Chapter 13: God of Chance
Following the quickly-moving silverfish, the three soon found themselves in front of another temple. However, this one had been only half-buried beneath the sand, as its entrance was clearly visible amongst the desert backdrop. Standing next to the opening was Malgun, who immediately started to approach them once they came into view.
"There's someone in there. Constiere is watching them to see what they do, but I think that there could be a chance that they aren't human." Came the general's voice as he drew nearer, his tone rather quiet.
Herobrine took in his information for a moment, shock briefly appearing upon his features before he nodded in acknowledgment.
"...I believe that the silverfish are already gathering information, but did you happen to hear anything from them yet?"
"No, sir, but they don't seem to be a verbal thinker. At the moment."
Letting out a quick "Hmmm…", Herobrine nodded again, already moving to make his way into the temple, before stopping just at the entrance. Looking back at the others behind him, his eyes had dimmed considerably, though, they weren't dim enough to not produce light.
"...What gave you the idea that they weren't human?" Herobrine glanced back over at Malgun.
"...They appeared out of nowhere. Me and Constiere were looking around, and then we heard them come in. No warning, nothing. Neither of our forces came in to warn us of anybody approaching, so the only explanation we have is that they teleported into the temple."
Herobrine didn't let a second pass after the general's words came to him before he walked into the temple, eyes peering down into the main room below the floor they were on with a certain amount of hatred and anger that was one degree short of seething. As the demigod glanced around the area for the individual in question, once his gaze landed upon the stranger in full, he moved away from the opening and quickly as possible and exited the temple once again in a rush.
"You were correct. We're in danger."
"What?!" Steve asked, only to receive a harsh "Shh!" from Herobrine.
"That individual in there is the god of Chance, and we don't exactly want to roll the dice with him."
Still confused and a bit amused at the fact that the demigod had used a pun, Steve disregarded the other's attempt to quiet him.
"What? Who's-"
"-Caraway. A faulty seer. An Aethren Divine who, despite having unhelpful abilities, was given a high position that places him right on our list of concerns."
Giving the miner a glare, Herobrine walked past him briskly, grabbing his wrist as he went by, which earned a surprised "Hey!" from him. Taking Steve a considerable distance away from the temple, Herobrine let go once the others weren't within listening distance.
"There. You know about Caraway. Now stay out of the way and remain right here," Herobrine pointed directly to the spot beneath Steve's feet. "until we're done spying on him and we find out what else is in the temple. Do not attempt to interact with him. Do not attempt to befriend him. He is not someone that you can sway."
Steve glared at him back, a brow raised slightly.
"...You said something similar abo-"
"-Minos, yes, but this is different. Caraway doesn't even pretend to care. He's not as emotional as Minos is, and he's not as compassionate either, as much as I hate to admit it. You will place yourself in a kind of danger that none of us can afford to save you from. We need to know the reason he's here, and that's it. If he's only present to visit the temple and nothing else, we can ignore him. If he's here for the same reasons Minos was, then, like I've said before, we're in danger."
Backing away from Steve towards the temple, Herobrine began to walk away. Before he fully faced away from the other to do so, he gave once last commanding gaze.
"Stay."
As Herobrine got out of hearing range, Steve huffed to himself.
"...I'm not a dog." He muttered under his breath, watching the others as they attempted to sneak into the temple without being detected.
In the darkness of the desert, he almost lost sight of the group as they became hidden underneath the sea of stars above them. Only identifying them by their eyes, with Herobrine having the brightest pair despite his efforts to dim them, Steve watched in interest as they went about in different directions to have better vantage points to watch the stranger in. Only the sound of a gentle breeze came to his ears, carrying with it a slight layer of sand that had to be swept away from his vision.
"Ah. I see that the odds I had in mind were entirely possible."
Nearly jumping out of his own skin in fear, Steve turned around to find a pair of slightly glowing, golden eyes staring back at him, only for a hand to clutch against his shoulder tightly in an attempt to keep him from escaping. It worked.
"...H-huh?" Was all that could escape Steve's mouth.
"The original probability of Herobrine being in this general area was roughly 10%, as is typically the case. The odds of him being here in particular to scope out the temples, should he actually be in the area, was 45%, with room for the possibility that he's simply here to walk through an area without places for potential enemies to hide. The chances of him being accompanied were guaranteed with absolute certainty, 100%, but him being accompanied by a human? Less than 5%." The stranger spoke almost robotically with words so quick that Steve was only barely able to process a couple of them.
The stranger let go of his shoulder, and began to circle him.
"Given that you are human, there's a 80% percent chance that you're a hostage of his, but...you aren't being monitored directly, so...were my percentages incorrect?" The man thought to himself for a moment, before shaking his head, seemingly forgetting that Steve was even there in the first place. "No...no. This event is just highly unlikely. If that's the case, then…"
Looking him over briefly, the other paused in his tracks, only to tilt his head slightly in an inquisitive manner.
"There's a chance that your name is Steven. Roughly 5%. Quite high, actually."
Slowly nodding his head, Steve opened his mouth in order to respond verbally, but was immediately cut off as the other began to pace around him once again.
"Ah yes. Steven. Steven...whatever the world has given you as a surname. I had calculated the odds of Herobrine encountering a human such as yourself and keeping you alive, and given his nature, that percentage was originally quite low, but I see that the situation has changed in ways we have not considered, yet."
Seeing the look of confusion upon his face, the other locked gazes with the miner as his hand went under the one-sided, vibrantly-patterned black cape he was wearing.
"There's a 95% chance that you don't realize who I am, correct? If you're in association with Herobrine, then there's a 100% percent chance that he's attempted to indoctrinate you with false information, but an equally-as-likely percentage of you being so human-minded that your brain can't keep up with those of divine status, so allow me to clarify some particular items of interest."
Stepping closer to Steve, the stranger slightly relaxed his intense eye contact.
"My name is Caraway, and I'm the god of Chance. My duties are to access the probabilities of any and all situations within the various realms of our reality and to identify which matters should be taken directly into the hands of higher beings. I've arrived here based on the possibility of encountering Herobrine, on the orders of the king. I am not here to patrol the area, I've come to directly encounter the threat and assess it accordingly."
Pulling out what appeared to be cards from beneath his cape, Caraway gave Steve a small smile.
"I'm not particularly our best mercenary, but I have a roughly 11% chance of making it out of a fight, with Herobrine directly, alive. On the other hand...if I managed to place barriers in his way...then he wouldn't be a threat for much longer...that has a chance of roughly 25%...It's only so small because he has a tendency to overcome most of the barriers we place before him, and-"
"-Hold up, hold up. Pause. Please." Steve begged, holding up his hands in order to silence the other. "I'm just a regular guy, here. I don't understand a word of what you're saying, and I-"
Caraway's eyes raised slightly before he vanished completely from Steve's sight, causing him to flinch at the abruptness.
"...Okay?!" Steve whispered, wildly gesturing around at the spot the other was just standing in, utterly dumbfounded.
A few moments after Caraway had left, he found himself being approached by a sand-covered Constiere, who ran up to him, out-of-breath.
"T-there's...s-something…something about the por-" Constiere studied his confused expression for a moment. "...What happened to you?"
Steve blinked.
"...Nothing. I…"
Constiere gathered himself, raising a brow.
"...Well anyways...There's stuff about a portal on the walls of this temple, so master told me to come get you! That weird guy left, and we couldn't find him, so it's safe for now."
Nodding, Steve shook off most of his emotions and began to walk towards the temple, followed closely by Constiere.
"Y-yeah. Okay. I hope he doesn't come back, or whatever."
Coming back near the temple, Constiere quickly led Steve into a relatively safe entrance down into the lowest-level room, where the other three were currently examining the walls around them. As Herobrine turned around to see who had entered the space with them, his gaze fell suspiciously on Steve, who still looked a bit startled, though only barely.
"We've found some evidence that a portal is somewhere around the area. According to the drawings here, a civilization that had direct contact with the gods existed, and they used the portal more as...well…" Andvari explained, though his words trailed off as he had to lean more towards the drawings on the wall in order to better have a look.
"...A beacon. A way to find them easily. A way to get to where they were, easily." Herobrine quietly finished.
Looking upon the walls himself, Steve drew nearer, taking note of the evidence that they had found. Various images, painted in mostly a faded orange, decorated the walls as far as he could see. The only thing that stood out amongst the drawings, apart from the various different depictions of humans and mobs alike, was what appeared to be a large, heavily-decorated portal frame, colored entirely in black. His eyes focused on it in particular, noting how the figures around it seemed to be awaiting something. Or, alternatively, they were worshipping it, for reasons unknown.
"Why did they need direct contact like that?" The miner asked curiously, looking to the others for an answer.
Andvari shrugged as it appeared that Herobrine had ignored his question entirely, turning to walk away.
"A lot of the divines were like that, back then. Wanting to communicate like that, I mean. I'm not quite sure if they still hang around like these pictures depict anymore, other than to see if the master is around."
Letting out a quiet "Ah." in response, Steve's attention soon fell back upon the drawings on the temple, his gaze running over them as he moved to grab his journal from within his pack in order to capture some of the images himself.
In the near-silence of the temple, he heard the quiet voice of Herobrine slightly echo a short distance as he spoke.
"...I believe that they do, sometimes. Always love to stroke their own egos for the hell of it."
Rolling his eyes, Steve found his book, taking it out and flipping it open to a blank page. Taking out a quill as well, he began to sketch very lightly upon the small canvas in front of him, giving quick glances upward to see if his drawings were accurate. A few moments of quiet exploration passed before a voice carried itself throughout the room, though not in an excessively loud manner.
"...Andvari, Constiere, Malgun. See if there are additional drawings elsewhere. Such as in the towers." Herobrine commanded, still with a rather quiet tone. Without so much as a second thought, the others acknowledged him with a nod and did as he said, going off in different directions to further explore the temple.
Watching them leave, Herobrine then turned toward Steve, slowly approaching him with absolute quietness. When the miner looked up to glance at the wall again, he jumped as he noticed the sudden closer presence of the other out of the corner of his eye, who was peering over slightly to see what he'd jotted down so far.
Herobrine looked up from the pages to stare at him with eyes that suggested vague interest.
"...I hate to admit it, but you carrying around that book intrigues me. Why?"
"...Did you clear out the room just to talk?" A smirk appeared on Steve's face, which was met with a glare.
"...Answer the question, Steven."
A small laugh left the miner's lips.
"I...my friend Selwyn writes some journals for me, so that I can read about her journeys on my own time so that she doesn't have to waste so much of hers. I thought it was a neat idea to write down my experiences, so I brought some writing stuff, too. Also, I...kinda thought it'd be helpful to write some of the important stuff down so that we could keep track of it."
His words earned a slow nod from the demigod, who softened his glare back into a rather neutral state.
"...I see. Noting the details might actually benefit us in the long run, and having them on paper would be better than simply going off memory." Herobrine paused, looking back at the area that the mob generals had ventured off to. "...Though, our memories have served us quite well, so far."
Herobrine began to walk away from the other, hands held behind his back.
"...Do you know any history about this area, perhaps? Anymore from the traveler you keep mentioning?"
Steve shook his head, the action unseen by the other, but well-heard within the brief silence.
"Nope. Nothing."
"...I'm still rather shocked that you truly know nothing about the world outside your village, yet you were chosen in particular to venture out into the beyond."
Steve shrugged, glancing back down at his book.
"A lot of champions are the same, I guess. I dunno what makes some of us qualified, and others not, but I guess it doesn't matter once we're out and about."
"...Did you not have an education?"
Steve looked up from his unfinished drawing to glare at the other.
"I did. Mostly in Crystalia."
Hearing a scoff, Steve braced himself for whatever harsh words that intended to get under his skin to leave the other's mouth.
"...You can barely call that an education, but whatever. I guess it counts. Shame though, that city was close-minded, and so was its idea of the world. You wouldn't have even heard of this area if you had bribed someone for the information."
Relaxing a bit, Steve turned back to his book, finishing the portion of the image he was working on. It was still a rather crummy-looking sketch of the intricate drawing right in front of him, but that didn't mean that he felt any less proud about it. Moving over to sketch another portion of the wall art, Steve didn't notice that Herobrine had turned to follow after him once again, gaze focused solely on the miner and nothing else.
"...I noticed that you were rather...unsettled earlier."
Ah, there it was.
Steve assumed that the other wanted to speak with him about something specific, and not because the other had suddenly grown more curious about his level of knowledge.
"...Yeah?"
"...Why?"
Not knowing if mentioning the fact that another divine being had encountered him would make the other react negatively towards him, Steve shrugged.
"...I dunno. Just still not used to the whole being around mobs casually thing. Had one sneak up on me."
A brief moment of silence followed his words, and Steve found him slightly tensing up at the sudden lack of the other's presence in the conversation. He knew that he was still there, of course, but it didn't feel at all like Herobrine was there. Keeping his expression as neutral as possible, Steve continued sketching, pretending to not even notice how much closer the other had drawn nearer to him all of a sudden.
"...You know that I'm aware of when you lie, correct?" Came the demigod in a low voice, his gaze accusatory.
"Why do you assume that I'm lying?" Steve attempted to fight back.
"...I hunt humans. Do you truly believe that I wouldn't be able to pick up on the various different emotional states of my so-called 'prey'? That I wouldn't be able to feel the rush of their blood as if it was my own? My abilities may not be as they usually are, but I can still determine whether your words are to be trusted, or not."
Moving to stand right in front of the other, Herobrine waited until Steve reluctantly met his gaze in order to continue.
"...Was it Caraway?"
Not wanting to anger the other in a space with no witnesses, Steve nodded his head slightly.
"Y-yeah, but he...he came and went. Showed up out of nowhere, spoke about stuff I didn't understand, then left."
"...That sounds like him. If he finds the odds favorable, we can expect for him to come back anytime soon."
Steve nodded once again, still a bit tense from expecting the other to be more hostile toward him.
"Guess I'll hurry up, then."
Going back to his book, Steve walked away in order to place as much space between him and Herobrine as possible. Keeping his focus downward, he copied as much of the wall as he could, making sure that the portal was the main focal point of his sketch. A few of the drawings were accompanied by words written in a language he couldn't hope to understand. Even though he copied what he could, he felt like he didn't do it any justice. Once finished, he began to look at the artwork on the walls at his leisure, keeping the book flipped open in order to allow the pages to dry. After a few minutes of walking slowly around the room, viewing the art in silence, Steve went and pressed his fingers against the pages of his book, finding that the ink had dried. Closing it, Steve then went to place the book back in its spot within his pack, taking the bag from his shoulder off in order to do so properly. Looking down at his belongings, he sighed quietly to himself, still rather thankful that Andvari had sorted things out within his bag so he didn't have to stuff the book haphazardly in the rest of his stuff.
Steve closed the bag once the book was sound and secure. Just as he went to look up and place the bag back on his back, something wooshed over his head, landing deep within the wall before him as he flinched at the sound of direct contact. Looking closer, Steve found what appeared to be...a card?
Looking back, he already found Herobrine in front of him, sword drawn.
"Hello, Herobrine." A calm, calculated voice rang out throughout the room.
Not all too surprised that Caraway had returned, Steve attempted to move away from where he currently was, finding that the only available places to hide were either behind Herobrine himself, or behind a pillar.
He chose Herobrine.
"Caraway." Herobrine spat out, eyes narrowed at the other.
"...Please put that sword away. You have a 99% chance of not needing it, at the moment."
"Am I supposed to ignore that 1%?" Herobrine raised his sword higher, pointing it directly at Caraway's throat.
"N-no! Just…" Caraway let out a sigh.
With a wave of his hand, the card that had dug its way into the wall behind them pulled itself out, returning to the other's fingertips rather quickly.
"...Maxwell sends his regards."
Herobrine scoffed.
"...That's a damn lie, and you know it."
"...There's a 65% chance of you becoming more enjoyable as a person for both yourself and others if you learn how to appreciate optimism."
Walking closer only slightly, Caraway stood tall as he looked at the other with slight fear and mostly deep judgment. He took a deep breath before speaking, moving a strand of strawberry blonde hair away from his face.
"I believe that the saying is: 'don't shoot the messenger.' As you know, the king isn't pleased with what you've do-"
"I don't care about how he feels. Get to the point, why are you here?"
Caraway glared at Herobrine.
"...There was a 45% chance of encountering you here, and a 10% chance of encountering you in general. Those were the best odds we've had in a while."
Casting a quick glance back at Steve, Caraway's focus was set on him instead of the demigod in front of him.
"...It deeply disturbs me to see your face twice, but I'm more intrigued by the fact that you have a mortal with you in the first place."
"Caraway, pay no mind to him, and tell me why you needed to encounter me! I know that you aren't here for a fight, unless you really wanted to test your chances."
Shaking his head, Caraway backed away a couple of steps.
"No...I've come to offer you a merciful word of caution."
Perking up slightly, Herobrine lowered his sword a bit.
"...I'm assuming that Maxwell wasn't the one who sent you directly, then?"
Caraway shook his head.
"Maxwell did send me, but it was your brother who told me to warn you directly about his intentions."
Though Herobrine's face was completely hidden from his view, Steve watched as the other's body slightly tensed up at the mention of his sibling.
"Now, I was also told to engage in a battle with you, from Maxwell of course, but given that those odds were beyond poor in terms of me getting out alive, you won't have to worry about expending any energy. For now."
Turning away from the demigod, Caraway began pacing around the room.
"Maxwell has decided that enough is enough, and will be making a decision within the coming days of whether or not to send other divines down here in larger quantities permanently. I've been telling him that the last time he tried that, it went poorly, but...you know. Maxwell is Maxwell, and I am me, and you are you. They will not be coming to collect you and put you on trial. You will be killed, at Maxwell's command. Or more accurately, they will try to kill you."
Herobrine rolled his eyes at the information.
"...You came to tell me something I already assumed. Why not actually give me a fight so that your trip was legitimately worthwhile?"
Caraway held up a hand in defense.
"Again, no! Besides, I can't do much to change the odds in my favor! The whole...ugh, atmosphere of this place is strange. Everything in the Aether is perfectly fine, but when I stepped into this realm, my powers-"
"-Were diminished?..." Herobrine finished, eyes widening in realization.
"...Yes. I can only access the chances within this world as they are. I cannot change them, or anything of the sort. It's quite bizarre. I noticed it before and reported it, but we've yet to find a cause." Caraway paused, before looking up at Herobrine with an accusatory glare.
"...Most divines are speculating that you have something to do with it. In fact, there's an 80% chance that's why Maxwell made his decision."
Herobrine took a moment to process the other's words before stepping closer to him.
"Wait, they believe that this was my doing?"
"You say it's not?"
"It isn't. I...I have guesses for what's truly causing it. But that's not important, they think it's me?"
Caraway shrugged, backing away as the other got closer.
"...You're the only one who spends time down here messing with things directly-"
"-Blatantly incorrect-"
"-Out of the ones who are willing to admit so. It's only natural to draw such a conclusion, Herobrine."
Caraway sighed.
"...It's a sure shame what must occur. Or what might occur. You have a decent chance of making it out of all encounters, regardless of what I do. It's just rather unfortunate that the mortal will have to perish, most definitely."
Glancing back at Steve briefly, Herobrine watched as the miner's expression turned to one of pure fear and shock.
"W-what?! Why me?!" Steve exclaimed, pointing at himself.
"I explained the odds of a mortal getting involved with Herobrine to the king. He said that it didn't matter if a mortal chose to place themselves within the situation, they'd die as well. Just to make sure that any post-mortem plans couldn't be carried out."
Whipping his head back to glare at the other, Herobrine began to walk steadily toward the other once again.
"That won't be happening. My plans will be going forward, and you will not be harming him."
"...Huh?" Caraway asked quietly.
"You heard me. There's nothing you can do about me completing what I've set out to do, and there's nothing you can do to hurt him. The human."
Caraway stood silently in what was seemingly utter shock, staring at the demigod like he'd killed a man right in front of him.
It seemed like ages until the other finally spoke once again, but once he did, a haze of disbelief coated his words.
"You...you don't."
Herobrine blinked.
"...Don't what?"
"You don't seriously spare a thought for the human."
Herobrine found his patience beginning to wear thin, but nevertheless, he rolled his eyes and made an effort to make the sword in his hands more threatening by jabbing it a bit towards the other's general direction.
"Is it so egregious that I act differently from the animal you so perceive me to be?"
"...You hate humans. This is well documented."
Noting the point the other was trying to make, Herobrine let out a small groan.
"...Yes."
"You're protecting a human."
"Yes."
"You hate humans."
"You already made that point, get on with it!"
"There would normally be a 100% chance of you coming into contact with a human solely to bring harm to them and cut their life short, and yet here you are, offering protection to this one."
"Yes, and?"
"Let me state that again. 100% chance of you meeting a human only to kill them. No singular room for doubt."
Herobrine cast a glance off to the side, slight embarrassment on his features.
"...Maybe your statistics were wrong, then."
"In how your encounters with humans work out? Absolutely. In you actually developing worry for their well-being enough to not throw them directly into danger yourself? That's what I'm confused about."
"You're confused about the wrong things-"
"-I am not! There should be a near-zero percentage chance of you developing any sort of concern for mere mort-"
"-Don't you get it?! Your stupid statistics can't do anything to change or explain the fact that I just simply care about him!" Herobrine angrily exclaimed, a look of utter horror on his face once he'd realized what had escaped his mouth in a blind rage.
"...I have concern for the possibility of him being killed by one of you fools! I have use for him, and I've yet to actually put him to that good use. I can't afford to not...care. His death would-"
"-Have a very high percentage of leading to unanswered questions and a good possibility of failure. Yes, I've now calculated that." Caraway finished, pulling out another card with his magic.
"Thank you for helping me work that process out, Herobrine. I was a bit dumbfounded on why you would keep a mortal around, but I see that the simple explanation is that you'll use them for something."
Caraway thought to himself for a moment, before shaking his head and moving the card to gently float in front of him as he directed it to with his finger.
"...I suppose that's why it'd be beneficial to eliminate you both. Not for the possibility of a post-mortem revenge scheme, but a current undetermined method of use. Simple. I get it."
Launching the card towards Herobrine with a quick wave of his hand, Caraway watched emotionlessly as the card was simply cut in half, immediately becoming quite useless.
"...Your reaction time isn't as quick as it used to be. I suppose I can report that, at least, in terms of general updates about your condition."
With a growl of frustration, Herobrine quickly closed the distance between him and Caraway, but before he could land a hit upon the other, he had teleported away. Glancing around quickly to see if the other would give any other sort of parting message, the demigod let out a sigh as he heard nothing. Letting his blade hit the ground in a show of exasperation, Herobrine turned around, only to remember that he wasn't exactly the only figure in the room at the moment.
Steve's eyes fell upon the other's tired expression.
"...I-"
"Let's go, Steven. I'm assuming you've jotted down everything important, yes?"
Steve nodded slowly, feeling a bit worried for the other as his voice indicted even more mental exhaustion than he'd ever heard from him before.
"Y-yeah."
"Then don't delay."
Herobrine briskly turned around to walk out of the temple through the tower that Steve had been led to the room through. The miner followed as quickly as he could.
They passed right by the rather concerned group of mob generals that were waiting for them to finish their encounter with the Aethren divine they were talking to, but neither of the two stopped until they were quite a distance away from the temple. Herobrine stopped abruptly, causing Steve to stop at a considerable distance away from him. As he turned to face the miner, all Steve saw was a vast array of emotions that suggested that the other was somewhat...uncomfortable.
Herobrine refused to look him directly in the eyes.
Though the darkness of the desert was only barely lit up by the moon, as Steve stared at the other's darkened features, he saw the traces of clear embarrassment there in plain sight, hidden beneath a layer of childish anger.
Suddenly, Herobrine's voice broke through the desert tranquility.
"...I've said that your human influences are getting to me, and I have to be transparent with you about this, lest you take this situation and weaponize it against me in the future."
Herobrine approached him slowly, Stopping roughly a foot away as he locked gazes with him.
"...I can't stare at my own face and not feel pathetic about seeing a weaker version of myself in broad daylight. Or moonlight. Or whatever time of day it is. The word 'care' slipped from my mouth in a moment of clouded judgment, but my true thoughts are that I have concern for you. I could care less about what happens to you once we're done with dealing with this whole situation. I have concerns about whether or not you can see it through to the end, on your own. That's why I proposed taking you alongside us."
Looking away briefly to recollect his thoughts, Herobrine narrowed his gaze.
"There's quite a genuine fear I have of not being able to complete my task before your demise. It would quite mean the destruction of everything I have set out to do, as well as lead to a dead-end on the question of why you share my face."
Steve blinked at the other's words.
'...Oh. He was concerned about how I'd take what he said in the temple?'
Silence filled the space between them for a moment, before Herobrine let out a frustrated sigh once again.
"...I hate that ignorant fool. He listens blindly to his leadership, and always annoys the ever-loving-hell out of me. He knows how to cloud my judgment with anger, at the very least."
Turning away from Steve, Herobrine relaxed his tense shoulders as he began to walk away from the other.
Hearing footsteps within the sand behind him, Steve turned to find Constiere approaching him curiously.
"...Is he really bothered by what happened?" Came his unusually quiet, inquisitive voice.
"...You saw all that? Everything that happened in the temple?" Steve asked, casting a quick glance back at Herobrine, who'd already walked quite a distance away from him.
"Well, yeah. Heard the commotion and whatever, but we didn't intervene because Herobrine generally tells us not to engage with the guys from the Aether. Probably because if we did, we'd end up with direct targets on our backs, like you." Constiere pointed directly at him, a small, teasing smile appearing on his face.
"Looks like you can't play innocent now, hu-"
Constiere let out a "Hey!" As he was lifted from the collar off the ground from behind, leading to Steve finally noticing that Andvari had joined the conversation.
"...I would've joined by the master's side, but I know that he'd much rather prefer to sort things out on his own, at the moment."
Setting Constiere on the ground behind him, Andvari looked at Steve with a concerned gaze.
"...I'm assuming that it's not a particularly comforting thought to know for certain that the gods are coming after you as well, correct? It was a simple question, earlier, but now it's certain."
Steve thought for a moment before shaking his head.
"I...I haven't even had time to process that, to be honest. I was kinda...well, my brain was occupied with other things, actually." Steve let out a small laugh, earning a rather tiny smile from the enderman.
"At least you can take some time to process it, then. We still have to move on, but regardless, it's great to hear that you'll be okay."
Slightly surprised at the other's more direct concern, Steve gave him a genuine smile.
"I'll worry about it endlessly later, but thanks for checking up on me!"
Nodding in response, Andvari left the two, teleporting away in order to catch up with Herobrine.
Mumbling to himself, Constiere stepped closer to Steve as he watched the other approach the demigod in the distance.
"...Honestly, kinda annoying."
Steve looked back at him with slight confusion.
"Huh?"
"I mean, I appreciate him being our like, solid voice of reason, but would it kill him to let loose once in a while?" Casting a glance upward at the other, Constiere let out a laugh. "He doesn't need to make sure that you're all in one piece every two minutes, right?"
Steve shrugged.
"...It's nice to have at least someone here who's worried about me."
Constiere blinked at him.
"...I mean, we all are, technically. Just for different reasons."
Tilting his head in confusion, Steve opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the other.
"Ah ah ah! Sssh!" Constiere held a finger up to his lips. "Master is worried about you because he hasn't reached his goal yet, I'm worried because you're too much fun to mess with to lose, Andvari is worried because, well, he's Andvari, and Malgun...I dunno about Malgun, but he's usually worried about whether or not people are well-equipped for danger, so maybe that's it?"
Nodding, Steve took note of the information.
Maybe he hadn't made so much progress in gaining the group's trust and sympathy, but at least they had some sort of concern about him. Self-serving reasons, of course, but at least something had been placed as a sturdy foundation. All he needed to do was test the limits, and see how well he could build on that foundation.
Besides, given the fact that they were actively being targeted by literal gods, maybe a bit of peril would help strengthen bonds?
"...I guess that makes sense."
Constiere nudged him a bit with his elbow.
"Of course it does!"
Looking back at the other two before them, Constiere sighed.
"...I wonder if we're heading for the portal next, or we're gonna be going into hiding, or whatever, thanks to the Aether. I mean, they haven't stopped us before, but..."
"...It's still concerning?" Steve finished.
"...Yeah."
Casting a glance upward at the moon, Steve led Constiere's gaze as they noticed that it had fallen considerably in the sky, indicating that they'd have to reach for cover rather soon.
"...I hope we have enough time to deal with everything." Constiere said quietly, worry clear in his tone.
"...Yeah." Steve quietly agreed, beginning to walk forward in order to catch up with the group ahead.
AHHHHHHH I'm back!
Sorry for the long wait. I know I said that there would be a delay, but I ended up deciding that I would take a week delay. Especially since I couldn't work on the fic anyways bc finals snuck up on me lmao
FYI Y'all: I usually update my profile whenever I can to include current info about the chapters I'm working on! If I'm particularly late (like this time), I'll usually put up some info on why up there! Besides, even if I'm not late, I like to update it to keep y'all posted on my process here, lol.
For some background stuff on working on this chapter, I've been listening to two soundtracks in particular for the past couple of months! The Minecraft universe soundtracks (I'm talking about the soundtracks for the OG game, Minecraft:Story Mode, and Minecraft Dungeons, lol), and the Free Realms Soundtrack. I have the MC soundtrack for nighttime and the FR soundtrack for day. I've been sprinkling in some other OSTs as well, mainly Coraline, Hollow Knight, and Skyrim, again, but Nintendo music in general really helps with keeping focus! Kinda obsessing over the Friday Night Funkin' OST too bc I tried it for the first time this week and failed miserably lmao
Anyhoo, back to story stuff!
Caraway is in the picture now! Probably my fav character design I have, lol. I know we can't put up images here, but I made a mouse sketch of him, and I can't wait for the opportunity to do a proper tablet sketch of him lol. Even though he's a background character essentially, I like him!
Fun facts! Woohoo!:
1.) Caraway is the god of Chance, and he oversees (and partially controls) the chances of things happening within the realms! I hope I can explain this well enough, but he's like, the person who determines the set percentages of things like encountering people, what the outcomes of a battle may be, all sorts of stuff like that (think like, spawning chances, as well). Because of his usefulness in that regard, he's a top advisor within the main kingdom of the Aether! He helps the leadership there with determining whether or not to go forward with plans, ideas, etc.
2.) Caraway's name is a pun on "Carried away", lol. He typically gets carried away with following his percentages to a T and refusing to change them for anybody, only in the most dire circumstances. It's not like he doesn't have the power to do so, he does, it's just that changing the possibility of a future outcome is so taxing upon him. Doing so also temporarily blinds him from making new predictions or determining new percentages, which can allow enemies to gain an advantage.
3.) Caraway has one arm. The one time he decided to take chances on a dangerous event with poor odds was the last time he ever trusted his own impulsiveness.
4.) Caraway is only slightly older than Herobrine, by like, a few months, lol. They knew each other briefly before, but not on a personal level. More like an "I acknowledge you exist" type beat.
5.) If you want to see more than just a glimpse of what Caraway's hellish thought process is like, here u go:
"If I venture outside of this temple, then there's a 35% chance of there being a mortal outside for me to approach. If I can assume that there is, then there's a 50% chance that they're directly accompanying Herobrine. If they are, then there's an 80% chance that they're being held against their will. If they are being held against their will, then there's a 20% chance that they're one of five individuals from around the area. If not…"
6.) Caraway answers first and foremost to the king of the Aether.
Back to a regular schedule, sort of! If you have any thoughts or criticisms, leave a review!
