A/N: Hey, Ender here. I would like to thank Kitwarrior24 and Lust-Dragoon for reviewing this week. On with the chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Minecraft or Shadow of Israphel
Herobrine's POV
I awoke to a faint scraping sound, muffled by some unknown barrier. The freezing touch of ice that had been present prior to when I fell unconscious was gone, replaced by a worrying numbness. By instinct I tried to move, to shift any part of my body, but most would not respond and those that did merely shifted slightly before colliding with some barrier, sending jerky flashes of pain through me. Strangely though, I could not bring myself to care enough to do anything about my current predicament. After all, my powers were not responding and what use would struggle me anyway. The warm embrace of unconsciousness beckoned me and I welcomed it, allowing myself to be drawn away from the frozen nightmare of my reality.
Notch's POV
"What's happened to you brother." I murmured, closing my eyes and reaching out for our ever present link. I found it with ease like the several dozen other times I had done this recently, knowing that I would not find anything different but wishing this was not the case. Following it with a strand of energy, I felt my magic become dusted with traces of Herobrine's before it met with an icy magic I could not bypass. A magic who's presence for some strange reason reminded me of Steve.
*Find anything?* Illusion sent. Shadow was still recovering from his encounter with Void's power, so Illusion had begun to randomly check in on other lords when Shadow was sleeping. Apparently my search interested him the most or something since he never seemed to leave me alone.
Nothing useful. I sent Something strange happened to our link, but besides that I still don't know why he contacted me.
*You'll figure it out eventually* sent Illusion.
Yeah, but what if that's not soon enough? It's been weeks Illusion, he could be in trouble.
*You know Jeb will never let you go though.* sent Illusion, voicing thoughts that had occurred to me hundreds of times *After all that's happened, he has almost as much control over the realm as you do. If he wants you here, then that's where you're staying. And you know as well as I do that he thinks you're better off without Herobrine around. He's hardly going to assist you in finding him.*
Herobrine's POV
An abrupt wave of shivery pain woke me from my sleep, freezing limbs unprepared for the lukewarm environment. It felt as if my skin was being pelted with hundreds of tiny needles, burning me since my powers were not present to protect me.
This pain continued for some time, but after a while it began to diminish, my limbs feeling chilled rather than burning hot. Shivering slightly but knowing that this was a sign my body temperature was returning to normal, I sat up slowly, peering into the shadows of the room where I lay, trying to figure out where I was. It was defiantly in the Overworld, I could sense that at least, but besides that I could tell nothing about the area I was in. Reaching for my link with Notch, I found that the ice bind Shatter had placed on me still blocked my powers. That didn't really rule out many places but at least it meant I wasn't in the Chaos Sands.
Footsteps approaching where I sat sent adrenaline shooting through me, which did nothing but speed up my shivering. Pulling a blanket tight over my shoulders I looked towards the source of the sound, a figure approaching from down a narrow hallway. As they came into the light, I saw that it was a woman in her early twenties with pale green hair that extended just past here shoulders. The green dress she wore clung to her slim form, the color complementing her tanned skin. I could feel the warmth as I blushed even through the chill.
"Oh great, you're awake." she said cheerily "I was wondering how much longer it was going to be."
"Where am I?" I asked, wincing as each word I spoke seemed to send a needle of pain lancing though my throat.
"You're in the swamp." she responded "Well, I suppose that's not really that helpful is it. You're about a thousand blocks from the Crafter capital if that means anything to you. Oh, by the way I'm Amelia, lady of the slimes. Course I already know who you are, but if you want to like introduce yourself I'd be totally fine with that." The speed she spoke at made me dizzy, my mind unable to take in the information so quickly after what I had been through. Slowly I raised a hand to my forehead, eyes squeezed tightly closed against the onslaught of sound.
"Slower please." I whispered, opening one eye a crack to glance at her.
"Right, sorry." she laughed nervously "I'm kind of new at this. And things recently have been a bit weird, I mean it's not every day you find a high lord frozen in your back yard."
"So you brought me here." I said softly "How did you find me though?"
"See, that's the weird thing." she said "Something told me to go back there and look for any sign of strange things. And when I went back there, well there you were, frozen under a couple inches of ice. What I don't know is who told me where you were going to be. All I know is that they were defiantly pretty powerful. They were able to send to me from a range so long I could not sense them."
Who could have done it? I wondered Who would have cared? Perhaps...perhaps Shatter was as good as his word. Or perhaps this is all a dream. A lovely, cruel, beautiful dream to keep the harsh truth of reality from me.
"Why have you gone all quiet?" Amelia asked worriedly "Is something wrong?"
"No." I said, turning to look at her "Not really. Have you ever had that moment though, that moment between waking and sleeping where you can't tell what's real and what's not? Well that's how I feel right now. Stuck in between sleeping and waking up, not quite sure how much is real."
"Well, I'm pretty sure this is real." she said brightly.
"Now how can you know that?" I asked, giving her a quizzical look.
"Well, because in a dream I wouldn't imagine you like this. You'd be different."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, taken aback by her response. Was there something wrong with me?
"No, not like that." she laughed "I just always thought of you as more tough and scary. Not deep and focused."
"I'm not always like this." I sighed, running a hand through my hair.
"Well, that's unfortunate." she said, coming over to perch delicately on the edge of the bed. "I rather like you this way."
"You do?" I asked hesitantly, the same warm blush as before cutting through the frost.
"Yep." she said "It's kind of nice, just two of us here you know." I was about to respond when a low growl came from my stomach, bringing a whole new meaning to the word awkward. Amelia laughed, an amazing noise that echoed throughout the whole of the house.
"Come on." she said, standing and holding out a hand. "Let's find you something to eat." Compliantly I stood, taking her hand to avoid falling over. When we got to the kitchen I sat at the small table, looking across it into the fireplace that was positioned on the side of the room. Amelia had gone into one of the side rooms to grab some supplies, and without her presence I felt strangely drawn to the fire. Standing, I stepped towards it, my common sense telling me that it was a bad idea to get so close but instincts telling me it was the right thing to do. Reaching out, I placed my hand close to the fire, feeling the waves of heat flow over my fingers. Concentrating, I moved my and hesitantly into the fire, eyes closed tightly in anticipation of pain. When it did not occur, I opened them slowly, staring in happiness at where my hand was located. That was defiantly a good sign that my powers were coming back.
A shout of alarm from behind me made my attention slip, sending a burst of pain through my hand.
"Herobrine, what are you doing?" Amelia demanded, dumping the things she carried onto the counter and rushing over to inspect the damage.
"It's nothing." I snapped, holding my hand flat against my side so she would not see the burn that streaked across it.
"Now that's obviously not true." she said, snatching at my hand and trying to examine it.
"I said stop." I jerked my hand away from her.
"But you're hurting yourself." she said in concern.
"I wasn't trying to." I murmured sulkily "I just wanted to see if my powers were back."
"And are they?" she asked, crossing her arms in front of her.
"I haven't finished checking." I admitted "You kind of interrupted me."
"Well, get on with it then, I don't want to interrupt you."
"Well, okay." I said, closing my eyes. I tried my best to focus like before, but Amelia was really distracting. And it was most definably not because I was dreading what would happen if I messed up. Nope, it was most defiantly not for that reason. "It's not working now." I said sullenly.
"Can I try something?" she asked.
"Uh, sure?" I said, opening my eyes to look at her. She looked nervous for a moment, before she wrapped an arm around my back.
"Um, what are you doing?" I asked nervously.
"Hush." she said "Trust me, okay?"
"Well, alright." I said. She wrapped her arms more tightly around me before pulling me into a kiss. A wave of embarrassed fire flashed through me, hundreds of times more powerful than the ones that I had felt before. As this happened, a splintering feeling ran through me, followed by waves of power replenishing me to my former strength.
"What did you do?" I gasped, breaking away from her kiss.
"I don't know?" she said, eyes bright and face flushed. "Did you like it?"
"Well, um a bit?" I said "It was kind of unexpected. But hey," I exclaimed "My powers are back. Apparently whatever spell it was did not take into account how I would react to things like that. Course I never really thought about it either, so go figure."
"Well, I'm glad it helped." she said blushing.
"Oh, right, there's something I need to do real quick, just give me a minute." Reaching out, I followed my link to Notch, delighted to find that it was no longer blocked. Moving along it with a trace of magic, I found Notch's presence, traces from it that told me he was in a light sleep.
Wake up. I sent.
*Hmm... wha?* I heard, then a more coherent sending full of conflicting emotions and poorly concealed concern that practically dripped from it. *You're okay!*
Course I am. I sent I'm more than capable of taking care of myself.
*Hmm* he sent noncommittally. *Just come home. Things are weird around here right now.*
Alright. I sent I may have to bring someone with me though. Something occurred to me though. How am I going to get there. I heard that you guys have locked down the portals.
*Don't worry about that, I'll figure something out. Just come back.*
A/N: I hope you have enjoyed this chapter. If so, please consider leaving a review.
Now for questions for the characters.
From Lust-dragoon to me: You'd think Herobrine could adapt to cold, i mean in books and other things i read things with weaknesses will usually overcome them and end up being stronger.
Me: He isn't usually as effected by ice as he was, but the amount he was using his powers messed him up a bit. He would do a lot better if he hadn't been ambushed. The fact that Notch's powers were weak at the time didn't help either.
If you have any questions for the characters, you can PM them to me or leave them in a review. I hope you have a great day and I shall see you all next chapter. Bye! :D
