Hero's Bane

Chapter 61: It's Only Begun

Edited 5/6/2022

He didn't know what to do now. The bridge was completely missing and the pathway back into the fortress was gone now too, Steve was trapped on a small fraction of the stronghold that seemed to be sitting on a huge mass of Netherrack with a few thick support beams keeping it suspended above the molten rock. There didn't seem be any way off, nor a way out of the separated structural mass. The miner gazed for a brief moment at the giant sinking column and sighed heavily before looking back through the corridor that shortly ended with the glow from lava at the end. He didn't have the tools to pick his way out of the collapsed route to the main throne room so his options were nothing, nothing but to sit and wait for being's punishment to end.

"Is this always my luck?" He looked back above the exit to see that that the hallway he first jumped from when running from the blaze was now missing, it was probably shook apart and sunk under the lava as well. Another rumble had the miner quickly grabbing onto the side of the clinging rail and hold until the tremor stopped. He then looked back towards the fortress towers as another echoing crack sounded throughout the structure. He stared intently to were the sound could possibly be coming from but whatever it was that cracked still held solid in it's place, for now.

A small clacking sound had the miner shooting his eyes towards the noise and he found a brick lying on the ground in front of the hall entrance, he then looked up to see the top of the hall frame and moved closer to examine it. It really wasn't that high up and some of the bricks around one of the corners had come lose and peeled away for a much shorter height. He wondered if there was any way he cold use the roof of the structure to get back towards the center of the fortress. If he could then he might just be able to help Herobrine after all, if he could just get on the roof.

Steve moved up to the frame and made a jump up with his arms raised over his head to grab onto the edge of the brick above, his jump was a pathetic one and he failed to grasp the bricks. He huffed as tried again but still fell short, the roof was just too high. He looked around for anything that he could use and spotted the brick rail right to the side of him, it was at the perfect height to get him up enough.

The miner grabbed a hold of the brick rail and climbed on top, being extremely careful and mentally praying to Notch that another tremor doesn't come and throw him off. Holding his breath, Steve daringly looked down over the side and instantly felt his stomach turn at the sight of the endless sea of fire; he was getting risky doing something like balancing his own weight on a rail like some tightrope. Some of the bricks that he feet was standing upon were a little loose and crumbly and they shifted when he leaned away from the edge. The miner swallowed his fear and turned around to the rooftop, it looked much more easier to get on but the loose bricks under his feet still worried him.

"Here goes nothing." Steve said to himself and took a few steps back; wobbling a little on the barely stable rail, he then made a quick sprint forward and leapt at the corner. He clasped his hands on the edge of the roof and huffed as his jaw smacked into the rough block, he then struggled to pull his weight up and he dangled with the tips of his feet trying to dig into the creases of the blocks for leverage. The adrenaline he had was nearly gone and he was still sore yet he found the energy to scurry up to avoid slipping. He took deep breaths of air once he pulled himself up and laid belly flat for a few seconds.

His lungs and arms burned from overuse but he couldn't stop now, one of the towers where partially leaning his way so to avoid being crushed by it he needed to get moving. Steve crawled onto his hands and knees before staggering forward from his loss of balance, he was feeling even more drained of energy and he growling stomach did nothing but add to the misery, but at least now he was making progress once again.

Lapis blue eyes looked towards the fortress to see a structure about the same height as the one was on; it was the only noticeable pathway to take, the only problem was getting to it. It was going to be a long jump over lava again, at least this gap didn't seem as large as the last. The miner ran a hand through his hair and sighed with agitation, he was very annoyed by the obstacles and tribulations that stood in his way, but he had been on a successful streak so far. With that in mind he stretched his legs in and out before walking to the opposite side of the small rooftop, then with a good run and go; he pressed his aching lower limbs to move fast and then he jumped over the gap and landed on the other roof with barely any trouble at all other than the trembling of his weakened knees.

"I did it." Steve's eyes widened and he found himself smiling from what he could see. The main wall that cradled the structure wasn't too far away and the roof he was on was pretty much connected to it, this meant that all he had was a long stretch to run across and then he could go into one of the lookout towers at the corners and hopefully find a way back down into the fortress.

Steve sprinted across the Nertherbrick stretch with a grin on his face, it was so easy and he was making a lot of ground. His smile faded however as the stronghold shook again, this caused huge cracks and gaps to form along his path . His eyes went wide from shock as a long split zigzagged underneath his moving feet, the fracture moved faster than he could run and it disappeared up ahead. "No!"

He suddenly felt his right side sink in a bit and he was now running more slowly in his lopsided sprint. Steve moved over to his left to get off of the crumbling side, he also kept his eyes at his own feet and the path before him. The entire place just seemed like it wanted to kill him.

…

Herobrine wrapped his empty arms around this torso and knelt down from the wavelengths of foreign power still coursing through him, it made him feel weak and sore and it continued to burn his insides like a raging fire. It reminded him of the first time he entered the Nether paralyzed and eventually was blasted by Ghast fireballs until he fell into the lava ocean and burned all over for so long.

"We have only begun Herobrine. Now pick up the Eye or I'll level this place you call home."

The old hero frowned deeply and stared at the little round object sitting in the corner of the room staring at him. He didn't intentionally drop the orb, that happened when the Eye fired up his hands and arms almost to an unbearable point. There was no real sign of flames to burn away his flesh; but that is what it felt like as he held it. He didn't even think fire could even get that hot.

The powerful being slowly ambled to the glassy object and stared for a short second, he almost wished he had a choice to leave it. The ground shifted at the orb glowed it's bright lime color; a sign of the beast's impatience. Herobrine rocked on his heels and stumbled forward, he then lurched down and clasped onto to stop the quakes and was instantly greeted with more pain as he lifted it.

…

Steve's luck took a turn for the worse once again. The main wall that had the guard tower on it had collapsed into a huge heap of red rubble, blocking his way to get down more safely. So now he stood near the edge of the roof and had no way to go but down and it was a long drop, one too long to make without falling and breaking his legs on the ground below. There were other buildings nearby but just way too far to jump for a human, if he did attempt to make them then he'd just kill himself.

The miner thought over his options, but not for long. An orb of fire struck a spot near his feet and it exploded on impact which sent the miner flying back with a yelp. Steve rolled a few blocks and immediately dug his hand into one of the creases of the bricks to stop his tumbling. He then rolled away quickly as another ball of fire came flying at him, it exploded again which had bricks flying from the blast and him rolling further away. He stopped and moved onto his feet quickly as soft cries filled his ears, he looked up with dread as the giant white floating creature opened it's tear-stained eyes for a brief moment and spat out another deadly projectile. He managed to get a good head start to evade the shower of fire but the previous explosions were destroying the roof he was on, leaving gaping holes that he could easily fall through.

The white creature whined and spat at him again, Steve then decided to pull out his damaged blade and try and deflect the ball of flames with the broadside of the sword. But as it hit the weapon; the flames sprayed him along with an outburst of power and had him careening backwards onto the ground from the shockwave. The miner hissed from the burns he received and was lucky that the blast was directed outward so it didn't hit him head on, the hit made him very disoriented and his vision danced just as wildly as he stumbled around from the dizziness.

A large white blur was moving closer to him, way too close for comfort. Steve shook his head and blinked to find the mob closing the distance for a more precise strike, at this close range it was going to be nearly impossible to dodge the fast fireballs. The mob whined again and opened it's crimson colored eyes as it takes absolute aim at the moving human, then spat. Steve rolled to his to evade the fireball, then tumbled further towards the edge of the roof from the explosion. He gnashed his teeth as he pulled himself off of the hot bricks with wobbling arms, he needed to get out of the monster's range. However; with multiple large holes in the way and being so up-close to the thing, it wasn't going to happen. The pale mob made a soft howl and inhaled particles of the nether into it's mouth. At that moment the miner had noticed that the mob was so huge that it couldn't spit fire below itself, so at the last second Steve dove over a hole and under the white giant as it launched it's firey projectile.

Bricks and pieces of brick flew in all directions from the blast and the miner tilted his head up to see huge white tentacles moving upward with the mob. He really wanted to run from the deadly Nether creature, yet with the dilemma of facing a powerful creature and having nowhere to hide; he was going to have to kill it. Steve suddenly leapt up and grabbed onto one of the mob's limbs and held tightly as he was lifted high off of the ground, he could feel himself slipping with his waning strength so he held tighter.

The mob wailed and swung left and right, trying to shake off the clinging miner. It even went lower to the rooftop and scraped it's tentacles across the corner of a building as it passed by; trying to smack the human off.

Steve cried out as he hit the side of the building and then held on tighter after slipping a few inches from the growing dizziness of hitting the building at full force. He then looked around to see the mob had flown up high above the stronghold, flying right towards the towers. It was hard to focus on his environment with his disorientation, but Steve quickly shook the feeling off and blinked in shock as the mob flew around the first tower still swaying and even trying to knock it's limbs into the side of the tall structure.

The miner cried out as the mob slammed him into the side of the colossal building, his left side took a good smack against the Nertherbrick and now he was struggling more than ever to keep his grasp. The white mob then moved away from the tower and made a turn out in open space before heading back towards it. The swaying movements of the mob was making Steve's head spin even more and the nether heat and fumes were helping in making him sick to his stomach. He mentally fought off the vertigo and watched as the monster was making another round trip into the side of the tower. 'I can't go through that again.' He thought as he sneered when he heard the mob whine. He had to get the monster to stop or he was going to be knocked off and fall to a gruesome death below.

The miner panted as he wrapped his hands around the lengthy limb and climbed up a bit, he moved quicker once he saw the creature about to sway it's tentacles around and swing him into the wall. He then wrapped his left arm around the white appendage and withdrew his stone sword, Steve waited until the monster got closer to the tower before raising his blade up and slashing at it's underbelly as much as he could before he grew weak.

Loud shrieks and wails filled the air, the mob swayed from the pain and grazed the side of it's head across the bricks near the top of the tower, peeling and ripping away single bricks and even a few block chunks as it scarped along it's side. The miner clung on tightly and watched as rubble rained down from the monster's collision. Once they were clear of the giant building; Steve held his breath as he swiped at the monster again, causing the mob to wail sharply and veer in all directions from the pain. Noticing that the mob was moving down near the base of the tower; Steve then flexed his shoulder before jabbing the stone weapon up into the mob's stomach. This caused the white giant to screech and cry out once more before the wounded thing whined more softly as it fell towards the fortress.

"Uh-oh." Steve placed his sword back into his scabbard and held on tightly as the dying mob leaned head-first and crashed right through the rooftop at the base of the first tower. The miner screamed as the hulking mob plowed into the thick brick and went crashing down onto the surface, tearing through blocks in the process.

Steve bounced off of the creature's belly and smacked the floor on the other side of the dead monster before rolling a few blocks away, soon coming to a stop several feet away. His body pulsed like he had been shocked by lightning, every nerve in his body ached badly and made him gasp quietly. His lungs were empty from his scream so he couldn't. The pained miner took a deep breath then cried out as he rolled onto his side, the impact with the roof and the floor shook him despite having the mob taking the brunt of the force.

Another low tremor had the miner sitting up and rubbing his now aching joints, wincing greatly as he did. He steadily moved onto his feet and glanced around with surprise. He was in a large hall? Steve turned towards the dead mob and walked around it's huge form as something clicked in his mind, once he was on the other side of it he gaped. He was back in the throne room. The miner let out a sigh in relief before looking around, he was lucky to survive the crash.

He blinked as he glanced around, the fortress itself from the inside didn't look so good. It was damaged beyond belief with blocks scattered about and a pillar lying in two massive chunks that stretched across the room, some of the walls also had gaping holes in them and a few had even completely collapsed. There were also cracks everywhere and that was a worrying thought with the idea of buckling walls giving away at any moment. Herobrine's huge chair was only a good ten blocks away and it was partially destroyed from a few big hunks of Nertherbrick lying close by. The guy wasn't going to be happy about that.

The big mob didn't get him into the tower but it did get him back to where he needed to be. Steve moved towards the chair and then shifted his gaze left then to right, seeing two giant hallways on each side that was lined with huge red pillars and arches; just like he remembered. Or mostly from what he remembered, there was a lot of visible damages from his spot alone; he didn't even want to see the full extent so far.

It wasn't long before his blue eyes soon land on a small room right behind the throne, it wasn't anything fancy and it was hardly noticeable, the only reason he saw it was because of the doorframe. It looked like it was damaged but not by quakes, more like the edge of it had been punched through. 'Did Herobrine hit it out of anger?' Steve thought, the White-Eyed man seemed very stressed when he left the miner to go face the End beast. This raised curiosity. Steve moved towards it and peered inside to see a vertical wall that went straight up with a long red barred ladder that lined it. Steve immediately had his suspicions now. Herobrine told him to never go to the towers but he didn't even know how to get up in there in the first place, until now it seems.

With hesitance Steve moved up to the ladder and gazed up, he couldn't see anything but darkness above, regardless of his average eyesight; he was going to have to go up there. That has to be were Herobrine was. With a shaking hand; the miner grabbed onto the bar above his head and placed his foot on the one below it before automatically grabbing the next one.

…

Herobrine clung to the orb and stumbled to the side as what felt like molten lava flooding out through his veins, every part of his body just burned and it was a fire hotter than that of the Nether's flames that he had spent years adapting to. The White-Eyed man staggered to his right and smacked into the wall and painfully gnashed his teeth as he hit it, he continued to breathe heavily and grimace as the power fluctuated from strong to stronger. He leaned up against the wall on his side with the side of his head resting on dark red bricks, panting quietly.

"It's not over yet. Failure a second time has a harsher punishment, but don't worry; I won't kill you Herobrine. Your own powers have their usefulness."

Herobrine narrowed his eyes and mentally cursed at the beast, the End lord was going to do some real damage if he was talking about his healing abilities and putting them to 'use'. It really made him heated that he was going to take on presumably more waves of torment, and the beast was using 'his' healing blood against him to step up the punishment. The being watched as the Eye's pupil slowly broadened, the thin black pupil had soon completely consumed the orb in darkness within a matter of seconds.

A low vibration came from the spherical item as well as a wave of strange energy, it flowed from deep within the Eye and shot through the demi-god's hands and up through his arms in one swift bolt. The immortal cried out in agony as a newer pain took over his limbs, this was worse pain than he could have ever imagined and he couldn't help but scream and tightly seal his eyes from this new feeling. It was like some force was eating away at his bones and his muscles and working it's way up to the surface of his skin. Herobrine wailed as the razor-like gnawing sensation persisted and spread across his forearms.

He finally opened his eyes and they widened as small black cavities appeared on the surface of his skin and they slowly grew bigger, the pain intensified as the splotches expanded in size and devoured the surrounding skin along the edges. The old hero shook his head and winced again as the tenderness swelled up in his arms. He quickly removed himself from the wall then rammed his head into it to get a distraction from his current pain with another, but no matter how many times nor the force he used; he couldn't ignore the pulses literally eating away at him.

He gnashed his teeth painfully and steadied his breaths before falling back down onto his knees, the sharp aches in his arms were starting to lessen up as his limbs became numb. Wondering just where the pain went; he looked down at the mess that was his damaged limbs and just as quickly sealed his eyes shut. He shouldn't have looked because it was worse than he imagined. His arms were nearly as black as the orb that he somehow kept a grip on and just slightly shifting them caused what looked like ashes; to flake off and completely disintegrate before the pieces even touched the ground. It was if the power had corroded or destroyed his flesh, he could now barely even feel his arms.

But just as the pain disappeared it came back and it hurt badly, he was healing and the process of healing with his cursed blood was agonizing, especially for not one full limb but two. He ground his teeth and held in his cry, his growing anger helped him to keep it in. Ender intentionally destroyed his arms painfully slow just so that they could regenerate painfully too, he felt as though he deserved this sentence but at the same time it just seemed to be far too much. A step too far for a little disobedience.

…

The miner was moving up much more slowly then he thought because it was taking a long time to make it up, Steve had already reached the dark end and could still feel his hand landing on another step. 'The tower top couldn't be too far away now.' He stopped as a small roar echoed from above. It didn't sound like a beast's, it sounded like Herobrine. The miner then forced himself to move a little faster until he reached the main top. He pulled himself onto a flat surface and onto his feet before staring intently at a room down a lengthy corridor at the main end. He saw a flickering glow like that of fire coming from a room up ahead, he just knew that that place was were he needed to go.

Steve didn't hesitate sprinting down the narrow hallway since he knew that Herobrine was somewhere in there, he ignored his aching limbs and lungs and pushed himself forward on the last reserves of his energy. He slowed as he got close to a large doorway and took a second to glance at a barred door lying on the ground a few blocks away from the entrance to the room, once he reached the doorframe he hid to the side after what sounded like small pained wails coming from the inside. There was absolutely no doubt that the powerful being was in there now, but that would mean that the beast handing down the punishment was too and that thought frightened him.

There was possibly a real monster in there, one that made those thundering roars that pretty much demolished a huge portion of the Nertherbrick stronghold. Herobrine's cries had soon stopped but as he inched closer to the doorframe he could definitely hear stiffened whimpers like the being was trying not to display utter weakness. Sort of like the whimpers he made when he healed from his deep burns from the lava pit not too long ago.

The miner slowly peered into the large hollowed room but couldn't see anything from the doorway so he moved in a bit more and noticed a small Nertherbrick stand that looked like it once held something on it in the center of the room, it was a stand of some sort. Then his eyes immediately darted from it to his right when something slightly shifted in the corner of his eye. He spun to his right and stood quietly in shock to see Herobrine down on his knees and panting rather loudly with blackened arms that had spots of light coming through the tainted skin.

Herobrine was at least six blocks away and leaning with his side against the wall for support, his head was leaning down at an angle so apparently the guy didn't see him or notice him yet which was odd. He looked to be in a lot of pain so maybe that is why he has yet to sense him. Steve also noticed that the old hero had a black sphere in his weak clutches, it barely sat in the palms of his partially missing hands. The miner cringed at the disturbing sight, still speechless from what he was seeing exactly; flakes of skin were just chipping off and leaving gaps where flesh once was. Two of the being's fingers on his right hand had then broken off and they vanished into thin air when he leaned forward a bit with a silent moan, he had slightly moved in his uncomfortable-looking position which made the orb roll a bit and the weight was too much on his fragile hand. He loudly wailed as a glow took over the missing spots.

"Herobrine?"

The White-Eyed man's head instantly snapped up from the sound of the miner's worried tone. He shot a glare at the man but hissed to himself as the flesh on his elbows started to reform.

The orb suddenly pulsed in Herobrine's hands then the black withdrew into the center before sliding to the side to where the miner stood. The pupil thinned out sharply and a deep snarl came from it.

"What's this? Why is there a HUMAN HERE?!" The tower seemed to quake from the booming tone.

Steve instantly took a step back with fear in his eyes but stopped himself from going any further, no matter what that thing in Herobrine's hand was or what it was doing could make him run away. He didn't come all this way and nearly die in the process for nothing. He was obviously terrified by that thing though, especially after seeing what it had apparently done to the demi-god.

The black needle pupil then swerved back towards Herobrine. "Who is this mortal? I thought you hated them. Was it this human that brought up that distracting memory? … Why do you continue to stare in silence?" The voice demanded. "You must be hiding something from me."

It was hard to maintain focus on the round item with the burning blood in his arms replacing the missing tissue and bones that was constantly dissolving away, but he now had to tolerate it and explain himself. The human was told to never go into the tower, but he didn't listen and somehow managed to get up damaged structure. Ender was bound to either deliver more pain or have the fortress collapse on itself to kill the mortal, possibly both. He couldn't do much while in his healing state so trying to get the miner out of harms way was pretty much impossible up to this point, it was also impossible to teleport himself until he healed enough so Steve wouldn't be the only one to be crushed by tons of Nertherbrick ceiling high above.

He wouldn't survive it, but Herobrine would and the heavy bricks would only add to his agony that he already had. He huffed loudly; infuriated by Steve's audacity to actually come up here when he was told not to so if the human died then he'd deserve it, but at least the mortal's presence had put a small break in his punishment. Probably for a fleeting amount of time to heal some, depending on what the End lord wants to do and when he does it.

"Speak!" The Eye glowed with a bright light and pain again moved up through his reforming bones and made the immortal hiss. "Why is that human here?!" The voice demanded loudly.

He didn't even know where to start, or what to say but he couldn't remain silent now that the miner had made his presence known to the beast. "He defeated me in battle so I dragged him here."

"You were defeated by a mere human?" The disembodied voice questioned with a tone of disbelief and surprise.

Herobrine reluctantly nodded and this only fueled the End beast's rage. He could tell that the End lord was fuming with his simplistic and yet unbelievable explanation. "Yes, I fought him and lost."

"Then why bring him here?"

"Because instead of killing or torturing me, he-…" Herobrine paused and thought back to that night, getting slashed by his own enchanted and blood-infused weapon that had tricked his own body into thinking that it wasn't wounded so he couldn't heal. At least not without help from the miner. "He tended to my wound and helped me recover despite being my enemy, he's not like most mortals. I brought him here to get answers and-" Herobrine was about to continue after another pause but the beast cut him off.

"Don't make me laugh." Ender said with little amusement and a hint of disappointment. Ender's Eye swerved back over towards the miner and glared coldly at him which made the man tense up. "You expect me to believe that this single-minded and weak mortal had defeated you in battle and then saved you? You are practically a god to his kind, his pathetic weapon shouldn't have even came close to grazing your flesh. He shouldn't have been able to even swing the sword by the time it takes to put him down with one hand."

"I allowed him to use one of mine." Herobrine reluctantly stated.

"You did what?" The Eye of Ender moved it's gaze back to him and he wasn't pleased with the feral snarl that followed.

"Forgive me, I wanted a challenge and I got more than I bargained for. He deserved a fighting chance for helping me out of a pit of lava after becoming trapped within it, but I underestimated him in battle." He said quietly, eyes looking away. "I gave him a chance to fight for his life though I knew it would have been far too easily to end him otherwise, but I had also owed him a fighting chance from his previous actions."

"A fighting chance? No mortal deserves that. What has happened to you Herobrine? You continue to stumble on your own sentences and half of the time I'm looking at you; you aren't looking directly at me like you should. Was it this being of 'Notch' that changed you?"

Herobrine sneered, Ender was piecing the puzzle together.

"Well?!"

Herobrine roared as another pulse of power struck his reformed and very sensitive nerve endings in his healing hands, he was fortunate that it wasn't the destructive energy and just the burning sensation so the healing continued but not without pain.

"I'm waiting." The monster hissed and released more waves of energy into Herobrine's hands and he yelled out from the pain.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" Steve shouted after watching the being howl and writhe in his place. The miner took a few bold steps towards the Eye but immediately shrank back in fear from getting a closer look at the intimidating orb that was now looking at him menacingly.

"You? Commanding me mortal?" A deep-dark and guttural chuckle soon followed his words as he watched the man back up and quiver out of fear. So much for speaking up on Herobrine's behalf, it was surprising enough for a human to defend their killer. "That's the first thing I have ever heard from a human, it's actually quite amusing since I can see the profound fear in your eyes after shouting at me with anger like that. I can sense your fear growing quickly though, that's to be expected in the presence of my power. But don't go running away just yet mortal, I want to know just why you seem so inclined into helping your enemy and I wonder if you'll continue to? After all… he's going to be the one to put an end you once this conversation is over."

Herobrine tensed up even more and looked over at Steve with a surprised expression, his mouth hung agape from Ender's early demand. He could obviously tell that the miner was holding his breath, Steve's blue eyes stared into his white ones with fright and betrayal and he hadn't even done anything to the human yet. But he knew that the being was in a great debt. Herobrine then gnashed his teeth and felt his regenerating hands wrapping around the orb more tightly as the end beast chuckled again.