Nulls Plan
Herobrine froze when he heard this and Steve also looked at Null in shock.
Apparently he hadn't known why he had been captured either, but Herobrine hardly noticed.
"That's impossible," he replied instead while taking a few steps back and looking at Null with an uncertain look,"You can't take away the power of gods, let alone their immortality!"
"That's what I thought," Null replied with a smile before letting go of Steve and moving back towards Herobrine,"But apparently it's possible. With this."
With those words, he raised a hand and conjured up what Herobrine immediately recognized as a mage's wand.
It was about the height of Null, and the wand was made of relatively plain dark wood, but Herobrine barely had a glance at it.
His attention was on the crystal that was at the top end of the wand, making it possible for the mages to use their magic.
It was completely transparent, but it shimmered far too much and a strange coldness emanated from it, so it could not possibly be simple glass.
"Cool, right?" Null said in a proud voice, while Herobrine was still looking at the staff with wide eyes,"The crystal is made of a material so old that it is unknown where its coming from, even to me. Some would say it is not of this world."
At these words he grinned strangely.
Herobrine only looked at him in confusion, but he decided not to inquire further.
He knew from experience that Null would not give him a helpful answer anyway.
"And how do you steal someone's powers?" he asked instead, to which Null just grinned wickedly.
"Like this!" he replied, pointing the staff at Steve, who was now anxiously pressing himself against the column he was chained to and, to Herobrine's surprise, actually looked panicked.
But before he could wonder any further, a bright flash of light shot out of the staff and struck Steve directly in the chest, causing him to double over and let out a muffled scream.
Herobrine watched with a mixture of amazement and shock as a bluish light emerged from Steve's chest and grew longer and longer as it traveled across the light bridge and then into the crystal.
However, he hardly had time to look at it closely, because just a moment later, the flow of blue light from Steve's chest stopped, whereupon the light, which was still halfway there and had been moving relatively slowly until then, suddenly accelerated and shot into the staff at lightning speed, causing another flash of light so bright that Herobrine had to close his eyes.
When he opened it again, he saw Null holding the staff with a triumphant grin and staring at the crystal, which was no longer empty but contained the blue light that was now swirling wildly there, emitting a low hum.
"See?" he continued a moment later in an enthusiastic voice as he pointed to the tip of the staff with a satisfied grin, "Steve's power is now trapped in this crystal and can only be released by the holder of the staff. However, only very powerful beings can withstand this kind of power, which is currently only us gods. Those with too little or no power would die at the mere touch or at the latest after a few minutes of holding the staff in their hands."
"I also wouldn't recommend you to touch the crystal itself," he added with a serious look,"this thing is greedier than someone who has been lost in the desert for 3 weeks and it sucks your power faster than you can teleport."
"Here, wanna hold it?" he continued with an expectant look at Herobrine.
He looked at him uncertainty before taking heart and grabbing the staff.
Immediately he felt a current of energy shoot through him, giving him new strength that felt strange but familiar at the same time.
"How do you know all this?" he continued with a puzzled look at Null, who smiled strangely.
,,Let's just say I've read some very, very, very old books," he replied simply, as he took the staff from Herobrine again.
Null looked at Steve with a disapproving look, who now sat slumped and trembling, breathing heavily, giving off a muffled groan now and then.
"As you can see, the victims of such a power grab survive," Null continued in a disapproving voice, apparently unimpressed by Steve's condition,"though with Steve I don't know if it's just luck or his lack of power."
Herobrine froze when he heard this, turning back to Null.
"You've done this to him before, haven't you?" he asked, to which he nodded.
"Of course," he replied with a simple shrug before grinning,"I have to test this thing out first."
With those words, Herobrine turned his gaze back to Steve, who had lowered his head so that Herobrine couldn't see much of his face.
But what he did see of it was distorted with pain, and Herobrine felt his heart tighten as he couldn't help but wonder how much pain this kind of deprivation of power would cause him.
"If this thing can really take all the powers of the gods," he finally asked, not taking his eyes off Steve, "why don't you take mine too?"
With these words he turned to Null and looked at him questioningly, but to his surprise he only snorted contemptuously.
"Why should I?" he asked with a surprised indignant look at Herobrine, "Do you really think that I would have bothered to tell you all this if I wanted to take your power too?"
He grinned.
"Forget it," he continued in a normal tone,"Why should I waste my time telling you all this. If I wanted to do that, I would have done it long ago."
With these words he pointed the crystal at Steve again, whereupon the blue essence that had been trapped in the crystal shot out again and penetrated Steve's chest, causing him to gasp again before relax again after his powers where returned.
"Why are you giving his power back to him?" Herobrine asked in confusion. Null turned away from Steve with a final snide look and went back to the stairs.
"Because I don't want him to die until I take over Skylor in front him and Notch," Null replied grimly as he climbed the stairs again and motioned for Herobrine to follow.
"So that's your goal," Herobrine concluded, to which Null nodded in agreement.
"Among other things," he replied, "but to get there I have to take Notch's power first."
"Oh, and how are you going to do that?" Herobrine asked grimly as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and watched Null open the exit from the obsidian column with his powers.
"Well, that's easy," Null replied with a grin before walking outside, whereupon Herobrine followed him, "by you writing him a letter. A letter in which you ask for his forgiveness and for a meeting on the Overworld, which he will of course comply with without hesitation."
Herobrine froze when he heard this.
"Are you kidding?!" he asked, stopping next to the entrance and glaring angrily at Null, who had already gone a few steps further, "I'm not asking Notch to forgive me! He is the one that should be sorry!"
,,I know Hero!" replied Null with an annoyed sigh before turning back to him and looking at him with a serious look, ,,But don't you undrstand, this is just the bait to lure him to a place where we can reach him and capture him."
But Herobrine only snorted at this answer.
"Capturing Notch is impossible," he replied, to which Null just grinned maliciously.
"Not if he is unconscious at the time of capture," he replied, to which the latter just looked at him in surprise before understanding what Null was trying to do.
"I see," Herobrine finally replied before following Null again, "you seem to have thought this through quite carefully. But why do you need me? You can change your shape into me and fool Notch like that, so why do you need my help?"
"Because I'm good at imitating your shape, but not your handwriting," Null replied, before stopping and turning to him again, "so I need you."
"I could try without you, of course," he continued in a feigned indifference, "but the risk of Notch becoming suspicious and not coming would be much greater."
"Even if he is really naive when its comes to you," he added with a disapproving look at the crystal, before grinning and turning to Herobrine again, "So what do you say? Are you in?"
Herobrine pondered.
Actually, this was a wonderful opportunity to get revenge on his brothers. The best and probably the only one he would ever get again.
Of course, what Null was about to do was more than risky and dangerous, especially since Herobrine was sure that Null had not told him all the details of his plan and probably never would.
But the idea of seeing his brothers suffer was just too tempting for him.
Why am I even worried? I know I can trust Null, Herobrine thought confidently, and if he had wanted my powers, he could have taken them long ago.
But what would Nuka say to that? he heard a quiet voice in his head at that moment, but Herobrine shrugged his shoulders.
Why should I care? he thought grimly. He has nothing to do with it anyway.
And to be honest, I wouldn't like to get him involved either, he added, thinking of the boy not only because he could get himself into more trouble, but also because I think Null would have a lot of problems with it.
Although I'd like to know why his and Nuka's abilities are so similar. he added with a glance at Null I'll have to ask him about that. But first I have to take care of my revenge plans for Steve and Notch. Anything else I can ask them later.
With that thought, he looked at Null and began to grin.
"But of course I'm in," he replied with a wicked smile, "So what is the next step in your plan?"