Hero's Bane
Chapter 27: Yet You Are Daring
Edited 4/16/2022
"Stay back." Was all the sentinel said before him while throwing an arm out to discourage the miner from moving. "I'll handle these figments alone."
Steve watched in apprehension as the Herobrine clones closed in on the silver armored knight, he wanted to close his eyes and make the 'abominations' as Lionel had called them; disappear. Of course that wasn't going to happen, they were too strong. He kept his eyes wide as several of the blades all positioned downwards, Lionel just stood there bravely before holding the sword with a steadfast stance, determination in his deep blue eyes.
"Errrhhhhaaaaahhhhh!" He moved the blade upwards and quickly deflected the first clone's strike before swinging the sword to his left, he then forced the opposing blade and it's wielder fly backwards from the pure force of the powerful swing. Another few came speeding down and he stepped away to the side as the blades impaled the ground and Lionel kicked one clone on the side of the head and made the monstrous hero stumble backwards and knock into the other, at the same instant he swiftly slashed at another copy and made that one jump back to avoid the sentinel's sword.
He dodged a few more coming at him and swung the weapon around like an extension of his arm, skillfully landing a few gashes on a couple of the Herobrine duplicates and making a few of them hop back to evade the swings.
"You would betray me?!" One Herobrine sneered as he dove right down at the silver-plated man, he pulled his weapon back and ready to cut across the human.
"I have betrayed no one." The sentinel said irately, taking the diamond sword up and blocking the forceful strike, not even moving once from the sheer power of the two blades colliding together with a cloud clang. He held onto it tightly as the sword in his hand began to shake, the copy only kept applying more and more strength.
The Hero clone only grit his teeth and pressed harder, feeling the man finally budge a little he pushed even more. The sentinel's arm was starting to give way, the man quickly jumped backwards and away; making the other sword slide off of his and onto the ground. He then whipped the weapon around and made a large gash across Herobrine's side, the warped being clutched to the new wound with a hiss before he flashed away. One copy moved out towards the man with another on the opposite end coming straight at him, both flew at each side of the valiant knight but Lionel was quick to bend down as the swords swung for his neck.
Lionel swiftly ducked and rolled away a few feet before spinning on his heels and lunging at the two who had struck their swords together after missing their target, he drove the razor edge right through the neck and shoulder of one hero clones and it shrieked loudly and stumbled away as black blood coated his throat and chest.
It wailed as it grabbed the wound but Lionel only watched with unsympathetic eyes before winging the blade right through the center of the being's chest. The clone immediately exploded into dust with loud cry, the other copy nearby only glared at the man with intensity beaming from it's eyes. More copies flew at the guy and he easily fought off each one, barely taking any hits and dealing out more damage.
Steve couldn't believe his eyes, he blinked a couple times but just couldn't believe that a normal human was so fast and powerful; actually fending off Herobrine. He only stared in awe as his possible ancestor moved around quickly and struck with precision and skill, not once getting slashed or knocked off balance. The fighting style was so incredible and he couldn't take his eyes away from the scene and the one man that controlled it.
One by one Lionel had smite and killed each copy with relative ease, using the sword to stab or graze the Herobrine copies that came too close; making the fiends burst into clouds of dust as he ended them. He deflected more swords and effortlessly countered each stroke with a swift low kick and then finishing off the staggering and falling copies with one jab through the heart. Each piercing was completely merciless.
"Wow." Steve whispered with astonishment, watching a blade or two held by the clones either fly or fall out of their hands and onto ground as they died. Despite the wretched things that tried to kill him, he almost felt sorry for them, watching them all get destroyed by his counterpart. He never expected Lionel to just ruthlessly kill his friend over and over again, even if it was a copy. But there was absolutely no pity in that man's eyes, not any at all; kill after kill.
"Be gone forever!" Lionel shouted as he took his weapon and speared it through a being's neck, making the hero gurgle with a pained expression before ripping it out and watching the copy fall to the floor and fade.
Steve suddenly found his eyes on a dark speeding figure moving up into the sky, the bright fill moon revealed the moving form flying upwards. It was Herobrine and he flew up very high before shooting downward at the ground at an incredible speed. The other remaining morphed copies on ground level kept Lionel's attention, a couple surrounded him and each of them took turns to lash out; distracting him and swinging their swords and even claws at him when they got close enough.
He managed to kill two with one decisive slash, by letting the copies nearby seem like they had upper hand; Lionel looked as if he had him right where they wanted them. Lionel took the sword and flipped the weapon back in his hand, having the blade now rest along his side, he then forcefully swung it up and along the neck of the copies, instantly decapitating the now clouds of dust; and in the process avoiding a swing from the other at his side.
"Lionel! Above!" The miner shouted from the sidelines and pointed, watching in horror as the sentinel struggled to push away the last distraction.
Herobrine moved his blade back and prepared to swing it as he fell towards the man.
Lionel snapped his head upright from Steve's cry and made a quick grab for the hero's arm close by and swung the figure into his place while he jumped away, barely avoiding the sharp edge that had just sliced through a clone instead of him. "Foolish!" Lionel narrowed his eyes as he shouted, before rebounding on his heels and moving the gleaming diamond forward in a thrust and plunging the sword right into the occupied immortal's stomach, making the sword fly out of his hands from the counterattack.
The copy threw his head back and screamed out a bloodcurdling cry from pain, he then painfully grasped at the blade and held it tightly despite the shearing of his own palm. A flood of black seeped down his cyan shirt and trickled onto the grass. The sentinel tried to pull the blade back out but the copy held it firmly and twitched a little with each slight movement of the sword. "Nice try mortal." It tilted it's head forward and managed a nasty and yet pained grin. "But it will take more than that to kill me."
The man wanted so much to say what was on his mind but he had one objective and had no time for talk, well- maybe a few words to the wretched fiend. "We'll see about that … abomination." Lionel made a grin of his own as pulled back on the sword but the grip was a little more stronger than he expected.
"Hmmm hhhhmmm, we'll see then traitor. You fell right into our trap." Herobrine hissed as he reached out a clawed hand and dug his sharp talon-like nails into the man's chest plate, Lionel found himself stuck in a solid grasp and sneered. The man tried to pull away but it wasn't doing him any good, the nails were in there pretty deep and he could almost feel a sharpness pricking at his skin from under the armor.
The sentinel tried to wedge himself out of the hold but he couldn't, he didn't expect the copies to be that strong… unless the human dreamt them to be as strong as the real deal, but not even the miner knew of Herobrine's true power. Lionel growled and brought his empty hand to cling onto the hooked claws but a sudden clawed hand grasped onto his free wrist and pulled it back with a forceful jerk, the guard grimaced with his arm being twisted with a sharp sting sensation now piercing into the back of his hand.
"He said 'our' trap. Have you forgotten about that? Have you forgotten me and that cut you made across my side? Big mistake."
Lionel found himself looking down to see the gash near the being's stomach was nearly gone with a sliver of glow along the edges, just a large black splotch remained.
"Heh, who's foolish now?"
"This can't be happening." The miner shook his head before he started after the two holding Lionel in their clutches, it was a well thought-out maneuver to capture the knight and kill him while he couldn't move the enchanting weapon around. Steve picked up his pace and pushed his legs to move faster than he ever could, they burned from the strenuous effort but he couldn't let them kill his savior.
A wicked voice came from his side, a toothy smirk entered Lionel's peripheral vision and he grew furious, fuming even. He was held in place by two disgraceful Herobrine copies, one clutched onto the sword and the other his hand. The man really didn't want to have to throw off his little act and use his abilities but it seemed that it was going to come down to it. If these copies were as strong as he thought then it was time to get serious, his pride was at stake. Lionel smirked himself and the ground started to shift and rumble underneath his and the clones feet, the two copies lost their own smiles and were replaced with confused expressions.
"What are you doing?" The one impaled snarled, tightening his grip on the sword, preparing for anything.
"This- … is my realm." He quietly whispered to the copies with a devious smirk. "Here, no matter how strong you are, I will always be stronger."
"Forget that! Don't listen to him!" The free clone shouted out to the other and he nodded back with a deep scowl. "We are Herobrine, this is 'our' world mortal! Time to end this!" The clone with his free sword hand whipped the blade to his side. "NOW DIIIEEE!"
"LIONEL NOOOOO!" Steve screamed as he ran faster, he didn't even know why he was running towards the dangerous Herobrine doppelganger but he couldn't let them kill Lionel. Despite the crazy and not-so-comforting encounters, he felt as though he knew the guy. That man was the only person he had left to keep him company in this Netherish land, one that he just might be related to. One that gave him the right warnings at the right times, one that could keep him safe; at least in his dreams. And one he wanted to call a friend.
Lionel whipped his head to the side to see the miner charging at the copy without any kind of weapon or strategy for that matter, it was a reckless and suicidal move. "Stop! What are you doing?! Get back, I can handle this alone!" The sentinel shouted.
"Let go of him!" Steve closed his eyes tightly has he moved his clutched fist forward, hoping to slam into the sword-wielding hero, but instead he heard a low dark chuckle and felt a sharp piercing pain in his right shoulder; his feet came to an abrupt stop and he cried out. 'What was I thinking?' He thought to himself as he opened his eyes, they went wide after seeing a diamond blade being pulled out of a large punctured wound on his upper arm. Steve instantly felt himself tip over after a low kick knocked him off of his heels, he tumbled to the ground and rolled a few feet away with a small yelp.
He stopped his roll on his stomach and slowly moved a hand over to his wound and stopped before he could touch the gash, he moved the hand away and refused to glance at the injury. Lionel was still in trouble and he had to fight the pain if he was going to be able to do anything to help or at least benefit the guy instead of hindering him, but it just hurt so much. He winced and moved onto his hands and knee's, a stray tear of pain rolled down the side of his cheek from stretching the wound too much.
"Why don't you just roll or crawl back over here mortal? Go ahead and make this easier for me?" The free clone spoke with words dripping with venom, his smile was malicious. "Be the pathetic worm under my foot and let me crush you into the dirt already."
Steve ignored the hero and moved up onto his knees slowly, now holding his arm up with his other to prevent the wound from opening more. Blood flowed down from the stabbing and it looked as bad as it felt, he felt his stomach twist into knots at the sight of it and regretted for even looking at the injury in the first place. 'Curse curious eyes.' He thought to himself. Though it stung immensely, Steve moved one leg forward and rose up onto his feet and lurched a bit before regaining his balance, he then looked back at the scene to see Lionel furiously glaring at him.
"You want to die that badly?!" Lionel shouted, not taking one rage-filled eye off of the man with a deep frown plastered onto his face, teeth visibly clinched.
Steve moved his head from side to side and exhaled noisily. "You tried to warn me Lionel, and though I didn't listen I still owe you for that." He said, now walking back towards the copies and the guard.
The sentinel's narrowed eyes lightened but he remained wordless and observing.
The miner winced as he took a few steps forward, lightly moving his shoulder and causing a bolt of pain to travel all the way down to his palm; but he couldn't back down now. "I owe you for- for that." It was evident that each word he said was saturated with pain. "At least allow… me to pay it back?"
"You can't!"
"Yes I can!" Steve stopped looked around and seen many of the copy's blades just lying on the ground, one was close by sticking in the ground and within reach, the convenient handle and blue aura just drawled him towards the sword.
"Don't touch it fool! It's a sword made for gods to contain and harness their wrath, inhuman fury courses through it!"
Steve had a feeling of truth from the man's words but couldn't resist the silent calling of the sword, he could feel it's power from where he was and he hadn't even touched it yet. There was something about it that he was so curious about, it would be more than enough to fight Herobrine; might even be stronger than the diamond blade Lionel was wielding.
The miner grabbed onto the handle only to feel waves of powerful energy now coursing through his veins abruptly and wildly. But it wasn't the same as the other sword he used, this energy made he's knees instantly weak and he felt himself collapse after trying to channel the power he like the other. "Ahhhhhhaaaahhhaaa!" Steve's head jerked from left to right and his body convulsed as a hot flow overcame him, he felt a surge of anger, hatred, and so many negative feelings overtaking him all at once. It was too much to bare, he felt like he was going to burst into flames. Steve fell onto a knee and hissed.
"What a shame. I personally wanted to kill him myself." The copy chuckled at the sight of the squirming miner and returned it's attention back to Lionel and the sentinel glared intensely, almost as if his eyes shined. "Now where were we?"
"The part where I end this." The silver armored man scowled and the ground began to shake again, but stopped as the copy moved away and hissed to his surprise.
The Hero copy relinquished his hold when a stinging sensation nipped at his heels. He partially turned and looked down to see the look-alike mortal belly-flat on the ground with the blade still in hand, weakly holding onto the weapon. He had moved the sword around and in doing so he managed to make a tiny cut across the back of the abomination's ankle. "How dare you!?" Herobrine lifted his foot up and stamped down hard onto Steve's hand and the miner cried out loudly, releasing the powerful weapon from his grasp and now trying to pull his aching appendage away from the mashing force. "You will pay for such nerve!"
With Lionel's hand now free and the copy's sword pointed away he then rammed the rest of the blade through the other clone and it wailed out as the sharp ends ran through his torso and across his hand. It tried to remove it's claws from the metal chest piece but the sentinel grabbed onto his wrist then squeezed. "Your turn, abomination." He grinned as his tight hold constricted and the hero kept trying to pull away from the pressure. He squeezed even harder and a cracking noise could then be heard.
"Errrggghhhh! Help me!" The clone barked and the other stopped grinding his boot into the mortal's hand and spun around to see what was happening.
"Huh? Damn you!" It swung the sword down at Lionel's grasping hand but the man quickly jerked the clone around and the diamond blade dug into the first hero's backside.
"GAAAAHHHHHHAAAA!"
"Herobrine doesn't ever ask for help, imitating atrocities." He whispered. "Never!" With a quick maneuver, Lionel then rammed the protruding blade and the injured clone right into the other and skewered them both on the same sword. "Now be gone!" He charged with the two right into the closest tree and pinned them to the wood as a gaping black hole formed behind them and began to pull in leaves and tiny branches from the tree's lower branches into the vacuuming void.
The two copies then struggled to worm free from the hold but couldn't escape the power now eating away at their backs, the hero closest to the black abyss screamed loudly as tiny bits and pieces were torn from his body and absorbed into the blackness.
Steve gently rubbed the back of his hand and sat up to see what Lionel was doing and his eyes went wide with fear, seeing the copies have fear which Herobrine wasn't ever supposed to have.
"What are you!?" The outer copy shrieked once more before exploding into dust and flying into the hole.
The last one then moved it's bloody hand forward and tried to grasp onto the sentinel, but it's hand faded into particles of dust and the rest of it's body followed in as tiny fragments into the dark hole before it shrank and sealed shut. Lionel then held his sword firmly in that spot until the energy around him settled and then he jerked the blade out of the tree bark and huffed silently, staring at the empty spot where the clones of Herobrine disappeared. After hearing a small gasp he then relaxed his posture and turned his attention back to the miner and saw the man gaze back in terror on the ground.
"They are gone now." Lionel said quietly, now moving back towards Steve.
Steve only nodded and gulped as the man got closer. "How did you... do that?"
The armored man only sighed as he now stood before his counterpart, he then proceeded to wipe a bit of black fluid from his green colored scarf. "This is a dream and I can do anything I wish in this realm, I was never in any real danger. You however." He then reached down and grabbed Steve by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him up onto his feet and held firmly with a narrowed glare. "You could of died you foolish human!" He barked and Steve shrunk back in fear in the grasp. "You should of just stayed put, if you did then I would of taken care of them without any trouble and you would have been fine!" He then noticed that he was shaking and terrifying the poor guy and let go of the man's shirt.
Steve fell to the ground and weakly made an effort to stand until an arm reached down and moved him onto his feet again. This time the miner balanced himself and bravely looked up to see Lionel now crossing his arms in annoyance. "But you were..." He started
"What? In trouble? No, I was in control of the fight though it didn't seem like it." The sentry interrupted. "They couldn't do anything to harm me, they may have been strong but they are still nothing! Then you? You have to go and make that stupid charge? And for what?" He growled, his fist shook uncontrollably in anger then he found himself lashing at the miner and striking the man across the side of face with his knuckles and watching him fall to the ground from the powerful punch. Steve then stared up at him shocked. "What were you thinking?!"
"I didn't." Was all he said rubbing the side of his tender jaw, his expression now softening. "I owed you."
"You owe me nothing! You are not indebted to me, I never did anything to gain it!"
Steve bit his lip and gave a bit of a glare of his own. "Maybe not to you! But…, you came to me and handed out warnings and then you defended me from those Herobrine copies. I just felt that I should at least repay you for your kindness, I didn't know that you were going to be fine. I thought they were going to kill you!" He countered.
Lionel exhaled and planted the diamond blade into the ground before folding his arms. "Well, you don't owe me. I was only relaying those warnings on His behalf, because He 'was' going to allow you the chance to escape. If you would of never continued that foolhardy quest of yours in the first place and had never had this ridiculous dream; then nothing this bad would have ever happened! You are still in Herobrine's presence, if you have a nightmare; whether it's from him or not, then it'll be like living throughout the real deal. You are in danger in your sleep and you don't even realize it."
"I can't control what I dream?! Herobrine probably did this." The miner accused.
The man swayed his head from side to side. "No, he would never make such atrocities of himself!" Lionel stamped his foot down on a copy's sword in annoyance. "Besides he wouldn't need any help to hunt down one human and would never ask for help from his own clones as they are expendable and apart of himself. Herobrine will never ask for help! Don't ever think that! Those things are pathetic replicas and don't even come close to the real one, nor copies of the real one. Those teeth, claws, and behaviors are nothing but a mockery and make him out to be a fairytale monstrosity! The real Herobrine has a code and he dose not fall from said code, not like they did."
Steve could clearly see and hear how infuriated Lionel was, it almost scared him since the sentinel had some power in his dream; but if the man didn't show up then things may of turned out for the worse. It appeared that Lionel still cared greatly for Herobrine and though the miner was first to make the hero as the reason of his nightmare, he felt a bit guilty and apologetic. Herobrine was the reason for a lot of unexpected events and nightmares, how was he to not suspect the influential being?
"I'm sorry." Steve kept his gaze on the tuff of grass to his left as he said his words with utmost sincerity. "I just- I can't control what I dream about okay? Before you showed up, I saw a … a copy drag away my friend through a field … and-." Steve tightly shut his eyes and held back the pain. "I ran so fast but I couldn't catch up with them, no matter how much I ran I couldn't save him! … It wasn't long after that before they showed up, then they came after me ready to tear me apart from limb to limb."
Lionel's anger faded a bit. "So that is where this dream came from? Guilt? Fear?"
"Both." Steve exhaled and wrapped an arm over his injured shoulder, keeping his eyes on the black fluid dripping from a blades of grass.
"Do you truly care about your so called 'friend'?"
"Of course!" Steve snapped his head back towards the knight to see his eyes filled with curiosity. "I may of not of known him that well, but within the short time that I got to know him he was someone that I knew I could trust. He always had good intentions and sacrificed for me."
"But you don't know him that well, a few days is not enough to form trust. Sacrifices of a greater scale may of proved it, but he hasn't proven anything. He'll just turn on you like my friends turned on me and Herobrine, we knew them for years and they backstabbed us. Same goes for the ones he hunted, when they trespassed on this land in numbers the first thing they did was abandon each other for their own selfish lives. They would leave their friends and family behind to survive for themselves, isn't that trust? Just goes to show that hu- people- cannot be trusted. They are easily manipulated and traitorous, selfish and greedy with their lives. And to think you were going to throw away your own life for someone you barely even knew? The elder would of abandoned you." Lionel scoffed.
"Don't say that! He would only leave me because I wanted him to, I know that he wouldn't otherwise!" The miner defended sternly.
"And if you were helplessly dangling off of a cliff with that man standing there with a horde of zombies going at his back, would you expect him to stay and help you up or run away out of fear?"
"He would, would... I don't know." Steve whispered from some doubt. "But I'm sure he would at least try. Fear and the will to survive is just a few traits of being human, it's hardwired into us and it keeps us alive."
"Then all humans are the same!"
"No! Some people just can't help themselves, fear and the need to live are hard to fight when you are in such a situation. Fight or flight. It's part of being a human, some people can be brave enough and others cannot. It's friendships and bonds that help others fight their greatest fears, but sometimes bonds might not be enough if you have no strength to fight or if you are feeble minded. It's bonds that make some get risky, even if it's a foolish thing to do. And if all humans are the same then are you?!"
The older man narrowed his eyes and was about to say something before it got caught in his throat. He then shook his head and spoke. "No! I stayed by my brother's side and not once left him nor abandoned him like everyone else did, I stayed and fought at every battle and made great sacrifices for him! I stood by his side when they accused me-Him!"
"But you had a super powerful being as a friend, I would be more confident and safe if I had someone like that by my side! Or, if he was a normal person like me then I would still fight, some people would probably turn and run; but I know I wouldn't."
Lionel lightly gaped at the thought but he shook his head in disbelief.
"Look, I don't care what you say about Nigel. He was my friend and I took the responsibility to keep him safe! He became my friend, and now he's gone because of me! I failed him." Steve clinched a fist and looked away with his eyes sealed tightly in regret, he tensed up after moving his wounded arm. "Just a few moments ago I was going to throw my life for you too." Steve quietly added.
Lionel blinked in uncertainty. "Why? You don't truly know me. There was no reason to try and 'save' me, you could of wasted your life for nothing."
"It didn't matter whether I knew you personally or not, I don't truly know you but you were the only other person I knew when I came into this land. Real or not, I consider you a friend. Even when you gave me those warnings as harsh as they seem; I felt as though I could trust you. I could even be related to you for all I know, an even more reason to help. Figment or dream, I care about you like Nigel. And even if I didn't know you, your life would of counted too."
The man turned his back to the miner. "Why? There's no reason for it to." He said more calmly.
"That's the thing. You don't know me Lionel."
"No, I don't. … We are done here. … It's time to rest now." He held an empty hand outwards from his side.
"What do you mean?" Steve asked then he felt the ground disappear beneath him and a black void began to drag him into a thick pool of darkness. He panicked and tried to cling to the ground closest to him in fear that what Lionel did to the clones was about to happen to him, but the chunks just broke off and sunk as he grabbed on. It took a few seconds before the miner realized the familiar warm and calming sensation was overcoming him. "This?" He paused in shock but then let himself sink after his eyes grew heavy and muscles grew weak. He slipped underneath the surface.
"I created." Lionel said as he walked by the end of the blackness and gazed down at the miner now floating deeper into the black emptiness. "A deep state of sleep, safe from the nightmare realm."
Slowly sinking down in a clear black and vast space; he watched as the moonlit sky and now Lionel standing and staring down at the edge of the hole get smaller. "This… was this always from y-you?" Steve felt himself slip in and out of consciousness, the sentinel and world above fading with every blink.
"Yes, now rest Steve. You'll need it." He said blankly before walking away from the hole now sealing up.
"Wait! You're the only friend… I- I have …left, please don't leave… … me." The miner muttered as he reached up to the light fading above, he found himself taking one last look then he shut his eyes and they remained closed as a blanket of black surrounded around him.
…
Lionel kept a blank face as he walked passed the copy swords and black-blood stained grass, he found himself lost deep within thought again. As he proceeded the landscape around him began to decay into tiny bits and float away up towards the dark blank empty sky, now with the human removed from the nightmare; everything was fading. Lionel's skin began to glow brightly and tiny flakes of skin peeled off and away with each step he took, even his armor and scarf started to break off into pieces and float upwards and dispersing into particles. It all broke off, leaving a lighter set of cool-colored clothing behind.
He closed his deep blue orbs and took one deep and long breath, opening them after exhaling and revealing white blank glowing eyes; shining in a world fading out.