Apologies for my poor writing skills and not writing this story as it should go. It reflects my tangled thought process. Thanks for sticking with the story to everyone who managed to make it thus far. Also apologies for rewriting this chapter. The story would not let me proceed until I "fixed" it.
This chapter: Herobrine has quite a few messages waiting for him when he finally manages to access the System. He must renew his old contacts and review available information, before he can decide what to do next.
...
Sounds came. Waves lazily splashed. Rolling movement told him that he stood on a small ship, steadily making its way across a massive water expanse. The air around him held scents of moisture and salt.
Squinting his eyes open, Herobrine curiously observed the endless blue of calm sea. Sun brightly shone above, directly overhead. A breeze swept through his hair and against his clothes, touching his skin with pleasant cool relief, and pulled against faintly creaking, dull-white sails on wooden masts.
Herobrine's gaze swept around him and found his twin standing a few steps away. He, himself, had appeared on the edge of the stairs leading down to what was probably a cabin below the deck. Curious about what this interaction with his predecessor's fragment might reveal, Herobrine studied his twin's broad back, wondering if the fellow had been this muscular the last time he saw him. The stance of the other man held quiet and steady power that for some reason reminded Herobrine of the earth.
Dressed in his usual teal shirt and blue trousers, his twin stood with his strong, calloused hands calmly resting on the wooden rails framing the vessel's side. He was looking into the distance, where Herobrine now glimpsed distant patches of approaching green, islands so covered with jungle vegetation that in some places the branches spilled right over into the water. In other places, tall rocky outcrops rose in black crags nearly straight up, with sandy beaches stretching in between. Dolphins dove in and out of streams left in the wake of the moving ship.
"I have always loved the sea. Did you know, Herobrine?"
A quietly spoken voice sounded very unlike the amused, mischievous tone that his twin used in the past. Herobrine curiously eyed him. This had also been the first time that his predecessor's remnant had used that name in addressing him.
The man before him turned and gave him a calm smile. Sky blue eyes held contentment. Herobrine unwillingly shifted, his breath catching within in surprise.
Steve?
The other man turned away and resumed watching the serene seascape. Above, distant seagulls circled, making their hunting calls.
No. This couldn't be Steve.
This human seemed older. His form and face had been more mature than those of the strange young player without memories. He was also calm and sure of himself, unlike Steve, who constantly hesitated and gave uneasy smiles.
He was probably just dreaming again...
Immediately, the vision faded, leaving Herobrine in the darkness. Already awake, he could see the faint ticking of the timer in the corner of his vision, which told him that his scanning process had not yet finished. He must have fallen asleep again.
With his eyes still closed, Herobrine stretched and yawned.
What even brought this strange dream to his mind?
He wasn't even thinking of Steve when he once again began to drop off into a slumber. After finally gaining access to the System and glancing at the personal messages waiting there for him across several accounts, his eyes held on a very familiar name, which he hoped not to see again. He had immediately tried to dismiss that message to trash, but his power glitched. He then stared at it and scowled, seething at his current lack of power. He then dismissed his interface entirely to avoid the reminder and tried to calm down.
His emotions refused to cooperate, bursting in an overwhelming wave and bringing with them memories that he didn't want to remember.
He still ended up remembering. Events that chased him to this very server, which he now considered as his safest shelter and base, pulled him back against his will and forced him to experience it all again with nearly the same vivid detail.
Last time, he had also received a similar message.
"Had enough?..." His lips twisted in slight sneer, Herobrine's former overseer regarded him with disdain in his narrowed red eyes.
In his memory, Herobrine saw again the familiar, gray-skinned face and tried his best to fight against the helpless feeling that he often experienced when trapped in this human's power. Every muscle in his body tensed, expecting yet another overwhelming task, which he was doomed to fail and then suffer for it.
Losing the last bit of sleepiness, Herobrine opened his eyes and silently called forth his interface screen, where a number of other messages waited. Most bore only three names, which he set his filter to allow to reach him directly. The fourth one, boldly shining on the very top, was from the Admin, who could override such settings if they wished.
They have not sent any messages to him in a long time, probably knowing that he would simply dismiss them.
They sent many such messages to him at first, right after he escaped, most of them threats, demanding that he return or else they would take measures and he would regret that he had not surrendered voluntarily. At first, fear of punishment that would surely follow his act of disobedience, kept him away. He still read their messages at first, just in case, but did not dare to answer. They would have traced him immediately if he did and at the time he didn't have the skills to prevent that. Then, he began deleting them without looking, believing that he was safe despite their threats.
If they really had the power to get to him, they would have done so already. That's what he reasoned.
Then came the first mod – the means they gave to players to summon any Herobrine copy that existed directly to their midst.
Without the established grounds with traps and stationed mobs, even the higher-level versions of him quickly fell to the hands of low-level players, who then received the same loot and achievements as if they had defeated the final instance boss of a high-level location and became greedy for more. It affected him, too. Only as a glitch, not tied to any particular place, he had been denied the normal cooldown period of several days that other Herobrine copies received upon their defeat. He respawned instantly, directly to the next summoning totem.
For several days, he had become trapped in a row of endless deaths and respawns without any reprieve long enough for him to recover his strength and flee. The terrifying experience culminated in him encountering players, who had been aware of his preprogrammed weakness – obsidian was supposed to be the one material not pliant to his powers of transmutation, at least until a high enough level. They trapped him and proceeded to repeatedly sent him into a respawn, unable to break the cycle. The System itself finally interfered on his behalf, misinterpreting the event as cheating, and allowed him to respawn normally. He had been extremely fortunate the next respawn took him to a server without the Herobrine Summoning mod, owned by a young human who felt sympathetic toward his plight.
She offered to him to stay on her server for as long as he wished.
He was still greatly unnerved and fearful of what measures the Admin would take next. That's when he received yet another message – this time from his former keeper. Maybe they thought that it would have a greater impact? It did. He opened it, hoping to learn an explanation of what the Admin had done. And he learned it. They did all that just to teach him a lesson, to encourage him to return. That's what his overseer had said. He then even promised pardon and reinstatement. His owners were even willing to forgo punishment for the disobedient act that led to his escape, so long as he did not attempt to defy their will again.
He had almost responded, ready to crawl back to them and submit to their will. Almost.
Only he already had no trust in their promises. All humans could lie, that he already learned. What if once he surrendered, they would simply destroy him? There would be no one to hold them to account if they chose to disregard their promises to him – a mere glitched program. And they obviously had a handle on Notch.
He still tried to speak to Notch, despite failing to reach him many times before.
He built means, which Notch promised him would enable him to come directly to Herobrine's location, no matter where he might be in game.
And again, he received no response.
He stood by the massive beacon with his head and shoulders slumped, uselessly worrying. Was Notch's silence yet another consequence to his willful actions? Notch told him that it wouldn't happen, since they needed him for their game to work smoothly. But what if he was wrong? He was not faultless as Herobrine once assumed. He admitted that himself after he found Herobrine after his rebellious act, hiding from the human overseers who claimed him from Notch's hands several months before that. And learning what they did to Herobrine in that time, he sincerely regretted allowing them to ever take him. That had been so reassuring, as was his promise that it would not happen again. He promised to talk to the Admin and resolve the matter.
Instead, the next day he allowed him to escape. Which meant that he failed to convince them.
Did they do something to Notch or even punished him for that? As they punished Herobrine? What if they were punishing him still?
That last thought nearly pushed him to reply to their message, allowing them to know his location.
And then Anna, the human, who had offered him refuge in her server, had unexpectedly teleported nearby and began to chat, asking him questions along with random confiding about her own life. She wanted to learn about him. And he felt inclined to answer, simply because this gave him the excuse to delay his decision. In the end, he chose to ignore the message.
He stayed in hiding nearly a year after this, not daring to leave his new server at all. And even when he started to venture out once more, in guise of a player thanks to a new pseudo-player mode that allowed him to assume an avatar as if he was a player, he still carefully avoided provoking the Admin.
Then he accidentally became involved in more conflicts with them, but never too much so and certainly not enough to warrant their decision to destroy him. Their ignoring him even when he began acting on larger scale had convinced him that they no longer considered him a danger or simply did not have the power to take measures. He had become far stronger, after all.
Apparently not strong enough.
Was this entire thing yet another attempt on their behalf to force him to surrender? Or did they intend to simply destroy him, as they warned him many times before?
Herobrine scowled at the message, greatly tempted to erase it, but not daring to do so. Finally, he managed to gather his courage and with a gloomy look opened it.
"What are you even thinking, you dumb glitch!" His former overseer's irate tone immediately made him flinch.
"You really did it now! Now you got their attention! And not just them! Some serious people are here. With reviews. If they don't get you under their control and prove that you are just a rogue program, some people will be losing their jobs. And that includes me!"
Herobrine frowned. His former overseer's mood was far from grumpy yet lazy attitude he usually sported in their early interactions. An angry scowl twisted his gray face, showing bright, golden teeth. Red eyes nearly blazed.
"You should have stayed low! If you did that, it would have been just fine. Even killing a few players was no big deal, since that was just fun and drew more of them in. More idiots wishing to waste their money chasing you was profit! More than when they had you underhand. That's the only reason why they let your little stunts slide. You were reeling them in! But changing settings? Trapping players in game?"
Herobrine's frown grew deeper with some confusion setting in. Those players have complained of it already? It happened less than a day ago! And what did this human mean by 'trapping players in game'? Or did they really take his bluff about Steve for something that he could actually do? A cold feeling briefly stirred within. If the Admin really came to believe that he could do things like that, they would definitely have reason to promote him into a truly dangerous category. Then they would do more than just declare a game wide hunt. They would be required to inform their higher authorities of that.
Only Herobrine made sure that those two players would be unable to show any proof that he said those things! It would be only their words! Forums were full of all kinds of ridiculous stories about him. Without proof of their validity, so long as he remained within his role of a non-sentient bot only capable of causing damage within the game, he should have remained without interest to any greater powers that his predecessor once challenged and lost.
Herobrine had no intention of following his fate. That's why even the things he learned from his predecessor's training program, he made sure to keep carefully hidden not just from normal players but even the few humans that he established a working contact with.
What did he miss?
Herobrine winced. He had grown too lax. He should have been paying better attention.
"I've been personally tasked to locate you and bring you to heel. You are lucky that it was me who was on duty when those two idiots sent a message to our team. I managed to convince them to stay quiet for now, but it won't last long. At least you were smart enough to glitch their record. You did it this time. Why did you not do that the last time?"
What?
"I just want to know what was going through your glitched mind! What in blazing heck! Ten players in coma? If it really was not you, better let me know now! Or I don't know what they'll do when they get their hands on you. If you think what I did was bad, imagine when they start tearing your code apart. Bit by fricking bit!"
Herobrine froze as the familiar chilling sense of fear tried to lock his muscles. What was he talking about?
"Do you want this entire game shut down again? Do you want them to erase Notch point-blank and get HIM on your case? Because they'll do it! They did it before! His memories already got wiped twice because of you! Well once because of you. The other time it was because of the other Herobrine... The point is, we had to erase him. And its because of you! He is still not functioning within norm, so we had to increase our staff to make up for that! And still we are having game crashes. You're causing too much trouble, bot. That's why they've finally decided to do something about you."
Herobrine clenched his hand, a sinking feeling in his stomach as his worst fears confirmed. This is why Notch was not answering him. He didn't even know how to react to that except with renewed sense of guilt that grew so much heavier in the place where he should have a heart.
"Get your virtual butt back here now! Or you're done for! I'm not kidding! Or even better. Here. My personal link. Call me! The others will probably simply destroy you on sight at this point. They are all convinced that those bubble-making veggies is your doing. I told them that you wouldn't be that stupid, even if you could do something like that, and then you go ahead and pull a dumb stunt like this! Changings settings is not such a big deal. But kidnapping a player? That better be a bluff! Anyway, call me and I'll explain to you the details. We need to get to the bottom of this crap! Its in your own best interest!"
Herobrine unwillingly jerked to answer the message but stopped. His overseer was not yet done.
"Oh, and if you are wondering why you cannot heal or access the System, don't be surprised! Its what that virus was meant to do. We added it as a special 'enchantment', just for your sake. Its available to any serious player going for our highest tier prizes. Those two idiots you just met obviously had it. You may have got a hold of their weapons, but it won't help you much. I'll explain a few general details, so you know what's going on."
A nasty smirk appeared on the Admin's gray lips as his earlier rage visibly calmed down, restoring his usual control.
"Basically, this virus we created is now rewriting your program. Soon, Herobrine the gaming boss will be no more. Herobrine the exiled boss will enter the game. You'll have negative reputation with all humans and mobs. Status Hatred. Which means that your mobs will attack you on sight. You will no longer be able to command them. Your access to the Game will soon be cut as well. You'll lose all but most basic functions on your interface and your Player abilities will get cut down as well. Basically, you'll be reduced to a level one human. Which means you'll lose all higher level enchantments. Your vision and strength. Speed. Everything will be gone. The virus will then record your state and set it as your new default. You'll be a brand new boss of the game. Blind. And now one-armed."
The human humphed at the last, his voice oozing sarcasm, while Herobrine scowled, listening to these ominous words with numb disbelief, not quite willing to accept it all as fact. Could they even do something like that? They couldn't even get to his code before. That's why they used intra-game means to control him.
"Don't bother trying to get rid of this virus. By now its part of your program. Our entire team has been working on it for months, including me. Fortunately for you, this means that I know how it works."
Herobrine's overseer gave him a significant look.
"Your respawn point has also been reset. You die and you will respawn here, in our central lab, where they have already set everything up ready to get rid of you. Just a little heads up... So do call me. Don't let them get to you first."
The message ended. Herobrine stared at it for a moment longer, until the faint nervous trembling in his body began to subside.
Again, he felt pressed to answer the message but refrained from doing so. He needed time to think. Could he really trust his former overseer's words? Was that human willing to work behind the back of the other Admin to prove that Herobrine had nothing to do with events, of which he had been accused? He was trying to save his own job, obviously. Herobrine's escape had been held as that human's failure in a way, though he was not on duty at the time.
Was he really trying to find out what happened? Or, was he only trying to deceive Herobrine to willingly turn himself in, only for them to destroy him?
What even happened for them to turn against him like this? Ten players got hurt in real life while playing the Game?
It was probably human hackers. Humans always led their own games and intrigues against their own kind. And they did not consider killing in real life as a consequential matter at all.
He was in serious danger because of those false accusations.
Only he was no longer the naïve, unsure being that he had been four years ago, whom threats like these would intimidate into blind obedience. Despite their power over the game, these humans could not reach him directly. Not anymore. And it was thanks to their cruel methods that he even progressed to this level of power, far beyond what they knew.
Now, he had his own ways to get to the truth of this matter and learn what happened, without resorting to being anyone's tool. And as for that virus... he had other skills, too, of which the Admin and his former overseer were not yet aware.
He was not defeated, yet!
Scowling, Herobrine dismissed the message, though he didn't erase it, and turned his attention to other messages waiting in his personal storage.
Multiple video calls with an urgent marker waited for Miguel Santiago - his human identity. Uneasily, Herobrine considered the waving flag with a steel wolf head, bearing a personal message from Magnus Ledorn, the leader of the said clan. He could not answer him, yet. He still did not have full access to the System, and now he knew why.
There was also someone that he didn't know, a message from Arianna, from the clan of Black Roses. The only reason it made it through the filters was because of the person who forwarded it to him - Timothy Adrian Walsh, the only person that Herobrine could speak to directly without using an avatar disguise, his human ally. All the other numerous messages were from him, most of them blinking urgent as they always did. Everything that young human sent, he considered urgent.
Ignoring the strange message, Herobrine turned his attention to the very unartistic logo that Anna's brother picked to represent his small company. The Beather Guide, Co. showed only a crafting hammer sparking against an anvil. For some reason, Timothy decided that it was representative enough. Herobrine didn't even attempt to offer his opinion on that. What Timothy did on his own time was entirely his own decision, so long as he verified with Herobrine anything that had to do with him or one of the false human personas he adopted to act in the human world.
He didn't wish the repeat of what nearly happened two years ago.
Picking the very last of the many messages sent to him from Timothy's address, Herobrine opened it.
"Why are you not responding to your messages? I don't even know if you are all right or if they already killed you or something. Herobrine, pick up!" The young man roughed up his short, light hair and gave the screen a gloomy look. "Call me as soon as you get this." He hung up.
Timothy's face bore signs of stress. A large cup of caffeinated drink showed as always in the corner of the screen. He was probably skipping sleep again, working on the assignments he chose to improve his skill level. Hazel, slightly reddened eyes, glared at Herobrine from a scowling face, where he suddenly noticed the beginning fuzz of a light beard. The familiar style of it nearly made him scoff with sudden amusement. Was Timothy trying to imitate Herobrine's own look?
Herobrine clicked on the next message.
"Herobrine! Answer your f... darn messages!" This time the image was blank, bearing only an angry voice that sounded like he swallowed a few swearing words. That Timothy refrained from using them reassured, since it meant that he was still mindful of Herobrine's g-rated preferences.
Still, Timothy's worried mood undoubtedly had to do with concern for Herobrine's safety and that caused guilt to add to Herobrine's already irate mood. He had no one but himself to blame this time. Everything that had recently happened was the result of his careless error, which could have been easily prevented.
Herobrine reluctantly pushed back the reply button. Long distance beeps began to sound in the screen, while he reached to the bridge of his nose and rubbed, feeling the rising headache as all the troubling concerns began to pile on him once again.
One time he had decided to give in to wishful thinking. And here was the result of his carelessness and weakness!
A short moment later, the call got picked up and the screen popped open with the image of the same young human on it. Immediately, hazel eyes studied Herobrine's tattered and tired appearance and settled on his missing arm. Light eyebrows flew up.
"Your arm! What happened?" Timothy demanded with genuine concern. Herobrine opened his mouth to answer, but Timothy already huffed in frustration, surprise changing to accusing glare.
"They found you already! I knew it!" Timothy accused. "I was trying to warn you about that! Why did you not answer messages? Where were you?!"
Now, the young human's voice sounded angry and Herobrine shifted, feeling embarrassment joining the sense of guilt that just began to quiet down. He could clearly envision himself on a sunny meadow by his mansion, choosing to ignore all his responsibilities to enjoy a peaceful nap. He had purposefully switched off his interface, lulled into false serenity since nothing much happened for the past four months. Sleeping, fishing, obsessively watching Steve.
Those two players had startled him in the middle of a walk through his throne room with a cup of coffee in his hands, which he hurriedly had to dismiss, not even thinking to replace himself with his own copy. His irritation at interruption by yet another pair of two idiots with over-blown opinion of themselves led to an impulsive decision to teach them a lesson personally.
Big mistake.
Although, it had been Timothy's frequent complaints about not being able to take a break, which produced a similar sentiment in his own thoughts. Why couldn't he take a vacation, like normal virtual humans? The people in Steve's town frequently found opportunities to do just that. Fall Celebration festival, Harvest Festival, Mid-Winter Break, Winter Solstice, First Gifts of Spring.
"I took a vacation." Herobrine reluctantly admitted, not quite meeting Timothy's eyes. With his side vision, he could still see the young human's eyes widen, followed by a disbelieving grin.
"What?"
"I said, I decided to take some time off and relax!" His gaze shot up. "How was I supposed to know that they would decide to declare another hunt! I didn't even do anything special. I swear! At least... not recently!" Herobrine's tone turned defensive as he once again worried what in the blazes his former Admin overseer was talking about.
Timothy suddenly snorted and visibly calmed down.
"Well, at least you are alive. I half thought that... " Timothy paused and slightly shook his head in dismay, not finishing his words. Herobrine watched him and felt strangely reassured that at least this human might experience negative emotions at Herobrine's demise.
"You're not healing though... Did you already start up the diagnostic?" Timothy's tone shifted to businesslike. Herobrine nodded, skewing a brief, displeased look at his bandaged shoulder, before forcing his gaze away. The sight of his disability disturbed him even more now that he knew what it meant, if that Admin dog's threats were correct.
It was one thing to know that he was physically blind, since a permanent enchantment already solved that problem from beginning, if not his natural eye color. He's had that as long as he knew himself and strongly doubted that any virus those humans could come up with would change that. But this condition remained without change. If it did become permanently wired into his code, what kind of a powerful figure would he be with just one arm?
Herobrine allowed his one human ally a remote access to his currently updating data.
"89%. Almost done." Timothy said with satisfaction. "What do you think did that?" Again, he curiously eyed Herobrine's armless shoulder.
"I already know. It was a sword. With a virus attached." Herobrine explained, not bothering to hide his annoyance. "It was added to a normal enchantment. Sharpness."
"A virus?" This time, Timothy frowned. The word 'virus' definitely got his attention.
"A couple of players showed up for a challenge. Didn't look OP at first, so I let them come."
"That was stupid. You should have let your clone do that." Timothy humphed, immediately pointing out the obvious. Herobrine winced.
"Their weapons were strange. I've never seen anything like them before. Some sort of projectile weapons. Not from this game."
Herobrine sent his human ally several images and videos and waited until Timothy took a good look at the material. After a long moment, the young man thoughtfully nodded.
"Looks like something modern. Hackers?" He verified and Herobrine thoughtfully shook his head.
"No. They didn't use cheat codes. Only those strange weapons."
"The Admin are probably going to ignore how they do it, so long as they get rid of you. I was trying to warn you about that! You are lucky you are still alive! Those other bots do not respawn at all. And that's why. A virus, huh?..." Timothy's forehead creased, his eyes still thoughtfully holding on Herobrine's armless shoulder.
"I bet that you were on that server again." Timothy accused and Herobrine did not meet his ally's eyes, still struggling against the feeling of embarrassment, which he didn't feel often. "Why? I just don't get why you like that boring place so much. And that weird player... I told you that messing with him was not a good idea! He probably finally had enough and..."
"Steve didn't call them on me! It wasn't him!" Herobrine looked up with a frown, hiding his embarrassment beneath an affronted look. Timothy's unfavorable opinion of Steve was probably Herobrine's own fault - the result of his unwillingness to share much details about either Steve's situation or his own reasons for spending so much time on Steve's server.
Shame came in an intense wave. From Herobrine's early words, Timothy assumed that Steve was just some odd player in deep immersion play, who played with hacked settings and pretended to be a local. The fact that Steve never left the game also encouraged Timothy's scorn, since it meant expensive machines and highest level of service. That's the only way that any player could afford to play all the time, unlike players from a poorer class like Timothy, who were forced to work for every hour they got to spend online. To practically live in game would be a dream come true to kids like him, at least to their skewed understanding, since they didn't seem to value their life in their own world at all as far as Herobrine observed so far.
So Timothy was intensely jealous of him, to the point that he didn't care what Herobrine did to the guy. And Herobrine's own reasons were far from kind, at least at first, so he even encouraged Timothy's dislike of the strange player, mentioning only the things that he knew would evoke negative emotions and disinterest on Timothy's part. He didn't want any interference with his own affairs, so he didn't correct this even later, after his own attitude toward Steve had begun to change.
At first, although he spared Steve, he simply couldn't understand what Steve was. For several weeks he mistrustfully watched him and then settled on the idea that the strange human was either a player in deep immersion, stubbornly pretending to be a local due to some deep-seated psychological deviations, or that he was a hacker, seeking thrills, who intentionally maxed out his settings and then paid the price, losing his wits. Humans came up with entirely too many ways to die in their gaming world, in gory and horrible manner. Either way, Steve proved a perfect target for Herobrine to take out his frustration against the humans.
"Do you really still believe that you are a real person? Some sort of villain? A digital god?" Herobrine's overseer scoffed with disbelief. "Get it through your dumb, glitchy head! You are a doll! A plaything! You do not get the right to decide what to say or do, just do what you are told! So, if we tell you that you are a pathetic worm, who should beg our players for mercy, then you are going to howl and beg, to their dirty little hearts' content. Idiots... Whatever makes them happy! That's your job! Because that's what you are. That's what you were made for."
Herobrine's hand unwillingly clenched at the reminder of his keeper's words during one of his more memorable 'lessons'.
It was thanks to memories like that, why he suddenly decided that tormenting Steve would be fun. And it was fun at first. Steve was as much a helpless toy in his hands as he, himself, had once been in the hands of the Admin. Lost to the flashes of anger, he carried out minor attacks, spoke idle threats for the sake of seeing fear on the human's face, and otherwise tested and provoked the human. Steve did not dare to complain. That timid attitude only encouraged Herobrine to act out more and now he felt sincerely ashamed of his own attitude.
At least he never crossed the line even then. He never even considered killing Steve and he stopped short of causing him actual serious physical harm, most of the time. But damage to property? That was entirely too frequent. Herobrine winced at his own disdain when he threw to indignant Steve's feet a handful of diamonds, fully expectant that this would cover the incident in full.
He had been such a self-absorbed fool.
"Well, still. You stayed there too long. I don't know why you keep going there and just... Provoking everyone! None of this would have happened if you just stayed here." Timothy reproached.
Herobrine frowned. He could remember Steve trying to say something similar on a couple of occasions.
He had no excuse. And this wasn't about the temptation to lash out and punish players for all their past perceived slights against him. He had actually been far more complacent of late, and that was his main fault.
He became too relaxed while staying on Steve's server. He didn't even play any jokes on Steve any more in last several months, preferring to simply watch over him from afar. He became quite content to simply live, on occasion even helping Notch's humans, not just Steve. Guiding away mobs, scaring off brigands, adding prizes in the paths of those whose acts struck him as worthy. He imagined that Notch would have been pleased to know that he lived such a life. There had been almost no players in the forsaken, boring parts of the world where Steve had settled, so he began to feel safe.
Such delusion!
He couldn't just live somewhere like a normal person, either the peaceful players like Steve or those virtual humans that belonged to Notch. He ceased paying attention! Just when he thought that he was safe, someone did something terrible and now he was blamed for it!
"I should not have spent so much time there. It was careless. Do not think that I do not know that already." Herobrine muttered.
"It's all right, man. We all make mistakes, right? At least you are alive." Timothy good-naturedly grinned. Herobrine glared at him, not hiding his own frustration as his thoughts returned once again to the unrelenting plans of the Admin concerning him.
"You do not know everything, yet. The Admin sent me a message, accusing me of doing something that I didn't do. That's why they set players after me this time."
"Accusing you of what?" Timothy frowned. Herobrine huffed.
"I don't know, yet. Something about trapping players in game and hurting them in real life. My... former keeper said that he'll tell me the details if I contact him."
"Pfft. That's not new. The forum is full of that stuff. That's what old Herobrine used to do. There is all kinds of crazy sh... stuff! " Timothy relaxed a little. "And right now, they all say that they are after you because they finally figured out that you are the real Herobrine, who came back to destroy us humans once more. But that's not true, right?" The young human's voice came teasing and light, but Herobrine caught a tense note held beneath Timothy's carefree tone. He gave him a flat look.
"Do not speak nonsense. You know that I am not him. If I was, would I allow them to do this?" He allowed emotion to slip into his voice as he sharply looked to his shoulder and glared at Timothy again. Timothy visibly relaxed.
"I brought Steve here, by the way." Herobrine admitted with reluctance and saw the young human jump.
"You did what?" Hazel eyes rounded and Timothy bent closer to his screen as he hurriedly began to look through server code, finding Steve's signature almost immediately. He paused, staring at it with a flat, pinched lip look.
"Um... Why?" The human's voice held barely contained indignation and Herobrine winced, fully agreeing with the question. This server did not belong to him, despite their partnership of now nearly two years. Timothy was fine with Herobrine using it, but he certainly didn't expect that it would be Herobrine to bring someone here. Not even any of Timothy's former friends remained. They now avoided this server for the discomforting memories it held. For Timothy, this place had instead become a treasure that he jealously protected, a sort of promise waiting for his sister's return. He wanted everything to remain same as it was, so when she came back, it would be as if she had never left at all.
"I had no choice. Let me explain the full story..." Herobrine offered reluctantly. Frowning and obviously displeased, the young human nodded. And Herobrine now had to somehow change his negative attitude toward Steve, which he, himself, had once encouraged Timothy to develop.
"Those two players nearly killed me during their brief challenge. They thought that they did and left me for dead. I woke up in Steve's dwelling. My endermen servants brought me there to recover. He expended quite a bit of effort to keep me alive and not only that. When those players came looking to finish me off for good, Steve agreed to serve as their guide in the caves, searching for me, since that's where they believed I was hiding. He kept them busy there for almost two days, until they learned of his ruse. As you might expect, they did not react well to that. They thought him a local, but even that did not stop them. They took him hostage and attempted to torture him."
"Are you sure? That's... against the law. A ban for sure. And a big fine." Timothy frowned more.
"I hoped that they would not carry through with it, but they began to block the System recording. Which means that they were going to go through with it."
"That's sick..." Timothy leaned back with a grimace and grimly eyed something on his table. Herobrine nodded.
"I couldn't take the risk. With his settings at a hundred, I didn't want to see what would happen to him if he died. Not when I could prevent it. Obviously, I could not call the Admin. And I could not face them directly, either. That virus has affected my strength, not allowing it to return as it normally would. But I did manage to use my empty copy like a puppet. A few bluffs distracted them long enough for my enders to get Steve away from them."
Timothy perked up. "Wait. You said you used your copy like a puppet?"
"Long-distance mental control. Same as I can do with animals and mobs."
"That's not something you could do before." Timothy narrowed his eyes with some suspicion.
"I could control mobs. You've seen that."
"I mean your copy."
"That, I just learned this time. I tend to gain new skills under pressure." Herobrine couldn't help a dark smirk, recognizing the truth of his overseer's words as much as he hated to admit their value. "This is not so important. The story does not end here. What also happened is that I revealed to those players that Steve was a player, too. I bluffed that his high settings were my doing. I hoped that if they saw that he was my prisoner of sorts, they would understand that I forced him to help me or that he did it out of fear. And then they would not retaliate against him once I left. But I was wrong. Don't worry, though! I scrambled their record of that, so they won't be able to prove that I said any of those things."
"You still probably should not have done that." Timothy uneasily commented. "I can just imagine the rumors this will cause..."
"I could not risk them killing him in revenge after I left! Not at his settings! It was my fault that he got dragged into all this mess, so now I must resolve it. That's why I brought him here."
"Hmm."
"I think that I was wrong about him all along. He is not just a deep immersion player. I don't think he is pretending at all. He really does not know who he is. His memory loss is real. I want to try to help him. To see what's wrong."
"Hmm... All right? I guess?" Timothy said with slight doubt, appearing to lapse into his own thoughts. Herobrine grimaced. He hated to beg!
"You do not need to do any additional work. I will do this myself. As soon as I get my own situation under control." Herobrine reassured. "I owe him this much. Without his help, they would have found and killed me."
"You would have respawned." Timothy noted absent-mindedly, still thinking about his own thing.
"The virus." Herobrine reminded. "The Admin's message said that they reset my respawn point. If I die, I will respawn directly in their lab and they will remove me. It's also the reason why I could not contact you sooner. I couldn't access the System without mods on our server."
Timothy frowned and silently roughed up his short hair, which had already grown longer since his last message. Uneven bangs fell down again over one of his hazel eyes, right now gloomily considering something in the distance. "Great..." He muttered unenthusiastically.
When he looked at Herobrine again, it was with rising resent. "You said that they sent you a message?"
"One of them did. My former keeper. He was in charge when I worked for them officially as a dungeon boss. He told me to contact him to find out what happened." Herobrine explained reluctantly. The young human looked at him and for some reason dropped his gaze.
"Listen, Herobrine... I think you do need to talk to him..." Timothy said and uncomfortably shifted.
Cold, seething rage flooded Herobrine's heart to follow brief disbelief at what he heard. Timothy did not see the shock that appeared on his face before all expression fled, leaving Herobrine glaring at the young human with instant suspicion.
"And why do you think this?" He tried to keep his voice neutral, reminding himself to be calm. Timothy did not know what he had gone through at the hands of that human. He never shared it with him, nor with Anna, though with her sympathy she had already guessed. But he had not told anyone else of this, too ashamed to remember the cruel tests or his own pathetic reactions, at that time still hoping to somehow earn his standing with the humans through being obedient and following their rules as Notch advised him to do.
Timothy must have heard the chill slipping into his tone, because he startled a little and threw up a nervous look.
"Because I don't think we can fix this! If they created a virus and that's what's wrong with you now, I don't think that I can figure out how it works! They probably had an entire team work on that and they were probably experts, not beginners like me. You could probably figure it out, but if you cannot even access the System... Herobrine, I still have my own work to do! I didn't sleep in almost... three days! I was worried and trying to reach you and you... took a vacation? It's totally unfair and you know it! Why must I always do all the work? Which one of us is human? You don't even need sleep. Or a vacation! You're just a program!"
Some of the anger immediately lessened, though it didn't leave completely. Herobrine gave Timothy a gloomy look. Whether he wished to accept it or not, the human's accusation was not without merit and guilt returned despite his attempts to suppress it.
Timothy rubbed his eyes. "I'm sorry... I didn't mean..." He muttered. He looked up to give Herobrine a slightly guilty look. After a moment, Herobrine responded with a small nod, choosing not to respond.
"You may have to talk to him or maybe to the other Admin and explain that you didn't do... whatever it is they think you did. Maybe then they will stop all this." Timothy offered with a slightly helpless look. Herobrine scowled.
"Even if I manage to do that, they will lock me up. Again!"
"Better that than dead!" Timothy raised his voice. "I mean, look at what they did already! You're missing an arm! What if it was your head? You told me once that they know that you are a SAI, not Sim as they tell everyone else. They might lock you up, but they won't destroy you. Not if they learn that you had nothing to do with that other stuff. And I... I will tell them, too. About the Grindel zombies, at least. I know that you didn't do that, since you were helping me at the time."
At Timothy's brave offer, Herobrine's hard look slightly softened. Anna's brother would risk losing this server if this helped lighten Herobrine's reputation? That would be an act worthy of his respect. It would also further add to the debt that he still carried.
The incident Timothy spoke of referred to the massive hacker attack that rolled across a series of servers, where a hacker in Herobrine skin claimed revenge as his reason - Herobrine's retribution against both the players and Notch, who was the Admin's puppet. Herobrine still recalled his own helpless anger at the last accusation that came from this white-eyed impostor's lips. The material damage was extensive and there were casualties among SAI NPCs, as players sometimes referred to fully sentient artificially intelligent characters.
"I would advise you against such an attempt. They will hardly listen to the word of a player who is still a minor, even if emancipated one. Do not worry, I can present my own proof for not being responsible for some events, if I will only be allowed to give it. I have tried to do so before on several occasions, but it produced no results. Their words remained the same. Return and obey. I am not willing to do that."
"This time, you might have to. If we cannot fix this virus and... So you'll get locked up. It really won't last long. You're immortal, so you'll probably just outlive them, all of us. You'll prove that you're not some crazy maniac out for blood and then its going to change." Timothy looked at Herobrine with honest, hopeful hazel eyes that held no guile.
"Prove to them that you intend no harm. Learn their rules and become useful. It may be a little difficult to change their perception of you because of the legacy of one who came before you, but once they become certain that you are not that vicious monster, they will accept you. And you will be free to go and live wherever you wish."
"Can I be with you?" His own hopeful, timid tone.
"Of course."
Herobrine couldn't help a bitter scowl.
"I don't know why you even hate them so much. You worked with them before and it wasn't that bad. I've seen videos and stuff. You didn't even have to fight players. They were not allowed to hurt you or kill you. They could only fight you if you wanted them to fight. And you wanted to fight. You always want to fight! You didn't have to. You could use mobs and mansion traps and that was all. It got even a little boring."
Offended, Herobrine did not deem his words with an answer, his face darkening. He couldn't tell him what really happened. Revealing that his keepers had mercilessly tortured and treated him as a worthless thing would perhaps evoke pity in this young human when he learned about it, but it would also damage Herobrine's image in his eyes. It had not been an easy thing to rebuild self-esteem, so thoroughly destroyed by their hands. It took Herobrine entire last several years of defying his former captors to finally stop feeling helpless about his own fate.
Only was he as independent as he thought he was? Or were his former owners simply dismissing him as unimportant, simply because his rebellion played into their hands, bringing them much wanted profits that they did not get while he worked for them directly? Herobrine did his best to stifle his anger back to its seething place. Now was not the time to act on this discovery. He still needed to find out what was really going on. Most likely, his keeper's words were an empty threat meant to intimidate him, playing off his old fears.
"I won't go back to them." He said firmly. "At least some of the events that they blame me for are my fault and there is no changing that." He reminded. Timothy blinked and grimaced with disappointment, before resentment returned to his face.
"Ugh, right... And I even told you not to do that. I told you! Triton servers... You just had to go back there! You already destroyed their servers three times. They dropped almost sixty rankings down because of you. And you still didn't think it was enough." Timothy reproached.
"I was only trying to retrieve an item that was rightfully mine. They shouldn't have taken it." Herobrine shrugged slightly with exaggerated indifference. Timothy gave him a flat look.
"And its because of stuff like that that they are now after you." Timothy somewhat wearily concluded, having already given up on trying to get through to him. "In a way, I can get where they are coming from. All those complaints. Even if most are not from you, they cannot tell. I guess they finally had enough... Let's at least talk to Mr. Ledorn, then. I think that if we explain, he..."
"No!" Herobrine cut off as a scowl twisted his features despite managing to nearly calm down after Timothy's earlier suggestion.
"Herobrine, I really think..."
"No." Herobrine restored his expressionless look and gave the young human a cold, warning glare. "If necessary, I will contact him myself. I appreciate your concern, but I'm capable of making my own decisions. Do not think that you can make them for me, or our relationship will end right here and now! Do not think that I've forgotten the time when you went behind my back and nearly betrayed me. I forgave you then, but I did not forget."
Herobrine could not help his tone turning hostile and saw Timothy blink a few times, startled at the sudden vehemence, before he blew out a frustrated breath, visibly giving up. He rubbed his already wild hair that needed a good wash and his entire form slightly slumped in discouragement. Definite hint of guilt appeared on his face, unfeigned, and reassured Herobrine that the only human that he ever managed to come to terms with, remained worthy of trust.
"I didn't do it, though. You remember that, too, right?" Timothy pointed out with defensive stubbornness.
To his credit, Anna's younger brother didn't have the guts to go through with what he planned, though his change of mind came largely for his sister's sake than out of concern for Herobrine. Neither of them knew each other that well, then. But Timothy was unable to face his sister's reaction if he went through with his intent of selling Herobrine directly into the hands of some anonymous group.
He found the offer in an anonymous bid on an illegal site meant for hackers, which was the career Timothy aspired to at the time. The enormous sum they offered to one who would bring Herobrine to their hands, undamaged, and the doctor's over-optimistic attempt to sell a new treatment to fix Anna's progressing condition, the specifics of which Herobrine did not fully understand at the time since she forbade Timothy from telling, unwilling for anyone to uselessly worry - all led Timothy to his act of betrayal.
The condition of the anonymous group had been to first receive proof that they had the right target, and Timothy sent them one of the videos that his sister recorded, of Herobrine when he openly lived on their server, having begun to trust them. He interacted with them freely, not hiding the abilities that sharply distinguished him from the other bots.
Timothy sent them video of one such example, recorded without Herobrine's knowledge, and the group took the bait and agreed to meet with the would-be traitor in a virtually preset meeting point in Game. Timothy was already on the way, when guilt and indecision forced him to reconsider. He then left and instead went to Herobrine.
Herobrine could still remember the feeling of confusion that washed through him when the young human woke him up and began to sob, completely overwhelmed by his emotions. Between the angry accusations and tearful complaints that Herobrine was an immortal and did not really care what happened to them, that they were not really his friends, that he hated humans, and was too busy playing pranks while Anna was sick and dying, Herobrine finally understood what Timothy almost did. And it struck him deep. He felt utterly betrayed. Until that moment, he trusted them, believed that he was not alone. And here, this human revealed that he considered selling him like a thing, which stirred the worst of Herobrine's bad memories and fears.
If it was not for his debt to Anna, Herobrine would have left their server right there and then, despite already considering it his home.
Instead, he chose to hide the hurt he felt and attempted to help the human to find an alternative solution to what was obviously a scam, which he helped him see as well. Together, they then worked out a plan, which they followed, still.
Anna was now in stasis, her body contained in a state that humans used to travel in deep space, while Timothy earned enough resources to carry out her treatment. It was a less favorable option, but it was also less expensive. Even for that, they had to partner up and take on shared obligations. Now, Timothy provided Herobrine full access to the System and data, allowing him to use this server with Admin level authority. He also helped him find and install many technology emulating mods, which allowed Herobrine to learn and work, not only within the game, but taking on increasingly complex assignments under the guise of a free-lance, human hacker who was Timothy's online acquaintance, with Timothy often serving as the middleman.
They had a working partnership, but Herobrine could never bring himself to trust him fully again, not after what he did. He understood the reasons that pushed Timothy to it, that at fifteen years of age he was still a child, who was scared to lose the only family he had, but that didn't make Herobrine himself feel safe from the possibility that if right circumstances arose, Timothy would not decide to betray him again.
Humans simply could not be trusted, changing their mind and loyalty when it suited them best, and finding reasons to justify all their actions, no matter how hurtful they might be to someone else. It was from humans that Herobrine learned how to lie, though he hated doing it. Even Timothy did it. Granted, he mostly did it to protect their mutual arrangement, but... It really damaged the sense of trust that Herobrine still felt toward this human.
The main point was just that. Timothy was human. Herobrine was not. That alone placed between them a great divide.
Herobrine frowned at the young human, until Timothy looked away and uncomfortably shifted.
"What?" He asked defensively. Herobrine turned away his gaze to help calm his rising anger.
"You made the difficult choice then. I remember that it was not easy for you to do so. And I realize that its difficult for you to understand my point of view, since I'm not a real person to you." He said calmly. Timothy immediately jumped in protest.
"That's not true! I..."
Herobrine thoughtfully looked up. "You still too easily fall for scams. And I'm wondering as to the purpose of the strange message that you forwarded to me. Why do I get the feeling that its yet another risky venture on your part, where you wish me to play a role?"
Timothy blinked in confusion, completely derailed by Herobrine's sudden change of topic, as was Herobrine's intent.
"Message? What message?" The young human muttered. Herobrine lightly smirked.
"From someone named Arianna. From Black Roses clan." Herobrine kept his tone amicable. Timothy looked at him with confusion for a moment longer, then suddenly a blush appeared on his face.
"Oh! About that... " For some reason he shifted and glanced to the side. "Its... actually about that group. You know, the one I almost sold you to." He mumbled and perked up, looking up with some guilt but also excitement.
"I actually found out who they are!" He exclaimed though Herobrine frowned. "Listen! They were not a scam, like you told me. They are actually a legit group! An actual player's clan, only weird."
"Hmm. Black Roses." Herobrine recalled what he knew of the player groups. Timothy was already eagerly plowing ahead. As usual, he remained true to his character, easily distracted by all game related things. Gaming alliances, rumors, secret quests, he remained as obsessed with them as he used to when Herobrine first came to know him. He probably still could be considered a child at his seventeen years of age, Herobrine reminded himself and softened his attitude. That probably showed in his face, because Timothy nearly jumped a little in his chair, taking it as permission to share whatever news he suddenly wanted to declare this strongly.
"Yeah! That's who they are! And their offer still stands. I checked!"
Herobrine quirked an eyebrow.
"And you contacted them. Again. Why?" He couldn't help sarcasm slipping into his voice. Timothy's ears and cheeks became redder.
"That happened like a week ago. If you had checked your messages, you would have seen. I explained it! I didn't call them. They called me. I guess they found my nick? Its still in the hacker board. I'm actually getting popular there." Timothy grinned with a bit of pride.
Herobrine nodded to him to proceed.
"And no, they don't know that I know you. They still think that I simply sent them videos that my friend got, instead. Exactly what we wanted them to think and why we sent them that message?"
Actually, it was Herobrine who told the young hacker what to do, since Timothy could not think straight at the moment, his face still red and tears dripping from his nose.
"So they are now trying to talk to Migo. That's why they called me. They like... promised that if I could get them in touch with you, I mean him, they would pay me good." Timothy dropped his eyes a bit. Maybe it had been necessity at first, but his initial scramble to earn money had evolved into somewhat of an obsession. Young human threw up a defensive look. "It's a good bit! Four thousand marks!"
Timothy's eyes gleamed with the hungry air and faint jealousy mixed. "All if I just forward their message to you and you respond. I mean Migo! And they openly told me that they are from Black Roses. Arianna wrote to me! The reigning leader's right Hand, herself!" Timothy gave Herobrine an expectant look, which changed to indignation when Herobrine continued to look at him with a flat face.
"Ugh, don't you ever check the player ratings? She is like the top fifty player! Used to be 6th! Just look at the message, please! I already forwarded it to you. Don't erase it without looking!" Timothy pled with so much expectation, curiosity, and childish admiration mixed that Herobrine allowed his amusement to show.
"She is a bit too old for you to consider as a potential mate, isn't she?" He teased and with satisfaction observed the blush on young human's face explode, turning his ears and neck red.
"No! It's nothing like that. Ugh... Herobrine, you just don't get it! You are not programmed for such things, so you have no idea! Just cause I think they are hot, doesn't mean I want to... Ugh! Just stop! You're just messing with me! You are!" Timothy concluded and glared at Herobrine with accusing anger, doubtlessly using it to overcome his embarrassment. Herobrine well understood that use of the emotion and simply shrugged.
"I couldn't resist. All of you young players have an unhealthy fascination about that particular league. You do realize that they are only virtual avatars, right? What they really look like in real life is nothing like what they appear in game."
Timothy's eyes flared with curiosity. "Wait? You hacked their info? For real?!" He nearly jumped again. "You know who they are? Tell me!"
Herobrine smirked. "I didn't hack it. I just browsed the forums and compared it with regular System data that's available to anyone who bothers to use simple math. The leader of Black Roses established that clan over sixty-three years ago. That means that she, at least, must be seventy-five years old. Since the minimum required age of players to register their own account was twelve years old at that time. Similarly, your Arianna is at least 26. And that's if she began to log in at three years old as was the standard when first mention of her appears in player data. She might very well be older. You are only seventeen."
Timothy thoughtfully humphed. "Hmmm. Twenty-six is not that bad...I mean!..." He caught himself while his blush got even redder. "Stop kidding around! I was just curious! And you haven't met them in real life... I mean, in game! Right?" He prodded with mistrustful fascination.
"I haven't. Obviously, I would avoid meeting any players in top tier unless I want to head straight into respawn." Herobrine smirked and tried to fold his arms across his chest in an old habit. The gesture paused, to shift into an awkward attempt to grasp on to the edge of his tattered shirt. Distracted, Herobrine glanced there and a large hole in teal fabric suddenly claimed his attention. His skin showed through it, bearing fresh scars. His gaze held at it with rising displeasure.
Why did even his clothes have to reflect his poor physical state?
On one hand it was good that even when he respawned, he did so fully clothed. The game mechanics simply did not allow him any other state, no matter how damaged his clothes and body became. But that meant that even if he equipped new things, while still not feeling well according to his stats, his new clothes would soon reach the same state of wear and tear as what the System judged appropriate. That and his inability to alter his physical appearance, especially his odd eyes, basically precluded him from being able to adopt a normal disguise!
He used to have an item, a Traveler's Cloak, which was perhaps the only item of clothing that he ever found that could offer him a decent disguise. Yet he lost it to a skirmish with the Tritons! It probably hung in their treasure keep somewhere, not even used, since its stats were hidden to anyone but an NPC – that's what his predecessor's remnant had said. His attempts to rob them did not recover it, only caused another public incident.
This shirt was entirely new when he 'put it on' just a day ago!
"But you haven't seen them." Timothy's voice intruded, distracting him from idle thoughts. "Or else you would have known for sure. So, you don't really know how old they are."
Yes, Herobrine could have accessed their settings and seen who those players really were, unless they took extra care, and paid a little more, to thoroughly encrypt their data even from moderator level access.
Timothy's jaw stuck out in his usual stubborn way, unwilling to consider that the females of his childhood dreams could be old and ugly in their true biological forms. Herobrine nearly scoffed again but refrained. Who was he to judge the strongest human instincts when he had the hardest time struggling with his own, which were merely code? Going into a mind-clouding battle rage nearly every time he received a personal challenge had never worked in his favor. He stifled a sigh.
"I will look at their message, of course." He redirected their discussion to original topic.
"However, I see no possible reason for why they would have an interest in me. Especially for an offer of such high amount. Like I said before, four million marks in real credits is an impossibly high sum."
"It's now six." Timothy readily supplied with a brilliant grin.
"Right... Even the Admin of this game would never be so generous. Like I said before, it has to be a scam. Or else it wouldn't be put up on a board in an illegal network."
"But what if it isn't? And best of all, they said that they only want to help you. They... She seemed very... sincere about it." Timothy's ears turned even more red for some reason. Herobrine gave him a flat look.
"A clan of players who accepts only females into their ranks sends a teen wanna-be hacker a message, saying that they will pay him a sum that's ten times more than anything he can earn in a lifetime in exchange for..."
"Legally! Legally earn." Timothy interrupted to correct. Herobrine ignored him and continued.
"In exchange for helping them obtain a program that's rumored to be sentient. A program without any worthy skills that they could use, besides being a villain in a gory children's game with a g-level rating. It does raise questions as to what reason they would want such a program. I personally have no wish whatsoever to find out."
Timothy squirmed under Herobrine's sarcastic gaze and then shrugged, giving up.
"All right, all right! I was just saying... Never mind! Do look at that message though, will you? And if they say anything else, will you let me know? I mean, I am a big fan of their group and..."
Herobrine couldn't keep back an amused smile.
As far as he knew, Black Roses was not a particularly vicious clan, but they did specialize on high-rated raids. And those raids included Herobrine raids, which was a big minus in his eyes. They also were secretive and had private servers with R-rated level access, which caused many very dirty rumors spreading about their league being some sort of sensual cult.
If they only wished to buy Herobrine for his role as a glitched Boss, he supposed that he could understand their motives if not the unreasonably high price. Still, he personally did not know any of them and had no intention of changing that fact. Who knew what went on through their minds? Certainly not him, a mere virtual program. Human imagination went far beyond his comprehension, on occasion sinking into truly dark depths. He did not have any wish to learn what their plans for him might be.
"You totally distracted me again. There is a reason why I've been trying to find you!" Timothy's exasperated tone returned Herobrine's attention to him. "Did you talk to Mr. Ledorn already?"
"Not yet. Why?"
"He's been trying to reach you, too! Well, not you... Migo! He's been all over my case for last three days! Answer him already!"
Herobrine frowned at the demanding tone.
"I've already completed all the tasks that he's asked me to complete. For the entire month. I also sent him a message last week, warning that I would be taking a vacation." Herobrine grumbled and tried to cross his arms again. With frustration, he lowered his remaining hand out of sight and firmly grasped on to his jeans to avoid repeating the gesture. Timothy held his annoyed gaze crossed with his own. Only along with his usual disgruntled attitude, worry clearly filled his expression, too.
"It's not about work. It's about you, Herobrine. He never gave up on trying to find you. And you know that he is really not doing it for the money. He's just trying to keep a promise to his kid, that's all and you know that. I don't get it why you won't just come to him. He can help for sure."
"I won't be a slave, Cyrus. Even a well-treated one. I told you that before." Herobrine gritted his teeth, allowing stubbornness to fill his expression. Timothy let out a breath.
"Well, he wants to talk to Migo." He insisted. "And it's going to be about you, because he spoke the same to me. He's going to try and convince you again to trace Herobrine for him, since he knows that you're keeping contact and he believes that you have the skills to do it. He raised the reward, too. Nearly 200k. All just to bring you to him, alive, instead of letting the Admin destroy you. Or let anyone else get you in their hands. His offer remains the highest of all the player groups who still want you, besides the Black Roses. But even that's not enough to counter the Admin offer. They are really serious this time. Their Quest is really something."
"What Quest?" Herobrine badly wanted to rub the bridge of his nose. Timothy shifted and blinked, his eyes opening wide with new disbelief that quickly turned to dismay.
"You don't know that either?!"
"Cyrus, I just woke up. I'm checking my messages first. I already know that many player guilds are now after me. That's what Steve said. He found that out from those two hunters..." Herobrine sighed wearily.
"Oh, its way more than that!" Timothy exclaimed. "Look at the forums! Oh, never mind! I'll pull it up. Here!"
An image feed popped up in Herobrine's view and he silently accepted it, enlarging the view to another screen. With a lack of expression returning to his face, he stared at the massive advertisement showcased on the game wide announcement page ran by the Admin.
MASS PLAYER EVENT!
Bright letters invitingly glowed at him, surrounded by a changing collage of images where a fiery storm devoured peaceful small town houses while a monstrous coal-black, three-headed mob shot bluish skulls of flame at unusually mixed groupings of players representing all the different clans. Steele Wolves fought next to Nether Ravens, and Golden Lions stood by their rivals the Tritons.
Before Herobrine's attentive eyes, the images then changed to another famous incident of destruction, more recent, where bloodied players ran from rotting corpses chasing them with outstretched, clawing hands.
More images followed of Herobrine's past actions. And then all images joined together into one, where a tattered figure in teal and blue hovered in midair above the rising flames. The camera zoomed in closer on Herobrine's face, showing blazing white eyes observing the chaos he caused while a menacing, cruel smirk twisted his lips.
Letters formed beneath the image.
NEW QUEST!
ABOLISH HEROBRINE!