Well, here I am, back with the next chapter. Like promised we are now in the past in the overall time line, where Steve and Herobrine have only just met, as is shown in this very chapter. I have some ideas as to what each chapter will be about so hopefully I can get those written up soon.
Since every chapter before this was pretty much Herobrine teaching Steve something, I think these chaps will be Steve teaching Herobrine something.
Sorry for the long wait and enjoy!
Sunlight pours in through the window, bathing the small room in golden light. With the rising sun so rises Steve, a young miner looking forlornly into his ore chest. A chest which is, to his dismay, dangerously empty and pathetic looking. Three diamonds and a few dozen iron ingots stare up at him.
Steve sighs and shuts the chest, resigning to spend the day underground. Don't get him wrong, he loves mining, but he misses the sunlight, the fresh air, the green grass. Gray, dirty stone and dark caves make a poor substitute.
Still, a quiet life is not the one for a miner.
He eats breakfast and packs a bag of bread and torches before hauling his pack onto his back. He makes quick work of securing it, as well as his iron sword around his waist before grabbing his pickaxe on his way out the door.
The early morning sunlight hits his face and warms him greatly. As he gazes out over the plains and the distant jungle, he can't help but fall in love with the land all over again. This is why he loves living, the gently waving trees, the pretty and colorful flowers in abundance, and the farm animals grazing nearby. Someday he'll make pens for all of them, though he wishes he had help caring for them.
He leaves those thoughts for later and sets out to the ravine he'd found some days ago while exploring a cave. In his many years as a miner he's seen a lot of crazy geography, but ravines within ravines are one of his favorite phenomenons. Because then not only does he get the pleasure of exploring one ravine, but usually the second one is lower towards bedrock, where the diamonds lie. And that works perfectly fine for his current task. If he wants to keep living where he lives, and he truly does, he's going to need there to be plenty of readily available diamonds and iron. This ravine should prove fruitful.
Hopefully.
Steve is nothing if not optimistic.
The entrance to the mine is marked by a strap of cyan cloth, ripped from his shirt the first time he'd found the cave. His shirt had nearly been in pieces anyway, torn and burned and barely hanging together. Might as well give it good use. A line of torches light the path down to the depths of the world, where hopefully many gems and ores await him. His cursory scout of the ravines had revealed surface iron and gold, but no diamonds. He'd have to set up some strip mines if he wanted to find those. As he starts his descent he thinks maybe he'll do that before he leaves, if his luck runs dry this day.
It's a long walk down the stairs, but the small tunnel opens up to a large cave, safely lit with torches to keep those persistent mobs away from him as much as possible. He hates fighting mobs and will do anything to avoid it.
Luckily no skeletons or zombies are waiting for him, thanks to the torch light, so he heads straight on through the cave to the mouth of the ravine. The cave leads to a large hole in the side of the cavern, where he can see both ravines fairly easily. The dull iron ore to his right catches his eye first, and he sets to work clearing the ravine of all surface ores.
After several hours of hard work, Steve stands on the ledge near the ceiling, clutching desperately to the wall, his heart pounding in his chest. A zombie had just turn the corner right in front of him, almost giving him a heart attack and knocking him to all the way to the floor, where he surely would have busted his head open. If he peeks over the ledge he can see the zombie suffering from just that, though since its already dead, a busted head doesn't even faze it. But with its limited brain power its already forgotten he's there.
Lucky for him, but not lucky for his heart, which is fit to burst from his chest. He's probably lost a few years of his life with that scare.
As he lets his breathing return to normal, and his heart regain its normal beating pattern, he spots a bright blue shine on the other side of the wall. He leans as much as he dares to the right and squints to be sure that yes, its a diamond, and its taunting him from its position on the wall. If he wants it he'll either have to go all the way around before building up to it, which will take time and effort, or he can bridge over to it from here, though he risks potentially slipping and falling to his death.
Hmmm.
Take the safe way around, or get the diamond right away.
...He's desperate and he needs to lay down after that scare.
I'll probably regret this, Steve says as he starts bridging across the large gap between ravine walls.
Fire rages and lava bubbles hotly in the fiery depths of the Nether. A fortress towers over a lava ocean, and inside it, a young man looks down in disdain at the contents of a chest, and the fact that its completely empty astounds him.
At one time the chest had been too full to close, stacked with diamonds, emeralds, gold, and iron, but now it's home to dust and emptiness.
Herobrine can't believe he's broke.
He kicks the chest angrily, causing it to slide roughly against the nether brick and hit some other empty chests. Seeing them just makes them angrier, especially since that means he's going to have to take a trip to the Overworld for resources, a place he despises more than the Nether. At one point he would have gladly jumped at the chance to terrorize the Overworld, but now he wants nothing to do with it.
Sighing harshly, he grabs a busted up diamond pickaxe and goes off in search of a nether portal.
He appears in what appears to be a sealed off cave, going by the poorly stacked cobblestone by the cave's entrance. He doesn't bother mining himself a way out, instead teleporting directly to the surface.
The bright light of the sun hits his face and he glowers at it, sickened by the bright and colorful landscape. The Nether's darker hues of red and brown are easy on the eyes, while the Overworld's an eyesore if he ever saw one. And no he doesn't think so just out of spite.
He sees a small and simple wood house and has half a mind to burn it to the ground, but bypasses it entirely on his way to a cave opening. He passes by a torch and a blue cloth tied to a fence post on his way down.
The roomy tunnel down is lined with torches, so someone's been here recently. As much as he'd delight in killing however might be mining down here, he'd rather avoid anyone if at all possible. His reputation precedes him when it names him a mindless killer, though he happily embraces that persona. But he's not in the mood to deal with whining, sniveling worthless humans he doesn't care anything about. He wants diamonds and iron, then he wants to leave.
He explores the cave briefly, deciding that heading down towards bedrock might be his best bet, if he remembers where diamonds are correctly.
He collects any and all ores he sees, from iron to lapis and redstone, which is utterly useless but why not? The cave he's in bends up a little, and turning a corner he spots diamonds in the wall.
"Finally," he mutters, making a beeline for it. The sooner he gets as much as he deems necessary, the sooner he can leave the Overworld.
Steve leans against the wall, hoping he doesn't have a heart attack. Between the zombie and his clumsiness, he's probably shaved a few years off his life.
But he's made it across the gap, and the shining diamond in the wall is all he needs to see to make everything worth it. While there's only one in the wall he can see, hopefully there's more behind it.
He sets a torch at his feet and takes his pickaxe from his belt. After this diamond—hopefully diamonds—he's going to retreat back to his house and lie down.
Before he can even touch his pickaxe to the wall, the diamond studded wall breaks apart and diamonds fall to the floor. But Steve doesn't bother watching them nor collecting them because on the other side of the wall is a face.
Yelling out in shock, Steve forgets that he's on a precarious ledge and stumbles back. Predictably, he loses his footing and falls.
A hand grabs his hard and catches him, but he slams face first into the wall, losing consciousness quickly after.
Herobrine takes a deep breath and hauls the human back onto solid ground. He doesn't know why he grabbed the human in the first place; he did it on an instinct he can't explain.
He's annoyed though, that he's even getting involved in some humans worthless life. But as he lays the kid out on the ground, he can't help but sit back and gawk.
This human looks unbelievably similar to him. He could easily be looking into a mirror as he stares at the human. Perhaps that's the reason he saved the guy? Because they look so much alike?
Huffing, Herobrine stands up, collects his diamond and starts walking away, content to be on his merry way. He doesn't make it very far before stopping and looking back at the human. Still unconscious, he'll either bleed to death or die at the hands of a mob. Normally Herobrine would be okay with abandoning someone he doesn't know, but the fact they look so similar makes him rethink that. Is there a reason they look the same? Does it have anything to do with...Notch?
Herobrine clenches his fist and takes a calming breath. If there's any chance this human knows anything, Herobrine can't just let him die.
He walks back over and hesitates to do much else. Staring down at the human makes him want to help less and less, especially since he'd been injured by Herobrine's initial rescue, if the bloody gash on his head is anything to go by. Not only does he have to take the human back to the surface, he has to insure the human's survival too.
Not anything like what he wanted when he came here.
Reluctantly, he picks the human up and slings him over his shoulder, then decides teleporting to the surface would be way faster.
The bright sunlight burns his eyes slightly and he scowls, bringing a hand up to block it. He wishes he could destroy the sun so as to never deal with it again. Maybe then he'd be more inclined to visit the Overworld.
He looks around and notices the wood cabin he'd seen before. Whether or not this house belongs to this human is not of his concern, so he forces the door open and sets the human haphazardly on the bed. With that accomplished, he steps back and looks around.
Nothing of interest catches his attention, so he returns his attention to the human and the inevitable. If he wants his answers, the human needs to be awake. And to be awake, he needs to be alive first.
There's no immediate cloth that he can see, and he doesn't really want to use his own shirt. He eyes the human's torn up bloodied shirt and doesn't feel bad ripping it from the human's body and into thin strips that he then wraps somewhat around the human's head wound. He doesn't care enough to clean it or anything, half hoping that the human ends up dying anyway and Herobrine can ignore ever seeing him. But the curious side of him can't get over the fact of their shared appearance.
He looks around once more and notices some chests. Not caring whether or not the human wakes, Herobrine opens them up. One has a few diamonds and iron ingots, most have cobblestone and wood. One which immediately grabs his attention is a single chest by the door, inside of which has some potions.
He doesn't notice a brewing stand though, so he wonders how in the Nether the human acquired them, but he recognizes the potions of regeneration and healing right away.
Taking them out of the chest he dislikes that they aren't splash potions. He's unwilling to touch the human more than he strictly needs to, so with one look to the still sleeping human, Herobrine takes the potions to the Nether to convert them to splash potions.
When he returns—and oh how hard it was coming back—the human is still asleep. The sight fills him with an infuriating and unexplainable sense of fear for the human's life, which he pushes away. He takes the potions and throws both of them onto the human, hoping that it's enough for the human to survive with. His efforts prove useful when a few minutes later the human stirs and opens his eyes.
With a massive headache, Steve wakes up to bright sunlight and the familiar sight of his home. Confusion clouds his mind as he tries to remember how he got here, and why he feels cold. He sits up and puts a hand on his head, hissing in pain and drawing his hand back quickly. His head is killing him, and when he looks down his shirt is missing.
"Wha—" He looks around and notices the man staring somewhat angrily at him and flinches.
"Who are you? Why—What happened?"
For a second the man doesn't say anything before he takes a few steps towards him. Steve, already backed up against the window on his bed can't do anything before the man is right in front of his face. This is when Steve notices the man looks extremely familiar, except for the burning white eyes.
For a few seconds they stay like that until the stranger narrows his eyes. "Who are you?" He says calmly. Steve's eyes widen as he tries to think of what to say. His silence must have angered the stranger because the man suddenly grabs his face and forces him to look at him.
"Answer my questions and don't lie to me," he says darkly. "Unless you want to die."
Breath starting to come quicker, Steve stammers out, "S-Steve. My name's Steve."
He would ask the same question, but he's fearing for his safety at this point, plus he's pretty sure he's got a good idea already of who this is, if the legends are to be believed. Subconsciously, he tries not to move in the hopes of minimizing his chance of provoking the stranger.
After an intense scrutinizing during which Steve prays he's having a horrible nightmare, the stranger let's him go and move back, finally giving Steve some room to breathe.
"Do you know who Notch is?" The stranger asks. Steve rubs absentmindedly at his jaw.
"The Creator?"
"What else."
He doesn't particularly like how this guy is stating questions instead of asking them. How did his day spiral so far out of control?
"What else!" The man says suddenly and forcefully, causing Steve to jump in startled fear.
"Nothing! I swear it, I know nothing else of the Creator!"
Humans are such lowly, pathetic creatures.
Herobrine watches in disgust and prideful anger as the human, Steve, cowers from him. The proper place for a human, surely, but still it proves them as the worthless beings they are.
Herobrine isn't inclined to believe Steve, but he backs away anyway. It's obvious to him his presence scares the human, but he might just leave. He won't get his answers, and the human is alive. He has no reason to stay.
Scowling, he turns around and walks towards the door, surprised when Steve calls to him.
"Wait!"
He obliges and stops, wondering if this human has a death wish.
"You're..." Steve cuts himself off and Herobrine turns around, interested despite himself. "You're...Herobrine, right?"
He can't keep the shock completely off his face. This human knows him, his name and probably his legend, and yet prevents him from leaving? Calls to him instead of letting him walk out of his life forever? He's intrigued.
"Correct," Herobrine says, turning fully around and smiling a shark's smile. "And you know this...?"
Steve gulps and cowers away still, and Herobrine internally scoffs. Weak.
"I've seen...I've seen the legends a-and the tales on the temple walls," Steve says, gaining courage and stepping from the bed to stand on his own. "It's always been interesting to me."
"Is that so," Herobrine says with an air of disinterest masked with superiority. "Then you know what I am capable of and yet you will not let me leave."
"I—" Herobrine teleports directly in front of the human and startles him, making Steve flinch but he stands his ground and does not back up, to Herobrine's surprise. This human is certainly more interesting than he looks.
"Do you truly know who I am?" He sneers, pushing the human to the wall with a hand to his throat, allowing no room for breath or speech. "Do you know what I can do to you on a whim? Your life means nothing to me."
The human struggles around the hand constricting his throat and Herobrine lets him enough air to speak.
"I k-know t-that...you've b-been...alone," Steve wheezes out, and Herobrine's grip slackens from the pure and genuine shock he experiences from how unexpected that statement had been. He drops his hand from the human as if burned and steps back.
Steve drops to his knees and coughs, air rushing back roughly into his lungs. His headache from earlier returns with a vengeance.
He looks up through the tears of pain and sees Herobrine still standing in his house. Part of him wants Herobrine to leave and never come back, but another part is glad to have met him.
He stands up on shaky legs as his throat stops burning with every pass of air. He swallows a few times and clears his throat.
"I've explored temples, both jungle and desert," Steve begins. "I've studied the paintings and the carvings all my life, since the first time I saw them."
"Then...then you know what a vile and evil demon I am, unworthy of life and not to be trusted."
"I...I do know," he agrees. "But not the way you might expect."
Herobrine watches him without saying anything for a few seconds. Steve wonders if Herobrine's so far, all-things-considering attitude is about to turn sour. Despite not entirely believing the legends about Herobrine, he still knows what the man is capable of.
However, Herobrine only glares at him. "I've done what I came here to do," he says, turning his back to Steve. "Pray you never cross my path again." And then he's gone.
Steve sighs and sits on his bed. The realization that he could have died rushes at him and makes his head swim. He looks out the window and despite all that just happened and Herobrine's warning, he hopes that they do meet again.
He lays down on his bed and gets some rest, resigning to wait until tomorrow to continue mining.
Well, Herobrine says he doesn't want to meet Steve again but I think we all know that's just not true.
Thanks to everyone who's reviewed or favorited or followed or all three!
