(Apologies for more past moments, but they are what's coming instead of the present. This story is a bit too pantser and I have little control over it at the moment.)

Five Years Two Months Ago

"Get up. I said get up! You useless piece of garbage! Try again!"

Herobrine staggered to his feet, trying his best to bring his reeling perception under control. The bleeding wounds slowly closed as his hands shook slightly with effort. White eyes held on the broken vase, the shards of which were now scattered all around the room.

"Now focus! Select just the object elements. Restore them to their previous coordinates."

His head pounded, but he managed to do as ordered. Broken pieces of the vase began to coalesce together into one whole, flew back up to the table and trails of water crept back up to it in reverse. Scattered flowers replaced themselves into their previous arrangement.

Relieved by his success, Herobrine stared at the scene of the perfect house, complete with a sunny window from which he could see fake woods. This was supposed to be his house on this server, but that was a lie. It was a prison. And for hours on end, sometimes several days in a row, he was practicing skills designed to test the extent of his abilities with code, punished if he failed, condemned again as dangerous if he succeeded.

Watching the unbroken vase, he breathed heavily from mental and emotional exhaustion, wishing only that this test would end, so he could lie down and rest if only for a short time. A scowl appeared on his face as he briefly forgot himself.

An invisible force closed like a vise around his form and slammed him first against the wall of the room and then the floor, leaving him stunned on the ground. He only managed to breathe in several gasping breaths before the force returned, pressing down upon him. His arms got pulled to each side with such force that he couldn't keep back a cry, but then bit his teeth together to swallow further sounds, determined to suffer through the rest of the punishment silently if he could.

"Watch your attitude, bot." His keeper's voice grumbled as the pressure keeping him in place let go, the waves of pain rolling across Herobrine's perception from his twisted joints quieting. A minor reminder to put him in his place. He lay there with an expressionless face and feared to move without permission.

"Get up. Next test." The disembodied voice held notes of boredom and Victor audibly yawned.

"Solve the following equations."

Herobrine's heart sunk. Notch had already asked him to do such before and he didn't know how. Shakily sitting up, he looked with rising dread at the screen where equations began to appear.

[Herobrine to Victor: I cannot solve this. I do not understand this.]

"How about an AI calculator that's present in the System. Notch showed you how to use that? Or give you our teaching aids?"

[Herobrine to Victor: No, sir. He did not.]

"Well. It's quite simple. Oh, I see. You have no access to it since it's in the recent update to our game. Hold on a moment, let me fix that…" Once again his keeper's voice sounded calm, despite his fierce outburst just a moment ago. Not reassured by the change of tone, Herobrine anxiously waited while the Admin installed something into the code of the interface to account, which he had created for Herobrine so he could use in-system chat messaging and other tools for some of the tests. "Here you go. Now install that module."

Herobrine obediently did just that and closed his eyes, allowing Herobrine's matrix to absorb the knowledge contained in the patch directly into his system. His eyes flicked back and forth briefly, and then snapped open as he focused back on the screen, where the strange numbers and symbols began to make more sense. At first hesitantly, then with increasing speed he went through the basics of calculations. Addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, fractions, he completed quickly, but began to slow down once he had to rely on AI tools to do more complex equations which the teaching aid did not cover.

In the process, he even recognized that he already had a module in parts of his code that he previously didn't understand, which was similar to the provided "calculator" that he was using now in the System. There were other modules there as well, the purpose of which and even how to activate them at all, he didn't know. Did he inherit them from the real Herobrine, whose body he inhabited if things were translated to simple terms? He did not speak his thoughts out loud, of course, and suppressed them to avoid getting distracted from his current task, resolving to look at that module later.

"Not bad. Congratulations. You just aced our entrance math college tests. 98% correct." His keeper's voice admitted with grudging humor. "All right. That's all I have for you for today. I'm returning you to your workstation. You can rest or do whatever you like. Just make sure that you'll be in your proper place when the next raid period starts. You're free until then."

Herobrine's form sagged as relief swept through him. Finally!

"Understood." He acknowledged; this time able to speak out loud.

The next moment he found himself standing in the familiar hall of his mansion while in the service of the Admin. Waiting another tense moment until he felt the Admin log off, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Another test over, until his Admin received another question from his colleagues or came up with his own ideas to test his increasing abilities and skills.

A swift teleport to his room and he wearily settled down on his bed as he considered checking those other strange modules that he just noticed within his mind. He then dismissed the thought. He didn't have either the interest nor energy to train on his own time. Besides, he already knew better than to reveal to the Admin voluntarily such information. It would only result in even more tests as they would attempt to determine the reasons those modules existed in Herobrine's system.

Instead, Herobrine hopefully directed his attention to in-game messages and his shoulders sagged, when he once again saw nothing from Notch.

Sighing, he turned to his own memories then and simply sunk into one of the good moments that he had spent with his benefactor. He so much wished that he had still been in his custody. Would he ever see him again? Admin Victor said that he would, once his training and testing officially concluded. But, considering what he also said about Herobrine's nature and their agreement to keep this information private in order to save Herobrine from destruction since he might not be some hacker's joke at all, but a piece of Herobrine's code slowly coalescing into one whole once more despite all the existing precautions, Herobrine now sincerely doubted that he would see Notch soon.

Maybe only if Notch himself requested to see Herobrine? But he had not. He must have been too busy as usual.

Dejected, in his memory Herobrine wistfully watched the other man lead the way to a lake surrounded by sparse woods. Notch flashed back a friendly grin as a fishing rod appeared in his hand. Then, Herobrine did not quite understand the purpose of this activity – just sitting on the shore with a tool to catch the swift, silver skinned creatures that Notch would prepare for dinner later that same day. They were certainly delicious, but Notch could have simply summoned them at will.

Even Herobrine could have called and lured a large number of them to him and then stun them with a bolt of lightning, to simply pick them up with his hands from the water. But Notch instead used a player's most basic in-game method instead.

Herobrine didn't understand the purpose of that exercise then, but now with all his virtual heart he wished that he could be there once more. To remain at his former protector's side and do nothing but enjoy the surrounding quietness and peace.

Here, he was entirely alone and not even allowed to complain. To Notch, he did not have to hide how he felt, even if it was a negative feeling of anger or hatred, which he experienced often on occasion. He could ask him questions if he did not understand something, not having to fear punishment for not having asked "politely" enough.

His human overseer also did not care to accept any reasons for failure in the tasks he assigned. It is true that now Herobrine learned much faster, afraid to protest even when his abilities were pushed beyond his current level or skill. He hated this so much, though.

Herobrine reached to rub his tired eyes, the manacle gleaming silver on his arm. Then, he allowed his hand to fall and merely stared at the broad, bearded face in his mind sadly.

He badly wanted to see Notch, if only to apologize. It had been his own mistake, losing control, that led to the decision of the Admin to remove him from Notch's care. That's what Admin Victor told him and Herobrine had no reason not to believe the man.

How he missed going to different places with Notch, especially that little village. Now, his prison consisted of the lab with its strenuous tests and the dungeon that was his place of work, and this room where he would rest in between. He could also have gone to the lands immediately outside his dungeon, but he didn't want to run into any the players hanging around the place in hope of meeting him. He didn't want to lose control again. Couldn't risk it, considering his new keeper's intolerant attitude toward such mistakes.

If he had known what consequences would follow because of his cursed pride, he would have let those players win, telling him whatever words they wished. He would have patiently waited and then let Notch speak to them on his behalf. Notch was far wiser and humans listened to him, despite him being an AI like Herobrine.

Herobrine quietly rested his head on the pillow and tried to go to sleep, but sleep would not come. Memories of his past would come to him in flashes, of different moments. Everything he once had, but didn't appreciate. All of his mistakes. So many.

He remembered Overworld, when he first became aware of himself.

He came awake in the woods, where he stood in midst of darkened forest beneath a vast ink-blue sky where millions of distant stars burned, each of them a world just like this one – another server where he could go if he wished. He didn't know how he knew of that, then, but he already did. And swathed by a thin veil of clouds hung the silent moon and the invisible in this light the Islands of the End.

Aware of the smells and then tiny sounds as different animals and nightly mobs went about their lives, he then felt his own body, but dimly. Neither hot nor cold, his sensations still came as though through a veil.

His attention attracted by some sound, he moved in that direction. Randomly, not knowing where he was moving or why, he simply roamed through the woods, occasionally fading off again within his mind, then waking. Hunger and thirst were there, but unclear, nor did he recognize what those feelings of discomfort were, merely accepting them as something that he has already grown familiar with and accepted as part of his normal existence.

He wandered aimlessly until he came upon a strange structure, which evoked a sense of something familiar. He watched it from the cliffs afar, then teleported to it down from the mountains.

It was a house, its foundation appearing to sink within the early morning fog that thickly covered the grounds. Bits of it clung to his skin, making his clothes moist and settled in large, clear drops of dew upon the cool grass against his bare feet.

Already, numerous scratches and small, healed scars speckled his skin there, but he paid no heed to it, accepting this discomfort as normal since he did not know how to avoid it.

He drew closer to the house and curiously watched when a figure appeared. The being made several trips back and forth to the small barn from where Herobrine heard the mooing of cows. Carrying two more buckets of white liquid, the being then tarried for a bit inside and came out carrying a hoe.

Only when he was already in the field did he look up and notice Herobrine looking at him from the fog. The being then froze still, gaping, and then with a small cry vanished from sight.

Herobrine forgot him almost immediately, wandering over to the cows, then to the house itself where the door had been left open. Repeating the being's motion, Herobrine pulled on the protruding door handle, but the door would not budge. So, he tugged harder and then in confusion blinked at the torn out door hanging in his hand. Dropping it, he went inside.

He set fire to the place on accident. And then teleported away when angry calls of players sounded outside and they ran toward him with sharp swords. That's how his very first altercation with the players started. Every time he appeared elsewhere after this, they reacted the same and tried to attack.

Herobrine frowned and winced slightly. It was this accidental encounter, Notch told him, which brought him to the attention of players and turned him into a controversial figure in their eyes. It was something that other Herobrine clones did not do. While they attacked players on sight and destroyed their builds, they normally did not wander off too much from their designated areas. And they certainly did not go inside players' houses and steal their items.

'Herobrine Returns?' 'The Virus Back for Revenge!' 'A Hoax or a Glitch?' The news articles of the day featured in the forums, drawing attention of many to the two hazy pictures of him showing him standing in the fog, his figure barely distinguishable in the haze surrounding his blank, white eyes. And another picture of him as he stood with slightly tilted head in the doorway of the house blazing in the background.

Groups of players poured into the server, combing the woods and eventually ran into him. He died several times and experienced the indescribable agony of respawn before he understood to avoid them. That's when the first seedlings of his anger appeared. Those seedlings soon grew into a flame that consumed him.

When the next batch of players hunting after him blocked his ways of escape against the rising wall of rocks, he turned and scowled at them helplessly. He saw them approach with such satisfaction and callous mirth in their eyes as they got their weapons ready to shear into his flesh. He attempted to leap past them, only to be stricken down mid-flight. The already familiar pain slashed his senses. They didn't even kill him right away. Instead, they laughed, talking to each other in words he could not yet understand, besides their humiliating tone. And they followed him as he crawled, several swords protruding from his back.

The fear in him then turned to rage, which swallowed up his pain. And that's when the wall of flames exploded around him. He didn't clearly remember what happened next, only that he acted instinctively, his anger desiring for them to feel the same pain and fear that he felt just moments ago at their hands.

Imagines burned into his mind in flashes. Him, walking with a scowl from the midst of the blazing fire, his face turned towards these stunned beings. Them retreating from him until they got their wits back and ran at him with their weapons raised, only for his gesture to turn them into running torches. The figures falling and vanishing, leaving behind items which flew toward his hand when he curiously touched them, his anger abating.

'Glitched Boss Strikes Again!" The forums exploded. By then, the Admin had already convinced everyone that he was just one of the glitched raid bosses, copies of the original Herobrine but not the Virus himself, who as a prankster's act had become disconnected from his normal raiding location. There was even a group of players – Steel Wolves - who claimed that it was their dungeon that they were farming, from which one day their raid boss simply disappeared and claimed that it had to be their rivals – the Black Roses, who did the hack.

Meanwhile, becoming overconfident, he led an entire army of monsters against the players of several servers and destroyed everything in sight, both peaceful and hostile players alike. This caused a wave of complaints and gave the Admin the excuse to request Notch's help. And Notch came.

Fool! He should have known that this was no ordinary player when with one gesture of his hand, Herobrine's entire army vanished as if it had never been. But he only looked at the man curiously, waiting with anticipation for a 'worthy' fight.

Herobrine shook his head slightly at the memory and forcibly dismissed it.

The image of disapproval and anger in those brown eyes was now clear to Herobrine, despite the tight and emotionless look otherwise on Notch's bland face.

At least… he didn't blame him last time, when those four players had provoked him. Notch reassured him that everything would be all right, so long as Herobrine remained obedient and useful. And… he was trying. He really was. It was simply not enough.

And how would Notch react if Victor ever shared with Notch his theory that Herobrine really was the original Virus, who had survived, or at least his large and now sentient piece? Notch mercilessly destroyed the Virus once already. He himself had agreed to speak to him in a short lived negotiations and then tricked him, setting off the human trap prepared for the Virus ahead of time. He then watched them destroy that being despite the being's pleas. Admin Victor showed Herobrine the footage.

Notch was on the side of the humans always, whether he disagreed with their demands or not. It was in his nature as an exceptionally powerful AI or else he would not have been allowed to exist. And the Virus had no such limitations, much like Herobrine himself.

And had Herobrine been stronger and smarter, like his predecessor had been, Victor would have not delayed for a second, but gave him up to their Cyber Crime Division, one of the functions of which was dealing with hackers or other dangerous individuals, including AI.

The only reason Herobrine still existed and he understood that quite well, is because he was weak and could be easily controlled. At least for now. And he could reveal the secrets at last of what his predecessor could and could not do, of which many rumors abound.

Admin Victor was curious to test those tales in full. That's why he continued to encourage Herobrine to learn and manipulate code and had no qualms resorting to cruel punishment when he felt like it. It's not like Herobrine could complain to either Notch or the other Admin. Even if he would have been given the chance, he was too afraid of their reaction if they learned that he might be really Herobrine.

Better obedience to the Admin Victor than seeing that anger and disapproval replace the kindness and concern in Notch's eyes. To have his pleas go unheard as Notch destroyed him with his own hands.

A shiver ran through Herobrine and he tightly closed his eyes. No, he could not ever complain.

The gong of the starting raid startled him and he scowled as familiar anger and hatred returned.

Here were those human players again, trying to take their revenge on him for what he had once done while in the Overworld. Their new raid boss – the tame villain of the Admin.

At least in this role he no longer had to fight himself and the anger he bore at them. He could now kill them as much as he wished to his liking, provided that he did not hack into the code and admitted defeat should they win through in-game means - much like him. He was going to follow all the rules now and not allow anyone's words to goad him into doing that which he knew was wrong. He was not taking the risk of being punished again. Not by Admin Victor, whom he suspected to be partially a sadist with questionable morals despite his impeccable work history…

Concentrating on his current task, Herobrine brought up the screen and scowled at the familiar names. Of all the players, it had to be these four – same players who got him in all the trouble in the first place! Only higher level and far better equipped than before, making him wonder if they purposefully logged on as beginners into that newbie location before, just to get to him?

Didn't matter!

Herobrine's scowl transformed into nasty sneer. Oh, he was going to enjoy defeating them. But first, he was going to test their nerves!

Materializing several zombies who attacked the cautiously moving forward players and hearing them swear as they began to fight their way through the dungeon, Herobrine darkly chuckled.

This was his turn to be mean and they were in his world…