I am SO SORRY for my absence. But this chapter is extra long. Will that make it better?
Storm
It was now past ten-o-clock. Well past, in fact, and the white-eyed being still hadn't stopped laughing.
"You should have seen the look on your face, mortal! Classic!" Herobrine wiped a stray tear from his eye, watching the red-faced mob slayer closely. He didn't need to be psychic to know that Ridan was dying of embarrassment.
"Just shut up, you!" Momentarily forgetting who - and what - the immortal was, the blonde clenched his fists in rage and whirled round, the bright purple bruise on his cheek matching the shade of his face perfectly. "This is all your fault!" He held up a broken coat hanger, the item that Herobrine had bumped into whilst inside the cupboard, the tiny mistake that had caused everything to go downhill.
"Was not my fault. I had my eyes closed. It is only because I did not open them that your girlfriend did not recognise me."
"She's not my girlfriend! Not any more, thanks to you!" Ridan ran his scarred palms through his hair, gritting his teeth in repressed anger. He wanted so desperately to lash out, to introduce his solid right fist to Herobrine's smug face, but one glance from those burning white eyes persuaded him otherwise.
Don't even think about it, human, or you will not live to see another sunrise.
"So what do we do now?! Circe's gonna tell the whole village about you… About me! She'll think I am-"
"This is none of my concern." Herobrine snapped, growling as the scar tissue around his waist stretched slightly. The wound was healing, but slowly. Far too slowly.
I should have healed by now.
"I was not recognised, mortal. There is nothing to be concerned about; no one is going to come running."
"Yes, but… my girlfriend! She thinks-"
"Get over it." The being interrupted rudely, rising with some difficulty and pacing over to the window. The blinds were tightly drawn, but he was careful to stay far out of sight nonetheless.
"People will forget. They are like that."
A change came over the man; one moment, he was his usual cynical, jovial self, the next… It was as if he had just recalled something, a tragic event from his past, perhaps, or the memory of an old friend long gone. Whatever it was, the expression startled the warrior. Here was proof, perhaps, that the man behind the white eyes really was a man. Proof that, somewhere, Herobrine still had a conscience, a soul.
Maybe Ridan could use this unexpected vulnerability to his advantage.
People will forget. They are like that.
"So, what about you then, huh?" The mortal questioned carefully, "What happened to you, in your past?" Ridan swallowed nervously as he was treated to the full force of those burning eyes.
"What did you say?"
"W-well, you sounded like you were about to tell me something important, before we were, uh interrupted…?" He finished nervously. Scratching at the cuts down his arm, Ridan bit his lip as he apprehensibly waited for a response. The mortal felt as if he had once again overstepped the line, overstretched his authority, just like the terrifying time he had asked the being if he had a son.
This time, though, no punishment was forthcoming.
"You are correct, mortal."
"Huh? About what?"
"I did have a son. His name was Amias."
Ridan didn't know what to say. He didn't know what he could say; the man was hearing an incredible confession - from Minecraftia's most feared villain - that had never been heard before. This was…
Ridan stayed absolutely silent, and listened.
"Amias looked a little like you, actually. He didn't have my…" Herobrine gestured half-heartedly at his eyes, easing himself down into a chair by the hearth with an audible groan of discomfort. "He had blonde hair, like yours, but not your eyes. You have green eyes, while he had blue. Such a… rich, deep blue."
To busy himself, Ridan began piling up timber into the old, charred fireplace, avoiding meeting the immortal's eye.
He was afraid of what he might find there if he did.
"Every day, I looked into those eyes, and swore to myself that I would do everything in my power to protect him, to keep him safe. Every day I would promise him that, before he went to bed, when he woke up, when he was outside playing. Every day.
"I do not think he understood me, as young as he was, but it was a comfort to him nonetheless."
Ridan lit the fire, coaxing the small red embers to come to life. The cutting winter chill had soaked into the wood, however, and the flame was quick to go out. The blonde swore in his head, trying - and failing - to relight the ashes. Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him; large, close, sharp. Dark. He flinched. Herobrine pretended not to notice.
Gently, the being reached out with one slender, pale hand and rested his fingers upon the knotted bark. Within a couple of seconds, a large orange flame had leapt up from his palm, happily licking away at the wood but not burning Herobrine at all. The white-eyed man smiled slightly and stood, collapsing gratefully back into the worn easy chair.
"Do you still want me to continue?"
"Uh, only if you want to."
"I do. It feels… welcome to share this with someone who is willing to listen.
"Back then, I was a king. I had it all - the land, the power, the finery. I thought I was God, but I underestimated the treachery of humans." A careful glance was sent Ridan's way.
"They weren't satisfied, my 'friends'. They felt I was unfit to rule over them, and perhaps they were right."
"What happened to them?"
"Dead." Herobrine stated plainly. "One by my hand, two not. The man who I disposed of was the monarch that succeeded me, Menos-"
"Wait, Menos Sayle?" Ridan snapped his head up in shock. "I know him - he's the ruler of Lapis Valley City, right? He's dead?"
"Yes. I am quite sure of that. I guess word hasn't reached this far out. Yet."
"So, you… You were the previous ruler? But they said he was a tyrant and a dictator! They said he didn't deserve the throne!"
"That is my friends for you. Menos, and his lackeys Yuri and Kye stole the throne from me. Of course, they would not be able to kill me, not while I was at full strength anyway. So they played on my weaknesses. I had a wife, back then. I loved her more than the world, as much as I had loved Amias. They took her, out to some place secluded, some place where no one would find her, and… they… "
"You can stop, if you want to." Ridan murmured gently, alarmed at the darkly morbid expression on Herobrine's face. "You can-"
"No. I need to tell someone, anyone, even a mortal such as yourself."
Ridan ignored the insult and simply nodded to Herobrine to go on, shuffling a little closer to the now raging fire.
"They took my wife and child out there. Out there with only them for company. Once I had arrived, as a result of a chilling message delivered to my door, Menos gave me an ultimatum."
The blonde mob slayer didn't dare breathe; Herobrine's voice had grown softer and softer, dying with the pale sunset outside. It was still cracked, the man noticed. Ridan suspected that his companion hadn't spoken for a very long time.
"They gave me two choices. One, leave with my family, and never return. Two, resist, and they would take everything I loved away.
"My wife, she… she wasn't a women to give up easily. She would never allow herself to be pushed around like that, especially by a man she had once thought her friend. She fought. She fought, and because she fought they killed her. Killed her right in front of me. She died because of me, Ridan, because of me! It's all my fault!"
Herobrine's usual calm voice rose to a hysterical shout, dark tears pooling in the corners of his eyes only to be burned away by the heat contained within. He rose, stiff, agitated, slender fingers tearing at his thick hair.
"IT IS ALL MY FAULT!"
Black flames leapt from his palms, coiling down his arms like liquid fire and setting light to the carpet. Herobrine fell to his knees, the floor boiling under his feet.
"I COULD HAVE SAVED HER!"
"Herobrine! Hero! Calm down!" Ridan, panicked, attempted to stamp out the blazing carpet, half blinded by the piercing light and heat radiating from the immortal's eyes. When that failed, he lunged at Herobrine's waist, knocking the pair down and plunging them both into a sea of obsidian fire.
…
Slow. That was how the darkness ebbed away. That was how Ridan regained consciousness. He opened his eyes subtly, squinting through the narrow slits in an attempt to view his surroundings, while not giving away his conscious state. Slow.
There he was. Reclining once again on the (now slightly scorched) easy chair, face grim, head down. There he was.
Herobrine looked up timidly, not wishing to startle the mortal by making any sudden moves. Slow.
"I have forgotten him."
Of course the demon knew he was awake; Ridan was an idiot for ever thinking otherwise. There was no use pretending. The blonde opened his eyes fully, sitting up with a groan. Slow.
He was lying on a bare, wooden floor. His floor, but with the lush carpet removed. Why? It took his addled brain a few seconds to tell him why.
A few seconds. Slow.
Herobrine did this.
"I have forgotten him." The being murmured again. Soft. Quiet. Slow. "That is what Menos and the sorcerer Yuri did to me. They made me forget."
"W-What?" Ridan frowned. His voice sounded rough. Weak. Slow. "Forgotten who?"
"My son. Amias. Yuri did something to me. Made me forget him. That was my punishment for resisting."
"But I thought you said your son was dead…? How do you know that if you can't even remember him?"
"I decided a long time ago that he was dead to me. I tried to convince myself that he did not exist. All I remember of him now is that blonde hair, those beautiful blue eyes. Just like his mother's…"
Herobrine sat up, looked Ridan straight in the eye. Not trying to intimidate. Not trying to assert authority. Not even suddenly. Slow.
"I apologise for losing control, Ridan. It will not happen again."
"It's OK. I… I realise how much Menos hurt you, I really do. I don't blame you at all."
"You don't understand, mortal! I had no awareness of myself or my surroundings at all! I could have… Someone could have seen!"
"No one saw anything, Herobrine." Ridan paced over to the window, with it's heavy blind still intact. Slow. He peeked out; other than a dark thunderstorm on the horizon, nothing was out of the ordinary. the dirt track leading to the neighbouring village was completely empty, the only light around being emitted from the full moon. "See, nothing out there."
Herobrine shuffled up beside him, making a point of not looking at the slightly charred walls. He peered at the the thunderstorm intently.
"Oh, this is not good."
"What?" The warrior couldn't make out anything out of the ordinary. Nothing. Sure, the storm seemed to be moving a little faster than normal, vomiting forth deep rolls of thunder at an alarming rate, but storms blew through the plains all the time.
Herobrine clutched at the blood-soaked bandages wrapped around his midsection. Slow.
"Someone saw me."
DUN DUN DUN
OH NOES
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