Hero's Bane

Chapter 58: The Bane

Edited 5/4/2022

Herobrine snorted and took a few steps back from the father and his kids, still huffing and clinging to his head while fighting a terrible pounding ache. He closed his eyes and growled before stopping his movements and letting another memory resurface. He didn't need or want old memories, most of them only made him mad and others made him depressed. He forced his closed eyes open to see that boy now holding his arms out in a pathetic attempt to shield his dad, his expression was riddled with fear; and yet he shook in that spot and defended the man. Those young amber eyes stayed on the enchanted blade in Herobrine's hands.

The old Hero blinked and almost sworn that he saw a different kid standing there for a brief moment, he blinked again and now there was another kid in his line of vision, an older one that looked like he was on the brink of becoming a teenager by his age appearance. His hair was short and brown and his eyes were a deep lapis blue, he wore a dark red shirt and black pants. This kid looked very familiar now, his blue eyes was the first thing to catch attention. The child had tears pouring down his face and he shook with great fear, he also panted loudly with his inhales and exhales. Despite terror he felt, he held onto an old wooden axe that was well worn and splintered at the timber blade end.

-Wait a minute?- Herobrine widened his eyes as he had seen this older child before, and recently if his memory served him correctly; though maybe not too recently. The boy even looked a little like… -No. But those eyes?- He blinked again and shook his head but the vision did not change, only the landscape distorted and reformed; that was it. He noticed the change in the scenery from partially open plains to a small opening in an oak forest with a large enough clearing for a house and a decent sized yard, there were warm lights gleaming through the forest walls with trails of smoke coming from above the tree line; indicating a village nearby. -This place is… familiar.- His eyes moved back down to the kid, that child that reminded him of a certain mortal that he just could not recall the name of them for some reason. His head pulsed again and he twitched and winced for a short second before the throbbing stopped, Herobrine then sighed in relief.

There was only one way to see if that kid who he thought he was, he had been blocking or actually trying to protect the human figure on the ground behind him. The powerful man's white gaze traveled back behind the boy to see a gravely wounded and grounded form of a grown human male with his face hidden in shadow, through the dark shrouded him; Herobrine could easily distinguish the face with his superior eyesight and his eyes honed in on the face. Seeing the features and facial-shape of this human instantly made him hold his breath and gape silently. He suddenly remembered who both the man and boy bear a resemblance to.

…

"What are … you doing Anthony?" Came a pained and raspy voice. The mortal on the ground grunted as he tried to lift himself up but was unsuccessful and only groaned in his failure.

-Anthony? That name.-

The wounded man wheezed and tilted his head up and towards the brave child. "Leave… now. You can't win. He's t- t- too powerful. I'm not- not going to make it." He painfully muttered and let his head fall back; too injured and weak to even move any other part of his rapidly weakening body, let alone stay conscious with the loss of blood on his greatly damaged body that had been slashed to pieces. But regardless of his fatal wounds, he stayed awake.

"I'm not leaving you dad! You said you were coming back!" Anthony shouted and wiped away at some of the tears that obscured his vision with the back of his hand, he then took a deep breath and tightened his grasp around the dull axe. "You're going to come back home, just like you said you would! I will make that HAPPEN!" He screamed as he suddenly pushed his legs forward towards the White-Eyed man with a face full of determination and willpower to protect his father.

"No don't!" The wounded man tilted his head up to watch his son charge directly at the powerful being. "ST-STOP!" He plead aloud.

-Wait.- Herobrine blinked again and winced as another memory intruded upon his current one, lightly meshing with it and phasing in and out.

… …

"My brother Anthony-"

… …

-That voice?- … It was… Steve's. Herobrine's eyes shot around and he turned his head in all sorts of directions to find the miner be he could see nothing but the trees, terrain, and the moonlit sky.

… …

"He- he screamed out loudly as our father appeared to fall on his back in defeat, and without a second thought he bolted through the front door with a wooden axe that he used to chop wood and he ran out into the darkness with tears streaming down his face." The intangible miner said somberly.

… …

This boy looked exactly like the one he saw in Steve's mind… -Then?- Herobrine gaped as Steve's brother ran at him. Time now slowed as the boy drew near.

… …

An ethereal vision of the miner's form stood behind the charging kid and partially looked towards Herobrine as he spoke with his head hanging low, sort of like the way he did when he shared his tragic past event earlier.

"I- I was screaming out myself, for dad and for him; then I chose to go after him and to our fallen father, but I felt a hand clasp around my wrist and looked back to see my mother weeping with a hand over her mouth. She wouldn't say anything as she stared out the window and then her eyes went wide and as I looked back I saw the silhouetted mob shove a blade through the center of my brother's chest and jerk it out mercilessly-"

… …

Just as Steve finished interjecting his memory; he faded. Herobrine's body acted on it's own and drew his diamond blade that was in his hand back in the prime position to pierce his charging foe. Astonished from what he knew was coming; Herobrine tried to regain control of his body but he couldn't stop it from moving, he knew exactly what was about to happen now and he couldn't stop himself no matter how hard he tried. But he had to, he couldn't kill Steve's brother. He struggled in his endeavor to halt the now moving sword as Anthony reached him, but he utterly failed to hold it back. Time went from a slow motion back up to normal speed. Herobrine thrust the sword forward with barely any effort and it went straight through the boy's upper torso and out the other side without trouble.

Silence. Complete silence hung in the air for a few moments until the child drew breath. He couldn't believe what he had just done to Steve's brother, but the proof was right there in front of him. He remembered the child's face now, he remembered the mixed smell of blood and salty tears.

Herobrine soon felt power traveling from all corners of his body into his wielding arm and watched as the sword glowed and produced a blue fog that quickly faded out into a white haze. He was going to take the Anthony's soul. But this was a memory; which meant that the kid's essence had already been transferred to soulsand and later taken by the End lord so many years ago.

The kid remained absolutely silent and dropped the wooden axe in shock, his eyes moved down to his upper torso and he lightly shook from the pain and a strange force pulling at him. Power quickly flooded the being's veins; that he also failed to stop and went straight into the sword. It didn't take more than a minute that the power retreated back into his hand and the soul into the blade. Anthony's eyes almost immediately closed half way with a lifeless gaze staring back at the being, mouth slightly agape as he drew his last breath. Herobrine heard himself grunt and even felt himself grin as he yanked the sword out without any remorse. The child titled back and fell to the ground with a quiet thud, now motionless.

The hero heard the older man stammer low indistinguishable words in disbelief, the man started to softly cry as he leaned his head back down in absolute defeat and sorrow.

… …

It was him. Herobrine swayed his head back in forth. He killed Steve's brother; his 'friend's' brother. It was him this entire time and not any other mob like the miner thought it was. It was too hard to believe but he really remembered now. But he didn't only just kill Anthony.

He growled at himself but could not wipe away the smirk that he felt right there in that spot, the way he fiddled with the sword handle so casually made him sneer and narrow his eyes on the inside. That contented feeling of a successful soul steal, stayed with him and it made him appalled and feel… guilt? Was that what he was feeling?

Now he felt his legs moving forwards and he carelessly kicked the young boy's body aside as he approached the wounded man in his slow stride. Now he felt dishonorable by kicking his dead challenger away like that, one that he shouldn't have even raised a blade to in the first place since his opponent was so young. After escaping the Nether it appeared that he had forgotten the more important parts about a sense of honor and code until the miner showed up, vengeance had warped him beyond belief. It took so long to finally realize that he had strayed away from his and Lionel's honorable way. Steve's presence for the past two weeks had made him remember more about his past and not just the dark side of it.

How could he not have known when he saw the miner's little memory from earlier? He should have remembered them. Surely the man and boy's face or deep blue eyes would have rung some bell? But it didn't. He had taken so many lives over the years that all faces of mortals just seemed to look like another, none he would ever care about. Now he remembered the entire scene through a hunt of some mortal man and his children, all by the proxy of Steve himself. He remembered the assault on the village. The attack on the man and his eldest son. He remembered looking back at the house after he collected the human essences and deciding that he had claimed enough lives for the night, he would allow the remaining few to live. He could have killed Steve that night if he had decided otherwise.

The grounded mortal rolled his head to his side and looked towards the trudging White-Eyed man to see Anthony lying lifelessly on the ground and splayed out behind him. "No." He whispered and sniffled. "My son." Then his gaze moved to the house that had the rest of his family hidden inside. This prompted the being to take a glance back to see the house, there were more humans inside and this made his grin broaden. Herobrine mentally sneered from this growing happiness that he shouldn't be feeling. He shouldn't be feeling bad at all for killing the two mortals; but then again, this was Steve's family.

The man on the ground continued to weep in shame from failing to defend his family, he coughed roughly and faced the immortal with widened eyes and a weak hand on an old stone sword that had been lightly damaged around the base of the blade. The human on the ground looked exactly like Steve's dad from up close and he was having a hard time trying to stay conscious from the damage done to his body. His expression was displaying not only his grim mortality but deep grief for the loss of his son and possibly the 'soon to be' rest of his loved ones.

The being finally got within inches of Steve's father and carelessly placed a heavy foot on the human's throat while positioning his sword over the heart. Again he couldn't stop himself but tried anyway. Before he could move the sharp crimson coated point into the man's chest, the human underneath him suddenly snarled and gasped for breath as he forced the stone weapon up and over his body with all the remaining strength he had left. Herobrine swiftly pulled his blade up and across with ease and force; causing the stone blade to crack at the base of the handle from the pressure of the forceful strike.

-So that is were the crack came from?-

The blade flew back from the man's hand and landed a few bocks away, partially sticking out of the dirt. He then narrowed his eyes at his trapped prey before repositioning the sword once more.

He couldn't take it, Herobrine couldn't watch himself kill Steve's dad too. Even if he had done it before, he didn't want to see himself do it again. Herobrine roared in pain and forced himself out of the dark memory with all of his might, finding the will to so before the diamond blade came down. It was so hard to do it, he never had so much trouble blocking out an old memory, but this one proved to be a real challenge. Before he left it he heard more small strangulated whimpers and then nothing.

…

Herobrine slowly reopened his eyes to a different place with three forms about five blocks away from him, the boy had refused to move and he yelped as the being moved his eyes from the ground and placed them upon him. His head hurt more than it had for years, it's like he was mentally messed up or had brain damaged in some way. This thought made the ancient man deeply frown and rub the side of his aching cranium, that did little to soothe the pain. He groaned and winced as his head pulsated with a stinging sensation that stirred over and over again, whatever problem he had before was worsening. He always had a problem with memories.

At first when he escaped his nightmarish prison; he had trouble remembering any thing of his past except for the more darker recollections, the ones that only fueled his rage and wrath as he took revenge on the people of the great fortress of the valley. A few years after that; he started to remember more and more of his life before he was tormented and all of those old memories with his brother Lionel. Those made him hurt on the inside, it made him feel so much sorrow and so he ousted them in attempts to not feel that pain ever again, apparently had hadn't been successful.

Ever since Steve came around he had started to remember everything, there was some memories he never wanted to recall but did. Others, though few however; were nice to revisit. He doesn't remember having many great moments, that was unless the were buried beneath all the bad ones.

-Steve.- Herobrine moved his empty hand up and stared at his palm before coiling it into a fist and growling. The miner wouldn't forgive him, never. Herobrine let his balled up hand fall back to his side. -So much for friendship. He doesn't even know that it was me who claimed their lives.- This act he had committed was unforgivable, he took some of the lives of the miner's family; ones he seemed to cherish so much and offered them to the beast after mercilessly slaughtering them. It was like betrayal to his friend, something so dishonorable and sickening.

If he had known that he killed some of Steve's family when he first saw the man then things would have been different, very different. Maybe he would have killed the miner on the spot and avoid everything that changed him now. He wouldn't be on a last minute hunt for souls and risking his freedom. He would have left his old memories in the past so that he wouldn't have felt pain again. … He wouldn't have this shameful feeling that made him feel like he had broken Lionel's code so disgracefully.

He wouldn't had felt like a traitor.

But then he wouldn't have a friend and he would be alone and bound to pure silence and continued endless isolation,

"No."

A sudden pained voice stopped Herobrine's train of thought and his white gaze moved up to the injured man.

"Don't take them from me Herobrine, please just don't take them. Take me, but bring no harm to them." The man plead with a shaky voice as the legendary humanoid took step after step closer to him.

The idea of letting them go annoyed the immortal a lot, every last soul counted and he needed as many as he could get to meet up with his debt with the beast or face dire consequences. He couldn't simply let his prey escape, but the two brave children just reminded him so much of the miner's deceased brother and the courage he had. They fought fear and even appear to still be waging the war between running away and staying. It was noble for the father of the kids to face his fear and battle until he fell, even more now that he was literally sacrificing himself to keep them alive.

Lionel taught him what sacrifice was and what it signified, he was willing to selflessly suffer and give his life up for another because of his brotherly connection to his friend. This human was doing the same in a way. Still, letting them go meant less souls to gather and give to the End lord; but in this case he decided to honor the man's wishes. Only out of respect for Lionel and what he did.

The immortal stopped once he reached the youngest child, his powerful gaze met the frightened one and the boy held his breath and stance while visibly trembling. Herobrine suddenly grabbed the child by one of the arms that he had held out.

"Let go!" The child shouted before he jerked frantically in the strong grasp in an attempt to escape, he cried and then yelped as he was roughly dragged away from his spot. "No, dad!" He continued to fail in pulling away from his captor.

"Timothy!" His father cried out and reached a hand out towards the kid being moved away. "Don't! He has done nothing wrong!"

Herobrine pulled the kid several blocks away from the father and towards the house, once the being thought they were far enough he pulled the boy close and pointed at the small structure on the hillside; the family home. Then he gestured the kid towards it and let him go.

Timothy instantly tried to turn around and run back to the grounded man but he was suddenly pulled back by the back of his shirt collar and pushed back towards the house. Herobrine angrily gestured the building once more and sneered until the child obeyed and sprinted in the right direction. He looked back to see the little girl and he moved his head back towards the house in a small gesture and nodded as the girl pointed to the house with a shaking hand.

She was reluctant at first but her father used his hand and motioned her towards the wooden structure, she took two steps before stopping and looking back for a moment.

"Just don't hurt them." The man plead once more, hoping that it wasn't some sick trick that would get his kids killed. It was Herobrine he was speaking to after all, the fabled White-Eyed Nightmare that showed absolutely no mercy to his victims. The one from the old legends that raided and brought down kingdoms over night and pillaged innocent villages and burned them to the ground. The Master of Traps and Deceit, Lurker in The Dark, The Bringer of Chaos and Destruction, Stalker of The Night, Lord of The Nightmare Realm, The King of Mobs, The Griefer King, and The White-Eyed Terror. No matter what name he was given; it was hardly believable what the man saw with his own eyes, Herobrine was showing mercy to his young children. The kids were unharmed and were pointed to go to the house. That he was grateful for. It would be horrifying to have them watch him die.

The girl cried heavily and almost refused to move until Herobrine took a few daunting steps towards her, she instantly sprinted from her spot and shot by him; over next to her brother's side who was several blocks away. She hastily turned around with her face showing dread. "Daddy!"

He couldn't believe he was letting easy targets walk free, but with the recent memory still fresh in his mind it was the only way to make the current scene seem less memorable. He opened his right hand and the enchanted diamond sword retreated back to it's wielder by breaking into tiny shards on the ground and floating up and over to his open hand, the pieces reassembled on their own and took the form of the blade.

"Tha-thank you." The man stammered slowly. "Maybe you aren't as evil as I- as I thought you were?" He said daringly, still frightened for his children once he would be gone. He wondered if Herobrine would let them go and fend themselves against monsters, let them go into the house, or just kill them next. Either way; he couldn't stand the idea of watching them die before him. He could only hope for the best.

Herobrine reached down and plucked the injured man off of the ground by the scruff of his shirt and hauled him up to eye level, he then deeply gazed into amber eyes; seeing a reflection of himself that seemed to warp in the glossy pupil. Herobrine saw a different injured man, one that was gravely wounded and dying out slowly. It was Steve's dad. This made him stare silently. He blinked and shook his head. No, he had to kill this one. He couldn't let himself be distracted by that memory again, the End lord comes first and he was very impatient.

The human in his hold made a quiet prayer to himself before looking up to the stars as Herobrine readjusted his blade and angled it, ready to deliver the stroke of death.

"Laura, sorry I couldn't take care of the kids. Forgive- … me."

These last words made the being lower his sword and he blinked again with shock.

"I will see you sooner than I wanted."

… …

For a brief moment Herobrine found himself back in the valley; on the ground with Lionel lying a few blocks away pinned by a long sword. The man mouthed two words but the being couldn't hear him, he did however; know what those words were that were being said.

…

The godlike being then stood there for a long moment before lowering the man down onto his feet and making a slight push against his chest, shoving the mortal away.

The human staggered back a few feet until he got a good footing and then looked up at the being in confusion and surprise to see him with a hand on his forehead, partially covering his face and one glowing eye. The ancient evil being looked as though he was in pain, and he even looked sad. The human was puzzled but relaxed his poor stance as Herobrine deeply frowned and took steps backwards with reluctance. The demi-god then instantly vanished into tiny particles of dust, leaving nothing in his place. With relief; the mortal dropped onto his knees and covered his open wound with an aching arm, he looked up to the night sky and thanked Notch before sighing heavily in being spared.

"Dad!" The two kids suddenly bolted from their place near the house and ran down the hill and up to their father before tackling him with tears smeared all over their cheeks.

Herobrine watched from the shadow of a tree as the kids wrapped their arms around their dad for dear life, they hugged for a long minute until the father forced himself back onto his feet. That man 'was' at his mercy seat and he let him go… all because of a memory.

Again, memories not only came back to haunt him but killed his mood. He could almost see Lionel there with Conner running up to him and hugging him, the Sovereign was always busy during the day so Lionel was established as a part-time royal guard since the boy liked him the most. After some night shifts; Lionel would enter the fortress near the crack of dawn to return to his bunk after a long night of battling mobs only to have the little boy waiting on him.

Herobrine instantly scoffed and shook his aching head in frustration. He was letting memories curve him his task yet again. Memory after memory was popping up, the more recent ones were truly hindering his progress and it didn't help that they were in similarity to the things he saw. What he just had done was pathetic, he let humans go. Something he's never done to his prey except for Steve and the old man. He quietly watched as the trio started a slow walk back to the house, a soft smile of relief was on each face.

The being moved into the darker shadows of the woods, still feeling a strong headache. He had just let three perfectly good souls escape him, that was three that he needed to make up elsewhere. He released his tight grasp on his cranium and sprinted through the woodlands in search for his next target, though he wasn't really looking, for his mind was very preoccupied.

He contemplated on whether or not that he should tell the miner what he had done to part of his family, but then he would never be forgiven and he would no longer have a friend. No, he shouldn't have been friends with humans to begin with. Herobrine shook his head in doubt. All they ever did was cause him trouble and misery, meeting Lionel was such an instance unfortunately. If he had never protected the man then the guy could have lived a long and prosperous life without him… no, he would have been killed on that very day by hordes of mobs.

Maybe saving him and not talking to him was okay, then he could have lived longer… or struggled with the rest of his people in a crumbling and failing society; practically defenseless from monsters of the night. This thought annoyed him, not being friends with that mortal would have meant being the terrifying humanoid that was labeled a monster, isolated and alone. So he would be in the same shape as he is now, avoided and proclaimed evil but the only difference would be the ability to speak, no trials of torment he had went through, but nor the fond memories he made.

This would also mean that Lionel wouldn't have made it very far in his life. He wouldn't have became a strong and skilled sentinel for it was Herobrine himself that forced the human to try harder to make it into the squad when the human broke down from objection from the fortress council for the fifth time in his life, that man was drowning in his own failures and had given up on making the guard regiment. Herobrine had been the one who picked him off the ground and trained with the human for weeks on end with rigorous obstacles to push the guy further than he had ever had before. He made Lionel strong, Lionel in turn- made Herobrine himself strong; strong in the heart and mind.

Herobrine immediately took back the idea of 'not' being Lionel's friend. Sure he had plenty of horrible experiences that eventually got the sentinel killed and himself tortured, persecuted, and banished. But that mortal taught him so much, things about himself and humans that he would have never learned about on his own like goals, purpose, and family. But most of all- Companionship; the freedom of silence and loneliness that used to haunt him and make him feel so bitter towards the world. He had found purpose and finally belonged somewhere, he had everything he could have wanted back then.

But then it comes to the miner Steve. Herobrine didn't need to learn anything else, he didn't need anymore friends. It had been many years that he lived in silence and solitary after Lionel, but the miner seemed to be re-teaching him the things that Lionel once already had. He was slowly imprinting similar things that Lionel had once shown him and bringing them back to the light and out of the darkness of his past. Most of those things were painful, but others made him feel like he genuine happiness that he had long forgot about. Still, he didn't need friends now. The miner alone was already making things more difficult and without being physically present.

…

"I know you hate humans, but you don't necessarily have to hate all of them. Just the ones who persecuted and tortured you."

…

-You cannot sway my decision anymore Steve; with your poor attempt for reconciliation, I will continue to hate 'all' humans and I will carry on to serve my debt. You are but one man, you cannot vouch for humanity as a whole; alone. Friend or not.- Herobrine finally removed his arm from his head and darted between the trees before disappearing in the underbrush.

…

The miner opened his mouth widely as he yawned and he stretched his arms above his head; loosening up his stiff muscles. He groaned and brought a hand up to his forehead and wiped away some of the dampness that collected on the surface of his skin, he was burning up. That wasn't surprising given that he was in the Nether. Steve sat up slowly and rubbed his aching back; feeling as though he had slept on stone. He opened his eyes and looked down to find himself lying on the Nertherbrick floor. It wasn't stone but close enough.

His blinked after noticing a red glow around his body, his eyes moved to the light source and he stared at multiple redstone torches that lined the floor in front of him and all the way around the area that he sat in. He was sitting in a perfect square of these torches. Though strange; he glanced around his area only to find nothing but darkness ahead of him and a wall only several blocks to his back. He leaned forward and wobbled on his hands and knees as he made an effort to stand, he staggered a little until he found balance. He felt weak despite his rest, it didn't help that he was hungry again too.

Steve carefully plucked a redstone torch from the floor and walked away from the collection of red light and towards the darkness ahead, he held the dim torch high as he walked into the dark end. He stared in awe at the pillars and the sheer size of the room, even if the torch was dim; the red glow lightly reflected from the ceiling and the arches above. The ceiling and Nertherbrick columns didn't stretch as high as the ones in the throne room, but they did go up at least a good fourteen or fifteen blocks up from what he could tell.

"Oooouuhh!" Steve cringed and limped forward with a silent hiss, his ankle twisted from a misstep and he almost tripped again after not judging his footsteps. He halted in his pace and moved the torch towards the floor to find that he was slowly descending a few layers of Nertherbrick slabs, with two more slabs to go he carefully stepped down them and shook his aching foot to get the tingling pain to lighten up. Once he could place his sore foot down and walk normally again; he continued down the lengthy room until he came to a wall of bedrock.

"What the? Bedrock?" Steve raised a brow and moved his hand over the coarse exterior of the stone. He backed up a little and moved the red torch from side to side to see that there were Nertherbrick walls on each side of the bedrock barrier, he then lifted the redstone torch up high to find that the bricks had arched over the bedrock with an artistic design. Now it looked like he was standing at a huge doorway but with the impenetrable stone completely blocking out the exit. 'Is this supposed to be here?' He thought to himself. He paced from side to side of the doorway but could not find away around or out of the corridor. Becoming frustrated; Steve stopped in front of the blocked doorway and folded his arms. "Where am I? What is this place?" He heard his voice echo in the room and then he heard what sounded like soft footsteps behind him.

"This is my resting place. My chamber."

A more powerful echoing voice sounded in his head and Steve quickly turned on his heels to see Herobrine a few blocks behind him with his arms crossed. He had a deep frown and thinly narrowed eyes.

"Why am I-"

"You were sealed in here for your own safety, the bedrock wall was to keep you in and mobs out." He said more darkly, like he hadn't cared; though his action of placing the human in safety proved otherwise.

'Protecting?' Steve thought quietly. He saw Herobrine darken his expression. "Are you alright, Brine?" Steve asked with hesitance and felt the wind knocked out of him as the super being jolted forward in a flash and brought his forearm against the miner's neck, pinning him to the bedrock wall and somewhat crushing his windpipe.

Herobrine growled deeply and ground his teeth from the nickname. "Don't ever use that name ever again!" He barked sharply in the man's head and made the miner hiss from the painful throbbing of his mind.

Steve turned his head to the side and closed his eyes from the bright glow that came from Herobrine's face, he bravely pried them open after hearing the immortal taking deep rapid breaths; seething through his visible clinched teeth. "Is everything-"

"No, there is nothing fine! This is all your fault!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

Herobrine snarled lowly. "Because of you." He hissed and put more pressure on the human's neck.

Steve faced the old hero directly and used one of his free arms to push some of the pressure that blocked his throat, that didn't do him much good. "What …did I- do?" He choked then sucked in as much air as he could as beams of light hit his eyes painfully.

Herobrine sneered. "I used to never have trouble like this when hunting, but ever since you came; that is all I have now."

"I still don't know what you are talking about." The miner grimaced and pried at Herobrine's arm.

Herobrine finally removed his forearm and caused the miner to slide down the wall and fall onto his hands and knees as he sharply inhaled. "You have become the bane of my existence." He started and the miner slowly rose his head up to face the angered god-like man.

"The bane?" He repeated and leaned back against the bedrock barrier. "What did I do? How am I the bane of your existence? That doesn't even make any sense?"

Herobrine clinched his fists tightly and held them back, his anger was growing by the second. "Today I went out to harvest souls and you know what?" He asked in a dark tone. He could tell that the miner wanted to ask but he remained silent in fear. "None. I have killed and harvested NONE! NOT ONE!" He screamed and rammed a fist into the bedrock blocks above Steve's head and caused the wall to cave in on the opposite side, letting more heat from the hallways rush into the room.

Steve had blinked in shock as Herobrine stepped beside him and made a strike to the bedrock which made him nearly fall back from the wall giving way and leaving him to sit up on his own with nothing to rest his back on. He looked up at Herobrine as he withdrew his fist and growled. Steve felt lucky that Herobrine redirected his anger and hit the bedrock and not him. What shocked him more was the fact that Herobrine didn't kill a single person, and that was his fault? "But that's a go-"

"No! It's a bad thing mortal!"

He was calling him mortal again, which meant that he was probably in very grave danger if he didn't say the right things when spoken to. "How is it a bad thing exactly?" Steve just couldn't help but ask and he really regretted it as a leg swung at his midsection and sent him flying across the narrow hallway of Nertherbrick, he smacked the floor and rolled a few more blocks. The miner groaned from the new ache as he rolled onto his back and placed a hand upon his lower torso, he took deep breaths and then rolled onto his pained stomach before lifting himself off of the warm brick. He looked down the hallway to see that Herobrine was gone.

"Herobr-ine?" Steve stiffened up as a hand tightly clamped around the back of his neck. He then felt himself being pulled off the floor before being slammed face-first into a wall. He gasped from the collision and turned his head to the side some, he sneered from the pressure adding more pain to his already sore neck. "Why are you doing this?" He asked but he question went ignored.

"I am going to suffer because of you." Herobrine growled darkly and resisted the urge to make the man eat the brick he was up against.

"Suffer? How?"

"And to think I considered you a friend. A huge mistake."

"You… you what?" Steve lightened his expression in surprise and gaped at the seething man in the corner of his eye.