It was cold.

He could feel the chill where it permeated into the cores of his bones, the solid rock at his back that ground his spine into his emaciated flesh. The tattered remains of his shirt offered little relief from the frigid cold, and even less cushioning. He was hunched over his knees, sharp and thin from starvation, as if doing so would help him to conserve the heat that he knew his body no longer produced.

His heart had long stopped beating. He didn't know if he even had a heart anymore. His chest felt hollow and empty, filled with shards of ice that shot throughout his body if he ever dared to move. He wasn't even sure he was breathing anymore. Was he breathing?

The wind howled outside of his shelter, the small cave within which he had taken refuge when the snow began to fall. How long ago had that been now? Two weeks? Four? The small fire that he had devoted so much of his energy to maintaining long gone cold, nothing left of it but frozen ash and charcoal at his feet. Even if he had the strength to light it, he didn't know if the meager fuel would hold a flame.

He was dying. He was dead. If anyone were to come across him like this they would find only a frozen corpse, skin and bone after weeks without food or water. He was frozen through, his flesh burning where his body struggled to push back against the oppressive cold that held him in its icy grasp. Immortal. Hundreds of years of struggle, only to be reduced to this, a forgotten body with tears frozen to its cheeks.

Worst of all was the fact that he deserved it.

For a while, he had been angry, and bitter, and he sought what he felt to be righteous judgment upon those who had cast him from his throne. His people, for their hatred of him. Steven, for reporting his crimes to Notch. Notch himself for sending the valkyries to cast him out, and the valkyries for blindly following their master.

An especially violent gust of wind sent snowflakes scattering over his body, and Herobrine's dimmed eyes opened a slit, blinking against the snowflakes that were caught among his lashes.

He was a fool. He was everything that Steven had said of him- inexperienced, cruel, tyrant. He should never have been allowed to hold the crown.

His stomach lurched, and his entire body convulsed as he heaved, but there was nothing left for him to expel. One shaking hand lifted to cover his mouth, and he could feel the bones in his frozen limbs grind and creak in protest. He closed his eyes again, wishing feverishly that he had died when the piglins first came for him.

It's my fault. I deserve this.

Please, let this end…

Trixtin held to Phillip's arm as she gazed down at the castle below them, where Notch stood with maul in hand outside the opened castle gates. From their vantage point, it seemed that none of the skeletons had noticed his presence yet, which struck her as odd, since he had an aura around him which was impossible to miss. But perhaps an animate skeleton could not detect that aura as well as a human could.

"There they are," Steven Lancaster, standing just behind them, murmured. He had offered to join Notch in his attack on the castle, but Notch had refused, instructing him to stay with Trixtin and Phillip instead. Like Herobrine, Steven couldn't die, but Notch was still hesitant to put him in danger.

Trixtin followed his gaze and spied a flash of white wings before they went out of sight again, where Erika had taken her men to arm themselves with whatever rocks and heavy objects they could find. Trixtin was trying to hold out hope that it would work, but, after seeing how easily her men had been cut down, she couldn't help but feel a healthy amount of trepidation.

As she watched, Notch passed through the gates into the courtyard, and almost immediately the skeletons surged into action, abandoning their patrols and vanishing down steps and hallways on their way to the gates.

Trixtin watched with bated breath as the first of the monsters lunged at Notch, ducking under the first swing of his hammer and swinging at his stomach. Notch jerked back, bringing his maul down on the blade and tearing it from the skeleton's hand. The skeleton attacked again, heedless of its lack of a weapon, and Notch took a large step back to avoid it as it tore at his golden cape.

"Surely it can't hurt him," Trixtin murmured.

"It can." Steven's voice was grim. "It can't kill him, but it can make him hurt."

A second skeleton ran from the inside of the castle, and the first lurched back to give it an opening as it scooped up its own sword from the ground. They moved in tandem, never hampering the other's movements. Trixtin knew it was only a matter of time before the rest of the skeletons reached him.

Notch's maul caught the edge of a skeleton's hip, and it faltered heavily, giving him sufficient opening to swing his weapon straight through the skeleton's ribs.

The skeleton's charred bones shattered under the blow, its sword slipping from long fingers as it crumpled in a heap. The second skeleton was unfazed by the destruction of the first, merely going in for another attack, and Notch smashed the first skeleton's skull underfoot before swinging again.

"So they can die," Phillip muttered vindictively. Trixtin hummed, wincing a bit as three more of the skeletons emerged from the castle to join the battle.

A flash of white caught her attention, and Trixtin looked up as a valkyrie swept through the air and dropped low over the courtyard, releasing a large chunk of brittle netherrack to crash down onto their master's foes.

Notch warped several feet back in order to avoid being struck by shards as one of the skeletons was crushed, a cloud of black dust filling the sulfuric air. The other skeletons moved around the shattered remains of their companion, not hesitating even when a second boulder struck the ground just beside them.

Trixtin's heart was pounding as she watched them battle, her hopes far higher than when they had begun. It was possible to destroy those things, as intimidating as they had seemed at first. Five of them had appeared thus far, and there had been roughly thirty to start… if Notch continued to destroy them at this rate, he may be able to avoid being overwhelmed.

On her right, Steven turned, then seized her by the arm as he exclaimed, "Look out!" and Trixtin whipped around in alarm, her heart dropping into her stomach at the sight of three skeletons clambering up onto the ledge. Phillip's arms flew around her and his wings flared, but he didn't have time to take off before Steven stepped forward and thrust his hand out before him, causing the netherrack to writhe up from the ground and crush the advancing skeletons against the side of the cliff.

Trixtin gaped at him, but Steven only barked, "Go! There's likely to be more." Phillip didn't waste another moment, leaping off the edge with his fiancée in his arms. Trixtin craned her neck to watch as Steven descended from the ledge behind them, half-running down the sheer cliff by creating a small platform every step of the way.

She turned to look at Notch as they sailed overhead, who was currently fighting four of the withered skeletons in the courtyard as the valkyries bombed them from above. She could see the remnants of blackened bones scattered across the courtyard, evidence of Notch's kills. It seemed that this infestation may be easier to deal with than they first had thought.

Movement atop the walls caught her attention, and she turned to find a blackened skeleton sighting them down the barrel of a stolen crossbow.

"Phil!" She exclaimed, and he looked just in time to spiral down out of the line of fire as a bolt flew over their heads.

"Nether!" Phillip gasped out, his arms locked around her as he struggled to regain control. As he evened out again, Trixtin peered over his shoulder to get another look at their assailant, and a stab of grief tore through her chest at the sight of the tattered fabric that clung to its bones.

"They're mine," she choked out, "My men, they're…" she trailed off, unable to go any further, and Phillip slowed to get a better look. The skeleton's body was twisted and deformed, looking nothing like the piglin that it had once been, but the tattered uniform that hung from its shoulders made its origins abundantly clear.

"Their kills will turn into more of them?" Phillip muttered. "So the castle will be…"

"…full of them." Trixtin finished. Both of them looked down as they wheeled overhead again, and they saw Notch standing in the center of the courtyard, completely surrounded by dozens of withered skeletons.

Meryl sighed as she lowered her canteen, shaking it a bit in an attempt to judge how much of her water remained. "It's hot," she commented.

"Better than the cold," Tekno pointed out from where he reclined atop a flatter rock. Meryl made a face, remembering their initial trek through the soulsand valley.

"Perhaps." She glanced over her shoulder, pickling out the frigid desert that they had left behind them not too long before. "But it is not ideal for conserving water."

They were getting close. Meryl wasn't entirely sure where Evangeline and her group were going, but the trail went onwards, further and further into the Nether. And, given that their quarry was on foot while herself and Tekno traveled largely by air, Meryl was certain that they would be able to catch up with them soon.

"Do you think they're looking for us?" she finally asked. Tekno glanced over at her.

"Could be. I was under the impression that they were chasing after Sirben."

"Unless Sirben was that body we found," Meryl countered. "There were feathers, after all."

"Are we in agreement that it was a body, then?"

"I guess we are."

"Well, it could be him." Tekno crossed one ankle over the other. "Not many creatures here with feathers. Or it could be another valkyrie, but…"

"...as far as we know, the only other valkyrie out this deep is Evangeline," Meryl finished. "And I'm choosing not to entertain that prospect."

"Mm." Tekno nodded thoughtfully. "So if they're not hunting Sirben, where are they going?"

"I suppose we'll have to ask them when we find them."

"Right about that." Tekno sprung to his feet, stretched, then turned to her with his hands on his hips. "How are you feelin'?"

"Good enough." Meryl pushed herself upright, stretching out her wings before folding them against her back and looking at the jagged terrain ahead. "No sense in waiting around longer than we need to. Let's go."

Evangeline peered up above the rim of their little shelter, a recessed hollow in the rocky hill that led all the way down to the shore of the lake of lava. It was large enough for her and her companions to stretch out comfortably, and if they stayed low then they could not be seen except from above them on the hill. Alex was taking advantage of the space already- she was asleep. Evangeline knew that she needed to rest as well, but being so close to Null's stronghold was making it difficult to relax.

"Evangeline." Herobrine's voice coaxed her to turn around, and she glanced over to find him beckoning her down. "Don't look up. If anything comes, I'll hear it."

"I know," she muttered, lowering herself down again and moving to sit by his side. "I can't help but to worry."

"I know." Herobrine gazed quietly at her for a few moments. "Are you thinking about the battle?"

"I am." She crossed her legs, staring up at the Nether ceiling far above them. Just acknowledging it made her heart race in her chest. Herobrine's plan was sound enough, to evade the skeletons and engage Null in contact, but there were so many variables that made it nearly impossible to calculate their odds of success. There was a stark feeling of finality about this night, one spent with Alex and Herobrine at her sides. It was very possible that not all of them would make it through the next day.

"What are we going to do with Alex?" she murmured. Herobrine followed her gaze to their sleeping guide.

"We could instruct her to stay here," he suggested. "Or, if you are concerned about her being attacked, we could find a place higher up for her to wait."

Evangeline wrinkled up her nose. "I'm not so sure that leaving her in a high place unattended is a good idea."

"She isn't a child, Evangeline."

"She may as well be," Evangeline pointed out. "Compared to us. Besides, she has a penchant for trying to climb sheer cliffs." Herobrine scoffed softly.

"So she does." They fell silent again, and Evangeline shifted, reaching down to take his hand in both of hers.

"So," she murmured. "Whatever happens, tomorrow will be goodbye." Herobrine didn't answer for a long moment.

"Perhaps," he finally said. "We will still have to travel back to the capital."

"Right." Evangeline's spirits lifted slightly at that. Assuming that they both lived through this, they would have at least another week and a half together before she would be forced to return home. Maybe in that time…

Neither of them spoke for a bit, and Herobrine eventually broke the silence with, "Is there no way that I can convince you to go back to the capital with Alex?"

"No." Evangeline turned to give him a rueful smile. "I'm a soldier, Herobrine. Risking my life is part of my job."

"I know." His fingers closed around her hand, his large thumb running over the backs of her knuckles. "But you mean too much for me to allow that without a fight."

Evangeline scoffed quietly. "You couldn't stop me if you tried." Herobrine looked at her, an odd expression on his face, before he broke eye contact and looked away.

"I know."

"Why are you so hard on yourself?" Evangeline's gaze dropped to where their hands were entwined. "You have done so much good since I've met you."

"Not enough," was his listless response.

"It will never be enough for you, but what about everyone else?" Evangeline pressed. "You turned yourself in to be imprisoned, and the queen enlisted you instead. The highlord in the camp we stayed at assisted us despite his grudge against you. Even Notch, when I spoke with him following Sirben's initial defeat, told me that he wished you could have been with us in the Aether as well." Herobrine's gaze snapped back to hers.

"Notch said that?"

"He did." Evangeline nodded. "He said he wished he could have at least spoken to you." Herobrine grimaced, tracing his thumb over the back of her hand.

"I…" he began. "...think it would be better if he did not see me."

"Are you afraid he would be angry with you?"

"How could he not be?" Herobrine chuckled mirthlessly. "I swore to him when he established me as ruler of the Nether that I would be a good king, and I instead became the most cruel dictator that any dimension has ever known."

"Because of Null."

"Null's assassination attempt may have been the catalyst for my downfall, but I chose to respond to it as I did." Herobrine stared down at their hands. "I cannot place all of the blame on him."

"Perhaps not, but he certainly contributed." Evangeline glanced up at him. "You should at least go and see him. If not for your own sake, then for his." Herobrine frowned, and she went on. "He has not seen you in centuries, if nothing else it might grant him closure."

"Maybe." Herobrine didn't sound convinced.

"Besides." Evangeline lowered her voice back to a murmur. "I think he would be proud of you."

"Proud? No." Herobrine shut her down. "After all I've done, I-"

"Stop," Evangeline cut him off. Herobrine glanced up at her, bewildered, and she went on. "I'm tired of hearing that. That isn't who you are anymore, and drowning yourself in self-hatred helps no one." She smiled up at him, giving his hand a squeeze. "You're capable of great things, Herobrine. You've already proven that."

Herobrine gazed down at her for a few moments, an indecipherable look on his face. "Go to sleep, Evangeline."

She sighed. "Alright." Her grip loosened on his hand, and he tugged it away, wrapping his arm around her shoulders instead. She rested her head against his arm and shut her eyes, willing her heart to calm and allow her to go to sleep.