Hero's Bane

Chapter 60: Withstand The Strain

Editing 5/4/2022

Steve ran both of his hands through his hair in frustration as he paced back and forth in the small bedrock shelter, his footsteps echoed loudly as he silently huffed from his choices. He shook his head back and forth with his indecisive options, he wanted to stay in the safety that Herobrine had just made for him; but at the same time he needed to not only get answers. To help Herobrine or prevent the punishment from happening somehow seemed to be the bigger priority. Punishment was punishment, there was no joy in it, only pain and suffering.

The miner stopped moving as the ground beneath his feet rumbled once more and nearly knocked him off his heels, a loud cracking sound then immediately tore him from his thoughts. He took a step towards the exit of the shelter and glanced with only his head poking out to see large cracks forming on the walls in the being's chamber, both sides of the lengthy room appeared to be taking a lot of damage and there could be no telling how long they'll hold. He wondered if Herobrine was at the tower already.

The mortal moved back into the bedrock tunnel and crossed his arms in annoyance. His instincts screamed to just sit there and wait it out for his own wellbeing, yet his side of reason was telling him something different. The desire to survive was intermingling with his desire to do what was right, to stay or go. It was a war he raged on with himself, a war that he kept him at a standstill while everything continued to break apart and collapse around all him, deteriorating at a rapid pace while his new white-eyed friend went to face the End beast alone. He just wasn't sure what he should do; Herobrine told him to remain still and it was way to dangerous to leave the safety of the indestructible stone fort, but all of this mess was happening because of him so just sitting there and doing nothing about it was just filling him with guilt.

Steve took a deep breath and instantly coughed from the Nether dust, he couldn't even take a good enough breath to relax his aching head. Two very important decisions continued to keep him in his place, leaving seemed futile anyways. He'd probably be crushed by the crumbling weight of the rocking fortress, or fall through a gap in the floor. As for going to the tower? Possibly just as deadly because Herobrine said he'd kill him if he did ever go up there and that's if he even got that far. If he was lucky. Still, the idea of doing nothing gnawed on his conscious.

…

Herobrine lifted his head and opened his eyes as he suddenly flashed into the small room that lead into the main tower, he wasn't excited to see the little orb sitting on it's perch and rocking back in forth with it's greenish glow. He wasn't even inside the main tower but he could see the object shake and produce a dim luminosity from his spot at least fifteen blocks away with his excellent vision. That single item caused so much damage to his fortress and it continued to rock the place off of it's foundation and pretty much have the colossal structure collapse in on itself from the wild shifting of it's own heavy weight.

With a deep but nervous sigh, the white-eyed man started in a slow walk towards the round item known as the Eye of Ender; his liberator's tool of communication and power. He wasn't in a rush to get to it, he could already hear the beast snarling in dissatisfaction and roaring with anger and he wasn't looking forward to the scolding before the sentence of pain.

At least the miner was safe now; being in the protective tunnel of the world's strongest substance, he should be fine and unharmed. He the wondered how bent out of shape his fortress would be after the chew out. The stronghold had already taken enough damage that repairs were really needed and it was going to take a long time to make them, he really wished he could have done something sooner but what had been done already could not be undone. The place would probably be demolished by the fit of the End beast and his wrathful maw, the beast's roar alone had already ravaged a good portion. It probably would have been better to just let it all come down and start all over again once he gets the chance, he detested that idea. This place was like a home to him, regardless of being in the formidable place known as the Nether. It was his prison but also a place of power, in the nightmarish realm he could heal quicker and meditate without interruption. Even in a world of dread and intolerable heat; he built the place up to be his refuge that he spent years alone in waiting for freedom, so seeing it crumble at the seams was rather annoying and painful in a way.

One step forward and he immediately stopped and watched as the walls shook from another tremor, a few bricks popped out of the vertical surface and some fell from the ceiling and crashed to the floor; breaking to bits on impact. He placed another foot down and forced himself to ignore the damages. Nether sanctuary or not, he wasn't looking forward to facing the more powerful entity of the End.

…

The miner rocked on his heels as the floor trembled more wildly, he then found himself losing balance and smacking back against the bedrock. He winced and lightly rubbed the back of his head before pushing himself away from the rock and repositioning himself flat on his feet. A loud roar had the ground vibrating even more roughly and he quickly moved back up to the rock wall to keep himself from falling again, the frightening howl hadn't only shook the miner up but it also had chills forming all down the man's back. It sounded vicious and feral, almost as if it was an enraged out of impatience.

Steve oddly found himself poking out of the shelter once again, it wasn't the growing cracks in the walls nor the shifting bricks on the ground that had him startled; but the notion of Herobrine's wellbeing. That beastly bellow sounded frightening and Herobrine was going to face the possibly giant and ferocious; howling creature all by himself. Guilt kicked in once again and Steve couldn't get his faults out of his head, let alone ignore them like he wanted. It was great that he somehow got the immortal to not take lives of innocents, but at the same time Herobrine was hurting himself for he had nothing to give to the beast as he had said was his job that he was indeed 'forced' to. Therefore; his debt had came to a halt and he can't pay it on time, now he was going to face the consequences of some possibly greater power.

"I have to do something." He lowly muttered to himself with an apprehensive expression on his face. "But if I leave?" He stared into the darkness of the big room and saw a low glow coming from the small corridor at the main end, it was hard to see from the lack of light but he could just tell that hall had sustained great damage and it may just crumble in on itself within a matter of time. He placed one foot out of the shelter and reluctantly moved forward. Four steps out of the small protective structure; he found himself stopping and glancing at every surface he could see, his eyes immediately glued to the ceiling as a single brick broke away from the others and landed only a few blocks away from him. More rumbles in the room had more Nether bricks popping out of place and falling in random places, some bricks fell as large chunks and shattered into pieces as they collided with the floor.

He feared for his own safety and took steps back until he was back in his safe zone, the miner then waited for the tremor to lighten up before making his move. The quake had soon lessened in strength and that was when Steve held his breath and dashed out from the under bedrock barrier. The miner's footsteps echoed lightly as he sprinted across Herobrine's room, he then inhaled the stale dusty air as his lungs demanded. He coughed in his pace and squinted his eyes shut from the itchy-like ache of taking in the serrated nether particles that floated down from the ceiling high above, he shook his head and wiped away at the wetness in the corners of his eyes as he exited the large chamber.

Blue eyes suddenly widened as he searched the path ahead and he dove to his right as more of the hallway's walls and ceiling crumbled inward to his left, he barely dodged several large tumbling brick blocks. Shortly glancing back; Steve's eyes widened and his jaw dropped, the part of the hall that almost crushed him had caused the ceiling to cave-in on itself which completely blocked his way back to the bedrock shelter. Now there was no tuning back.

In his run; Steve noticed that the temperature had increased dramatically and it almost seemed to sap all of his energy at once, the further he got down the corridor the more hotter it became. It didn't help that the repugnant smell of smoke and sulfur intensified too, the strong odor was enough to make him want to gag but he couldn't waste anymore time and chose to just deal with the eye watering fumes of the Nether.

From what he could see; a lot of the walls were now missing and he daringly took seconds to look away from his broken path to see on the outside of the structure. Visible divisions of the inside fortress were in a rough shape and a lot of inner buildings had sustained some damage, others had extensive damages that could easily take out neighboring structures and walls if the quakes continued. The two massive towers that protruded from the center of the place didn't seem to fair any better, one of them looked like it was leaning to the side a bit; about to come crashing down on the nearby buildings below it and that would easily take out nearly half of the stronghold. If it fell in his direction then there would be no escaping nor surviving it.

Steve's mind quickly fled from the thought of being crushed as he gasped for breath in his exhausting sprint. Doing his best to fight the heat, the miner pressed forward and wiped the tiny beads of sweat off of his face that his body could barely muster in producing. His tongue and throat was dry and his muscles ached from his endeavor to get to the tower, his body continued to work against him but he fought it with his determination to get to Herobrine. It was a time like this that he wished he still had Herobrine's enchanted sword to give him that extra energy and speed that he so desperately needed.

He quickly glanced to his right as he passed an open section, he could see the outside of the Netherworld through the missing bricks. It was everything it was fabled to be, it had an ocean of fire, numerous vicious monsters, glowing stone hanging in various places from the ceiling, hills and mountains of red jagged rock, and of course; the sweltering heat. He saw all of these things with his own eyes, and despite the nightmarish realm it was; he couldn't help but glance at the outside world at every chance. However; his attention couldn't stay on the landscape of the desolate world for long, because he was coming up to a large pile of rubble that blocked his way.

Steve came to an abrupt stop and looked for a way around the collapsed blockage, his eyes soon lock onto a small hole in the bottom left corner. He knelt down and looked through the gap to see the rest of the corridor on the other side, the small hole appeared to be big enough to squeeze through though he wasn't quite sure if he could fit. There was only one way to find out. He pushed at a Nertherbrick block to his side to make more room and he got flat onto his stomach and shoved one of his arms and then his head through the hole, he then used his free limb to push against the blockade and force himself through with almost no trouble at all. The miner had successfully fit through the opening without difficulty and pulled himself back up onto his feet, being somewhat starved and now thin really made it easier than he thought.

Back on his feet; Steve pushed himself into another sprint but almost immediately stumbled over from stepping onto a surface that disappeared underneath his foot. He now found himself on his hands and knees and looked back at the block his tripped on, it was gone. Getting back up he turned to see a gap trough the bricks and through that cavity he could see lava far below, the molten liquid glowed brightly and sloshed at the sides of one of the thick support beams that held the hallway up. Steve gulped quietly. "That was a close one. Whoa!" He felt the floor under his heels rock again from another tremor and this caused the hole before him to increase in size as more bricks and brick blocks caved into the gap. He could feel the bricks shift under himself and sink so he quickly spun on his feet and ran.

More loud cracks and crunches filled his ears as he proceeded onwards, the ground shook more violently after what sounded like a huge crash from behind the walls. The strong rumble made Steve stagger a few times but he continued to move. A crumbling sound came from up ahead and Steve's eyes widened as more pieces of the floor sunk inward and disappeared, the path just several blocks ahead of him was coming down in big sections and leaving huge gaps that he'd probably have to jump over. "Notch, why?!" He cried out as he grew closer to the holes.

The miner slowed down once he reached the edge and took a few steps back after feeling it lightly shift down a little, he could feel the heat of the Nether lava hitting his face as he gazed down to see more of the liquid fire below. The ground cracked at his heels and started to move down with the blocks barely holding together from friction of the surrounding bricks. In seconds his own weight caused a lot of the brick ends to break, so with little time to back up and get a good leap he immediately hopped forward onto sturdy looking section, he gaped as he felt the part he now landed on start to crumble in. With a two more daring leaps he made it over the lava pit and onto a more firmer looking ground, that was until the rest of the hall that he now stood in shifted all together. He could feel the tremor at his heels and Nertherbrick blocks along the holes quickly started to peel away from the structure, taking other blocks with it. Steve turned his head back to see the floor fall.

"Really?" He sighed in exasperation and started to run again, he quickened his pace as the blocks behind him cracked and gave way. Steve turned his head just for a swift glance and gasped as the ground he was on was caving in behind him, the collapsing bricks were following him and if he didn't move faster then he was going to fall into the lava ocean below with them. He pressed himself to move faster as he heard the corridor behind him break, the sound was anything but pleasant. He could hear the cracks and deep low splatter sounds as parts of the structure hit the molten rock.

Just when Steve thought his luck couldn't get any worse; it did. The heat of the Nether hit his face and arms at full blast as he approached a giant gap in the remains of the corridor. A big fraction of the hall was missing and all that remained was a segment of the wall that clung on and stretched partially over the gap. On the other side though was a more structurally supported and barely damaged pathway. It was the main end of the hallway and it was across a seven block hole, a jump he knew he just couldn't make.

The miner started to panic as he neared the jagged edge of frayed bricks, the rest of the floor at his feet was still falling in behind him and he had no way to slow down and contemplate on getting over to the other side. He knew he couldn't make a jump that big so his eyes quickly searched for anything he could use, his gaze soon landed on the wall on his left to see a couple bricks barely holding together over the gap. He wasn't a master of parkour but there was really no choice but to use the frail clinging blocks to get across, it was better to at least try then stopping and waiting to die. Steve took a deep breath despite the noxious air and he held his breath as he reached the gap. He was risking everything on the few nether blocks that jutted out of the wall in a limp looking fashion, if he could get a good jump and move quick then he might just make the leap. That was if the blocks hold.

'Please let it hold!' He mentally begged, his heart beat wildly in his chest and he almost felt like he could fly with the flowing adrenaline rushing through his veins.

He ran along the left side of the wall and then angled himself towards the barely clinging blocks. He held his breath as he picked up his pace and ran along the vertical surface just over the lava below. Time felt like it had slowed down as he moved steadily along the few brick slabs he had, he could soon feel himself falling to his side from the pull of gravity as he reached the end of the bricks. He could even feel the blocks he was running aside starting to give way from his exertion against the surface, this was it.

At the last second he bent his legs inward and then sprung himself forward over the remainder of the hole as best as he could, time seemed to move up to speed and Steve's eyes widened as his leap wasn't enough to make it fully across.

The miner's chest slammed into the frayed end of the floor with a loud and pained 'Oof' and he instantly and instinctively clasped onto the ground and dug his nails in as his lower torso and legs dangled over the lava-filled gap.

…

There it was, just four blocks away from him. White eyes wouldn't move from the small glowing object lightly shaking on the waist-high column, he could easily destroy it if he wanted but he couldn't no matter how much he really desired. He had a great debt, one that was virtually endless that needed to be paid and he had to honor it until he was freed from it. Herobrine reluctantly moved forward up to the post and reached a hand out but he kept his palm hovering just above the eye, he didn't want to be a coward and definitely not dishonorable towards one who sacrificed a lot to free him and give him power but he still found himself being reluctant. Perhaps… he was …afraid?

…

"Even if I can't help you physically, I at least want to try and help you face this… this THING… that has you so afraid."

…

The immortal quickly squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head back and forth from disbelief. -I am not afraid! I definitely don't need help!- He quickly disagreed and opened his bright eyes and placed his hand down upon the orb. As he did the fortress shook violently again and he almost lost balance from it, he had to cling to the sides of the stand to keep himself from stumbling back.

A loud roar erupted from the Ender Eye and Herobrine immediately drew his hand back and covered the sides of his head and winced from the booming beast-like shout that was so close, he kept his eyes open however and watched as a small black dot form in the center of the glowing orb. The small black blotch expanded and then narrowed with the tips pointing into a sharp ends, the pupil narrowed into a fin thin line. Herobrine straightened up his posture and wore a serious but calm looking expression, masking his own irritancy from failure and some feeling inside that made him feel so small despite being larger than the object before him.

"Herobrine."

His name came out a lot more calmer than the being expected, the voice sounded agitated but composed at the same time. "Yes?"

"I have waited long enough, where are they?" The beast finished with a low but definite snarl.

White eyes looked away from the black slit of a pupil for a moment then back to it after thinking up what to say. "I do not have any End lord, something has come up and I-"

"What is the meaning of this!" The pupil in the orb widened for a second as the voice grew and then narrowed tightly with a strong glare looking into the being's eyes. "How could you have possibly failed in collecting souls?! HUMAN souls!" The End lord growled darkly.

Herobrine didn't even know how to even begin his explanation, he didn't want to say why but he couldn't lie to his liberator. He just had to reword things a bit to seem like he at least tried but without mentioning the mortal that made him falter, he couldn't endanger him. Rewording it was going to be difficult.

"WHY!?" The loud deep and feral tone made the tower vibrate and rumble with just the single word. "Answer me!" He bellowed in impatience.

Herobrine kept a firm gaze on the black pupil but remained silent.

…

Feeling the heat didn't help the struggling miner. Steve took big gulps of nauseating air as he tried to pull himself all the way up but he just couldn't get a good enough grasp on the bricks to haul his legs up, his strength was declining with each struggling attempt and his arms were growing weaker by the second. His body was once again failing him and he could almost feel himself slipping, his hands were getting sore and numb which made it harder to hold on. Trying to move his arm forward in desperation only made him slip down a few inches so he stiffened his muscles and dug in once more to keep himself from falling, his dangling legs only made it harder to remain still and hold onto the edge for dear life.

The sounds of bubbling lava below and searing heat waves filled the miner with dread and made it much more tougher to hold onto the blocks. He now regretted leaving his protective shelter, he wouldn't be in this mess and on the verge of falling to his terrible demise below if had just remained in the bedrock tunnel. He would be well alive and okay, not about to slip and take a plunge in the Nether's molten ocean. But then what of Herobrine? He was getting ready for a world of hurt and he's been through enough as it is.

Steve immediately remembered how Herobrine looked when he first chased him across the valley and ended up struggling to stay on the ledge above lava. It was when Steve fell into a cave and ran towards an open lava pit and jumped it did he find that Herobrine had failed and struggled like he now was in his current position, trying desperately to pull himself up; but the immortal had ended up slipping and falling into a pit of agonizing pain which was about to be the miner's next destination. He could definitely recall those horrific cries of Herobrine's, they were permanently painted on his memory. He seriously didn't want to hear his own cries when the thick hot liquid swallows him up.

An even louder roar sounded from the tower and made his fingers start to slip from the trembling again, the quake intensified quickly and Steve was barely hanging on now. He grunted in his efforts but found himself slipping more until only his hands were above edge. The miner grimaced as he dug his nails into the creases of the bricks but he couldn't grasp on tight enough, he just kept inching down and his nails were chipping and scraping against the tough textured brick from holding almost his entire weight.

"I- I can't …die …here." Steve barred his teeth held on as tightly as he could, the heat coming from below almost seemed to beckon him to let go as it heated his body and made him sweat profusely to add to his growing exhaustion. Not even the drops forming on the surface of his skin lasted though, it evaporated almost instantaneously which kept his hands free of the slippery substance but the hot drafts also made him feel weaker as it boiled him from the inside out. He wanted to rest and escape the poisonous fumes that made him want to just close his eyes and hold his breath.

"Gah!" Steve slipped again and hissed from the large scrape marks on his palms, now he was only holding on with the flat of his fingers; hanging onto the very end of the loose bricks that could easily peel away from the shifting of his weight. 'This can't be it! It just can't be!' The miner wailed from the numbness forming in his shaking arms, most of the blood had rushed out of his trembling appendages and now he could feel his strength waning as well. All that kept him up now was his failing willpower, even that seemed to slip as he glanced down. His eyes searched below to see nothing but the soft-looking lava below to catch him from the fall, of course it would devour every single part of him once he does plunge into it. Burning to death in lava was not a way he wanted to go out, he rather die by Herobrine's blade.

"Herobrine." Steve said aloud while blinking, remembering the powerful double raised a diamond blade up to his chest and threatened to jab him with it. It was if a redstone lamp lit up in his head, he had an idea. "The sword?" he looked at his side to see his lucky blade still sheathed at his side. It wasn't made of diamond and it wasn't all that sharp but it could be used as a tool to get himself out of his mess, the only problem there was; was to reach down and grab it which was seriously risky considering that with his dying energy he was going to have to hold his whole body up with one hand. He didn't know if he had it in him, but he had to at least try.

With the chance for salvation at his side; he was now more determined to get it and then get to Herobrine, his shoulders started to stiffen but he kept his arms up. After thinking his options and risks over carefully he slowly let his grip with his right arm loosen up, this automatically put a huge strain on his left arm and he couldn't help but let out a strained gasp from the strong pull of his muscles. Scowling in pain, he let his now tingling arm fall to his side and clasp around the sword's handle. He could feel life return to his throbbing appendage and it felt as though his limb was being rubbed against a cactus, it was still kind of numb but at least he could use it.

"Errrr. Come on." Steve exhaled loudly as he tried to pull out his stone blade but it was hard with his slowly waking hand, he managed to pull it up a bit out of it's wooden case but it slipped from the weakness still in his fingers and gravity had re-sheathed it. Steve then flexed his sore palm and shook his hand to get the blood flowing, it was quickly getting more troublesome to hold on with one hand and he could feel his clinging fingers slipping.

The miner had clamped as hard as he could with his nails and dug into the brick while taking his empty hand and coiling his tingling hand over the hilt, he fought the numb-like feeling and kept a firm grasp as he pulled it out. Then before he could even think about what he should next; he instinctively brought the stone sword up and over his head with a loud shout from his pain and irritation and rammed the blade as hard as he could into the crease of the bricks to release some tension on his aching arm. It surprisingly went through a thin gap in the blocks and stayed in a firm position. With a new better feeling grip, Steve then held onto the blade handle and let his numbing left arm fall to his side to rest. It was risky to put all of his weight on the fragile sword but he needed regain some strength, he didn't think he could hold on much longer with his left hand anyway. He was lucky that the cracked blade remained in one piece as he stayed suspended over the gap, it could still break at any moment but he didn't let that notion dwell.

Steve sighed heavily and swallowed a bit of toxic air while his left appendage started to wake up. So much discomfort filled his arm muscles but at least now he had a way to get up. With his right arm becoming numb again he swung himself to his side a few times and rocked back and forth enough to swing up high enough to place his left hand back down onto the ledge and he managed to successfully. He then carefully grabbed the dull blade and started to pull himself up, digging in and clinging on with all his might to stay alive and go after Herobrine.

The miner found it difficult at first, but with his freedom of the pain within his grasp he pushed himself to try harder. A deep ferocious growl that caused more quakes had also given him the resolve to push himself further and he had gotten strength from out of nowhere to pull out the blade and drive it through one of the further creases on the horizontal surface. Now with a little more leverage and room; he fully hauled himself back onto the ground and dragged his body across the floor until he was now lying fully on his stomach and the tips of his feet being the only part of his body that hung over the gap. He loudly panted from the flow of pain and weakness running through his limbs, he rolled onto his side then back onto his chest, still fighting exhaustion.

He had to get up.

…

The beast snarled and the Eye never moved from the form standing in front of it. "How can this be? You, Herobrine?!"

"As I had said a minute ago, I had been …distracted. I couldn't kill them, though I had tried to. That is all I can say." Herobrine said as his gaze moved away from the glaring orb.

"HOW?! Why won't you tell me?! How could you not kill those mortals?! Ones of their own kind that tormented you and labeled you as a monster for something that wasn't of your doing?!"

"I tried but a memory came up, one that I could not ignore." He said regretfully.

"A memory? You say you had failed in getting souls from a memory?" The beast paused before erupting with his loud tone. "Have you forgotten what humans 'did' to you?! What they 'took' from you?! What kind of memory made it so hard to kill them? I told you a long time ago to forget about your old connections with mankind, you have no reason to relive the past. They are all the same. And Notch-" A deep guttural sound filled the hollow tower and made it rumble. "Him and his little 'obedient' fleshed mortals are all against us. Memory or not, that should have never stopped you from doing your job. …Paying what you owe to me."

Herobrine narrowed his eyes slightly and clinched his fists that was hidden underneath the stand, he tried his best to hold back his toothy sneer and only frowned deeply instead. He wanted to forget everything that had anything to do with mortals other than what they did to him and he did manage to push those old memories out of mind to strengthen his desire to kill Notch's two-legged creations, to not only punish their kind but to also get back at him.

However; there was only a few memories that he couldn't let go of no matter how hard he tried; the ones that he shared with his best friend and brother Lionel. They were the only good memories that he could ever recall during his time, he never had real happiness until he met that human. He couldn't forget about his only friend, especially after the guy laid his life down in an attempt to save him. He ousted everything he remembered about his 'supposed' friendships with other mortals and his ties to his honorable title of Hero and even his moral values, just so that he could get revenge and pay his debt to the beast.

But forgetting about Lionel?

He could not.

He destroyed everything that was related to the Sovereign, Brutus, and Notch, even paintings of landscapes and portraits of other mortals. He demolished works of art and was almost tempted to burn the library down to completely wipe out the history of the first human colony, but he chose not to in order to bait researches and scholars into visiting the land so that he could toy with them until he grew bored and finished them off. The same went for the fortress and the buildings surrounding it, the settlements had allured in the curious minds and he would take the advantage of drawing in more toys to play with.

The only other thing he couldn't destroy was the shrine of Notch, though he had tried. An ethereal bluish fog always seemed to rise from the water in the large well that was spaced perfectly in the center of the circular room, that fog made him grow weak and tired every time he got near it; even before he was punished by the god and plunged into the Nether. He would visit it and pray with Lionel, but it still made him drowsy and drained him of energy every time he came close. He never knew why and this sort of fueled his hate for Notch considering that cursed well of a shrine was weakening him before he was labeled a monster. Notch appeared to have always hated him and seemed frowned upon him, even when Herobrine had done nothing wrong and even highly honored the creator at one point in time. So Herobrine now felt the same towards the god, he cursed Notch's name countless amount of times.

Herobrine could hear low snarls coming from the Eye. He knew his lack of a response wouldn't go over well, but he couldn't reply with a full answer and so he had been keeping most of the truth from the beast; or rather all the details. Herobrine decided that it was in Steve's best interest not to say everything that had happened over the past two weeks that specifically involved the human, nothing that involved toying with the miner, to fighting him, to getting defeated and then healed, to saving him, then to imprisoning and testing him, and later to befriending him.

Being silent about that however; was not in his own interest. He didn't want to seem like a great failure and be scolded for not killing humans like he wanted to; but just didn't have the desire he once had after getting more acquainted with the miner. He changed unwillingly and couldn't say it.

The Eye of Ender narrowed sharply again out of impatience. "Speak Herobrine, don't give me silence. Not after everything I've done for you. The sacrifices that I've made. That paralysis spell that I took from you and placed on myself and stayed immobilized for twenty long years. The power I gave to you to leave your prison."

"I am still in your debt, Ender." Herobrine reassured, not sure if he was saying the right things to put the beast at ease and drop the questions. "I will make up for this loss, somehow and soon. I will fulfill it no matter what. I promise."

"What's this… Ender?" The black pupil tilted to the side for a second before shooting back into it's straight position. "You think giving me a name is going to going to calm my growing fury? And what's with these promises? I thought you said that they were pointless, like a few hundred years back if I recall?" The Eye stared intently at the demi-god and noticed how the being suddenly seemed tense. "Hmmmmm… something is different about you Herobrine, and it disgusts me." He finished with a hiss.

The old hero man kept his own firm gaze on the Eye and stayed silent despite the words he wanted to get out to the end beast. It was not in his place to argue with his savior.

"Never mind that, we'll come back to that later. You know what you must do now Herobrine." The beastly voice came out more calmly but it's tone still held venom.

The old hero tensed visibly and scowled with his teeth clinched tightly. There would be no way to escape the punishment of his failure, he'd never run away nor fall to the level of a mortal from rejecting the beast's demands out of fear. He moved his right hand up from his side slowly and held it over the glowing orb, hesitant for what the End lord had in store for him.

"Only once did you defy me, the first time I made the debt clear and freed you. You slaughtered the humans of the stronghold but didn't take their souls because of your carelessness from vengeance, you were too busy with the enjoyment of making them suffer that you didn't keep our deal in mind."

"I took some!" Herobrine defended.

"Yes, but only after your first tide of retribution, which actually wasn't even a quarter of the population. I had specifically asked for the first harvest for the sweet taste of my own revenge to Notch and you failed me. I forgave you for that matter but punishment was made so that you'd not fail me again, now I will make sure that you will obey and 'never' fail me again. You will continue to owe me until I say otherwise."

The being's arm shook as he slowly lowered his hand down onto the round object, he had it coming now and he could only predict that this sentence of pain would be worse than before to 'make' him 'never fail again'. With his hand now over the Eye of Ender he wrapped his fingers around it and slowly lifted it off of the column and held it firmly so that the fortress wouldn't shake anymore.

Just as he removed it; a bolt of intense pain shot up through his arm and traveled all through his body with small flares of purple flames coming from the surface of the skin on his arm, this made him roar loudly from the burning pulses and made him instantly fall to his knees but with the orb still glued in his grasp. He grimaced and withstood the pressure, fighting the ache forming in his limb. He tried to stand back up but a different pulse of power had him stumble back into the wall and this time he dropped the Eye after a sharp cry and the tower began to rock more violently.

…

Steve's eyes narrowed as he honed in on the rest of the hallway to see the turn that he and Herobrine had made earlier to the throne room was caved-in on itself and blocked by loads of Nether rubble, he slowed once he reached the crumbled heap and took a good look at the damage. There was bricks everywhere and even large chunks of Netherrack all scattered before the branching corridor that apparently came from the ceiling, he moved over and kicked at a huge mass of bricks but it held firmly and didn't budge even in the slightest so he couldn't go back through there to find a way back to the tower.

There went his hopes. With no option of getting through the heavily blocked area, he continued towards his only exit. He sprinted down the rest of the hallway and stopped immediately as he exited the Nertherbrick structure and strode several feet from the structure, his eyes widened after seeing only the broken bridge being the last of his pathway, the one where he first got trapped on and had to fight a Blaze on. It was bad news, this meant that he was pretty much stuck where he was at; trapped with no way to go but backwards and he couldn't do that. The miner contorted his expression and was half tempted to pull out his hair in frustration of his bad luck, there was no way to get back into the fortress.

"EEEEEEERRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

A loud pained wail sounded aloud along with a violent quake had the miner quickly turning his head towards his left and almost stumble over from the now swaying bridge, he gaped in silence as the tower shook to the point that it looked like it was going to go crumbling down on it's side. He blinked again then shook his head with disbelief though he couldn't deny what he heard. "Herobrine!" That familiar cry belonged to Herobrine and judging by the intense tremor; the immortal was facing punishment now, he had took too long.

The bridge continued to sway back and forth, Steve could hear the sides creak from the bends that it was having a hard time withstanding. The miner soon felt himself rocking back and forth on his heels as the quakes persisted. His eyes went wide as another pillar jutting out of the first tower suddenly made a echoing crack and slowly peeled away from it's foundation and fell right towards him. The towering column was now coming down fast though it seemed to be moving rather slow as he stared and waited for the imminent. This massive thing seemed to be just too big to outrun.

Another shrieking cry had pulled him away from his freighting trance and he strenuously sprinted as fast as his legs could possibly carry him; back towards the building and he dove into the inside of the corridor frame as the giant pillar went crashing loudly through the bridge, it took out nearly the entire overpass with it. Steve quickly spun his head back and scrambled to his feet only to fall back onto his knees from a rippling effect of the falling force. Lava splashed up high from the fall and Steve remained still in awe and shock as the molten lava rained down as he took deep rapid breaths, completely ignoring the nasty smell after his being in shock.

Getting back onto his feet; Steve approached the exit once again and wobbled from side to side as he started moving, he made more careful steps as he walked back outside and up to the remains of the overpass. He stopped within several blocks of the broken end and gawked from the sight of the damage, he'd been dead if Herobrine didn't scream again.

The bridge was no more, just a splintery end of bricks and a loose support beam standing out of the lava. The pillar was somewhat visible from his view and so he crept to the edge with both hands on the stable rail and looked over the brick-ends to see the giant nether block column now slowly sinking beneath the swelling thick waves of lava.