A bright full moon shone over the forest. It should have been crawling with mobs, but it was strangely quiet. A light breeze rustled the tree branches. A poster was nailed to the trunk of a tree. Its writing was faded, but under the moonlight it was still easy to read what the poster said.

THE WATERTON BROTHERS CIRCUS PRESENTS:

HEROBRINE

The picture featured the white-eyed man, his eyes blindingly bright and balls of fire in his fists. Lightning cracked in the background. The bottom of the poster had information about the villages the circus would be in and when.

A figure ripped the poster off the tree to get a better look at it. He raised an eyebrow as he read it and chuckled. "Well, obviously have to check this out," he said to himself. His glowing white eyes shined brighter than the moon. As he held the poster, it caught fire under his fingers and burned into nothing under Herobrine's grip. He turned to walk away, but instead of walking he just vanished into thin air.

As soon as he was gone, the first mobs crawled out of the darkest shadows. At first, they tentatively stepped into the open, making sure that Herobrine was really gone. It didn't take long, though, before the forest was crawling with the undead.

The large red-and-white striped tent poured with bright lights and cheerful music. People were lined up at the entrance, waiting to buy a ticket. Clowns weaved in and out of the line, making people laugh or scream, depending on their fear of clowns. The sweet aromas of cotton candy and popcorn drifted out of the tent.

Behind the tent, performers put on costumes and makeup. A man in a flamboyant blue costume practiced a routine with three Allays. Three trapeze artists chatted casually while one stretched. He was bending and knotting himself in ways that didn't even seem possible. A Ravager roared and slammed its enormous head into its cage. Its handler cracked its whip and shouted something at the enormous creature, though it did little to contain the beast's rage.

Herobrine stood on a hill overlooking the circus. Given all of the posters tacked around the circus advertising his face, he was certain that his impersonator was here. However, none of the performers in the back appeared to be the impersonator. It looked like Herobrine would actually have to attend tonight's performance. Oh well. It had been a long time since he had been to a circus, and this looked like it was going to be fun.

Herobrine pulled up the hood of his cloak and closed his eyes. When he opened them, their bright glow and solid whiteness was gone and replaced with normal-looking green eyes. He adjusted the gray cloak over his shoulders and walked down to the circus.

"One ticket, please," Herobrine said politely when he reached the front of the line. He pulled out a few emeralds and handed them to the ticketmaster.

The ticketmaster took the emeralds and handed him a ticket. "Here to see the legendary Herobrine?" he asked with a smirk.

"Oh, definitely," Herobrine said with a grin. "I wouldn't miss it."

When Herobrine got inside, he headed up the stands and took a seat. The lights went out and the crowd went silent.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THIS IS THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!" a booming voice announced. The crowd cheered madly as two men appeared in the center ring in a burst of purple particles. Ender pearls, no doubt.

"BEHOLD DEATH-DEFYING STUNTS!" the first one announced.

"FEATS OF MAGIC FROM THE FAR CORNERS OF THE OVERWORLD!" the second chimed.

"AND OF COURSE, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL HEROBRINE!" The crowd's cheers were deafening at the mention of the name.

"Jeez, I should get out more," Herobrine chuckled to himself. "I'm clearly more popular than I thought."

The show was fantastic. First, the trapeze artists swung around, preforming incredible tricks. One of them slipped out of the grasp of the other, and the entire crowd gasped as she plummeted towards the packed grass ring. At the last second, though, she placed a block of slime underneath her and she bounced back up, where another artist grabbed her. The crowd cheered at the sight of such an incredible trick, and even Herobrine found himself clapping.

Next was a play preformed by five masked individuals. They reenacted the Stonespire Revolution, and it would have been very historically accurate had the assassin that killed the king been Herobrine. Instead, the murderer was a stereotypical assassin in dark clothing and plain mask. No one saw Herobrine kill King Tristain, after all, so it made sense that they thought it was just a normal assassin that did it. The rest of the play very enjoyable, despite the disappointing detail omission.

A magic act was next. The magician had one of the most impressive mustaches Herobrine had ever seen in his life, which was quite the statement since Herobrine had been alive for a very long time. Herobrine stroked his own facial hair, wondering if he could pull of a mustache like that. The magic itself wasn't as impressive as the mustache, unfortunately. Most of it just involved tricks of the light, weird angles, and directing the audience's attention away from what was really happening. None of it was even real magic. Disappointing, of course, but Herobrine shouldn't have expected anything more from a human.

After the disappointing magic act, the Ravager was dragged out into the ring. It roared and fought its handlers, until it finally yanked the chain out of the handlers' hands and started running. The crowd gasped and many shot to their feet, in case the beast decided to attack them. Moments before disaster, though, the tamer stepped in the way of the charging monster and cracked his whip at it. The rest of the act wasn't that interesting, just the tamer circling the beast and cracking his whip. It just reminded Herobrine that the Illagers still wanted him dead for cheating in a game of poker.

Finally, nearly an hour and a half into the show, did Herobrine finally see what he came here to see. This was the grand finale of the show, so the lights went out and the two ringmasters reappeared. The crowd went absolutely nuts.

"HAILING FROM THE FURTHEST CORNERS OF THE NETHER-"

Herobrine hated being in the nether. It was just too hot there.

"WEILDING THE POWER OF THE GODS-"

That part was technically true.

"WITH A LUST FOR THE BLOOD OF MORTALS-"

Not true. If it was, everyone in this tent would be dead.

"THE MYTH—THE LEGEND—THE MONSTER—"

"HEROBRINE!"

Everyone was on the edge of their seats, including Herobrine. He didn't know what to expect—but it definitely wasn't what he saw.

A teenage boy was dragged out into the ring. He couldn't have been more than sixteen. Thick steel cuffs encircled his wrists, which were etched with enchantment runes. He was being dragged by a chain around his neck. His eyes were completely white, but they barely glowed. They were incomparable to the brightness Herobrine could make his own eyes. The kid was looking worse for wear, as well. His hair was a greasy, filthy disaster on his head. His clothes were stained with dirt and dried brown blood. His pants were torn off at around his knees and he wore no shoes. Deep, half-healed lacerations were peeking out of his shirt. He was covered in bruises, cuts, and scrapes. He blinked as he stepped into the bright spotlight.

The crowd went wild at the sight of the kid. Some cheered, others booed. Some threw popcorn at him. His expression was blank, like he was used to this kind of treatment. One of the ringmasters had a whip, and he snapped it at the kid. The kid barely flinched, even though the edge of the whip caught his cheek.

"BEHOLD, HEROBRINE'S POWER!" the other ringmaster shouted.

He just opened his hands and a flame appeared in his palms. It was a tiny flame, compared to what the real Herobrine could summon. The ringmaster snapped his whip again, catching the boy's arm and slicing it open.

Okay, this had gone on long enough.

Herobrine blinked and his eyes went back to being solid white. Their bright glow rivaled the spotlights. He stood up, glaring hard at the ringmasters. It took them a moment to notice Herobrine but when they did, the color drained out of their faces. Several of the people sitting around him screamed and scrambled out of the way.

Herobrine teleported down to the ring. The two ringmasters and the boy stared at him in sheer terror. The flame disappeared from the boy's hands.

"You're in luck, you get to meet the real Herobrine today," Herobrine said with a smirk.

"Y-y-y-you… this isn't possible!" the first ringmaster exclaimed. "You aren't real!"

"Unfortunately for you, I am." Herobrine opened his hand and a shimmering diamond sword materialized into his grasp. "Now, I suggest you two start running and fast."

One of the ringmasters took the advice and bolted for the nearest exit. The second one hardened his expression and snapped his whip at Herobrine. "Get out of our circus, foul demon!" he shouted. Herobrine barely managed to teleport out of the way in time, but the whip nicked his arm. He looked down at the cut and watched a single drop of his blood fall off his arm, before the wound magically sealed itself shut.

"That was a mistake, human," Herobrine said. He lunged for the ringmaster blade-first. The ringmaster, having nothing more that a whip, cracked it at Herobrine again, but he sliced the whip in half. The ringmaster stared in shock at his now-useless whip. Herobrine grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and forced his face uncomfortably close to Herobrine's. "If I ever catch you or anyone else in this circus impersonating me," he said in a low, threatening tone, "I will make you BEG for a quick death, but I don't offer such luxuries." The ringmaster nodded feverishly and Herobrine let go of him. He watched the ringmaster dash for the exit as quickly as his feet could take him.

With the ringmasters taken care of, Herobrine turned to the kid. The kid backed away quickly before stumbling over his own two feet. Tears ran down his face as he looked up at Herobrine in fright.

"Woah, woah, whoa. Calm down there, kid. I'm not here to hurt you." Herobrine dropped his sword, but instead of falling to the ground it simply disintegrated into nothing. He offered his hand to the kid. The kid hesitated for several moments, before taking it. Herobrine helped him to his feet. He noticed as the kid steadied himself just how thin he was. Herobrine could count every single one of his ribs, even through his shirt. "Come on, let's get out of here." He put his hand on the kid's shoulder and the two vanished into thin air, leaving the circus in complete shock.