Two Years Ago...
Herobrine stumbled from unexpectedly terminated teleport, his wounded form materializing into a defensive posture directly before an ephemeral wall of code up ahead - that's what threw him out of the teleport early. He glared at the enormous security obstruction he sensed blocking his way up ahead, then blinked, returning to normal vision.
A quick glance told him where he was - this world's spawn point. He stood on a hill surrounded by numerous trees and abandoned player structures. The arrival of players came just moments later. Scowling, Herobrine turned, knowing that it was too late to run. All around his figure still lit up tracing scans from his latest misadventure.
Gloomily, Herobrine glared at the figures that appeared all around him, surrounding him into a circle. All wore high-level gear. All bore symbols of their clan - a gray wolf head either imprinted upon their armor or their clothes. The leader, a staut, muscular man in a helmet that obscured his facial features, also wore a blood-red cape where the creator logo displayed - the local Server Owner himself. Herobrine stifled a wince. His bad luck that this normally busy human happened to be online right when Herobrine needed to cross this territory. These players belonged to a group that he did not wish to offend.
His sword appeared in his hand, but Herobrine stood, making no move to attack, tensely waiting for their actions. The leading human had only to make a small gesture and the advancing players with him stopped, still a few blocks away. Their hands also gripped weapons at the ready. Swords, axes, and staffs, all gleaming with top-level enchantments and doubtlessly made of rarest alloys the local mods allowed. The eighth level tier rankings allowed this player group to have best of the best.
"What are you doing in my server, Herobrine?" The leader demanded. Herobrine frowned. That they did not attack was at least an encouraging thing. But that they blocked him, cutting him off from escape, was another matter entirely.
"Only passing through. Let me leave and you won't have any problems." He tried to keep hostility from his tone, but threat still came with a slight growl.
Slightly turning his head, the human communicated with others in what they thought was their personal clan chat.
"He didn't destroy anything here, did he?" The server owner's moderator verified with someone not in the game.
Listening for a moment, the human then turned to his waiting leader. "Sir, he didn't cause any damages here, but the territory of Tritons is lit. Multiple attacks. They are still trying to deal with it. Some sort of monster, destroying everything in its path."
The leader of the Steele Wolves made a small nod. Dismissing his helmet shield, the man revealed his face. Steel gray eyes from an older face held on Herobrine with stern, hard expression.
"Sir, they've already lodged a complaint to the Admin. They are probably tracking him as we speak. We cannot just let him go. If they learn that he was in our server and we didn't do anything, we'll get a fine, sir." The owner's assistant warned, but the man dismissed him with another gesture.
"You are playing a risky game, Herobrine." The man noted to Herobrine. He was still not making a move toward him. The human's eyes ran across Herobrine's rather tattered appearance.
"Why did you attack them? I understand that it might be fun to fight a player or two, but to destroy an entire server?"
"Five of them, sir. That entire sector is down. He spawned some sort of high level monster and now it's spawning clones. And crossing server gates!" The moderator commented, still poking around online. The leader shook his head with disapproval, while Herobrine scowled.
"I didn't attack them." For some strange reason he felt it necessary to defend his actions before the human. "They attacked me."
"You do understand that the Admin now penalize players if they see you and do not report it?" The human leader pointed out. "On the other hand, there is a reward for anyone who can prove that they have made at least an attempt to stop you. There is even an achievement we can gain for each confirmed attempt to bring you down."
"Is that what you wish to gain?" Herobrine scowled, his hand clenching his sword handle. A bitter feeling swept within, but he did his best to fight it. He had no choice but to fight, no matter the outcome. He would not become a prisoner voluntarily even to these humans!
The human appeared remain calm, though the warriors with him tensed.
"I do not want to hurt you. I know that you are not what they say you are. Not a glitch meant purely for destruction. I remember your real face."
"Then let me leave!" Herobrine glared at the human, allowing notes of desperation into his tone.
"Let me help you. I can protect you."
"Sir..." The clan leader's assistant tried to interfere with doubtful tone but fell quiet at his leader's gesture.
"Come with us. We have our own server. It's not as big as this one, but it's private and secure. Your Admin won't be able to claim you there, not if you agree to work for us."
"And be your property? So you can use me again to level up your game?" Herobrine couldn't help a scowl from twisting his features. The human visibly sighed.
"No. That's not my intent at all. I also apologize for what happened before. I wanted to do that for a long time. If we knew that you had a mind of your own, we would have never put you in that position. For that, I am sorry... My current offer is simply that - I want you to be safe. That's what my son asked. He would like to meet you again... I also need to speak to you, but in private. There is a matter I wish to discuss."
A ping in the world let Herobrine know that he was out of time. Almost immediately, one of the humans moved, sending the player leader a private message.
"They are here, boss. Requesting access to our data."
"They are here for you, Herobrine. We are almost out of time. Surrender. Then I can protect you. Let me!" The human's voice came strong, obviously not used to being denied.
"I would rather die than become a slave again. To you or any human!"
"There is no such thing as freedom, Herobrine." The human's voice gained weariness of age. "Even I am not free and yet many, many people serve me. Every bit of space is claimed, here and in the real world. You need to find a place in it. A secure role. Else, you'll ever be only a glitch, always on the run and hunted. Is this what you really want? What kind of life is that?"
"It's my life." Herobrine insisted, his grip on the sword getting tighter. The wounds on his body ached, itching badly as they healed. Old blood clung to his skin in unpleasant crust, annoying his heightened senses.
The human male reluctantly shook his head, an expression of regret coming to his face.
"You are smart for an AI, I'll give you that. But you are still too young and inexperienced. Your decisions and actions are those of a child. I'm afraid I will have to decide what's best for you, until you prove capable of better decisions. I'm sorry if this disagrees with you. Once you are safe, I will explain more."
The leader made a small gesture and his players suddenly sprung forward, bearing their weapons. Ready, Herobrine parried their attack. For several seconds, he fought their attacks with vicious abandon, leading them to believe that he would fight to the last. They avoided dealing him severe wounds, going for his limbs to remove his mobility. He avoided their strikes, while keeping an eye on the count down of the server-wide wall that continued to block his teleporting ability. It took quite a bit of energy to keep that up. The moment it failed...
Another strike and he fell to a knee as a large gash spurted blood from a severed tendon. He cast the human leader and his men an angry look. The man had an apologetic expression on his face. Several weakness potions broke next to Herobrine's figure, but he ignored them. In a corner of his vision, the mysterious effect blinked. "Spider Queen's Blessing. Poison Immunity effect."
The glint of obsidian chains appearing in the players' hands distracted Herobrine, as unpleasant old memories tried to rise to the surface along with blinding anger. They would dare to do this to him? Again?!
"Boss, his HP is still too high." One of the players complained. Herobrine and the human leader once again locked views.
"I'm sorry." The man said softly. Again, his players streaked forward, aiming their weapons to deliver more minor wounds. Herobrine deflected a few strikes, but then purposefully moved into the way of one. A sword pierced his chest and the player who had done so sprung back, leaving the weapon buried in Herobrine's heart.
Herobrine, falling to his knees, lifted his gaze from the hilt sticking out of his chest to the leader's face, where chagrin held in briefly startled, widened gray eyes. Then regret appeared. A crooked grin grew on Herobrine's lips despite the starting agony of fire growing deep in his core. He was leaving this place one way or another. The human shook his head at this defiance.
"I'm sorry, boss. H-he... did this on purpose." One of the players said, but his boss ignored the words. His tone to Herobrine held patience.
"Herobrine. Consider my proposal. Those Admin will find a way to capture you. You cannot avoid them forever. You know where to find me if you change your mind." The human male grumbled, frowning at Herobrine a disapproving look an adult might give a stubborn child.
"I hear you... Magnus... Ledorn..." Herobrine reluctantly acknowledged the human by his real name. A tight knot of pain roiling in his chest flared to all consuming fire, which twisted his face into a pained grimace despite his best attempt to keep his face blank. Muscles locked his chest, preventing a scream from tearing from his lungs. To his relief, the light exploded around his figure and dimmed everything from view as his figure dissolved.
Another mute scream filled his mind as already familiar forces, just waiting within the suspended stream, lunged to attack his being. Struggling to keep himself intact, yet even so feeling bits and pieces torn off, shredding his mind, Herobrine felt a vast force pick him up, moving him past the server security barriers. In this state, he felt only a slight pressure before he was through and hurtling somewhere at random. It was a nearly impossible effort to focus his assaulted mind and choose a destination. One of the numerous blinking lights, closest, beckoned. There. The tearing pressure let go as the force caught him up and began pulling him to safety.
Mere few seconds stretched to hours. And then, his body reformed in a blink, he was cast out.
Herobrine gulped a huge breath. For several more moments, he just lay there, his chest heaving as echoes of pain still ran across his form, gradually ebbing away to nothing. Relief flooded his being. He came close, too close to getting caught by the humans this time. Herobrine grimaced, stifling the self-directed anger. What happened had been his own fault - his hatred for the humans flared too brightly at what should have been only a minor provocation, leading to him once again jumping into unnecessary risks, for which he paid the price.
Opening his eyes, Herobrine blinked up at the night sky, waiting for strength to pour back into his reformed body. Generously, the surrounding world poured its energy, refreshing his senses and rolling his levels one by one to Seventy-Nine. Observing the numbers that paused a quarter of the way up to the next level, Herobrine winced again. He had lost several months of experience in just a few hours!
At least it wasn't for nothing. Or so he hoped.
Again, Herobrine closed his eyes and waited a bit longer, this time simply enjoying the lack of urgency. He did manage to escape and that was good. He had to get going, though.
Pushing his arm under him, he forced himself to a sitting position and scanned his surroundings. Only a few mindless mobs, neutral to his presence, roamed nearby in the dark woods. He got up and promptly stumbled, flinging up an arm to find support against a tree.
A gesture brought up a gaming interface. Several messages burned on the bottom of the screen as expected - reactions of players to his arrival. Luckily, a new mod popular in this area masked his arrival sufficiently to avoid interest, despite quite a few players being online.
Herobrine joined the game.
Cerebrus: What? Is this for real?
Catnus: Nah. No way, bro. Its probably just a troll. Doris? Hey, Doris! I know its you.
Kit7968: Cyrus? Hey, guys, it's getting old.
Catnus to Cerebrus: Don't worry, it's just our guys goofing around.
Cerebrus: Are you sure? I mean... He does exist!
Cyrus: Siiiike!
Catnus: Ha-ha! Told you.
Cerebrus: Man. I thought it was for real. Where did you get this mod?
Cyrus: Oh, it's a real oldy. My grandparents used this one for sure! I found it in their databank.
Incoming private message from Cyrus: Herobrine? You're back? What happened to your player shell?
Herobrine frowned. Pulling up another screen, he looked at the image of the young human teen there. Respawn character? A message blinked. Irritably, Herobrine glanced at delete and watched the image get removed from a list of over a hundred other images below it. He couldn't use it again. Not after several Triton players recorded a noobie player vanish, replaced by infamous Herobrine. That was too bad, since Alberto Juan had been one of his favorite avatars.
Glancing at his still replenishing energy scale, Herobrine judged it enough and teleported to the main base chamber of the place that had been his home for the past four years. Set up like a player's room with multiple monitors and bio cameras along with simulated high-end technology mirrored in real life, he replaced a damaged neural band that appeared around his head like a silver crown with another that he produced out of thin air. Immediately, simulated visual screens came to life. The image of a young human teen appeared; his face concerned as he viewed Herobrine's face.
"Herobrine? Are you all right? I just got the news flashes from Triton's Keep? What happened there? I thought you said that you were not going to do anything... dangerous!"
Herobrine leaned back in the gamer's chair and rubbed his eyes, frustration welling up within once more. "It was an accident." He grumbled.
The teen frowned, casting him a dark look. "An accident... Right..."
To prove his point, the youth mirrored the feed from his monitor to appear on several of Herobrine's. On it, a monstrous creature with three heads spat forth blue skulls, which exploded right and left as it swam across a heavily damaged city street already empty of life. The locals had wisely fled and now only scattered parties of players remained, darting here and there as they tried to attack the being from cover of crumbled buildings and walls. A wall of fire and smoke rising high behind it all and obscuring the morning sky made for a menacing background.
"And... what is that?" The teen pointed at the creature with fascinated awe. "Also an accident?"
"The Wither. They summoned it themselves, not me!..." Catching the teen's mistrustful look, Herobrine sighed. "I just... gave it a bit more oomph... A bit too much..." He looked with concern at the devastation. A growing level line over the strange monster's head now crossed over the level 429. It had been level 86 when the players summoned it. "I needed a distraction!" Herobrine added in frustration. Hopefully, none of the locals were hurt.
"Notch?" He asked hopefully, searching the screens for interference of the familiar broad figure in plain brown and white. He saw only players reacting, though some had high levels. Several more groups began to appear closer in - leading warrior clans from the other servers. Destroying a monster of such high level now promised great rewards and a boost in rankings, so of course they would come.
Just as Herobrine watched, yet another group materialized and his white eyes held on the helmeted figures with grey wolf markings - same group whom he just encountered minutes before. Magnus Ledorn, the rich businessman in real life and the leader of one of the most popular gaming servers certainly acted fast.
"No, still no sign of him. The Admin are still saying the same. He is busy." The teen mocked his tone to show how much he believed that claim. Herobrine frowned, his old worry returning. Four years and still no answer to any of his attempts. Notch was alive, he had seen him appearing here and there in sightings online. Why did he not respond to Herobrine's calls?
"How is Doris?" Herobrine looked away from the disastrous reminder of his mistake to the teen. Immediately growing serious, his smirk down turning, the young human dropped his eyes, avoiding to meet Herobrine's searching gaze.
"Same... Still alive? I guess that's good." The teen concluded and gloomily shrugged his thin shoulders.
"When are you going to tell them?" Herobrine casually nodded to the names in the chat, where several local players continued to goof off - all teens just like this young human and his slightly older sister. Cyrus, or Timothy Adrian Walsh as was his real name, looked up with troubled blue eyes.
"When she tells me its all right. That's when." He muttered and looked to the side.
"How is she?" Herobrine repeated, his tone this time softer. With a sigh, the boy turned his camera to the full view of their family dwelling. A humble small space held a side table and a couch, with a large space on the wall next to the computer dedicated to an old-fashioned projector. An image of a forest scene currently displayed there with an old farm-house in the distance and branches of flowering bushes and tall grass faintly swaying in the wind. A golden field of wild wheat lay between the view point and the old house. Softly rolling forested hills framed it in the back and distant mountains pierced to the blue skies where a few white clouds hung. A familiar picture of an alien world from ages past, displayed on the screen of a tiny prison deep below layers of ground, where this human player lived like so many of them - refugees and newcomers. Intruders.
But these two, Herobrine knew.
His eyes narrowed at the image of a young human female who curled up on the couch, her head resting on her hands. A plush blanket covered her form, much skinnier than Herobrine remembered it only months ago. With rising concern, he frowned at the pale face and cloth headband covering the girl's head where no hair remained.
"Did she receive treatment this week?" Herobrine asked, worry entering his mind. Still not looking at him, the teen shook his head.
"I'm short."
"How much?" Herobrine asked. Not meeting his eyes, the teen nervously shifted.
"Eight hundred and fifty marks. That's..."
"Forty-two thousand and five hundred gold. I know the rate. I'll send it to you." Herobrine ignored the guilty expression that appeared on the teen's face as he looked up at the screen. Still, the human didn't say anything, and when Herobrine transferred the required sum from the playing accounts of several of his reserve avatars, Herobrine heard the accepting ping.
"Thanks." The human muttered, lowering his head. Herobrine frowned at him, unable to understand the heavy guilt that held in the teen's expression.
"Unnecessary. This is a small matter to me and I can easily earn more. You and your sister are my friends." Herobrine again glanced at the sick girl, frowning as familiar urgency awakened within him once more.
He needed to get back to work. If he succeeded, then he might be able to help them more than simply transfer them funds. It would have been far easier if Anna simply accepted his offer of borrowing funds from where they would not be missed, but the girl had high moral standards. While annoying and frustrating on occasion, it was also one of the qualities that Herobrine honestly admired. Notch would have liked this young human who sounded so much like him.
Switching his gaze back to the girl's younger brother, Herobrine noticed the human biting his lips.
"Is there something else wrong?" He frowned at him, impatient, since he really needed to get some serious rest and recover after the unfortunate experience of last few days. The teen threw up his head and tried to smile.
"N-nothing! I'm just... glad you are back." The relief in the boy's eyes seemed unfeigned and Herobrine relaxed once more.
"All right. Then I'm off to rest. So should you. Its two AM over there." Herobrine pointed out.
"I am, I am! I'll just finish my homework, first. I was gaming all day and last night." Teen grinned and Herobrine nodded with approval. Unlike many others, this young human did not go into the game just for fun. Originally, he did so, as did his sister, although their ideas for fun were different - Anna preferred building while Timothy liked fighting and killing monsters.
A simple cold that began to bother the girl, however, ended up being the initial stages of some rare human illness based on a genetic disorder, for which their doctors could promise no cure, only an alleviation of symptoms and delay of final unpleasant prognosis. Unfortunately for them, these two young humans had only a low, menial status and could not afford the expensive, specialized treatments that the girl's condition required. Since then, for Timothy his former play turned into work.
It had been an interesting fact for Herobrine to discover since he came in contact with these two. Feeling some measure of gratitude, since it was the girl's good heart that helped him when he, himself, teetered on the brink of crawling back to the Admin like a beaten dog begging for mercy, Herobrine felt inclined to do what he could to help. It coincided with his own goals at the moment, so why not?
"Please tell Doris that I wish to speak to her. When she wakes up." Herobrine softened his tone, by habit still using the girl's gaming nickname rather than her real human name, Anna Elizabet Walsh. Her brother looked up hopefully.
"You'll stay here for a few days, then?... Great!" Timothy nearly jumped up in his chair at Herobrine's nod, grinning.
Responding to the bright, excited look with a small smile of his own, though it looked more like a smirk on his own face, Herobrine logged off. For a moment longer, he continued to look at the images of destruction that continued to display on the monitors in Triton servers.
Maagnus Ledorn and his team finally dealt the mutant monster a finishing strike, their group having teamed up with Triton groups and that of several other less important player groups. Herobrine breathed a little breath of relief and again checked the number n the corner of the screen. It remained at zero, which meant that none of Notch's people had perished despite the heavy grade of destruction.
His carelessness again. Herobrine considered the rolling footage as players began to rehash the events where his name was frequently mentioned. He could only hope that his latest actions would not convince Notch to take the side of the Admin. He would have no hope of remaining hidden if that powerful being decided to turn against him.
Now, he would definitely have to stay low for a few months, until attention toward him would calm down. He was going to try to stay out of trouble. Somehow, it just never worked out so far.
Irritably, Herobrine dismissed the screen and teleported to the next room, where his bed beckoned. Settled upon it, he first produced one of the items from this venture - an unimpressive book with dark, worn leather cover. He would rest in a bit. First, he would check if the whole effort was worth it.
Closing his eyes, he concentrated, allowing his human senses to fade. The place around him colored in silver-gray tones as multitude of sparks ran across the surfaces of the objects. The book in his hands gleamed a beckoning, warm white. Steadying his mind, with anticipation, Herobrine opened the first page.
Before his mind's eye, a figure appeared, wearing cyan and blue. With slight, amused smile, the man who looked like Herobrine's exact copy, lifted his face and looked at Herobrine with interested, white eyes.
"If you've found this message, greetings. And congratulations. You have found another clue! If you are who I think you are, you may proceed. I have attached quite a few lessons that you will find useful in honing your skills or perhaps you will even discover something new! I have included several local quests that exist in the area. Check them out! One especially. It's an epic level event that players usually find valuable. The items you can gain will definitely be worthwhile for exchange. More importantly, you'll need them to get your next clue. Begin by summoning the Wither."
Herobrine huffed with annoyance at his predecessor's frivolous attitude. Of course, for him this entire search-and-find chain of quest had been merely a game to entertain him in his nearly immortal existence. For Herobrine now, it was the only link he had to finding the truth about his predecessor and himself - the only way he could gather bits and pieces of memories.
"Summon the Wither..." Herobrine grumbled to himself, recalling his own earlier frustration since until that moment he didn't even know what that cryptic phrase was. It took hunting and researching dozens of books to find the relevant information. And days to discover the necessary ingredients. Just to get those ingredients, he had to get other ingredients! Neither his own level, nor that of his human avatar that he used to walk among them without recognition had been enough. He was forced to steal! And then get caught by those high-ranking players. On purpose! Just so he could explain that he found a rare quest. That was the only way he could manage to get a high-level group to do the majority of work for him.
His predecessor should have warned that the alterations Herobrine would introduce to the summoning ritual would produce such a dangerous creature as that! But there he was, grinning at him with mischief as usual.
Herobrine scowled, both anger and admiration mixing within him as usual as he studied his predecessor's figure and expression. So much power and yet so careless. No wonder the humans defeated him. Of course, currently Herobrine himself was not a match for them, either.
Sooner or later, though, he would find and regain his predecessor's strength! Then, he would no longer be the prey on the run. He will destroy them! And not just in game, no! He will make sure that they will find no escape from his vengeance even in their own pathetic world. He would bring their game right back to them and then it will be they who will be afraid. He will make them pay, each one of them who tortured him or mocked, instead of showing pity. He remembered their faces. He would find them and make them pay for what they've done, each and single one of them!
Hatred burned like liquid fire and a sneer unconsciously formed on Herobrine's face as he lay there, looking up at the ceiling with bright glare.
"Remember, Herobrine. You are more than what you think you are. More than what they created you to be. Not just a mindless killer obsessed with revenge." Notch's calm voice sounded in his mind, pulling him out from vivid dreams of fire and destruction, where his enemies peered at him with frightened eyes as they screamed for mercy.
A calm face with gentle, serious brown eyes held on him in his memory. So patient, while an encouraging small smile held on a normally expressionless, severe face. Most of all, Herobrine could feel the sincere well wish that this being directed toward him.
His sneer vanishing, Herobrine considered the memory a bit longer, before irritably brushing it to the back of his mind. Yes, yes, of course. He was not going to be a monster, of course. Couldn't he just dream a little?
Anyway, lets see what prize his predecessor left for him this time? Before, it had been interesting bits of knowledge, skills, locations to treasures, or even simply a few personally treasured memories. And always a hint to where he would find more such clues! In the past several years, following this chain of crumbs had become the sole purpose of Herobrine's continued existence. That, and his continued goals that usually switched between immediate survival to exacting revenge against the pesky players who continued to stand in his way.
His heart filling with anticipation, Herobrine turned the page. His world dissolved as yet another of his predecessor's memories engulfed him and began carry him away, somewhere familiar and strangely moving his heart.
Overworld. As it looked from the edge of the city in the Ether. Both he and his predecessor stood, looking at the vast, green world below. Herobrine's lookalike looked at it with a soft smile, his emotions almost mirroring those of Herobrine himself when he stood here last. Only then, it had been Notch at his side, showing him around the place after he got permission to do so for the sake of glitched program's rehabilitation. The attempt lasted barely two weeks before events returned Herobrine to the hands of the humans and his hardship resumed. Still, the memory of those days remained a treasured one, for the sense of wonder and discovery and hope that he then experienced. Unfortunately, that hope proved false later on, but at least Herobrine got to experience what it was like.
His predecessor in this memory seemed calm and hopeful as well. Joy and curious wonder flowed out from him, finding a reflection in Herobrine's heart, too.
"My brother created all this. Do you know? Everything you see here... Not from scratch, of course. He is not a God. He is a true artist, though. To replicate everything that once existed in the world of the humans and even them, too, down to a single living cell. Is that not amazing?..." His predecessor said with appreciation and turned to face him.
"All right. And now for why you are here. I may not have made all this, but I did help some! Some of the creatures that live here are purely my creations. Well, some are borrowed from the humans, too." The white-eyed demigod corrected himself with a mischievous grin. "Only in part, though! I mean, its one thing to draw some monster and describe that it can breathe fire. Imagine what its like to calculate all the little details that actually make it into a living, breathing thing! Lets take the Wither. Do you think such a creature can actually exist? Sure, it can, if you add such a general thing as 'magic', but then it will be just a cheat, an empty bunch of code, not an actual living, breathing creature. I want to show you how to something even more amazing. I am going to show you how to create a mind that can perceive itself. We'll start by copying simple creatures at first and then proceed to more complex forms. Do not try to skip lessons. I cannot allow you to proceed ahead until you demonstrate knowledge of basic steps. Each lesson, you will have to follow up with practice. And I will know if you've completed your homework or not!" Herobrine's lookalike grinned, reminding him very much of the young human Timothy, and Herobrine himself smirked a little. Sometimes he felt older than his predecessor by many years, despite knowing that it was actually in reverse. His few years of existence made up only a fraction of life of this strange immortal who wore his face.
Homework? Learning to create living things? Well, it wasn't exactly what Herobrine had hoped for, preferring something more relevant like breaking through security systems and designing weapons. Still, it was interesting and he already found himself looking forward to the practice!
With that cheerful thought in mind, Herobrine reluctantly disconnected from the memory in the message and dismissed the book back into his inventory. Doubtlessly, this prize would take a long time to master and he needed to get some rest, first. At least, he now knew what he was going to do in the next few weeks, while he was forced to stay low, avoiding the attention of the Admin, doubtlessly searching for him once more because of new player complaints.
Herobrine leaned back against the pillow, allowing his eyes to drift closed. Worn out by his recent adventure and multiple respawns, his power still trickling back to him from the surrounding world, he passed out almost instantly, secure in the assumption that he was safe.
...
Timothy sat on his chair and stared at the screen, where he could see Herobrine's location deep beneath the ground in one of the greatly remodeled rooms of the giant fortress - an amazing glitch in world seed that he and his sister found about six years ago. Basically, their entire small world was that fortress, deep beneath the ground, with thousands of rooms and portals leading to a tiny End dimension. Timothy didn't even come to their server that much, preferring to play on far larger ones owned by professional world designers. His sister's effort was childish and boring compared to the huge lands filled with monsters and quests and even real sentients under game-wide Admin protection. Then, three years ago, Timothy learned that his sister had allowed the infamous glitch Herobrine to hide in their server. By then, Herobrine had already lived on their server for almost a year without anyone but Timothy's sister knowing about it.
Having that secret briefly made his life so much fun! Knowing something so amazing, that only he and his sister knew, was great! He badly wished to tell, but never did. He so badly wished to prove to that mistrustful program that he was worthy of trust, just as his sister was. And he did it! Herobrine just called them both 'friends'.
Timothy's lips pinched as guilt grew even heavier on his heart, but then his eyes strayed to his sister's skinny form curled up on the couch. She was nothing like the smily, shy girl he remembered. Two years have turned her into a pale version of herself. Her cheeks stood out when she still tried to smile at him. And she slept nearly all the time now, waking up only to try to eat, and even then it would not be much. Those expensive retroviral medications made her ill to her stomach and tired.
She will be so happy to hear that Herobrine had returned. Jealousy and bitterness joined the guilt in Timothy's heart as he stared at the screen, where the gaming cash Herobrine transferred had now become the money that Timothy could use to pay their bills and send to the doctors. Anna would get her treatment.
It was only delaying what Timothy knew was going to happen! He didn't tell Herobrine because his sister didn't want him to tell, because she didn't want their friend to worry about them. Only Herobrine didn't worry about them. Well, maybe a little. He probably just considered helping them as paying back his debt. Like paying rent.
Timothy grimaced, still looking at the virtual line of credits. He earned only a fifth of that money, while Herobrine had done the rest, as usual. He would probably even send more, if Timothy asked.
He didn't want to ask.
And Herobrine would not have enough to afford what Anna really needed. Timothy's blue eyes turned to look at the experimental treatment plan that the doctor gave him this morning, in private, after Timothy boasted that all the money he had made so far was done in game. Appearing impressed, the doctor suggested that perhaps, if he was this successful, he might consider other, more expensive options for his sister's treatment. After all, the treatments she received now merely delayed the deterioration in her physiology. Already, some of the damages had become irreversible, and in another four or five years in best case, she would be gone. But if Timothy kept his level of success, then perhaps he might consider another option - complete genetic correction and replacement of damaged tissue with latest mix of biological synthetic patches. The first intensive course would last at least a month to start with, with his sister's body submerged into state-of-the-art medical contraptions in a high-level medical treatment facility where her unique condition would be analyzed and top level systems would calculate and then produce the necessary methods to correct the errors.
Just a day in that treatment would cost 250,000 marks. Seeing Timothy's astonishment, the doctor told him to think about it and promised to send the information. Timothy was looking at it now.
He would never get enough money to afford something like this. No matter how hard he worked. His enthusiastic boast to the doctor had been just that - a boast.
Even if he asked Herobrine to help them, he didn't think the virtual being would do it. Friends? He hated humans, that much Timothy knew for sure. That slipped in his comments and even in the way he sometimes looked at them, when Anna showed him how humans lived in their world. She could not see it, but Timothy could. And, honestly, the being's awareness and cold glare of white eyes scared him a little.
Since Anna began to teach Herobrine about their world, he learned so quickly and so much. Timothy knew how to hack the game a little. He could not say no when Herobrine asked him to show what he was doing. A month later, he caught Herobrine snooping in the accounts of real business people. Granted, it was because that's when they learned that Anna was sick with more than a cold and Timothy himself mentioned it that the rich guys probably had so much money that they wouldn't even notice a few marks going missing. But then Anna scolded him and told them both that she would never accept stolen money. And then Timothy himself earned enough to pay for the doctor's visit by selling some of his recently gained gaming gear, which he also got with Herobrine's help, on the gaming auction forum. Since then, Herobrine started doing it as well, using throw-away guest accounts that they taught him how to make. Now, he had way more than Timothy. Of course he did, being a powerful raid boss and a villain, who could practically produce some items from empty air!
Jealousy once again left an unpleasant sense in Timothy's heart as he tried to contain it. He did know that most of what Herobrine found came from him searching for the stuff as he followed some sort of quest, left behind by his predecessor. Herobrine was often gone for weeks, having fun as he caused trouble for other players on other servers. And all that time, Timothy's sister waited, hoping that he would return soon. She felt way more than just curious or wishing to help that strange program. She actually liked the guy! Timothy even joked about it before, because it was funny to see how his sister would laugh, denying it all, while her cheeks would blush so red that it was obvious that she had a crush on Herobrine. And even now, she still liked him, while even his words, calling them 'friends', sounded so arrogant and reluctant, as if he was doing them a favor.
The whole thing wasn't fair! This guy would come and stay in their server for a few days, and leave again to cause trouble. He was kind of like a criminal and they were doing an illegal thing, hiding him here and even letting him learn about how their world worked.
Timothy just recently had seen an entire video on that, where the Admin of the Game appealed to the players to be careful with what they revealed to the virtual world characters. And they had even revealed a little about the original Herobrine - a sentient virus program, who didn't hesitate to harm and even kill humans in real life on multiple occasions. Even so, there had been a debate on whether it would be justified to destroy him, until the programmers found proof of his final intent, which was to nothing less than to take control not just of the entire game and rewrite Notch, but to take over all human systems in the world, practically enslaving them to whatever purpose he had in mind.
That program or virus or whatever he was had been incredibly dangerous. And now Herobrine followed in his footsteps, determined to become even more powerful than his predecessor had been. He was following some sort of learning program, which his predecessor left, and definitely showing the results, although he avoided sharing it with them. He didn't trust them. They were humans. Timothy saw all this and it worried him. Yet Anna didn't see anything at all, still considering the program she saved as her friend. Of course she would, Timothy winced. She actually had a crush on that guy. Even though she knew that he wasn't even real!
Herobrine wasn't a man. He wasn't even human! Just a bunch of letters and numbers, patterns of energy in the streams, a wandering glitch with who knew what plans in his mind! He sure looked impressive with those honed muscles and 'tough bad boy' look, but it was just pixels on the screen, nothing more. And Anna knew all this, but still liked him!
She was basically wasting her last days, waiting for the guy to drop by, just to exchange a few words with him. If he knew that Timothy's sister loved him, he would probably laugh. Or leave? If he cared about her even a little, he wouldn't be running off to gain more power, but figure something out on how to help. Even earn some real money, like Timothy did. For someone like him, it would not be hard!
He didn't though. And that meant that he didn't care about them. Not really. They were just convenient to his plans. His sister's server was just a safe base of operations, that's all.
Timothy scowled as slight anger emerged. It made the guilt he felt a little less. It didn't submerge it completely, though. What he was considering doing, for his sister's sake, would be nothing less than betrayal of not only Herobrine's trust but his sister's trust, as well. She would never forgive him.
She would live though.
His lips twisting in determination, Timothy reached his hand to the monitor and a message appeared on his screen. He stared at it, once again torn by uncertain feelings. Then, he pressed the reply button.
"Hello. Yes, I do have information about what you wanted to find. Here is proof. Let me know if you are interested in learning more."
Timothy sent a video, where Herobrine stood before an obsidian wall and easily moved aside blocks, which were supposed to block him. Yet another skill, which he apparently learned from his predecessor and was practicing in their server at the time.
The message blinked only a few seconds, before a reply appeared.
"We are definitely interested. Where would you like to meet?"