Hero's Bane

Chapter 18: His Pain

Edited 4/10/2022

"Ugh!" Steve struggled to breathe in the strong grasp, he dropped the iron sword by instinct and immediately clawed away at the strangulating force now clenching down on his tender neck and cutting off the oxygen supply. His watering eyes never left the bright ones beaming back, it almost hurt too much to look in them. It was like looking directly at the sun and he found himself blink a few times but he still couldn't look away from those mesmerizing bright lights.

"Ple-…se, st- stop." He choked in his plea, lungs now painfully shriveling up in his chest.

Herobrine narrowed his eyes more and made a low feral snarl at the human's pathetic attempt to beg for mercy, especially after planning to get rid of him. The reminder of what the miner had said had made the old hero even more infuriated and he pulled the human back before hurling the man several years into an old house.

Steve's body made a loud thud when he collided with the old wooden wall, he silently screamed in pain, not yet feeling any air return to his lungs. He thought that the impact had broken his spine, but the cracking noise sounded more of brittle wood snapping than bone. He tumbled to the ground and rolled a few feet before coming to rest on something. He feebly raised himself up onto all fours and forced himself to inhale some air, he looked upright to see Herobrine right in front; reaching down for him again. The miner tried to crawl away but a strong clamp on the back of his neck stopped that, the hand ripped him off the ground and held him up into the air. Steve grimaced from the pain and jerked away from the strong grip as best as he could, after pulling and tugging wildly he seemed to only hurt himself more but he just couldn't die like this so he persisted to hurt more for freedom.

Herobrine watched as the human pathetically thrashed about to get free from his powerful grasp and all efforts proved futile, the man's strength couldn't even compare to his. Did the human mind the pain he made for himself? Hero thought in slight curiosity. It mattered not though, the human was obviously desperate.

"I- don't want... to... fight!" Steve yelled between tugs. "Can't we- just tal-"

Herobrine had cut him off by spinning back towards the lighted shelter and effortlessly tossing the human down where he had dropped the iron sword and the miner looked back with fright after landing roughly. Herobrine wasn't satisfied by strangling the miner no more, there were better ways to deal with him. He was going to make sure that the miner died by his blade, slowly at that. Letting the unskilled fighter wield a sword would be more better and more suited for his end, it'd been too easy otherwise.

Steve remained on his knees as the powerful being held out his hand, this scene almost seemed recognizable and his eyes widened.

Just as he feared of what was bout to happen; Herobrine's hand latched on to the handle of a materializing blade now forming, just as he did in one of the nightmares. Upon inspection it turned out to be a shining diamond blade with a barely visible red-colored aura lightly glowing around it, giving off those waves of sheer power like he had felt in the dream. His nightmare was coming to life before his eyes and he could already see the battle scene play out like it did in that nightmare, but this time it was shorter. Much shorter.

The miner glanced at his iron blade, it wasn't diamond like it was in the dream meaning that even if he fought; he'd lose real quickly. Diamond would cut right through and Steve knew now that fighting wasn't an option even though he never intended on fighting in the first place. He hesitantly took the lesser sword into hand after predicting that Herobrine was waiting for him to make the first move, at least he'd have a quick moment to think to himself. Steve soon had an idea; a crazy one that could get him killed, but there wasn't much more he could do other than to except fate as it is and die, but he wasn't planning to do that and that was for sure.

The human pushed himself up after taking arms and the first thing he did was bolt, moving as fast as his sore legs could carry him. Herobrine somewhat expected this even though he really wanted to battle, it was no surprise that the man would turn and run since he had no real weapon to fight with. Hero allowed the miner to get a five second head start, not that it would really help him at all. It was now clear that the mortal wasn't going to fight at all and that didn't make the immortal feel anything but more rage. So Steve was going to die like the coward he was then?

Running as fast as he could; Steve weaved through the streets in hopes of throwing Herobrine off, but somewhere deep in his gut feeling told him that he would be found in no time at all. It wasn't long after that thought did the ex-hero poked around the corner of the building that Steve was currently trying to get around, he should have expected the guy to teleport. Skidding to a stop, the miner turned tail and fled back out toward the street while looking for anywhere to run.

A dark green figure suddenly swiped it's decaying arms at him from the corner of his eye and Steve lunged away from it, a opportunistic zombie. He had almost forgotten the other monsters and this sounded an alert in his brain, there was more to worry about. He was running around with barely any light except for the moonlight and there were zombies, spiders, skeletons, Endermen, and creepers moving about in the settlement and so Steve quickly made a sprint out of the maze of buildings and back down into the hilly valley to where he could see just about anything out in the open and avoid being cornered or trapped.

It turned out to be a horrible idea. Steve nearly lost his footing several times running down the same hill from his quick pace, being sore from the attack had already created a tough hindrance to deal with. But the worst part about stumbling down the hillside was seeing the white-eyed man already standing at the bottom with a sword in hand, ready to execute him with that glowing weapon. The miner decided to change his route and ran across the side of the slope, keeping his head turned slightly to watch the ex-hero's movement. It was strange though, Herobrine just stayed there and watched him; likely allowing him run himself to complete exhaustion.

A four-legged green creature stood at the end of his peripheral vision and Steve automatically made a turn downhill, if he didn't fear Herobrine more then Creepers then they would be the next thing he feared the most. He turned his head back and noticed that the depressing looking mob was gone and was replaced with Herobrine charging at him, a gri on his face. Steve wanted so much to scream at that moment but he was having enough trouble still trying to breath through his aching throat, so he focused on escaping.

Steve felt himself fall forward and he landed face first onto a flat dirt mound, scrambling to stand he bumped right into something and fell backwards onto his rear-end. He rubbed his head and faced what he had ran into and there was Herobrine just standing there again with a twisted expression of abhorrence, his sword was raised up.

Reacting quickly, the miner rolled himself away from the powerful swing, he moved just quick enough to avoid the diamond digging into the ground beside his head. As soon as Steve evaded the attack he staggered forwards and made a mad dash from the demon, he got super lucky he thought. It wasn't seconds more that Steve could hear the sounds of footsteps thunder over his own, there had to be more than one person chasing him. In unwanted curiously, the miner tilted his head to the side to see not one Herobrine following him but three.

"This isn't possible!" He screamed aloud, running down another hill and over a patchy land with holes all over the place. Steve couldn't believe what was happening now, his mind raced to make any kind of choice that would be best for him but he couldn't think of anything but run and hope for miracles. Where was Notch when he needed him?

One of Herobrine's clones sped closer to Steve's right and another to his left, both wielding a bright blade ready to slash him at each side. One of them made a swing close to his head and the miner had ducked and barely avoided the attack. Steve swiftly jumped as the other made a slash at his heels.

'This is it, I'm going to die!' Steve felt tears in the corners of his eyes, and he closed them as the beings enclosed on him with their swords reared back and ready to strike at the same time. The miner suddenly felt himself falling down through a gap in land and he crashed onto a hard stone surface below, he appeared to have fell into a small gap before a cave tunnel entrance. He hastily picked himself up and wasted no time to run into the cave that was just in front of him until he heard a quiet thump from behind, he stopped and saw one Herobrine rise from a knee and continued his charge; running at him again with a predatory grin.

…

Steve was running blindly through the cave, even with his eyes adjusted to the dark he still couldn't see very well. A few times he had stumbled after missing steps and small drop-offs. He restlessly kept running though, going down and deeper into the cave with each step, quickly loosing the hope of ever seeing the light of day ever again.

He was getting so tired and hot that even sucking in small gasps of air was beginning to become difficult, the pain that his legs felt was excruciating. He didn't know how much longer he'd be able to keep this up before he either collapses from fatigue, gets picked off by a random mob along the path, or until Herobrine finally catches up to him, but he couldn't stop until one of those happened and it would be soon if he didn't find a way to break loose from Hero's pursuit, of course his options were limited.

Steve strained his eyes as a low glowing light grew from deep within the cavern, it lighted his path just enough and he could just tell that it was a lava pit ahead. Nearing the hole made the miner's jaw drop. It was bigger than he thought and would require a good jump to get to the other side, which was a block higher than the rest of the path to make his leap even more difficult.

As he got closer with Herobrine only feet away he could tell that the jump was nearly impossible for any human, but on the other side was the rest of the path that went into the cavern and possibly back out into the valley. Steve had to come up with a choice and quick as he got closer the huge pit; either stop and accept fate, or try and jump it and possibly fall into the lava and die. It didn't take long for the decision, Herobrine's steps were getting ever more closer and Steve knew that the hero would slowly hack him to pieces if he had stopped and surrendered.

Only feet away was the gaping hole and the miner pushed himself to sprint faster than he ever had before, encouragement came from the fact that this jump was for the life and death situation. Willing his legs to move even more, Steve took one deep breath and held it as his muscles ached and burned; then he leapt with all his might. The jump felt like forever as he passed over the excessively hot gap; he then had made it to the very edge and lunged with all of the strength his legs had left. The molten lava below made the air in his lungs go dry and heartbeat go into double-time. He roughly landed near the rim on the other end and crashed to the floor in his landing, he quickly rolled to his side to see the Hero making the same leap with the blade raised above his head for a deadly strike; the lava painted the man with a fearsome heated glow as if the man was flying right out of the Nether. Steve's eyes went wide with horror as the being came down with his sword ready to end it all.

Suddenly, that dreadful face of dark malice fell into an expression of shock. Steve had watched as the monster's 'effortless' jump become a simple mistake. Herobrine had misjudged the leap and flew right into the side of the pit's wall with a loud thud. The being's lower torso had smacked right into it roughly and his powerful sword flung right out of his hand and past the miner's head, dangerously coming close to impaling his face. Herobrine swiftly tired to grab the border but the stone was too smooth and there was nothing to grip, the powerful man then slipped right off and into the lava cavity; making a silent plunging sound into the fiery goop.

Steve continued to stare at the spot that the hero was just at but a loud and pained shriek quickly snapped him out of the fearful trance, his heart dropped. He promptly shook his head and then sat up, blinking in disbelief. Loud pained screams and hissing sounds filled his ears and he was instantly stunned by it. The cries sounded virtually human and that made Steve's heart wrench, he placed a hand on his chest and squeezed it from a loud bloodcurdling cries filling his ears. Just imagining the pain made his body ache and tense up, the idea of burning made him sweat even more than exhaustion did. The pain… it had to be so unbearable. Steve bravely crawled on hands and knees towards the deep lava pit and he cautiously peered over the edge, his eyes widened to see Herobrine alive and fighting to stay above the surface of the molten rock.

The Hero continued to wail and hiss from the liquid fire eating away at the flesh around his legs, he bobbed over to one of the pit's long walls and reached out to the stone and placed his hands up to find a any kind of holding; but the rock was seamless. Crying in pain and frustration, the being made slowly made his way to the other side to search that wall but to no avail.

Steve quickly backed away from the hole and scrambled to stand up. As he stood up and looked towards the rest of the path to run through; that's when he saw the demon's blade just lying there and still glowing radiantly. He cautiously approached the weapon and made a grab for it, curiosity beckoning him. He sheathed his own iron blade and then scanned the diamond one he now held, it was magnificent and he could feel pulses of energy flow from the hilt and course through his body in short waves. It made him feel instantly strong, it also made him feel rested and rejuvenated all at once. It was such a strange sword, his bodily soreness felt more numb all sudden. He held it close as he continued up the path, but another sharp cry made him stop in his tracks. His consciousness was eating him from the inside out.

Herobrine is trapped. So now what?

He walked back down and carefully looked over the edge again and this time some of the skin on the hero's hands and arms were burning away leaving deep dark burn marks. That burning flesh smell hit him quick and then he remembered that vision of Herobrine and Lionel again, it made feel sick to his stomach. Steve squinted to get a better look and noticed that where the flesh burned and singed it also gradually regenerated at a slow rate. "What?" Steve blinked. He moved back from the border then contemplated on what to do. Herobrine definitely wasn't human, there was no doubt about that.

Herobrine was finally incapacitated, at a complete standstill, Steve realized.

The Hero was now trapped and all the miner would have to do is gather a few stone blocks and seal the monster in the pit, there, no more haunting the innocent. However; the idea made him feel sick in the stomach and head, yet it was a way that actually would stop Herobrine and he'd instantly fulfill his promise to stop the monster.

It was a cruel alternative to stop Herobrine, but it was a possible way literally handed to him, that was his whole reason of coming right? He remembered how everyone back at the village feared the fiend and they probably wanted him dead or sealed away, but Steve couldn't force himself to do that. No, not after learning more about Herobrine. "I can't." He said quietly to himself, contemplating on throwing away a grand opportunity no one else would miss out on and possibly endangering himself by leaving and the guy finding a way out of the pit. … Even if the old Hero had just tried to kill him, this method of burying him in constant flames was just wrong. Immoral, despite how vile the unforgivable guy was being.

"Maybe I should just leave?" He contemplated it too with a loud huff, he even took a few steps back up into the cavern but those painful screams scraped at his moral ethics and values before he could even make it past the fourth step. Walking away would be almost like sealing Hero away with stone blocks, he's still there stuck and burning… suffering. It was torture and suffering that caused the Herobrine problem to begin with, so Nigel claims. 'Maybe I should …help him?' He thought to himself, he reconsidered his other options but he knew that he wasn't cruel. Herobrine may of killed many and placed a never-ending fear over so many others, but Steve just couldn't bear the idea of letting him suffer, even if it was for his crimes or not.

The idea of helping him though? It was a tough call and it might be the decision that comes back to haunt him later and-. … "Enough already!" He screamed at himself as he planted his hands at the side of his head and squeezed his eyes shut briefly. The cries of pain were getting louder and Steve just couldn't take it anymore. He looked around for anything that could help Herobrine escape the lava, the only thing he found though was a block of stone above his head. It wasn't much but at least Herobrine wouldn't suffer if he wasn't swimming around in the lava.

Steve gazed at the sword, it was made of diamond and probably the only thing strong enough to cut through stone, it was the only thing he had on him that could cut the stone effectively. He looked back up to see the chunk of rock just hanging from the ceiling, all he had to do was break it off, place it down in the pit and then Herobrine could use it to escape the molten lava. He raised the blade over his head then began smacking away at the block with all his might, it wasn't easy and it was taking many strikes. As a miner it seemed so unprofessional to mine with a sword, that didn't matter anymore though; it was made of diamond for Notch's sake. The sword seemed to fuel his strength with each strike, he swung the blade and batted away at the block faster as Herobrine gasped aloud and wailed in agony.

"Come- on!" He angrily yelled at the stone before taking one more powerful wallop at it, his pure determination to break the darn thing finally paid off when the chunk cracked and fell from the ceiling as a small form of it's original size. Steve weakly smiled from the task he had just completed, he was successful so far but now it was time for the hard part. He scooped up the small cube before getting onto his knees and crawl over to the rim of the pit again. He saw that Herobrine was on the opposite end still trying to desperately grasp onto the wall with no accomplishment, just the idea of Herobrine being desperate seemed to be surreal. Couldn't he just teleport? Steve wondered, but that seemed unlikely at the moment; even Herobrine apparently had limitations. The immortal shortly gave in and floated over to the corner where he picked himself up just a little out of the lava by wedging himself into the crease of stone.

Herobrine moved upwards a tiny bit with his elbows on the sides of the walls, giving himself minor support. He still howled out from the burning sensation nipping at his heels and he twitched his head violently while the burn marks on his hands and knees healed at an insufferable rate. He soon felt one of his arms slip and he plunged right back into the intense heat. He shot out from the fire pool with a pained scream and looked around for anything that could help him escape, he made a glance upwards to see the human at the end of the pit staring back at him while holding his blade.

Steve swallowed his breath as Herobrine stared at him, the stare didn't last long as the lava gnawed at the hero and made him slosh around to escape the pain. The miner quickly reacted and carefully moved to lay flat on his stomach, he then took the block in hand and reached downwards to the wall below him. The heat from the lava made his face burn and he found himself sweating profusely, even his eyes were drying from the heat wave. Steve inched forward ever so slightly, he pried his eyes and daringly reached down.

What- what was that human doing? Hero slowly bobbled into the miner's direction, hissing from the mix of fire and pain. He watched as Steve precariously slide himself off of the edge little by little with a block of stone in his hand.

"Whoa!" Steve nearly felt himself slip a little too much and froze in place until he was sure he wasn't going to slide anymore. With himself now closer to the lava than he wanted to be; he took the cube and threw it against the stone just above the dreadful inferno and it clung to the wall like he hoped it would. With his goal accomplished he used his remaining strength to inch back up and move upwards onto the lip of the gap. He then watched as the Hero sloshed through the liquid fire towards the now small safe ledge hanging above the lava.

Herobrine made his way over to the stone quickly and clenched onto the edges of the slab with burnt arms before hauling his body and the remainder of his feet onto the surface.

Steve's eyes widened after seeing Herobrine's blackened flesh. The hero's feet were unidentifiable as feet but the ends of the wounds had started to glow brightly with an intense light and Hero painfully moaned as muscle tissue and skin reformed over the singed parts of his limbs, the fabric of his pants and boots had also begun to do the same. Even the smaller burns on his chest and arms slowly faded, replacing the burns with flawless skin. Herobrine was healing from burns that would of easily killed a man, surely this guy was immortal. The startling sight Steve was witnessing had made him involuntarily gasp and Herobrine's head instantly snapped upright to the sound.

The miner gaped at those white eyes staring back at him, he quickly moved backwards and away from the border and out of the ex-hero's sight. "What did I just do?" He says to himself quietly Steve continued to step backwards away from the pitfall, sword raised up in case the being decided to hop up and strike. He was struck with fear and Herobrine wasn't even there in front of him giving it to him. The fear came from the thought that he had just saved the monster he had been trying to stop this entire time, his one perfect chance to rid the world of the living curse and he chose to save it out of good morality?

Steve quickly turned around and shot deeper into the cave, running as fast as his legs could possibly carry him.

Steve couldn't believe himself. He had probably just made the biggest mistake he had ever made in his entire life, even more of a mistake than coming into this land. Herobrine will surely escape now and that would mean that the mighty being could take his revenge out on the miner at any given time, there was no place safe anymore, if there was any to begin with that is. He held the pulsing diamond blade secure in his hand and kept his eyes wide open, ready for any surprises by the roaming monsters. His mind spun with the chaos of questions. He was second guessing his decision, regretting his travel with Nigel, regretting ever making the choice to come into the land, he also wondered if Hero would remain stuck or climb out…

…

One thought in his mind though had left him speechless, even baffled. It was Herobrine's eyes when he looked up at Steve. Those eyes that were usually glaring with intensity; were replaced with rather passive ones. They weren't glowing with the same ferocity like they were earlier, in fact they appeared to be calm and filled with composure? This impression confused Steve but he chose that it was best to ignore it, he had to get back to Nigel quick and just pray that the old man was still safe and okay.