Chapter 6: Champion of Beasts


Steve managed to drag himself from the hold of the forest, eventually stumbling upon a grassy plain filled with flowers and wild animals. Cows and sheep alike grazed on the vibrant grass below them, pigs conversed with each other around a small pond, and chickens spread out amongst the grass, picking at plants eagerly as they searched for stray seeds to snack on.

Happy to have finally found another form of life that wouldn't automatically move to kill him, Steve walked up to a nearby cow. As the creature stopped its grazing and looked up at him, he held his hand out for it to smell before moving to pet its head after it took a few brief sniffs. It hesitantly tilted its head up to meet his careful touch, nuzzling into his palm. As he pet the creature enthusiastically, another one came up to his leg and gently nudged into him, leading to him using his other hand to pet the newcomer. A few seconds later, and he was surrounded by a small patch of cows that he'd managed to spontaneously befriend, leaving him with a smile on his face that he couldn't fight back against.

"Hey! You!" A voice called out to him.

Looking around, Steve focused his eyes on a distant figure; one that was running up to his location as he continued to freely pet the cows. A blonde boy who must've surely been in his younger teenage years approached him, dressed in farmer's attire that was covered in dirt and bits of hay. Pointing a wooden hoe in his direction, the boy motioned for him to move.

"Step away from the cows!"

Immediately without question, he rose his hands up and backed away from the bovines. They let out moos of disapproval, but as he gave them quiet apologies, the boy shooed them away, only finding that one was remaining rather defiant, staying alongside the two.

Looking back up at the miner, the boy tightened his grip on the tool in his hand.

"Y'know, I wouldn't just go up to random animals if I were you, sir!" The boy pointed at him, expression stern.

Steve nervously laughed at his words.

"Uh, sorry about that. I thought these fellas were wild."

The boy scoffed with a smirk, placing a hand on one of the nearby cows.

"Nah, they aren't. These babies were wrangled by the great beast-tamer, Otto!"

Being in a new location with the sudden appearance of a local, Steve's curiosity was piqued at the mention of the unknown individual.

"...Beast-tamer?"

The boy nodded.

"Champion Otto has a talent for getting all sorts of creatures under his control. I mean, there's nothing in this world that he can't command."

The title nearly escaped him, but as Steve listened to the other's words, he found himself surprised at the idea that he'd already stumbled upon a place that had its own champion.

"Wait, he's a champion?"

Laughing at his lack of knowledge, the boy pointed behind him with his thumb.

"Yeah! Our village has a couple, but Otto is our best and main one, in my opinion! There's this one story in the Book of Fables that shows this one guy leading a bunch of creatures around everywhere, and it's basically him."

Steve processed the other's words a bit in his head, trying to picture exactly what the other was describing. Being given a proper name for the book of ancient achievements helped him in visualizing his future goals, though he didn't know what else to do with that information. Noting that there was more than one champion for this village that was mentioned, he briefly wondered why it hadn't been the case for his own, though, he was quickly reminded about the circumstances of his own appointment, and how the journeys of others before him had gone. Continuing to think about the other "champions" of his village, Steve's thoughts shifted back to the book the other had mentioned, noting that this village seemed to highly value the more simple achievements rather than the bigger ones that had been mentioned and emphasized to him.

It suddenly dawned on him that the boy probably knew about the story he had described because it had been told to him despite not outright being a champion himself, meaning that the Book of Fables, which was most likely the book that Pickett had given to him and the one that the Elder had read out of to him, had a translated copy somewhere, readily available to the public.

He decided to test his theory.

"...Speaking of that book, do you guys have it available in your village? I'm...interested in the stories, myself."

Thinking for a moment to himself as he turned away to look towards the cows that were beside them, the boy remained quiet before his eyes lit up, turning back towards the miner with excitement.

"Yes! We have a small library that has it, and I don't think anybody's taken it out in a long while. You can check it out for a minute, but only if you don't steal it, or whatever."

Steve smiled, nodding at the other's words.

"That would be great, thank you. Mind pointing me in that direction?"

Nodding in return, the boy directed him towards the location of a stone tower, where smoke rose out of it as it loomed over a couple of other buildings hidden by brick walls. After thanking him, Steve made his way over to the area, passing by various more livestock as he got closer. Upon reaching the village gates, he traveled in quietly, glancing around to see if he could find any signs of a library anywhere.

Though he didn't find any signs that indicated the existence of such a place, what he did find was a crowd gathering around something in the middle of the village.

Despite his inner voice telling him to continue his search, he instead made his way towards the group. Steve tried to spot whatever they were looking at from a distance, finding himself to be rather unsuccessful in his attempt, as people of varying heights (a lot of which surpassing his own) formed a dense outer layer that seemed nearly impenetrable. He heard a voice from within the center of the crowd saying something, but he was barely able to make anything out over various murmurs and sounds of awe, leading to him giving up as he attempted to pull himself away from the crowd, not wanting to waste much more of his precious time.

Before he could, however, the sound of a ferocious roar rang out from the middle, causing enough people to jump back for him to take an opportunity to get closer.

Moving his way back through the crowd, Steve ended up finding himself near the center, focusing his gaze on the two beings on display. One was a man with long, brown hair, his muscular body covered fully in iron armour tipped with gold, a sturdy leash in his hands as he looked over the crowd with a grin on his face. Upon following the leash, Steve was utterly shocked to find what appeared to be a heavily-maimed, bulky enderman, hunched over as its body was tied by a rope, eyes covered by a bloody leather band. From gaps within the rope, Steve caught a glimpse of the creature's blood, somewhat pouring out of what appeared to be a large gash in its chest. It was clearly in some form of anguish; its jaw wide open as sounds of clear anger and agony escaped it as the crowd merely watched on in awe.

"These creatures have been roaming around and whatnot, but don't be afraid!" The man exclaimed, gesturing over to the enderman. "This one had been found in an unfortunate situation, so, I will tame it as it recovers, proving once again that I, Otto, am more than capable enough to handle the beasts of this world!"

So that was Champion Otto.

Though he had more than enough unease when it came to encountering endermen, Steve couldn't find himself feeling anything but pure pity for the creature. He was more than willing to allow the pure disgust that came to him to become targeted towards the man that, though unconfirmed, was more than likely part of the reason why the enderman was injured in the first place. Moving back through the crowd, Steve found himself unable to look at the sight any longer, choosing to continue his search for the library instead of focusing his attention upon the man's gloating words.

Eventually, he was able to locate the relatively large building, stepping in quietly as he began to browse over the books that were present there. He hadn't found anybody yet to help him, most likely since they were probably at the town square given the moderate size of the crowd compared to the buildings within the village, but he continued to look over the shelves carefully. A few minutes passed, and Steve managed to find the book in question, pulling it out from its spot gently as he looked over its cover, slightly anxious at the mere sight of it. Opening its pages, Steve walked over to a nearby table, sitting down in one of the chairs there as he began to read over the contents of the book.

The stories were mainly exactly what he expected, describing the feats of champions long past, praising them for their efforts and failures alike. He stumbled upon a picture of an individual, a green silhouette in a triumphant pose, leading a larger group of animals and other indistinguishable creatures with what appeared to be a bundle of wheat in their left hand and a sword in their right. Below the image read:

'Within a world of chaos

And the world of beasts

Where terror lay rampant

And upon the weak, were feasts

There came a warrior

Strong, commanding

Who descended upon the creatures

Gave them knowledge, understanding

Of the nature of community, of alliance, of grace

And taught them not to harm, leading in the place

Of those unteachable, of those too far gone

Into the way of the beasts, that of little thought

Where no man walked, this one had fought

To command those of which had initially no clarity

Becoming the Champion of Beasts, leading to an age of prosperity.'

Steve mulled over the words of the small passage in his head, thinking back to the sight he had witnessed in the town square. Sure, the champion of the village he was in had already been named "Champion of Beasts," but besides the enderman, the only creatures that Steve had seen under some sort of control were simple livestock, who were, to begin with, not all that "beastly" in nature. Maybe the man had other mobs hidden somewhere under his control that he had yet to see and would possibly never meet, but he seriously doubted that the man would be actually able to teach the enderman anything. The only person that he had seen have any sort of control over the beasts was…

Herobrine.

In his rapidly-shifting thoughts, he had completely forgotten about the man in question. Though the words of Malgun stuck in his head, as he thought more about it, they seemed more like a warning than any sort of reassurance.

Was Herobrine watching him now? Was there somehow a mob in the building, watching his every move and feeding it back to its commander?

Looking around in a fearful manner, Steve tried to see if there was any possible way for a mob to have hidden somewhere within the library, finding that the only thing that could've given them cover were the various bookshelves placed around the room, and even then, no matter how quiet the beings tended to be, their position would've likely been given away by the old wooden floorboards beneath them, as there was only brown wool carpet beneath the reading area he was sitting in alone. Sighing as he had the confirmation that there could've been no possible way that he could be watched all the time as he'd been told, Steve went back to staring at the champion within the book, slightly chuckling to himself at the words within the passage.

The more Steve thought about it, the more he began to believe that the description in the book better fit the white-eyed man than the champion in the village. Given that Herobrine was able to put into place mob generals and seemingly negotiate with other ones, Steve was more than willing to bet that the guy could handle a pig or two. Maybe a few cows, even. Though, sarcastic thoughts aside, he could only be certain about his silent remarks if "Champion Otto" managed to "tame" the enderman somehow or not.

Continuing to flip through the book as he put his previous thoughts aside, Steve finally came upon the picture of the dragon that he had seen in his own gifted copy of the book, though, as he looked at the passage below it, he found what he believed to be the same words that the Elder had recited to him days prior. Sighing at the sight, Steve turned the page quickly, only to be surprised with the added sight of a few torn pages.

"...Huh?" His confusion left the confines of his brain in a quiet manner as he stared at the missing pages extensively, as if they would suddenly come back if he did so hard enough.

Flipping back a few pages prior, Steve skimmed over the words of the pages until he came back to the crime scene, confusing him immensely as he tried to put together an explanation in his head, finding himself unable to do so. The ripped edges of the pages weren't clean in the slightest, indicating that there was some sort of rage involved in their sudden removal.

"...Those pages have been missing for a while now."

A voice had appeared from beside him, startling him badly as he turned to find an older woman in his presence.

Sighing, she stared at the pages as well, ignoring his shocked expression.

"Some delinquent I assume came into the building one night, took the pages, and ran off with them. I'd say that it wouldn't have mattered much, but nobody can remember what came after that last page, there."

Shaking her head, the woman then turned her attention to Steve.

"I assume that you're a traveler? What brings you to our kind village, young man?"

Steve shrugged, closing the book as he fully turned to speak to her.

"I'm on a journey on my own, and I happened to find your livestock out in the field. A farmer boy came and guided me here. I was interested in learning about the champion you guys have."

The woman smiled.

"Ah, you're interested in Champion Otto and the others? Well, there's not much to say other than that they're some of the best folks in all the land! Otto is great with creatures, Mikael is a genius when it comes to farming, and Christopher is amazing at fishing!"

Taking the information to mind, Steve nodded.

"Nice to know. Hey, do you guys have like, an inn somewhere around here? I know it's still pretty early, but I just wanted to see if I could stay for a night in a warm bed instead of outside. Don't wanna run into mobs, and all."

The woman scoffed.

"Of course we do! Besides, even if you did sleep outside, you'd be perfectly fine! Champion Otto has managed to keep all beasts at bay from the area, even monsters! They all listen to his word, anyways."

The woman's words intrigued him.

So, Otto was the reason why he hadn't heard from many mobs during the last few nights? Last he checked, the sudden lack of mobs had extended all the way to his village, but was there a possibility that Otto had simply gone out that far too? Was he actually in more control of the mobs than he'd previously believed?

Before his thoughts could get any wilder, Steve brushed them off, for the time being, giving the lady a smile.

"Uh, okay. Thank you."

Steve got up from his place, going to put the book back where he found it before leaving the building, now in search of the Inn.

The village outside the library wasn't all too small, especially considering the size of his own, but the buildings were older and more reminiscent of an age long past, with wooden buildings that had yet to be outfitted with anything that would prevent against the occurrence of a fire started by a stray lightning bolt, and the only manner of defense present being the dense, brick wall that surrounded the place. There were no iron golems in sight to be found, but the presence of a watchtower suggested that the village was protected more by flesh than animated stone. Given the various mounds of hay everywhere, Steve came to the conclusion that, given the words of the farmer boy that had been said to him earlier, this village was more prevalent thanks to its farming exports, having such a large number of animals to profit off of just outside the walls.

Having his thoughts cut short by the sight of another large building that seemed to have a large sign placed in front of it, Steve approached the place, finding that he had finally located the village inn. As he stepped inside, he was met with a homey atmosphere and slightly dimmed lights, leading his gaze towards the innkeeper, who sat quietly at a desk near the back of the room. Prepping himself for more social interaction, he approached the other and asked for a room, paying upfront. He was led to the given room soon after, and was left alone with his thoughts once again as he set his stuff down and removed his armour for the time being.

He had enough time in the world to worry about his next plan of action, but he knew that even though he was given some time to rest, he'd be occupied with thoughts of concern and anxiety as he waited for a more appropriate time to sleep.


When night came, Steve found himself in a nice, toasty-warm bed. He did not, however, find that sleep would do anything but heavily elude him.

He sat upright in the bed that was given to him by the Innkeeper for the night, staring blankly outside of a nearby window as he watched the mostly empty streets of the village. He wasn't necessarily being haunted by the thoughts of his responsibilities, but rather, the images that he had seen just hours prior finally brought themselves to the forefront of his mind, replaying over and over again as he realized how deeply disturbing they truly were to him.

Despite not knowing the man, Steve had picked up a mightier-than-thou attitude from Otto as he handled the poor creature that had been standing next to him. It unnerved him how proudly the other had displayed the beast to the other villagers when it was more than obvious that the being was in complete agony.

Thinking about the enderman, above all, had disturbed him to a point where he hadn't realized his feet had carried him to the door of the bedroom, his subconscious heavily interested in the creature before he could even recognize that curiosity in its entirety. He wanted to see it; find it, even. He had to see what exactly the champion of the village had done with it to make it so "docile," even though he wasn't exactly sure that his stomach, nor his heart, would be able to handle it. Nevertheless, he soon found himself outside the Inn, wandering his way about the village as he tried to spot at least a glimpse of where the enderman could've possibly been dragged off to.

After minutes of searching and wandering about the quiet streets, Steve came upon a larger building, decorated on the outside with various flowers and letters that seemingly held sentiments of appreciation. Putting two and two together, Steve realized that, without obvious signs placed about marking it otherwise, as well as there being the presence of a taller building that was marked as the town hall a few street corners back, this building was most likely the residence of one of the champions. He began to look around the building, searching for any outside place that could hold a beast, as he believed that nobody would be so crazy as to hold a monster within the confines of their own house, tempting a situation where a mob could easily subtract them from the village population numbers if it managed to somehow escape. After a few minutes of looking around and finding nothing, the miner was just about ready to give up, until after standing in silence for a moment, he started to make out the sounds of quiet growling and whining. Trying to follow the sounds, Steve eventually made his way towards a small, fenced-in area covered by a wooden roof, where he finally found what he'd been looking for.

On the floor sat the enderman in question, bound by nothing except the lack of sight as the bloody band across its eyes was still there. Now that the rope had been thrown to the side, Steve was able to see the extent of its injuries, finding that instead of a nasty gash like what he'd assumed it was, there was a huge chasm in the center of its chest that was oozing purple fluid. Rather disturbingly, he also found evidence that suggested that the creature had torn into its own jaw, now that it hung a bit lower than before. Strangely enough, Steve managed to find what appeared to be a roughly hand-sized green orb in place of a heart within that chest cavity, hidden partially by torn skin and black, jagged bones.

Carefully, Steve approached the enderman as quietly as he could, kneeling down in front of it once he was close enough. Nausea, brought on by both fear and disgust, hit him hard as he now began to smell the scent of what he assumed was the blood of the creature, but he fought against his desire to back away once again. He let out a breath that hit against its skin, making him tense up as he expected for the creature to lash out and attack him in place of whoever had attacked it initially, in response to his presence. However, the enderman didn't even raise its head. It let out a quiet whine, briefly curling in its claws as Steve continued to examine it.

Several minutes of close examination had passed before he paused in his tracks as he suddenly heard footsteps from behind him, causing him to tense up as he quickly glanced around to search for a place to hide. Finding none, he braced himself for what would occur as he was caught.

There were no shouts of accusations. There was only a hushed whisper of concern that came from a voice that, although he was rather surprised to hear, was filled with the slightest hint of utter disgust as the enderman against the floor was discovered.

"...What have you found here?"

Turning around, Steve looked up briefly to find the form of Andvari approaching him once again, though he caught himself before he stared into the other's eyes.

Shocked, but not surprised at the fact that the other had found him, he slightly inched away from the beast he had been looking over, allowing the injured enderman to be seen more clearly.

"A-an enderman. I don't know its name, but-"

"-Do you have any idea why it's here? Like this?"

Steve glanced at the house nearby, as if his silent message would get across to the other.

"I...There's a champion in this village who tames beasts. He wants to tame this one next, I think."

Standing up, Steve allowed the other to take his place in front of the other enderman, watching as the other crouched down effortlessly despite his great height, examining the poor creature before them with a worried gaze. Carefully, the other reached out to touch the area where the strange green orb was located, lifting up a patch of skin to find that, like glass, a good portion of the orb had been shattered, and a strange, neon-pink substance was darkening within it, somewhat spilling out as the item began to slowly slip out of place as it had been disturbed by the movement of skin and the shifting of flesh.

Sighing, Andvari pulled away, standing up to allow the other creature in front of him some space. Curious, Steve looked at him for answers.

"...How bad are its injuries?" He asked quietly, heavily doubtful of the idea that he'd be getting any information that would be reassuring or the least bit comforting.

To his added horror, Andvari shook his head in sadness and pity.

"...Irreversible. This one will succumb by morning. Before, even."

Clutching his own chest, Andvari turned to look at Steve.

"...An enderman cannot survive without its pearl. It is to us as what hearts are to other living creatures. This one...lost theirs. It has broken in a way that cannot be simply repaired."

Looking back at the suffering being, Steve found that he couldn't take it being unable to see its surroundings any longer, so, with confidence, he went up to walk behind the enderman, and slowly, but carefully, removed the leather band around its head, allowing it to see. Going back around to see how the creature was now emoting, Steve found that the being already looked rather deceased. Its eyes, though unable to be stared at directly, were dim. Hopeless. The creature seemed to have already accepted death, refusing to move even as it had all the means to do so. Even as the miner tempted fate and looked at the eyes a bit more, it made no effort to retaliate.

Desperate to save the creature and spare it these last few moments of pain, Steve looked up at Andvari, expression full of worry and growing sadness.

"...Is there really nothing that can be done?"

The enderman shook his head.

Steve thought to himself for a moment, before posing another possible suggestion with the slightest glimmer of hope.

"Can...can Herobrine do something about it?"

Andvari shook his head once again, albeit with more hesitancy than before.

"...Not without finding another pearl, and we don't have that kind of time. This one, sadly, will perish, no matter what."

Steve found himself heartbroken over a creature that could've well ended his life a few days prior.

The miner looked back at the other enderman, watching in horror as the being continued to let out small growls as more and more of its blood oozed out from its wounds. To his utter shock, tears began to form at the corners of his eyes, and he found himself unable to stop them from trickling down his face as he held back a small, choked sob. As he wiped his tears away before replacing them once again, he found his quiet sniffling had led to the other's attention being placed directly onto him, leading to his face flushing a light shade of red as he tried to regain his composure.

Curiously, Andvari raised a slight brow at him.

"...You're crying because of a mob?" He asked quietly, words hesitant.

Wiping a few more bitter tears away, Steve slightly scoffed at the other's words.

"...Nobody deserves a fate like this. This...t-this is awful. Mob or not, I can't stand it!" He admitted to the other, gesturing to the suffering creature before him.

He felt like he was on display as the other continued to judge him silently, vibrant eyes lit up with surprise at his outburst of emotion.

Unfurling a claw, Andvari stared at the enderman before him, expression turning rather blank.

"...Neither can I."

The enderman walked up to the being. He turned back to look at Steve.

"Either we can leave this one here to suffer a prolonged death, or we provide it with a merciful one."

Looking up at the other's sharp claw, Steve glanced back at the other enderman, finding that it still hadn't moved all that much as it groaned softly. Though he felt sick at the idea of taking another creature's life like this, there was, in his opinion, no other option that would've made the situation any better.

Nodding, Steve turned away, walking a bit further from the two.

"...I'm...I was already pretty sick just looking at what happened. I don't think I could watch…"

Andvari nodded in understanding.

"...I don't particularly blame you for your sentiments. It's an awful sight and an awful smell; I'd be a bit more worried if a human such as yourself did like to see such a thing."

"...Yeah…"

Without another word, Steve went off even farther away from the place, remaining in the shadows as he did so. In the distance, he heard the sound of flesh being cut and the dying screech of what he assumed to be the enderman, causing him to wince as he found a few tears gathering up in his vision once again. Soon after, he was joined by Andvari once more, his hand, as well as part of his arm and chest, covered in purple blood, as well as the remnants of the orb that he had seen prior.

"...Will you be alright?" Came the enderman's soft, inquisitive tone, displaying a sense of genuine worry for him that Steve had not been expecting.

The miner hesitantly nodded.

"...I'm just sorry it had to go through that…"

Though he had intended to say more, his words escaped him as he locked eyes on the blood that coated the other's hand, upsetting him even further. Walking back towards the streets, Steve eventually realized that the other had left him, leading to him releasing a sigh as he continued his journey back to his rented room. A couple of the villagers that were roaming about the empty streets gave him strange looks, but he couldn't bring himself to care about his distressed appearance at the moment.

He had found the enderman and had his curiosity answered, but he was unsure that his discovery would allow him to finally gain some proper sleep.


The miner had fallen asleep crying, still rather emotionally distraught after the events of the night before. By morning, Steve's eyes were still rather red and puffy.

His body tired from the stress he had experienced, he sat up and stretched, wiping his face off as he remembered that soon enough, he'd have to go out in public. Getting his stuff in order and donning the armour he had taken off the night prior, he left the building, finding that all he could stomach for a proper breakfast was an apple.

The moment he stepped outside, he was met with bedlam.

The man he saw the day before, Champion Otto, was outside, followed by a large group of people as he went about door to door, shouting about something he couldn't make out as the group behind him seemingly agreed with his words whole-heartedly. He was clearly distressed, and everybody behind him seemed to be as well.

Thinking to himself, Steve came to the conclusion that the anger was most likely due to the death of the enderman in the other's backyard. He had briefly forgotten about the man's intent to "tame" the beast, but now, that opportunity was no more, thanks in part to his and Andvari's decision to grant the wounded creature a mercy kill. Not wanting to relive his discovery of the creature's condition, Steve kept walking, paying no mind to the group as he went along.

"Hey, you! Stranger!"

A man's voice called out to him, and as he turned to face its origin, he found the champion himself stomping up to him. Though he flinched at the sound of the other's voice, he looked up at the other with as uninterested a look as he could muster.

He waited for the other to start speaking.

"By any chance, do you have any idea what happened to this creature I caught the other day? A tall, clawed beast?"

Steve lied, shaking his head as he adjusted the bag on his back a bit.

"No, haven't seen it."

The man raised a brow at him.

"...Are you sure you didn't see what happened to it?"

Did the man spot him as he was investigating his house? Why was he so insistent on interrogating him, of all possible targets?

Again, Steve shook his head.

"I'm pretty sure."

Otto took a moment to glare at him before turning to the audience behind him.

"...Do y'all see the potential conflict of interest, here?"

Confused, Steve watched as the other villagers conversed amongst themselves before nodding in response to the other's question. When Otto turned back towards him, he found a smirk upon the other's face.

"Your eyes look just like that beast's, don't they?"

Knowing at least how the other managed to encounter the enderman, Steve chuckled nervously as he put up an effort to defend himself.

"They've been like that for a while, actually…"

Otto's smirk disappeared from his face.

"...And how do I not know that killing those things gives you those kinds of eyes? There's a whole lot I don't know about them, and I was going to start by taming that one in particular, but this morning, I woke up and found it dead."

A few murmurs rang out throughout the crowd of villagers, and Steve was left to stand on his own amongst suddenly judgemental eyes.

A quiet voice spoke up from amongst the group of villagers.

"...I think I saw him walking outside last night, though, I'm not sure."

One voice wasn't enough to damn him, so Steve remained hopeful that he could get out of this situation without having to fight too hard for himself.

Unfortunately for him, another voice popped up amongst the silence.

"No, no. It was definitely him. I saw him walking towards the champion's house while I was up reading last night."

Another voice called out to hop on the bandwagon.

"I saw him walking away from it!"

"Me too!"

"I saw him!"

As the voices kept calling out, Steve felt his stomach drop as he realized that he may now be in more trouble than he had initially bargained for.

Angry glares were cast his way, and Steve found himself subconsciously backing away from the mob, not wanting to face their potential wrath. However, he was stopped by the edge of the crowd that had silently approached the scene, leading to him realizing that he was trapped.

Otto, clearly hiding away his rage with a smile, crossed his arms over his chest as he approached the other.

"Our village extends its hospitality to you, and you go around killing its creatures? You looking for a fight, or what?"

Steve shook his head.

"No! I didn't kill that enderman, I don't know what you people are talking about!" He exclaimed, tightening his hold on his pack.

It took a few seconds, but he suddenly realized what had left his mouth.

"...You know what it's called, and you expect us to not think that you had something to do with its death?"

The crowd's anger rose significantly, and Steve found himself in a spot that he had no sensible way of escaping from.

Otto pointed a finger directly into his chest.

"As champion of this village, I'll have to deal with you personally for your direct involvement in interfering with our duties!"

Steve put his hands up in defense.

"Hey! I'm a champion too, I wouldn't-"

"-Ohhhh, so it was sabotage!"

Mentally slapping himself for even mentioning that he had that sort of standing, Steve dropped his hands in defeat, hanging his head down low.

"...What's the punishment?"

Without warning, Otto shoved him back, causing him to slightly wince at the contact against his weaker shoulder. Looking down and spotting the sword attached to his belt, the man looked back up and smirked at him.

"Since you're a champion and all, I suggest that you pay for your crime of interference through combat."

The crowd erupted with cheers of agreement.

Steve felt his stomach drop.

Otto waved his hand, and two individuals stepped out from the crowd, coming up to Steve's sides as the other began to walk off.

"Mikael, Chris, as fellow champions, it's your duty to hold others accountable for their actions as well. Keep this guy somewhere until sundown, when we'll be having a little one-on-one discussion."

The two men beside him nodded in response, and Steve soon found himself being dragged off to the tower that he'd spotted initially when he came to the village.

As he was walking, it suddenly hit him that he might be facing the end of his journey later in the day. So much for an adventure.


Spending his day on the second level of a watchtower instead of out in the wilderness wasn't exactly what he had planned when he woke up that morning, but nevertheless, Steve guessed that he should've expected for such interruptions to face him during his journey.

One of the guys who had brought him there, Mikael, sat near the trapdoor that led to the first floor, while his companion, Christopher, was near the entrance to the watchtower, away from the other two as he guarded the door on the first floor, leaving them alone. Steve sat against the wall across from the individual that was present in the room with him, using his traveling bag as a pillow of some sort as the two engaged in expressive silence.

The boy who was in the room with him was a bit shorter than Steve, but his wildly curly brown hair made up for his lack of height. He wore a simple chainmail chestplate over a brown, leather shirt, arms hidden underneath a matching pair of leather gloves. Every once in a while, Mikael would glance at him curiously, as if he was wishing to engage in conversation, but wouldn't say a word that confirmed Steve's suspicions, leaving the room full of pure silence.

The sun shining on his face through a large window in the room, Steve found that he couldn't take sitting in the quiet atmosphere anymore, building up the courage to speak.

"...So...you're one of the champions of this village, as well? I know that guy...what, Otto, was it? He called you one, but I heard about you earlier, too."

Mikael looked over to him fully, blue eyes lit up at the acknowledgment of his status.

"Y-yeah! Where else did you hear that from?..."

Steve shrugged.

"I was at the library when a lady I think was the librarian came up to me and mentioned all of you guys. You're...the champion of farming, correct?"

The other nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes! Though, it's not really that huge of an achievement. Especially compared to Otto's…" Mikael looked away, his face filled with an emotion that Steve could not read.

"...And Christopher, he's the champion of fishing?"

"Yes. He can pull up any fish and anything out of the water. He usually just goes out to clean the ponds and whatever, but still! He's really good at it."

Steve nodded in response to the information. Looking towards his boots, Steve tapped his toe against the bottom of his shoes rhythmically, trying to figure out how long he could possibly bear the time he had left within the tower before he died of boredom.

"...You're...a champion, as well, yes?" The other spoke up, asking quietly.

Steve looked back at him, nodding in response.

"Yeah."

"...Of what?"

Steve chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

"Don't know yet. Though, if I had to take a guess, I'm probably the champion of making stupid decisions, at this point."

Mikael laughed at his comment, though, he immediately went to cover his mouth afterward.

"...Sorry."

Steve waved him off.

"It's fine! I thought it was kinda funny, too."

Adjusting his position, Steve relaxed himself a bit as he realized that the other had yet to be aggravated by his presence.

"So...why are you being so nice? I thought that you'd at least be as mad at me as Otto was."

Mikael scoffed at his words.

"Because, Otto's always walking around, parading about like he's the Elder. Like he's the boss. Whenever something mildly inconveniences him, he blames it on the nearest person, gets the whole town to rally with him, and then bosses me and Chris around to do whatever he thinks will fix the problem. If he says that you did something, I'm more inclined to think otherwise."

Stunned by the other's admission, Steve blinked in disbelief.

"Wha...Why don't you stand up to him?"

Mikael shrugged.

"The people like him the best since they think he controls all the animals and the monsters. If we say anything, he'll try to turn them against us, I know it."

Feeling pity for the other, Steve sighed, thinking about and reliving the day's events so far.

"...Yeah, I can see how he'd be able to do that."

Silence filled the space between them for a moment, as Steve looked over at the nearby window, finding that the sun still had quite a ways to go before it lowered past the horizon. He looked back at the other, finding that his attention was still on him.

He figured he might as well clear himself in the eyes of the one person that was there and willing to listen to him.

"...I did go past his house to see the enderman."

Mikael's eyes widened.

"So...did you actually-?"

"-No! I...I was in the crowd when he was originally presenting it, and I saw it was injured, so I went to see how bad its injuries were. When I got there, it wasn't chained up at all, and it turned out that it had been hurt pretty badly. I didn't even touch it...I think it only succumbed to its wounds. Nobody but whoever initially attacked it like that ended up causing its death." Partially telling the truth, Steve confessed to the other, who simply stared at him in shock.

It took a minute or so, but after the other considered his thoughts, Mikael whispered to him.

"...Otto might've caused those wounds in the first place. He's not very gentle when it comes to handling animals, and I don't think that he'd be any better concerning mobs."

Feeling a bit of anger bubble up inside him at that little tidbit, Steve pressed on.

"Wait, but when I read about the champion in the Book of Fables, it kinda suggested that he tamed beasts with more...grace? Peacefulness?"

Mikael snorted, shaking his head.

"Well, that's not the case with Otto. He might've missed that subtext entirely."

"...How badly does he treat them?..."

Mikael lowered his head, eyes full of sadness.

"Not as well as you'd might imagine. He ended up giving most of the animals to the local farm, but...they still haven't really recovered."

Steve had to bite his tongue before he said anything he might've regretted.

Letting out a small chuckle instead, Steve pushed himself up as he began to pace around the room, attempting to lower the amount of anger that was building within him.

"...You'd think that someone would be more of a role model for others if they had the responsibility of being a champion, right?"

Mikael nodded.

"...Yeah. I wish that were true."

Steve glanced over to him, eyes full of appreciation.

"...Well, you seem pretty nice, anyway. I haven't known you for too long, but you haven't treated me all that badly, Mikael. Meeting you was...refreshing."

Mikael gave him a small smile.

"Wow...thank you. It's been nice meeting you too, uhh..."

Realizing that he'd never properly introduced himself, Steve walked over to the guy, extending his hand out for the other to shake.

"Steve. Sorry I didn't give you my name earlier."

As Mikael shook his hand, Steve looked outside, still finding they were not much closer to sundown than they were before.

Sighing, Steve released the other from his grasp and crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"You think I have a chance of winning against Otto in a fight?"

Mikael shrugged.

"Depends, what's your experience?"

"...I used to be a mob slayer back in my village. Not anymore, but it was pretty tough."

Mikael's eyes widened.

"Oh! I think you'll hold up pretty nicely, then. Otto only raises his sword against mobs when they get too close, but ever since they stopped showing up, he's had no real reason to fight. He may be rushing to get in some practice right now, actually."

Steve pondered over his words for a minute.

"...Wait, so that enderman was the first mob that came around after a while?"

The other nodded.

"Yup. He's a bit rusty when it comes to fighting, but whatever he did to that thing, it was bad. You may have a good chance of beating him, or you may not. All depends on your reaction time, I guess."

Noting the information, Steve nodded slowly, thinking about how he'd choose to handle the duel he was being held for.

There was only so much he could do against another fellow human like himself. Although he'd been instructed to eliminate any other champion that had fallen onto his path, there was so much that he'd rather do before even considering aiming his blade towards a vital organ. At the present moment, he was hoping that the man he would be facing off against wasn't so cocky as to forgo wearing the armour he'd been wearing earlier in the day, just so Steve could aim at those places with lighter blows instead of threatening to actively cut through poorly-protected flesh and bone. If Otto was as inexperienced as Mikael was making him out to be, there was also the possibility of Steve accidentally landing a critical blow on him, which made his anxiety about the coming fight rise even higher. He'd have to be more vigilant in that regard, being more mindful of the other's actions so that he could meet them accordingly with as little harmful intent as possible.

If he could manage to get the other to yield, then he could escape the village with as little of a guilty conscience as possible.

Looking back at the other in the room, Steve gave him a small smile.

"...Thank you for the encouragement, Mikael. I just hope I'll not embarrass myself too badly once I get out there."

Mikael smiled back.

"No problem! Just do me and Chris a favor, and knock him down a peg, alright?...Don't mention that I said that to Otto, though."

Laughing, Steve nodded, placing a hand over his own heart.

"You have my word. I won't rat you out."

Walking back to the place where he originally had been sitting down in, Steve decided to do so again, carefully leaning against his bag as he lowered himself to the ground. He thought over some other talking points he wished to bring up in order to both entertain him and Mikael, but, he found that had little social energy left within him, leaving him with only the option to engage in a round of quick-fire curiosity.

"...Hey, before I get out there, can I ask you a couple of things?"

Mikael nodded.

"Ask away!"

Given the okay, Steve quietly celebrated the opportunity to expand his knowledge of another village.

"...What's the main export of this village? I'd think it'd have to do with animals, yeah?"

Mikael nodded.

"You'd be right. We send out wool, eggs, fish, wheat, all that stuff. Beetroots and carrots and potatoes, as well."

"Oh! You guys actually grow beetroots here, too?"

Mikael chuckled as he raised a brow at him.

"What, you actually like those things?"

Steve nodded.

"You can't go wrong with beets, I don't think."

"Oh, you can definitely go wrong with beets, Steve."

Steve laughed at the other's remark.

"Hey, that's your opinion, I'll stick with mine. My village doesn't get that many beets sent our way, so it's a precious resource."

"Alright, alright, I get it." The other waved him off with a smile.

Steve took a brief pause before continuing the conversation.

"So...who protects the village?"

Mikael shrugged.

"Who else? Me, Chris, and sometimes Otto."

Steve nodded.

"Figures. Is it too bad for you guys out here when the mobs come around, or..."

"Used to be, but once me and Chris got down a rhythm, things were pretty alright for a while."

"Then what?"

"Then the mobs left."

Letting out a small hum, Steve adjusted himself against his bag, making sure he wasn't putting too much pressure on anything important.

He had another while to speak with the other as they continued to wait for the sun to go down. Talking about the various differences between their villages, Steve and Mikael managed to entertain themselves for longer than they had initially intended to.


Night had fallen, and Steve found himself in the plains next to the village once again, though, the animals that had been there previously were now nowhere to be found, possibly having been moved to a more secure area for them to sleep in. His belongings were left in the watchtower for protection, only leaving him with the armour on his body and the sword on his hip. He'd been accompanied to the area by the only other champion he hadn't introduced himself to yet, Christopher, who had taken him to the location in complete and utter silence despite Steve's efforts to engage in conversation like he had with Mikael. When they approached the center of the clearing, the black-haired boy left him as he was waved off by another figure who was already in the area. Across from him now stood his fellow champion, thankfully decked out in his fancy iron armour that was seemingly more sturdier than his own, covering more of the other's body in a protective layer. The two were mostly alone without the presence of Christopher, save for a couple of villagers who stood by the wayside as Steve assumed that they were there to be referees, of some sort.

Not exactly wishing to drag on their confrontation for too long, Steve had already drawn his sword from its scabbard, holding onto its handle as he waited for the other to ready himself. The tip of his sword had been quickly sheathed in the earth below him, and his gaze remained on the other as he waited for him to move or speak.

"Now, people who trespass on my property are to be expected. I'm a champion, I'm well-known, I get it." Otto began, cockiness emanating from his form.

The man held up a finger.

"However, you, as another champion, came to sabotage my efforts in expanding my beast-taming knowledge. Therefore, you must face a champion's punishment, and be subjected to a duel! Whatever injury you sustain from this battle will serve as a reminder for what happens when you get in the way of those more notable than you."

Unsheathing his own weapon, a stone sword, Otto came closer to him, prompting Steve to rip his sword from the ground and carry it properly in his grasp.

It was time to see how an absence of proper "training" with the mobs really affected him.

"Now. On my mark, we begin."

Nodding, Steve readied himself, holding his sword with one hand as he waited for the other to meet his blade with his own in a show of solidarity.

He was instead met with the swing of the other's sword as the man quickly approached him, making him jump out of the way to narrowly avoid getting his arm chopped off.

The man swung at him again, but this time, Steve managed to counter his blow as he moved his other hand to the handle, throwing the other's rhythm off a bit as he stood his ground. Before the other could attempt another strike, Steve swung his iron sword again with more force, causing the man to stagger even farther away. The blade sang with power as it made contact with the other sword.

Certainly, if he got out of this alive, he'd be taking himself right back to Almun's doorstep to kiss the ground he walked on just to thank him for making such a strong blade.

As Otto recovered from the blowback and rushed at him again, Steve moved out of the away, attempting to do a quick read of the other's movements as he kept attempting to land a hit. Though the miner had only experience in combat when it came to dealing with mobs, as he watched the other struggle to keep up with his quick dodging, he noticed how Otto was unsure of his stance, and how hard it was for him to keep his sword in a steady position that could cause at least some damage should he finally manage to hit him. Otto appeared to be a sloppy fighter, but that didn't make Steve let his guard down in the slightest.

As Steve dodged another swing, Otto followed it with another quick slice, forcing the miner to change his footing as fast as he could to avoid getting sliced across the chest. However, as he avoided the second swing, he found that his footing had become uneven and his feet fell right behind each other, causing him to trip on himself and fall backward.

Not soon after his mishap was he greeted with the startling sensation of cold metal slicing through the protective leather layer of the gauntlet on his right hand, going straight through the covering and through his palm, only stopping when it reached the plate of iron that was supposed to protect the back of his hand.

He may have let his guard down a tiny bit.

He was too shocked at the action to let out any sound of agony, instead focusing his widened eyes up at the man as Otto, quite clearly, was silently gloating about the hit he had finally managed to lay upon the other. The man ripped his sword out of Steve's hand, but before he could repeat the action and harm the other, Steve maneuvered himself away from him, getting back on his feet in an unbalanced nature as he tried to keep his grip on his sword with his other hand. Blood started to flow from the wound and exit out the gash cut into the leather, causing a sharp, unrelenting stinging sensation to arise from the site of the injury. Despite the pain he was experiencing, Steve brought his injured hand back to the handle of his sword once he felt the strength in his other hand wane with the weight of the blade against it.

Not wanting to feel that kind of pain again, Steve went even more on the defensive, trying to figure out a quick, possible method of causing the other to yield so that he wouldn't have to patch up too many wounds if he survived, seeing that the other was clearly out for blood. However, before he could put any of his impromptu plans into action, the two men were broken out of their focus by the sound of screaming erupting from the confines of the village. As they both turned to look at the source, Steve suddenly noticed another few sounds that were accompanying the distant screams, making him slightly more concerned as he noticed that they weren't just coming from the village.

Mobs.

With their sudden return, Steve heard their cries from within the forest and at the edge of the plains, causing him to feel more nervous than he had been in anticipating the duel with the other. Snapping back to look at the man in question, Steve glared at him with expectant anger and sudden worry.

"Hey, aren't you the 'Beast-Tamer?' Why aren't you running over there, your people are in danger!"

Otto looked back at him with shocked eyes, which soon filled with anger at his words.

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Looking back briefly at the village, which was now being filled with more screams from more people, Otto bit his tongue and gave one last quick glare at the other.

"I'll deal with you later. This isn't over, trespasser!"

Leaving Steve where he was, Otto ran off towards the village as fast as he could, giving out useless commands to approaching mobs as he did so. His fellow villagers had already rushed off before him, leaving the miner completely alone in the wake of the ambush.

Without thinking much about the injury he had just sustained, Steve tightened his grip on the sword in his hand, beginning to rush off after the other as he went to help protect the village from the sudden invasion of mobs.

He was stopped dead in his tracks by a hand tightly gripping the collar of his shirt, slightly choking him as he was kept in place despite his wishes. Without warning, he was grabbed by the shoulders and whipped around to stare into the eyes of Herobrine, who looked at him with an expression that held nothing but pure anger.

"I leave you alone for one day, and you botch your mission, give off important information, and get yourself into a poorly-managed duel?!"

Looking over at the sight of the village, Herobrine glared at it for a moment, then directed his attention back to Steve.

"...I was going to pick off villagers from this place one-by-one, but your meddling has left me no other choice."

Steve, confused and frightened by the other's sudden presence and the implication of his words, stared back at him with widened eyes.

"Woah, woah, wait! What did I-"

"-The villagers here, in particular, don't know about the End, or anything about the endermen. I've been monitoring them as a precautionary measure to make sure of it. You simply giving their names could spark another set of potential opportunists, and could've set off another chain of events that would jeopardize our entire mission!"

"But they found one on their own! I didn't even show them-"

"Silence."

Herobrine let go of him, moving to instead walk past him, hands folding behind his back as he stared at the village. The area was now emanating smoke as fire erupted from a couple of the buildings behind the brick wall.

The demigod thought to himself for a moment, pausing in his place.

"...As I was saying earlier, you being foolish is partly why I have been driven to the decision of eliminating this village in its entirety at once."

"But-!"

"-Silence." Herobrine snapped back to point at him, causing his words to cease.

"...Our mission depends on secrecy, but my forces have found that you gave sensitive information to a crowd of villagers. Given that it was just the name of a mob species, I won't reprimand you too harshly, but that blundering fool you were struggling to put up a fight against just now intended on learning about the endermen as a whole, and was going to examine the body of the one he had captured past its unfortunate demise. I had no choice but to choose total annihilation as the outcome for this village."

Herobrine slowly approached him.

"I hope you understand what you have helped cause. I would've simply eliminated only the fool had you not slipped up and he not boast about the beast to the masses, but now, thanks to the combination of the two, we'll have more issues on our hands than before."

Nauseous. Steve felt extremely nauseous at the other's words. Was the utterance of a word the only thing that it took to lead to the deaths of many? He'd put so much thought and energy into sparing a single human, only to have still led to the potential erasure of multiple.

In his distress, he'd almost glossed over the fact that the other had mentioned there being "more issues" for them to worry about.

"...What do you mean?..." He asked, voice quiet.

Herobrine narrowed his eyes at him.

"A single dead human means nothing. A whole population of villagers draining to zero suddenly gains attention."

"...What kind of attention?" Steve questioned, curious as to what sort of authority the other was worried about enough to actively avoid, given the apparent status of power he had himself.

Herobrine leaned in closer to him, his voice nearly a whisper.

"Divine attention."

Stepping away from the miner, Herobrine folded his hands behind his back once again.

"I wanted to stay low and let you work on your own, being closely monitored by my monsters. But now, I cannot risk having you screw things up again. The risk is too high, and above all else, we absolutely do not want forces that bend the will of the universe itself opposing us."

Before Steve could ask any questions, Herobrine pointed at him, driving his finger into the miner's chest.

"You will be accompanying us directly from now on. We will tell you where to go. We will tell you exactly what you must do. I will be in direct control of your fate. Your freedoms in those areas are forfeit. You're too much of a fool to handle things alone, apparently."

Apart from feeling offended by the other's words and tone, Steve, despite how twisted it may have seemed considering what the other had admitted to doing, felt relief at the notion that he wouldn't be left by himself to wander aimlessly.

Raising a hand to move the other's hand aside, Steve flinched and paused before he could do so, finally being reminded that just moments ago, he had sustained a serious injury. This caused him to wince as he moved his injured hand through the cold wind.

Looking down and noticing the blood dripping from his hand, Herobrine groaned in annoyance at the sight, taking the other's arm and moving to drag Steve alongside him as they began to leave the area.

"You really are quite hopeless. Come. We have to leave this place before the gods arrive to access the damage."

"But my stuff..." Steve interjected, looking back at the tower where his items had been left.

Without pausing, Herobrine called out into the darkness.

"Andvari! Retrieve Steven's belongings!"

Steve found himself being dragged into the forest. Before he entered the shadows, he gave one last saddened look at the burning village, his worries for the people inside overwhelming him.

'...I'm sorry.'


Minutes of brisk walking later, Herobrine finally let go of the miner, allowing him to take a breath as he gripped his injured hand a bit in order to stop it from bleeding too much. Finding that his efforts were fruitless, Steve looked up from his hand to find the other staring at him, eyes focused on the gruesome sight as well.

As Steve looked back down to assess the damage he had sustained, a warped sound came to his ears as he took a brief glance back up to find Andvari suddenly walking up to stand beside Herobrine, his hands busy with holding the miner's previously-abandoned belongings. Taking the bag from the enderman's hands, Herobrine opened it roughly, beginning to search through its contents.

"Do you have your own bandages?"

Realizing that the other was forcing him to treat his own injuries as soon as possible, Steve nodded once the other's words had been fully processed within his brain.

Reading his response, Herobrine dug through the contents of his bag until he came upon the medical supplies, opting to take the potion that Steve had made out as well. Handing the backpack to Andvari, Herobrine turned away to continue walking.

Realizing that Steve wasn't following him and was stuck in place, the other looked back at him, glaring.

"What, are you preferring that you bleed out? Come here."

Steve hesitantly started to follow the other.

The two walked over to a small area, where several rocks laid upon the ground, unbothered. Wordlessly, Herobrine went to sit upon one of them, motioning for Steve to do the same just across from where he was. As Steve quietly came over and sat on the rock in front of him, Herobrine placed the potion down on the ground, and took out the bandages from the pouch that they'd been packed into, placing them on his lap momentarily.

"Hand."

Briefly confused on what the other was asking for at first, Steve extended his injured hand out towards the other, who grabbed it a bit roughly as he removed the gauntlet that was covering it, leaving the wound completely vulnerable to the cold air.

The miner was utterly stunned at the fact that he'd been wrong, realizing that the other had dragged him off into the darkness in order to treat his wounds himself instead of forcing Steve to struggle on his own.

As Steve got over his shock and looked over his hand, he nearly gagged as he also realized that the wound had gone deep enough to leave a large gap through both sides of his hand, exposing both flesh and bone as his blood worked tirelessly to clog up the gap, its efforts currently futile.

Sighing, Herobrine, without diverting his attention on the wound, snapped his fingers, and Andvari, still present, went away once again, suddenly blipping out of existence as he left behind a mass of purple particles.

The sound and the action itself startled Steve badly as it had occurred closer to him than before, causing him to flinch hard enough to slightly slip from the other's grasp, aggravating his wound once again and causing blood to drip out even more.

"Don't move." The man in front of him commanded, though, Steve found it rather ridiculous that he was trying to dictate what his body did without his own input.

With the same abruptness as his departure, Andvari suddenly appeared next to them again, scaring Steve just as badly as he did before. The enderman handed a bottle off to Herobrine, which Steve realized was filled with water.

Without warning, Herobrine uncorked the bottle with his thumb in one fluid motion and poured the water over Steve's wound, sending a massive rush of pain up through his arm and causing his body to stiffen in response. He'd flinched away once again, leading to the other roughly grabbing his wrist in order to pull him back.

"I said don't move!" Herobrine scolded him, though, he didn't really care given the fact that tears were already forming at the corners of his eyes in response to the pain.

"It hurts!" Steve scolded back, forcing his body to relax a bit, though it became more rigid every time the other went to pour more water on his wound in order to clean it.

Without even so much as an apology, Herobrine switched from pouring the water on his wound to instead moving to uncork the potion beside him and pour that instead, allowing its healing properties to begin working upon the injury. Though the action brought even more pain to Steve, he, in an attempt to avoid making the other angrier than he already seemingly was, bit his tongue and fought against his body in order to not flinch away, instead allowing the tears in the corners of his eyes to freely fall. He turned away to focus his attention on something else, finding a particular patch of grass rather interesting as he did so.

As Herobrine finished pouring the potion on Steve's wound and reached for the bandage in his lap, he looked up at the other, noticing his distressed expression and tearful gaze as he tried to ride through the various waves of pain he was experiencing. Relaxing his grip around the other's wrist, Herobrine, being slightly more careful, placed the other's hand on his knee. In a more gentle manner, he went to bandage the other's hand tightly enough to make the wound more secure, yet not being so rough as to cause him too much pain.

Once he was finished, he released the other from his hold, allowing Steve to take back his hand and look over the other's handiwork. Though blood was beginning to seep through the bandages, it was significantly less than what had been escaping his body earlier, making him rather appreciative of the demigod's efforts.

"Um...thank you, Herobrine."

Looking back at the other, he found that, for a brief second, the other's gaze was a bit softer than what he was used to. It was quickly replaced by his regular harsh glare, unfortunately.

"Lord Herobrine, to you."

Turning away from the other, Herobrine glanced around the small clearing they were in, sighing as he looked back at Steve.

"You humans need sleep, don't you?"

Remembering that he was now being forced to accompany the other, Steve nodded silently.

"...We'll stop here. Make your bed and sleep so that you can heal faster to avoid dragging us down. You'll need to adjust your sleep schedule so that we can move more in the afternoon and in the evenings. I assume that you already know this because you'll now be working alongside mobs. Are we clear?"

Steve nodded once again, attempting to slip his gauntlet onto his hand again. Before he could, the armour was snatched away from him and given to Andvari, who disappeared off into the night once again.

"Putting a contaminated object onto a healing wound covered by fresh bandages?"

Steve braced himself to be further scolded, but was instead met with another sigh.

"...To avoid future injuries such as the one you sustained today, we'll have to start training you properly as soon as possible."

"...When?"

"Didn't you hear me? As soon as possible. Adjust your sleeping schedule, and we'll take things from there."

Nodding in response, Steve looked around for a spot to relax in, finding one close by the little group of rocks. Another sudden appearance from Andvari and a quick jolt later, Steve's bag was being offered to him, which he grabbed briefly with his injured hand, only to have the enderman pull it back with a smile on his face.

"You might have to adjust to not using that hand while it heals, Steven."

Steve briefly realized what he was about to do, and slightly felt a rush of heat to his face as he sat in his embarrassment.

"...Right. I kinda forgot for a moment."

Taking the bag with his other hand, he set it down against one of the rocks a bit roughly as it nearly slipped through his grasp. He looked through its contents for a moment before pulling out his blanket, wrapping it around himself as he went to sit in front of the pack in order to use it as a pillow.

Hearing a sigh, Steve looked over to find Herobrine staring at him, eyes slightly dimmed as he gazed on in annoyance.

"...You'll have to be taught self-preservation measures as well, I assume."

"Hey!"

As Steve was about to counter the other's words, Herobrine held up a hand and silenced his thoughts before they even had a chance to escape him.

"You're mortal, and you're of use to me. Having you die due to something entirely preventable would be rather embarrassing for both of us, I'll have you know."

Steve let out a sigh himself, pouting as he was forced to take the other's demeaning tone in silence. Once he figured out a way to approach the other without being treated like an incapable child, he'd stand up to him and speak back in more proper sentences that fully expressed his current contempt for the other.

For now, he'll listen. For now, he'll remain ever curious about the other, wondering how it felt to hold all that power and authority without any sort of sympathy for anything else that he considered to be below him. He'll think about how it was so easy for the other to write off the death of a village as a necessary option, regardless of the lives that were living within it.


*Sigh* don't you hate it when you get lost in a forest, get out, find civilization, and get yourself into trouble, only for a whole village to get set on fire and invaded by monsters? Worst part of the week -_-

I was so excited to write this chapter!

I'ma have to explain my writing process a bit lmao, usually, I have specific scenes in mind that I want to include, so I either write those out first and build out the rest of the fic from there, or find some way to include them later. I know very well where I want the plot to end up later on, but the beginning parts here are a bit more...difficult to lay the foundation for the plot on.

In this case, I had a specific scene that I wanted to include (take a wild guess on which that one was lol), but was COMPLETELY blanking out on how I wanted to get to it while also figuring out when exactly I was planning on bringing Steve closer with the mob squad, so uhhhh we're here now! Steve's first interaction with another (living) champion, and his first lesson in keeping secret information as secret as possible! His first serious adventuring injury as well!

Lol, I had to dig in the recesses of my mind for my sword fighting knowledge for this one. It's been a while since I actually sparred with anybody but AKSOENQFJQOEFO I TRIED DX

Fun facts and some clarifications!:

1.) There are quite a few villages who hopped onto the whole "champion" bandwagon a bit late, giving Herobrine some extra time to try and monitor their knowledge of the taboo for any indication of them sending off champions towards the other realms. However, some villages were prevented from knowing about the End or the Nether by forces not of his own making (the whole "hating magic" thing ended up working mostly in his favor, lol). Apart from that, a lot of villages still haven't had the occurrence of enderman sightings.

2.) An enderman can typically survive most potential injuries it sustains, making it hard to defeat. However, if you were to damage its pearl while it's still within its body, you'd remove its ability to teleport, as well as its ability to continue existing.

3.) Herobrine has eyes and ears all over the place, but that doesn't mean he hears everything that gets monitored. Only things of significant interest get back to him, such as whatever the hell kind of trouble Steve gets himself into on his own, lol

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