Chapter 8

The Mysterious Discovery

When Steve arose from his bed, he was greeted by the sight of all of his torches he had placed down in his hidey-hole last night. He sighed in disappointment at himself and rubbed his red eyes, yawning for seemingly hours on end into his hand. Apart from the fact that he felt unrested and his hair was fluffed out in all directions known to mankind, he was fine! He still hasn't been discovered by the Demi-god!

Steve glared at the wall and sighed again. I am so done with everything on this World. I can't even sleep at night.

The player from Alpha grumbled as he crawled out of his red bed and out his hiding tunnel, making his way over to his chest. He grabbed some raw beef out of his chest and threw it in the furnace, sitting with his back to the furnace so his clothes would be heated by the warmth of the burning. He yawned again and brought his arms up to mess with his bed-head, attempting to make himself look at least a little presentable. Not like there's anyone here he should be making himself look presentable for...

As he furiously ran his tan hands through his hair, an odd light source caught his eye from across the ravine. A red shadow illuminated a cave system from the opposite side of the ravine, the weird, red light spiraling down into the cave and out of Steve's eyesight.

What...is that light source? Steve grew extremely tense as he stared at the faint red light, his mind thinking of the worst possible things it could be. What if it's some scary Herobrine monster? What if it's blood? What if Herobrine created a new type of blood that GLOWED? Steve laughed to himself quietly, trying to be humorous in effort to calm his mind.

The Alpha player turned around and took his beef out of his furnace, wolfing it down, keeping his violet eyes locked on the opposite end of the ravine the whole time. The only thing logical explanation for the odd light Steve could think of was that there was lava somewhere in the cave system and the lava's light was casting red-like shadows along the call walls. Steve didn't feel very confident about his explanation though because the light was a very dark red. It wasn't yellow or orangey at all. Steve knew what he had to do...he'd just have to check it out himself.

The human finished his beef and grabbed the purple, enchanted stick, holding it tightly in his hand as he made his way over to the opposite side of the dark ravine. Is it really possible that Herobrine somehow managed to end up in the same ravine as Steve last night? That seems impossible. But at the same time, anything's possible with the Underworld god.

As Steve got closer to the small cave in the ravine wall, the red light suddenly sparked a memory in the miner's mind. Redstone. Redstone torches. Steve suddenly remembered a distance scenario from long ago, it being of Steve finding a trail of redstone torches in the middle of the night leading to a nether portal. Oh no.

Steve gulped and clutched his stick, slowly peeking his head around the corner of the cave. Sure enough, he was greeted by a long trail of redstone torches winding down a cave system. Steve's head suddenly felt light and he fell to the cold, cave floor.

How? How is this possible? How did Herobrine get here? How did Herobrine end up in the exact same ravine as me? Herobrine actually still does this stuff? I thought he only built redstone trails in Alpha and stopped after Beta came out. He still does this? How come I haven't seen him do it on my Worlds? Is he bored of pranking me? Has he moved onto pranking different players now? Why?

The miner took a few deep breaths in and out, trying his best to calm down. He had so, so many questions. He was beginning to feel afraid that they'd never get answered. One question really stuck in his mind though: has Herobrine grown bored of me?

No, that's impossible. If he was, he wouldn't have sought Steve out yesterday and tried to invite him to the Nether.

Steve looked down at his hands almost desolately. Loneliness filled him and he whispered aloud, "Why haven't you pranked me since Alpha? Why haven't you given me a sign of your existence in over ten years until now?" Steve didn't understand. "Why are you suddenly so interested in me again? You don't make any sense."

After a few minutes of just sitting there and thinking, Steve finally gained the will to rise to his feet again and follow the redstone torches. He trudged along side the torch trail, swinging the enchanted stick at his side, his previous fears gone. The only thing filling his mind was nostalgia and curiosity. Steve remembered following one of Herobrine's redstone trails in Alpha. He remembered how curious he used to be about everything regarding Herobrine and his activity. He remembered how he used to try to find Herobrine, but never could. In truth, Steve has never heard Herobrine's voice or seen him in person until now. In the Alpha days, Steve only discovered his creations and nothing else. In all honesty, the only reason why Steve knows what Herobrine looks and sounds like is because of the leaked photos and media of him in Minecraftia. But...perhaps all of those photos and videos are fake...because the Herobrine Steve has seen looks nothing like the handsome, intimidating, manipulative Herobrine that's always talked about in Minecraft News.

Steve sighed and continued walking along side the trail. Steve had kind of hoped that he would meet the Herobrine he has seen in the News. He had no clue Herobrine actually looked like what he saw yesterday morning. Honestly, who would've known?

The young miner had no clue how long he had walked because of his racing mind, but the redstone trail abruptly stopped in the middle of a large cave clearing. In the cave clearing, there was a small four by four lava pool by the wall of the cave and a Nether portal approximately twenty blocks from it. The lava pool was definitely made by someone. It's not normal for a four by four lava pit to generate in the middle of a cave floor with no other lava surrounding the area. As for the Nether portal, Steve already knew it was bad news.

The human suddenly became a little creeped out. Now that his mind had stopped being so loud, he realized how quiet it was. It was deathly quiet. No bats squeaking, no monsters growling, no cave water falling... It was terrifying down here, especially since there were no monster sounds. Ever since Steve joined this World, he hasn't seen a single monster. That is obviously a big red flag that Herobrine is somewhere roaming around here. Even the monsters are scared of him. He is the Lord of everything dark. The dark doesn't even mess with him.

Steve blushed and shook his head side to side furiously, embarrassed about catching himself in the middle of fanboying over Herobrine's abilities.

The distraught player bit the inside of his cheek in embarrassment slowly walked over to the small lava pool, crouching next to it to warm his hands and study it. Herobrine bathes in lava, right? So...basically he led me straight to his bathtub.

Steve gave off a few nervous laughs and awkwardly bunny hopped away from the lava pool almost as soon as he got there. He didn't realize it till now, but at some point he had put away his enchanted god-stick Notch gave him. Steve hummed in thought and looked about the cave. He didn't exactly feel scared or in danger, just a bit creeped out. That's normal to feel though. Judging by the complete silence, the overall darkness of the cave, and the only light coming from blood-red torches, feeling creeped out is a totally normal thing to feel in this situation.

Player Steve knew that he shouldn't be getting close to the Nether in any way, but he couldn't help walking up to the obsidian structure and pushing his hand into the hard material. Just think about it, Herobrine placed this. He placed this with his own hand.

Steve looked at the Nether portal in wonder, his purple eyes traveling up and down the portal curiously. He's been deprived of Herobrine activity for far too long. Now he doesn't even know who Herobrine is any more. He doesn't even remember Herobrine's existence, making him far too curious now that Herobrine is trying to communicate with him once more.

Something weird caught Steve's attention as he looked at the obsidian blocks. There was a sign placed on the lowest obsidian block, the one touching the stone floor of the cave. The sign was empty and a little dusty. Steve raised an eyebrow. How long has this sign been here? How long has this portal been here?!

The young miner smiled and dusted off the sign with his hand, grabbing some of his coal that he was carrying and neatly sketching in the middle of the sign: Hi :)

Steve giggled at how kiddish his message looked on the sign. Who knows, maybe the evil, scary Herobrine likes smiley faces.

Steve knew that he shouldn't stay here long, he needed to go back to his camp out and gather his stuff. Now that Herobrine has a base thing so close to him, he can't stay here. He needs to be as far away from Herobrine as possible in order to avoid him from forcing him into the Nether for whatever reason. The Nether is the one place Notch told him to avoid going to into all costs.

The miner took one last look at the lava pool and old Nether portal before climbing back up the winding tunnel that led him there...

When Steve finally emerged from the depths of the cave systems and into the ravine once more, he breathed in the fresher air happily, clearing his lungs. For once, the adventurer didn't feel stressed or panicked while packing his stuff up. In fact, he felt quite calm and collected. His discovery had sparked nice memories in his mind and made him feel like a curious, knowledge-seeking player once more. He liked feeling like that again.

The last thing player Steve dug up was his bed before he grabbed the long vine he had gotten into the ravine with and proceeded to climb out.