Hero's Bane

Chapter 14: Vengeance Doth He Have

Edited 4/10/2022

"Ughhh…" Steve felt his head swaying back and forth and it ached very badly to his distress. Low muffled shouts began to fill his ears, shouts of many people- a lot of people actually and they sounded really angry. Confused he partially opened his eyes and everything around him was tinted a reddish-orange color, it was also very blurry. Too blurry and so he strained his eyes to see better but he just could not.

He could make out some of the hazy figures moving around in his vision, the shapes of humans were then discernible. Several of them raised fists up and screamed louder but for some reason Steve just could not understand what any of them were saying. It was loud but he heard no words, just muffled voices filling his aching head. They also appeared to be standing below him and looking up at him with disgusted morphed faces. At the same time he realized that his arms and legs felt as though they weighed a ton and were numb to the bone. He wondered how he was positioned upright and looked down at his chest to see that he had been strung up by thick chains to a solid cold surface, a tall pillar of stone.

One of the blurred figures then pulled their arm back and launched a small projectile at him and a sharp pain pelted him on the side of the head and he grimaced from the assault, he could feel the pain radiate from the struck spot but it didn't last. Another in the crowd did the exact same thing and this time one him on the cheek, again it hurt but not for too long. It felt like rocks were being thrown at him.

Another person in the crowd suddenly ran up to him and punched him right in the gut. Steve coughed and tried to speak, trying to tell them to stop but no words came out. He could only hear himself groan and mutter something completely indistinguishable, as if he had forgotten how to talk. A sudden sharp stinging sensation slipped right into his side and he screamed as loud as he could from the acute pain, he felt as though he had been stabbed. Steve tried to squirm out of the chains; only managing to turn his head to the side but unable to escape, he couldn't move a single muscle from the lower neckline down.

'Stop!' He could only hear it come from his mind, not out of his mouth as a warm fluid seeped from the newly created wound. The tenderness remained for a short while but eventually faded only to have another piercing pain jabbed right through his chest, this pain was even more intense and he could feel very hot tears flow down his cheeks along with the wound's fresh blood seeping through the fabric of his shirt. 'Stop, please?!' He mentally begged.

The pierced spots stopped hurting, but that was until they were replaced with others in various places. He was in so much pain and agony. So much suffering. It's like his body would quickly heal up the wounds just to only be replaced with other cuts and stabbings. Was that even possible?

He swung his head around wildly but it never helped him escape this pedestal of misery, it also did little to defect more stones now flying at him. He closed his eyes tight and wished for everything to just stop, to go away.

"Heerrroohhh!"

Finally, the sounds of a normal human could be heard. He pried his eyes to see a silver figure standing in the front the vague scarlet crowd, pushing away the people that had objects in their hands. "Geth awuuay foromh hiiihm!" He forcibly pushed at a body then turned his attention back to Steve. "Heehhhroooohhh!" The man called out. It wasn't clear as to what he was saying but it did stop some of the attackers and it was more comprehensible than the humans loudly grousing in the mass.

"Itssst Ohkkkay!" The voice was so muffled and yet still loud.

'What?!' Steve mentally called out to the silver plated man, turning his head slightly to see if he could hear better.

"It's okay! Just don't listen to them, you are not a monster!"

The figure slowly cleared up in his line of vision and stood pristinely clear amongst the fuzzy crowd of blurry people. The man had short trimmed brown hair, light blue eyes, and a goatee and he looked oddly like him. He also wore a set of adorned iron armor, like a knight but with an oddly familiar circular golden symbol on the center of the chestplate.

'Who are you?' Steve wanted to ask, yet at the same time he felt so relieved and almost happy to see this man he didn't know and yet knew really well.

The man shoved away another blurred body and spoke clearly and loudly towards Steve. "I'm going to free you no matter what it takes! That I promise!" A few darker bodies in the crowd started to push him away from the other people and he shoved back as best as he could.

'What are you talking about? Why am I here? Just who are you?!'

"You never meant to hurt anybody and I will find a way to prove them that all of this is madness! They are blind, they don't know what happened that night! … Errr! Let me go!" He pulled himself away from one of the men once more before others tried to detain him; two of the armored men grabbed him by the arms and forced him away and further out of sight. "I know you didn't mean to take his life, their lives!" He sneered from his captors. "This punishment is going too far! You don't have to accept this judgment. It's not your fault, it's not-! You will be free!" He became but a blur disappearing behind more enraged people that came to spit at Steve.

'Wait? What?!' He silently screamed.

"No matter what it takes!" The mysterious man shouted once more before fading away. The human's numbers doubled quickly and more rocks from out of nowhere struck him again and again. Steve squinted his eyes to limit the chances of having a rock flying into them and his world felt like it was beginning to spin with each small hit to the head.

Why was there so many people? Why were they hurting him? He thought despite the nasty headache growing.

Then he noticed a pair of white eyes showing through the horde and remained motionless in the midst of the shaking fists. Those bright orbs watched him quietly for a minute before the figure they were attached to turned and walked away, getting lost in the sea of people.

'Herobrine?' Steve asked in sudden confusion.

…

Abrupt loud knocking noises flooded his ears and he snapped his eyes wide open after remembering last night's attempted break-in by that monster.

"Oh buggar." The old man smacked at the wooden cube in front of his window again, but this time his shook his hand after hitting it too hard. He heard a stiffened moan and he looked back to see the miner sitting up in the bed. "Morning friend, care to give an old chap a little assistance?"

The miner blinked a couple times and then yawned loudly, he felt sort of tired and again… confused. "Oh, sure." He stretched his arms and legs and noticed that he wasn't all that sore anymore, the potion must of done it's job and it was strange that he wasn't sore from the nightmare he had. Herobrine usually made sure of that, but this time he didn't, and he was there in the dream just watching the public stoning. Reasons still-, were unknown. Why was he being stoned? He had done nothing wrong. And that guy in the armor? Who was he? Why did they also look alike? And most importantly, why did he feel like he knew and fully trusted that guy like a close friend?

His neck was still hurting a bit but nowhere as near as bad as it did last night. The potion must of worked better than he expected. Steve moved the blankets off and pulled himself off of the warm mattress and made his way over to the blocked window, he grabbed the ends of the stuck wooden box and used his strength to shift it and caused it to pop off the wall. "Here ya go gramps."

"Why thank you good sir." Nigel tipped his head in appreciation with a smile. "I'm not as strapping as I used to be, and I fear I'm getting too old for this." He placed the now shrunken wooden block on the desk then looked out the window. "I see that you are moving around a lot better, do you feel as good as you seem?"

Steve nodded and smiled. "Yeah, I feel great actually. That nasty concoction did the trick, amazingly. My neck is a little sore but other than that and my grumbling stomach, I feel great." Though he felt good in the physical sense, his mentality didn't reflect the same. That dream he had was another bizarre vision from Herobrine and just thinking of what happened in it made his smile fade into a frown.

"Well that's wonderful, because we are heading out to the ancient fortress today; a beautiful grand castle with so many untold and undiscovered stories just waiting to come to light. I've been gathering materials up and I have your bags too. I haven't checked through them yet to see if you need anything else, so if you do then speak up now before we set off. I've been a tad busy this morning stocking up on potions, food, supplies, and my lucky compass, we should be clear to leave whenever you are ready."

Steve suddenly thought of his lucky sword when he heard the word 'lucky'. He quickly glanced down at his waist and noticed his belt scabbard was gone. "Have you seen my swords?" He turned and glanced around the room.

"You mean the stone blade and iron blade?"

"Yes."

"It's under the bed with your bags. I didn't think of it being wise to leave sharp objects in the bed, especially since you've been tossing and turning last night. I didn't sleep well and you were out a lot sooner then me, but I woke up to see you moving around like you were getting hurt. 'He' didn't attack you last night did he?" Nigel asked with faded grin.

Steve bent down to grab the scabbard but remained silent on the subject, he really didn't want to talk about it. He latched the swords around his waist then pulled over his bags. "No, he didn't. But something weird was going on and I don't know what, I only know that he was there and so was someone else-. I don't want to talk about it, at least not now."

"Oh, sorry for the spark of trepidation." He apologized and stepped back. "I just get too inquisitive sometimes and I can't help but ask questions. Just ignore me when that happens, hopefully it won't happen too much." Nigel lightly patted at his chest after pulling on a light brown long coat. "I still have many of inquires I wish to solve from your mysterious similarities with Hero, but… only when you don't mind. I can be a nuisance at times." He lightly chuckled as he dug through the chest and pulled out an old lantern and a hiker's bag. "I've already packed, well for the day that was supposed to be two days ago. But as your sudden appearance and condition, I've been holding it off due to that."

Steve rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, feeling a bit of a liability or burden for delaying the man's extensive research that only happened like once a year if he remembered correctly. He felt as though he should make it up to the nice old gentlemen. "Well, don't worry. With me around I'll defend you as best as I can, I promise that. Still not used to stronger mobs but I guess we'll see how we fair right?" Steve normally would feel troubled at the idea of facing those powerful mobs but he was getting closer to the one place that could stop the nightmares and possibly reveal the truth. It had to be worth the fight.

"With that all said, I say lets go!" Nigel quickly adjusted the coat over his arms and buttoned it before pulling the bag over his shoulders. "Daylight's a wasting! Oh and here." He grabbed a dark blue cloth from his desk held out the ancient robe to Steve and the miner eyed him suspiciously. "What's wrong?"

"I- don't know?" He hesitantly took the nicely woven fabric. "It feels weird to have to wear the same cloak that… I guess Herobrine had?" … He stared at it and almost wondered if the powerful being wore it at one point but he shook off the thought and draped it over his shoulders. It was going to be cold and it was his only means of warmth for the time being. "Wouldn't you rather keep it Nigel? I mean- I know how much you like it and want to examine it more."

The old man chuckled softly. "You keep it. It is a nice fabric, a rare one at that." He added. "But it was given to you so it's yours."

Now Steve felt really uncomfortable despite the fabric being nice and soft. The idea of Herobrine giving him such a nice 'gift' was awkward to say the least. Regardless of the awkward feeling he had with the thick cloth, the miner pulled the robe over his frame.

"Alright then."

"And we're off!" Said the old man with a lot of anticipation. The explorer marched out of the door and took a deep breath. "Today is a great day for adventure. … Well excluding the possible setbacks, traps, and the unknown of course."

Steve could tell that Nigel was excited, maybe too excited for a dangerous expedition but the miner was getting a free-ticket to the fortress where he hopes to find answers. He gathered his bags and took one last look inside of the small buried cabin before closing the door behind him, it could be a long time before he finds another cozy place to rest.

They set off in the direction of the rising sun, it nicely made the snow glisten and sparkle. Steve could see more clouds coming in but at least the men could enjoy a clear sky for a short while. The miner kept scanning his environment as they walked, praying that the old Hero wasn't following but he knew deep in his mind that he was.

"He's following us." Steve quietly said as they walked through the snow. "I know it."

Nigel stopped and made a few glances around the cedar forest but caught back up to Steve when he couldn't find Herobrine. "Now what makes you say that? I have not seen hide nor hair of him yet."

"Ever since I came to this valley, he's always been nearby. Sometimes closer than I would have liked. I know that he follows me because I see him everywhere and it can't be illusions, I get this strange feeling of being watched and that is when I'm sure that he's nearby."

"Hmmmmhhh, good senses. I wish I had the same. Being old really limits them."

"I wish I were that lucky. I sense him all of the time and even now… I'm getting that feeling of being watched. Ignorance would have been bliss."

"Ignorance wouldn't forewarn you about the peril that being could create, at least you know what to expect of him right?"

"I guess you're right." Steve said blankly, still seeing those eyes staring in the fluid crowd in his mind.

The two walked in silence for awhile but Nigel couldn't help but take the opportunity to see what the miner knew of Herobrine and his experiences.

"So Steven, I had been wondering since last night and you didn't get to finish my question if you recall? It won't bother you if I inquire again will it?"

Steve looked in Nigel's direction to see a big smile on the old guy's face. Now he just had to answer the man and he sighed. "Okay. What was it about again?"

"It was about the history of Herobrine that you were told of, I just know that it's wrong. No offense, it's just that whoever told you is wrong."

"It was an old bartender down at the village outside of this land. The one that is halfway covered by a cliff where everybody lives in the dark?"

"Hmmmm, sounds familiar?" The old man says as he tapped his chin with a finger while looking up and away with an inquisitive expression. "Carry on."

"Okay, it starts out with Herobrine traveling the lands until he comes across a civilization struggling to survive and he decided to help them, I think. But anyways to make the long story short- He-" Steve simply shrugged. "I guess grew bored of humans and their petty lives and decided to kill the Sovereign's son for a little enterta-"

"Nope, that is the first part wrong here." Nigel interrupted. "Herobrine had solemnly sworn to protect the people of the land. I'm sure he found things to be mundane, but I don't believe him starting a little ruckus like a renegade. Go on- continue?"

"Alright." Steve cleared his throat and rolled his eyes, still in a disagreement with the older guy. "So he killed the boy and the people around him had planned to stop him but he turned and killed them before they could do anything to punish him and so he cast their bodies into the Nether."

"That couldn't have happened." Nigel countered, but kept his pace even with the younger man.

"The sovereign and his people then called for Notch to permanently bound him and forever silence him and so they tried to kill him but couldn't so- they dumped him into lava and killed him. I think."

"Part of that is correct but not about killing him, I'm sure you've learned of that by now."

"Yeah, he tossed me around then nearly choked me to death. He's not dead as far as I know. But anyways-… Then his soul came back to forever haunt the people and he pretty much killed most of the people in this land and scared the rest out and now he torments them as punishment."

The adventurer shook his head. "All wrong! I've heard this version of the story too many times, it's preposterous! I've even seen books published on the same story and it sickens me. Hero was nothing like that from the information that I've gathered, that is why I know the story had changed over time. It's human's fears and misunderstandings that had morphed it from the truth. Then again, the poor chap has soiled his own reputation by his retribution."

Steve raised a brow. "But how would you know what really happened?"

"I, my dear friend-." He placed a hand over his heart to show his honesty. "Have found transcripts of his trials and even his court proceedings, and I have spent the last two years studying them and connecting them to the eyewitness testimonies. I have even spent a lot of time researching Herobrine himself. There are lots of books written about him and the only ones I've read were from that fortress, ones that aren't in the modern text. Well, most of them are about his crime, there are however, a few left about his days before the contravention when he was a real Hero." The old man's hype died down and he removed his hand from his chest. "I know what happened to Herobrine and it doesn't surprise me that he's doing what he does."

"But what he does is wrong!" Steve added.

"Yes, it's not the path he should of taken but it can't be changed now."

"He's a monster." The miner said lowly.

"To you maybe, but I see him more differently and perhaps you will after I tell you how he plunged into madness."

"Would it matter if you told me? He's still out there killing, hurting, torturing."

"Maybe so. Of course you didn't accidentally kill your ruler's only child and was harshly punished and wrongfully at that."

"No. I didn't." The miner wanted to believe that the innocent young child he knew as Conner had died in an accident but he was having trouble in doing so. That dream though? No- it couldn't prove anything but Conner did seem to be friends with Herobrine. "I don't see how the child getting killed by Herobrine in public eyes was an accident, unless he couldn't control himself or something like that but I doubt it."

"Well, whether you believe or not I do believe that it was. After being convicted for such a crime he had been incarcerated or jailed for a little while, but on his own accord. He willingly let the people take him to the dungeons because he felt as though the murder was on his shoulders and he awaited for proper judgment."

"No, I just can't imagine him doing that." Steve shook his head in disbelief.

"That is because you've only see him and the vengeance he unleashes upon all, a maddened, and murderous version of his former self. If you could decipher the history that I did or see it in the way that did then you'd know. When the remaining peoples left this land they made sure to spread the word of his malevolent actions and power. Thus, making him a figure of evil and those old ghost stories to spook children into staying in the house at night."

"My parents used to use stories like that on me and my siblings all of the time, especially dad. He really liked to give us a good scare. I grew up believing those old tales of the evil with glowing eyes for a while. But then it never occurred to me that any of it was real once I grew older."

"Well getting back to the history lesson here-. So whilst they put his trail together and mourn over the boy's death, the Sovereign had gathered the fortress's strongest shamans to put a curse upon his body so that he could not use his powers or strength to fight back; nor the language of gods to summon forces if he was to become enraged during his proceedings. It was also a permanent form of justice, more as retribution on the Sovereign's behalf. The leader was really torn about losing his son, especially since his wife had died a few years before then, the tragic loss of his wife then son had made the leader a broken man. So he amplified the punishment out of great anger and sorrow. Betrayal is what mostly provoked this punishment, he had put so much faith, trust, and hopes on Herobrine and to have it all broken at once? It definitely made a warm-hearted ruler grow cold and bitter."

Nigel noticed the Steve's pace was slowing so he slowed his own movements to match the miner's, the guy had to be thinking on this.

"Herobrine probably didn't expect that as a form of punishment and no one knows for sure if he accepted it because he could no longer speak or form words to know if he did or not. He also couldn't move, so there was no game of charades to depict it either. Once he had become completely powerless, some of the fortress's people that had come to seriously hate the higher being had asked for their own methods of punishment and by taking these ideas to the Sovereign; he obliged and held several ceremonial public stonings so that the people could get out their word and own form of retributions."

"Public stoning?" Steve's eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks after remembering his dream.

Nigel walked a few more steps out before stopping and facing the miner. "Yes, I've not only read several books on the topic but I've also seen a few partially burnt paintings as well. They've really come to hate him so much if that they had even made it into an art, it's sad to be honest. It's even sadder that there was only one though who had never left his side and defended the old hero's case, he was Herobrine's only supposed friend at the time. He was also labeled a traitor during his time, despite being one of the Sovereign's royal and most trusted guards. He was stripped of his title for defending this so called 'monster' before the court and for appearing at the stonings; when he was ordered not to and 'intervening' the public's 'right' to get their words out." Nigel watched as Steve just stood there staring at his feet in the snow. "Is there something wrong?"

Steve forced himself to blink, he almost couldn't believe it. He didn't tell his dream to Nigel, but the old man pretty much described it.

"Steve? Hello? You still there?"

"Yeah, just… thinking." He muttered under his breath.

"Um, alright then. Herobrine was tortured at these public events and the guards did nothing as the people got more violent towards him, feeling that he had fallen from grace and deserved a fate worse than death. Eventually, he lost his chances at the court and was sentenced to death. However- he could not die, this posed a big problem for many of the people that wanted to see real justice done. They tried to stab him, burn him, suffocate him, and starve him- to death but his powerful blood prevented that and healed all wounds he ever got would just seal up all on their own shortly after being made. Imagine that? Being hurt so many times and never finding death? It would be a constant wave of suffering, never resting and never ending. This is what I believe created his hate for humanity, because humans put all of this suffering down on him, over and over and he just went mad from the torment."

…"That's-…" The miner paused and winced. It was if he could suddenly feel all of the pain he had experienced last night, just a duller form of it.

The old man's tone lowered. "After finding no way to dispose of him and his now tainting presence; the shamans had summoned powers from a dark and merciless realm to take away their living symbol of betrayal and wickedness and had then imprisoned Hero in that solitary place forever. Or so they thought."

The miner only stood there in the snow and blinked.

"Herobrine was left with nothing but Hate and Vengeance since. That is why is doing all of this to humans, because he has felt so much pain and suffering and wishes to make all mortals undergo the same pain, anguish and misery. That is his form of retribution."