Date: Unknown. Frankly, I don't even know if it's still 10181.
Exact location unknown.
Somewhere in the Nether in a dank, hot, brick cell.
I don't think I need to say again that I'm in the Nether. I don't know how long I've been down here, and I don't know if I'm ever going to be let out. It's unbearably hot and it's dark down here, and I'm hungry and parched.
Funny, I actually wanted to come here before I started this journal.
You know, I'm surprised I actually have my journal with me now. It was the strangest thing- just a few days...or I think it was days... after Herobrine killed me in cold blood, he came by my cell and just tossed in the journal with its quill through the bars. Then he walked away without a word. He didn't look at me, and he didn't try to intimidate me. I just let this thing sit on the floor for a few minutes before deciding that I was too bored to pass it up.
So, I started writing again.
I suppose I should start with how I ended up down here.
Well, here goes nothing.
My last entry left off with me spotting Herobrine off in the throne room. I was in too much of a hurry to write down what I saw just then- I'll write that now.
I didn't see him at first. I was just about to go walking right into the room when I heard something. It was a sharp snapping sound, like a breaking stone or the slap of a whip on something. I thought something within the structure was collapsing when I heard it.
Then I heard a cry of pain.
I recognized the voice as soon as I heard it- masculine, tenor, and contorted into the sound of sharp pain. It was overlaid with an erratic burbling that I recognized to be the voices of Endermen.
Peeking around the corner, I saw something I never expected in my life to see. I immediately retreated back and flattened against the wall, heart pounding.
Herobrine was in there, all right. But he wasn't... well, first of all, he was kneeling. On the floor. Barely holding himself up leaning on his sword planted down point-first on the tile.
And surrounding him were five Endermen, their claws bloody. Likely, they'd been hurting Herobrine. But the scratches and scores I had seen looked superficial to me- they were already healing. From the way Herobrine shook and jerked, he seemed to be fighting an agony seated inside himself, not on his skin.
What in all Notch- blessed creation this meant, I still don't know. All that I do know is that that scene drove me to do something I now regret.
My mind flashed back to what I had read in the Chronicles and to what Herobrine had said in the Great Library. Something about both events struck me as odd- there was always something missing. What made Herobrine lose control in the first place? Why was he interested in the truth being found? He had acted so differently when he spoke to me then- he had given me a warning, that our next meeting would be different. Is this what he meant?
Herobrine cried out again- a low growl that crescendoed into a roar of pain. I heard something metallic skid across the floor and clatter down. Herobrine was panting now. The Endermen exploded into agitated chattering- it sounded almost taunting.
I peeked around the corner again. The Endermen were well out of arm's reach around Herobrine, and Herobrine himself was now on hands and feet, his sword flat on the floor. He gave one of the Endermen a hateful look, eyes glowering.
"I... have not forgotten the oath!" Herobrine muttered in a strained voice. Another groan of pain, and another cloud of Enderman chatter.
"I will!" Herobrine gasped. Suddenly as if struck by an unseen force, he screamed outright, and I saw him fall over sideways and curl up. "I WILL!" I winced despite myself. Herobrine was an incredibly strong being- I could only wonder how much pain it would take to make him scrabble on the ground like an animal.
Wait a second- what was hurting him? The Endermen were well out of reach, and I couldn't see or hear any other creatures. Again, I was frustrated by a missing piece. There was something else out there that I didn't know about that was causing this. There had to be.
"Why do you doubt me?!" Herobrine exclaimed. "I will finish what I began!" I cringed and flattened myself out of sight again. His voice had changed just then, going from the tone I had heard in the library to that sneering voice that had taunted me in the burning village. Something had just changed, but I didn't know what.
I had to do something. There was some powerful force at work here- powerful enough to bring Herobrine brother of Notch to his knees. I didn't know what I was up against, but I figured that I could at least start somewhere.
The Endermen, for example.
Pulling out two buckets of water from my inventory- I had grown wise since my last encounter with them- I swung around the corner and threw them as high as I could. The buckets crashed down at opposite sides of the circle of Endermen, and the water flowed quickly. Five Ender voices screamed in unison, and the creatures vanished in a flurry of purple sparks. I watched from the entryway, frozen in my tracks. The Endermen were gone... now what?
Only Herobrine remained by then, back on his knees and leaning on the hilt of his sword with both hands, his forehead resting on the pommel. I unfroze my limbs and carefully approached him, praying that I wasn't too late- and more importantly, that I had made the right choice.
Something caught me around the throat and all of a sudden I was hovering in the air, purple bands of fire wrapped tightly around my wrists, ankles, and of course, my neck. Herobrine slowly stood up shook water out of his hair as he turned, looking at me with eyes blazing.
I told you I regretted that.
The neckband choked back my gasp of surprise. Herobrine glared at me with eyes like coals on a fire, and I glared right back out of my shock. I had just tried to help him, thank you! Confusion and indignation kept my fear at bay- I still had no idea what exactly was happening. The nagging came back- I was onto something still, but I wasn't exactly in the right situation to appreciate something like that.
"Would you like to see the story behind this city?" Herobrine asked softly. With the neckband tight enough to strangle, I was unable to answer. Instead, I focused on breathing as much as I could past the crushing force. It seemed like a very important thing to be doing right then.
Suddenly, Herobrine raised one arm and I shot straight up through a gap in the roof. Unable to turn my head, I strained my eyes and watched in terror as the ground fell away beneath me at breathtaking speed. Herobrine lazily floated up to come alongside me.
The angle of my body changed, flipping me down so that I stared straight down at the ground. My stomach clenched and I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that I wouldn't get sick from the height.
"Watch," Herobrine hissed, and my eyes were forced open by some pulling force I couldn't see- probably more of those magical chords.
The ruins below me rippled dizzyingly, and they changed into the scene of an open, empty plain. There were many small figures milling about, cutting down trees and laying stone foundations. I recognized the figure of Herobrine within the illusion, and the ones with him were probably Sons of Steve. The scene changed, and I could see the entire city in its heyday, in all its splendor. There, in the middle of it all, was Herobrine again.
Then the scene changed again. This time, the peaceful people were running through the streets in an angry mob, threatening Herobrine and all his followers with death. Several groups of Steves mounted on horseback fled beyond the city walls while Herobrine went out to face the mob mounted on a huge black horse. The mob drew back for a few moments, and then attacked.
"Surprised?" Herobrine asked. I strained my eyes to look over at him, but his gaze was fixated below. The scene continued to shift, each time showing greater distress. Steves fought Herobrine, and then each other. Then zombies and skeletons rose up out of the ground, and all who were pushed outside the city walls were torn to pieces. Peace reached the city- briefly. A huge force rose up all of a sudden and stormed the palace, and an explosion wracked the entire building. Something went wrong, because the Steves started fighting each other in hordes, with awful results.
The scene vanished.
"You will have read about this by now, I presume," Herobrine muttered from beside me. "I showed you what was to be known as the opening battles of the Ender War- a great war not fought by me against my creation, but by my creation against me. See how they destroyed everything I built for them! The palace, the walls, the beautiful temples and homes..."
Herobrine trailed off, eyes glowing dangerously.
"And when all else failed, I vowed to destroy them. I gave them warning again and again and again, and still they did not heed me. They became greedy and cruel, the destroyers of the world rather than the builders they were meant to be. And then the day came! This day came, and I seized my chance of saving the world. It was all I could do!" Herobrine's face darkened.
"And Notch would not help me." He spat. "My own brother abandoned me in my time of greatest need. I had to take matters into my own hands in that darkest hour. I did what was just! And how did he repay me? How did the all-knowing Notch reward my desperation? Exile. Eternal suffering and exile."
The neckband tightened, and I my mouth went wide, my chest heaving and unable to pull anything in. I couldn't breathe.
"I am not the one to blame for this!" Herobrine snarled. "This tragedy is his fault. His treachery!" Slowly, we began to lower to the ground. Herobrine kept talking. "I swore to make every last one of you pay for this, for what you had done. You, your precious friends, and last of all, Notch."
We were close enough to the ground by then for me to see something on the ground. It looked like a flat frame of obsidian, a rectangle to be exact...
A portal! Wait, a horizontal one? How- No, it didn't matter. My oxygen-depraved mind reached that conclusion just as Herobrine started talking again.
"I swore an oath to make you pay," Herobrine said, activating the portal with a wave of his hand.
"And I will make every last one of you pay."
Unable to make the slightest sound, I was dropped down and into the portal.
I'm not finished writing down everything that has happened yet, but I need to sleep. There's no way to describe how hot it is in here, and the heat and the thirst and the hunger would make anyone weak. And especially drowsy. My hands are getting shaky anyway. I'll write more when I wake up. Maybe something will happen by then. The journal is a nice relief, but in this barren cell, my mind is beginning to play tricks. I don't care what, I just need something to happen.
Anything to break the monotony.