Handcraft
"So... here we are," Herobrine continued with a tired, annoyed voice as he pushed open the doors to the armory next to the training hall which had chests lined up along its walls.
The walls, floor, and ceiling in this room were made of Nether bricks, illuminated by a few Glowstone blocks in the floor that slightly dazzled Herobrine as he took a few steps into the room and looked around.
He normally barely used this place.
He only came in occasionally to store the weapons and armor left behind by fallen Minecrafters in front of his castle.
Of course he didn't need these weapons but that wasn't the reason why Herobrine kept them.
No, they served more as his trophies, a clear proof that no one could defeat him no matter how powerful their weapons were.
That was also why he didn't like the idea of having to give some of them back to the Minecrafters now but he understood that they needed them to defend against Null.
Who would have thought I would ever really need this room for this? Herobrine thought as he stopped in front of one of the many armor stands set up against two walls.
Next to them, he had hung some frames with weapons that had particularly good enchantments, although none of them could surpass his own sword.
"Choose whatever you want," he said to the others, taking a highly enchanted diamond sword from its holder and examining it with a scrutinizing gaze ,,I have more than enough."
The others didn't have to be told twice.
"Wow! All these weapons are more than incredible," Aurora exclaimed a moment later as she knelt next to one of the chests and pulled out two highly enchanted bows that she examined with wonder before turning to Herobrine "Where did you get all of these?"
"Oh, you don't want to know," Herobrine replied with a wicked grin, whereupon her astonished face dropped and turned white.
She looked at the bows and dropped them in shock and disgust but Herobrine didn't care.
After all she was the one who asked the question.
Without another look at Aurora, he turned away and went to the back part of the storage, where he stopped and stared at an inconspicuous wall before turning to the side and pressing a button that was hidden behind a wall of chests.
Shortly afterward, the wall separated with a loud clack, revealing a small inconspicuous chest containing nothing but a single diamond sword.
Herobrine smiled as he took it out.
He had crafted this sword not so long ago as a surprise for Nuka but instead of using the crafting table, as most did, he had forged it himself using old techniques, just like humans used to do.
However this was forgotten by most now, since nowadays you could make weapons using a crafting table which was simpler and faster but Herobrine wanted to do it the old way, since you could achieve higher quality, and you could customize it yourself, making it slightly different from ordinary diamond swords.
It still had taken a while and he had needed several attempts until he was satisfied with the result. But he was in no rush, since his original plan was to gift it to Nuka on his next birthday, which was still many months away.
But given the current events, he wanted to give it to him now.
Who knows if I'll even get the chance later, he thought darkly as he held the sword, looking thoughtfully at the small 'H' engraved at the bottom of the handle, indicating him as the maker. It would be a shame if we all die tomorrow and he never got to see it. If I give it to him now then...then at least all my work won't be entirely wasted...
Luckily, I've already finished the most important part he thought with relief as he slowly walked back to the others. The only thing missing now are the right enchantments.
I hope I have at least some of good entchanting books lying around here, he added with a concerned look at the chests before looking forward and realizing that most of them were already outside in the training hall, testing their new acquierted weapons.
The only one still there was Roxana, who stood indecisively in front of the armors and racks, looking quite lost.
"What's up?" he asked, causing her to startle and turn towards him with a nervous smile.
"Ah...nothing," she quickly replied, running a hand through her hair before turning her gaze back to the weapons, her face once again turing sad. "I... it just doesn't feel right to take them."
"Why not?" Herobrine responded, unimpressed, as he, too, coldly surveyed the weapons. "They are just weapons."
"For you, maybe," Roxana replied before lowering her gaze, hiding her face behind her long, wavy auburn hair. "All I see are tombstones."
Herobrine looked at her in surprise, taken aback by such an unexpected comment.
Even though she hadn't sounded angry or accusatory towards him, he could already feel the anger rising within him, since there was only one way why she would say that!
"Well, no one's forcing you to take them!" he snapped at her, startling Roxana again. "You might die if you don't take them, but hey, at least you'd die ethically!"
With these words, he spun around, intending to leave the chamber as quickly as possible, still feeling somewhat betrayed and offended by her words.
But before he could do so, Roxana stepped in his way.
"Wait, you don't understand!" she tried to explain, spreading her arms to prevent him from going. "You see... we, as mages, believe that everything we create is connected to our soul. That's why... that's why all our personal belongings, everything we had in our inventory, will be buried with us when we die... and that includes weapons too...Thats why I can't take them..."
By now, she had lowered her arms again, standing with slouched shoulders, nervously rubbing her hands together.
Herobrine, meanwhile, stood there, looking at her with an suprised and somewhat amazed expression.
He hadn't known that the mages did that with their dead, but it wasn't a surprise as he didn't know much about them anyway.
So I guess there can be another explanation he realized, feeling a wave of relief wash over him, knowing she was not accusing or admonishing him.
She is really different from the other Minecrafters, he added, sensing again that strange warm feeling within him, the same he had felt when brewing potions with Roxana.
"What's going on between you and her?" he heard Nuka's voice say in his head at that moment. "...you looked so happy and content when you worked with her...If I didn't know better, I'd say that..."
Angry, Herobrine brushed the voice aside!
He didn't like this talk about Roxana and him at all, and even less think about her. But a small part of him couldn't deny that Nuka might be right about what he said...
"But even if that weren't the case," Roxana suddenly continued with a nervous smile before he could dwell on it further, "I couldn't use them anyway... since I've...never held a weapon before, so I guess I'll stick to my staff."
She chuckled a bit before her face turned sad again and she turned to leave when suddenly an idea struck Herobrine!
"Wait!" he exclaimed, quickly taking a step forward and grabbing her wrist. "I think I still have something for you."
With these words, he turned around and hurried to one of the chests, where, after a brief search, he pulled out a diamond dagger.
He had made it before working on Nuka's sword, because he wasn't a skilled blacksmith and therefore wanted to practice a bit on his technique before taking on a huge project like this.
However, he had never found a real purpose for this thing and ended up just throwing it into one of the chests without any enchantments, without caring about it again but now, he knew what he could do with it!
"Here," he continued straightforwardly to Roxana, returning to her and pressing the dagger into her hand. "This is a dagger I made a while ago."
He smiled.
"So you can use it without any problem since it doesn't belong to the dead."
"Wow!" Roxana exclaimed while admiringly looking at the dagger while turing it around. "It looks incredible!"
,,And you really want to give this to me?" she asked Herobrine, who just shrugged with a smiling expression.
"Yes," he replied kindly, giving the dagger a glance before turning his gaze back to her, feeling this warm feeling rising in him again. "I have no use for it anyway, and you should at least have something to defend yourself against Null or any other obstacles that might be on our way."
"If you want, I can... even teach you a few tricks," he added hesitantly, causing Roxana's head to snap up excitedly.
"Really?" she asked eagerly before tilting her head and looking at him teasingly. "I thought you didn't like teaching."
"And?" Herobrine retorted simply, but also grinning. "Can't I make exceptions?"
"Well, apparently now you can," Roxana conceded with an amused smile before turning her gaze back to the dagger. "And did you really make this yourself?"
"Yep," confirmed Herobrine and he couldn't help but feel pride rising up within him. "All handmade."
"But it doesn't have any enchantments yet," he added apologetically, but Roxana seemed unbothered by that.
"Oh, if that's all," she replied before gently placing the dagger on her hands and murmuring a few spells.
The dagger started to glow, and the symbols of various enchantments slowly appeared on the blade.
Herobrine watched the whole procedure in amazement.
He didn't know magicians could do that!
Even he couldn't enchant weapons without an enchantment table or books!
"Impressive," he muttered after Roxana finished the procedure, admiring the blade that now had various enchantments engraved on it.
"Thank you," Roxana responded with a smile as she stowed the dagger in her pocket. "But these are very simple spells. So simple that even Minecrafters can use them if they have enough experience."
"Oh, I see," replied Herobrine, feeling a bit embarrassed, but fortunately, he quickly forgot about this when another idea struck him.
He pulled out the sword he wanted to give to Nuka and held it out to Roxana "Would you do me a favor and enchant this one too?"
A short while later, they both left the camp, Herobrine happier than ever now that, thanks to Roxana, he had an enchanted sword to give to Nuka.
And these weren't just any enchantments; they were the best and most powerful ones you could get.
I'm so glad Roxana can choose which enchantments she wants to give to the sword, he thought relieved. Otherwise, this whole thing wouldn't have been possible.
Oh, I can't wait for Nuka to see it! Herobrine thought with joy, which immediately vanished when he saw Steve.
He had stopped training and seemed to be chatting with the others.
"Finally!" he exclaimed a moment later with an annoyed tone as he spotted the two. "What took you so long?!"
"Anyway," he continued with a dismissive gesture before Herobrine could respond, turning back to the others, "we really need to discuss what we should do next!"
"But we can't yet!" protested Roxana loudly. "Einshine and Nuka are still not here!"
Steve just shrugged in response.
"Well, we can't wait for them any longer!" he replied coldly, giving a short irritated glance at Roxana before leaning on his sword, staring grimly ahead. "We'll have to explain the plan to them on the way."
"That won't be necessary," Herobrine replied curtly, whereupon everyone turned their faces towards him, looking very surprised and confused.
"What? Why not?" asked Roxana, prompting Herobrine to briefly close his eyes, knowing this conversation would not go smoothly and his mood sank even further.
"Because Nuka won't be coming with us," he eventually addressed the others, causing their faces to turn pale as they stared at Herobrine with wide eyes and open mouths.
Steve, in particular, looked oddly shocked, but Herobrine didn't care about him.
"What?!" Jason finally exclaimed in disbelief, but before he could continue, Roxana stepped into his field of view, looking quite upset.
"But why?" she asked desperately, her green eyes filled with sadness and confusion. She took a step forward, trying to grab his arm, but Herobrine recoiled, taking a moment before composing himself.
He was still not used to sudden touch, but he regreted his action immediately as he saw how sad and disappointed she looked.
"B-Because I don't want him to be hurt or killed by Null!" he finally explained, while turning away and avoiding eye contact, especially with Roxana. "I won't risk that. We don't need him or Einshine anyway to fight Null. Even tho the Griefer only stays here so he won't be alone."
Silence was the only response, and for a moment, Herobrine thought they just accepted it, and the matter was settled.
However, to his disappointment and annoyance, a few seconds later, he heard loud, swift footsteps approaching, whereupon he turned around, shocked and alarmed, to find Steve rushing towards him, a furious expression on his face!
Herobrine tried to step back and dodge him, but his now human senses were too slow for that!
A moment later, he felt a hard punch to his face, followed by a sharp pain. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground, with Steve standing before him, who had now drawn his sword and his face still glowing with anger!
"Are you completely insane?!" he shouted a moment later, while Herobrine sat up, rubbing his sore cheek and giving Steve a hate-filled glare. "Didn't you just listen to Null back then? We need Nuka more than anyone else! He's the only one who..."
Before he could finish his sentence, a sudden explosion shook the castle, making the walls and floor tremble, causing everyone to fall!