Chapter 21: In the Ground
How would he prove his dedication?
Allowing Squash to further guide him, Steve watched the forest scenery go by as he glanced over to Malgun's back, wondering about his previous words as he attempted to devise a plan to present to both him and Constiere. Had he not spoken to the skeleton, he wouldn't have gotten this key information about what Herobrine deemed impressive. Though, what was worthy enough to dedicate himself to that could possibly impress Herobrine enough to let down his walls quicker? Humanity was a bust, and his passions were only mere mortal things that Herobrine would most likely mock rather than admire.
How crazy did he have to get in order to prove he was dedicated, anyways? In Malgun's case, he had continued to challenge Herobrine to battles, even after losing badly on multiple occasions. In Constiere's, he swore unwavering loyalty to the demigod after death, taking him at his word and following his commands without issue. How could he even compete with that? He didn't want to necessarily fight the other constantly, and he didn't want to follow him without the ability to protest either.
He wasn't even fully dedicated to this whole "champion" business, and he was an actual champion. He was mostly dedicated to his job and his close friends, and he highly doubted that Herobrine would be impressed by either of those things either. What could he possibly do to convince the demigod to be more expressive? To convince him that they could interact with each other freely beyond a surface level? How could they move past square one?
The forest eventually gave way into grassy plains, and Steve found himself being broken from his line of thought as he was hit with a chilly breeze and the smell of blooming winter flowers. As he took in a deep, appreciative breath, his nose caught what his rested gaze hadn't, causing him to look around in confusion briefly before his eyes landed upon the sight of a large, rolling sheet of blue crawling onto a far-away line of sand.
"Wait, is that the shoreline?! Here?!" He asked, sitting up straight abruptly as he tried to lean forward in order to get confirmation of his findings.
Hearing his excitement, Herobrine followed his gaze as he too spotted the beach in the distance, squinting a bit as he attempted to find any hint of another shore on the opposite edge of the water.
"...Appears so."
Holding out his palm, Herobrine didn't even turn to look as Andvari noticed the action, teleported away, and came back almost immediately, handing over their map as the demigod immediately unrolled it and began to scan over it.
"...We're slightly off-course, but that shouldn't be an issue. If we keep along the treeline here, we'll still be making our way toward Brickston in a relatively quick manner." He said, pointing at their next location on the map before rolling it up again, this time keeping it in his grasp as they continued walking.
Keeping his gaze fixated upon the distant shoreline, Steve watched as the lowering sun reflected its rays across the ocean, finding himself somewhat captivated by the sight of sparkling waters. In all honesty, it had been ages since he last came near the ocean, having not found any reason to do so. Though the majority of his experiences had deeper details lost to time, he faintly remembered the feeling of treading the waves, staring at their calming colors from above.
His eyes scanned the beach eagerly as he attempted to capture a full image of the scenery in his head. The beach itself was skinny and not as impressive, but the grassy plains that ate into the shoreline more than made up for the lack of sand, hugging the area with even prettier scenery. As he looked over the plains, his eyes glanced over the various patches of blooming, in-season flora that accented the area rather nicely. Following these patches, his eyes caught a pattern of thinning petals and groups of flowers as they came more inland and farther away from the beach, slightly intriguing him.
Suddenly, he found his attention being taken elsewhere as his eyes fell upon a flattened area of grass. Squinting to try and get a better look, he was even more surprised to find a complete absence of ground in the middle of the flattened grass. From where he was, there appeared to be a giant hole in the ground.
Without mentioning a word, Steve slowed Squash's pace and allowed the others to go more in front of him, instead moving to direct her toward the strange sight. Intrigued by his discovery, as he slowly approached the sight he tried to lean over the beast as best he could to see more into the hole, wondering if it was an entrance to a cave, or merely just a random pit. Before he even reached the edge of the entrance, his eyes widened in shock as he caught the brief sight of wood down below, his hands moving to stop Squash in her tracks entirely. Dismounting from her back, he carefully approached the edge so as to not unfortunately fall in, dropping to his knees as he peered over.
The hole was rather deep, but right there, tucked into the earth, was what appeared to be a small village, with various people sitting outside their homes and others slowly moving about.
"What?..." He asked himself quietly in shock.
"A village?..." A voice came from beside him that wasn't his.
Letting out a small yelp of surprise, Steve realized that in his complete and utter distraction, he hadn't noticed that Herobrine had suddenly found his way beside him, though, Steve heavily doubted that he would've been able to hear the other come up to him even if he was paying attention. As the other stared down at the village, Steve watched as he pulled out the map once again, taking a few brief looks between it and the village as he examined the sight for himself.
"...It's not here on the map. Not even a dot for this ditch that it's in…" Herobrine said quietly, slowly rolling up the map as he took a closer look at the features of the location.
While Herobrine examined the cavern village, Steve looked back to find the mob generals standing beneath the trees, watching both them and the setting sun with curiosity. He supposed that Herobrine would tell them about the cave later, but right now, Steve found his attention to be more captivated by the confused demigod than anything else.
Herobrine's gaze narrowed as his eyes fell upon the sight of dark bricks down below, ones that Steve hadn't seen before in his life. Remembering that the miner was still present, Herobrine cast a quick look over to him before speaking.
"...Remember when I said that Maemond Pond had used blackstone in its creation?"
Thinking about the demigod's words for a moment, Steve thought back briefly before nodding slowly.
"Something like that, yeah. I remember. Is that it?" He answered quietly while pointing down at the bricks out in the open within the village, giving Herobrine a curious look.
"Yes. That's polished blackstone. What's odd about its appearance down there is the fact that it's even here at all."
Looking back at the rest of the village, Steve trailed the sight of the blackstone bricks as it made up a strange structure deeper within the space, situated right next to a larger, wooden building.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Something that originates from the Nether shouldn't be here if there's no portal around to bring it from. I don't feel a portal anywhere near here, and my abilities have only strengthened. I don't even see how these people managed to get down there to even build something like-"
The demigod's words were cut short as his eyes focused on the sight of something bright turquoise creeping into the grass not too far away from them. As Steve looked at him, he felt a bit disturbed as the other's demeanor had suddenly shifted from a calm, collected figure to someone captivated by nothing but shock and fear. Crawling over to the sight, Herobrine reached out a hand in order to touch the mystery item, looking slightly over the edge a bit to see where it went. Following his troubled gaze, Steve found that the thing that appeared to be a rope was hung over the edge, reaching all the way down to the bottom of the cave, right in front of the stone pathways within.
With a bit of excitement, Steve began to make his way over to the sight.
"Hey, is that a ro-"
"-Don't come any closer!" Herobrine turned to him abruptly and held out his palm, stopping the other in his tracks.
Flinching at the other's sudden rise in volume, Steve stopped his movements, looking at the other with even more confusion. Watching the demigod slowly turn back to the green "rope" when he realized that the miner wouldn't move forward anymore, Steve waited for him to speak to him again.
Carefully running a hand over the "rope," Herobrine let out a small groan of frustration.
"You...ugh, you're lucky that this one is dead, otherwise we would've had a serious problem on our hands."
With a brief look of surprise, Steve looked down at their discovery.
"...Dead?"
Moving back in order to let the other see better, Herobrine looked at Steve with a serious, slightly wavering gaze.
"These vines, here, are from a place in the Nether that's not kind to the living. When alive, they usually produce a horrid coat of oil that melts away layers of your flesh for consumption. Their thorns hold most of that oil, but it appears to me that some nitwit had the bright idea to trim them off, yet still bring it here for use! There's still slight traces of a coat here!"
Bringing a hand up to his temples, Herobrine returned his focus back to the vines.
"...Their sturdiness and tendency to dig into tough places must've made them attractive enough to bring here to mark this space as an entry point. Even in death, they can't be ripped from the earth…but why not use a regular rope? Or hell, why not craft a stairway?"
Leaning back over the edge of the hole, Herobrine looked over the village to assess its condition.
"...I sense no portal, but the air here is...off. Disturbed. Sick, even."
At the mention of "sick," Steve's expression turned into one of legitimate worry, overshadowing his pinkish-violet gaze as he looked down at the people below with more attention to detail.
Now that it had been pointed out, the villagers here did look rather...ill. Though he at first attributed their darkened features to the shade of the overhead cavern roof, it was more apparent that they were more drained than anything, not even making too much movement to even breathe. He'd thought that some of them were dead, but as they shifted their positions slightly to be more comfortable, the miner found himself being overwhelmed with pity for the various strangers.
Herobrine looked over to Steve.
"Move away, there's something wrong with this place, and if you get afflicted by it, I can't guarantee that I can treat you, at the moment."
Standing up, Herobrine dusted himself off as he moved away from the cave, expecting Steve to do nothing less but the same. Instead, the demigod found himself walking alone, causing him to briefly stop in his tracks as he waited to hear the sounds of the human moving. Hearing nothing of the sort, Herobrine let out a brief sigh of annoyance as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.
"...Don't tell me you're thinking of going down there, even after what I told you." Without looking at the miner, Herobrine spoke to him with a disapproving tone.
"...They look terribly sick. Like, 'about to die' sick."
"Are you a doctor? You can't help them."
Slightly annoyed by the other's immediate dismissal, Steve's gaze became narrowed in determination.
"No, but I can at least ask what's up with them, and probably tell someone who is a doctor in the next city or village we find."
Herobrine turned to glare at him.
"We don't have time for this. That kingdom could make their announcement at any minute-"
"-Don't you have healing powers, or whatever? Can't you technically be a doctor, if you wanted to?" Steve turned to look at him, finding a look of disgust cross the other's features as he finished speaking.
"...Where did you get that idea?"
Before he could rat himself out about his discussions with the mob generals, Steve gave a nervous shrug.
"...I dunno, you just said that you could at least treat me for some things, and I just assumed that since you're a god and all, you're able to do a lot." He said, slightly mumbling as he finished.
With a scoff, Herobrine turned away from the other.
"Not anything for a mere human."
Stopping himself from mentioning anything to the contrary of the other's words, Steve simply rolled his eyes and stood up carefully, taking off his pack as he placed it on the ground next to Squash. After, he knelt back down to draw nearer to the vines, grabbing his own wrist gently as he began to roll it around in his grasp. After coming into contact with his own skin, Steve flinched, his own brain suddenly realizing that, yes, he was actually touching skin, there.
Everything had gone by in such a quick, blurry haze at this point, he hadn't paid much attention to his own state of being as he was being dragged along for the endless ride. Staring down at his open palm, he realized that, where bandages had been a while prior, there was nothing but a scar present in the middle of his hand as a reminder of what had happened to him. Looking at his other hand, he realized that he was missing his other gauntlet, its twin having been taken to who knows where. He knew that the other was removed from him to prevent possible infection, but where had he left the other? How long had it been missing, and when did he remove it? Did he remove it?
Slightly jarred by his discovery, Steve directed his attention back onto the demigod, eager to prevent himself from completely forgetting what he was planning on doing.
"...Anyways, if I fall, do you think you can fix my broken bones at least, or whatever?"
Herobrine looked at him again, this time with a more stern gaze.
"You are not going down there."
Ignoring his words despite his better judgment, Steve continued looking down at the village below.
"...How quick are you?"
"Quicker than you realize, now get away from that vine, Steven!"
With a shrug, Steve hung his legs over the edge of the entrance, scooting closer to the vine as he went to test its sturdiness briefly, slightly amused by the gasp that left the other's mouth as he reached out to touch the foreign plant.
"How bad will it feel to get my flesh melted off?" He asked with a small laugh, feeling his body attempt to do anything but touch the vine as he found his limbs unwilling to move his hands closer.
Locking gazes with the demigod, Steve found Herobrine's eyes to hold what seemed to be legitimate worry as the rest of his face expressed clear anger.
"I won't heal you if you get hurt." Herobrine spoke firmly as a warning.
"Then I'll deal with that later, I just want to help, alright?"
"You have no obligation to go down there!" Herobrine whispered harshly, his hands flying from his chest to further express his anger.
"Yeah, but as a champion, I-"
"-Hey! You! Up there!"
A shrill voice caught his attention from right below him, leading his attention to switch from the demigod to the stranger that had interrupted their conversation.
With a slightly nervous voice, Steve gave the strange woman a concerned expression.
"Y-yeah?"
The older woman smiled at him, her features lighting up with excitement as he responded to her.
"Are you a traveler? If so, come down here and have a chat! You must be quite tired, yes?"
Looking back up at Herobrine, he found the other to be staring at him with firm expectation.
"You just rested pretty soundly, Steven."
Steve shrugged at him.
"I kinda have an obligation to go down there now. I was invited, y'know."
"If you go, I'll be immensely pissed at you, Steven."
Finding the other's sudden talkativeness intriguing, the miner found himself slightly unwilling to step away. Even though his body was sounding off every possible alarm in order to get him to stop talking to the other in such a manner and to step away from the vine, Steve instead gave him a small, slightly apologetic smile.
"You're usually pissed at me most of the time, Brine. I don't think I'll see that much of a difference."
Herobrine's expression turned to one of disbelief.
"I'm not always pi-"
Before he had the chance to finish, the miner swung his body off the edge, grabbing a hold of the vine after bracing heavily for it, only to be surprised at the feeling of merely faint burning at his palms and fingertips. Making his quick descent, Steve chose to not look back up at the other in fear of finding reassurance in the idea that his death would more than likely be at the hands of the other, way sooner than he wanted it to. His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the slightly intensifying sensation of burning at his hands, and, before the pain could become too unbearable, Steve let go, falling a bit before landing on his feet, having to brace himself a bit as his legs took most of the force of the fall. As he checked to see if he'd dropped anything, or if his hands were too badly damaged, he suddenly found his wrists being grabbed by the woman from before, who was surprisingly shorter than he had been expecting. Her kind eyes stared at him eagerly, making her very distinct from the others within the village that he'd seen from afar.
"Welcome! Welcome. You must've gone quite a ways from your homeland, yes?" She asked.
Steve nodded, hesitantly.
"A bit, yeah. I was on my way to the next city until I spotted this place-"
"-And now you have a place to rest! How lovely, how lovely! Come now, our houses are always open to travelers, you just need to ask anybody for a room to stay, and they'll let you in! Let Ol' Meralda introduce you to someone."
Her kind demeanor allowed Steve to feel a sense of ease, despite how much she was attempting to drag him around and the uneasiness he was feeling thanks to what he believed to be a pair of angered, white eyes staring him down from up above. He'd deal with that later, but for now, he was going to get to the bottom of this village's issues, and hopefully convince them to trust him enough in order to allow him to help.
Now that he was physically in the village, Steve was able to see that, yes, they had proper roads to walk on, mostly being made up from weathered stone bricks that were cracked in various places, with no signs of upkeep to be seen or hoped for. Now that he was walking along those broken roads, he had a better opportunity to look upon the people within the village, finding equally as broken bodies there as well. Each person he passed was either flushed with what appeared to be fever, or deathly pale with what appeared to be the early signs of nearing death. Sullen, sunken eyes were found on each face that he passed by, barely even managing to look up in order to acknowledge his existence in front of them. Though he found somewhat of the same look upon the elderly woman's face leading him, her happy attitude hid it pretty well, almost fooling him into thinking that she was the only one spared from this apparent gloomy situation. Seeing everything up close, Steve found himself understanding what Herobrine meant when he mentioned that the place had a "disturbed air" to it, with the citizens here barely making themselves distinct from the undead creatures of the night.
Walking slowly onto a nearby porch, Steve found himself being brought directly to the front door of a small, slightly damaged house. Eagerly, the woman gestured to the doorknob.
"You can stay here for the night, then once you're well-rested, we'll send you off!" She said with a small, joyful laugh, which briefly turned into a small cough as she finished.
Steve gave her a gentle smile in return.
"Uh, thank you! Is this the inn?"
The woman shook her head.
"Nope! We have no inns here, just friendly faces with open doors! Knock, tell them Meralda sent you, and they'll let you in, no questions asked!"
Giving him a small pat on the back, Meralda began to walk off.
"Now, I have quick business to attend to, but I'll meet again with you in the morning! Sleep well!"
Waving goodbye, the woman left him, leaving him to awkwardly wave back before staring at the door before him, slightly reconsidering whether or not he should've gone into the village in the first place. Before he even got the chance to knock on the door, a quiet 'psst' coming from his right caught his attention, leading to him turning to the side to find a rather young-looking man staring at him with wary eyes. Short, dirty blonde hair fell over the man's features as a brown band was tied around his head, keeping only some of it away from his eyes. He wore a matching leather vest that fell upon a faded red shirt, some brown pants, and surprisingly, no shoes. His left leg was wrapped in bandages that were a bit dirty. The stranger was sitting against the wooden oak walls of the house, one arm resting upon his right, raised knee in front of him.
"You a traveler?" Came his short, slightly strained question. The other's voice was weak, gravelly, and a bit unpleasant to listen to.
Hesitantly, Steve nodded in response.
"...Y-yeah. I'm...just here to maybe get some rest. If this is your house, and I'm allowed to stay, I promise that I won't be too much of a bother. Sorry, I'm not used to these kinds of thi-"
His words were interrupted by the other slowly bringing up a shaky hand.
The man's face slowly grew a smirk.
"I don't know about you, but I think everybody here's only getting rest and nothing else."
He grabbed a stick that was laid down next to him, which Steve had completely failed to notice, and slowly got up, struggling slightly in the process. Walking over to the miner a bit, he then stuck out a hand for him to shake.
"Name's Ilwryn. I know it's pretty obvious, but you're looking at the only warrior in town. Happy to make your acquaintance."
Steve carefully shook the other's hand, making sure to not accidentally hurt him in any way.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Steve!"
Looking back over the rest of the village, Steve's chipper expression fell slightly as he let out a small, nervous chuckle.
"So...I hope I'm not being too rude, but what happened here? Everybody looks kinda...sick."
Looking back at the other as he let go of his hand, Steve found Ilwryn giving him a smirk and a slight shrug.
"I'm not entirely sure, myself."
Steve raised a brow at his words.
"What? What do you mean by that?"
Ilwryn shrugged again as he directed his attention over to the village.
"I mean, we were doing fine a couple of years ago. Everybody was lively, things were as good as they could've been and whatever. It all changed when some weird dude came in with that vine over there, and tried to sell some of his junk to us. Nothing caught our interest, but the one person that would've bought anything from anyone was the Elder's wife, Meralda."
"...Wait, you mean the kind lady I met?"
Ilwryn nodded his head.
"Yup. She's a sweetheart, but she's not that much suspicious of anything, really. She bought a weird lantern from the dude. Told us that he insisted it be used instead for healing instead of our traditional medicines. At the time, we had somebody really, really sick down here in the ward, so it was pretty much our only hope for him. Well, fast forward, and, convinced that he was getting better, Meralda decided to make that one lantern become several, and things just got worse from there."
Moving to unlock the door of the house, Ilwryn slowly, shakily, led Steve into the building, allowing the miner to hold the door open for him as he went in. Following after, Steve closed the door gently as he began to look over the inside of the house.
It was pretty much empty, save for a beaten-up bed in one corner, and a somewhat nicer one in the one across from it. Small tables were placed beside each, though, the one next to the older bed had some noticeable scratches upon its surface, having clearly been well-used. Upon that table was an unknown object covered by a leather sheet, slightly intriguing him. Nothing much else was in the space except a torn rug that was moved off more toward another corner, having been clearly dirtied and not cleaned in quite a while.
Moving over to the beaten-up bed, Ilwryn sat down carefully, slightly wincing as he made contact with the mattress a bit roughly. Looking up at Steve, he gestured over to the other bed with a smile.
"I'm sorry I can't offer you much else, but I think that you won't find a better-made bed anywhere else in this village. Well, maybe except in the healing cove, but that's about it."
Giving the other an appreciative nod and expression, Steve let out a small laugh in response.
"I'll take it."
Moving to sit down upon the bed, Steve ran his hands along the soft, grey sheets before lowering himself down, looking up to meet the other's gaze.
"Wait, what's the healing cove?"
Ilwryn let out a small chuckle.
"That old place? Well, it's a small area right next to the ward where the sickest people go. 'Course, now it's basically a guarantee that if you find yourself in the bed placed there, you're a goner, but hey, it's not a bad place to die in. Sheets are always clean, there."
Nodding, Steve continued to look at the other with a curious expression appearing on his face.
"So...what happened after Meralda bought more lanterns?"
Ilwryn shrugged, sadly.
"She's the Elder's wife. Or well, was. She had a lot of say in what went on in our village, and because of that, she had everybody take one of them as a sort of precautionary thing. Y'know, just in case."
Sighing, Ilwryn glanced over to the door.
"I dunno if that guy brought something nasty in, or what, but soon enough, a lot of folks came down with something. We tried giving them our usual medicines, but nothing ever worked. Eventually, people that weren't ever sick or ill got sick all of a sudden, even those who had nothing to do with the sick. When the Elder eventually got sick and died himself, his wife took over and, totally convinced that the lanterns worked, forced everybody to each have one in their house so that we could fight it all off. I bet she would've taken down the normal ones attached to the roof of the cave if everybody wasn't sick and unable to even climb up a single step, let alone a wall."
Steve thought to himself for a moment before responding.
"...So let me get this straight, some weird dude came and sold you all a fake treatment thing, possibly brought in something really bad, and now you're all like this? This happened only recently?"
Ilwryn shook his head.
"We've been sick for years. Once we all got too weak to do anything, that guy left with nothing but the lanterns and that vine as a reminder of him ever coming in the first place, and we haven't seen him since. Pretty sure we're cursed, or something."
Giving Steve a smile as he went to rest his makeshift cane against the frame of his bed, Ilwryn let out a chuckle.
"Enough about our woes, though. Tell me about yourself, how's the journey going, anyways? You were going somewhere, weren't you?"
Slightly surprised by the conversation shift, Steve stammered a bit.
"I-it's been going good, but...I'm rather exhausted, I guess. In the emotional sense, mostly."
Ilwryn closed his eyes and nodded in response to the other's words.
"Yeah, yeah, I can imagine that. Y'know, I was supposed to go on the champion's journey as well."
Nodding absentmindedly, as Steve processed the other's words, he suddenly froze once he realized what the other had said, looking at him with shock.
"You…what? How did-"
"-The eyes are a dead giveaway. Anybody can become a champion, sure, but weird-eyed folks like you are almost guaranteed a spot."
Ilwryn let out a laugh as Steve's shock didn't fade from his expression.
"I was one too, it's easy to tell due to my eyes, right?" The man chuckled, pointing at what Steve now realized were faded, pinkish-brown eyes, though Ilwryn's smile immediately evaporated afterward.
"I should've been more prepared, honestly. You get ready for all these perilous adventures, and whatever, but it's usually the things you can't account for that end up throwing some serious wrenches in your plans. I got scratched by a zombie while I was training one day, badly. To stave off the infection, I was taking some potions, but that all got ruined when I was brought one of those lanterns, and from then on out, the zombie bite became the least of my worries."
Casting a quick glance down to the other's leg, Steve winced a bit as pity overtook him.
"...Sorry."
Following his gaze, Ilwryn gave Steve a small smile.
"It's fine, really. I think I took enough potions to ward off the infection anyways, but if I end up turning, it's on them. I don't think anybody can even make it to the escape point, or even up that vine, so it's safe to bet that we'll become a pit of zombies, soon enough."
As Steve looked over the other, a multitude of possibilities came over him as he began to think of a plan of action.
Given the way that the other spoke about the lanterns that were purchased for the village, was there a possibility that they were to blame for this sickness? Were they merely only placebos that were created to make a quick buck, or were they actively creations of malicious intent? Could he possibly find the stranger that had sold them in the first place, and ask what his intentions were?
Fiddling around with his hands a bit, Steve continued to think intensively. His expression only lit up as an idea came to him.
Looking back up, Steve gave the other a curious expression.
"Sorry that I'm being rather nosey, but…"
Taking a short breath, Steve's expression became apologetic.
"Can I see one of these lanterns? They're actually making me a bit curious, now."
Ilwryn shrugged, reaching a hand over the covered item on his side table.
"Sure, I guess."
With a slow motion, he removed the leather from over the item, revealing a beat-up lantern underneath. What slightly surprised Steve was the fact that, instead of holding a normal orange flame, the fire within the lantern was a strong blue.
Grabbing the handle, Ilwryn shakily lifted the lantern and held it out toward the miner, who immediately got up and rushed to take it carefully within his hands before the other could drop it.
Ilwryn scowled as he looked upon its surface.
"I think that these things actually do harm rather than just look pretty and make us think we're getting better, but I have no way of knowing whether that's the case or not, and I don't know how to check to be sure."
As Steve held the lantern, he felt...weird, to say the least.
Not that he was an expert in the abnormal, nor was he magically inclined in the slightest, but as he held the item within his hands, a strange energy overtook him that he couldn't really describe. Staring into its blue flame rose a quiet alarm in the back of his mind, but the rest of his body was beginning to feel a bit...dull. His fingertips, somewhat sensitive from the weird vines from earlier, now were feeling a bit numb as they ran along the surface of the lantern, indifferent to the heat from the flames within. Speaking of flames, as Steve looked over the lantern, he slowly came to the realization that while his fingertips were numb as the sensation began to spread downward, the rest of his hands felt cold, as if the flame wasn't producing any heat at all.
Something was definitely off about these things.
Taking the lantern further away from the other, Steve held the lantern a bit closer, though he was beginning to have the slight suspicion that maybe that action wasn't a good idea. He looked up to meet Ilwryn's curious gaze.
"I...I actually think you're right on this one. The moment I took it, I started to feel a bit weird."
Ilwryn tched.
"Well, at least I know that I'm not crazy. But still, I'd like to know if that's the case, for sure. Or, hell, I just wanna know what those things are!"
Staring back down at the lantern, Steve continued to look over the flame within as Ilwryn continued speaking.
"The weirdest thing is, I tried putting out the flame, but it just wouldn't go. I mean, at that point, when I first tried, I was already too weak to do anything, so I just gave up and decided to put a piece of old fabric over it when I needed to sleep."
Nodding, Steve now began to feel slightly worried as the rest of his fingers became a bit numb as well. Before he could become any more distracted by the lantern than he already was, a thought appeared in his head, making the rest of his expression light up.
"I know this might sound odd, but I...I have somebody that can probably figure out what this really is."
Ilwryn looked at him with a hopeful glint in his eyes.
"...How long will it take for you to contact them?"
Steve let out a small laugh.
"Not long, actually. If I can borrow this thing for a bit, I can get it to him, and see if he knows anything about it!"
Ilwryn nodded enthusiastically, though he winced slightly and flinched as pain overcame him.
"Be my guest. That thing has been a real curse, and I'll be happy to be rid of it. Just be careful, alright? If it is bad, I don't want you getting sick on my behalf. Otherwise, you'll be stuck down here, too."
Steve nodded in response.
"If you don't mind, I'll go out and see what's up."
Ilwryn looked at him with concern.
"But it's going to be night soon, you-"
"-Will be fine. This is more important at the moment, and I have pretty decent sword skills, I'll be fine if I run into anything. This will only take a few minutes, don't worry!"
With a hesitant nod, Ilwryn moved to lay more comfortably upon his bed, allowing Steve to exit the building and begin his walk back through the village.
Approaching the distant vine once again, Steve braced himself mentally before moving to tie the lantern to his belt, soon afterward grabbing onto the vine with a bit of hesitance. Slightly disturbed at the fact that he felt nothing as he wrapped his hands around the vines, Steve began to pull himself up, thankful that the numbness hadn't yet reached his arms.
Upon getting to the top of the vine, he carefully pulled himself up before looking around, attempting to find the rest of his group; particularly Squash, who was mysteriously missing from where he left her, much to his concern. Searching along the treeline, Steve was beginning to panic a bit before he felt a slight tap against his shoulder, which led to him turning around to find a rather angry Herobrine staring him down, arms crossed against his chest in what appeared to be disappointment and annoyance.
With a nervous chuckle, Steve held up his hands in defense.
"N-now, I know what I did was a dumb, mortal thing to do, but listen…"
As the miner attempted to think of a better response, Herobrine's gaze soon focused onto the other's hands, his expression soon dropping from an angered one to a slightly worried one. Without hesitation, Herobrine grabbed the other's hands and flipped his palms upward, examining them closely as Steve could only look at him with surprise at his actions.
"You...Steven, your palms are..."
Would it severely knock him off-focus every time the demigod let slip that he was legitimately concerned about his well-being at this point? Steve found himself following the other's line of sight, finding the surface of his hands covered in a light green, shiny coat of what appeared to be oil. His hands appeared to be slightly burnt, as well. His fingertips were very much red, as was most of the skin on his palms, yet he felt none of it, whatsoever. What he was more shocked to find, however, was the demigod softly, gently even, running his thumbs along the more seared parts of his hands, attempting to draw a reaction from the miner by pressing down a bit, looking up to find that his expression hadn't changed at all.
"...Do you not feel that?" He asked quietly, seemingly fighting against himself to not show any further emotion beyond his current calm demeanor that had suddenly overtaken him.
Steve shook his head.
"I only feel you pushing it. Actually, scratch that, I don't even feel that, I think. It's weird, but-"
Steve's words were interrupted by the other letting one of his hands go in order to snap, causing Andvari to immediately appear beside him.
"Yes, si-"
The enderman's words were halted as his gaze fell upon the miner's hands, and a small gasp left his lips.
"Steve, what happened?"
Before Steve could answer, Herobrine interrupted him.
"We need bandages. I can get rid of the oil, but his hands are too burnt to leave alone like this."
With a nod, Andvari disappeared, leaving Herobrine alone with the miner.
"I left Constiere and Malgun on their own to figure out how to teach your beast to trust them, but I didn't expect you to do...well, what you did. It was irresponsible, Steven."
Steve let out a sigh.
"Yeah, I know, but that's not why I came back so soon-"
Andvari returned, bringing a roll of bandages as Herobrine quickly thanked him, and took them from his claws. With one hand, Herobrine produced a small, controlled flame and began to circle it around the miner's hands, causing the other to stare in awe as the shiny substance on his hands immediately sizzled and fell away, with him feeling none of it. Not long after, the demigod began to bandage his hands without using many other words to accompany his actions.
"Andvari, please go and check on the others. Make sure that the ravager doesn't kill those two." Herobrine commanded without even looking at the enderman.
With a nod, Andvari teleported off once again, leaving the two by themselves. Once it clear that the enderman wouldn't be coming back so soon, Herobrine broke the silence once again.
"You were saying, Steven?"
Shaking his head to bring himself back into focus, Steve continued, despite his momentary confusion.
"I...I actually need to show you something. I kinda wanna see if you know what it is."
Herobrine let out a small hum.
"Know what?"
As soon as Herobrine finished bandaging his hands, Steve, a bit nervously, went to untie the lantern from his belt, carefully holding it within his hands as he presented it to the other.
"These things were brought to the village, and-"
Before it even knew it, the lantern was suddenly yanked from his grasp, and Steve found himself looking at Herobrine in disbelief as he backed away from the miner with shock on his face.
"What the hell are you doing with something like this?!" Herobrine asked him, somewhat with a mixture of anger and worry in his tone.
"…So it is harmful." Steve muttered to himself.
"Answer the question, Steven!"
Steve slowly went to cross his arms in front of his own chest.
"As I was saying, those things were brought to the village by some dude, sold as a medical treatment, and ever since, the villagers have been sick. That's what I found out."
Herobrine looked over the lantern with a scowl.
"I'd be surprised if they weren't sick by now. Are you kidding me? Really, that's the case?"
Though the other was expecting an answer from him, Steve looked up at him with curiosity.
"What are those things, anyway? I know I felt kinda weird when I picked that one up, but I-"
"You felt weird?"
The other's more worried tone led to a slight sense of panic beginning to bubble up within him.
"Y-yeah? Like, when I touched it, my fingers started to get...numb...Brine, what does that thing even do?!" As Steve's pitch raised a bit in fear, Herobrine looked at him with that same scowl he had for the lantern earlier.
He pointed at the light source aggressively.
"This is a soul lantern. This thing usually is used in the Nether and feeds off of the souls found there! Those souls are usually kept in pockets of soulsand!"
The demigod quickly threw the lantern on the ground, shattering it before the other could object, though it wasn't like Steve particularly wanted to, anyways. It exploded into a burst of cold flame, letting out what sounded eerily like a small wail as the glass exploded onto the ground.
"Since we're not in the Nether, and I don't see any soulsand around, guess what the next best alternative is? Anything living out here! That thing would've killed a human like you, Steven! It was already trying!"
Kicking around the remains of the lantern, Herobrine looked back up at Steve with more of a concerned gaze rather than a judgemental one.
"Combined with the damage you already sustained from the twisted vine oil, you've already been attacked by the nature of the Nether, and you haven't even stepped foot in it.This is why I wanted to keep better tabs on you, Steven."
Looking upon the shattered fragments on the ground, Steve's face slowly grew a small smile as he listened to the other's words. Turning that smile on him, Steve watched as the other waited for his response.
"Thanks, Brine."
Herobrine crossed his arms in front of his chest in what appeared to be annoyance.
"Thanks? Steven, aren't you going to explain yourself?"
Steve shook his head.
"I can do that later. Right now, we have to talk about that lantern." Smile falling, the miner pointed down to the lantern's remains.
Herobrine let out a quick scoff.
"We are talking about the lantern, and…"
Herobrine's words trailed off as he looked down at the shattered device, gaze narrowing as he thought to himself quietly for a moment or so. Kneeling down, Herobrine began to shuffle around a few of the pieces, taking a broken shard in his hands in order to study it.
"...It is rather odd that they're here, of all places, like the blackstone. How many did you find?"
Bingo. Now Steve had the other's full attention in the matter.
"I think the guy I was talking with said that at least every house in that place has one, or so."
Looking back up at the miner, Herobrine gave him an interrogative gaze.
"And how did they get there in the first place, do you know?"
Steve nodded, kneeling down as well to look closer to the remains of the lantern.
"Some guy I think brought them here to sell. Came down on that vine, too. I think he's the dude that planted it."
Herobrine turned to glare at the giant hole in the distance.
"...Someone was selling Nethren goods?"
Standing back up, Herobrine moved to walk closer to the cavern village.
"...Someone here is pawning off Nethren items irresponsibly." He spoke quietly, almost as if he was trying to get his own brain to process the information.
Following the other, Steve trailed behind him as he waited for the demigod to come up with his own conclusion, interested in what the other was thinking about.
"...If that vine wasn't here at this village's creation, then how did they get in there in the first place? Do you know?"
Steve shrugged, though the other couldn't see.
"I...my best guess would be an underground tunnel, or whatever. But if no one's gone to help, then it's probably in a place that they can't reach anymore, for some reason."
As the two reached the edge of the hole, Herobrine stared down at the villagers below as Steve followed his gaze. After a few moments of quiet thought, Herobrine let out a sigh, looking back toward the miner as his gaze became somewhat softer.
"...Against my better judgment, I need to ask something of you."
Steve blinked.
"...Yeah?"
"...Search for that passageway, and tell me what's blocking it. There's no reason that a healthy individual wouldn't have gone out for help before this air had gotten so disturbed, unless something out of their control was stopping them directly from doing so. If what you said is true...then I suppose that we might have another answer to the question of why this world's magical balance is so off. Somebody bringing in items from the Nether isn't that big of a shock, but bringing its flora here?" Herobrine spoke to him in a slight whisper, as to not alert the people down below, though Steve doubted that they could hear them anyways.
Nodding in understanding, Steve gave a quick curious look back up to the other.
"...Wait, can't you come with me so we can search together? I doubt that they'd do anything to stop you, at this point." Steve nodded down over to the villagers as he spoke.
Herobrine's expression fell.
"...Do I look human to you?"
Steve sighed, shaking his head.
"Look, I know that your eyes are a dead giveaway, but...can't you control how bright they are, or whatever? You can make yourself look more human, right?"
"...What?"
Steve raised a brow at the other's confused tone.
"...You know...how you make your eyes less bright? Like, sometimes, I look at you, and they're...silver? Your regular eyes, y'know? You can make them show up, and blend in like that. I don't think those guys care much about what you're wearing-"
"-Hold on, hold on. Did you just say that my eyes...lost their glow, at points?"
Not seeing how it was an issue, Steve nodded hesitantly as he processed the other's words.
"Yeah...not all the time, but...sometimes they're less glowy than usual…"
Herobrine, stunned, looked off to the side, seemingly lost in thought as the miner waited for him to break the silence once again. Had the other not realized what he was doing? At all?
After a minute or so, Herobrine looked back at the village, though, shockingly enough, Steve found what looked like genuine embarrassment appearing rather gradually on his face.
"...I'll join you when you find something. For now, encourage them to break the lamps."
With a hesitant nod, Steve went to go and descend into the hole, giving a brief, curious look back at Herobrine before doing so.
What was so bad about Herobrine, seemingly absentmindedly, neutralizing the glow in his gaze? Did it mean anything about the state of the other's powers? Or something deeper?
Shrugging to himself, Steve carefully climbed down the vine, thankful that the bandages on his hands were there to prevent the oil from eating away at his skin as he went. Hopping off and making his way back to Ilwryn's house once again, he took a brief breath before knocking on the door, waiting for the other to respond before entering. After a quick "Come in!" he gently opened the door and allowed himself in, giving the man laying upon the broken bed a slightly nervous smile.
"So...I have good news, bad news, and concerning news."
Ilwryn looked up at him, hands folded on his stomach, and shrugged.
"Lay it on me."
Steve nodded.
"Good news, I think we have an idea on how to fix things. Bad news, sorta, the lantern you gave me broke. Concerning news, they were bad, and they kinda...how do I put this…" His voice trailed off as he thought about how he would break the news to the other.
Ilwryn let out a soft laugh.
"Did they place a 100-year curse on us, or something?"
Steve shook his head.
"N-no, thankfully, but...my friend told me that they...well, they're supernatural lanterns that are powered by souls…It sounds crazy, I know, but it's-"
"-I believe you. Honestly, I've never felt this horrible in my life, and I've been bitten by a zombie. I think it's plausible that we have demon lanterns in this village. Does breaking them do anything?"
"I think it stops them from working, that's how yours got broken, actually. My friend decided to just...smash it. "
Looking back toward the door, Steve thought to himself for a moment before his eyes lit up in remembrance.
"Hey, if that vine only got planted here because of that guy, how did you guys get here in the first place? Is there an actual exit?"
Ilwryn nodded, moving to swing his legs back over the side of the bed.
"Yeah. Our ancestors originally got here through a tunnel. It connects to a small little highway that leads to another village, I think, but we haven't needed to go through in a while. There's a smaller tunnel in it that leads up to the surface, but you need to do some climbing to actually get up there. That's why nobody's made the effort to leave."
Nodding as the other stood back up with his makeshift cane, Steve looked as he made his way to the door.
"Can...can you show me it?"
Ilwryn turned back and gave him a smile.
"Of course. You can go check it out while I try and get everybody to get rid of those lanterns. I've been trying for ages, but now that we know what they actually do, I think that I can really convince the folks out there to finally get rid of them, hopefully."
Moving to open the door for the other, Steve returned the smile eagerly.
"Thanks! I promise, I'll try to help you guys out in any way I can, alright?"
Ilwryn let out a hoarse chuckle.
"You already have, I think. Now you're just doing extra work, Steve."
Exiting the house, Ilwryn slowly led Steve over toward the cavern walls, nearing the stone with a bit of caution as he did so. Stopping a bit in front of the wall, Ilwryn turned to tap Steve's shoulder before directing his attention upward, where the other found a relatively big hole in the surface of the stone.
"See what I said when I mentioned that you had to climb a bit?"
With curiosity, Steve stared at the exit tunnel for a few moments before looking at the other with a raised brow.
"Why not make a stairway or something to get to it easier?"
Ilwryn shrugged, turning to walk away.
"Mobs were still a problem. We couldn't have them getting down here so easily, so we made the drop necessary. Also, when I said that our 'ancestors' got here, I meant the folks who got here a few years ago. This village is newer, and we were in the process of getting things in order before the sickness came."
Letting out a quiet "Ah," Steve went toward the wall, examining the jagged rocks there as he tried to psyche himself up to climb as Ilwryn went away, shouting to the people on the street as best he could. Grabbing onto a small ledge that was only a bit higher than where he was at the moment, Steve began to pull himself up, praying silently that his injured hands wouldn't give up on him halfway through.
Eventually, he managed to pull himself over the ledge in order to find himself in front of the rest of the tunnel, his gaze landing upon the sight eagerly. That eagerness turned immediately to horror as his gaze fell upon a mass of vines that were situated deeper in the cave, illuminated slightly by the lights coming from the village behind him.
These vines were, quite obviously, the same kind that had allowed his entrance into the village in the first place. However, these obstacles were thicker, more lively, and, to his added horror, were covered in the thorns that Herobrine had warned him about earlier. Half-wanting to approach the sight while also wanting to keep his distance, Steve found himself unable to do much as he stared at the vines.
Did the strange merchant that had went through the village place these here? Why?
Turning around, Steve went to exit the tunnel, climbing down rather quickly as he rushed to return back to the demigod above to report his findings.
"A mass of twisted vines in the tunnel? Really?"
Steve nodded as Herobrine took in his words, thinking quietly to himself as he looked down at the village below.
"...Without the lanterns, they should be fine enough, but we have to get rid of those vines. I don't know why someone would do such a thing other than for something resembling greed, but leaving these vines here may contribute more to our mission being ruined."
With a deep breath, Herobrine turned away from the sight, thinking silently to himself momentarily.
"...I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but we might as well try. Wait here."
Confused, Steve watched as the other turned to walk back toward the edge of the hole, staring back down into the cave, expression focused. After a few moments of silence, suddenly, the other was gone in an instant, leaving nothing behind except a few particles that were similar to the ones that Andvari left behind, although they were a bit lighter in color.
Did he just teleport again? Wasn't it harmful for him to do something like that at this point?
Standing at the top of the entrance was becoming a bit nerve-wracking as Steve waited for the other to make a quick return, hoping that he wasn't finding much trouble down below. After a few minutes, however, Herobrine finally appeared once again, though, quite distinctly from the last time he saw the other use his power, the demigod didn't collapse in a heap on the ground, instead remaining relatively firm in his stance after buckling for a brief second.
Looking down at the miner, Herobrine gave him a tired gaze that was accompanied by a small smirk. Even though the action didn't seem to affect him all that bad, it was clear that teleporting still took a lot out of him.
"I ripped apart and burned the vines. Should those fools choose to leave, they can."
Returning the smile, Steve's eyes lit up in joy.
"Great! Now I can go and see if they're alright enough down there…"
Moving to make his descent back down the vine, he was stopped in his tracks by a hand suddenly finding its way onto his shoulder.
"Steven. At the very least, find me a description of the man who brought the materials here, so that I know who to direct my anger toward, should we run into him."
Steve nodded slowly, moving quickly to get down the vine as the other let go of him.
Upon returning to the village, Steve searched around for a bit before finding Ilwryn speaking to a couple of people next to another house, watching as they, weakly, went into the buildings for a few seconds before returning with a lantern, immediately moving to drop it upon the ground as the ex-champion watched with a grin. Turning to walk away, Ilwryn found his gaze landing upon the miner, who went up to him rather quickly.
"So, what's up with the tunnel? You find anything?" Ilwryn asked quietly as to not alert the other villagers.
Steve nodded briefly.
"Unfortunately. I think the guy that sold you the lanterns really didn't like you guys. He left those same weird vines he used to get down here in there. Even if the lanterns weren't sucking out your souls, you wouldn't have been able to get out, I think."
With a scowl, Ilwryn looked over to the tunnel entrance, with Steve following his gaze soon after.
"...When I get better, if I get better, I'll climb out and start looking for him to give him a piece of my mind. I don't think anybody will have a problem with me doing that."
Steve shook his head.
"I'll be glad to help in any way I can. Do you at least know what he looked like, just in case I see him on my journey?"
Ilwryn looked back at him, giving a slight shrug.
"The guy was wearing a dark hood when he came by, but from what I saw, he had a short beard, black hair, and a giant bag of weird stuff. That's all I know, but really, he stands out a lot."
Nodding as he painted a small picture of the strange man in his head, Steve formed a small smile on his face as he turned to give a hand for the other to shake.
"Well, in any case, if I see him, I'll get a few words in to prep him for you."
With a grin, Ilwryn took his hand and shook it with appreciation in his gaze.
"Hah, thank you for your help here, Steve. You really didn't need to do all this for a bunch of strangers, but...it's well-appreciated, anyways."
Steve sheepishly looked off to the side.
"I...It was the right thing to do. But really, even though my friend can't come down here, he's the one you should be thanking, really. He's the guy that knows a lot more about this stuff than me."
Ilwryn let out a small laugh as he dropped the other's hand.
"Well, in any case, tell him that I appreciate him too. Any help is welcome."
With a nod, Steve moved to make his way back over to the vine he came from, much to Ilwryn's confusion.
"Wait, where are you going? Don't you need to rest for the night?" He asked, tone slightly laced with worry.
Steve shrugged.
"I...we were heading somewhere important, and we can't really take too much time off. Traveling during the night is really the only way to get there as quickly as possible."
With a shrug, Ilwryn gave a small wave goodbye as he watched the miner begin to leave.
"...Don't be a stranger, all right?"
Steve returned the wave as he approached the vine.
"Of course."
Beginning his climb once again, he gave one last smile to the other as he hoisted himself up, thankful that his hands were slightly beginning to feel once again so that he didn't have to worry about slipping.
It was only when he pulled himself over the edge and found himself at the feet of the demigod above when his previous words finally registered themselves within his head, leading to shock appearing on his face soon after.
He'd referred to Herobrine as a "friend." Whether it was to humanize the demigod or not, he wasn't sure, but, in his mind, he already considered the other to be a friend, and had found no issue with it whatsoever.
Standing up and moving to dust himself off, Steve was beginning to debate with himself when the demigod in question grabbed his wrists before they could make any contact with his clothes. Glancing upward, he found a slightly judgemental look on the other's face.
Herobrine met his gaze.
"Mind you, there's still some residual oil from the vines on your hands. Unless you want to deal with that yourself, let me replace your bandages before we move on."
Finding the other's firm tone a bit comforting, Steve simply nodded in response.
Maybe it was the fact that the other had helped him so "eagerly," or maybe it was the fact that he moved to help him despite stating earlier that he wouldn't, but Steve was really happy to see more clear hints of Herobrine becoming slightly more comfortable with interacting with him. In turn, he was becoming more open as well.
Following the demigod, Steve was led back under the cover of the trees, his mind and focus completely taken from the threat of what finding Nether plants in the Overworld really could've meant for them.
Okay, completely unrelated, but as I was writing this fic, I came to the realization that Dreiton is my favorite Creative Mode song, lol
One of the most difficult things I've been faced with while writing this fic is deciding when to bring in certain concepts, and whether or not to include certain ideas that, while I like a lot and want to show y'all, are debatable when it comes to determining whether they're relevant to the plot or not. While I know what I want to put in, I want to make sure it at least drives the plot forward in some sort of way, and hopefully stays consistent with the other chapters, lol. I've been re-reading this fic as I write it, and while I think I'm remaining fairly consistent with my information, I'm kinda feeling like I could've made some sentences simpler here, and others more descriptive over there. It's all whatever, but this fic is important to me, so I want to make sure I'm doing it right lol. As I'm seeing things right now, with how many chapters there are so far, re-reading the fic is gonna be one hell of a ride for me, but oh well XD I've written a couple of fics in the past under different accounts, but this is the one I've put the most effort in, so it's worth it!
Anyways, here's a little cave village! One of my earlier ideas for this fic, this place is like, one of the very few locations in this fic that I've actually built in Minecraft, lol. The others being Crystalia, Highland Village, Brickston, and another future location :D I like to have actual references for my locations, so of course, building them in Minecraft helps a lot lol. The chapter this time around is more of a quick little episode than anything else (I say "quick" despite its length lmao), so we don't really get a proper name for it, here. That, and because the citizens never finalized any names.
Fun facts!:
1.) The reason why this village isn't on the map? Well, remember my point about villagers not liking the supernatural, really? After hearing about a strange sickness spreading throughout the village, the majority of nearby places decided to cut their losses and not chance a repeat of past events, and just decided to ditch the place, lol. The mention of a type of sickness that doesn't get any better with medicine sounded awfully familiar to them.
2.) Herobrine is not aware of when his eyes lose their glow, it's not something he's actively controlling lol. Think of it as a habit he can't break for some reason…
3.) Since the Nether update didn't make the plants dangerous, I did :) It made no sense to me that the plants of the Nether aren't even as harmful as the berry bushes are in the Overworld, so I decided to make a few little headcanons about them, with the twisted vines being the first of many (aside from the shrooms, lol)! While they're quite useful in getting around and are pretty durable, they're not safe for humans. They like to grow particularly in more humid spaces within the Nether, and tend to flourish well in caves in the Overworld. In the Nether, they're more lively due to being grown in the right environments and tend to reach out toward living beings in order to begin the feeding process. Steve was in legitimate danger in that tunnel :D
That's it for now, leave a review if you have any thoughts! I'm always happy to read them!
