Chapter 7: Not Human


When Steve woke up, he'd nearly panicked as he opened his eyes to the sight of a darkened forest, the sun having not appeared high enough in the sky yet.

When he saw a bit of light green out of the corner of his vision, he jumped up from his spot on the ground in complete fear, reaching for his sword briefly, but finding it no longer attached to his hip.

When he stopped to look at what was "attacking" him, he was met with the sight of a familiar, sleeping orange-haired boy sitting against the trunk of a tree, head tilted forward as he slept in a rather uncomfortable-looking position, body slouched over.

Sighing in relief before shaking his head in disbelief at his previous actions, Steve went back to his spot on the ground, though, he made sure to do so as quietly as possible so that the other wouldn't wake up. Remembering that his sword had been mysteriously removed from his person, Steve glanced around worriedly for the weapon until he looked down at the ground, catching sight of the sheathed blade just behind the rock his bag was leaning against. It had, presumably, been leaning against the rock as well, only to have fallen somehow during the night. Moving it closer towards his body just in case he actually needed it, he made himself more comfortable against his pack before attempting to dose off again.

Finding sleep just out of his reach, he opened his eyes and stared at the other beside him, suddenly realizing that the two were the only ones in the clearing. Where had Herobrine and Andvari gone off to? Also, where the heck was Malgun? He hadn't seen the skeleton in a while.

Steve pondered to himself as his gaze shifted from Constiere up to the night sky above, watching the clouds roll by as he became lost in his thoughts.

So, was he going to follow the others in a group, or was he only going to be directly accompanied by a single individual at a time? What were the new rules going to be for this forced partnership? He knew that he had to tread lightly with the others as they held the authority, but how much could he rely on them? Could he stand beside them? Or was he only to stand behind them? How was a human going to keep up with mobs? How was a human going to keep up with a demigod?

Steve was aware of the fact that Herobrine, based on the little information he had revealed to him, was currently not at his best and strongest at the moment, but even then, he still had the advantage of physical strength as well as the tiniest bit of magic. He also had the added bonus of a vast army of mobs at his beck and call to make up for whatever shortcomings he may have had. Even though he looked human, and sounded human, he wasn't human. That was evident enough in the glowing white eyes the other had, but was only emphasized by what he had in his own arsenal.

If they managed to set the balance of magic in the world back into place, just how powerful would Herobrine be then?

Shuddering at the thought, Steve glanced briefly at Constiere as he shifted in his place. The boy wasn't human either, but he appeared to be significantly more approachable than Herobrine, personality-wise. Beyond him, Andvari seemed to be very approachable as well. Malgun, he wasn't sure of yet, but he could take a guess and say that the skeleton wasn't as approachable as the other two.

He wasn't too keen on working with people for an extended amount of time, shoulder-to-shoulder, without knowing at least a bit about them and their personal lives. Maybe, if he was lucky enough, he could make friends with the two more social individuals despite his underlying deep fear of them. Of course, there might've been the possibility that they were only interacting with him kindly because he was important to Herobrine, but what was stopping him from being nice to them genuinely in return, building up their own bonds so that he wouldn't feel so alone and helpless in the matter? Given the previous interaction that he had seen between the two mob generals, it might take a while for them to get along better, but maybe they just needed a middle ground? A third voice to settle their differences?

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Andvari once again, who had blipped into existence right beside Constiere, eyes narrowed as he glared at the sleeping individual. The enderman bent down in front of the other and tapped him against the shoulder, stirring him awake.

Constiere's expression became one of embarrassment as he awoke to the other directly in front of his face.

"...You were told to keep an eye on the human while we were gone." The enderman whispered harshly.

Rushing to stand up, Constiere crossed his arms against his chest in an exaggerated fashion, face red as he realized that he'd been caught.

"I-I was! I just-"

"-Fell asleep on the job and risked his safety?"

Andvari stood back up to his full height, looking down upon the other as he scolded him.

"My forces-"

"-Are on duty because the master had instructed for them to surround the village we just eliminated to make it seem more like an unfortunate occurrence rather than something done by his own hand."

Constiere shook his head.

"Not all of them! I had a couple stick around here just to secure the area, in case of...y'know…"

Andvari raised a brow.

"...So you didn't follow his orders?"

Maybe Steve could throw out the whole "getting the both of them to see eye-to-eye" thing.

"I did! I don't think this is gonna work, though…"

Casting a worried glance, Andvari paused his scolding of the other, nodding slightly as he agreed with his words.

"...The skeletons aren't known for carrying tipped arrows without his input, and we only set off a few of your creepers…This place has big enough signs that lead back to him, without a single doubt."

Constiere sighed in disappointment.

"So are we gonna have to super worry about those guys coming around to yell at us?"

Andvari shook his head.

"Not us, particularly, as in you and me. They don't know about us, I believe. Although, since we're with the master, we might as well be considered collateral damage, but that's just the case regardless, yes?"

Shrugging, the smaller individual smiled at the other's words.

"Doesn't matter! Master managed to outsmart them before since he's still around, so as long as we keep one step ahead of them, we can do our thing!"

"Constiere, might I remind you that we're talking about omnipotent beings that could flick us off this plane of existence with their pinky fingers?"

"Yeah, and they haven't managed to so far, so I like our odds!"

Andvari laughed at the other's words.

"Our odds are decent, but keeping a distance away from the crime scene would make things even easier. I know the master doesn't have the track history, but if we keep ourselves away from more disastrous events such as these, we can hopefully manage to throw everybody off of our tracks and continue our mission without interference."

Nodding, the boy walked off a bit, stopping as he got a couple of feet away from the tree he had been sleeping against minutes prior.

Constiere placed his hands on his hips, taking a glance up towards the sky.

"...Malgun's gonna have to play catch up a bit faster, I think we have like, an hour at best until day hits and the human wakes up."

The enderman sighed, directing his attention upwards as well.

"Give him credit, he's managed to follow along quite quickly despite the circumstances. We have the cave systems around this area to thank for that. Once Steven has adjusted his sleeping schedule to fit our schedules, he'll be able to hold a better pace than now."

Constiere looked back at him, raising a brow.

"You're calling him 'Steven' too? What's up with that, I thought his name was Steve?"

"...My apologies. I've been hearing the master refer to him as such, so I guess the name subconsciously embedded itself within my mind. I don't know if Steve prefers one over the other, so I'll have to ask once I get the time. Besides, don't you just call him 'human'?"

The boy shrugged.

"It's easier! Plus, it never hurts to remind someone of their place."

Andvari narrowed his eyes at the other.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again: you speak as if you aren't in any way the same as him. Had you not been given your power, you'd be in the same position."

Constiere pointed at him.

"Hey! No I wouldn't! First of all, I'd be dead. Second, even if that wasn't the case, I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't look like master! At all!"

Andvari crossed his arms in front of his chest, nodding at the other's observation.

"True, true. But still, you need to interact with him as if tomorrow, you'd be placed in his exact same shoes. It's the least we could do for him. New surroundings are always tough to adjust to, and he's got a lot to get used to."

The boy smirked at the enderman.

"Since when did you start caring so much?"

Andvari gave him an even harsher glare than before.

"Since you proved that you'd be lacking on that front."

Constiere scoffed at his words as he turned away from the other, looking over at Steve to find him staring curiously at the two. They locked gazes for a moment before Steve broke eye contact, staring upward towards the sky as his face began to flush with slight embarrassment at being caught eavesdropping.

"...How much did you hear of that?" he asked.

Steve hesitated in answering the other as Andvari turned to look at him as well.

"...All of it."

Andvari walked up to him, kneeling next to the rock he was lying against once he got over to him. As the enderman reached for his pack, Steve leaned forward to allow him to take it.

"And how much of it did you understand?" the enderman asked gently, taking the miner's things out of the bag one-by-one as Steve looked on at him in confusion.

"...Everything but the whole 'omnipotent beings' part."

Andvari gave a small chuckle as he began to reorganize the miner's belongings.

"That's an entire matter that I could explain for decades, but long story short, Herobrine does not find himself among those favorable to the higher gods. Not even his fellow demigods appreciate his efforts."

Thinking about the previous day's events, Steve could totally understand why that might've been the case.

"...Yeah. I can see why."

Seeing the other's amused smile, Steve raised his hands in defense.

"N-no offense! I just...he's really...himself, I guess."

As he thought about the enderman's previous words, a new worry began to rise within his mind.

There were other beings more powerful than Herobrine, who didn't like him. He, a mortal human, was working directly with Herobrine. There were only so many ways this could go for Steve, and he currently found that none of them could possibly work out in his favor.

Andvari looked at him briefly with a gentle gaze, smiling as he watched Steve go deeply into his thoughts.

"...Before you ask, we haven't seen any of them in a long while. We've been staying low amongst the shadows, but even when we cause a ruckus such as this, there's about a fifty-fifty chance it'll lead to someone coming around to reprimand Herobrine. Well, they'll try to, but it never works out; master is cunning, like that."

Breaking away from his thoughts, Steve hummed to himself.

"And if they do find us, what then?"

"Only one thing you can do. Run." Constiere spoke up, joining into the conversation once again.

Andvari rolled his eyes at the other's words.

"Well, sure. The others will be focused heavily on Herobrine himself, but might I remind you that they've been coming with larger groups now? I think the more appropriate action to take would be to simply die."

The boy snickered as the miner's eyes widened in slight horror at the other's suggestion.

"True! Though, I'd put up a fight first to make it really worth it. Go out in a blaze of glory, y'know?" Constiere waved his hands around excitedly to emphasize his plan.

"...Yeah. I'd claw at a couple before I let them kill me. Make sure they know what and who they're dealing with." Andvari shrugged, finishing up with Steve's bag as he double-checked its contents.

"What do you think, human? What would you do if you had a group of angry gods coming to subtract you from this world's equation?" Constiere turned to Steve, expectant of a quick answer.

Steve looked up with him with a slightly worried gaze.

"...Um...I'd...Well, I don't know what I'd do."

The boy scoffed at him.

"What, never committed an atrocity before? C'mon, there's gotta be something you could think of! After all, like Andi said, you have a fifty-fifty chance of coming face-to-face with immortal ass-kickers, you gotta have a plan!"

Slightly amused by the enderman's new nickname, Steve pondered for a moment, before stating the only thing that came to mind.

"...I'd beg for mercy, honestly."

Constiere looked at him with disappointment as he rolled his eyes at the other's answer.

"What? Boring! C'mon, you're with us, they're not gonna consider it!"

"Well, Constiere, considering that it might just be us doing the dirty work, he might actually have a chance of survival if he plays dumb." Andvari pointed out, nodding his head towards the miner.

"And we don't?!"

"Like I said, we'll be doing the dirty work, I believe. I think we both know that neither of us could ever claim ourselves innocent."

Constiere crossed his arms over his chest, closing his eyes as he nodded in agreement.

"True, true. Messing with humans is too fun to not get involved in. I'd beg master to not bring me back after setting myself off before I ever consider skipping out on a mission."

Hearing the familiar phrase again, Steve turned towards Constiere, raising a brow at his words as his curiosity took over.

"...Set yourself off? Did you...were you the thing that-"

"-Exploded in the cave and nearly killed you? Nah. I used TNT for that. I kinda use the words 'set myself off' to mean both TNT and...well, me. I only go off when I run out of TNT and I'm in a tight pinch. The master has to be around too so that he can fix me back up." The boy opened his eyes and looked back at the miner, smiling.

Steve took in the information, surprise still remaining after the other had admitted to having the ability to explode himself.

"...So...what are you, exactly? Are you a demigod like Herobrine?..." Steve asked quietly.

In response, Constiere burst out laughing.

"I wish! But no...I can die too, like you. For what I am, I'm...how do I put this?..." The boy thought to himself for a moment. "...I...I'm like a zombie?...But not a zombie, I-"

"-Constiere was purely human, like you. However, he died. Herobrine found him and managed to figure out how to revive him, and now he's here today. That's all I can explain to you, at the moment." Andvari butted in, earning a glare from the boy in question.

"Hey! I was gonna tell him!" Constiere pouted.

"You took too long."

"Still!"

Andvari shrugged as he handed the backpack he was handling back over to the miner, who took it within his grasp and looked into the pouch briefly. His belongings were neatly arranged within the space; heck, they were even better organized than when he himself put them in there.

"Oh! Thank you so much, Andvari!" Steve said with appreciation as the other gave a small nod.

"You're welcome. I wanted to make sure that you were able to keep your belongings safe as we move about, so I organized them to make sure that nothing would get too damaged along the way."

"...He saw how weak you were and his parental instincts kicked in." Constiere added on, giggling as the other snapped back to glare harshly at him.

"You-!"

Constiere attempted to run away, but the moment he attempted to do so, Andvari had disappeared from Steve's side in a cloud of purple particles, appearing in front of the other and grabbing him from under the shoulders, staring at his eyes directly.

"Have respect!" He shook the other a bit, though, Constiere was unfazed by the action as he gave the other a smirk.

"I do have respect!...For Lord Herobrine, that is."

Dropping him on the ground, Andvari walked back over to Steve, moving to his side. With an apologetic expression, the enderman leaned down slightly towards him.

"I'm sorry you have been a witness to our petty squabbling. I assure you, we're more professional than this when we're in action. "

Steve nodded hesitantly.

"I...I guess I'll see that for myself, then."

Taking his blanket from around his shoulders and placing it into his bag, Steve stood up, putting on the pack soon after. Looking up towards the sky, he found that bits of sunlight were just beginning to peek through the clouds, brightening up the sky just a bit as the sounds of birds chirping came to his ears.

"...So...When do we head out? Where are we going?"

To his surprise, both the two before him shrugged.

"Beats me. I thought we were just waiting for Malgun to get closer." Constiere said.

"We're currently waiting on the master to return with our next objective now that we have you coming along with us. General Malgun had been sent off to deal with another situation, so we're waiting for him to get back, as well. He can only move so much underneath the sunlight without threatening his demise, so we might just have to leave him behind if the sun rises before he gets here, and he's forced to wait until sundown to move again. Though, he hadn't been sent too far away from here, so I believe that he'll get here on time so that we can all go on together, but that's not guaranteed." Andvari explained.

"Oh, right. Because he's a skeleton." Steve was reminded of the man's condition, though, given the other's ghastly appearance, he didn't think that he'd naturally forget that fact entirely even if he tried.

"Correct."

Steve thought more to himself for a moment before looking back towards the others, another question on his lips.

"...Do you guys have any idea on what Herobrine wants me to do, specifically?"

Again, the other two shrugged.

"I guess try not to die before he figures out what's the deal with you two?" Constiere suggested.

"...He'll probably explain when he gets back." Andvari added.

Nodding, Steve began to pace around the area, briefly checking upon the state of his injured hand as he did so. The bandages were still rather bloody, but, similarly to the injuries he sustained from Constiere's explosion, as he pressed his fingers to the area where the gap had been, he was surprised to find it missing, feeling a solid layer of skin (and presumably flesh) in its place. Maybe his potion really was super potent, but as he thought back to when he had initially brewed it, he began to have the sneaking suspicion that maybe, just maybe, Railey was right and he really did have a faster system that healed his injuries quickly on its own. Or, maybe he was just trying to see things that weren't there, that too. Whatever was the case, he was thankful that he wouldn't have to worry about going through all of his medical supplies in a single evening.

The three found themselves in peaceful silence as they waited, watching as the sky slowly shifted to truly reflect the birth of a new morning.


Constiere had been correct in estimating that they'd have an hour until the sun came up fully. Once it had, the three had found themselves being approached by a rather upset-looking Herobrine, gloved-hands covered in what appeared to be blood, though, all of them became slightly concerned for various different reasons when it appeared that the blood had indeed seemed to originate from the man himself. His clothes appeared to have a deep cut within them where more blood had been pouring out, revealing that the other had been possibly stabbed just right above his stomach.

"Sir, are you-" Andvari began, rushing over to where the other was standing.

"-Perfectly fine. Turns out the mobs did not destroy every single living thing in that awful place, so I ended up running into the fool who combated Steven. He's been taken care of, but I gave him one cheap shot so that he'd let his guard down."

Constiere laughed at the other's admission.

"More fun that way, right?"

Herobrine turned towards him and gave a small smirk.

"...Always."

Wiping his hands off on his own clothes, Herobrine turned to look at Steve, his smile immediately disappearing once he did so. Placing his arms behind his back, he walked up to the miner slowly.

Glancing momentarily at his bandaged hand, Herobrine met Steve's gaze.

"...I assume you'll be needing a few more bandages soon, yes?"

Steve shrugged.

"I...I'm not entirely sure about that. I mean, my hand already stopped bleeding, and-"

"-That fast?" Herobrine interrupted him, stepping closer as he picked up the other's hand, pressing against the bandages as he attempted to find the indentation of the wound in the center of his palm, seemingly finding nothing just as the miner had prior.

He hummed to himself in thought.

"...I thought it was rather odd how quickly you recovered from Constiere's attack even though I intended for it to be non-fatal, anyways. I guess it wouldn't be too surprising for a simple cut to heal so quickly."

Steve couldn't hold back the snicker that had come to his lips.

"You call a sword going straight through my hand a 'cut'?"

Herobrine narrowed his eyes at him.

"...Your hand is within my own. I can make this more than a 'cut' if you so wish."

Pulling away, Steve shook his head.

"Ah, no thanks. I'll just...keep the cut like this."

Herobrine moved his hands behind his back once again, beginning to pace around the other slowly.

"...You may be human, but you must be able to keep up with us. Now that we know that 'champions' exist for particular purposes, we have to find their destinations before they do."

Pausing in front of the other, Herobrine stared at the miner in expectation.

"Steven, did you run into any champions within that village? Any new information that we could possibly utilize for our benefit?"

Steve, remembering the other two champions that had been present within the village, looked off to the side with deep sadness.

"...You killed them." He stated quietly, voice slightly wavering.

Herobrine raised a brow.

"...And? What did they say to you while you were there?"

Steve glared at him, disgusted with his blatant disregard for life.

"I guess nothing that'd matter to you!"

"...Who were the champions of that village? Their names?" Herobrine ignored his small outburst, continuing on with his questioning.

Steve debated giving the other the truth, but finding that Herobrine wasn't tolerating any of his displays of emotion, he sighed as he complied with giving the other more information.

"...Otto. Mikael. Christopher. The guy you found me in a duel with was Otto."

Herobrine nodded slightly as he took in the info.

"...Well, that does matter to me. This Otto in particular was planning on dissecting an enderman. Did he ever tell you why?"

Andvari noticed that Steve was becoming more and more distressed with the other's manner of speaking dismissively about other humans, so he stepped closer towards the two in order to separate them and involve himself in the conversation.

"Sir, Steve had informed me that the man had intended to tame the enderman before it had died, and that was all."

"I had assumed that Steven here had taken the initiative and challenged that man to a duel for more information, is that not correct?"

Steve shook his head.

"He challenged me! He thought that I was the one who killed that enderman, because of the way my eyes are!"

Locking gazes, Herobrine examined the miner once again.

"Hm...I guess it's safe to say that they're like that for some other reason than an overabundance of potions, for sure."

Stepping more towards the forest, Herobrine stared off into the darkness of the trees, eyes dimming slightly in thought.

"Moving on to more current, important matters...we'll have to get farther away from here. I've been scoping the area myself looking for Malgun, but as I was, I noticed...one of them."

The three others looked at each other briefly; Andvari and Constiere looked at each other with worry, and Steve looked on with confusion.

"...Are we...talking about, like, somebody new, or-" Constiere spoke up, slowly.

"Minos. I saw Minos."

Both the enderman and the boy winced in response to the other's words, while Steve only got more confused.

"...Who's-" Steve began, though his words were stopped by the demigod turning to face him.

"Somebody we should stay far, far away from." Herobrine gave him a small glare, though, Steve thought that he saw the slightest bit of worry held within them.

The three others heard a long groan from the shortest, fourth member in the group.

"Man, I should've placed a bet on that fifty-fifty!" Constiere asked, arms crossing in front of his chest as he pouted.

As Herobrine turned to raise a brow at him, Andvari glared at the boy.

"Might I remind you that we just burned down a whole village? He's probably here to see if the master was responsible, or not...That's what we can place a bet on."

As Andvari smirked at the other, Constiere met his eyes with a playful smile.

Steve's eyes widened slightly at the enderman's words.

"Wait, who exactly are we talking about? Who's Minos?!"

"Nobody you should be worrying about, because we won't be seeing him. Constiere, go and instruct your forces to search for Malgun on their own, we need to move on and get going."

As Constiere saluted and moved away to run towards the trees, Herobrine gestured for the remaining two to follow him, stepping towards the denser parts of the forest as they began their impromptu escape.

Oak and birch trees soon began to blend into darker variants that led the way under a sudden cover of endless leaves. As the three walked through the roofed forest, Steve felt himself growing tense as his eyes took a moment to adjust to the sudden absence of sunlight and the sudden abundance of large trees that provided ample cover for whatever could've possibly needed it. There were a bit more mobs in the area than what he was usually comfortable with, but them making various noises beat having complete and utter silence within the area as he traveled alongside Herobrine and Andvari. Various giant mushrooms were scattered across the area, causing Steve to slow down considerably in order to quickly examine them as he walked by. Little bunches of additional mushrooms grew along the bases of these massive fungi, but before he could step closer to grab any, he found a gentle tap against his shoulder stopping him from doing so.

Looking up at Andvari, Steve watched as he shook his head with a small smile.

"You have enough food, for now, I believe."

Steve gave him a smile in return.

"Um...no, actually, I wasn't looking at those for food. I...I need them for brewing, I believe."

His words caused Herobrine to stop in his tracks fully, turning around to look at the other.

"...You don't need those anymore. Do you remember when I showed you those Nether warts?"

Thinking back to his previous encounters, Steve shook his head as he failed to remember what the other was talking about.

Herobrine drew out what he was describing in the air.

"...The little red mushrooms. In a bag. Those."

Steve's eyes lit up as the memory finally came back to him.

"Wait, those get used for brewing?"

Both Herobrine and Andvari shrugged.

"Not as much by regular humans, but they're mostly used by witches, other mobs, and the like. Mostly because there's easier access to their homeland within our hands." Andvari explained.

"Which makes it even more upsetting that more humans are trying to get there in the first place. More access for them means fewer resources for us. Nether warts grow like crazy, but there's only so many places you can keep them." Herobrine added.

"Also, Nether warts aren't the only mushroom species within the Nether. If you humans think that all mushrooms are for brewing…"

Silence filled the area for a moment as Andvari trailed off.

"...On second thought, maybe we should allow the humans some access to the Nether." Herobrine smirked, mulling over his thoughts for a moment before losing that smile once again.

"In all seriousness, we need to find those portal frames, destroy them, and take out enough champions to inspire less of them to appear. I want my powers to be at their best before we have to encounter any...potential interferences."

Thinking over Andvari and Herobrine's words, he found himself disturbed with the idea of accidentally brewing something with dangerous materials, but as he thought more about it, he found himself curious about what materials could cause what effects. If he found out, maybe he could include that information within his journal.

"...What...other mushrooms-"

"-You aren't going there, so don't worry about it." Herobrine interrupted him immediately, dashing his hopes for more information that would satisfy his current curiosity.

Steve furrowed his brows at the other.

"Can't I ask just a hypothetical question? Or just a clarifying one? This stuff is new to me, and you're all speaking from experience and knowledge while I'm not!"

The demigod narrowed his eyes at him.

"Humans shouldn't know about matters that don't concern them."

"Well, what if I wasn't human? Would you hold that stuff back from me, then?"

Herobrine stared at him quietly for a moment, thinking about the words that had left the miner's mouth in an effort to express his frustrated emotions. After some internal debate, he gave the other a slightly curious expression.

"...I'll bite your line. Elaborate."

Slightly surprised that the other hadn't dismissed him outright again, Steve continued.

"...I...What if I'm like you? My body has the weird healing thing going on, so what if I'm not human? Would you tell me what I want to know then? What if I were to prove myself to you?"

The demigod continued to stare at him before turning away, a small, dark chuckle escaping his lips as he did so.

"...Should we test that theory, then?"

Steve tilted his head to the side a bit in confusion.

"Wait, are you actually-"

"-Debating the idea? Well, since you brought it up, it could very well be a possibility. Why, if you're correct in your notion, I might have to cease fully withholding our secrets to you, wouldn't I?" The other's tone was very much a teasing one, but as Steve was being patronized, he began to feel a bit bolder in standing up to the other.

"Well, how do we test me?...Is there like...uh…a rite of passage, or…?"

Herobrine turned back to face him, eyes full of malicious intent as a wide, unsettling grin had taken over his expression.

"Simple. Your words suggest that you are like me. A demigod. So, prove it to me. In combat."

The words were spoken in a broken manner, but as they were processed within Steve's mind, a chill went up his spine at the other's suggestion.

"I...what?!"

"A demigod's strength is like that of no other. Strength such as ours is possessed by no simple mortal being. If you are not mortal, prove it to me in combat. Strike me. Fight me. Kill me, if you must!" The other's words quickened, growing louder as his emotions began to slip from being under firm control. The sudden shift in demeanor unnerved Steve even more as the other had slowly begun to approach him closer without him initially realizing it.

Before the demigod could lash out at him in any way, Andvari had already moved to step in between the two again, overlooking them both with a slightly concerned gaze. However, much to both his and Steve's relief, Herobrine had backed away by himself, serious expression and controlled appearance returning.

"...Duel me. I'll evaluate your skills then, and we'll see just how non-human you are. Then I can tell you more about the extra things."

Steve thought about the idea of dueling against the other quietly, his fear of the other having not yet been fully cast aside.

Should he take this risk?

He'd just been involved in a duel just mere hours ago, and he'd left that occasion with an injured hand and a broken spirit. Though Otto had thankfully sliced through it alone instead of any vital organ, Steve heavily doubted that Herobrine would hesitate in making sure that his bodily functions were interrupted by a heavy loss of blood preceded by a weapon piercing every single one of his organs.

Despite those concerns, this was his only given opportunity to gain knowledge. This could be the only chance he got to match the other's footing and place himself on the demigod's level.

He hadn't been planning on surviving on his journey for too long.

"...Now?" He hesitantly asked, looking up at the other for some sort of confirmation.

A devious smile grew on the other's face as he accepted his request.

"...Perhaps. We can do so while we wait for Constiere to return. I don't believe we'll be interrupted, otherwise."

Feeling a slight tug on the bag on his back, Steve turned to find Andvari attempting to take it from him, to which he allowed the other to do so. Checking the handle of the sword on his belt, Steve grabbed it a bit tightly as he unsheathed it, testing its weight in his uninjured hand before moving to the injured one. Surprisingly enough, Steve only felt the light pressure of soreness within that one; there wasn't a burning feeling that accompanied the bandages rubbing up against the wound.

Looking toward the other, Steve found Herobrine to have moved quite a few feet away, hands placed behind his back as he was staring at the other in great interest.

"...We will begin at Andvari's call. Unlike your other battle, this one won't be so poorly executed."

The enderman placed himself somewhat in the middle of the two, nodding as he listened to Herobrine's command.

Steve now found himself getting into a fighting position in anticipation for the second duel within the span of a few hours he was about to be a part of. However, compared to the previous one he had been involved in, he found that his body was responding rather differently.

His grip against his sword was tighter than it had been previously, his nerves possibly being the reason why. His legs, though in what he considered to be a firm defense position, were shaking slightly, as were his arms under his anticipation. Even though he was armed and the other didn't exactly appear to be in the same situation, Steve knew well that the man didn't necessarily need a weapon to match him. In fact, he was fully expecting the other to kick his ass just by staring at him alone. It wasn't outside the realm of possibility considering how little he knew about the other.

The fact that the encounter could possibly end with a slight case of death didn't exactly ease his fears about the situation at all, either.

"...Begin." Andvari called out, disappearing from his spot to move to the sidelines.

The enderman's call nearly fell on deaf ears as Steve had fallen into his anxious thoughts once again. Those thoughts were only amplified as he'd realized that the other had drawn a blade; the same, blood-covered iron one that had been directed at his throat the day he'd agreed to assist the other in his quest.

Surprisingly enough, Herobrine held out his sword with one hand, beckoning for the other to draw nearer. When Steve responded by warily staring at him, he sighed.

"...I guess it's smart to not immediately go on the offensive against me. But is your defense strong enough to be able to parry?"

Herobrine quickly sprang into action, closing the gap between him and Steve much faster than what the miner had been expecting for. Steve only had about a half a second to raise up his blade before the other had the opportunity to slice him cleanly in half. Though both of his hands were firmly wrapped around the handle of his sword, Steve nearly let the blade go flying as the sheer force of the demigod's attack came down upon him.

Reading Herobrine was much, much more difficult than reading Otto, heavily evident as the other kept swinging at an uneven, yet rapid rate, leaving no doubt that his intentions were to land critical blows on the other should he let his guard down for even a millisecond. Where Otto was unsure and uncoordinated, Herobrine was certain and almost graceful in the way that he attacked. The way the man maneuvered himself and calculated his strikes much faster than the other could process, simply in order to never leave a gap that the miner could utilize to make his own attacks, was highly impressive. If Steve was even given the chance to take a breath, he might've even called it admirable.

The demigod swung at him another two times before his hands finally relented, and the blade that Steve had managed to use to protect himself with so far was knocked right out of his hands. Before the other had a chance to seriously injure him, Steve jumped out of the way and went to go pick up his weapon once again, succeeding in his attempt only moments before the other's blade swung down where his hands had been moments prior.

"You've mentioned previously that you've slain mobs in the past; where's that spunk now?"

As Herobrine swung at him again, Steve held up his sword and blocked the attack, eyes glaring at the other.

"I was only able to do that job because I thought it was necessary to protect my village. I didn't like it, but I managed to get by because they were mobs! You're entirely different! Otto was different!"

Another swing. Another barely-successful block.

"I thought that you believed mob-slaying was adequate enough training for you? Did you not face off against another human or anything of higher intelligence than a simple zombie before fighting that failed champion? Had you not been taught how to fight offensively before you raised your sword against me?"

Rather sloppily, Steve pushed the other's sword away and swung at his waist instead, missing entirely, though his attempt hadn't gone unnoticed.

"I...I only learned how to protect myself and to get rid of mobs quickly with as little pain as possible. I learned on my own, I didn't train with anybody!"

"And you thought that was enough! You thought that in a world of bloodthirsty creatures, human and otherwise, your circumstantial knowledge and human instincts were going to be enough to protect you in a fight?!" Herobrine laughed at him, his unnerving smile beginning to cause a mild wave of annoyance to wash over Steve as he listened to the other's teasing.

"It may not be practical to you, but when it's all I have, I'm more inclined to stick with what I know." Steve spat back, swinging again, this time with a bit more bite to his attack.

"...What you currently know will get you killed."

Before he had the chance to recognize what the other intended to do, Herobrine rushed towards him again. Steve raised his sword to block the other, but was left flabbergasted as the demigod instead staked his sword in the ground as if to anchor himself as he allowed the rest of his body to somewhat fly forward, using his leg to sweep Steve in one fluid motion that had him crashing against the ground in a shocked heap.

He had to admit, the move was rather cool. Falling on the ground was not. Realizing that the other had attacked him in such a way because he wanted to show off against his inexperienced opponent was even less so.

"Again, footing!" The other called out to him as he ripped his sword out of the ground, swinging around to plant it in the miner's body instead.

Learning from his previous mistake of lying down while still being attacked, Steve rolled out of the way and got back up on his feet only seconds after being knocked down, much to the slight surprise (and delight) of his opponent.

"How interesting! You managed to keep the memory of your lack of judgment in your head alive long enough to get up faster! I believe that deserves a reward, yes?"

His words annoyed Steve a bit more, but not wanting to find out what Herobrine considered a "reward" to be while in combat, he tried to keep his distance as best as he could.

"Oh, since we're talking, why not discuss that blade of yours? Quite quaint and sturdy, isn't it?"

The way the other suddenly changed from critiquing him harshly to casually talking to him despite attacking so quickly disoriented the miner a bit as he tried to think of a response to his words, only finding himself growing a bit angry as Herobrine seemed to be treating this threat to his life as a simple game, or a normal outing.

"Yes." Was all he could come up with.

"Who's the blacksmith who made it?...I don't actually see myself going to them in particular, but the name would be nice!"

Steve glared at the other again, this time equipped with another response that had come to him in an improvised fashion.

"You won't be meeting him, so don't worry about it."

A giant rush of fear went through every fiber of his being as the words left his mouth and he looked up to find the other with a blank gaze, staring at him intently as he'd recognized the amount of pure sass that had been disrespectfully thrown his way. It only got worse as Herobrine raised a brow at him, his smile growing once again as he chuckled in amusement.

"Bold, are we today?"

Steve found himself on the receiving end of another set of strong sword swings, though, the action seemed more like an effort to get up and personal in his face without having to worry about him attacking the other due to being occupied.

"Such a pathetic, young man, suggesting that he, above all else, can match the level of importance that I hold. You have the nerve to speak to me like that! You think that your resemblance to me will protect you from any consequences?!" The other yelled as he swung his sword down over and over again.

Steve shook his head frantically.

Herobrine continued to raise his voice at him.

"You shouldn't! You should know well that I have the ability to bring you towards the brink of death and keep you there. Your mortal status will not save you from me!"

Herobrine jumped away from Steve as he went to take another swing.

"You amount to nothing! Had you not taken this alliance, you would've failed in your quest before you'd even stepped out from your pathetic village! If you aren't human, then what a pathetic excuse for a creature you are!"

The teasing had gone to full-on insults, and Steve had found his annoyance evolving into solid anger. Even if the other was correct about some of the things that he said, there was no excuse for doubting his drive to survive given the deck of cards that had been bestowed upon him.

He found himself emotionally collapsing under the pressure of everything that had been placed onto him. He was forced to be a champion. He was forced to work for a demigod on a power-high. He was forced to take orders from both sides, without being able to speak up for himself without serious reprimand, and he was completely sick of it. It hadn't been too long, but he was tired.

Egged on by the other's insults, Steve attacked before the other could, rushing forward as he saw an opportunity where the other hadn't expected him to take such a leap towards.

He wanted to silence the other completely. He found himself aiming for the other's neck.

As the miner pointed the tip of his blade to the other's throat, intending to leave a mark, he found himself horrified and disgusted with what his body had moved to do in the wake of his anger and frustration. Before he could actually harm the other (if that was even possible) by cutting him across the windpipe, he pulled his arm tightly back and merely cut the fabric of the other's black cape slightly, even hesitating in that action as well.

His efforts did not go unnoticed as the other had already swiftly moved away from him, sword being held with his left hand as he stared at the miner with great interest and curiosity. A bit of shock as well, as it dawned on him what Steve had intended to do to him.

"...You hesitated."

Steve huffed, allowing his blade to fall towards the ground in slight exhaustion.

"What does that matter?"

Herobrine fully sheathed his blade in a black scabbard that had blended in with the rest of his clothes underneath his cape, folding his hands behind his back.

"...You had the chance to get revenge for the earlier injuries I gave to you and my ugly words, and yet, you didn't take it...There's one trait that all humans carry with them, and that's hesitation."

Still angry at what the other had said to him, Steve sheathed his blade as well.

"What do you mean by that?"

Herobrine narrowed his eyes at him.

"A creature could wield the weapons of the gods, wear their bedsheets as clothing, and have physical features that screamed 'not human', but were they to hesitate in striking down their foes, they'd be just as human as you. Hesitation is a human trait that marks imperfection. It marks being human as a whole. With other beings, there lies no hesitation within their actions...especially concerning demigods."

The man began to walk towards him slowly, observing him as he clapped his hands together a couple of times before speaking.

"...I'd say that was quite the interesting first training session. We'll work on your footing and how you go in with attacking, with taking care of defense and whatnot later."

As Herobrine walked past him and began to head into the darkness of the forest, Steve found himself nearly boiling over with anger.

"You...said and did all that...for a training session?!"

Herobrine glanced over his shoulder at him, following it with a shrug.

"...One must be able to see past their intense emotions in order to fight efficiently. I didn't just have to attack you physically, I had to attack you verbally as well, to see how well you respond under such distressing conditions."

As Andvari handed Steve's bag back to him, he let out a small laugh.

"...Neither of us are very good at keeping our feelings entirely under wraps during a fight, but it'd help to teach you about the skill so you can choose to not be the same."

Steve put on his pack, expression still holding utter disbelief.

So that was what a training session with Herobrine was like. Full of embarrassment, physical strain, high emotions, and constant berating from the demigod himself.

The other's back had been turned from him, and for the first time, Steve actually moved to take a cheap shot against the other with his hand, only reconsidering his subconscious action as he remembered, once again, that the other was much faster than him, and could kill him before he even got the opportunity to get within a single foot closer to him.

Giving a frustrated huff, Steve followed behind the others in silence, casting angry glares at the demigod as he did so.


Stumbling upon a river, the three stopped their traveling as Constiere had finally caught back up to them, reporting the state of his forces before falling into place alongside Herobrine. The boy cast an amused glance toward Steve, who looked as if he was slightly seething, but didn't press forward at the moment, keeping his own thoughts to himself.

Hands placed behind his back, Herobrine looked upon the others with deep seriousness.

"Now that we're almost all here, I believe that we can start looking towards our next objective in full before we get too overwhelmed. I have reason to suspect that we'll need to focus on getting rid of larger portals before focusing more on the smaller ones."

Constiere looked at him with a raised brow.

"Why? Isn't it quicker for people to make and fix smaller ones?"

"Yes, but the larger ones cause more of a disturbance, whether they're activated or not. There are fewer of them, so it'll be considerably easier to handle. I believe that those in particular were made by the gods alone, not from any mortal's hand, so if we find and eliminate those, we likely won't have to worry about them again."

"...And how do we find them?" Steve spoke up quietly, looking at the other for answers despite him still feeling rather upset.

"...Normally, if the balance of magic wasn't so off, I'd be able to find them in a heartbeat. Portals have such unique magic signatures, they're nearly impossible to ignore. With my diminished powers, it's not as easy to find them. Smaller portals are entirely undetectable. I've only been barely able to feel the larger ones, and I have reason to believe that one of those is somewhere around the area."

Steve looked at the other in disbelief. They were conducting their business based off of a feeling?

"Wait, wait. You think there's a portal in the area?"

"No. I'm sure of it. Its magical pulse is stronger than others I've felt in the past, and I have reason to believe it's because this one was created with something additional other than just pure obsidian. I'm just unsure of where it is exactly, but considering its possible size, if we aren't able to see it out in the open, it might just not be above ground."

Perfect. So they were going to wander around aimlessly until they found a portal. Whatever the heck that looked like.

Looking around to gaze at the dense cover of trees, Steve sighed, beginning to feel his drive for adventure wane slightly even more as he realized that they were going to be simply circling around the area for however long it took.

"...Do you think it's actually in a cave somewhere?"

The other three shrugged at the miner's question.

"I dunno." said Constiere, following his gaze.

"Depends on the caves around here. We've only explored the one near your village so far, and even then, we've yet to finish looking through it." Andvari added.

"...Wait, you went through our mines?"

"Only partially. There could be a chance that the portal is more towards that area, and I'd much rather finish up over there than start all over again over here too soon, and waste time. Though…" Herobrine paused, thinking to himself before turning towards Constiere and Andvari.

He snapped his fingers and pointed at them.

"Both of you, have some of your forces scope out the caves in this area. We'll be heading back towards Steven's village to finish searching there."

"What? It took me like, a day and a half to get here, we're going ba-" Steve objected, being met with a harsh glare.

"-Think of this as a chance to fix your sleeping schedule. Might as well kill two birds with one stone, and give you the opportunity to learn that the world will not be revolving around you, and neither will we."

Beginning to walk off, Herobrine motioned for the miner to follow him as the two mob generals went off. Begrudgingly stepping forward, Steve followed the other from a distance, still feeling enough residual anger to keep his heated gaze upon the other's back.

He was going to lose a solid night's worth of sleep, but he supposed that his emotions would keep him awake well enough.


Finding the familiar sight of smoke rising from a chimney shouldn't have brought such a wave of relief to Steve, but nevertheless, he felt highly appreciative of the appearance of the village, his anxiety washing away for the time being.

His body was still adjusting to the lack of a good night's sleep, and the dark sky above them didn't exactly help. Night had well since fallen upon the quaint little village, but as Steve was struggling to avoid running into trees in the dark, Herobrine was guiding him partially by the light of his eyes, finding it somewhat amusing that the miner was nearly tripping over himself in the darkness. The two walked towards the lake that the miner's house was situated next to, but before they could pass by the entrance of the village, Herobrine paused, turning towards the miner before he had the chance to accidentally bump into the demigod.

"I assume that you could use a quick visit to the village, yes?"

Steve shrugged, glancing towards the protective walls of the place.

"...I dunno. I mean, I really want to go in there and say hello, but...what if I get like...thrown out, or something because I haven't done anything ye-"

"-Steven. It's night. Nobody should be outside right now to spot you. You could walk around for a minute, get your emotions out of the way, and come right back out. You won't get this opportunity for a while, so I'd recommend taking it before I change my mind, and we begin our search once again."

Surprised by the sudden gesture of what he assumed was kindness, Steve stared at the other for longer than he initially intended to before walking towards the village gates slowly, glancing back momentarily to see that the other was watching him with a slightly annoyed gaze. Not wanting to feel that gaze on his back any longer, Steve snuck past the gate onto the illuminated streets, looking around cautiously as he found nothing else but iron golems walking them.

He let out a sigh of relief as he stepped further into the village, finding himself to be alone underneath the array of stars above him.

The village was quiet, save for the sound of a light breeze blowing around hanging lanterns, grass, and various rose bushes. As he walked further into the village, he glanced around to admire the sights of familiar wooden houses and other buildings, feeling a sense of total safety that he hadn't felt in quite a while. He gave a slightly heated glare at the town hall, but his gaze softened as he switched it towards the clinic next door. Turning around, he looked to find Almun's workshop, watching as smoke continued to rise from the man's chimney, indicating that he was still awake. Steve desperately wanted to go knock on the other's door and talk for hours on end about what he'd experienced, but he didn't know how long he had until Herobrine needed him once again, so he cast the idea aside for the moment and instead continued to take in the scenery as much as he could, allowing it to calm him down as much as possible before he had to depart from the village once again.

Reluctantly, he began to turn back towards the entrance gate, a sad smile appearing on his face as he did so.

Walking back out only a few minutes after he came in, Steve met with the demigod again, giving him a neutral stare as he passed by, heading towards the lake in silence.

Unfortunately for him, Herobrine didn't exactly share his desire to walk in peace.

"What, you didn't want to talk to anybody? Just stepped two feet in and nothing more?"

Steve refused to turn back towards the other.

"...Nobody's up."

Herobrine looked towards the location of the blacksmith's house with a raised brow as he watched the smoke rise from the chimney, but said nothing further.

Continuing his way towards the mines, Steve found himself almost passing by his house without a second glance, stopping by his door once he'd realized that he reached the building.

It couldn't hurt to check up on his things.

Unlocking his door and stepping into the empty building, Steve glanced around, finding everything in the same places that he left them. While that also included the book that he'd left on the table, Steve decided to ignore it for the time being, heading towards his room as he continued his quick look-over. Checking and confirming that his bedroom was left untouched as well, Steve decided to head back out, only to be reminded that he wasn't entirely alone.

He found Herobrine standing over the kitchen table with the untranslated book in his hands, staring at the cover in what appeared to be confusion. Finding that the miner had stepped out from his room, he looked up at the other with interest.

"...The hell is a book written in Aethren doing here?"

Looking back down at the book, Steve shrugged, slightly surprised that the other was able to recognize the language.

"Oh, that's what it's called? I dunno. My friend picked it up for me because he thought it would be helpful for me to look through so that I'd have an idea of what I could do to be a good champion because of the pictures. I couldn't actually read it, so I...left it here."

Opening the book and reading through it briefly, Herobrine scoffed as he went through the various stories, amusing Steve as he found what the miner assumed to be the same fairy tales that he'd read on his own.

"What, anything interesting in there?" Steve joked.

"...I only see the written gloating of the Aethren gods. I don't know how this book got to your town in particular, but I...wait."

Herobrine looked up at him with a raised brow as he flipped to the page with the image of a dragon upon it.

"...You said that this book was given to you because it was thought that it'd give you an idea on what you could achieve in your quest?"

Steve nodded.

"...Yeah, I thought I said that already."

Herobrine thought to himself for a moment, seemingly putting together a puzzle within his head that Steve couldn't see.

"...And this all falls within the realm of being mere fairytales to you?"

Steve shrugged.

"I mean, I think I found a translated copy back in...the other village…but it was damaged, and it had a few pages missing. The champions in that village were named after the ones in the book, I think. Concerning their titles, yeah."

"...You did have more vital information, yet you refused to tell me?" Herobrine glared at him, the tiniest traces of worry on his face.

Hesitantly nodding, Steve looked back at the book.

"What...what's the matter?"

The other shook his head.

"...Nothing. I'm just a bit concerned over the fact that this book had been translated in the first place."

Taking the book along with him, Herobrine gestured for the other to follow.

"We'll handle this later. For now, we have some searching to do."

Slightly upset by the fact that the other had just taken his book like that, Steve nodded, locking up his house once again as they went towards the nearby cave.

The mines were the same as he had left them as well, though Steve noticed that a few more empty spaces that lacked ores were now present, most likely left by his partner in his short absence. Moving towards the darker areas of the tunnel, Steve found himself following the other a bit closer, as he didn't want to risk losing him in order to pull torches out from his pack and be left in the resulting darkness. Nothing but the sounds of their own movements and underground, flowing water accompanied them, as all the mobs within the area had cleared out once again.

As Herobrine guided him, Steve watched in silence as the other glanced around, tching as he discovered nothing, visually.

"...It was more around this area. I can feel the pulse of the frame, but I can't figure out where it's coming from."

Steve shrugged at his words.

"...Maybe it's buried?"

Herobrine shook his head at his suggestion.

"A portal such as this one was intended to be used for a long period of time. Smaller ones would be placed in more unstable locations; bigger ones were meant to be accessible no matter what. It'll be placed in an area not meant for total collapse. I don't think it'll be buried. The pathway to get to it might be, but the place it's sitting in will not."

Curious, Steve tilted his head to the side as he listened to the other's words.

"...So, a human didn't make this one? There were gods here in my village?"

Silence followed his question, and Steve found himself disappointed in his own expectation that the other was going to change his ways anytime soon.

"...Stupid question. Nevermind."

They took only a few more steps forward before Herobrine paused in his steps, this time resulting in the miner accidentally bumping into him, making him fear for his own life shortly afterward. However, Herobrine made no attempt to reprimand him, simply quietly sighing instead.

"...There were gods everywhere, but they didn't really spend much time down in the Overworld. They still don't, but I've been changing that, recently." His voice was soft, but his words held a bit of hesitancy as they were released.

Herobrine turned to face him, and Steve found that his gaze was dimmed, revealing just the slightest outlines of irises within his gaze. His illuminated expression soon turned to one of surprise as he stared at the miner.

"...Your eyes are less...vibrant." He stated.

As the other pointed out what he saw, Steve became confused.

"...What? What are you talking about?"

"...Less pink, more of the color that they were when I first encountered you." Herobrine elaborated, though, he didn't say much beyond that.

Taking the other's broken speech in slowly, Steve realized what the other was saying, and laughed nervously.

"Uh...maybe it's finally wearing off?" He suggested.

Herobrine thought to himself for a moment before moving to grab the other's wrist and drag him off, retracing their steps all the way back towards the entrance of the cave. Once they reached it, Herobrine turned back around and grabbed Steve by the shoulders, staring into his eyes for a second before his own gaze lit up in realization, figuring something out that the miner had yet to find himself.

"...I think the portal is somewhere in this cave."

Without explaining much else, Steve found himself being dragged back down the tunnel again, going straight towards the area they'd just left. The miner was getting rather annoyed by the fact that he was being moved around like a rag doll, so as best as he could, he tried to pull away from the other, finding himself to be rather unsuccessful in that attempt. The other refused to let go of him as he began to use the miner as an impromptu compass to guide them down the cavern pathway. Whenever the miner's eye color would darken back to their original violet, Herobrine would pause and look around briefly before heading towards a certain direction.

A few minutes passed before they ran by a small, partially caved-in tunnel, and the demigod found that Steve's eyes were just a half a shade away from being entirely violet, finally resulting in the man releasing the miner's wrist as he went to open the pathway. Rubbing the surface of his skin, Steve glared at the other.

"Gee, that was fun. Mind telling me why you did all that, or is that another forbidden question?"

Finally knocking away the rocks that were covering the majority of the tunnel, Herobrine sighed.

"Your eyes changed randomly, and since we had time to spare, I wanted to test out the first theory that came to mind. I think I was correct in my suspicions, though."

Herobrine motioned for the other to follow him, though Steve didn't comply immediately.

"Those suspicions being…?"

There was a solid pause between Steve's question and Herobrine's answer.

"...You're not under the side-effects of an overdose of potions and you don't have the ability to change your appearance so drastically at will. I believe that somehow, you've been cursed by some sort of magic."

The man's words utterly shocked him, but his inner defenses led him to attempt brushing off the other's suggestion immediately.

"I...that's not possible, I haven't been in contact with any magic thing or person, except...you."

Herobrine started to walk. Steve began to follow.

"...Let me elaborate. I don't think you're 'cursed' in the traditional sense. You might just be...afflicted. With what, I'm not certain, but whatever it is, it involves enough magic to be affected by the…"

As the two finally made their way through the tunnel, they moved through an abundance of vines and other cave plants to find a suspended area, held by chains attached to the ceiling, where at the very edge of the platform stood a large, unactivated black portal, semi-covered by a curtain of cave vines.

"...mere presence of a portal frame…" Herobrine finished quietly, stepping up to the structure as his eyes carefully went over its surface.

Looking around, Steve realized that they now found themselves within a semi-large underground ravine, one that neither he, nor Pickett, had stumbled upon before. It was completely void of mobs as well, seemingly because of the fact that besides the tunnel they'd taken to get in it in the first place, there was no obvious other way into the space that didn't involve digging one's way in. As he explored the small platform, he'd nearly fallen off as he walked towards the edge, realizing that they were quite high up in the air. Turning his attention back to Herobrine, he found the other at the base of the portal frame, staring up at the large structure with a certain emotion that he could not read. Moving to the side of the structure, the demigod placed a hand against the frame, only to give it the gentlest of shoves soon afterward.

That shove broke the frame of the portal.

As the portal came crashing down, Herobrine jumped back before he had the opportunity to be hit by the falling debris. As Steve watched the gateway crumble, he looked to find the demigod staring at his palm, eyes heavily focused.

Within a second, a flame had appeared in the other's hand, significantly bigger than what he'd demonstrated to the other before. Extinguishing it by closing his palm, he turned to look at the miner with a grin. Walking up to him slowly, he placed a hand on his shoulder; the same one that he used to summon the flame with.

"Well...I guess we have ourselves another way to locate portals, now do we?"

The demigod began to walk past him, leading the way back through the darkened tunnel.

"On top of that, I think I'm somewhat better off now there's one less major portal in this world. Though we still have work to do, I believe that we can now leave this area and move on to the next. I don't sense any other portals around here, and…" Herobrine pointed towards Steve's eyes, which were almost fully back to their strange vibrancy. "...Your eyes aren't all that affected. Granted, there's still obsidian present, so they're not entirely back to their abnormal color, but once we leave this place, it'll be a different story. Let's leave and meet up with the others, shall we?"

As Steve nodded slowly, he took one look back at the destroyed portal, looking over its slightly gleaming surface as the faintest breaths of magic escaped it. He didn't like the idea of him being "cursed," but if such a thing was going to bring him to new locations, he might as well enjoy it as much as he can.


The way I forgot to work on my hw and worked on this instead lmao (don't worry, I finished it all in time!)

More of a filler chapter, but we got another fight out of it, and, well, Steve found out that there's another way for him to be exploited! Whoops!

I was initially going to just introduce another champion for this chapter, but I couldn't figure out a way to do so without sending the plot into maximum overdrive to fit with the whole "not human" motif, so uhhh no new champ for this one lol.

Oh! Hey! Fun facts!:

1.) Herobrine tends to prefer riling up his opponents before and while engaging them in battle to make 'em stumble and to prevent them from being clear-headed enough to attack him with whatever strategy they had initially planned to use on him. There are only a few people who have managed to see through his ruse.

2.) Remember when I said that demigods are more likely to feel slight fluctuations in the magic within an area? Obsidian tends to conduct magical energy highly well, so in most situations, when you find someone using obsidian, there's a high chance that it was created solely for magical purposes. Given how hard it is to obtain, you won't see it used for anything else besides portal making. Smaller portals are made in the heat of the moment, and thus, won't give off too much of a magic signature until lit, but larger portals, made initially for hub centers, will tend to have already been lit in the past, meaning that they'll have a stronger pulse due to both size and magical area covered. Larger portal frames are always made from purified obsidian, so they tend to hold steady portals better than smaller ones, which vary.

3.) Steve's been through quite a number of different jobs, but mining was what he settled with after finding that he couldn't stomach raising his sword against other creatures, living or otherwise, any longer. When he used to be a mob-slayer, he went through a few trial-and-error periods before he found ways to kill every mob as fast as he could, making it as painless as possible. His experience in that job tends to drive up his courage and confidence, but as he remembers what he had to do and how he felt while doing it, he can't help but feel eternally disgusted with himself.

4.) A lot of portals exist in Minecraftia that were placed to be gateways into different cities, but for different reasons, quite a few of them were deactivated and left to stand with no way to access them. Development plans for these cities were completely dropped as well, leaving most of the land around the portals unchanged.

5.) Not as important, but my headcanon/canon heights for the mob squad Steve are as follows:

Andvari: 7 ft.

Malgun: 6'4 ft.

Steve/Herobrine: Both are 5'10 ft.

Constiere: 5'1 ft (lmao short gang rise up).

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

(I like to hear both because they tend to help me a lot with knowing what I'm doing right, and what I could improve on in the future!)