Herobrine Reborn is back! And I've written enough so that I can totally keep up with my upload schedule now! So, that's great.

Not a lot else to say. I know I keep repeating myself, but I'm honestly really excited to start Part Two, or The Bedrock Key, as it's been revealed. Don't worry. The title's name will have meaning in a few chapters or so.

Anyways, don't mind me, just read to your heart's content!

Krios

Fate Ignores My Birthday Wish

I spent most of my time doing four things. Training, hanging out with my squad, playing Skywars and Bedwars, and attending parties.

Today, I was performing the latter.

I stepped inside the room the party was held in, and was immediately blasted by a wave of sound. The party had already started, and was raging.

I closed the door, and stood there for a moment. I wasn't sure if I was ready to be part of that again.

One thing about Valaither: they held a lot of parties. And I mean a lot. They were usually loud, chaotic, and pretty reckless and hazardous. I'd never been invited to a party prior, so I was pretty disoriented the first time I went to an actual party.

One rule is that alcohol cannot be served at any party, under any circumstance, as most of the people at the parties are under 18. There were a few 18 year olds here and there, but they didn't drink either.

Are you going to go in or are you just going to stand there? Herobrine said dryly.

"Don't rush me," I snapped. "I need to channel my inner extrovert."

Ever since Herobrine first appeared in my dreams a while back, he's been a lot more active in my life, kinda like a teacher. Except he's a lot more passive aggressive than I anticipated.

My first impression of him was that he was a nice guy with a kind heart, but wow, is he a master in the art of sarcasm. We've argued so many times I can't even tell you. And he only talks in my head, so when I argue with him it looks like I'm yelling at the air. I've been asked several times if I need to go to a psychiatrist, and let me tell you, it's not exactly a gratifying experience.

You know, I was a riot at parties. Herobrine drawled. I was almost as fun as Sam. Who, by the way, holds the craziest parties I've ever seen.

"Yeah, like the time when she invited Blitzen to a party." I sighed, remembering the chaotic ordeal. "Man, that reindeer was nuts."

Going to parties took a lot out of me, and it took a lot of downtime for me to recover. I've only gone to fifty percent of all the parties I've been invited to.

But this party was specifically for me. It was my birthday party. I couldn't just leave.

So I took a deep breath, summoned my inner Cal, and stepped in.

Instantly, there were a ton of cheers and shouts. "It's the birthday girl!" Someone shouted, and I smiled. "Hey guys," I said. "Thanks for coming."

I got so much handshakes and pats on the back that my arm began to hurt, and my back began to ache a little. And then, Cacao came from nowhere, pushing a cart with an enormous cake with two layers.

The bright blue cake was decorated so beautifully it was almost a shame I had to eat it. Cacao's baking skills were clearly nothing to underestimate. I noticed thin white lightning bolts crackled across the top half of the cake, and that there were exactly thirteen candles on the cake.

"Happy birthday," Cacao congratulated me.

"I can't eat all of this," I said, stunned.

"You don't have to," Cacao said. "But you should know that my baking is in high demand." He leaned in and told me, "I had to fight Lago away from the cake like five times. I suffered so much to make this cake, you have no idea."

"Okay, okay." I held up my hands. "I didn't say I wasn't eating it."

Lago, who had been standing next to Cacao the whole time, said "Just blow out the candles already," side eyeing the cake.

"And make a wish," Cacao added.

I looked at the candles on the cake, and thought about what I wanted to wish for. Honestly, there was a lot I could have wished for, but eventually I thought of something.

Please let my life be normal, I prayed. If only for a few months, please let everything be calm and uneventful.

I blew out all thirteen of the candles, and everybody cheered.

"Congratulations on turning thirteen," Cacao said with a grin. "What was your wish?"

"It's a secret," I grinned. "Now, I want to get a taste of this cake."

"Way ahead of you," Cacao said as he handed me a plate with a slice of the cake. I took a fork and took a piece of the slice. I put it in my mouth.

It was sweet, fluffy perfection.

"Hey, Toni," Lago said in a lofty tone, stepping over to me. "We've been friends for a while, ri—"

"Yes, you can have some of the cake."

"Score!" Lago pumped her fist and grabbed the knife from Cacao's hands.

"Don't eat all of that, you'll get so sugar high you'll be bouncing off the walls!" Cacao snapped as Lago ran off with nearly a quarter of the cake.

"Where'd you pick up the mom energy?" I asked Cacao, who ignored me.

"Don't eat too much cake," Cacao scowled. "You'll get sick."

Lago blew Cacao a raspberry. "You can't tell me what to do, mom!" And with that she ran away.

"Yup. Definitely took some mom energy from Rook."

Cacao rolled his eyes at me. "The same goes for you. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go and make sure the cake doesn't turn Lago too feral. Believe me, Lago's a nightmare when she's sugar high."

"I believe you," I grinned.

"Happy birthday," Cacao said as he patted me on the shoulder and ran after Lago.

"All of this patting is going to dislocate my shoulder," I muttered.

"Hey, Toni!" Bandit called. "Come over here! We're playing Knife Jenga!"

"…you're playing what?"

I was soon 'kidnapped', for lack of a better word, by Bandit and a crowd of people. Everybody at the party wanted to hang out with me, and I was starting to get a little overwhelmed.

Don't get me wrong, it was fun. I played Pin The Tail On The Enderdragon several times, played one or two games of Knife Jenga (which was surprisingly fun if not blatantly dangerous), and played a whole bunch of other party games. But still, I was starting to get tired.

I think Rook knew, because she spilled her drink on herself and sent me to get a towel for her. She winked at me as I left, and walked over to the bathroom to clean herself off. That way, I managed to escape.

I spotted Jax standing off to the side, holding a wine glass and looking moody.

I walked over to him. "Yeah, parties aren't really my thing either."

Jax's head jerked up, and he looked as if I'd just woken him up from a nap. "Huh?"

"What are you doing over here looking so sulky?" I poured myself a glass of…some pink liquid. I squinted at it. "This is fruit punch…right?"

Jax shrugged. "Bandit and Y made it."

I looked at the drink and slowly set it down. "Also…are you actually drinking wine?"

"What? No, this is grape juice."

"…ah."

Jax took another sip and stared off into the distance.

"You still haven't answered my question," I told him.

Jax didn't answer, continuing to stare off.

"Hey." I snapped my fingers in his face. "What's up with you?"

Jax gave a start. "What?"

"You can just tell me, you know." I told him. "We've been through a lot together."

Jax stared off, and then suddenly said, "You know, it's crazy. You've come so far from when you first got here, after…everything. You've improved a lot."

I frowned. He wasn't answering my question, but I decided to let it go. It could have been a personal issue, and I didn't really need to know. "Has Null talked to you lately?"

Jax looked surprised. "Nessa? Not for the past four months. But I can't blame her. She saved my life, you know."

"She did what?"

"How do you think I made it out of the void?" Jax smiled. "Right. I still didn't tell you, did I? Nessa gave me her power, and I managed to teleport out of the void. If it weren't for her, I'd be dead. Well, you'd be dead too. We'd all be dead."

"I guess we all owe Nessa our lives then." I took my glass and tapped it against Jax's. "To Nessa."

"To Nessa," Jax repeated, and we both took a sip. The drink Bandit and Y had made was sour, but didn't taste as bad as I'd expected.

We were silent for a moment, and I looked at the huge cake. Only half of it was gone, and it'd been nearly two hours. "I don't think I can finish all of that. Wanna help me?"

"I'm not really into sweets. Sam is, though." Jax said. "She was pretty annoyed about not being able to come, but she said she'd come tomorrow. Sam makes a pretty good pen pal."

Cacao called to me, "Hey, Toni, get over here! We're playing Knife Monopoly!"

"Seriously? What's the deal with all the knife themed games?"

?-?-?

After a very rousing game of Knife Monopoly (which I do not recommend if you're bad at balancing objects) the party was beginning to fizzle out, and people began to leave, congratulating me as they went. Eventually it was just me, my squad, and some other people cleaning up the remnants of the party.

I picked up confetti and tossed it into the trash. It was literally everywhere.

"Toni." I heard someone talk to me, and turned around. It was Owen. "God, how do I say this…" he muttered.

I flushed, and Herobrine said, Oh. Toni, are you thinking what I'm thinking?

"Shut up," I hissed.

"Excuse me?"

"That wasn't directed at you!" I yelped, ignoring Herobrine's snickers. "What was it you wanted to say?"

"Well, I'm really not sure if I should tell you this on your birthday…"

"Just say it," I said nervously. I picked up a cup off of the ground and tried to look casual. "It can't be that bad."

"Okay. Well. There are survivors from your village." Owen shifted his feet. "And they're in the Aether."

I dropped the cup, and it shattered.

"Hey," Cacao complained. "Glass can be dangerous, you know."

Oookay. Not what I was expecting.

"Why? Where? How?" I rapidly fired questions at Owen once I got over my shock. "For…how long?"

"They've been here for exactly the same amount of time you've been here." Owen shrugged helplessly. "Maybe less."

"And nobody thought to tell me?" I said, my shock slowly turning to anger.

Like oh, I don't know…a man with glowing eyes?

Don't look at me. I didn't know either.

You can find caverns millions of meters underground, but can't find a building at least a few kilometers away?

You didn't ask.

I resisted the urge to intentionally pass out and then slap Herobrine in my dreams. "Alright," I said, deceptively calm. "Where are they?"

?-?-?

I stood in front of a relatively large school, a paper clenched in my fist. Beside the school was a large building I assumed was the gym.

Apparently they stayed in the gym near the school. There was just enough space to accommodate the refugees. Apart from that, I've no idea where they could be.

Owen had told me that and then given me the school's address, which I'd gone to immediately. I sighed, remembering the smaller school I'd gone to. I missed going to school. There were still a few classes in Valaither, but it didn't have the same excitement as the real thing.

You're the only person out of, like, a thousand people I know that actually enjoy school. Herobrine's sarcastic voice cut into my thoughts. Not even Notch enjoyed going to school. He tolerated it, at best.

"Go away," I said, annoyed. "I think I liked it better when my mind didn't have someone lurking around it twenty four seven."

What do you mean, lurking?

Ignoring Herobrine, I took a deep breath and stepped into the school.

There weren't much people in the school, which was to be expected. It was four P.M. on a Friday, after all. I spotted a man walking down a hall a few ways away, holding a clipboard and whistling.

I ran up to him. "Um, excuse me?"

The man turned to me. "Yes? You're not a student, are you?"

"No. Could you just…point me in the direction of the gym?" I asked him.

"What for?" The man said suspiciously.

"By any chance…are the refugees from…" I gulped as I said my village's name. "…Featherstone still there?"

Please say yes please say yes please say yes

"No," the man said with a frown. "A few refugees from Oakley are there temporarily, but the refugees from Featherstone left a while ago."

I bit my lip and looked down. What had I been expecting? It had been more than four months. Of course they'd found somewhere else to live. And besides, what would I have done if I'd really found them? The only people I really knew personally from my town were my family, some guards that came over for dinner a few times, and my bullies.

I know, sad. But at the time I'd only needed Mom, Cal, and…Dad.

"Okay," I said. "Thanks anyways." I turned and walked out of the school.

"Hey, Herobrine?" I called. "You there? Can you give me a pep talk or something?"

There was no answer.

"Seriously? No words of wisdom? Not even a snarky comment?"

Again, nothing.

"Awe, come on, Brian. Is this because I called you a lurker? You're not that petty, are you—?"

"Toni Deniara?"

I turned to see a tall boy, staring at me in surprise.

Oh god. He definitely saw me talking to myself.

"You're alive?" The boy laughed slightly. "What a coincidence!"

"Do I know you?" I said politely.

The boy blinked and then smiled, looking confused. "Come on. It's only been a few months."

"Yeah, well I've had a lot happen in the past few months, so you'll have to be more specific." I said tersely.

The boy seemed to study me for a moment before scratching his head. "Man, you…really don't recognize me, huh?"

"Not at all." I replied.

"I'm Landen," the boy told me.

I blinked. "Who?"

Landen did a double take. "What do you mean, who?" His scandalized tone seemed to break open a dam in the back of my mind.

It took a moment to fully register. This was Landen? The guy who'd harassed me for a year and a half of my life? The guy who'd made a cameo all the way back in Chapter 2? The guy everyone forgot about almost immediately after Chapter 3?

I looked at him again. He was thinner and paler, and he definitely looked like he'd lost some of his confidence, judging by the way he held himself. But apart from that, he was the same person I'd known for a year and a half.

"Oh," I said, my voice frosting over. "It's you."

"It's me," Landen agreed. "It's been a while, huh? How's Cal? Sassy as always?"

"I can't believe you. You're treating this like a class reunion." I said coldly. "You bullied me for a year and a half. Or did you forget already?"

"You're one to talk about forget--" Landen stopped, and now he looked awkward. That was a first. "No. I didn't forget."

"Good, because for a moment I thought you had." I scowled. "But I'm stronger now. I'm not scared of you anymore. So just try something. I dare you."

Landen looked truly surprised for a moment before recollecting himself. "Oh. No, I'm...I'm past that. Part. Of my life."

"Are you now?" I frowned.

Landen nodded, and then there was a silence. Surprisingly, Landen was the one to break it. "So…how'd you survive?"

"I was saved," I said shortly.

"I…I hid." the expression on Landen's face grew haunted. "I hid in an alleyway. Pretended to be dead. I saw…horrible things. I saw people I knew…die in front of me."

My coldness faded just a little. No matter how much of a jerk you are, watching your village burn down with your own eyes is something you can't get over that easily.

But the coldness didn't fade that much. I did feel a little bad for him, but that didn't mean I was letting him off for bullying me.

"Well, it was nice meeting you again." I said flatly. I turned on my heel and began to walk away. I'd found nothing here but bad memories, and I wasn't ready to deal with that on my birthday of all days.

Okay, kinda selfish, but I wasn't in the best of moods.

"W…wait!" Landen grabbed my wrist.

I suddenly felt an unfamiliar rage grip me. I slapped his hand aside and grabbed his neck. I slammed him into a tree, and he choked.

"Don't lay a finger on me again," I snarled. "A year and a half of bad memories doesn't go away overnight, you know."

Landen frantically tapped my wrist, and I dropped him. He gasped, massaging his throat.

I backed up, staring at my hand. Where'd that come from? Usually I wasn't one to do things like that...

Maybe my anger was getting the better of me.

I turned to leave again. "Don't touch me again." I'd already taken several long steps away when Landen burst out, "I'm sorry!"

I paused. I turned to Landen, who looked desperate.

"Pray tell?" I deadpanned.

"I'm sorry." Landen gasped again. "A classmate of mine…I used to bully him, too. I watched as he was grabbed by a bunch of pigmen and hit over the head. They dragged him away. I think he was just knocked unconscious, but…" Landen touched his face with shaking hands.

I stared at him. He recollected himself, and looked up at me weakly. "When our village was destroyed, I realized how dumb I was. I bullied you and countless others because I thought fear was power. But it's not true power. It's just a substitute. And a bad one, at that."

I felt the strange anger take me again, though it was less intense this time. "Well, color me impressed." I said dryly. "The hunk of meat that couldn't string more than five words together in Grade 3 just told me something genuinely profound. And with correct grammar, at that."

Wow. Harsh, Toni.

Oh, so now you come back?

I was getting to a good part in my book, leave me alone.

Landen laughed weakly. "You've gotten better at the whole sass thing."

Hm. Maybe sass runs in the family.

After that, there was a long silence.

Agh, I can never get away from these awkward silences!

"You're not the shy girl I bullied before," Landen said. "You've changed. A lot."

I scanned the skinny, tall boy that used to bully me. I was still mad, don't get me wrong. Like I said, a year and a half of bad memories doesn't just go away. But I could at least acknowledge one thing.

I turned to leave. "Yeah, well. You've changed too."

?-?-?

Bedwars, in my opinion, is a lot funner game than Skywars. If you disagree, you can fight me.

(I'm kidding. You're all entitled to your own opinions.)

Skywars is a pretty fast paced game. Your only objective is to destroy your enemies with some OP loot you find in chests along the way.

Bedwars is different.

Some singles Bedwars games can be just as fast paced as some team Skywars games, but games of Bedwars with large teams can take hours to end. Bedwars is a strategic game in which you need to figure out the best way to penetrate a team's defenses and break their bed without dying. Maybe a fast paced game of Skywars is more your thing, but for a person like me, Bedwars is a lot better.

Just one gripe I have with the game, though: the teams are randomized.

"I'm with you!?" Me and Jared exclaimed as we pointed at each other. Our other teammates, Rook and one of Owen's friends, sighed. At this point, everyone knew about the bad blood between me and Jared.

"I'm not playing Bedwars with a self obsessed, pretentious prick like him." I complained. "He'll spend more time looking at his reflection than fighting."

"I can't play Bedwars with her," Jared scoffed. "She's a moron and a fraud."

"Who's the real fraud here, bonehead?"

"Freak!"

"Boot licker!"

"Carrot farmer!"

"Idiot!"

"Pigface!"

I gasped. "Pigface? Now you've taken it too far!"

"Yeah, well you smell like one, too!"

"Wanna repeat that?" I snarled, walking towards him. Rook and Owen's friend grabbed us, holding us back as we clawed at the air, trying to get at each other.

"Stop it!" Rook snapped. "Toni! Jared! Behave, if only for this round!"

"Or what?" Jared snapped.

"Or she'll ground you both," Owen's friend deadpanned.

Rook scowled. "Shut up, Owen's friend."

"…what? My name is—"

"The game of Bedwars begins now!" A voice boomed, and we all appeared in what looked to be a large sandcastle.

Me and Jared glared at each other.

"Just know I'm better than you," Jared sneered.

"You're lower than a silverfish," I muttered as I stepped backwards into the generator.

Fist sized ingots of iron and gold appeared from the ground like a rubber duck in a bathtub, and floated into a bag we'd teleported in with.

Jared pushed me, and I stumbled back. "Jared's hoarding all the iron," I complained.

"Jared, stop hoarding the iron." Rook said in a tired voice.

"You've got a ton of tired mom energy," Owen's friend told Rook.

"I'm aware," Rook said.

Me and Jared tried to step out at the same time, and we almost got stuck in the doorway of the generator. I pushed Jared, and he tripped, landing on his face.

"Get good," I crowed as I stepped on him to get to the shopkeeper, making him yell.

I pulled a bunch of iron and gold out of my bag and gave it to the shopkeeper, getting half a stack of wool and a stone sword. I stowed away all of it in my bag except for the wool, and ran out of the sandcastle and towards the edge of the island.

"You need to cover up the bed, moron." Jared snapped.

"You do it," I said as I began to bridge to a nearby island I knew would give me diamonds.

"I'll do it," Rook said, rolling her eyes. "Jared, you bridge to the other diamond island."

"Why not the middle?" Jared scowled.

"Playing it safe is better here," Rook said. "Jax, Bandit, and Suzy on the same team? We'll get destroyed."

"I can take 'em," Jared boasted.

"Shut it and bridge to the diamond island."

I snickered as Jared sulked off towards the edge of the island.

"I'm thinking we play it defensive," Owen's friend said as he followed me.

"That's what I think, too." I said. "Jax is a pretty strong opponent, and I've dueled Suzy a few times. She's tough."

"Hey, think I have a chance with Suzy?" Owen's friend asked me.

"Nope," I said without hesitation. "You're not her type."

"Dang it. What is her type then?"

"Even if I knew I wouldn't tell you."

"Curses."

We finally reached the diamond island, and I jumped onto the island, snatching up the three diamonds just waiting for me.

"We've got company," Owen's friend warned me. I looked up and saw Cacao and another boy who I recognized as Clyde, one of Bandit's friends.

"Hey," I said, waving. "You mind moving back a little?"

"I've got a fireball," Owen's friend whispered to me. "Distract them and I can get 'em both."

"Nope," Cacao said. "Those diamonds are ours, buster."

"Buster?" I scoffed. "Really?"

"Forget it," Cacao said. "We're coming down."

"No, don't do that!" I shouted. "These diamonds are my property! In fact, this whole island is my property!"

"Then I'll just evict you," Cacao said as he began bridging towards us again.

"I don't think that's how eviction works—"

Before I could finish, a fireball flew towards them, blasting them both out of the sky.

"Nice one," I said, high fiving Owen's friend. "Let's get back to the main island."

We got back onto the bridge and were running back when suddenly I saw something blue fly towards us.

"What the—?"

The blue thing smashed into the bridge, and exploded. I was launched forwards, and Owen's friend was blasted sideways off the bridge.

"Owen's friend!" I shouted. "Nooo!"

His expression went from surprise to annoyance. "Wait, you don't even know my—" and with that, he exploded into dust.

I got back up and stared in the direction where the blue thing had come from.

Instead of seeing an opposing player laughing at us, I saw a strange creature floating in front of me.

It looked like an enormous floating skeleton without legs. It consisted of a large rib cage, and a spine hanging down. Three skulls sat on top of the rib cage, a bright blue light glowing in all of the skulls. Smoke poured from the skull in the center, which had it's attention fixed on me with its cold, empty eye sockets.

"Uh…that's not normal." I said.

The skull in the center opened its mouth wide, and out of it exploded a bright blue skull, shooting towards me with the speed of a bullet.

Rook giving off tired mom vibes gives me life.

Yeah, so this was a bit of a slow chapter, and it's definitely not my best work. But it's the beginning chapter, what do you expect? Don't worry, I promise next chapter the story will pick up a little. And by the chapter afterwards, the story will really get rolling.

So that's exciting.

Anyhoo, have a very pleasant day!

Krios