Chapter 17
Interrupted Dinner
After getting out of the lava pool and using a few wool carpets to brush off the ash and magma bits, Steve followed Herobrine into a small stone room the god had been making potions in. It was nothing fancy, just a stone room with a small table in the middle of it. Steve knew that Herobrine didn't care for building rooms or houses in the Overworld because he didn't want to take the time to create meaningful structures out in the open when other players could just come across and destroy them effortlessly.
Player Steve sat on one of the cobblestone chairs by the table, patiently waiting for the demon to join him with the cooked pork chop he was smoking. Steve was extremely grateful for the god's care. He had already done so much for Steve. Quite honestly, the younger miner didn't know if he would have survived the wounds the hacker gave him if it wasn't for Herobrine's immense care. He saved me. He actually saved me. I can't believe all of this is actually happening.
Herobrine shot Steve a sneaky glance from the side but Steve noticed it almost immediately. Oh. He must've been listening to my thoughts again. Well, can you hear me now? Lalala la la.
Surprisingly, Herobrine didn't look this time, which caused Steve to burst out in mischievous giggles under his breath. The god was drawing the two cooked pork chops out of his furnace and making headway for the table, his heavy feet practically crushing the stone floor beneath him. Steve listened to the god's footsteps in amazement. He must have broken floors just by walking on them before. Steve was undoubtedly curious and astounded by Herobrine's body structure and chemistry.
Steve stared at Herobrine as he came to the table side, his purple eyes wide in curiosity and nervousness. The god set one of the cooked pork chops in front of Steve on a white carpet and murmured in a low, interestingly quiet voice, "eat, Steve."
The adventurer didn't need to be told twice, he immediately grabbed the cooked meat and shoved it in his mouth, his stomach grumbling aggressively. The god watched the human for a few seconds with an unfathomable emotion in his eyes before sharply turning his head upwards towards the ceiling, the piercing glow in his eyes suddenly spiking in intensity. Steve noticed Herobrine's strange behavior and stopped chewing in the middle of a bite, casting a nervous glance over at the Underworld god.
"A-Are you okayphf?" Steve asked awkwardly through his stuffed mouth.
"You are not safe here." Herobrine replied tersely, moving his head back and forth a bit, as if listening to or looking at something on the ceiling of the stone room.
The younger miner stared into the side of Herobrine's tan face in nervousness and gulped down his bite, looking up at the ceiling the demon had his luminous eyes glued to. Steve remembered Notch telling him during their meeting that Herobrine was sensitive to entities, meaning that he could feel the presence of entities that are exhibiting intense emotions or externalities, such as darkness, light, or despair. Steve remembered that Notch said he could feel the presence of another player from twenty blocks away or more, which is kind of terrifying. Player Steve was mostly intrigued by this ability of his though, not frightened.
"What do you mean by... I'm not safe? Didn't you kill the hacker player?" The younger miner questioned, shoving the rest of his pork chop into his mouth after finishing his sentence.
The god lips tightened but his eyes remained dead-set. Steve opened his mouth in shock at his sudden change of expression. He didn't.
Steve was about to question the god but he suddenly turned towards Steve, his glowing white eyes practically blinding the adventurer. Herobrine took a few steps toward the Overworld player, as if deliberately making himself tower over him in his chair. "There is honey in the room you rested in, as well as your armor. Take your belongings from this place and leave."
The Overworld player opened his mouth in surprise and flickered his eyes around on the ground, not knowing what to say in response to the god's sudden command.
"W-Why leave?" Steve stuttered, gaining the courage to look up into Herobrine's blazing eyes.
"You are not safe here. Go." Herobrine quickly responded, squinting down at Steve. The god's wispy particles seemed to wrap around the human's body, tickling his arms and chest due to how close the demigod was to him.
"Where...where do I go?" Steve muttered anxiously, staring at the god fearfully. Steve thought that the safest place in the universe was with Herobrine, for he was somewhat caring and passive around him. He saved me for Notch's sake... What's the big deal now? What in the world does he have to worry about? He's the Underworld's ruler! He's literally the god of the monsters!
The god glared at the human and Steve studied the look in shame, suddenly feeling as if he had done or said something wrong. "I feel as if you are not understanding my words Steven, I mean leave. Leave this World now." Herobrine said loudly, his voice echoing throughout the spacious cave for a few seconds.
Fear spread through Steve's face at the sudden change in volume of the god's voice and he breathed heavily, jumping up from his seat and casting Herobrine a small glance once more.
"You did not belong on this World. Exit now." The god bellowed dangerously, causing Steve's breath to hitch at the angry sounding intensity of his voice. The younger miner raced to his dark room and snatched the honey bottle from the side of the bed and his armor from the corner of the room, his mind racing and chest hurting. It just didn't feel right. He didn't want to leave so suddenly. He didn't even know what exactly was going on. Even so, Steve didn't dare challenge Herobrine's grave commands. Still, will I ever come back here?
"For nethersake, leave Steve." Herobrine's low voice echoed from the dining room.
Steve shut his eyes in hurt. Why do you have to say it like that?
...
Steve left Herobrine's World and joined his own, private world in which Alex occasionally plays on as well. Distraught and confused, Steve ran up the stairs to his bedroom and flopped down on his large, red bed. He pushed his tan face into his pillow and groaned in mental exhaustion. I can't ever get a break from the drama and stress of adventuring, can I? Right when I think that I can appeal to Herobrine's better nature, he kicks me out. Seriously? What the heck is up with that?
Tschh. And people say I'm emotional. Just go hang around Herobrine for ten minutes and I can guarantee you that you'll get a free ticket for an emotional roller coaster ride. Fun part about it is you never know if the ride is going up or down.
Steve sighed in his pillow sadly. The god was probably just protecting him and wanted him to leave before the hacker came back and caused more trouble. Honestly, it's nice of him to always be on the lookout for Steve's safety. The younger miner couldn't deny that he appreciated this.
After about an hour of rolling around in his bed and biting at a corner of his blanket in stress, Steve decided that it would be best for him to pay Alex a visit. He missed her and wanted to catch her up on everything that happened while he was away. There were some things Steve thought that he shouldn't tell her, such as the way Herobrine carried him when he was injured or the way they curiously touched each other's arms, but she deserved to know the truth about Herobrine and how caring he was with him. Steve knew it would be hard to tell her this though, because she has always exhibited a strong disliking of the Underworld god and has ranted to Steve about wanting to kill him to "put him out of his selfish misery," which has always come across as a little aggressive to the Alpha player. Steve secretly hoped that Alex would develop softer and kinder feelings towards the demigod if he told her about his experiences on his World. At least I hope she does...
As for Notch? Steve squinted and hummed in thought. He didn't really feel the need to talk to his creator, nor did he necessarily want to at the moment, surprisingly. A weird feeling clouded Steve's head and he frowned into his pillow. Wouldn't Notch...not like the fact that Herobrine saved me? That he cared for me and talked to me just like how a regular player would?
It feels...wrong...to tell someone that Herobrine isn't crude or callous. It feels as if telling someone that Herobrine is nice is...strictly forbidden in Minecraftia's universe. If Steve told Notch that Herobrine had saved him and took care of him out of his own good will, he feared that Notch's response would be somewhere along the lines of disbelieving and jealous. Perhaps he would make Notch envious. Notch was Herobrine's old friend for years. Now that they're apart and never speak to each other, hearing that his creation is suddenly talking to the demigod passively may make him extremely frustrated.
Steve slowly rolled over into his back and sat up on the side of his bed, looking out of his large window gloomily, his eyelids drooping and the corners of his mouth falling. What do I do then? Do I just not tell Notch about what happened on that World? Do I not tell him about how Herobrine attempted to kill the hacker and how he saved me while doing so? No, I must tell him these things. But, I shouldn't tell him about the way Herobrine talks to me so passively. I have to keep my interactions with Herobrine...a secret. I can't burden my creator with the gentle words the Underworld god and I have spoken to each other. I don't want to destroy his heart.
The Overworld seemed to shine under the sun's orange rays that casted along the trees and grass. Steve looked out of this window longingly, the beauty of the Overworld's sunset making him feel sad for some reason. He didn't know exactly how he was feeling, but something inside him made him feel as if he had done something wrong.
Without thinking at all, Steve walked down his oak staircase slowly, his heavy shoes causing the wood to creak underneath him. The sound of his feet hitting the wood reminded him of the way Herobrine's footsteps sounded like in the caves. Steve pushed open his door and walked around to the front of his house, the sunset's beams of light hitting his body instantly and causing him to sigh in comfort. The wind blew his thick brown hair back from the sides of his face and lit up the purple swirls in his eyes. He slowly sat down near the edge of an extensive lake that lay in front of his house, taking off his shoes to dip his bruised feet in the cool water. The Overworld player fell onto his side, a puff escaping his lips as his sore body hit the grass.
Steve closed his violet eyes and sighed in comfort, basking in the sun for the first time in a while. "I really wish I could just forget about all of this and just relax for a moment. I deserve some time to chill for nethersake..."
The alpha player sprawled out on the grass, extending his limbs so that the sunset could hit every part of him. As he laid down, he drowsily pulled up his World menu and sent Alex an invitation, knowing that this would be a good time to catch up with her. I really hope she comes.
The grass danced in the soft breeze and Steve's hair blew in the wind, his body finally releasing all the tension it had built up inside after days of fighting for his life. There was always something special about laying in the sun at dusk. It seemed to heal a player's soul.
After only a few minutes of the miner laying in the grass by the swallow lake, Alex spawned right in front of his house after accepting his World invitation. Steve didn't know this yet though, he had his back to his house and body facing the sunset.
Alex was surprised to receive an invitation from Steve on his World. She thought that something must be wrong because why else would he want to see her? While brainstorming ideas about why he invited her, she quickly walked around the exterior of his house and after no luck in finding him she walked inside. His door was already open, which made Alex a little tense. Was he ambushed? Is he wounded? Is he dying in here?!
"Steve?" Alex called from the lower level of his oak house, looking around his cooking place and bathing room. The house was quiet and empty, which also worried her.
Alex quickly proceeded to jog up his stairs to the top level of his house and walked over to his bed next to his large windows, immediately noticing that his red blankets were messy and thrown to the side. He must've left. He's clearly not here. However, there was a book lying on top of one of his bookshelves near his bed, which got the best of Alex's curiosity. Maybe the book was a clue to finding out where he is?
The curious warrior lifted the book up and flipped open the first page, immediately seeing the words "To Steve," written at the top of the page in ink.
Pfft. Since when does Steve get letters?! Alex snickered under her breath but quickly caught her tongue as soon as she realized that the player who wrote the letter to him was Notch. What? Why don't I get any cool letters from Notch?!
Well, it wasn't exactly a "cool" letter. Notch had asked to see Steve in the morning and discuss what was going on with the weird Herobrine scandal. The creator came across as a little worried and uncertain about the whole situation in the letter, saying that he didn't know what was going on or why Herobrine had visited a server.
Alex exhaled loudly and frowned. When was the letter written and how long has it been sitting on this bookshelf? It isn't morning so logically Steve wouldn't be at Notch's place right now. This letter must be a day old or so. She wondered what Notch told Steve and what their plan was to keep him safe. Well, I know my plan. If that flesh-eating monstrous dipstick of a demigod so much as LOOKS at Steve I'll cut his bloody head right off and throw it in a furnace and slurp up the last of his few brain cells right the hell up. Go to hell, you pathetic demigod. You run away every time someone tries to look at you. You literally hide from players so they can't see you. You're pathetic and you should've never tried to be a bad guy. You're like a child, slow to learn what is acceptable and what is not. You don't even know how to be a proper nemesis. Minecraftia's universe would be so much better without you. You're an embarrassment to the monster kingdom.
"Alex?"
The warrior blinked furiously and whirled her head around in confusion, her angry thoughts still clouding her mind.
Steve stared at his house in confusion, seeing his teammate standing near one of his bookshelves through a window, her head bowed as if she was looking at something by her feet. The miner hollered once more, "Alex!"
Finally he seemed to get her full attention, her green eyes stared out the window of his house and locked with his, lighting up as soon as she laid eyes on him. Steve chuckled and waved, watching her run down his staircase and disappear within his house, only to see her reappear as she ran outside towards him.
"Steve omg! I was in your house trying to find you but you weren't there and then I found a mysterious book on one of your bookshelves and read it and was trying to crack the code and stuff about where you were BUT YOU'RE RIGHT HERE! I'm so happy you're safe!" Alex ranted excitedly, wrapping her arms around her friend on the grass, pulling him into a warm hug. Steve smiled in her shoulder, eagerly embracing her back. He didn't realize how much he missed her touch.
"I'm alright, it's definitely been a wild week, but I'm okay." Steve mumbled, drawing back from their hug and flashing her a grin.
"I'm so glad! You have to tell me everything that happened. I don't even really know where you were or what you were doing! I made sure to leave you alone though because I didn't want to intrude on this Herobrine stuff unless you wanted me to," the warrior said, darting her eyes to the side and shrugging. "I guess I should've checked up on you yesterday or something though..."
"No, don't worry about it at all. It would've been impossible to reach me anyway because I was on a specific World that I had to type in a seed number for. I was living there during my time away and I just came back from the World a few ticks ago...I've only been laying here by my lake for a couple minutes." Steve responded, beckoning Alex to sit next to him by patting the grass to his left. Alex followed his cue and plopped down on the grass next to him, pressing their sides together.
"Wait, so you were playing on a different World all this time? Why? And how?" Alex asked, raising one of her fiery eyebrows.
"Oh geez... I have so much to tell you." Steve chuckled and pushed a hand into his face, rubbing his eyes shyly.
"Awwe, you don't have to tell me everything if you don't want to, cutie pants," Alex giggled, smirking at Steve's flushed face. "Still haven't lost your excessive blushing ability, have you? Oh wait, what's this?" Alex poked the side of Steve's face lightly, running her finger down a purple blotch on his tan skin.
The miner softly batted her hand away. "Just a bruise, I have a lot of them right now, but I can tell you about that too."
Alex squinted in sudden suspicion. "Did you...meet Herobrine? Did he hurt you? Did he try to kill you?!"
"No, no, no. I mean...no. Not really, it wasn't him but I thought it was him for a few days. It's complicated." Steve sighed and laughed impulsively, his laugh only making Alex more tense. If she found out that Herobrine hurt her friend then she would blow a fuse right on the spot. That thrice-cursed demon will pay.
"I sure hope he didn't," Alex stated bluntly, giving Steve a worried but angry look.
Steve sighed, already sensing Alex's aggression towards Herobrine. "Okay okay, let me just start from the very beginning. All I need you to do is listen as best as you can and don't judge until the very end, alright?" Steve asked, giving Alex a look.
"Fineeee. Tell me the storyyy."
"Okay, so, I received that letter from Notch the night we had gone to see the server administrator and I went to Notch's place the very next day in the morning. He basically told me that he didn't know what was going on and why Herobrine joined a specific server that we were playing on. He thought that it was probably not for a good reason though and basically sent me out onto one of the World's where he is very active in and gave me an enchanted god-like stick that could deactivate his powers and his ability to advance on me for a time. He gave me that and sent me onto one of Herobrine's World's because he thought that once Herobrine saw me and saw that I was carrying one of his weapons he would get intimidated and angry, coming to him instead of me."
"So...did you actually see him? Did you see the real Herobrine?" Alex interrupted excitedly but in a hostile sounding tone.
"Well...yes. Or, it's complicated."
"TELL ME."
Steve laughed and patted her shoulder. "Okay, okay, I'm getting there. So, I did see Herobrine outside my starter base on the World in the morning. At least, I thought it was him. He looked like Herobrine, he had the right outfit, hair, and he had white eyes, but there were some things that seemed off about him. For one, he was my height. Also, he didn't have any muscle mass or an intimidating look to him. His voice was crackly and not powerful sounding at all. His eyes didn't glow and he didn't emit any particles from his body. He looked scrawny, he looked pretty malnourished and just...not healthy. I was super disappointed upon seeing him because he looked absolutely nothing like how Minecraftia's news depicted him to be."
"Ewwww gross. So the news is lying? Do they use photoshop or something to make him actually look decent and cool looking?" Alex asked in confusion.
"Haha, I thought that too, but no, they don't. The Herobrine in the news is almost exactly like what the real Herobrine looks like. Except Herobrine in real life is much scarier and...bigger." Steve muttered, trailing off in thought of the way the demon was able to lift him up effortlessly and the way his feet sent cracks into stone beneath him as he walked. It was just amazing how...heavy the Underworld god is. He's so strong, his body feels as if it's made of obsidian. I know he could kill me in a single punch.
"Wait what, I'm confused. You said that Herobrine looked scrawny and gross when you saw—"
"Just wait, there's a lot more to that World I've been playing on. So yea, he basically was threatening me and trying to get me to go to the Nether with him, which is obviously bad news. Notch had directly told me to avoid going into the Nether too. I said no a bunch of times and then swung at him with the stick and he got freaked out and flew away from me. That was my first encounter with him."
"Lol."
Steve shot her a glance. "What?"
"A stick. Like, a stick? Out of all of the cool things in this universe, why did Notch have to enchant a stupid stick."
"I don't know!" Steve laughed. "Maybe because it's light-weight and easy to carry around?"
Alex sighed and rolled her vibrant green eyes, "boringggg."
"Aha why don't you take your complaints to Notch then. I'm sure he'd appreciate the feedback on how to be cooler." Steve teased, patting Alex's back.
"Oh yes, I am the queen of cool." Alex mumbled, resting her head on Steve's shoulder.
"Now that is very true," the Alpha player replied, rubbing the side of his cheek on top of her head. And Herobrine is the king of cool. Definitely. He's not her king though...he's just a king. By himself. He is the definition of cool in this universe.
Steve cleared his throat and stopped his thought train, blushing discreetly. "Anyway, I get a fever that night and ran out into the open and fainted on the grass, but somehow in the morning I was back in my bed and my blankets had been tucked into my sides."
"UHHH THAT'S NOT CREEPY AT ALL." Alex hollered and laughed maniacally. "Steve that's so terrifying oh my god."
"Yea...I guess it kinda was...and I was definitely freaked out during the time, so I started traveling and found a ravine to live in and found a lot of ores in it. I also found a redstone trail and a really old Nether portal. The Nether portal had a sign on it that was so old that the sides of it were turning into dust. Anyway, I wrote hi on the sign and went to sleep."
"Why are you so innocent oh my gosh." Alex blurted and to that Steve blushed.
"I'm not trying to be like that! I was just being friendly. Some cold winds started hitting me and it was weird because Notch said that only hackers and glitched entities can produce winds so yea. In the morning I started moving out again because Herobrine literally had a Nether portal and a redstone art show in my ravine so I started traveling through a jungle. I found a blue parrot—or, the parrot found me and wanted to eat my cookies but I said no and finally gave it some seeds to make it happy. The birdie hopped on my shoulder and traveled with me all the way till dusk and we were making a camp underground in this little cave hole but then Herobrine popped out of nowhere and murdered my parrot with his fists and then started dragging me on the ground by my arm."
"That's it. I'm going to kill that son of a bastard."
"No! Wait, there's a lot more to this story! You have to wait till the very end to judge." Steve said frantically, laughing nervously under his breath.
"What? I'm never going to forgive someone for doing that crap. That's horrible. There's no sign of redemption in that devil." Alex said, glaring at Steve. "You better not forgive him for doing that to you, I swear."
"No, no, I didn't. Just wait. So anyway I finally hit him with the stick and it sent him flying hundreds and probably thousands of blocks away from me in the sky. I cried myself to sleep that night because I had to travel all the way back to the ravine because I'm a dunce and forgot my stupid ores. But here's where it gets really weird. When I got back to the ravine, I went down to the Nether portal because there's a pool of lava there and I was wet and needed to dry off, and the sign that I had written 'hi' on had changed. Someone had erased my message and responded with 'hello, Steve.' And I was like what the hell is going on because it was impossible that Herobrine somehow was at the portal and then found me right after within an hour. It's even more impossible because when I told Herobrine that I had found his Nether portal in the ravine he didn't even know what I was talking about. He literally didn't know. So I was soooo confused at this point and I just left the World. I went to Notch and—"
"I feel like I see where this is going," Alex mumbled and gave Steve a sly smile.
"You do?"
"Yep."
Steve laughed shyly and Alex grinned upon seeing how shy her friend got about literally anything. "So, after telling Notch about everything, he got really freaked out and said that the Herobrine I was interacting with was not the real Herobrine, but a hacker, which explained so much. It explained the cold winds and the reason why he could fly and why he didn't look like the real Herobrine at all—he was just a fake. Of course I wouldn't know that though because I had never seen Herobrine so yea. But that changes. So—"
"Okay I totally saw that hacker thing coming into place but you actually did see the real Herobrine?" Alex asked curiously.
"Yes!" Steve replied, trying to contain his excitement about talking about him. "Notch gave me some special invisibility potions that could last for an entire day and then I went back on the World and encountered the real Herobrine down in the Nether portal cave. I saw his eyes on a wall because they glow and stuff and then he played around with me by stealing my armor but I asked for it back and he gave it back and then he stood behind me but I never had the courage to turn around so I never saw what he looked like and then he teleported away."
"WHAT. WHATTT." Alex shouted, looking at Steve with an insane look in her eyes, putting her hands up to her head.
"What? I'm not done yet so just listen. So hacker Herobrine found me in the woods the next night and was killing me and I was paralyzed because one of his winds froze me due to how close I was to it. As he was beating me I started yelling Herobrine's name as loud as I could in my mind, trying to communicate with him mentally because Notch told me that he has telepathy and can especially hear thoughts tied into emotion, disturbance, or pain. Luckily I managed to break the seal on my lips though and shout his name and guess what! He came! He came and he saved me! He summoned lighting bolts from the sky and then the trees around me caught on fire and it was horrifying and then I blacked out but yea that's basically it...he healed me and then I had to leave today because the hacker had found us and Herobrine wasn't able to kill him the first time so he told me to get off the World so I could be safe."
Alex didn't respond, she didn't know how to. She just stared in front of her with her mouth gaping, hands up at her head. This was the exact opposite she thought the story would end. She thought that Steve would be kicked off the World by Notch because Herobrine was trying to kill him, not...save him?!
"So...the real Herobrine didn't try to hurt you or anything?" Alex asked quietly, her eyes still staring off into space.
Steve pursed his lips and bit the inside of his cheek. "Nope. He saved me."
Alex blinked rapidly, slowly lowering her hands from her hair. All her life she's been told how cruel he is...and it's true! He kills players mercilessly day and night. He's a horrible player, he is the definition of hell itself. But...he saved Steve? That can't be right. No, there's no way that's right. There must be a sinister reason behind why he saved her friend.
"Steve you can't be serious. He didn't try to hurt you at all? Does he...like you or something?" Alex questioned with a frustrated look on her face. She didn't understand.
Steve blinked and slowly turned his gaze away from her. "I don't know. I really, truly, don't know."
But I don't care. He showed me his true colors. He's not as evil as players think he is. He's conflicted and confused, his mind a storm of past conflicts and present emotions. He's just like any other player except he has much more of a story to tell and many secrets to spill.
