CHAPTER 5

Herobrine's footsteps echoed down the well-lit hallway. He had a few books tucked under his arm and a bag slung over his shoulder, which was full of schoolwork. Because of how long Aetherians live and how slowly they age, school was a very different experience versus the Overworld. School lasted over fifty years there, but the school sessions were a lot shorter. Alex truly couldn't imagine going to school for fifty years, but to a being with a lifespan of a thousand years, that was a tiny fraction of their lives.

Seriously, though. What do you even teach for fifty years!?

"Just stop," Herobrine heard a familiar voice beg. He backtracked a few steps and peered into one of the classrooms. Steve was surrounded by three other Aetherian children and judging by his uncomfortable posture, the conversation was at his expense.

"Not until you do something," one of the boys said with a smirked. He shoved Steve into one of the tables. "Come on, just a little fire? Maybe some lightning like your brother."

"Can he even teleport?" the girl laughed.

"Hey!" Herobrine shouted. The three bullies immediately looked up at him. "Leave him alone!"

The leader, a wire-haired brat named Ezekiel, just smirked. "Relax, Herobrine. We're just making sure that your brother isn't some Human that snuck into the Aether. This doesn't involve you."

That was a mistake, and Ezekiel's little minions realized that. Herobrine clenched his hands into fists. Electricity crackled through his hair. "I said, leave him alone," he hissed.

"Make me," Ezekiel said, raising his chin defiantly. Frost spread across his skin and his eyes started glowing blue.

Herobrine opened his hands and fire engulfed his palms. He threw the balls of fire at Ezekiel. He quickly raised a wall of ice to block one, but the second missed the wall and hit him square in the shoulder. He yelped in pain and immediately retaliated by throwing icicles at Herobrine. Two hit him in the arm and the third in the stomach.

Before any more fire or ice could be thrown, a teacher burst into the room. "What the Nether is going on in here!?" she demanded. She grabbed Herobrine and Ezekiel by the wrists and dragged them out of the room. "You two are going straight to the office!"

Herobrine ran his fingers over the bandages wrapped around her arm. He sat on a bench outside the principal's office while the teacher, his parents, and the principal had a meeting. He could faintly hear their discussion through the door.

"Look, I don't want to go off of stereotypes, but this is the third time this year your eldest son has gotten into a fight. If this happens again—"

"It won't, because our son ISN'T some kind of psychopath," his dad hissed. "I think you should address the bullying of Steve before you expel Herobrine or whatever else you're planning to do to him."

"Look, we can't watch every corner of our school," the teacher said. "Bullying happens, especially to… well, someone like Steve. Herobrine's tendency towards violence, though, isn't something we can ignore. We have to protect our school of Herobrine does turn out to be a traditional eldest twin."

Every Aetherian had the same magical abilities, like teleportation and fast healing. However, each one had one unique power, like elemental manipulation, telepathy, or shapeshifting. Aetherian twins were different, though. Twins were rare in the Aether, usually only occurring once every five hundred years. There was always a displacement of power between the set, with the eldest having more power and the youngest having less. Herobrine had two powers, fire and electricity, while Steve had none. It was the extra power that blanked out Herobrine's eyes and made them glow. It's said that the extra power also drives the eldest crazy, causing them to kill their twin and go on a rampage across the Aether, causing death and destruction. It was a miracle that Herobrine hadn't been killed at birth as soon as their parents realized there were twins. All of this just meant that everyone treated Steve like dirt and Herobrine like a time bomb.

Alex wasn't sure what to make of this, since Herobrine was, after all, wanted in all four dimensions. And since Alex had never heard anything about Steve before this, it was logical to assume Herobrine killed him. Looks like that stereotype existed for a reason: because it was true.

Steve walked over to Herobrine and sat next to him. He wrapped his arms around him, and he hugged him back. "If you're here to lecture me about fighting, save it. It's what I'm going to listen to on the way home," Herobrine muttered.

"No, no. I just wanted to be here for you," Steve said with a smile.

"You can't deny what twins grow up to be!" the pair heard someone shout from the office. Herobrine blinked a few times to hold back tears and clenched his fists.

"Don't listen to them, Hero. You're not a monster. You're not." Steve insisted.

"They think I am, though." Herobrine couldn't hold all of his tears, since a few trailed down his cheek. "I'm just trying to protect you and they—" his voice cracked and curled his arms into his chest. He couldn't hold it in anymore, and he started sobbing.

Alex rubbed her head as she sat up. Ugh, she hated these weird dream-memories so much. It felt like it was all happening to her, which will never NOT be uncomfortable. At least she was aware when she woke up that it wasn't real.

She looked over at Tropelet, who was fast asleep leaning against a wall. He held his stump of an arm protectively and his chin was resting against his chest. Now would be the perfect time for her to sneak out.

Alex got up and grabbed her sword in case there were any mobs out. By the looks of it outside, dawn was barely an hour away. The mobs wouldn't be a problem for long, but still. Alex didn't want to be caught defenseless.

The village was always so peaceful in the moments before dawn. The sky was still dark but the stars were slowly disappearing. No one was awake yet, but Alex knew that in just a few minutes the earliest villagers would wake up and begin their daily tasks. She took in a deep breath of the sweet morning air.

If only everything was normal, then this would be much more enjoyable.

With every step, Alex began to second-guess her decision. Where exactly did she think she was going? She couldn't exactly walk to the Aether, and portals to the dimension were few and far between. After all, the majority of the residents could literally just teleport between dimensions.

She would figure something out. She had an Aetherian problem, so she was going to need an Aetherian to fix it. Not an Ender. Besides, why would Tropelet even help her? He's a criminal, loyal to an even bigger criminal. He was only sticking around her because she absorbed Herobrine's powers. As soon as he gets them back, she'll be useless to him. Would he kill her? Alex didn't doubt it. The wanted poster blatantly stated that he had a history of murder.

Long story short, Alex didn't trust Tropelet.

Suddenly, Alex froze. She didn't know what it was, but something sent chills down her spine. She was no longer alone in the forest. Her gaze flicked through the trees, trying to see who was watching her. She could hear something moving the grass, but she couldn't tell where it was coming from. She wrapped her fingers around the hilt of her blade, in case anything tried to attack her.

This wasn't worth it. Alex was getting too creeped out to stay here. She'll head back home, maybe figure out where the nearest Aether portal is or maybe use Copper to send a letter to the king of the Aether…

Alex turned around and was immediately met with a pair of magenta eyes staring straight into hers.

"Hello there," the owner of the eyes said politely.