I know its a bit late but Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Thanksgiving and Happy New Year to all my lovely readers from around the world!

I've been busy messing around with the games I got for Christmas and have only been able to upload this now. Hop you guys all had a great holiday.

Enjoy.


The incredible detail on the door wasn't foreshadowing what lied in the room beyond. Herobrine forcefully swung open the large dark oak wood door, leading me into another large room, more open than the last and in ruin. The normally clean and organized sense of Herobrine's castle was missing, robbed by the destructive nature of the Wither. I frowned as my eyes scanned the room that once appeared to be a library. Books of all ages, colours and categories were strewn carelessly across the stone tiled floor. Bookshelves had toppled over each other and paper dressed every empty corner.

Candles and torches had fallen from their perches on the walls and tables, thankfully unlit. The cleanest place of the whole room was the central staircase. It seemed unharmed, save for a few leafs of paper here or there. Beside me, Herobrine was clearly about to break. Apparently, no one ruins his library but him. His fists were clenched, eyes glaring and glowing intensely. I could feel the anger rolling off of him, his temper warmed the air. I knew better than to hang around him in that state, so I decided moved to the left, observing the scene more closely.

I was careful to mind my step, the last thing I needed was to make him even angrier. My feet moved slowly over the tiles, my eyes scanning for any sort of evidence pointing to who did this. Although it did seem obvious. The room was deathly quiet and my ears strained to find any sort of sound. I tiptoed over worn books and picked up others. The most intact ones were my target. I didn't know how important they were but if they could be saved, then they would be saved.

Pretty quickly I had a stacked up to three dozen books neatly on a table. But that didn't even make a dent in the damage that was done. The library itself was gigantic. Hundreds of thousands of books filled the room, even though most were on the floor some were still tidily in place. The bookcases stretched up high, about 12 blocks or so. Ladders attached to rails stretched the height to allow access to the higher books. I pouted in knowing the room was probably the grandest room in the entire castle. The wooden bookshelves were carved with intricate detail, showing scenes of trees and forests. Animals hid among the foliage. The craftsmanship was ancient, you'd be lucky to find a man who carved like this nowadays. Or rather before the world went to shit.

I had gotten lost in thought, the slightest sound shocking me back into reality. I turned around and immediately caught sight of Herobrine walking up the stairs and up to a large, black tinted window. He stood in front of it and stared out onto the gardens below. His fists were still clenched and flickering with embers. His whole posture was tense, so it was in my best interest to keep my distance. I didn't need to make that mistake again.

I bit my lip and continued around the room, the expansive bookcases acting as a maze. My eyes traveled over the spines of the books and as I got further towards the back I noticed a change in the texture of the book coverings. Even the text, indicating what they were about seemed to be in a different language. The books at the far back were leather bound and were so fragile, I felt like looking at them would turn them to dust. I ran my finger along the back of one of the thick ones, collecting dust. The leather was smooth and very high quality. I was tempted to pick it up and read it, if I knew the language. Regardless, I restrained myself. The ancient books seemed to be of most value, and should go untouched.

I passed under the staircase, which had bookshelves stacked underneath. Thankfully, mostly untouched. Around the corner and back out in the open was more ruin. Books strewn across the floor, pages ripped and torn. Centuries of history lost. I kept tiptoeing over the fragile work, making my way back to where I began. I looked back towards Herobrine, he was still occupied with whatever lied outside that window. Still deep in thought. Still pissed off beyond the heavens. While I was distracted, I accidently stepped on a book. As soon as I noticed I pulled my foot upwards, not wanting to do more damage. The book was a small one, thin too. Much thinner than the others that lay around it. The leather that bound it was dyed black and tied shut with a red string. There was no title or writing engraved into the outside of the book. With one quick glance at Herobrine, who was still occupied with his book, I reached down and picked up the small document.

It was smooth and light to hold. The leather was aged, yet soft. I admired the craftsmanship as I turned the book over in my hands. I walked over to a table and sat down on it, the wood creaked under my weight. Slowly, I unwound the red string, opening the book. The pages where a crisp white and seemed only to have been touched once, when they were written on. I was taken aback at the quality of the writing. It wasn't so old that it was a different language. It was more modern than most I'd seen. Still, it was probably worth a fortune.

I flicked through the first few pages, taking much care not to tear them. The room was quiet and with Herobrines sharp hearing, I knew he could hear my heart beat from blocks away. He was going to hear a page tear, for sure. A few minutes later, I'd gotten a fair way in and had found myself looking at detailed drawings of the Wither mobs. They were ordered by class, Soldier, Brute, Caster, Wyvern and King. The soldiers appeared to be the most common class. They were described to carry iron swords and were half a block taller than the average human. They were the same class that littered the wasteland that used to be our home. The brutes were bigger, wore armour and attacked with their bony fists. A scratch from them could cause the wither effect without doubt. There were records of lost limbs from run-ins with these creatures. Casters weren't dangerous but they were rare. Casters were the Wither equivalent of witches. They could only be seen around the King however. They were smaller than the other Withers. A Wyvern was those snake like creatures that Herobrine and I encountered in the Castle at Liberty Gallows. The drawing was nearly exact to the real thing. I shivered just thinking about them, I used to think a hollowed eyed doppelganger was creepy. I was wrong. The King was the strongest of all classes and could only be summoned into existence. Once that happened, you either kill it or succumb to its forces. Killing it was hard, and trying to live in its world of destruction and decay was harder. The picture was exact to the creature in every detail. Its three heads and exposed ribcage were a dark black, contrasting to its six pitch white eyes. The page next to the Wither Kings looked like an updated version. The picture was the same, save for a blue, armour detail that covered most of the King. Next to the drawing it said 'Second Stage King & Projectiles.' I didn't notice the so-called projectiles until then. Blue skulls with wide open jaws and sharp teeth that drew a trail of smoke were ever it flew. The smoke in the drawing trailed back into one of the lower heads.

I dropped the book into my lap and groaned. My heart sank and my stomach churned. Killing the Wither was harder than anyone could imagine. This undead creature from the deepest, darkest layer of hell was an unfathomable level of evil. Herobrine was standing just over there and even he, nor this dragon he spoke about, could be as evil as this thing. I sighed and rubbed tiredly at my eyes. At the same time, my stomach growled. Reminding me that I hadn't eaten for over a day.

"Is something the matter?" Herobrines voice rung from behind me, causing me to jump from my seat and nearly fall to the floor. After catching myself and focusing on the still angered god, I replied.

"Just everything. The Wither, the world." I looked guiltily at my dusty boots. "Food." At that there was a small chuckle from my counterpart. Before he walked over next to me and picked up the book I was reading. He studied the page before shutting and tying it as he spoke.

"Well your library isn't destroyed is it? Your castle hasn't been over run and your soldiers haven't been slaughtered." I looked up and he took a step forward, raising the book in the air. My tired brain didn't process the action and suddenly Herobrine hit me across the face with the back of the book. "So shut up." With that he threw the book onto the table. It slid and bumped into a candlestick, coming to a stop on the dusty table. I rubbed my cheek, now stinging from the impact of the leather. Herobrine sighed and surveyed the damage of the room.

"It's a mess. It'd be cleaner if a tornado blew through here."

"I dunno…" I questioned his opinion, moving to stand beside him. With the amount of paper and books that littered the floor, that was unlikely.

"Steve, just shut up." He bluntly ordered, shaking his head. He turned around and began to walk up the stairs again. His boots padded softly against the red rug that ran up the flight. I took one last look around, thinking as I scoped the scene. When all of this was over, Herobrine would surely clean up the library, but with all the damaged books I had the feeling it wouldn't be a very big library. I followed Herobrine up the stairs and approached the window. Herobrine was leaning against a railing just right of the staircase and was watching a medium sized archway. I don't know what had him fascinated, but I had a feeling I was going to find out.

The window was a different story. What Herobrine had said before just made sense in my head. Below the window was a garden, the once green grass overrun with mycelium, the bushes and trees dead, the pathways crawling with Wither. I could see all the way to the perimeter wall. Atop the wall, I could clearly see Wither patrolling. Killing any mobs that crossed their path and throwing the corpses into the garden. A sandstone path lead up from the castle and into the centre of the garden. A fountain laid shattered on the ground and the base was filled with the corpses of Herobrines soldiers. Creepers, Endermen and Skeletons were burning away. The pile was guarded by Wither. When the bodies burned out, more kept getting piled on.

Part of me was happy, and that annoyed me to no end. Yes the mobs have tried to kill me, thousands of times. They weren't as bad as the Wither though. They didn't deserve this.

"They were slaughtered…" I mumbled in shock, earning a grunt in reply. I turned and faced Herobrine, who was now facing me. It took a second for me to notice that his hands were still giving off embers. "What are you going to do?"

"What I always do. Kill them."