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Ara: Yes! I'm getting your awesome reviews in email. Not sure why they are not showing up on the chapters, probably a glitch of some sort. But luv hearing from you, its very encouraging! And Steve's eyes are blue in this one is because that's how I saw him – most of these ideas come in movie like moments that I then try to put in words. That's how Steve looked like in there so I'm going along with it. I am really glad you are enjoying this story despite it deviating from Minecraft quite a bit. My ideas tend to be a bit sci-fi at their core.
WTP Storm and BlackDragon41: thanks so much for reading this stori! Its so encouraging! I will try my best to keep up with posting updates to it often.
Steve's entire body rung with excitement. He should have been scared, instead. But his curiosity as usual overrode all good sense. Even knowing his greatest fault, he simply couldn't help it.
He was going to meet heroes! Straight from the legends he kept hearing about. They were humans, like him, but they had powers! They must have gone on so many great adventures. Steve wished so much that he would also one day go out on an adventure. He used to dream of it, while he spent hours in monotonous work mining in dim torch light beneath the surface.
The grimy earth and rock would spray past his face at the rhythmic strikes of his pick, while his imagination would take him to the mysterious ancient structures standing sunlit in the desert and ruins lost in the heart of the jungle, filled with deadly traps to protect untold treasure. In his mind, he would be scaling the deep underground passages where gleaming lava slowly flowed, gathering into heated red pools and diamonds sparkled in the dark walls.
Exchanging a nod with a sleepy town guard, Steve walked right into town, heading to the small park by the Market where he agreed to meet the heroes yesterday.
"Steve?... Steve! Wait up!" A voice called him from behind. Casually turning, Steve saw Grayn hurrying to intercept him. The short, aging merchant's face wrinkled with worry. Steve greeted him with a smile, which the man ignored.
"Steve! You have to leave!" Grayn immediately declared and cast about an uneasy look. Before Steve could ask what it was all about, the man stepped closer.
"Yesterday, after you left, those… those 'heroes' came to me. They asked about you! I-I told them. I'm sorry, Steve! Notch, they scared me! I swear, I thought they were going to burn my stall on the spot!"
"Oh?" Steve frowned. Despite knowing what they had done to Herobrine, he didn't perceive anything bad about them himself when they came to visit. They seemed uptight, but reasonable and polite. The merchant, though, took in a shaky breath.
"And they said that-that you look like Him! Our monster! The way they were looking at you, it was scary! I thought they were going to go after you and-and do something bad. So-so you should leave! Go away from town for a bit, so they won't find you!"
Steve unwillingly smiled. The old man's concern for his well being warmed his heart. That's why he chose to settle near this town in the first place – he really liked the atmosphere and the people who lived here. So friendly and welcoming, they right away accepted him as if he dwelled among them all along.
The man even began to stutter a little as he urgently looked at Steve, his hands grasped together. Sweat liberally trailed down his balding head. It was very warm.
"Its too late, Grayn. They already found me. They came to my place yesterday. But don't worry! They didn't do anything bad. Just offered me work." Steve reassured.
The man blinked at him, lost, then deflated a bit as relief flooded into his expression.
"You s-sure? Because… I would hate if anything happened to you, child. You are… You are a good soul. You deserve only good things to happen to you."
Steve humphed at this heartfelt declaration, even a bit embarrassed. "Thank you, Grayn. But everything will be all right. Don't worry."
"All right." The merchant accepted, calming down. "You said that… they offered you work? What kind of work?"
"Um… Mining." Steve said firmly, not wishing to worry the old man further. The man blinked at him a bit mistrustfully.
"Mining?"
"Yes. Mining." Steve confirmed. "I am a Miner. That's what I do. There is nothing wrong with that."
"Ah, that's right. I did tell them that. I did!" The man brightened and this time smiled. "And you accepted?"
"I did." Steve said again and glanced up. Two figures were just leaving the inn. "And there they are. We were to meet up here and then get going together. It's a job for a few days, tops. Then they will leave."
At that, the merchant jumped, quickly turning around. His eyes widened at the sight of the two heroes, who once again stood still as they took a casual look around town.
"All right, then! I best be going. Good luck, Steve!" The merchant hastily wished Steve a farewell, his last words thrown over his shoulder as he made a hasty retreat back to the market, where he vanished in his stall. A closed sign slammed into place over the entrance. Steve smiled and turned to the two figures, who had already found him and were making their way to him.
Keeping a friendly smile on his face, Steve lightly stepped toward them. He smiled brighter, even though he felt sharpness in their gaze as they approached him. They gave him an uptight greeting that lacked the generous emotion of residents of this town, to which Steve grew so used. Then again, that was to be expected. They were strangers here and didn't know Steve. Still, their faces seemed to soften a bit.
Together, they made their way out of town.
"Where would you like to start looking?" Steve asked when they already crossed beyond the gates and reached the shade of the woods.
All of them stopped.
The two pulled out a strange map, where images appeared. Steve saw a dot with his own name above it. And their dots, although they were slightly different in color. Nearby, outlined in sharp lines was what appeared to be Steve's town. The name Melenbrooks stood out beneath it. Steve did his best to not obviously peer over their shoulders at their doubtlessly magical artifact.
They traced a line from the mountains, where Steve noticed a symbol with numbers 804394 printed beneath it. Herobrine's mansion? It seemed the right place for it, if those lines around it were the mountains. Steve thought he recognized their general shape.
"The Monster's mansion." One of the adventurers, the elder judging by the harsh lines on his face, pointed at the symbol. He turned to Steve.
"Have you been there?"
Steve hesitated, before making a light shrug.
"I have. Right before I arrived to town." He decided not to hide the well known fact. These adventurers would learn of it if they asked around.
"When was that?"
"About… two years ago, I would say?" He squinted his eyes, looking up into the morning sky where the rising sun colored the edges of the clouds with startling pinks and oranges. It was going to be another hot day.
"And what did you see?" The elder adventurer pressed, his eyes on Steve sharp. Steve uneasily chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well… That's actually a rather long story…" He tried to evade the question. Seeing that they continued to look at him, their suspicion returning, he surrendered.
"I can tell you on the way?" He offered. "I assume you want to start looking for the Monster there? That would make the most sense, right. Because you wounded him?"
"We fought he was dead." The elder adventurer winced and exchanged a frustrated look with the younger, whose face mirrored his expression.
Accepting Steve's lead, they fell in with his unhurried pace as they stepped off the well-trodden road leading out of town. Cool shadow of the woods met them. Skirting around blooming bushes, Steve headed to Herobrine's mansion along the slowest route he remembered. The longer he could stall these two, the better.
"When I first came here, I was not in a good shape. I was lost." Steve began his tale, in his mind's eye finding himself back in time once more.
Heavily breathing, his entire body covered in scratches and his clothes torn, he struggled to get through some bushes and stopped still, blinking his eyes at an impressive mansion that stood in the middle of the forest, with mountains rising behind it. Last, quickly dimming rays gilded the tops of its spires. A growl coming closer behind him made Steve gasp and look back, before stumbling out of the forest toward the mansion. His eyes held hopefully on the large, ornate wooden door that he glimpsed through the open gates, Steve hurried to where he expected to find help and safety.
"I was on my way to Blitstown. Its a place where I heard Miners can always get work. I'm a Miner, and the last place I was at, didn't work out for me that well. So I decided to go. But I got lost in the woods for days after mobs attacked me on the way. And I came across a mansion. It didn't look abandoned and I didn't think at all that it might be a place where a legendary being dwells. It didn't look all that strange." Steve smiled lightly at the memory.
"Why? Haven't you heard of the legends?" The elder of the adventurers asked, his tone mistrustful. Steve shrugged.
"I heard the legends. But I didn't think of them at all at the time. The mobs... They were chasing me. So I went inside. I thought that I would find help here."
"You went inside?" The younger of the adventurers asked, curiosity entering his tone. Steve nodded.
"And what happened?" The elder's eyes narrowed.
"Nothing. I… I couldn't find anyone, so I fell asleep in one of the rooms."
"So, you didn't see Him?"
"I… I did." Steve admitted. "The next morning. I was curious about who would leave this place so empty. It didn't seem abandoned from the outside. And I found… I found a place. And that ghost – he was just… Standing there. So… I remembered all those legends right then and left as quick as I could!" Steve chuckled.
Neither of the hunters smiled.
"He didn't attack you?" The younger verified, even more mistrustful. Steve shook his head. The two exchanged a glance.
"Maybe he wasn't here, then, yet."
"How long ago was this?" They returned to watching Steve. He squinted his eyes. He already told them this?
"Maybe… two years ago? When I first arrived. Maybe a little less." He patiently repeated. "Why?"
"And you have not noticed anything unusual since?" They ignored his question. Were they trying to catch Steve in a lie? The uneasy feeling returned and Steve's smile lessened. Turning away, he continued to walk with them following close behind him. He could feel their eyes burning into his back.
"Well, a few kids from town went there again, on a dare. It happened… about a year ago… And they said that they saw the ghost out of his castle, walking in the woods. They told everyone about it, afraid that there would be another attack, like it happened years ago?" Steve glanced at the heroes and they nodded, since that went in line with the local legends. "But the guards went there to check and nothing changed much. The ghost remained asleep."
"You didn't go back to check?"
Steve smiled, uneasily shaking his head. "No. Why would I? I am not an adventurer."
The eyes of the two adventurers continued to study him, then turned to each other again.
"Maybe he came and left."
"Or, he was staying low. Or in several places at once. This seems like about the right place. Close enough to where there were multiple attacks. He left out to hunt but made sure not to do it close to where he actually stayed. That's why it was so hard to trace him."
"Hard? We literally had to end hundreds of bots before we even came close!..." The younger's voice trailed off at the silencing gesture from the elder, who cast curiously listening Steve a warded look. The younger man clamped his mouth shut, though the seething expression remained.
They nodded to Steve to proceed and he did, leading the way across the small ravines and patches of meadows. To Steve's relief, they said little else until they reached the place almost an hour away.
There, standing on a hill right before the small dip in the valley precluding their path, they pulled out their map again. The images on the map zoomed in, resolving into zig-zagging lines of the surrounding mountains. The red dot that marked Herobrine's mansion grew larger, becoming an actual building. At least on the map, it still looked like a building.
Steve's eyes held on the ruins of the mansion. Staring at the broken pieces of once magnificent buildings, unease returned, settling in Steve's stomach. So much damage.
Broken, charred beams lay at odd angles, collapsed to the ground. Crumbling stones scattered across the place. How did Herobrine even survive through this? And what power did these two beings have to do something like this? Unease turned to first bits of fear as Steve perceived just how dangerous these beings with him really were. Finding them both watching him, their expressions guarded, he unwillingly swallowed.
"Where is the nearest cave entrance in this place?" The elder asked Steve and leaned the map closer to him. Steve blinked at the map, not quite understanding its features, even though he knew their general purpose. He then instead looked down to the scraggly trees growing lower in the valley by some protruding rocks and pointed his hand there.
"There. I came across it after I left the mansion. Only like I said, I don't know this area well. I don't come down here because of the mansion." He nodded uneasily to the ruins before his sincere, blue eyes met theirs. He was telling them the truth. "Mostly, I just mine to the south of here. Its closer to town and there are plenty of coal and iron veins. There is good demand for that." He explained.
"Its all right. We don't mine much at all. Mostly, we hunt down and destroy monsters. Or capture fugitives whose names come down in our guild list." The elder carelessly shrugged. "That's why in this case, we need your expertise. And don't worry. We will protect you. Even though that monster survived, he is right now very weak. He won't be able to teleport or use his other powers. The only issue we might have is his power to command the mobs, but even that should be greatly diminished. So you are not in any danger, I promise."
Steve hesitated, then gratefully smiled.
"Thanks. I did worry about that. Because… Are you really hunting the real Herobrine?" He prodded, curious despite himself. At that, the two hunters exchanged meaningful looks.
"Yes. We are. Or at least, a really big piece of him. You must have heard the tales? About how he attacked our settlements far to the east?"
Steve nodded.
"Well, it's been decided that he should be hunted down and destroyed, no matter the cost. Before he becomes even more dangerous. The longer we wait, the more power he is going to regain. And if he regains all of it… It won't be good for us or for you."
"So, that's why you are out here? And its… just you?" Steve looked at each of the adventurers in question.
"No. There are many more. And not just us and our guild. Its ALL the player guilds… I mean heroes." The younger winced, throwing the other adventurer an apologetic look. "Its priority mission one – destroy all the mansions and ghosts, so there is no place left for him to hide. Then Herobrine can be dealt with once and for all."
Steve felt his stomach sinking. This was not good. Did Herobrine know about this? Steve didn't think he did. Then… He did the right thing by accepting these heroes' offer to become their guide. Steve shifted, wishing he could go and warn Herobrine of the danger he faced right now! He caught the hunters closely watching him.
Uneasily, he smiled. "That's… good. And there is a reward, too, right?"
At that, the two seemed to relax a little and looked away, as if Steve's behavior finally made sense to them, though suspicion did not leave their eyes completely. Somehow, he was messing up and Steve did not know what he was doing to cause such sharp attention on their part.
"Yes. And as promised, you will get a part of it should this mission succeed."
"It MUST succeed!" The younger exclaimed, turning to face the wreckage with frustration. "We were SO CLOSE, Adler! SO close! Cannot BELIEVE he got away!"
"It's fine. We'll get him, Marko. He cannot be far." The elder reassured. He turned to Steve, his eyes almost friendly. "So, shall we start? That place you spoke of – its as good a place as any."
Steve nodded and hesitantly stepped off to the right where a small trail lead down to a brook bubbling out of the rocks. He avoided looking at Herobrine's mansion again. Behind him, the two figures moved to follow him.
All three figures vanished into the thick, green foliage covering the bottom of the woods.