"Why can't I visit the other servers?" Herobrine's hands stilled in their work, and he turned to meet his brother's gaze. Stephan was casually leaning against the side of the barn, as if he hadn't just asked to leave the safety and privacy of their hidden home.

"It's dangerous." Herobrine responded. He then went back to filling his water bucket, hoisting it onto his shoulder.

"Why?" Stephan pressed. "What if I drank an invisibility potion? The players wouldn't be able to see me."

"Why do you want to go to another server?" Herobrine shot him a suspicious look. Perhaps this was the cause of Stephan's odd mannerisms the past few days.

"I just want to explore." Stephan's bright, blue eyes were so innocent. "Players can build amazing things… but I've only gotten to see them when they invaded our server. There's nothing like that in this world, not anymore."

"The answer is still no." Herobrine gave a firm shake of his head. "Even with an invisibility potion, an admin could still easily detect you. Players are cruel and ruthless creatures, and I have no reason to think they would do anything but attack you on sight."

"Oh." Stephan visibly deflated at this, but Herobrine set his jaw, walking past him to fill the cows' trough.

"Have you explored my castle in its entirety?" He asked as he passed by once again. Stephan had yet to move, pouting where he leaned against the wall of the barn.

"No." The younger admitted. "The mobs make me nervous… especially without Apples, but I'd hate for her to run off again. She gave me quite a fright."

"Perhaps I can give you a tour, then." Stephan gave no response. It didn't seem to comfort him all that much.

Herobrine frowned as he bent down to refill his bucket from the stream. Had Stephan really gotten his heart set on visiting another server so quickly? Not long ago, he seemed perfectly content to stay at home and tend to his farm. Before they met - or, re-met, he hadn't been all that much of an adventurer, had he?

Or perhaps that was because he was scared of him.

"What have you been reading? I assume you have spent most of your time in my library?"

"Mhm." Stephan kept his eyes downcast. "I've found a few books about the End… that's a real place, isn't it?"

"Indeed."

"Have you been there?"

"No. But maybe we could go one day." Stephan's face brightened a bit at that.

"What about the dragon? Would it obey you?"

"I believe so. I could ask Notch."

"Okay. Would we be able to travel out into the End? An Elytra- if we could find one, that would be amazing." Stephan seemed considerably cheered by the prospect, and Herobrine let him chatter about the things he had read. Though he commented and answered questions when he deemed it appropriate, half his mind was focused on another problem.

What had sparked Stephan's sudden desire to visit another server?

"Have we really found nothing?"

"We have a location. That's far better than nothing."

"We have half a country, that hardly narrows it down." Frustrated, Herobrine swept his stack of notes off the table, watching with narrowed eyes as they fluttered to the dark red carpet below him.

"It is a start." Notch's voice seemed far more calm than his. "Steve, we cannot expect immediate progress."

"I am not, but we have been working for weeks. Having found only an area of thousands of miles seems not enough progress to me."

"I know." Herobrine looked up into the face of his creator, frowning. His brother had built him a "computer" of his own, that allowed easy access into their files. He had a separate monitor just to talk to Notch. Somehow, he felt closer to him here than when he was with Notch in his server. "We will find them, I promise." Notch insisted. "But we must be patient." Herobrine cast a glance at his notes, scattered over the floor, and bent down to pick them up again.

"I pray you are right." He spread them on his desk again, sitting down. The toe of one of his boots tapped against the leg of the desk, a habit he couldn't seem to stop. "It's torment to wait."

"I know." Notch just gave him a nod. As Herobrine pulled up the program they had written together, however, he spoke again. "Is something on your mind? You seem distant." Herobrine frowned. Leave it to Notch to notice something he hadn't even thought about himself.

"Yes… Stephan." Notch didn't respond, and he elaborated. "He wishes to explore other servers. I said no."

"I see." Notch folded his hands together on the desk. "Do you still have the portals?"

"Yes. He is under strict orders not to cross through them."

"Good. So why are you worried?" That gave him pause, and Herobrine had to think for a few moments in order to respond.

"I... am not," He began, slowly. "Worried… that he will run off. I only wish… I want him to be happy." Notch's face softened, and he continued. "He says he wishes to see the players' builds, that there's nothing like them in our world. Of which he is correct, of course. I was wondering if there is some other solution, perhaps to import some of the players' creations into our world?" Notch frowned, drummed his fingers on the desk.

"It can likely be done."

"Good." Herobrine felt some of the tension leave his body. "Thank you."

"Of course. Can you-" Notch was cut off by a ringtone, and he lifted one finger as he reached with his other hand to pick up his phone off a shelf. He glanced at the display, then murmured, "It's Caden." Standing, he walked away from the camera as he presumably answered the phone. Herobrine scowled as soon as he was out of view. He still didn't like him.

Having nothing else to do, he busied himself finding a world download for Stephan to explore.

When Steve emerged through the portal, it was nighttime.

He was immediately grateful for his forethought, that he had brought a shield this time around. Herobrine had questioned it, but he simply said it had made him feel more secure around the hostile mobs. Which was true, it did. It also would defend him from any mobs here, ones outside of Herobrine's control.

And, hopefully, any players, too.

Hoisting a diamond sword in his other hand, Steve headed for the dark woods, a little spring in his step. He had torches, with which he could light his path behind him, but he was hesitant to place or remove any blocks that the players could notice. So, instead, he picked his way through the woods by the light of the half-moon above him.

A skeleton rattled nearby.

Immediately, he raised his shield, turning in a slow circle in the hopes of catching a glance of the mob. A little rush of excitement went through him - while, of course, he appreciated Herobrine keeping the mobs away from him, it had been months since he had a decent fight. He did miss the support his dogs gave him, though.

Through the trees, he spotted a ray of moonlight glinting off a polished bone. The skeleton seemed to have spotted him at the same time, and raised its bow, but Steve all but ignored it as he charged through the trees towards it. The arrow that flew simply bounced off his shield, and Steve promptly relieved the mob of its' skull with a well-placed swipe of his sword. Collecting the remaining bones, Steve lowered his shield and went upon his merry way.

An instant later, the moon was gone, and the sun was rising in the east.

[Philinator has slept. Good morning!]

Steve didn't move for a good few moments, frozen in his tracks. The night was… had been skipped? A player was online? Oh Notch, should he get out?

After a moment of abject terror, he lowered his shield and squared his shoulders. He wasn't giving up yet.

Putting his shield and sword away, Steve retrieved a shimmering, purple potion from his inventory. Invisibility. As long as he wore no armor and kept nothing in his hands, he should be completely hidden from view. Tugging the cork out with his teeth, Steve tossed it away and downed the potion in an instant.

As he watched, his hands turned from a dark tan, to transparent, to nothing. He looked down at his feet, making sure the effect was complete, then realized he hadn't taken off his golden helmet. He quickly put that away. That could have been disastrous.

He crept to a stream running nearby to refill the bottle - no sense in wasting it - then tucked it back into his inventory as well. After eight minutes, he would be visible again, but until then he had complete freedom.

Herobrine's words briefly came back to him - "Even with an invisibility potion, an admin could still easily detect you." - but he shrugged them away. He would be alright.

The moment he exited the forest, he spotted his first player.

Not his first, technically, but his first in many years, since Herobrine's execution. This one was wearing armor - black armor, shimmering with purple. Steve marveled at it, after checking himself over once more to make sure he was truly invisible. He had never seen black armor before.

The player was blocky, like the mobs, and was placing down blocks of leaves in neat rows along the edge of the castle wall. A name hung above their head - "Nicky1289". This was the one who had almost caught him, who must be the owner of the castle.

Despite being invisible, Steve was too worried to stick around long, so he crept away in the direction of the empty village.

The golem, he noticed, followed him with its eyes as he passed it. Could it see him? He was still invisible. Regardless, it made him nervous, and he passed through the empty village as soon as possible.

As he was about to hop the fence again, though, a sound gave him pause.

"Hello!" He spun, fearing the worst, but instead spied a villager, watching him through a window of one of the houses.

"Oh, hello!" The miner gave the area a quick sweep, looking for players, but found none and hurried up to the window. "How can you see me? I'm invisible."

"Hello!" The villager replied cheerfully, and Steve's heart sank. Another one of the… odd villagers, then. "Would you like to trade?"

"I'm not sure I have anything to trade." Steve replied, though he didn't really expect a coherent response.

"Thank you!" Disappointed, Steve turned and walked away, climbing over the fence and heading for the blue castle.

This time, however, he spotted a road, made of path blocks and lined with torches. Out of curiosity, he followed it, and found himself in the most colorful place he'd ever seen.

There were many buildings, all clustered together, many with signs on them. A few had strange combinations of words and numbers - "1635 Birch St.", and the like, but many appeared to be some sort of shops. There was a large billboard that said nothing but "WIN!", and a giant fountain just off-center in the town. Most marvelous of all, however, was the building with a roof made of bedrock, atop of which five beams of light shone brilliantly up into the sky.

As Steve gazed around at his surroundings, the sound of a firework startled him, and he nearly shouted in fright as a player hurtled out of the sky and landed barely three blocks away from him.

Steve slapped both hands over his mouth, thanking Notch and every Minecraft dev that his invisibility potion hadn't worn off. The player walked off without pause, and Steve spotted a firework in its hand. Directly after, he spied the wings on its back. An elytra?

The player soon disappeared into the building, and Steve took the opportunity to quickly take another invisibility potion. His hands were shaking, but just as much with excitement as with shock and fear. The players here had elytra! They had been to the End? Had they defeated the dragon?

After a moment, the player exited the store and set off a firework, shooting into the sky once more. Steve watched in amazement as the player soared away, then turned his gaze to the building they had just left. What had they been doing in there…?

Inside, several chests lined the walls, each with a sign above them describing the contents and the price. It was a shop, then. Instead of emeralds, though, the proprietor of the shop dealt in diamonds. A few of the gemstones were in the chests, leading him to believe that the player who had just left was making purchases here. One chest was dedicated entirely to the sale of fireworks, which he would find odd if he had not just seen a player using them to fly.

How long had he been here? About 15 minutes? He glanced down at his hands, double checking that he was invisible, then to the door. He should go. It seemed that a lot of players were online right now.

He slipped through the door, closing it behind him, only to turn around and come nearly face-to-face with a player.

Steve froze, too petrified to breathe. Through he was invisible, the player had undoubtedly seen the door close. Oh he was an idiot, why didn't he look before running out into the open?

[shibasleeper]: who is that?

Steve bolted.

[Philinator]: who?

[shibasleeper]: Somebody invisible in the shopping district XD

[shibasleeper]: they closed a door in front of me then ran away

Steve was only barely monitoring the messages in the chat as he ran, back down the road that had brought him here. He had to get out of here, he had to get out of here now.

[Philinator]: wasnt me

[Nicky1289]: Not me

[shibasleeper]: oh XD

[shibasleeper]: im confused then

He dashed through the empty village, stopped. Ducked into one of the buildings to drink his last potion. If his invisibility wore off before he got to the portal, especially while he was passing by the castle, he'd be in huge trouble.

[Philinator]: probably server lag.

[shibasleeper]: no

[shibasleeper]: I saw running particles

[shibasleeper]: someone was there

"Hello." The villager offered, but Steve paid him no heed, dashing off again. He bypassed the the castle entirely, only slowing when he had gotten under the cover of the dark forest.

[Philinator]: I promise it wasnt me

[Nicky1289]: I'm at my castle.

[shibasleeper]: weird. XD

Herobrine was going to murder him if he ever found out about this.

Finally, Steve reached the portal. He paused for a moment before dashing through, fishing his milk out of his inventory and drinking it to rid himself of the invisibility effect. Herobrine was sure to ask questions if he found him running around invisible. Then, he hopped through the swirling portal.

Once he found himself back in the portal room, Steve finally sat down to allow himself to rest. His ears were strained to their limit, searching for approaching footsteps that could signal Herobrine's approach, but ultimately heard nothing. Letting out a huge breath, Steve leaned back against the portal frame, pressing a hand to his forehead.

"Good Notch… 'm never going back there." He mumbled to himself.

He was wrong.