Chapter 7: Herobrine is not real

Alex

"We need a plan," I said. Steve and I were out mining, because, according to Rashain, this was how we earn our keep. Of course, Panther elbowed his brother at this and told us that as long as we don't betray them and join the COTC, we could stay. Of course, we went mining, just to be safe.

"For what?" Steve asked.

"For finding Herobrine, duh." A zombie moaned and hobbled out of a small alcove. In one fluid motion, I stuck my pickaxe in its chest and pulled it out. The zombie disappeared in a poof of white smoke.

"Right," Steve mined out a vein of iron ore. "So what is our plan?"

"I don't know, that's why I was asking you!" I rolled my eyes and placed another torch to light the tunnel.

"Well, since Herobrine seems very determined to kill me, I'm sure if I stood in broad daylight long enough, he'd land on top of me." A creeper hissed and began heading toward us. It began flashing white, threatening to explode, and I threw up a shield. The explosion knocked me off my feet, and I grunted in pain. Steve helped me to my feet.

"True," I said with a laugh, "but on the off chance that this sorry excuse for a plan backfires, we need a real plan."

Steve laughed at my sarcasm. "Yeah, then I got nothing." A glimmer of gold ore caught his eye, and he went to work on it. His iron pickaxe shattered when he broke the second block. "Oops. I didn't realize it was that damaged."

I laughed. "We should head back up anyways. We got enough stuff." I glanced at the two stacks of iron ore in my inventory.

He nodded, and we followed our trail of torches back up to the surface. The sun was beginning to set, casting an orange glow on the land. We needed to head back anyway. Tomorrow we could head back down into the mines and continue figuring out how to take down Herobrine. Of course, an unexpected surprise greeted us at the dragon statue.

As we walked through the village, we saw Rashain and Panther arguing with a woman. She had bleached white hair, sky blue eyes, a pink crop top and skirt, and flip flops.

"Morbid, like, saw you in my base, don't lie to me!" The woman snapped.

"I never touched the pickaxe, Emily!" Panther yelled.

"Hey! What's going on?" Steve asked as we walked up. The woman wrinkled her nose as she examined us.

"Who, like, are you?"

"I'm Steve, and this is Alex."

The woman glared at us. "Well, could you, like, leave? We're, like, having a conversation."

"Sorry, guys. This is our sister, Catlover321." Panther said with a sigh.

"Queen Catlover," Catlover corrected, "of the Clan of the Creeper."

Rashain rolled his eyes. "Just call her Catlover."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes over dramatically. "Well, whatever. I still, like, want my pickaxe back Panther. If I don't get it back tomorrow, I'm grieving your statue, stealing your stuff, and taking you all prisoner."

Catlover321 left the game

"Well. She seems fun," I said sarcastically.

"Why does she think I was in her base?" Panther muttered. He rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Rashain laughed nervously. "You know how MorbidCartoon always gets the two of us confused?"

Panther whirled around to face his brother. "What did you do!?"

Rashain rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I wanted to mine some obsidian, and Catlover's pickaxe has a higher efficiency enchantment than mine, so I temporarily borrowed it. Well, that was also the day Herobrine killed me and yoinked my stuff."

Panther's jaw went slack. "You. Lost. Our. Sister's. Pickaxe!?"

"Wait," I looked at Rashain. "Herobrine killed you?"

"You believe me?" His face lit up.

"You know who Herobrine is?" Steve and I exchanged glances.

"Who doesn't?" Rashain laughed. "Any Minecrafter worth their salt knows who he is. He's some mythical white-eyed entity that… well, no one knows. He watches players from afar, takes the leaves off of trees, digs two-by-two tunnels, and does other creepy things. Some think he's Notch's brother, or a ghost, or a glitch in the game, exedra exedra. Or, if you're Panther, you think he's a myth." Rashain pointed a thumb at him.

"He is," Panther said. "He's just the result of a weird photo and everyone blaming perfectly normal Minecraft glitches on it."

"When was this photo taken?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know. He's been around about as long as Minecraft has," Panther said with a shrug.

"Ian! Travis! Emily! It's time for dinner! Log off!" A woman shouted.

"Got to go. See ya tomorrow!"

BlackPanther76 left the game

Rashain left the game

"Herobrine's been around a lot longer that we thought," Steve said.

"No kidding. There's a lot about him that Notch has neglected to tell us."

Steve nodded. "I think we should start questioning him until we actually get told something a little more substantial than, 'go kill him'."

Herobrine

The sun disappeared behind the horizon, and mobs began to spawn. I trekked through a forest, my eyes illuminating my surroundings. Sitting in a cave with Dreadlord and Nightmare eating cookies wasn't getting Steve and Alex killed fast enough. I needed real results, and those could only be achieved if I was alone. Besides, chocolate was starting to make me sick.

A groan of a zombie came from behind me. It was desperate to do the one thing it was created to do: kill players. I whirled around, and one look at my eyes, it decided to find prey elsewhere. I had a weird way with mobs. Some players have even taken to calling me the King of Mobs. Has a nice ring to it. Herobrine, King of the Mobs.

The forest met plains, and the trees ended. In this field, a player in a Steve skin was building a hideous oak shack. At first, I thought it was Steven, but white words floated above their head reading Rainbowpanda00054. The telltale sign of a player: a dumb name that floated above their head. Well, it wasn't Steven but tormenting players is almost as fun as tormenting him.

I stared at the player for awhile, until they noticed. When I wasn't feeling very sadistic, sometimes just staring at them is enough. But right now, I wanted to do more. The player stared back at me for a second before retreating into their house. Idiot. That place will be ashes by the time I'm done.

I teleported to the window of the house and stayed there just long enough for them to get a glimpse of me from the corner of their screen. The player came out of the house, in leather armor and a gold hemet most likely obtained from a slain mob. This moron of a human wanted to face me in that? Whatever. Their funeral.

I suddenly teleported in front of the player, my white eyes staring straight into their blue ones. The player yelped in surprise and began swinging their stone sword around erratically. They weren't even hitting me. I snatched the sword, snapped it in half, and tossed it aside. The player looked at me, then the sword, then back at me.

"I'm gonna kill you, Herobrine!" The player cried. They began to try and punch me with their bare fist. "Let this be the day Eloise Higgins puts you do—"

I pulled out my own sword and shoved it through the player's chest. They instantly died, vanishing in a poof of white smoke. They must have not had a bed, because they didn't respawn in their crappy shed of a house.

That really wasn't worth the effort. The player wasn't even scared of me. While not unheard of, it is rather uncommon. I sneered at the spot the player once stood. That wasn't even that satisfying. I burned the player's pathetic excuse for an inventory, then watched their house go up in flames. The player must have had a dog, because I heard it burn to death. That was at least a little satisfying.

As I watched the house burn, I ran my fingers along one of the scars that criss-crossed my chest. I will never forgive the players for what they did to me. They will fear me as I once feared them.

Steve

Once Rashain and Panther left, Alex and I had a bit of time on our hands. So, naturally, we decided to question Notch. We sat on Alex's bed as the wristband rang.

"Did you kill him?" Notch asked as soon as he picked up.

"You know, most people would pick up with a 'hello'," Alex retorted. "And no, we haven't."

"Oh. Then what's this about?"

"How long has Herobrine been around?" I asked.

"Awhile. Why?"

"Panther says he's been around as long as Minecraft has," I said.

"Did you create him? Like you did St— us?" Alex blurted.

"What? No. If I did, I would have already deleted him by now. He's a Glitch, remember?"

"You said a while ago that he was 'technically' a Glitch." Alex smirked and crossed her arms.

There was a long pause on the other end. I think he swore under his breath. "I gotta go. I think someone's calling me." He hung up.

Alex sighed, "why doesn't he ever just tell us what's going on?"

I shrugged. "Maybe it's not our business."

"I think it is our business! After all, we're the ones putting our lives on the lines as we do Notch's dirty work! We should know what he knows about Herobrine. It could help us kill him."

I wasn't so sure. Notch must have a reason for keeping us in the dark.

Right?"

Ian/BlackPanther76

I dipped my Chick-fil-A nugget in barbecue sauce and popped it in my mouth. It was still a little too hot to do that, so my tongue played Hot Potato for a minute while it cooled in my mouth. Travis picked at his chicken unceremoniously. Emily texted one of her many, many friends, paying no attention to her no longer warm nuggets.

"Travis? You ok?"

"Yeah. Just tired, and a little stressed about the game tomorrow."

Travis had an important basketball game tomorrow, and his coach wanted him in a starter position. I had no clue what that meant exactly, as my knowledge of basketball was limited to two things: the name of the school team (the Alligators), and Travis played it.

"I'll be there, if it makes you feel any better," I offered. Travis nodded and smiled, but he was still pale with worry. "Emily, you'll be there too, right?" I gave her a look.

"No. Me and the girls are gonna, like, be at the mall. Hopefully we can get Lexie a boyfriend by, like, the end of tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes. She was no help whatsoever. "Is that who you're texting?"

"No, I'm, texting Eloise. Apparently Herobrine, like, just killed her, burned down her house, and killed her dog." She sighed and continued texting. "What is with everyone, like, getting killed by Herobrine?"

"Herobrine?" Travis glanced at me. "Ian, we may actually have a legit problem. Herobrine is in our world."

"Don't tell me you actually believe in that myth. It's a hoax. Eloise probably tried to put lava in a cauldron, misclicked, and blamed the resulting fire on him."

"Maybe. But what if she isn't lying? I mean, despite you not believing me, Herobrine did kill me. It's possible that he killed Eloise, too."

"Herobrine cant be in our world. He, like, doesn't exist."

"Exactly!" I said.

Travis sighed and shook his head. "You're all gonna be so sorry when Herobrine kills us all and deletes our world."