Chapter 52: Fatal Flaw
"So…any idea on where the map is pointing to?"
The group currently found themselves back within the forest, staring at the map within Herobrine's hands intently as they tried to figure out its contents for themselves. The area surrounding the center of the map seemed to consist of some mountains and what seemed to be an environmental change, but apart from that, the writing upon the map itself was lost upon all apart from Herobrine, though even then, it was rather smudged and almost impossible to read.
"Given the map itself and how blank it seems to be, I'd say our next location is somewhere within a desert. Which one exactly, however…that's to be determined." Herobrine quietly answered Constiere's question, looking over the map with careful eyes.
"Can we check over ours as well? Do you think we can find that place on our map?" Steve asked, turning to look at Herobrine directly.
"...There's a good chance that we can, but our map doesn't exactly contain those fine details like ravines. It mainly focuses on village and city locations, so of course, those stand out more. We'll have to compare different deserts together to get a better picture."
"And that's assuming that this desert is on our map." Andvari added.
"...It might not even be on this continent." Malgun said quietly, looking at the map a bit more closely.
Confusion appeared in Steve's expression for a quick few seconds before his eyes lit up in realization.
"Wait…that's true! Andres could've been able to go anywhere; this desert might not even be on the mainland!"
As a collective sigh of disappointment arose within the group, Herobrine let out a small hum at the miner's words.
"...Actually, I'd doubt that would be the case. The kingdom of Lunarus is centered on this land, I'd take a guess and wager that the divines wouldn't want to go through something so obnoxious as having to teleport to different islands and continents just for the sake of using a portal, since they apparently love this land so much, regardless of how many times they'd actually have to do so. Aside from that, if they had a champion that they needed to use, they wouldn't want to waste time having them have to cross an ocean or two in order to get what they needed. The portals should all be focused on one landform, and given Lunarus's continued existence, I'm willing to say that it might be the one we're on right now. All we have to do is figure out where."
Briefly switching the map over to be held in his right hand, Herobrine went to pull out their original map from where he'd hidden it away on his person, handing it over to Andvari in order for him to unroll and present it.
"Easier said than done. I mean, who knows how long this is gonna take to find?" Steve said quietly, looking upon their own map with some added worry in his gaze.
Glancing in between the two maps as he tried to compare their contents as quickly as he could, Constiere let out a small hum before he spoke.
"Hopefully not long enough for someone else to beat us to the punch; like we said, someone could always find one by accident." He responded, placing his hands on his hips.
"...But won't the champions be occupied with searching for us, mostly?" Andvari asked, looking down at the others as he held out their map in front of his body away from his own gaze.
"Purposeful competitors, at least. Otherwise, we can at least expect some stragglers to try and look for the portals while everyone else is distracted by their hopeless quest." Herobrine answered, taking another moment to analyze the second map that lay within his hands.
The group followed suit, trying individually to remember if they'd seen anything even remotely similar to the surroundings drawn upon the paper in their own travels (apart from Steve, who had almost nothing to compare with). Careful eyes examined the map, as if it was only time that was preventing them from figuring out where the location on the map currently was. There were a bunch of deserts that they could travel to, sure, but they lacked the luxury of having all the time in the world. Their own map was somewhat limited, but it was all that they had in terms of having a visual guide to aid them.
"...What do the words on the map even say? Can you tell?" Steve asked Herobrine curiously.
Herobrine gave him a shrug.
"...It's written in ancient Aethren, but the ink has seen better days. I'm only picking up the words 'Dawn' and 'Sun.' I've only ever heard of a desert under the name of 'Dawn's Peak' in passing before, but I'm not entirely sure of its current location. There needs to be some further research done upon it, if that's the case."
"...'Dawn's Peak'… I've heard of it as well, sir." Andvari let out a small hum. "...It's a relatively small desert, I believe. Not much to see apart from some hills and ravines, according to the endermen, long ago."
"...Do you think they'd be able to remember where they found it?" Constiere glanced up at him curiously, earning a shake of the head.
"Not at this point, no. They spoke in passing then, not paying much mind to any real details, just stating that it took shorter to teleport through than other deserts they've been in."
Disappointment amongst the group as Andvari finished speaking. Letting his own feelings fall away, Herobrine briefly glanced back up toward the others.
"...I'll call the silverfish. Quite a number of our forces tend to travel through deserts frequently; surely speaking, they may have seen these surroundings that are here upon the map." Herobrine stated, handing off the map in his hands over to Malgun briefly as he went to step away from the group. A silent call spread through the area soon after, however, leaving them in waiting as Herobrine used his abilities.
"...But we don't really keep a lot of active tabs on deserts, though. Would any of our forces even bother with remembering stuff like that if we don't tell them to bother with it?" Constiere asked, speaking more towards Herobrine.
Herobrine glanced back at him briefly.
"...If we have to send them somewhere specific, they'd better know where it is." He said in a bit of a grumble. "I know we haven't been entirely careful as of late, but they shouldn't be that careless."
"...Having all of this surveillance and movement is somehow not being careful, Brine?" Steve raised a brow at him, earning a small shrug in response.
"...You'd be surprised at how clean of an operation we can run when the circumstances aren't as poor as they are now."
Leaving Steve with that answer, the somewhat faint sound of underground movement traveled briefly through the silence that had formed after their conversation had ended before the familiar sight of small, wormish creatures came to the group's gazes. Herobrine crouched down and engaged in a quick conversation with them, soon after turning to face the group as they waited for his answer.
"...There are roughly three deserts that could possibly include the location that we have on the map, here." He announced, leading to a general sense of surprise to arise within the group, especially within Steve.
"They...they actually could figure that out?" Steve asked, unable to comprehend how such small creatures could possibly get that amount of perspective of their surroundings.
Herobrine gave him a brief nod.
"The silverfish go anywhere I send them. Though I often place them in places where they can actively gain information directly, incidental knowledge is something they gather too. What, are you really shocked by that?"
Steve thought about his words for a moment before shrugging.
"...It's…I wasn't expecting that. Not used to them entirely, I guess."
Herobrine looked at him for a bit longer than he deemed necessary before giving him a brief shrug in response.
"...Get more used to them, I guess."
Taking another look at their recently gifted map, Herobrine presented it to the others once more.
"Two of the deserts that they mentioned are located northeast of where we are currently, the remaining one located a bit southwest." He stated, looking at them for their reactions.
Nods were given in response before a look of curiosity reappeared upon Steve's face.
"Were any of those Dawn's Peak?"
"No names were given. The deserts were all void of villages and temples, so they were only empty routes that the silverfish had to take. Could very well be that Dawn's Peak isn't among them, but it's worth a look."
Steve continued to look at him for answers.
"So…which one are we heading towards first? Are we gonna check out the one southeast of here, then head toward the other two, or what?"
Herobrine's gaze fell slightly.
"...That's the next issue. We can't teleport freely, and we can't just decide to waste time by traveling to all three deserts while running the risk of being interrupted any more than we already have been. It's more than likely that we need to decide on whether or not we should take a gamble, and hope that our luck is plentiful enough for us not to have to make a mad dash in the other direction once we reach wherever we decide to go." Herobrine explained.
Deep thought enveloped the group fairly quickly as he finished.
"...I mean, there's always the possibility of us sending forces down to each location and telling them to search for the portal for us. That way, we can just sit and wait until we get solid answers." Constiere quietly suggested, earning a briefly raised brow from Herobrine in response.
"And risk being caught by stray champions? Risk being too slow to find the portal ourselves and have our opportunity ripped from our hands by some random idiot? We can't simply wait around for too long, we have to keep moving forward." Herobrine argued.
Constiere crossed his arms in front of his chest and glanced away slightly in embarrassment.
"...Yeah. I didn't believe my suggestion would go over well entirely, either."
A small, thoughtful hum from the enderman beside them gathered their attention.
"...That's not a bad suggestion entirely, though. We can simply choose which desert to head towards ourselves, while we send our forces down to the other two. If we don't find the desert we're looking for, then we check in with the other two groups and see if they were any luckier. If they are, we head straight for them." Andvari said with a small shrug.
"...That's a better option and a better draft of Constiere's suggestion, but we'll have to truly pick wisely if we want to minimize travel." Herobrine said.
More silence passed between the small group before a thought soon came to Steve's head, though he was a bit worried about vocalizing it. Deciding that it was better to let it be heard instead of remaining silent, Steve forced himself to speak.
"...Hear me out. Maybe…maybe we should take another look at that pearl we forged?" Steve brought up quietly, earning intrigue from the others as all eyes fell on him.
Herobrine was about to outright argue against the miner's words before a brief look of realization flashed across his features, leading to him staring at Steve with a genuine look of intrigue.
"...What kind of clue do you believe that it'd give us?" He asked Steve with a raised brow.
Steve shrugged at him.
"...They're supposed to react to portals, aren't they? Maybe it'll react all the way out here? Start glowing or whatever depending on where we're heading? If it was made for finding portals, then maybe it'd give a stronger reaction to them than my eyes alone ever could. Just a thought."
Herobrine stared at him for a moment or two before looking back at the map.
"...That's a good point, but we don't want to run the risk of breaking or ruining that eye…pearl. Taking it out would just put it in danger."
"...Not necessarily. We just have to be careful, don't we?" Steve gave him another shrug. "We can just take it out for a few minutes or so and see if it goes through any changes, then just put it away. No chance for it to get destroyed, or anything else."
Herobrine thought about his words thoroughly for a minute or so, debating with himself over the issue, before looking back down at the map in front of him with a more serious expression on his face.
"...I suppose that we're going be taking quite a few gambles anyways…" He muttered.
After a few more moments of personal thought, Herobrine let out a small sigh.
"...Bring the eye." Herobrine commanded Andvari without looking at him, leading to the enderman soon disappearing from sight once he realized he was being spoken to.
Within the span of a couple of minutes, Andvari returned with the requested item, taking a moment to examine its surface before presenting it to the others. Carefully holding the pearl within his claws, he, along with the others apart from Herobrine, stared at the pearl with anticipation.
"For another portal-tracking device, I wonder how truly effective it might actually be…" Andvari let out a small hum, adjusting his grip upon the pearl a bit as he spoke.
"...How are we gonna use it? Does it start working on its own, or…?" Constiere asked, pointing towards the pearl as he attempted to poke at it, only for Andvari to pull it back from his reach.
"...I mean, I know as much as you guys do, so…" Steve answered with a shrug, looking over the surface of the pearl as he carefully examined its details.
Its color was still a rather vibrant green, and the pupil that seemed to exist upon it still stared deep into his soul like it was truly alive, making him feel a shiver briefly shoot itself down his spine. He almost half-expected for it to suddenly blink at them, which would've definitely made his day a bit worse.
Before they could get hypnotized by the forged pearl without them realizing it, Herobrine rolled up Andres's map before he carefully went to remove the pearl from Andvari's claws, being even more gentle than the enderman himself had been in handling it.
Looking down at the pearl intensely, Herobrine furrowed his brows a bit in concentration.
"...There's definitely some sort of energy coming from it directly. I'm unsure of how to activate it, but we'll be able to figure that out soon, I suppose."
Constiere reached out again to point at the pearl.
"Does it need to be forged a second time to make it more active? Do we have to do something with it? Like, shake it or move it around, or-"
Moving it away from the other rather quickly, Herobrine scowled at him a bit.
"Keep in mind, we can't just throw this thing around like it can actually take that kind of treatment! It has to be handled with care, without a doubt."
Glancing back at the pearl, Herobrine thought about Constiere's words for an additional moment or two before a bit of curiosity came to his expression.
"...Or do we? Perhaps you're on to something, there…"
As a somewhat proud smile appeared on Constiere's face, Herobrine moved the pearl around in his hands a bit as he went to examine it further.
"...The eye feels like it has a lot of trapped energy beneath its surface. It still feels like a regular pearl, however, in the sense that it seems to be rather…fragile. Maybe it does need a bit of movement, or something of the sort."
Staring at the pearl for a couple of seconds, Herobrine went back to debating with himself silently before simply letting out a sigh, giving the pearl, against his better judgment, a quick, abrupt shake.
…
…
…
Nothing happened.
Shifting the pearl over to his right hand, Herobrine allowed his left to simply fall to the side. After a couple of added seconds, he gave the pearl another couple of shakes, this time being a bit more forceful, yet cautious all the same.
...
...
...
Nothing happened.
Relaxing his hold upon the pearl, Herobrine turned his attention back toward the others.
"...So, abrupt movement didn't get a reaction. Perhaps we do have to re-forge it. Steven, do you remember your friend saying anything about-"
His words were interrupted by the sudden realization that his hand felt a bit emptier than what he had been feeling just a few moments ago. Turning to find that the pearl had, in fact, gone missing, his gaze soon after turned back toward the others in suspicion before he found their attention being directed upward. With shock on their faces and confusion upon his own, Herobrine followed their gaze, finding himself soon becoming utterly stunned by what he saw.
Up in the sky above them was now where their forged pearl had gone, flying upward until a certain point in the sky where it stopped abruptly, as if it had hit a wall that they were unable to see for themselves.
The forged pearl kept itself high in the air for a second.
Two.
Three.
…Then it dropped down to the ground with the grace of a sack of rocks, though Herobrine was quick enough to catch it before it could completely meet with the grass below and possibly shatter on its own.
Silence enveloped the group for a solid minute or so, leaving them in total shock as they tried to process what exactly they'd just witnessed. The pearl had floated? The pearl had moved on its own? What was it capable of doing, truly? What kind of energy existed beyond the surface of its vibrant, glass-like layers?
Finally, after what seemed like literal ages, Steve decided to break the silence.
"I…did I just see what I thought I just saw?..." He asked cautiously, keeping his gaze focused on the pearl within his brother's hands.
It took a few seconds more for anyone to actually respond to his stunned question.
"...Fascinating…" Andvari muttered to himself, looking at the pearl with deeper interest.
Rubbing his thumb a bit against the surface of the pearl, Herobrine raised it up a bit toward the light of the moon before letting out a slight hum of intrigue.
"...So it does react to movement, it…it just took a moment. Does heat really cause the pearls to become that much more sensitive when exposed to slight changes in the air? Or when faced with a certain amount of air pressure?" He mused to himself, leading to the others thinking a bit to themselves in intrigue.
"...Was it just me, or did it kinda…move in the air?" Constiere asked quietly, earning a few small hums of agreement in return.
"...It…it didn't shoot itself straight up. It went at an angle. I saw." Steve confirmed.
Another few seconds passed before a small sigh escaped Herobrine's lips, leading to the group returning their focus to him.
"...Perhaps…just maybe, this is how we find the portal, in all actuality." He looked at the others with a somewhat more serious expression.
The remaining four stared at him a bit in confusion.
"...Wait, what do you mean?" Steve asked, pointing down at the pearl as he spoke. A look of realization flashed across his features after a moment, however. "...I…wait, that was a natural reaction?"
The group exchanged looks of brief deliberation before glancing back down at the pearl once again.
"...Perhaps it was. As natural as a reaction can be for something like this." Herobrine said quietly, turning the pearl around in his hands for a moment or two before moving to hand it over to Andvari, only to pause momentarily before bringing the pearl closer to his body once again.
"...If it's truly reacting to a portal…then we should entertain the thought of following its lead, if only for a moment."
Brief confusion appeared in the gazes of those in the group before a small hum broke the silence that had formed.
"...Because this is our biggest lead right now, right?" Constiere spoke up quietly, earning a nod from Herobrine in response.
"If it's reacting like we think it is, then yes. Another gamble we have to take, of course, but what else can we do?"
"So…we should just travel in the general direction that this pearl is heading in?" Steve asked.
Herobrine gave them a small shrug.
"...Assuming that it's the portal Andres informed us about that the pearl is reacting to, granted. We were informed that multiple existed. If the pearl is leading toward a portal, then I suppose that it doesn't particularly matter which one, but I'd rather prefer it being in a location where access is easy." He paused, looking down toward his feet momentarily. "...I'd also rather prefer it to be the one on the map as well, so we'd at least have an actual image of its location and can properly prepare ourselves as we approach it."
Looking back at the pearl, Herobrine stared at it for a moment or two before shaking it around once again, watching with bated breath as the pearl left his grasp. It floated up high and stopped abruptly, just like it had done so before, before letting a few seconds pass as it simply remained where it was. Anticipating the need to catch it a second time, Herobrine placed himself directly below the pearl, waiting with a ready hand in front of him.
To their utter shock and bewilderment, the pearl began to shake violently, seemingly fighting against itself until all of a sudden, cracks appeared upon its surface. Not too long after, the pearl exploded.
Pieces fell to the ground as violently as hail, forcing Herobrine to jump back before he became an unfortunate victim of being covered in ender remains. Stunned gazes remained focused upon the spot where the shattered remains of the object laid.
A general thought appeared in the minds of all present, and none were able to keep it silent as it soon left their mouths in a half-panicked, half-confused cry.
"What the hell?!"
The five stared at the broken pearl for longer than what was probably necessary, as if they were expecting the thing to reform itself if they simply stared at it hard enough. As their hopeless wish died out, they all soon replaced it with varying amounts of confusion and frantic thought.
Herobrine was the first to vocalize his concerns.
"...They do break easily." Herobrine muttered, his voice rather stunned by what he had just witnessed. "...Was it the manner that I handled it in? Was…was that too much for it?..."
"...Too much air pressure or movement, I suppose." Andvari added to his musing, looking at the shattered pieces of the pearl with a bit of disappointment. "...They must be activated with the right amount of movement. Noted."
A small groan came from Constiere's lips as he looked at the remains in frustration.
"But the thing was just barely tossed high enough! Are they actually that delicate?! Are you kidding me?!" He exclaimed in pure disbelief.
"...I guess that gives us all the more reason to keep an eye out for pearls before we actually have to look for them. These break fairly easily. Who knows how many we have to go through before the portal gets activated?" Malgun spoke up, crossing his arms in front of his chest a bit.
A bit of silence passed after Malgun had finished, filled with deep thought as a creeping idea came upon Herobrine in particular as he took the skeleton's words into consideration.
"...Can they even survive long enough to keep the portal activated?..." He asked, his voice rather quiet in tone, but loud enough to the others given what his words entailed.
Suddenly, the group found itself with added concerns that they hadn't been entirely expecting.
"...Wait, what do you mean by that? Shouldn't it be just…well, a one-and-done deal?" Steve turned to ask him, a sense of dread rising up within him the more he thought about the other's words.
Herobrine met his gaze.
"...Consider the possibility, given what we just witnessed. We're more used to the concept of a portal being lit and staying lit until it is extinguished ourselves and put to rest. Nethren portals are lit by fire, and you can't exactly shatter fire. A trip to the Nether entails different circumstances than a trip to the End may, and we don't know what to expect entirely. Even just activating an End portal can release enough energy that can be felt miles away, who's to say that the pearls can even handle that for long? Your friend told us to gather enough pearls for us to comfortably be able to get through the portal, but he didn't say anything about having enough to keep it active, no?"
Steve processed Herobrine's words for a moment or two before genuine fear began to grow within him.
He was right. They knew how to get into the End, hypothetically. They didn't know if their way out was guaranteed, and they certainly didn't know if the portal would even grant them an opportunity to even consider an escape. If the pearls broke that easily when exposed to just the slightest bit of stronger movement and air, what would happen to them under the immense power of divine energy? Of forbidden magic?
How trapped would he be if they'd only found enough pearls to get him through the portal, and not enough to allow him the chance to escape if he emerged victorious?
As Steve found himself growing even more unnerved by the realization, Herobrine seemed to ignore him as he instead looked up at the sky, letting out a small 'tch' at the sight of the darkened black sky slowly transitioning into a slight, dull blue. Glancing around for a moment, he then let out a small sigh of what seemed to be frustration.
"Obviously, we need to discuss our plan of action again as soon as possible. We need to move forward, and we need to get things as organized as we can. The sun will put things at a halt, but before then, let's go as far as we can forward, to wherever the pearl was seeming to guide us, before we stop once more. After we do, let's organize the mobs and have them sent out before us towards the other two deserts we planned on searching through."
The group looked at him for a moment before giving small nods. Herobrine crossed his arms in front of his chest as he looked back up to the sky.
"...I hate taking more time like this, but it's not really something we can avoid. Besides, the pearl issue is becoming even more of a concern. I'd like to have it dealt with as soon as possible."
General sounds of agreement rose up within the group as Herobrine began to walk away. Following his lead, the others resumed their journey as well, hoping that the sun would at least be kind enough to not raise so quickly.
They chose to head northeast themselves, going ahead with the plan that they'd briefly drafted. Two groups would be sent out post-haste; one group toward the desert in the southwest, and the other to the remaining one in the northeast that they didn't choose to walk to themselves. The creepers would mostly travel through the forests and would most likely arrive in the deserts faster, while the skeletons would travel through the cave systems on the way there to protect themselves during the day. The endermen were left entirely out of the question out of an abundance of caution.
That much planning had taken them long enough to debate through. Taking the day cycle into account made things substantially worse, as well as taking the time to consider the many villages and cities that the mobs would encounter on their way to the deserts. While both Constiere and Malgun were eager to encourage their forces to brute-force their way through any obstacles given their perceived time limit, Andvari advised against the notion, while Herobrine had to deeply debate the benefits of both options. Steve didn't weigh in on the matter, leaving the four who knew best about the situation to simply handle things as they pleased.
This led to a feeling of exclusion, though it was self-inflicted. This also led to some slight sense of boredom, mainly due to his unfamiliarity with the situation. This led to him becoming a bit tired of waiting for them to finish. Tired of the talking, tired of all the things that had happened to him in the past few hours (past few days, in all actuality), Steve decided that it was just about time to stretch his legs in a more relaxed fashion. Alone.
The cave that they'd decided to hide in, for the time being, was more of a crack that had been sliced into the earth, but it provided enough protection for their most vulnerable companion regardless. While the adventurer in him wanted to briefly take a look in the more deeper sections of the cave that he couldn't even make out in the darkness, the tired human in him made him seek solitude, if only for just a moment. He took himself out into the forest that sat just outside the cave, which protected them with strong oak trees that provided ample cover from the sun, and decided to walk deeper into the foliage, surrounding himself with even more plantlife the further he went in. Though he made sure not to go too far, so that he wouldn't get lost, he allowed himself to be hidden enough by the trees just for his own comfort. The quietness brought by his brother's presence gave him some ease, though, it made him all the more alert to the more subtle sounds that filled the space around him in place of the mobs, such as the gentle rustling of leaves and the lulling noise of a soft breeze.
It was peaceful. It brought his mind to a more relaxed state as he took in the sight of nature around him. Though he didn't let his guard down entirely, still expecting to see at least a mob or two moving through the shadows, he kept his attention forward as he listened to the calming sound of moving leaves, enjoying it for as long as he could.
...
...
Something shifted in the bushes not too far away from him. It produced a stronger sound than the breeze within the area had, seeming more forceful. If it was a one-time thing, he supposed that it wouldn't be that much of a concern.
...
...
Another shift. A low growl came from off to his right, hidden somewhere within the foliage of the forest, much to his general concern. It was closer now, as well as louder. His hand found its way almost immediately to his sword as he took a small step back in preparation, not exactly knowing what he was about to potentially face. Had the mobs not completely cleared themselves away from the area? Had a wild animal decided to join him in his momentary solitude? Was he getting all worked up over nothing?
Steve waited for the creature to reveal itself.
...
...
Suddenly, long, black claws reached out toward him, falling short as he practically jumped back in total shock. A loud, horrid screech of what he could only describe as pure agony escaped the creature's jagged mouth, forcing a chill down his spine as he brought up his sword for defense almost immediately. Before he could put his skills in defense to the test, however, he found his breath leaving his body as the sight before him fully unfolded.
The endermen fell at his feet, leaving him in total shock as he stepped back once more, heavy, shuddering breaths leaving his body as his adrenaline continued to overwhelm his system in response to the sudden appearance. It made no further movements, no additional noises, once it had completely collapsed, leaving him in total confusion as he stood there in slight awkwardness, continuing to hold his sword out as he tried to figure out what the hell he had just witnessed. After a few more seconds of pure, immobilizing shock, Steve found his breathing beginning to slow back down, though, it took a bit more effort for him to actually sheath his sword once he fully registered the fact that the creature would no longer be making any attempts to attack him.
What had just happened? What the hell just happened?
Seeing the creature flat on its face, with no clear signs of damage upon its back for him to notice, sent a strong sense of dread to course through his system, leaving him totally unnerved as he replayed the events of what he'd just seen over and over again in his head in order to make any sense of it, finding himself rather unsuccessful. Before he could convince himself to simply leave the creature where it was and not actually investigate the cause of its sudden demise, Steve knelt down, using all the strength he could muster to actually turn the creature over.
As soon as he did, he felt himself being transported to all those days and nights ago, to the day he'd found that nearby village, to the day when he first saw what evil the champions were capable of, what horrors his brother could commit as well, incidentally.
The enderman's chest was nothing short of a mangled cavern, leaving him in utter disbelief as he found himself unable to tear his gaze away from the sight. Broken ribs jutted out from the creature's flesh, covered in what he could only conclude was its blood. Nothing but torn flesh and stray scales stood in-between each bone, though, apart from the mess before him, something had found itself separate from the rest of the enderman's internals.
Green. A brief flash of green caught his eye as he scanned the enderman's chest a bit closer, fighting the urge to pull away as the smell of blood had just started to cause his head to pulse. He then had to fight the urge to vomit as he found his hand reaching out to grab at the object, no doubt leaving him with the later responsibility of scrubbing his hands clean until they bled.
Within his hands soon rested a piece of what was supposed to be a fully-intact ender pearl, its edges broken and sharp as it pulled away somewhat reluctantly from its other half. A small gasp left his lips as it broke on its own.
Steve's eyes widened as the piece sat in his hands, his fingers beginning to tremble the longer he stared at it.
They needed these pearls. He wasn't sure of how delicate he needed to be when handling them, but surely, he didn't have to be so delicate, right? Why did it just break like that? Did he squeeze it in some way? Were his hands too rough for the pearl? Did he remove it too abruptly?
…
Had it been broken beforehand? Was there someone hunting endermen nearby? Someone that could stumble upon them without a moment's notice?
Steve found his gaze being directed back toward the enderman below him, carefully examining the sight of the creature's apparent wounds as his brow furrowed in deep thought. The longer he looked at it, the less convinced he was of the idea that this enderman had been attacked. Sure, the massive hole in its chest seemed like a large enough injury to suggest that something or someone else had been involved, but there were no additional wounds upon the creature's body apart from that one. No faded scars given by stray arrows, no sword slashes, axe swings, or anything of the sort either.
The pearl must've already been damaged when the endermen went to attack him. It might've entirely been acting out of a desperate attempt to save itself, if it was even remotely in its right mind to do so. He hadn't been intentionally looking for the creature, nor had he met eye contact with it from a distance, as far as he could recall. He did nothing to call its attention, so why did it rush to attack him?
Despite the fact that the thought of whatever liquid was inside the pearl dripping onto his fingers disturbed him immensely, he kept the shattered pearl within his hand, deciding to take it back with him as he began to retreat back to the cave that the others were still in.
He didn't even make it even remotely near the entrance of the cave when Herobrine met him outside, standing in front of him with a somewhat concerned expression.
"Where have you been? You can go off on your own, sure, but it'd be nice if you'd at least te- wait."
His gaze turned downward toward Steve's coated hand, immediate surprise coming upon his features. Surprise soon turned to realization.
"...Where did you get that." A statement, rather than a question.
"...I…pulled it from an enderman."
Anger appeared in the other's gaze.
"Steve. You know well enough that we're not supp-"
"I wasn't searching for it, first of all!" Steve interrupted. "The enderman came to me out of nowhere! I couldn't even do anything to protect myself that well! But it…well…it just…"
Steve glanced down at the pearl remains within his hand.
"...It rushed up to me…then uh…just fell over. And died."
Herobrine looked at him with a slightly raised brow.
"...An enderman came to you out of nowhere, and just…died? On its own? You didn't break the pearl? You didn't kill it?"
Steve presented the pearl more outward toward the other.
"...I…I think…it was already broken when I…when I found the thing…"
Looking up to meet his brother's gaze, Steve found nothing but slight shock and horror on the other's face as Herobrine's gaze remained on the pearl firmly.
"...You didn't even provoke it?..."
"My eyes weren't focused on it, I really dunno what caused it to just…well, attack like that…"
"...Is…is that so?"
Silence passed in between them for a moment, though, it seemed loud enough to Steve to make him feel somewhat suffocated. Before he could ask the other any questions, Herobrine's expression became more serious as he began to speak once more.
"...If…if they're simply acting out like this…then there might be more reason to panic. I hate to say it, but that may be the case." He began, keeping his voice lowered as if to not cause Steve much alarm.
"What? Why?!" Steve asked, immediately alarmed.
Herobrine gave him a small motion of the hand to calm himself down.
"...Either they're resorting to their base instincts as their minds have now failed them…or they're purposely targeting those with a noticeable...well, magical pulse, before they die. I...maybe that's the case?"
A small sense of dread, one that was only caused by his brother's words and not his presence, rose up within Steve.
"...They...they sense pulses? Really?"
Herobrine shrugged at him.
"...Possibly, though I'm unsure if they even could when they're...well, that far gone." Herobrine glanced down at the shattered pearl remains momentarily. "Either way, this is a terrible development that I can only barely say that I'm glad to have seen at this point."
Steve raised a small brow at him.
"...You were glad to see this?" He asked, presenting the pearl piece in his hand a bit higher.
A small glare was sent his way, one that had a certain amount of contained despair that silenced Steve's words further as they came to his lips.
"...I'm glad that I know that this situation has the potential to happen. Not that it's happening." His brother explained matter-of-factly, returning his gaze down to the broken pearl.
Pure silence filled the space between them, leaving Steve even more uncomfortable the longer they stood there, unsure of how to move forward given their recent, unfortunate discoveries. After a while, he finally decided that enough was enough, allowing a sigh to escape his lips almost reluctantly.
"...They'll unknowingly give themselves up to the champions…or worse, the divines, right? The endermen, I mean. If you're right about the whole 'searching for pulses' thing." Steve asked cautiously, noticing how Herobrine kept his gaze entirely focused on the remains of the pearl.
More silence passed between them before Herobrine's eyes slowly closed in deep thought, a small exhale passing from his nose as he did so. He reopened his eyes not too long afterward as he went to cross his arms in front of his chest.
"...We can hope that's not the case all we want, but reality is reality, and if my guess is a correct assumption, then we'll have to respond accordingly. If they're reaching out toward those with signatures and magic in their veins, then the divines are the exact ones they'd seek out the most, with the champions falling not too far behind. We only have, to our knowledge, barely a handful of divines who'd give us any pearls if they managed to find any intact. It's only a matter of time until an enderman targets the wrong divine, and their pearl falls into the hands of someone in Maxwell's inner court; someone who knows the same thing we do about how to activate the portals."
Steve's heart dropped into his stomach as Herobrine spoke, leaving him uneasy as it became apparent what they were facing.
"...So…what I'm hearing is that we need to start moving faster?" He asked a bit sheepishly.
Herobrine simply continued to stare at him.
"What you need to know is that you can expect to see a lot more endermen blood in your hands. If all goes to hell, then you have to prepare to see some human blood, as well."
Nauseous. Steve felt nauseous.
So sorry for the long hiatus y'all! School got in the way pretty badly, and on top of that, I had some writer's block T_T Got in a really bad funk lmao (got drained kinda). I survived tho, so finally, I had the chance to work on some writing!
But hey, summer's here! Means more free time (HOPEFULLY)! I wanna get back to working on this fic more consistently, so I'm glad that school's no longer in the way so I can actually do that lmao. I've been wanting to try and work more to bring this thing to a visible end, but I don't think that'll happen that soon. I'm still working on the long edit (will probably take another look at this chapter once I'm all finished bc of course I will), lol so yeah, I'm hoping more that I'll at least get back on my weekly schedule hah haha
On top of that, I'm still figuring out the best way to share my Minecraft worlds with y'all, if only just for a quick glance at what certain places look like lol. I'm thinking a simple Google Drive would do (with directions of course), but there are sites I can upload the worlds on too? IDK, I'm only tech-savvy when the weather's right XD, so I'm leaning more towards the google drive idea lmao. I managed to move worlds and saves over that way, I'm more used to that lol.
So yeah, now we're getting more into exploring the Eyes of Ender and how bad the endermen are getting! A lot of them are getting fairly stressed, so it's only a matter of time until it gets too hard to actively hunt for them and their pearls. Things aren't going well lol
Aight, apart from that, here are some facts of fun!
1.) Eyes of Ender activate themselves due to abrupt shifts in movement-air pressure, yeah lmao. The endermen and everything surrounding the End has yet to be researched and examined, but I'd imagine that once they do get looked at, life within the different realms, as a whole, would change drastically. It's kinda fun to think about how much Minecraftian technology could advance if the endermen and their abilities were truly studied and utilized, y'know?
2.) Yes, this means that, if an Eye of Ender were to be brought within the Nether and exposed to the atmosphere there, they'd shatter IMMEDIATELY. No chance for them to even begin to hover, they'd just pop lol
3.) The Void itself has its own kind of pressure that endermen can either live with fine enough, or suffer and die quickly from. Only gets worse when the pearls start to be affected by it in their regular state.
Anyways, that's it for now! See y'all in the next chapter!