Herobrine's head still hurt like... he was tempted to say Hell, but he honestly was longing to return to the Nether at this point.
He'd always gone from place to place without any specific idea of where he was headed, but recently he found himself not even having a general idea of what he was doing. He'd been catching himself spacing out and waking up again miles from where he started, with nothing but whiteness behind him.
To say he was afraid was no longer unthinkable. It was, instead, a grave understatement.
He rubbed his temples, then ran a hand over his chin.
"Notch above, I need a shave," he muttered, then froze as his fingers touched solid, cold metal.
Whatever his claw was made out of, it was spreading further along his body. The metal now took up about half of his neck and chin, and was beginning to reach up the right side of his face and down his chest.
He flexed the claw again, watching each small piece of white metal move around the large red orb that had replaced the palm of his hand, and let out a small huff of breath.
The voices of the white metal had been murmuring in his head for a while now, but for the most part he'd managed to ignore them. He'd had some amount of practice ignoring voices before, although those were passive and these ones were more aggressive.
An idea came to him quite suddenly, and he raised an eyebrow at the sheer simplicity of it. Talking to the old speakers had never done any good, but with this much of a difference between the old and the new, it certainly couldn't hurt to try.
"...Are you there?" he asked to the empty air, words echoing quietly around him.
th_r_?
w_'v_ b_n h_r_, w_ ar_ h_r_, w_'ll b_ h_r_
wh_r_ hav_ y_ b_n?
The voice he heard was definitely a lot more focused than before, and a lot more singular-sounding than the constant murmur he was used to. He let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, then spoke back to whoever it was talking to him.
"I've been here too. Who or what are you?"
w_ _r_ th_ Pr_c_ss, th_ Pr_c_ss, th_-
-i am Syb_l R_isz
"Sybl," Herobrine responded. "Oh, of course, your name is Sybil. It's... a nice name," he added awkwardly. Conversation was not something he'd focused on in the past, to say the least.
it s_rv_s its p_rpos_, _v_rything has a p_rpos_, nam_s ar_ j_st for id_ntification
_v_rything has a nam_ so do yo_ hav_ a nam_ as w_ll?
"I... yeah. Yes, I do. It's Herobrine."
what do_s yo_r nam_ m_an, H_robrin_?
"...What does it mean?"
_v_ry nam_ has a m_aning - _ach and _v_ry nam_ has a m_aning - so what do_s y_urs m_an?
"Well." He sat down on the ground, crossing his legs and staring down at the red eye in his claw-hand. "That's not something I know."
yo_ don't know?
why not? how can yo_ know th_ v_ry thing yo_'r_ call_d and not why yo_'r_ call_d it?
"It's not something I need to know," he responded quietly. "It's just never something I've needed to think about."
He could have sworn that the robotic and unfeeling voice of Sybil sounded faintly exasperated when it spoke once more.
nam_s d_t_rmin_ _v_rything abo_t who w_ ar_
and som_how still yo_ say that th_y'r_ not important
He raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just say they were only for identification? Or is that old news?"
nam_s id_ntify o_r s_lf and who w_ ar_ in th_ world
a Sybil is a proph_t_ss, a comm_nicator from mortal to immortal
j_st as i hav_ b_n chos_n to bridg_ th_ gap b_tw_n fl_sh and Proc_ss
why can yo_ not s_ this why will yo_ not acknowl_dg_ this wh_n will yo_ r_aliz_
"So then, you're saying that a name determines who you are?" Herobrine sighed. "Wait, you did just say that."
y_s
"Okay then, I have an important question to ask you." He closed his eyes and spoke through gritted teeth in a low and urgent tone.
"What is the function of an Alex? And of a Steve?"
an Al_x prot_cts h_mankind, th_ir own fl_sh and blood b_t oth_rs b_sid_s
a St_v_?
i... sho_ld not say.
"Why not?" he snapped, eyes opening suddenly and blazing with white light. "The man who bears that name is the only person who has ever stood in my way, up until when I captured him. I'm stuck with you things anyways. Tell me."
no
it wo_ld not b_ wis_
He stared down at the ground for several seconds before silently and almost clinically wrapping his fingers around the large red orb in his right hand. He struggled to find a surface to hold on to, then gave up and began pulling smaller pieces of white metal out of his claw-arm, tossing them aside like bits of useless debris.
what ar_ yo_ doing?
Sybil didn't seem too upset with him. He figured that would change sooner or later, so he continued working away at his arm.
H_robrin_
what ar_ yo_ doing?
"I'm," he muttered through a grimace as he attempted to tear out a rather large piece of the arm, "negotiating with you things."
yo_'r_ p_lling o_t pi_c_s of yo_r arm
"Yeah, and you want me whole, don't you!" Herobrine growled. The piece came out, and he tossed it away angrily. "So tell me what his name means, and why you won't tell me, or I will systematically tear out every single piece of the Process in my body."
that's only going to h_rt yo_, yo_ know
"Do I seem like I care?"
y_s
th_ r_ason yo_ spok_ to m_ is b_ca_s_ yo_ don't want to di_
th_ r_ason yo_ ask_d for th_ m_anings of thos_ nam_s
is b_ca_s_ it incr_as_s yo_r lik_lihood of s_rviving
yo_ don't want to do this and yo_ know it
His hand froze around the next piece, and he tried to move it but failed.
"...Are you controlling my arm now?"
no. yo_'r_ doing that
som_wh_r_ in yo_r mind yo_ know i'm right
and that part of yo_ has c_as_d this pointl_ss s_lf harm
that's how fl_sh works yo_ know
He pursed his lips and was silent for a long time, staring out at the world around him. Nothing caught his eye as being particularly interesting - all around him was nothing but fields of grass, with not even the occasional patch of Process to provide variety in the scenery.
"How long?" he finally asked, staring at his half-dismantled claw and flexing the fingers on it. It hung by only one or two pieces now, but was still perfectly functional from what he could tell.
how long _ntil what?
"Until you kill me. How long do I have before the Process takes over my entire body?"
w_ll
i don't know
it was v_ry fast for m_, fast_r alr_ady than yo_r Proc_ssing
b_t th_n again, i gav_ in
so i can't say
Herobrine sighed, still staring down at his claw. "But probably not more than a week, yes?"
probably not that long
i tak_ it yo_ hav_ _nfinish_d b_sin_ss
"Yeah," he responded, pushing himself up off the ground and clenching both his fists. "I do. And with your help, Sybil..."
with th_ h_lp of the Proc_ss?
"...With the help of the Process, I think I can finally finish it before I die."
((Wow, hey. I'm back.
Here are your alternate humorous titles for last chapter:
- steve, no
- the mythbusters called and they'd like to hire you
Have a nice day, and review if you can!))