plus my village is far away. He must've only arrived there a couple days ago. He's fine," Jeb lied to Notch, and it had the desired effect of calming him down. But Jeb knew that Steve was most likely dead. Nobody could survive what they had almost done to he himself, and he was a bloody mess from escaping before they even started! Notch sighed heavily. "You're right. That is a far distance to travel, and a far distance to send a message. He'll be home soon." Jeb smiled encouragingly as he thought, 'Think happy thoughts, Notch. Your brother is in the Aether.'
Steve had lost his voice ages ago. He couldn't move, he couldn't think, he could only watch as the villagers continued their dark ritual. They poured his blood into the soulsand and added the eight bones, mixing them up over the lava. Another mutated villager came in, reverently holding a bottle of golden liquid. Steve blinked. Could this be the fabled blood of the gods, the golden Ichor? Whatever the liquid was, the villager dumped it into the concoction above the lava, causing the full cauldron to spill over into the lava. The lava reared up in a wave towards Steve, and he opened his mouth to scream but no sound came out as it covered his body and sizzled on his skin and in his mouth and on his open eyes. His body writhed against the alter in agonizing pain, yet he could still see through the lava. The Ichor had kept his eyes from damage, and his skin and mouth and everything! He was still in agonizing pain though, as he watched the things pull out a strange looking block from the cauldron. It looked like netherrack, but it had his face on it… with white eyes. The villager with the book had reached the end of the chanting, and knelt at Steve's bound feet while saying, "Hail, Lord Herobrine!" Steve looked around confusedly for this Lord Herobrine, but his head was caught and held steady as his mouth was forced open. One of the things had collected the remains from the cauldron in a glass bottle, his blood and the Ichor and some soulsand and crushed bone, and a little tiny bit of lava. The villager forced this concoction down his throat and into his stomach, which began to burn with not a painful burn, but an understanding burn, a burn of vengeance. He realized that HE was Lord Herobrine as the things placed the block into the empty space of the alter-tower, and lit the netherrack on fire. He felt invincible, unstoppable, and angrier than he had ever felt before. He opened his mouth and bellowed the words, "YoU KnoW noT WHaT You hAVe DoNe!" The world around them filled with the light of fire and lightning, razing destruction.
(One week later…)
Notch approached the village, riding up on his borrowed horse. There was nothing around, silent as the night. "Hello?" he called, hoping to hear his brother's voice respond. Nothing but silence. Notch rode deeper, to the center of the village, searching for his brother. Everything was in perfect condition, except for this house near the back of the center, and he rode over to it thinking the worst. "Steve!? Are you in there!? Are you okay!? Little brother!?" He cried as he began digging through the rubble of the house, not hearing any answer yet still digging. Herobrine watched as a crying Notch dug through the rubble above him, using his X-Ray to see through it and to his brother. His lips mouthed the reply of, "Yes, big brother, I am here!" but his voice made no sound, and eventually Notch stopped digging and just sat there sobbing. "No… little brother… You were all I had left…" Notch sobbed, huddled up against the pile of charred rubble, and didn't see Jeb walking towards him from the center. Jeb wrapped an arm over Notch's shoulder, saying soothingly, "Steve is happy now, in the Aether watching over us. Do you think he would want us to mourn his death like this? We need a proper funeral, and to be happy of his passing to a better place." Notch nodded slowly, his tears drying to the breeze around them. Jeb continued as they stood up and left te pile of rubble. behind, "Besides, you are not alone. I am here now." Herobrine watched from underneath the rubble, anger overcoming him as his fists clenched and his eyes burned bright White. His brother abandoned him! Left with Jeb, who no doubt knew of this horror awaiting the next person to set foot in the village. Well he shall bide his time, observe them and wait for the moment to strike… And gain his revenge.
(Many, many years later…)
Notch and Jeb stood in front of a large crowd of cheering people, people screaming delightedly to even see these great heroes at their town. Notch was saying something, "…and I want to make it known that we alone could not do this deed, but we had all of the people of Minecraftia's help! You, and you, and you! Everyone helped us do this!" Jeb stepped up to speak, "Yes, brother Notch is right! We couldn't…" Herobrine's fists clenched at the word 'brother', his eyes blazed beneath his cloaked and shadowed figure. Jeb kept going on and on about the worth of brotherhood and family and friendship, things Herobrine hadn't had even a sliver of since he was changed. He watched as the people cheered for them, and carried out a special ceremony only done for the greatest of heroes. They were making Notch and Jeb into gods. As they finished the ceremony with Herobrine watching from the very back of the crowd, they cheered once more and knelt before their new gods, Notch and Jeb. Herobrine spat on the ground and drew his enchanted diamond blade, and teleported randomly through the crowd stabbing one person in the chest with every appearance. Then, when the crowd started screaming, and Notch and Jeb looked around for the cause of such panic, Herobrine boomed out his voice from the center of the crowd, "YoU knOw NoT wHat yOu hAVe DonE!" Then he vanished from the crowd, teleporting farther and farther away to begin his reign of terror…