"O-of course i have!" Jesse's eyes widened. "It's one of the most famous myths! Is... Wait, is this going to lead up to some revelation that it actually happened?!"
Romeo smiled, though it was a little fake. "I'm afraid so. Do you know everything about that myth?"
Jesse shrugged. "No clue. You might need to give a refresher"
"Very well"
.
.
(1500 years ago)
.
.
Once apon a time, there had only been 4 humans on the earth. Back when every stretch of the ground was dangerous, mountains towered beyond even human comprehension, and when homes were carved from dirt and clay.
These humans were later to be revered as Gods, then as Legends, then merely as myths. Speculation.
The first of them was Notch. His origins unknown, but known to have created the other 3 and then the rest of the startings of mankind, the first hundred. More commonly referred to as the Primis.
Notch first created Steve - a man later to fade into obscurity, Alex - a woman whose death was wrapped in mystery and whose existence was sometimes doubted, and Herobrine - who vanished partway through the scriptures documenting the ancient being's lives.
Primitive townsfolk enjoyed creating structures and writings to them, and what they could defer was that Herobrine was an accident of sorts. Not meaning to have been made. He was a glitch off of Steve, a mess up in the creation process. He looked identical, though with no sclera or pupils, unlike Steve's apparent silver-blue eyes.
Herobrine was described as... Off-kilter. A lot.
At one time he might be reasonable and calm, even thought to have had a relationship with Alex, and at other times, scorched transcripts depicted how he would fly into a rage, singeing forests with unexplainable bursts of white energy, scourging the land, and sometimes people along with.
One particular text was written in a childish scrawl, detailing how a little girl had found Herobrine at one time seeming to be breaking down, body glitching, canines poking from his mouth, white streaking from his eyes. His head had snapped up to her prescence, and she wrote that she had feared for her life. But he had simply stared at her and began to tear at himself, growling.
Even Notch could barely comprehend what was wrong with the man. And whenever he tried to speak to him, the other cussed him out quite severely. Their relationship was tumultuous at the best of times.
But even as Herobrine was speculated, all knew of how he vanished.
After his murder of Alex and Steve, and nearly Notch along with, before fleeing to never be seen again.
No one to this day knew why. He never displayed a hatred for Steve, and was thought to have been in a relationship with Alex. So why?
Notch was able to revive Steve, though the man vanished soon after, only to be caught in glimpses. Notch was unable to revive Alex however, as enough of Herobrine's trace was left in her that her body couldn't be interacted with without giving the interacter intense agony. Notch eventually faded too, thought to have died in solomn grief of his friend's fates.
.
.
"I think i can catch the implications of you bringing up this myth. Is the daemon in my head...?"
"Yes."
He felt his face drain of all colour. "What should i do?"
"Primarily you should try to remain as focussed throughout the days as possible" Xara chimed in. "Don't zone out, or daydream, or anything like that. And if you start to hear his voice, tell someone immediately"
"And" Romeo cut in, expression rather profoundly serious. "Do not harm yourself, intentionally or not. Under any circumstances"
Jesse frowned. "What?"
Xara sighed, giving Romeo a look that seemed vaguely sardonic. "He can easier posses you or manipulate you if your mind is clouded by pain or if you're in a state of emotional distress - it's why he wanted you to stab yourself yesterday. Romeo is at most technical risk but you're probably the biggest target right now."
Jesse's brow furrowed. "Why?"
"'Why' which part?" she snorted.
"Uh. Both honestly."
"Romeo is more at risk because he's a nut who likes pain" she sent him a catty grin which he returned with a glare. She rolled her eyes before continuing. "You're probably his biggest target due to your whole... Thing. Hero of the world, yeah?"
Jesse groaned. "Never have i hated that title so much until now"
"Don't blame you."
"So... You two must have interacted with him before to know so much, correct?" Jesse questioned. Romeo sighed. "Yes. I assume you want to know that story too?"
"If... You're willing to share"
"I suppose it's only fair to, considering you're now involved"
.
.
(110 years ago)
.
.
Romeo, 14, slowly opened his eyes to blinding white.
He groaned and sat up, feeling extremely lethargic, confused. "Where... Where am i?" he managed, throat sore as he shakily stood up. "Xara? Fred?" his eyes scanned his surroundings, but there was just pure blinding white on all sides. Even whatever he was stood on was intangible white.
He moved his arm to shield his eyes so he wouldn't be forced to squint, but winced and flinched violently as a shock of agony streaked his body at the movement. Frowning, he looked down at his arm, and paled.
Strings of dirty bandages were haphazardly wrapped around a partially concealed cut, that appeared rather fresh, and vertically spanned from his wrist to an inch below his elbow, jagged. The blood was leaking through the bandages and had congealed, sticking it to his arm.
Grimacing in disgust and finding it hard to remember how he was injured, he picked at the bandages.
"I wouldn't do that if i were you. That cloth is the only thing keeping you alive, since you're rapidly losing blood in reality and that strip is the sole contributor to you surviving even this long" a voice rang out.
Romeo turned around, and his eyes widened.
A man stood before him, brown hair messy and clumped with blood and dirt and grime, with an equally dirty cyan shirt and deep blue trousers, both of which looked badly dyed. He was barefoot, feet covered in scars, and as Romeo looked harder he realised the man was coated with scars, most predominantly on his arms and neck.
Then the man smiled, and Romeo shuddered. His teeth were sharpened, most prominantly his canines. His blanked out eyes started to stream white, merging with the surroundings.
"Hello. I don't believe we've been acquainted."
The redhead shuddered. He felt a creeping sense of dread. Despite this, he replied.
"Erm... Where are we? And what happened to my arm?" he asked awkwardly. The man's smirk widened.
"Oh, you don't remember? Then i have the pleasure of enlightening you"
The younger backed up a little. The man continued, voice cruel.
"I'm afraid I've caught you in the midst of a rather gorey episode of self mutilation. Convenient for me; not so much for you"
Romeo felt like the air had just been knocked from his lungs. He stared down at his arm in horror, ashen. "W-what?! Why the hell would i do this to myself? And... Why can't i remember?!"
"Do you think i know your psyche more than you do?" the man looked vaguely irritated at the first question. "As for your memory, i suppose since we're caught between soul and body your mind just can't function properly. Being a deity doesn't make me omnipotent, I'm afraid"
"A-a deity?!"
Suddenly Romeo felt a sensation grip his throat, and felt as if the air was being pushed from him. He gagged, clutching at his neck, and the man scowled. "Shut up and listen"
He paused then released the choking sensation on the boy's throat, leaving him to take in several desperate breaths.
"My time is limited before your real body dies. You caused quite fatal damage to yourself. So I'm here to make an offer"
Romeo listened, eyes wide, clutching his arm, twitching at the occasional dulled shocks of pain it sent him.
"I can save you, as well as heal all the damage you've done to yourself. I can also save you from your wretched life - your friends too. I can give you three anything from your wildest dreams"
Romeo narrowed his eyes at the intoxicating offer. It was tempting. Far too good to be true. "What in return?"
"Well, I'm almost entirely stuck in this realm. In fact, i haven't seen the real world in over a thousand years" the man smirked. "Simply allow me access to your body. Some occasional control over you. Nothing too steep"
The redhead stared at him in bewilderment. "You want... Mind control?! Wait... A thousand years?! Who are you?"
"Irrelevant" he waved his hand. "You have about 2 minutes before you die. Do you accept? Your girlfriend is currently sobbing over your body, if that hurries you up a little"
"She's not my girlfriend! And i need to know more before i-!"
"Tick tock"
"I just don't-"
"Tick tock"
"I-"
"Tick t-"
Romeo's hand latched onto the olders' before he could stop himself. Ripping pain tore through him like molten iron from his cut but he ignored it. There was a fierce and intense feeling blooming in his hand where he was holding Herobrine's, as if he were being burned but couldn't feel the pain from it. "Fine! I accept!"
Romeo's eyes closed blue and opened crimson and gold.
.
.
Xara sighed, shaking her head before looking at Jesse. "Have you ever wondered why, after losing his admin powers, he stopped being such a lunatic almost instantly?"
"Err..."
"Because he was being influenced as an admin" she sighed, frowning. "Not that that makes him exempt from punishment - he still very much did what he did. But there was someone affecting his subconscious - driving him more firmly. Someone putting those ideas in his head in the first place. And when you drained his powers from him, that control broke"
Jesse's eyes widened. "So... Admins are made from Herobrine's power? And... Controlled by him?"
"In essence. Xara and Fred were never truly effected though" Romeo sighed, shaking his head to try and remove the memories. "I played right into his hands at every turn. Like an idiot"
"Mm. Not to mention you got yourself into that disaster by carving yourself up" Xara scowled. Romeo's expression almost immediately slipped into anger again, and Jesse chipped in hurriedly. "W-Well, look, me just staying aware and out of harms way? That's not that hard! I'm sure things will be fine! And you two - stop trying to rile each other up, please!"
Xara scoffed, turning and walking out without another word. Romeo watched her go before sighing. "She really does hate me. Not that i blame her"
"I'm sure you two will make up eventually?" Jesse shrugged. "And... I need to make sure of something"
Romeo shot him a curious look. "What is it?"
"Xara said you're 'a nut who likes pain'... Does she mean in the past or are you currently like that, too? Because we'll need to be aware of you if that makes you a bigger target" Jesse said hesitantly. Romeo sighed and dragged a hand down his face. "Firstly, for the record, i don't like pain. Secondly, i promise i won't be a bigger burden on your paranoid psyche than i already am. Don't worry about it, he wouldn't be after me anymore anyway"
Jesse frowned. "But-"
"Crap, i just realised, i should be helping out with the building. See you later, Jesse" and then Romeo was waving and already halfway out the door, and Jesse let his protestations die on his tongue.
"I have to avoid losing concentration or pain" he softly reaffirmed to himself before shaking his head. "Damn. For anyone else that would be simple. But for mr. hero it's going to be a challenge. Especially considering i seem to attract danger. Crap" he ran his fingers through his hair before shaking his head and stepping outside.
.
.
Petra sighed at the trader. "Man, 3 gold ingots for one enchantment tome? Really?"
"Miss, i have to make a living" the man frowned at her. "Now, are you going to buy?"
She paused but nodded. "Guess i am. Here." she fished the required payment from her pocket, passing it and receiving the tome. Stepping to the anvil, she placed Mrs. Butter 2.0 onto it before softly reading off the tome's contents.
It's pages disintegrated as she read, and soon it was merely a pile of dust. Glowing runes flashed on her sword before vanishing, and she blew off the dust before picking the sword up, running her finger along the edge. It came away bloody, a small cut now present.
"Damn. Sharpness III is great" she grinned, stepping away before slashing at a tree.
The effect was instant. Her sword carved through the first layer of bark like paper, severing it cleanly several centimeters through.
She gawked at it before letting out a triumphant guffaw and waving it above her hand. "Now THAT'S the stuff!"
"Yeah, that's pretty good. Not as good as the guy i saw yesterday, though" the man mused aloud from behind her. "Sliced a boulder in half like it was nothing. Was insane"
Her eyes widened. "A BOULDER?"
"Yeah, crazy, right? His sword was diamond, covered in all these crazy runes like he'd layered millions of enchantments atop one another"
She grinned. "Sounds cool as hell, do you know where he went?"
"The mountains East of here, i believe?"
She smirked.
"Time to start another mini adventure then, i suppose"
.
.
The man with silver-like eyes sighed, sat on the very edge, over looking the world. If he squinted, he could see for miles.
He glanced down at his sword and picked it up, pressing it extremely gently against his hand. It immediately sliced through several milimeters, and he winced, removing it.
Tucking it into his inventory, he stood up, eyes once again scanning the surroundings before sighing.
"It's at times like this that i miss you the most" he breathed, and shook his head as tears rose. He didn't even know he could cry anymore. It felt like an age since he had shown even any emotion.
Then an odd sensation overtook him, like a heatwave. It washed over him and left him staggering.
"What?!" his eyes widened and hid brows pulled together slightly before he closed his eyes and focussed.
"Мен билем... бул... ?!"
He could sense it in his mind. The swaths of white amongst the black.
He jumped off the mountain without a second thought, wind whipping his short brown hair, flinging himself at a lower outcrop of another mountain neighbouring his one, and dug his sword into the side of it. The momentum carved the stone like butter and continued to slide down through the stone with ease, him holding onto the handle as he descended.
"I won't let you hurt anybody this time. This time, I'll stop you"