Chapter 4: Preparations


Planning his days under the tight grip of immense stress wasn't what Steve thought would happen with his week, but nevertheless, he found his thoughts being juggled between several different things he needed to get started on.

His breakfast consisted of nothing but an apple as he started to write in a small, leather book that he had fished out of the pockets of his travel bag. Though he had a few ideas on what he was going to do first, his main concerns had to do with finding the ores that he had promised to get for the villagers before his life had begun its spiral into chaos and finding the diamonds needed to make the armour that would save his life. He also had to somehow learn how to brew potions, and he had to do all, or least most, of those tasks before Herobrine came to get him in order to "introduce" him to his "associates," which, if Steve had to guess, were also friendly folks who would be making their own attempts to cut his lifespan into something less desirable.

His to-do list was short, but it still stressed him out immensely.

1.) Learn how to brew

2.) Go mining and take care of the orders, find diamonds

Staring at the words in front of him for longer than he had intended to, Steve shook his head and closed the book, placing it aside before standing up to make his way to the front door of his house.

He might as well spend the morning within the safety of the village in order to ease his fears.

Walking along the pathway that led to the village, he thought to himself as he considered his options. While there were a couple of brewing stands within the village, there was only one brewing stand that was used for making potions regularly, and only one professional potion brewer that Steve knew he could rely on to teach him decent brewing skills. Well, at the very least, he was hoping that she'd agree to teach him how to brew.

Railey might've been related to Pickett, but he'd never personally met her until he had fallen into her care the other day. Though he'd been in the quick clinic multiple times in the past to deal with accidental injuries, it had been another medic who'd been running the place during those times, not her. When that doctor left for better opportunities in larger villages, Railey took over the place and turned it into the bookstore/potion-using clinic that it was today. He had no idea how to better interact with her, or how to even ask her for help, but he figured if he was going to start anywhere, he might as well start there with her.

Entering the village gates, the miner looked around briefly before making his way towards said clinic, finding that the streets were still rather empty despite the fact that it was early enough to get a headstart on any and all tasks. The bookstore part of the building had its door wide open, so he entered it through there, taking a moment to glance around the shelves before beginning his search for the old woman.

He didn't have to look long. Before he could even recognize her presence, she had already walked up to him and nearly scared him half to death.

"Interested in something, are we? Or has one of your wounds opened up again?"

Flinching at the sudden absence of silence, Steve shook his head, easing off his surprise with a small laugh.

"I was just coming back to tell you, the Elder selected me to be a champion."

The woman's eyes lit up in excitement.

"That's wonderful! I knew you had something special about you!"

"Though...he's giving me a test to make sure that I can handle it. He says that I need to learn how to brew potions, so I came back to ask if you were possibly willing to teach me?"

Giving him a raised brow, Railey then shrugged at his words.

"Well, I won't teach you much because that would give too many of my trade secrets away, but I can teach you how to make a basic health potion, at the very least."

He smiled.

"Ah, thank you! I think that'll be just fine, he didn't say how many I had to brew, or how many recipes I had to learn!"

"If he knows that you know how to manage yourself, you should be relatively fine. Plus, with how quickly your system works, you might not even need that many potions anyway!" Railey laughed, giving him a gentle pat on his uninjured shoulder, which he mentally thanked her for.

Leading him to her nearby brewing station, she pointed at the small, well-used brewing stand that was, at the moment, heating up a couple of bottles that Steve recognized as future regeneration potions, not yet entirely showing of their brighter colors.

"Now, when those are done, we can get started and whatnot, but you see how they start out very dull?"

"Yeah?" He leaned in closer to look over the bottles more carefully.

"The effectiveness of your typical potion generally depends on how much of the 'main ingredient' you let cook into the base liquids. Put too much of something in there, and you may end up making yourself sick by overwhelming your body. Put too little of whatever you're boiling in there, and the potion won't work at all. It's a careful balancing act, and too many times, I see rookie mistakes with most of the potions that come into this village through trades."

Not really surprised by that fact, Steve shrugged.

"I mean, if they work well enough, then they're fair game to sell according to those vendors, right?"

Railey sighed.

"At least their potions are either too dull-looking or just barely alright. If they were practically neon, I'd raise an alarm and chase out those people myself, or at the very least, get ol' Pick to kick them out."

Steve laughed at her remark.

"C'mon, Pickett wouldn't do that."

"He would if I yelled at him! Boy needs motivation!"

Moving closer to the brewing stand, Railey leaned in towards the three bottles placed upon it, seemingly checking for any imperfections before moving one of them to the side. She looked back at the miner to make sure that she still held his attention.

"I put that one on a while before the others because something else spilled and I forgot about them. For now, we can at least start with one potion just to get used to the idea, right?"

Steve nodded.

"Right."

Going to a nearby cabinet, the woman opened it and pulled out another bottle, though this one was empty.

"Before you can make anything that can either harm or help you, you have to boil down some water first and make it clean enough. For my potions, I usually put some regular old red mushrooms in the water in order to better unlock the effects of each one, though I've heard that there are other ways to make them more potent, but I haven't found those methods yet, so I use what I can!"

Stepping over to a nearly-empty cauldron, the woman dipped the bottle inside and filled it up half-way, taking a moment to shift around its contents before placing it on the counter of the station. Looking back at the other potions, she smiled before taking those away from the stand as well.

"These are done! Now, watch closely, boy."

Taking a bowl from the corner of the station, the woman placed it in front of her as she opened a separate cabinet, pulling out a couple of mushrooms that she then placed into the mortar, pressing on them slightly before using a pestle to grind them down. After she was done, she grabbed a cup, dipped it into the cauldron as well, and added some of the water into the bowl of mushrooms before grinding them down again, moving to place the resulting mush into the small draining unit on top of one of the brewing stand arms, closing the small lid on top of it. Moving the bottle of water under the arm, she turned a handle on the stand, which made a small scraping sound until the stand started to heat up once again. The water within the bottle slowly began to boil up, and the mush above it started to drain into it.

"See, now all we have to do is wait until the mushroom coloring fades away a bit. Then we can get down to business."

As Steve watched the water boil away the mushrooms, he carefully made notes within his head about every detail Railey went over, though he seriously doubted that he'd be able to remember it all for his own future brewing attempts. He watched as the other went and grabbed a slice of watermelon out from a small box. Its appearance intrigued him quite a bit, as its surface seemed to glimmer with a substance that he didn't really recognize. Noticing his gaze, the woman smiled.

"A little melted sugar and some gold dust goes a long way, you know? Makes it both look pretty and taste even better."

Steve shrugged at her words.

"Eh, sometimes I think it could use a bit more sugar, but that's just me."

Railey laughed.

"Putting more sugar would negate the effects of a healing potion, wouldn't you think?"

"True, I guess." Steve chuckled, watching carefully as Railey moved to crush the glistening melon down into something she could boil into the potion.

"You can start making your own potion, by the way. Since I'm practically almost done with this one, you should try following my instructions as best you can so that the Elder's worries are thrown to the wayside!"

'Yeah. His worries...' Steve thought to himself, moving over to attempt to follow the other's instructions as best as he could.

Though his hands were not necessarily made for more delicate matters, he managed to grind down his own ingredients into something resembling the creation that Railey had made, though, his mushroom confection had more chunks than he would've personally liked. After she'd moved her potion away from the stand, he boiled his own mixture of a potion base first, spilling a bit of the mushroom water as he tried to pour it carefully into the drainer. Finding the glistering melons again, Steve managed to turn that into mush as well, though he struggled with getting past the hard, caramelized exterior of the melon and keeping it in the bowl without it flaking off everywhere along with the juices. Once he suspected that the mushrooms had been boiled well enough, he added the glistering melon into the mixture and allowed it to brew before glancing at Railey for any signs of approval.

She shrugged.

"I mean, since it's your first time brewing, I suppose that you wouldn't make something entirely perfect, but I believe that you did pretty well, given the circumstances."

Steve smiled.

"Thanks, I thought I completely screwed it up already."

"Nah! All you did was add the melon in too early, but as long as you take off the potion at the right time, you still should have something pretty effective!"

Nodding in response, Steve looked back at the potion, seeing that it was already becoming more vibrant in color, much to his surprise.

It took another minute or so, but when Steve was done, he corked the bottle and presented it to his teacher, who gave him a quick round of applause in response to his accomplishment.

"Wonderful! Not bad for a rookie, but now you have to go and convince the Elder that you've managed to learn something."

Sighing in relief, Steve gave her a warm smile.

"Thank you so much for teaching me, Ms."

"Yeah, yeah. Now go!"

Railey pushed him a bit towards the door, nearly knocking him off his feet as he took her praise to heart and made his way to the town hall, which wasn't all that far away. Quite literally, as it was just across the street.

Once back in the familiar building, Steve made his way up to the Elder's office once again, climbing up carefully as he held the potion in his hand with a tight grip, terrified of accidentally letting it go. When he got up to the room, he found the Elder scanning over his bookcase, paying no mind whatsoever to the sound of the trapdoor on the floor opening.

Clearing his throat in order to get the other's attention, Steve pulled himself up into the room, watching as the other finally acknowledged his presence.

"Hello again, Steve! How's everything going?"

The miner shrugged.

"Pretty well, I think."

The Elder smiled at his words.

"Did you manage to brew a potion?"

Steve nodded, presenting the bottle and its contents rather proudly.

"I'm still learning, but I managed to make at least one thing, so I think that's good, right?"

The Elder nodded.

"At least you're starting, yes."

The Elder came and took the bottle from his hands, swishing its contents around a bit as he studied it closely.

"You know, it doesn't look quite that bad! This makes me more confident in believing that I can let you fulfill the champion's duties. Yes, I think that you truly have a greater chance of being successful in your journey!" The Elder exclaimed, holding the bottle back out for the miner to take.

Still not used to the feeling of dread that the title gave him, Steve hummed in acknowledgment, giving the Elder a small smile as he accepted the potion back into his hands.

"I'll give you a few days to prepare your belongings for the journey ahead before I send you out."

The words shocked Steve as the other turned away to move to his desk, almost carelessly spoken as the miner was left to stand awkwardly near the entrance of the room.

"Wait, a few days?! But I don't even have any armour to u-"

"-I'm sure Almun will give you something out of pity."

"But I don't even know where to g-"

"-Didn't you hear the tale? I'm sure you'll find a lead somehow, you're smart!"

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think I'm ready f-"

The Elder looked back at him, expression stern as the atmosphere of the room became more serious than it had previously been.

"Take care of whatever you need to within the village. Do whatever you need to do. Since you'll be recognized as being a champion, you'll be expected to at least bring back something notable to prove your worth, or else you'll be ostracized from the village until you do."

Coming back closer to him, the Elder placed a hand on Steve's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze as he looked the other deep in the eyes.

"There may be a heavy burden on you, Steve, but rest assured, I think that you can handle this well enough to bring back glory."

Wanting to scream, Steve instead bit his tongue and nodded hesitantly, turning around to leave as he shrugged the other's hand off of his shoulder.

"And if you find yourself lost...you can use this to find your way back home."

Pausing at the trapdoor entrance, Steve turned back around to find that the Elder was holding out a small, shiny, new compass in his direction.

He took it gently, looking over its surface for a moment as he watched its needle lay dormant despite him turning the device over and over again.

"You'll have to program it once you get back home."

"...Thanks."

Steve left the office, emotions threatening to overwhelm him.

...

He had to direct his energy towards something else before he lost his mind.


Though he was nervous about going in alone, Steve found himself at the entrance of the cave once again, glancing around to see if he'd been in any way followed, though he was well aware of the fact that he could be ambushed again at any moment. His body slightly staggered under the presence of his mining bag, but he managed to keep his balance long enough to make his way past the more difficult sections of the opening tunnel. Looking around for more stray ores he might've initially missed, Steve kept his gaze peeled as he took double-takes with every passing shadow and flinched with every echo that didn't originate from himself as they resonated off of the walls.

Going towards a different tunnel this time around, Steve followed a line of dying torches as best he could, while also attempting to strain his eyes to see into the darker spaces to find the familiar glint of coal or iron reflecting the minimal light back. Finding a few, he continued down the pathway, soon finding that he needed to add some more torches of his own. As he took out a torch and lit it, he held it out in order to illuminate the path before him, finding that the tunnel was beginning to expand the farther he looked down.

He felt a little excited at the prospect of finding new materials.

Walking down the pathway and picking up whatever more ores he found, Steve managed to fill up his bag enough to start noticing its weight against his healing shoulder. Taking a moment to adjust his pack, Steve leaned his pickaxe against the nearby cavern wall for a moment as he took his bag from his back, fixing the straps a bit and checking how well it was holding up before returning it to where it once was.

Reaching for his pickaxe as he glanced around the cave again, Steve found that it wasn't there.

As he swiped at air, Steve began to believe that he was losing his mind a bit as he tried to locate the tool, finding that he had no luck in doing so.

"...Pickett?"

The miner didn't recall hearing any footsteps around, so despite the fact that the name had arisen first within his mind, he mentally slapped himself for allowing it to leave his mouth. Remembering the last time he'd thought the other had been following him, Steve decided to try calling out a new name instead.

"...Herobrine?"

The man's name left his lips in a quiet manner, but he was even more shocked to find that the other came to his mind so casually in the first place.

He was even more surprised to turn around and find the man in question leaning against the wall behind him, examining the stolen pickaxe carefully in his hands.

'...That was quick.' Steve thought to himself, hoping that he wouldn't have to abandon his bag and his tool in favor of nursing any potential new wounds in the near future despite the other's "promise."

The other looked up at him with what Steve could only assume was judgment in his eyes.

"...I was going to send for you later, but I couldn't help but follow you here myself. You've been attacked here twice, yet you still insist on coming alone?"

Steve shrugged, watching as the other flipped his pickaxe over in his hands.

"...I'm not a kid anymore. I understand that risk, and it comes every time I go down here. Plus, my friend was busy today, he couldn't have come even if I wanted him to."

Herobrine raised a brow.

"Was that the man you were calling for both right now and the first time we met? The one who came to your house on different occasions?"

Steve's eyes widened.

"You saw that?"

Herobrine shrugged.

"Not me, personally, but I had my servants keep a close eye on you to make sure that you didn't quite reveal our existence yet before we had complete control over the fate of your village. I'm not all that interested in him, though. Just you."

"...Good to know, I guess?"

The other straightened himself up as he walked closer to Steve, haphazardly throwing his pickaxe to his feet. In response, the miner jumped away before it had any chance to make contact with his feet. Walking past him, Herobrine glanced around the cave, seemingly looking for something that Steve couldn't find himself.

"...How long have you lived in this village?"

Steve raised a brow at that question.

"...Why's that so important?"

Herobrine turned around, looking him straight in the eyes.

"...I'm just curious. I haven't seen a Crystalian in years, and from what I've seen, they typically never leave fully from the city. They only make their way to different districts for better opportunities, don't they?"

Despite the strange opportunity he was given, Steve remained hesitant in talking in more detail about the old city.

"Well, yeah but…"

"So, I ask again, how long have you lived here?"

Finding that he wouldn't exactly be free from Herobrine's questioning, Steve sighed in response.

"...About ten years, I think?" He reluctantly answered, rolling around his words in his mind a bit as he told the lie.

"Hm."

The other turned away from him, going back to examine the cave.

"...Steven. I'm sure you've noticed, but your village has left your house in a rather unfortunate spot."

"I know, I watched them make it that way."

"And you said nothing about the matter?"

"It wouldn't have mattered much, anyway."

"...Why is that?"

Steve really didn't want to get into his past issues with a malicious stranger such as the man before him. There was too much that he was still rather miffed about, and more and more things were being added to his plate with every passing day, even though he didn't recall ever asking for seconds, or even thirds. Wasn't Herobrine the one who specifically said that he wasn't interested in exposing personal details, too?

Steve kept his mouth shut, instead going to reach for his pickaxe in order to continue what he was doing before he had encountered the other.

He found the other's foot being placed on the handle of the tool, keeping it firmly in its spot.

The miner hesitated in looking up, choosing to focus his attention on the other's chin instead of his eyes.

"I asked you a question, mortal."

Steve felt himself getting rather annoyed at the situation.

"And I don't have to tell you anything. Especially since you won't do the same for me, apparently."

Though he was fully expecting himself to experience a repeat of their first encounter together with a swift kick to the abdomen, Steve instead found himself in silence, watching as the other clearly debated the option before reluctantly stepping off of the pickaxe without another word. Steve took the pickaxe back, and as he assessed the damage of the handle, he looked back up and found himself alone once again, looking around for the other only to find nothing that even suggested that he'd ever been there.

'Figures. Make a deal with a shadowy person, expect for him to do shadowy things.' He thought to himself, flipping his pickaxe within his hands a couple of times before starting to walk into the tunnel again, listening to the sounds of bats and distant mobs as he kept his eyes peeled for any more ores he could find.

He was still rather jumpy, but he had to get things done.


Getting back home with his list of orders done and finished with took a load off from Steve's mind, allowing him to take a breath as he collapsed onto his couch, the bag full of ores laying near the front door as he took a break. He'd be delivering the ores to Almun when his shoulder stopped throbbing from being used so much all of a sudden, but once he recieved the resulting ingots back, he would deliver them out as soon as he could so that he wouldn't have that on his mind while out on his forced adventure.

He realized that he'd nearly forgotten about the limited time he had left to prepare himself.

The Elder would most likely be throwing a small ceremony in order to "celebrate" his appointment, but once he was sent from the village, he wouldn't be able to be seen without criticism if he made his way back empty-handed. He'd have all the time to mine for himself, but he wouldn't be able to drop anything else off at the blacksmith's house. He'd be isolated until further notice.

Steve sighed, standing back up and giving his shoulder a quick roll before moving to collect his bag once again. Though it was rather heavy, he had enough strength to balance himself under it, managing to not topple over with every step he took. Leaving his house again, Steve carefully made his way up over the hill and towards the village, nearly falling over at a couple of points. Walking past the gate as he gazed at the various wares that were available for purchase at the local market stands, Steve made his way quickly to Almun's place, where he found the other working as hard as ever, though that didn't distract him from acknowledging the miner's sudden presence.

With a loud voice, Almun greeted him warmly.

"Oh, and lo, the new champion returns! Got the dragon's head with you, or…"

Steve let out a laugh, making his way closer to the other as he started to unload the bag next to a small pile of to-be-smelted ores that laid next to the other's forge.

"Haha. Funny. Al, I got a few ores here that need smelting, can I commission you to-"

"-You already know the answer, Steve, why all the formality?"

Steve shrugged.

"Can't be rude, I guess. I just wanna make sure I'm not intruding, y'know?"

Almun laughed under his breath at the other's words.

"Steve. That won't ever be a problem. You could break into my room at night unannounced, and I wouldn't think you were intruding. Don't actually do that, though."

The miner laughed as he emptied the remaining ores that were in his bag onto the pile, walking back around to face the other directly as he leaned against the railing of the porch they were on.

"Not planning on it. I kinda hate it when that happens, myself."

"As anybody would, I guess." Almun looked back up at him, pausing his tasks for a moment as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"So...do you have any idea when you'll be given one of those quick ceremonies?"

Steve nodded his head sadly, his mood suddenly taking quite the dip.

"A few days from now."

Almun's eyes widened.

"That close, huh? You'd think that after bugging me about making armour and ordering other supplies, he'd at least wait to see if I'd change my mind."

Giving the other a slightly amused expression, Steve chuckled.

"...Not to make you mad, but he did say you'd just end up giving me something out of pity."

Almun scoffed, looking away from the other momentarily to cast an angered glare towards the town hall.

"...He's right, but that doesn't mean he can just exploit it."

Looking back at Steve, he gave him a worried look.

"Whatever I can conjure up at the moment wouldn't be as high of a quality as I'd like it to be if we're talking about you setting off only a few days from now. And by 'higher quality', I mean something made of diamond. I didn't see any of those when you dumped out your haul, there." He gestured to the pile of ores.

"...'Cause I didn't find any. I was more worried about taking care of the orders I picked up first, and I was saving my diamond day for later. It takes me longer when I go down deeper, I figured I could at least have those ready up here so I wouldn't have to stress about it while down there."

"Fair enough, but the sooner you get those to me, the better. Else I'll have to resort to just giving you plain iron."

"...Thank you anyway, even if that's the case, Al."

Almun went to pat him on the shoulder, moving back towards his work station immediately afterward.

"Anytime, Steve."

Finding that the other was back to being busy with his tasks, Steve decided to leave for the time being, heading back to the less publicly-monitored area that his house was situated in.

Upon getting past the wooded forest pathway approaching his door, he found a small, folded-up piece of paper at his feet, tied by a fine piece of string that felt silk-like to the touch. Untying the string carefully and unfolding the paper, Steve found a message written in what appeared to be unprocessed squid ink, nearly bleeding through the page as most of the words were smudged, yet still legible.

'Tomorrow, you will be briefed. There will be someone coming to get you when we're ready. You'll know him when you see him. Do not plan on doing anything else.'

'Well, at least I know when that'll be happening.' He thought, shrugging to himself as he entered his house, placing the message on his dining table before going to make himself dinner.

Starting tomorrow, he'd be somewhat in limbo.


Steve sat at the edge of the lake that was right in front of his house, staring blankly at the surface of the water as he couldn't help but give rise to panic. His whole "mine for diamonds all day" plan was substituted for a situation that he was given no control of, being thrown headfirst into it silently screaming. Not only was he about to meet with Herobrine and possibly Constiere face-to-face again, but there were supposedly others that he now had to worry about?

Surprisingly enough though, his anxiety about the situation was accompanied by deep intrigue.

Despite the blaring warning signs that were going off within his brain, he couldn't help but feel slightly excited at the idea of going on this slight detour from his original plan. What would he be thrown into? Why did Herobrine so easily bring him in when he supposedly hated humans? Why did they share a face? Who was Malgun? Who was that enderman that Constiere was talking about?

So many questions, but Steve suspected that he'd barely get the answer to half of them. There was no way in hell that they'd willingly choose to open up to him of all people; a lowly mortal human who served no other purpose to them other than to act as a pawn in their cruel game.

Even if that was the case, there were other, more pressing questions to ask, anyway.

How was it that these people found his village in particular? Would they accept his presence, or would they try to kill him every chance they got? Was this all a ruse?

Steve traced the edge of the water as his thoughts ran wild, dipping his finger in as he swirled his confused, reflected image around haphazardly. Footsteps came to his attention as he turned to face the source once he processed the fact that he wasn't alone anymore, finding a new figure standing before him. "Tall" was the first word that came to his mind when he saw it, and "terrifying" was the next. Though he fully expected to see another human before him, he was shocked to find another one of the so-called endermen that he'd been encountering as of late. Most likely, given the fact that it'd come so close to him without any obvious malicious intent, it might've just been the individual that Steve had been told to expect.

However, there was something deeply unsettling about the being.

It might've just been him not being used to seeing the creatures up close, but there were definitely different features on this enderman in particular that he hadn't recalled ever seeing before. Up-close, the creature's skin was scale-like and shiny for the most part, but in some places, the skin appeared to be completely smooth and almost human-like. The enderman's hands started out relatively smooth and scaleless, but as the fingers grew out into long, terrifyingly sharp claws that curved like the tip of a scythe, the skin right below the wrist was incredibly flaky and possibly covered in what Steve could only guess was the stranger's blood, which was purple, darkened from the dry air. Though he remembered that he'd caught a glimpse of an enderman's large, gaping jaw before, Steve found that this one had a slimmer face, though he still retained the large fangs that the miner had seen prior. Strikingly purple eyes tore through the surface of Steve's person, leading to his suspicion that the stranger, from just a single look, was able to see right through his life's story. A stern expression was on the enderman's face, but when both he and Steve himself realized that the latter appeared to be scared shitless, the gaze softened a bit in response.

The enderman spoke a bit in a language that sounded rather garbled and intelligible, but as he watched Steve's expression melt into confusion, he paused for a moment.

"…I'm here to retrieve you for our master." He said, quietly, after taking a few seconds to seemingly translate his words.

Steve stammered in response to the other's calm, deep, accented tone, thrown off-guard by the fact that it hadn't copied the screeching tones that his fellow enderman had released the last time Steve had confronted one of his kind.

"I-I assumed."

The miner stood up as the other beckoned him to do so, beginning to follow the enderman into the empty cavern that was only a bit of a walk away. As he passed through the entrance of the cave, Steve took one last look outside to the wilderness he lived in, bracing himself for whatever future coma-inducing injury he might receive after his upcoming encounter with Herobrine.

The two walked in silence within the dimly-lit cave; only the sound of footsteps and distant mobs met their ears as they traveled down the enclosed stone pathway. Steve found himself unable to do anything but stare directly at the other's back, too afraid to make conversation, yet also unwilling to leave them without any proper introduction to each other. He knew that this must've been someone that was working closely alongside Herobrine, especially if he was so important that he'd be trusted to go directly to receive him, but given the fact that he's already met two secretive beings already, he assumed that it would be no different with this figure as well.

Surprisingly enough, just as he was beginning to reconcile with the fact that his curiosity wouldn't be cured, the creature broke the silence.

"…I should advise that the next time you encounter an enderman, you should make sure to not stare directly into it's eyes."

Steve blinked. The words echoed off of the cavern walls and bounced around in his head, but nevertheless, he took a moment to process the words before forming a nervous response.

"...W-Why? One of Herobrine's friends said that they have pretty eyes, so I just thought that-"

"-Who?" The other interrupted him.

"...Constiere?"

The creature growled, pausing in the middle of the pathway as he found anger in the situation.

"Damn him. He's always trying to compromise our missions with his mischief, and he could've well gotten you killed had I not been the enderman sent to find you."

The other's tense position relaxed as Steve continued to watch his every move.

"...Our species tends to get rather livid when you stare into our eyes. The gateway to the soul is also our gateway to our entire being, so we feel rather threatened when someone eyes our most valuable assets. As I share features with you and have a sense of higher thought, I am immune to those feral tendencies, but with others, I can assure you that you would've been torn to shreds in an instant."

The miner froze, his hair standing on end as he processed the information.

His first encounter with the great Herobrine was worse than he thought.

That incidental pun the other had used was also terrible.

The stranger let out a laugh as he was met with the miner's silence.

"Don't worry. I'll make sure that Constiere is appropriately reprimanded for this little misstep. You'll be safe."

Steve watched as the other turned around, offering him a hand to shake. With hesitation he took it, watching as the stranger bowed as they shook hands.

"My name is Andvari. I lead the endermen under the watchful command of Herobrine."

Steve smiled at the kind gesture of an introduction.

"I'm Steve. I got my butt handed to me twice and nearly died because of Herobrine."

Andvari chuckled.

"He's one for big first impressions. Coincidentally, most of those first impressions end up being the last a person ever gets, so I'd say that he definitely has some genuine interest in you to keep you alive for more of them."

Steve let out a breath as they dropped hands, placing his hands on his hips as he looked at the other's chest instead of his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess I'd stop myself from killing someone if we looked exactly alike, too."

Andvari continued to walk, beckoning the other to follow as he let out a hum.

"I noticed. It's rather strange to see, but I have to say that I'm not surprised. I have my theories on why that's the case, but I'll save them until we all can have a proper discussion about it. Right now, our leader wants to brief you on the situation at hand and get us all out there on the hunt."

Steve nodded, following closely behind as the other led him down an unfamiliar cave pathway, one that led into pure darkness, though the light of the other's purple eyes slightly illuminated their steps. He also noticed that though it was pretty dark, his own eyes had adjusted themselves to the situation fast, quickly allowing him to have clearer and clearer vision as they traveled even further down.

Light soon appeared out of nowhere as it crawled out from somewhere close in front of them, after what seemed like an eternity of walking. The two soon found themselves within a hollowed-out space illuminated purely by lava flow from opposite corners of the cavern ceiling, being met by Herobrine himself, who stood in the middle of Constiere and another terrifying stranger that Steve was slightly scared and partly eager to meet. While Herobrine and Constiere were standing, the unknown being, which he guessed was supposed to be a regular skeleton, was sitting on a rock, slightly hunched over.

Noticing their arrival, Herobrine smirked.

"Oh great. You brought him here all in one piece!" Herobrine exclaimed, gesturing out to the miner as Constiere let out a quiet giggle in response. The new stranger in the room remained quiet and expressionless.

"We can't afford to lose him now, sir, so I kept him rather safe. Constiere on the other hand…"

"What did I do?!" The small individual yelled out at the other, much to Andvari and Herobrine's amusement.

"Oh. Nothing much. Nothing except telling our new friend here that looking into an enderman's eyes was a fun thing to do!" Andvari growled, pointing at the other accusedly.

Herobrine looked down at the other, watching as his body language became that of an embarrassed child's.

"Hey, I was just telling the truth! It is fun!" Constiere crossed his arms across his chest and huffed.

Sighing, Herobrine walked more towards the center of the room, turning around to face the boy on impromptu trial.

"Constiere." Herobrine gathered his attention. "You could've gotten him killed."

"Ehhhhh...wasn't that the goal at first?"

"Yes. At first. Now he's valuable to us, and we can't afford his untimely demise because you wanted to be humourous. There are times for such matters, and now is not the time, nor is Steven here the right person to test your pranks on."

Constiere huffed.

"...Whatever. Aren't we here to get him up to speed?"

Herobrine nodded, turning his attention back to Steve, who flinched at his sudden gaze.

"Yes. We have much to address, so might as well get right to it."

Drawing closer to the other, Herobrine appeared to be silently judging his every move, not once taking his eyes off of him. Under the silent pressure, Steve noticed that suddenly, Andvari was no longer by his side, and was now situated right behind the other, staring at them both with great interest.

"Now, since you've managed to get down here well enough, might we do away with the introductions, and whatnot."

Gesturing to the shortest person in the room, Herobrine continued.

"Constiere. You've already acquainted yourselves, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure. The decoration on his person is not just for aesthetic purposes, I've put him in direct charge of my creepers."

The news was a bit surprising, but as Steve examined the individual before him, he could finally see that Constiere was definitely dressed for the job.

Now that he had enough light to see properly, he was able to clearly see that the other didn't seem to be entirely human either. There were bits of black scattered across the white of the boy's eye, melting into the solidly-deep red pupil that seemed to lack any sort of soul whatsoever. The dirt that Steve had spotted before was, in fact, mixed with blood, and was splattered on various items of clothing. As he glanced at the other's hands, he found that Constiere too seemed to have claws (or at the very least, extremely sharp nails) hidden beneath a pair of equally-as-dirty brown gloves. Various open seams revealed patches of what Steve believed to be creeper fur, but he was unsure of whether it was scavenged from actual creepers, or if they were just for decoration and were fake.

Steve now found himself to be the only known human present within the room.

Walking over to the only remaining stranger in the room, Herobrine motioned for the individual to stand up. The man complied immediately, revealing his height to only be slightly taller than the white-eyed man beside him.

"This is General Malgun. I've placed him in charge of the skeletons. Refer to him as his proper title."

Malgun was, quite possibly, the most unsettling creature that Steve had seen so far, considering things. Though it was clear that the man himself was a skeleton, it was quite evident that he was still in the process of decomposition, with a decent amount of exposed human flesh still remaining on his person. A good amount of white hair remained on his skull, but half of the flesh on his face was missing, leaving the exposed bone to meet with the chilled cavern air. The man wore a good amount of leather armour, including a heavy quiver filled with arrows across his back, somehow hanging on despite the lack of muscle or anything. He was missing one eye, but the one that remained was glossed over with white, making the already pale silver of his eyes even milkier.

Malgun glared menacingly at Steve, making him subconsciously back away slowly, only to find himself unable to escape the current situation without facing possible death.

Herobrine motioned over to Andvari, who bowed as Steve's attention was drawn to him.

"And finally, this is Andvari, my personal assistant. I've placed him in command of directing the endermen."

Drawing closer to Steve, Herobrine glared at him, making sure to straighten himself out a bit in order to seem a bit taller. The action wasn't necessary in order to make the miner seem smaller. Among the others in the room, it wasn't all too hard to make Steve recognize the little amount of authority he had in the situation.

Herobrine stopped roughly a foot away from him.

"Introductions are over. Our main concerns at hand, and I need you to listen carefully. Are we clear?"

Steve nodded.

Herobrine acknowledged him, beginning to walk around the room slowly as he talked.

"...Humans are quite strange creatures, you know? Unsatisfied with their measly accomplishments, they often set out to prove, with what little they have, their dominance over others. Long ago, they fought for survival, but now that such a thing is more certain than before, they seek to find more. I do not know what exactly they seek, but their endless meddling has led to an unfortunate set of circumstances."

Motioning for Constiere to move, Herobrine watched as the other left the room, seemingly in order to retrieve something.

"Now, I know you're horribly ignorant when it comes to things that you refer to as 'fairytales,' but I'm sure that, given that you've seen your own reflection at this point, you know that at least a bit of magic exists, correct?"

Steve nodded again, watching as the other stopped to face him.

"Humans are prone to messing with things that they shouldn't. That is partially the reason why you have things such as zombies and living skeletons within this world. Mortals decided to reckon with forces they couldn't have ever hoped to control, and thus, the balance of magic within this world shifts ever-so-slightly off-kilter."

Holding his hands out as if they were two plates of a scale, Herobrine began to demonstrate his words for Steve's perception.

"The magic that lays dormant within this world has long since been tapped into, which means that there exists curiosity for other sources, so those are being sought out and used as well. However, the gods have only intended for certain beings and certain items to hold power, so they've laid that magic into other worlds in order to prevent utter catastrophe and abuse. If some of that magic leaks into this world, that perfect balance I explained earlier will be ruined, and more and more anomalies will occur as a result. Maybe humans will grow wings. Maybe you'll all develop horrible, poisonous growths that devour your corpses upon death. Magic is fickle."

Constiere walked back into the room, carrying what appeared to be a worn-out book and a small bag of various little red plants that Steve didn't recognize. Grabbing the bag, Herobrine pulled out one of the plants, displaying it for Steve to see.

"The magic that was intended for your world exists in the form of potion-making. The leakage that occurred that threw the balance of the world off a bit was the introduction of Nether warts into the equation. It wasn't the fungi itself that did this, however, it was how it was acquired that opened the gateway into potential chaos."

Herobrine placed the Nether wart back into the bag and took the book instead to hold it out so that the other could read its cover, though Steve was left in confusion as the book appeared to be written in another language that he was unfamiliar with.

"A witch owned this brewing guide. A witch. A mortal who took advantage of the magic of two worlds and made it their own."

The man handed the book back to his servant, folding his hands over his chest afterward.

"Little things like that can be acceptable, but that's not what we're here for. Little exchanges are nothing in the grand scheme of things; it's when greater sources of magic travel between worlds that we begin to see real issues. Breaking into another realm by abusing the properties of this one has led to significant disturbances in this world, which have been messing with my own powers in a way that I cannot simply ignore."

Herobrine began to pace once again.

"I've heard rumours and demanded more information about why you mortals are trying to draw resources from any world but this one, but I've only gotten the answer that you all are trying to find access to the End Realm instead in order to fight off the endermen so that they stay out of this land. Which is...interesting, to say the least. Traveling to the endermen's abode, opening a giant pathway to get both in and out, allowing endermen to travel to this world in larger quantities without having to waste energy...just to attempt to prevent them from coming back to the Overworld. Amazing."

"And that's the only reason why they're trying to get to wherever that is?" Steve spoke up.

"Do you have any other ideas on what they want to do?"

The counter-question made Steve stumble a bit mentally, but he tried to defend himself before the other could consider any further action.

"...No. I was asking for confirmation."

Herobrine glared at him, turning around afterward to face his servants.

"I've been hunting down the few humans that've been attempting to find their way into other dimensions, but I'm afraid that my efforts have been for naught. A few have slipped through the cracks and have managed to find remnants of portals long abandoned by the gods and broken by their own hands. They guessed correctly how to fix these portals, but I've managed to halt their progress as much as possible so that they weren't able to disturb the order of this world too much. I believe that you humans think that the End Realm is only accessible through another world, but that's currently the only advantage I have over the situation."

Herobrine snapped back to point at Steve directly, causing him to flinch.

"More and more individuals are trying to utilize these portals; enough of them exist to cause significant attention to be drawn to them. This has to be a movement of some kind. You must know something about this."

The miner shrugged slowly, though he kept a watchful gaze on the other's expression to make sure the action was met with no clear anger.

"I...they're called champions."

Silence filled the room for a moment.

"...Champions?" Herobrine's arm lowered a bit as he processed the other's words.

Steve nodded in response.

"Yeah. They go around trying to replicate things found in storybooks, or whatever. Like, the things that stronger humans in the past have done."

"What kind of storybooks?" Constiere asked, though his voice was lower in pitch, lacking the over-the-top energy it usually had, bringing an air of seriousness to his words.

"...Probably the ones that mentioned that the endermen came from somewhere else in the first place."

Herobrine narrowed his eyes at the miner's words, letting out a sigh as he drew nearer to him.

"And why am I a target? Last I checked, I've yet to fall to anyone's hand."

Steve shrugged.

"Not sure. I've said before that I've never heard about you, so I don't think your existence isn't written in any sort of storybook anywhere, as far as I know. I think those people just assume that since other legends exist, you could too."

"...Are you one of the champions?"

The question was loaded, but Steve didn't wish to have his personal plans of riding the wave to success fall apart. Before he could answer, however, his initial breath was interrupted.

"Don't lie to me. You already know how well that turns out for you."

Point taken.

"...Yes. But I haven't even been given a ceremony yet. I just got appointed, or suggested to be one, or whatever, and I get sent out a couple of days from now. I wasn't given a specific task or anything, I was just told to 'bring glory' to the village and to bring something to show for it."

The four people in front of the miner looked at each other quizzingly, looking back at him only when their silent conversation was through.

"...Bring glory?" Herobrine asked.

"As in a trophy of some sort?" Andvari questioned.

"Like an artifact?" Constiere chimed in.

"Or a head?" Malgun added, surprising Steve with his low voice and the fact that he could even speak at all.

"I...I'm not sure. Something along those lines, though, I'd guess."

"...Your ceremony is in a few days, correct?" Herobrine asked.

Steve nodded.

"What will be occurring?"

"I guess that I'll be introduced as a champion, and I'll be sent out into the wild for a bit to find something to bring back. Being a champion and managing to achieve something notable brings fame, so I have to do something great."

"Are you being prevented from coming back until you do?"

Steve shrugged.

"If I don't do anything, yeah, but I don't think it'll come to that. I've worked for the village for too long, they wouldn't do that to me. I can count on them, y'know?"

"Are you sure about that?"

Steve glared at the other.

"Yeah. I think I'd know how these people would treat me after what, years of working for them? Being with them?"

To his surprise, Constiere stifled a laugh as Herobrine rolled his eyes.

'...Did I say something wrong?...' Steve thought to himself, watching as the others seemed to be very amused by his words.

"...Humans are fickle creatures." Was all that left Herobrine's mouth as he held his composure, instead turning around to face the cavern wall, most likely to hide his expression once again.

"Now, I'm sure that your ceremony will be grand, and whatever, but once it is over, you will be meeting with us again. Since you have such a status, I'm sure that other humans will be entirely willing to impart information to you, correct? My powers have weakened to a point where I'm unable to change much about myself without significant strain that only grants me a few minutes of cover, so it'd be helpful to have a regular human on hand to gather information in a less...upfront manner."

"Wait, so you want me to-"

"Find out the tasks that the other champions wish to achieve. Take all information that you can gather. Get in their way. Eliminate them. Considering the fact that there has to be a ceremony to elect champions, we can assume that there can't be too many of them out there at once. We can narrow their numbers down to something more manageable, and make certain that the old portals that currently exist unattended cannot be used. At the very least, we can find out where their end goal might be, and make that point secure as well."

Realizing that the task Herobrine gave him was evidently why he wanted to train him in combat, Steve processed the information in his mind, going over his further options. The best benefit he could see out of the situation was the opportunity to achieve other notable accomplishments in place of the champions he would be…"eliminating," but other than that? He was being asked to have blood on his hands. He was being commanded to take another person's life under the guise of information-gathering. It was sickening.

It was this, or death.

"...So I just have to find champions and challenge them?"

"Not challenge. Find out anything and everything that they know, and then kill them."

"...I can't-"

"-You will." Herobrine asserted, turning back around to stare at the other with a serious gaze.

"If you don't, there will be larger consequences to face than friendly competition. None of which will be working out in your favor. I offered you this opportunity, and now, if you wish to stay alive, you must take it."

Though the other's gaze was stern and impossible to hold, Steve remained silent.

Hearing a sigh, he braced himself as the other began to walk closer to him.

Herobrine then continued to walk past him.

"We'll meet again. Possibly before your appointment, most certainly after."

With a simple hand gesture, the man silently commanded the other three non-humans in the room to follow him.

"Wait." Steve didn't exactly intend for his words to slip out, but as they left him, he found himself slightly regretting his desperate tone.

Andvari, Malgun, and Constiere stopped and turned around to face him. Herobrine only stopped when he realized he wasn't being followed any longer.

The miner forgot what he was going to say under the curious gazes of the others, but after a moment of frantic thinking, he spoke the first question that came to mind.

"...What do I call you guys? Formally, I mean. I know I refer to him," Steve pointed to Malgun, "as General, but what about the rest of you?"

Silence followed his words, diluting his confidence and making him feel somewhat even smaller amongst the others in the room, not just in the sense that they held power, and he didn't.

Saving him from feeling too embarrassed, Andvari gave him a warm smile.

"Just Andvari is fine. I'm not big on these sorts of things, so simply referring to me by my name will suffice."

As the enderman finished, Constiere scoffed at his words, placing his hands on his hips in an exaggerated manner.

"We find a human to boss around, and you won't even make him call you anything special?!" He glared at the taller being, though Andvari remained unmoved, his expression falling to one of annoyance.

"There's no need. I know we're the authority here, so there's no reason to go about flaunting it."

"To you."

Constiere turned back to Steve, a sort of pride appearing on his features as he stood a bit straighter in order to make himself appear taller.

"Call me General or Sir Constiere, mortal!"

"You're not immortal, Sir Constiere. No need to pretend like there's not something you two have in common." Andvari corrected, rolling his eyes at the other's words.

The boy whipped around to glare at the enderman once again.

"He didn't know that!"

"Don't go around pretending like you're something that you're not, how about that?"

"Can't I have some fun around here, sometimes? You're such a killjoy!"

"I'm still not forgiving you for nearly letting this human get killed with your misinformation. Last time, you 'having fun' cost us precious information, remember? Or how soon do we forget such things?"

Constiere groaned.

"It was an accident!"

"Will you two please stop your quarreling? This is utterly embarrassing." Herobrine's voice rang out, cutting the conversation short as the two looked back at him. Though his back was still turned, they could still see his motions as he went to rub his temples.

"Sorry, sir." The two apologized simultaneously, with Andvari bowing to the other as Constiere simply lowered his head.

Finding that now the air of shame and awkwardness was being shared, Steve decided to take advantage of the situation.

"So…are you guys the only ones I'll be expecting to meet again? Are there other mob generals, or what?"

Now, he found Herobrine's attention being laid on him as the other turned back around, walking forward as the others made way for him.

Clearly debating entertaining his curiosity, he hesitantly nodded.

"You'll only have to interact with us four, but we aren't alone."

He paused, taking a moment in order to debate with himself more before continuing.

"...For every mob category and species, there exists a leader. Though not always generals, these leaders prove their superiority and guide their armies to fight against others."

Steve took note of the information, hesitating before offering another question to the group before him.

"...Is it rude to ask how did you three become generals in the first place?" He gestured to the three behind the man in front of him.

Herobrine smirked at his words.

"You're asking them, and not me?"

Steve shrugged.

"It doesn't take much to realize that you're commanding them for a reason. You don't get to be the leader of leaders without some sort of story. You won't tell me anything, but I just wanna know their perspective."

The other shrugged in response.

"Their origins are for them to disclose upon you themselves in their own time, but short story short, these three are the only ones I've appointed, and they're the only ones who accompany me. How they gained their status, you may ask? Well, they replaced the previous generals that held their titles."

Noticing that Steve appeared to be a bit confused, Herobrine continued.

"To be more specific, do you wish to know what happened to them?"

"...To who?"

"Those old generals. The ones that ruled the creepers and skeletons."

"...What happened?"

Herobrine gave him an evil grin, leaning in and breaching his personal space a bit.

"I killed them."

Steve felt uneasy as the other lowered his voice, stating the fact as if it were nothing of significant note beyond amusement.

Andvari smirked at his master, stepping in closer as the other backed away.

"His rulership over the endermen was originally held by nobody in particular. He claimed the authority as his birthright, and gave command to me."

Herobrine nodded.

"Yes. Though, it's less of a 'commanding' position and more of a 'suggesting' position."

"Of course, sir. Though, might I say, it's still rather interesting getting to direct them to do things."

Herobrine began to circle around Steve, holding his attention as the miner was suddenly fearful of a potential attack from any angle.

"So, you stand in the presence of three generals who hold authority over the monsters of the world, and their leading commander, a demigod. Consider yourself lucky."

The three generals in question nodded their heads in response to his acknowledgment.

"With other mob generals, we have to negotiate in order to determine who does what, and who gets what. I'd rather have complete control, but…" Herobrine attempted to create a large flame in the palm of his hand, only to see a flicker of light before an absence of fire. "…until we fix the problem at hand concerning unbalanced forces, we'll have to continue on with words. I'd be fine, but the physical combat alone would not do well for me when my powers are so depleted in this state."

Herobrine began to make his way back towards the entrance of the room, gesturing for the others to follow him once again.

"We'll be meeting later on. Remember, no word of our meetings to anybody else. Are we clear?"

Steve nodded, though the other couldn't see his action.

"Yes. I won't tell anybody about you guys. Promise."

"Excellent. Prepare yourself well, Steven. It'd be best to make sure that you're well-equipped in order to avoid running a fool's errand."

With that, the four left the room as Steve was left alone with his thoughts, waiting for their footsteps to fade before he could let out any sort of sigh of relief.

Finding himself in silence, he went to search for the exit, mulling over his thoughts as he started going down the cavern pathway.

He couldn't kill another human being. No matter what Herobrine attempted to command of him, he knew that he'd never be able to build up the strength to consider the idea while also attempting to cultivate the sheer amount of hate it would take to even convince himself to bring down the sword in the first place. Heck, he couldn't even convince himself to kill an animal even without looking it right in the eyes. He knew he didn't have the willpower to do such a thing.

He was still looking forward to spending time alone, mining diamonds as he tried to forget about the certain dread that was crawling its way straight to the pit of his stomach.


The way FF broke for the new year lmao

After like, a week of stats and updates going down, everything is back! Hooray! I was kinda busy with settling in my new classes for the quarter, so the site glitched at the perfect time I guess, lol. We're gonna go back to a more wacky schedule as I get more accustomed to my homework and classes, so uhhhhh bear with me here.

This was a bit of a filler chapter but uhhhhh anyways!

Even more story details!:

1.) Technically speaking, Nether Warts here aren't really broadly used (due to the fact that in order to actively spread information about them, you'd have to bring up the Nether to the general public, which is a big no-no), but adding them to make awkward potions tends to make the resulting potions more potent. Regular mushrooms can be used to make awkward potions as well, but you have to use much, much more of them in order to have a similar effect that rivals a singular Nether Wart.

2.) I'm treating regular mushrooms as brewing materials here mostly due to the fact that Nether Warts are considered to be fungi :P

3.) Speaking of the whole "villages barely use Nether Warts" thing, there are Nether Wart farms in Minecraftia, it's just that due to the amount of heat needed to sustain them (y'know, bc they're from the Nether), its hard to keep these things alive, so barely anybody has these kinds of farms. The ones who do tend to live in hotter climates and/or areas more separated from the general population, so more often than not, these Nether Warts don't really end up going anywhere, so they're currently dying out slowly in the different non-Netheran climates.

4.) Demigods are more able to feel slight fluctuations in the magic within an area than any other creature or being.

5.) There's only one type of mob that exists without a "general" at its command: zombies.

Aight, that's it for now! Leave a review if you have any thoughts or criticisms!