Chapter 23: God of Clay
Another pillow straight to the face woke the miner up, causing him to sit straight up in order to catch the next pillow that was already on its way toward him. Barely managing to do so, Steve launched it back as quickly as he could, smiling as Constiere dodged the impromptu projectile with a look of surprise on his face.
"Didn't expect that, huh?" Steve asked with a smirk, to which Constiere responded with one of his own.
"You've got a good throwing arm, gotta hand it to you!"
Standing up from the bed, Steve stretched a bit before walking up to the other, gaze curious.
"What're we gonna do now? Head back to the library, or-"
"-I suggest that we split up to look through the place so that we can cover more ground that way. If we don't find the portal there, then it might be somewhere in a nearby cave system, then. I don't exactly think there's another building here that could hold it, other than the lecture halls, maybe." Constiere said, crossing his arms over his chest.
Steve nodded.
"Yeah, that'll probably be faster than us going together. I'll start on the main floor I guess."
Constiere chuckled.
"Gonna make me climb the stairs? I thought we were friends!"
Steve added to the laughter.
"Hey, I didn't tell you to take them!"
"Yeah, but somebody has to go up there to make sure there's not like, some sort of secret entryway, or something."
The miner nodded.
"I guess that makes sense. Won't take long, though, so be ready to head down the spiral if you manage to get done before me."
Constiere nodded, giving a small salute to the other.
"Aye aye, cap."
With a responding salute, Steve began to lead the other out from the building, giving a wave to the desk attendant before continuing onward outside.
There was a light snowstorm occurring at the moment, but for the most part, it was pretty good weather for the early morning. Some students were chatting amongst themselves as they spent time together before having to disappear off to class, but mostly, it was rather quiet for the morning. The golems were mostly scattered pretty distantly throughout the city, but as Steve and Constiere went along, they tried to avoid the creatures as best as they could as they made their way around them and toward the library.
Upon reaching the massive structure, the two split up and began to cover ground, though they got off to a pretty slow start. With Constiere taking the upper floor and Steve taking the main one, the two only had three working eyes to look over the area, which wouldn't have been so bad if they actually were certain about whether or not the portal was that close to them. Given prior knowledge about the strength of its pulse, they had a slight idea of what to expect, but with Steve's eyes not reacting further, they were slightly stuck where they were, only hoping that their starting point could provide them with some decent answers.
As Steve walked slowly between the various walls of books present around the outer ring of the spiral pathway that led to the underground levels of the library, he looked around for the sight of black as he searched for the portal frame. Though he wished that the portal would've been out in the open like the previous ones, he had slight doubt that such a thing would be used as a bookcase of all things, but nevertheless, he kept looking, just in case.
Staring at the wall of knowledge before him, he found himself being tempted by the idea of pulling out a book at random and reading whatever he found in it. Though it would cost him and his acquaintances precious time, it was absolutely killing him to be in such a wonderful place with the opportunity to indulge in one of his favorite hobbies, yet not being able to take said opportunity without making a huge sacrifice that would affect more people than just himself.
…
Maybe just a peek, then?
Before he knew it, he was suddenly drawn closer to the wall of books before him. Without even thinking about the book that was at the edge of his fingertips, he began to pull it out, briefly glancing over its title before opening it within his hands. It took him roughly about five seconds to realize that he couldn't understand a word of whatever language that was in the book now spread out in front of him.
"...You read ancient Lunarian?"
A voice that came from right beside him startled him to the point of nearly dropping the book in his hands, leading him to turn around to find a familiar face with wild brown hair upon their head, and a look of sheer curiosity upon their face.
"A-Addley! Hello! I didn't hear you come up!" Steve greeted, still rather shocked by the sudden appearance of the other.
Addley smiled at him.
"Good morning to you too, Steve."
"So uh...what brings you here? Did you study for that test?" Steve asked.
With a small sigh, Addley nodded.
"Yes, but...I'm still rather nervous about it. I was still studying a bit actually, but...well, I saw you, and I got distracted."
Steve laughed a bit.
"Really? Shouldn't you get right back to it then? What were you studying?"
"Just some general biology, really. Nothing too difficult, but I still get nervous when it comes to taking tests and all."
Addley paused for a moment before shaking their head.
"That's not important, though. Actually, I saw that you weren't with that other person, so I wanted to talk to you."
With a curious look, Steve began to feel a bit concerned about the other before him.
"...About what?"
Addley took out a small notebook from their pocket, presumably the same one that was seen the day prior.
"I wanted to continue asking you questions. For, well, research purposes, of course."
"...Oh."
Closing the book in his hands, Steve began to place it back where he found it, earning the attention of Addley once again as he did so.
"Again, do you speak Lunarian?" Addley asked, pointing their strange writing device at Steve.
Steve, managing to fit the book back in its gap, shook his head.
"Nope. I'm...well, I only know one language. Technically, actually, I know a bit of another, but I'm not fluent."
"Which one?"
Steve thought to himself briefly before giving a brief shrug.
"...Crystalian. It's not too different from ours, but it's got more lingo-"
"-You're Crystalian, then?"
Steve hesitantly nodded.
"Yes, but as far as I know, not necessarily by blood."
"What do you mean by that?"
Finding himself within an interrogation session, Steve began to feel slightly concerned about what kind of information the other wanted to pull from him.
"Um...I was adopted. In Crystalia. Don't know if my birth parents are Crystalian, but my adoptive ones were."
"What were your eyes like before they were cursed, if there was even a point like that?"
Steve let out a small laugh.
"They were already violet before, but-"
"-Was the curse not hereditary, then? When did you receive it? Late or early childhood? Recently?"
Beginning to walk in order to potentially make an escape should he need one, Steve shrugged as he nonchalantly attempted to continue his search for the portal without making it too obvious to the other.
"Just recently."
Addley nodded, scribbling down a bit in their notebook before redirecting their attention up to the miner once again. Noticing that the other was slightly losing interest, however, Addley let out a small sigh.
"...You know, you've caught my interest ever since you first showed up, Steve."
Though the miner was momentarily distracted, he turned back toward the student before him with a curious expression.
"Wait, really?...Why?"
Addley shrugged.
"We...usually don't get champions coming to the college all that much. They usually stop in the village close by for materials and leave shortly after, so we only ever hear about them being here after the fact." Addley paused, taking a moment to sort out their words before continuing with a soft smile upon their face. "...Also, I've never seen someone with your strange features before in person."
Steve blinked at the other's words.
"...Strange?"
"Your eyes. They shine so magically with the effects of the curse, but they're still so...kind."
With a smile in response to Addley's words, Steve shrugged.
"They're nothing notable, but...I guess since people don't visit so often, it is weird here, huh?"
"Certainly. We don't have any champions here in Brickston, and certainly not ones with your eye color."
Steve looked at them curiously.
"No champion?...Well, that's actually a good thing I think, but...why?"
Addley shrugged.
"Don't need one. The pride of the city lies within the students, faculty, and material, rather than a single person. It'd be both unnecessary and overkill if we chose one."
The student paused before another smile appeared on their face.
"Though, it'd be interesting to see what the founder chooses our champion to represent, actually. Maybe he'd make a whole new course for it."
As Addley let out a chuckle and Steve responded with one of his own, the former soon calmed down and let out another sigh.
"...I'd love to ask more questions, actually. You're very...peculiar. Your friend too, but...I find you more interesting, to be completely honest."
Steve let out a slight, breathy laugh at Addley's words.
"I'd say that there are a lot more interesting things about Constiere than me, but...I get it."
Addley waved him off a bit.
"Yes, yes, but...I think otherwise."
Steve continued to walk through the main floor of the library, soon finding himself leading the other back outside as he tried to both indulge them in their curiosity and take them away from where the two of them had been standing.
Looking back at the library, Steve let out a quiet hum.
"So...what else are you researching-"
"-Mostly about different scientific methods, but I hope to make a breakthrough with learning about the curse in particular." Addley interrupted him.
Steve thought to himself for a moment before letting out another small hum.
"...Does the curse actually mean anything in particular?"
Addley looked at him in a rather confused manner.
"...What do you mean?"
"I mean, does having the curse actually do anything besides changing your eye color? Have you figured that out, yet?" Steve asked.
The student shook their head.
"Nope. Not a thing except causing the possibility of a heightened risk for death, though that may be because the change in eye color may make someone more of a target, so to say."
"...What kind of target?"
Addley tapped the edge of their pen against their notebook, letting out a small hum.
"...Just a target for mobs and other humans, I guess. The gods wouldn't really place a malicious curse on us for no particular reason."
With a small look of surprise, Steve raised a brow at the other.
"You know that how?..."
Addley shrugged.
"This college has some courses readily available. Whenever you have the time, you should stop by one to see what kind of knowledge you can get from it."
With a responding hum, Steve nodded his head slowly.
"That...I'll think about it later. Right now, I'm-"
The miner let out a small gasp as he realized just how far away he'd traveled from the library with the other, a look of surprise overtaking his features as he suddenly remembered what he'd set out to do in the first place. They'd gone out into the street, roughly a good chunk of their way toward where the inn was located.
"Shoot! I forgot about Constiere! Uh, Addley, I-"
"-Just one more question before you go, then I'll leave you, Steve. I have to get over to the lecture hall, myself."
Steve let out a small sigh in response.
"What's the question?"
"Have you've met with the gods yet?"
The words that came from the other's mouth utterly stunned him, freezing him in place as he struggled to think up an answer.
"...To clarify, some of the gods are interested in this phenomenon, I believe. Not a lot, but...they look for the afflicted as quickly as they can before their untimely demise for reasons I'm not entirely sure of. I'm curious if this divine being is a singular one, or multiple, since we have so few people actually mentioning that this even happens."
Steve gave a hesitant shrug, not wanting to endanger the other's life due to his knowledge.
"...No? I'm not sure what a divine is supposed to even look like, but...as far as I'm aware, everybody that I've encountered on my journey was human."
With a disappointed sigh, Addley nodded in acknowledgment as they put their notebook away.
"Yes, I suppose that'd be the case."
The student smiled at him.
"Thank you for the information, anyways. Have a wonderful day."
Steve waved them off.
"You too! Hope the test goes well!"
As the two separated, Steve began to rush off back to the library, hoping that Constiere was still busy enough to have not noticed his sudden absence.
His hopes were dashed as he turned the nearest corner to find the mob general right in front of him, expression clearly laced with annoyance and slight anger.
"...Heeeey." Was all that came out of the miner's mouth before the boy gave him a swift punch to the arm, to which he responded with a quick yelp.
"You left me to work alone to go talk to that fool again?! I told you to just-"
"-I was trying to get more information that might be helpful, but I didn't mean to leave you on purpose! We just...started walking!" Steve defended himself, though Constiere didn't seem to be entirely impressed.
"You didn't notice your own two feet moving beneath you?!" Constiere pointed downward as Steve held up his hands in defense with a nervous smile on his face.
"I tend to not do that, yeah! Look, it was a simple mistake, and I'm sorry. I'll keep close by."
With a huff, Constiere dropped his arms to the side, glaring at the miner.
"You should be keeping in mind that I'm not human anymore. My instincts are indistinguishable from a mob's, and should I be startled in any way by anybody other than you-"
"-I get it. I. Get. It. It was irresponsible of me to leave you alone while I was supposed to be babysitting you, or whatever. It won't happen again." Steve dropped his smile as he finished, beginning to walk off back toward the library.
"So, did you check the top while I was gone? I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so I think these two floors are clear, yeah?"
The miner didn't hear anything in response as he peered inside the library, leading to him turning around to find Constiere beginning to walk off back toward the entrance of the city.
"Woah hey, Constiere! Where are you-"
Constiere turned around to face him, expression blank.
"Probably a cave or somewhere has the portal. Let's do a quick check outside before we finish up."
Stunned by the other's sudden change in demeanor, Steve quietly began to follow, unsure if it was appropriate to say anything further about the matter or not.
Catching up to the other as they stumbled back out into the snowy area, Steve found himself rather unnerved by the fact that the atmosphere between him and the boy had become rather uncomfortable and stiff as the boy suddenly lost his mostly playful, somewhat unhinged nature. Maybe he was just mad about being left alone, but why was he so utterly bothered by it? It wasn't like Steve hadn't gone off on his own before, what changed?
Walking outside of the city walls in the middle of a slight snowstorm didn't really fall on Steve's list of situations that were ideal, but as he trekked along beside Constiere, he tightened his jacket a bit more against his body as they walked, eyes looking around for any signs of a portal anywhere despite it not being so likely to find a thing that much out in the open. Though they were still a bit unlucky in their search for the portal, they did, however, find several, frozen-over ponds and puddles that they had to avoid, stepping over and around quite a few as they searched the snowy area.
With a sigh, Steve tightened his grip around the straps of his bag.
"You'd think that a pure black frame would be easy enough to spot against a backdrop of white, yeah? If it wasn't in the caves, I mean."
Constiere, still unnaturally quieter in demeanor, nodded slowly.
"...We'll find it eventually."
Looking over at the other with a slightly raised brow, a few thoughts formed in Steve's mind as he thought about the boy in earnest.
Was Constiere...actually really mad? Did he actually do something wrong?
"...You good?" Steve asked quietly, earning a quick nod in response.
"...Of course."
Coming up to a frozen pond, Constiere stopped in his tracks, leading to Steve doing the same, though in confusion.
Without looking at him, Constiere held a palm out to the miner.
"…Hey, can I see your bag, real quick?"
Raising a brow, Steve began to take the pack off slowly, handing it to the other in confusion.
"Uh…what for-"
The second his bag strap landed in the other's grip, Constiere moved around the miner, and, a quick shove later, Steve found himself falling right through the weak ice into the frozen pond that he'd only now realized that they had approached. Steve was suddenly submerged within relentless icy waters, sucking the air immediately from his lungs as his body went into survival mode. Reaching around for the edge of the pond he'd been so cruelly thrown into, he eventually dragged his body out of it, immediately beginning to shiver wildly once the snowy winter air met his body. He found himself the victim of a coughing fit as he tried to rid his body of the chilled water that had snuck in past his lips, making it even harder to catch his breath.
With a look of sheer anger, Steve glared at Constiere.
"What was that for, you prick?!" He forced out, immediately going into another coughing fit as he choked once again.
Letting out a scoff, Constiere rolled his eyes.
"…I told you earlier to stop flirting with the locals." Though his expression held annoyance, his voice was quiet and hesitant.
Steve's anger didn't fade.
"What?! I didn't stop talking with Addley, so you try to freeze me to death?!" Standing up, Steve tried to approach the other, though, the sensation that came to his body from the severely dampened clothes stopped him in his tracks well enough.
Haphazardly throwing the backpack to the miner, Constiere began to walk away. After narrowly catching the bag, Steve began to search through its contents to locate his blankets, attempting to find some sort of warmth to prevent the cold from killing him. Realizing that he'd left his blankets behind, he resorted to instead allowing his anger to fuel him and keep him warm as he uncomfortably shifted around in his clothes.
Finding that the miner wasn't following him, Constiere looked back momentarily.
"…C'mon, the master's gonna kill me for letting you get wet in the cold. Might as well get it over with."
Finding himself too angry to respond, Steve huffed and began to follow the other, shivering every step of the way. Apparently, Constiere was that angry with him, but now the boy had to deal with the fact that he was even angrier at him.
Coming back to the cave with a neutral-faced Constiere leading a seething and soaked Steve did nothing to convince the others that they'd refrained from mischief. Herobrine briskly approached the two, arms crossed in front of his chest as an unamused expression appeared on his face.
"...What the hell happened?" He asked, looking between the two expectantly for an explanation.
Constiere let out a sigh, but before he could answer the other, Steve beat him to the punch.
"H-he shoved me into a frozen pond because I-I talked too much to a local! I was just trying to get information while also distancing myself, but h-he-"
Without even so much as another word to him, Herobrine drew closer to the miner, summoned a large flame, and held it in front of him, face turned fully away from him as he began to chastise Constiere. The demigod's words were completely lost to Steve as he stared in complete shock at the flame, thankful for its warmth amongst the rush of emotions that came upon him.
Shock. Confusion. Appreciation. Shock again. All rushed through his head as he realized that Herobrine had summoned the flame for him without hesitance. He would've expected the other to simply tell him to recover at the inn or just to grin and bear the cold since it wasn't an open wound, not to personally provide him with the warmth he so desperately needed. The demigod didn't even do so at Maemond Pond when he had been soaked there, why was he doing it now?
Another feeling of warmth overcame him as his backpack was removed from his back and something else was draped over his shoulders, leading to him turning around to find Andvari placing his blankets, taken away from Squash, upon him. Thanking the other quietly, Steve tightened the blankets around his form, focusing more of his attention upon the demigod's flame.
It was almost ethereal, staring at the other's magic that seemed to come straight from his palm, even though it was hidden by the gloves on his hand. It danced in front of him, sparks flying up and dissipating in the air as little flakes of soot fell upon the miner due to the close distance. Despite the flame being so close to his body, it only warmed him, and didn't even seem to be burning him. Though the last time Herobrine had used his fire near Steve his hands were too numb to feel anything, it still shocked him to learn that even when the numbness had gone away, his fires still brought nothing but a comforting sort of warmth. Whether that further demonstrated the amount of control that Herobrine had over his powers or not, he wasn't sure, but nevertheless, Steve stared in awe as he got a closer look at the other as he did his work. Herobrine was still focused on chewing Constiere out for his actions, but, from a closer glance at the other's face, there was trace evidence of him forcing his energy out. It appeared as if it was still a bit difficult for the other to use his powers in his current state, as what the slight crinkles in the corners of his eyes seemed to indicate as his gaze slightly narrowed.
Maybe it was just that the cold was affecting him pretty badly, but it looked like Herobrine was using all of his energy to not hurt him.
As Herobrine finished yelling at the guilty party, he looked back over at Steve, whose gaze had switched focus back onto on the fire in his palm. As his expression softened from anger to neutrality, he turned his own attention to his magic, shrinking its size a bit as he realized how big it had gotten.
"...I'm really hoping that you don't get sick from this mishap." Herobrine said.
Steve let out a small laugh.
"M-me too. I don't really get sick, though, so I think we're good f-for now."
With a small nod, Herobrine directed his attention back toward Constiere, who flinched.
"As much as I would've loved to do the same, we can't push him into dangerous situations just because he does something we don't like."
"I-I know, Lord Herobrine." Constiere said, voice a bit weak as he held his head down in shame.
Herobrine briefly glanced over to Steve's slightly shivering form before returning his harsh gaze to the boy in front of him.
"...Having him interact with humans could actually be beneficial, and I'm certain that at this point, he's aware of what would happen should he reveal too much information. Tease him, yes, but don't cause too much harm."
"Yes, sir."
Herobrine left the other in silence for a moment, before sighing.
"...Here."
Without warning, Herobrine, with his open hand, summoned a ball of what appeared to be water before launching it straight at the other's face, who took it directly with an expression of shock. In his other hand, however, the flame that was once there disappeared as well, another ball of water forming and falling to the ground before the flame soon returned.
Choking slightly on the water, Constiere backed away a bit as he tried to shake the water off of him.
"T-that's c-cold! T-too cold!" He said with a shuddering breath as he looked up at the demigod with a shaky expression.
"Now imagine that, but all over your body. In an active snowstorm. You now realize what you've done to him, yes? You know what you made Steven feel?"
Constiere nodded furiously.
"Y-yes! Lord Herobrine, I'm-"
"-Not apologizing to the right person." Herobrine interrupted, gesturing over to a very bewildered Steve, who was looking at the sight with widened eyes.
Constiere met with the miner's gaze with an apologetic look as Steve simply blinked.
"...I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry, Steve."
Steve, after a few moments of stunned silence, gave the boy a smile.
"It's fine, r-really. I'm...I should've expected something like this to happen anyways, really. Falling into the water at Maemond wasn't bad, so it's okay!"
Herobrine raised a brow at his words.
"...You're in the snow now. It's actually a worse time for you to get soaked, Steven. You could get hypothermia, or something similar, or worse."
Steve looked at him with a shrug.
"Y-yeah, but...if Constiere didn't push me out of malicious intent, then it's fine, I think. I'll live. "
Squeezing out part of his sleeve, Constiere let out a small sigh.
"No, it wasn't malicious. I just...I wanted to get back at you for leaving me alone to go hang out with that annoying kid."
Steve looked at the other with an apologetic gaze.
"Constiere, I'm sorry. I should've at least told you where I was going."
The miner paused, thinking over his words for a minute before raising a brow at the other.
"Wait, kid? They're older than you, I think-"
"-That's not the point!" Constiere pointed a finger at him before letting out a sigh. "...Whatever. Apology accepted. I...hope you accept mine, too."
"I accept it, Constiere. I accept it." Steve said with a soft, kind tone.
Constiere looked up at him with a softened expression as he returned it eagerly. From the side, Herobrine let out a slight sigh.
"I'll try to dry you as best I can so that you can head back out as soon as possible. You need to keep searching for the portal." The demigod said, expression filled with slight annoyance.
Steve's gaze flashed with remembrance.
"Oh! By the way, we were going to tell you this, but-"
"-The idiots down in the kingdom of Lunarus are purposefully looking for champions with eyes like Steve's. Could mean something, right?" Constiere interrupted, leading to Steve casting a quick glare at him.
Herobrine thought to himself momentarily.
"...It could. And this is a requirement?"
Steve shrugged as Constiere nodded.
"Apparently. Weird requirement, though." The miner said.
"Superstitious beliefs often may lead to actual facts and answers. If they think that having your eye color is important somehow, then we will as well, even more than before. Given that your eyes react to the presence of a portal, they can't be too far off the mark."
As the rest of the group nodded, Steve cast a glance back to the entrance of the cave.
"...Hey, do you think it could be serious, though?" He asked quietly.
Herobrine raised a brow.
"...In what way?"
"Like, in the way that if we were to run into the wrong people, they'd...y'know...think things?"
Constiere looked at him in confusion.
"...What? Bright-eyes, you're not making any sense."
Steve let out a sigh.
"I mean like...if they were to find me, would they either try to drag me in, or would they...see me as a threat? If they already have their champions, would they see me as an outsider that needs to be dealt with, or ignore me completely? How important do you think having these eyes are to their plans, or whatever? That's what I'm asking."
He was met with shrugs from both Herobrine and Constiere.
"...If it is that important, we'll know soon enough." Herobrine answered him, his voice a bit more quiet as well.
"Yeah, and besides. The silverfish haven't come to us with any updates, so it looks like things are fine, for now!" Constiere added.
"...Actually, that might not particularly be a good thing."
Another voice came into their conversation as Andvari stepped up, gaze serious as he glanced down at Constiere.
"The silverfish could very much be caught up with something on their journey, or, there may be something preventing them from finding any information directly. Did you forget about that one time when we tried to spy on that fortress?"
Constiere let out a scoff as he folded his arms in front of his chest.
"Yeah. They built that stupid perimeter."
Steve looked at Herobrine with a curious gaze.
"...Perimeter?"
Herobrine sighed.
"Basically, they realized that there was a silverfish infestation, and decided to dig around a bit to create a barrier that prevented their entry." Herobrine paused, a smirk forming on his face. "Of course, we dealt with them anyways, but…"
Upon glancing over to the miner to find a slightly disturbed expression on his face, Herobrine, much to his surprise, dropped the tone and smile almost immediately.
"...Regardless, the silverfish can only get into so many places without the aid of other mobs. They can dig into a lot of things, but not quite everything."
As Steve hummed in acknowledgment, he shifted around in place a bit to warm himself up before looking at the other with the same curious gaze from before.
"...So you can use water magic too?"
Briefly putting out the flame in his hand in shock, Herobrine looked off to the side in disbelief, thinking to himself before turning back to the miner. Before long, he lit the flame in his hand once again before the space got too cold again.
"...I didn't even give it a second thought." Herobrine paused, a small smile appearing on his face soon after. "...Yes, I can. Though, not well. This...this is a good thing, actually!"
Completely not used to seeing the demigod express some form of clear excitement, Steve felt rather unnerved more than anything at the other's expression.
"Good thing...how?"
"Our efforts aren't for naught, I've gotten back more of my abilities than I've realized…"
Looking back out toward the entrance of the cave, Herobrine's expression fell once again.
"When you get dry, go back out and continue searching for that portal along with Constiere. We need to keep working."
Finding the other's enthusiasm in his words, Steve nodded.
"Yeah, I know. It's actually kinda hard to pin it down, but-"
"-At least Steve's eyes changed, so we know for sure that we're at least close to it."
Herobrine cast a glance between them.
"Then be quick."
The two nodded in response, with Steve directing his focus back on the flame in front of him, hoping that it would do its magic soon enough.
Upon stepping back into the city, Constiere readily volunteered himself to do a check around the area in large enough places that could potentially hold a portal, as Steve went ahead to check through the rest of the library; particularly down in the spiral that had been beckoning to him ever since he first laid eyes on it. Though he double-checked the main floor to be safe, he was more than eager to finally get the opportunity to take a trip down the stairway beneath the surface of the earth.
Walking down the stairs, Steve found himself lightly brushing his hand against the nearby railing as he made his descent, completely distracted from what he was doing as his gaze was fixated upon the hundreds and possibly thousands of books around him. He wouldn't have actually been surprised if the number of books within the library was in the thousands, as he peeked over the railing and came to the realization that the library went deeper into the ground than what he'd previously assumed. Coming to another floor, Steve departed from the spiral staircase and began to wander around where he was, approaching a nearby bookshelf as he eyed several books within it.
To his surprise, while he was able to read the titles of some books fine enough, quite a few were written in languages that he was both semi-familiar with, and completely unfamiliar with as well. One of the languages he recognized was the one he found within the book he had been gifted early on in his journey. Reaching out toward one of the books that had it in particular, he looked over its spine with attention to detail, noting how the title upon it was more etched into the surface of the book rather than being printed on it.
Suddenly, the book in front of him began to shake, gradually getting harder in intensity before it flew off the shelves, much to his utter shock as he dodged out of the way. As he followed its path, he noticed that it was flying in a controlled manner, making its way down the spiral staircase until it started to hover in place. Steve suddenly found his attention shifting from the floating book to the figure traveling up the stairs in front of him, their gaze focused on a book within their hands as the floating one began to hover alongside them as they walked. The figure was dressed in a massive brown cloak that trailed slightly upon the ground, hiding any other article of clothing beneath it completely out of view. Though their hood was up, it did nothing to hide the neatly brushed, short brown hair underneath it, as well as their pale skin and slightly red gaze that was currently fixated on the rather large book in their hands. Without a word, the stranger removed their hands from underneath the larger book and grabbed the other book from the air, as the previous one began to float away from their grasp toward the top of the staircase.
The stranger's gaze briefly looked at him, uninterested, before they stopped suddenly in front of the next set of stairs on the floor the miner was currently on, taking a second glance over to him with a look of sheer confusion that slowly melted into suspicion.
The book in their hands shut closed as they began to slowly make their way toward Steve.
"...Who are you?" They asked with a stern tone.
Finding himself growing a bit nervous, Steve let out a small chuckle.
"My name's Steve! And you?" He, without thinking too much about it, stuck out his hand for the other to shake.
The stranger didn't comply, only stopping in their tracks briefly to stare at his hand for a few seconds before continuing.
"Age?"
Putting his hand down slowly in slight embarrassment, Steve tried to hide his nervousness.
"Uh...nineteen."
"Species?"
Steve raised a brow in total confusion.
"W-what? Human…?"
"Purpose of being here?"
"I...I'm looking for information about this city. Like, how it was built, and whatever…"
The two stood in silence for a moment as the stranger judged Steve intensely. After a few minutes however, their face relaxed as a smile overtook their features.
"I have to apologize for my abruptness, it's not too often that I personally run into any strangers in my city that I haven't scouted out beforehand."
'Your city?...' Steve looked at the other with a confused gaze before his eyes lit up in realization.
"Are you the-"
"-President of this College? Yes. Founder of the city? That as well."
The stranger approached him without hesitation, reaching down to take his hand and shake it eagerly.
"My name is Claymore, but for brevity's sake, call me Clay."
As Clay let go of his hand, he let go of the book that was in his other hand, allowing it to float freely in front of the miner, much to his surprise.
"Before we continue further, I make it publicly known to all of my acquaintances that I am, in fact, a divine being. That does not, however, make me any more important than what you are. We are all equals in the pursuit of knowledge."
Nodding in acknowledgment, Steve turned his attention from the book back to the founder.
"So, let me guess, are you the god of Knowledge?"
Clay shook his head.
"No such thing. For your information, there are some concepts that are too...difficult for a lower-level god to carry reasonably as a responsibility and a title. If you're interested, I have a course available that gives you vast knowledge about the divines, whether it be the lineage, powers, or titles that you want to learn, though all of that is only basic information." Clay chuckled as he finished, though Steve only looked at him with further confusion on his face as a response.
"Wait...then what are you the god of?"
With a look that slowly shifted into disappointment, Clay let out a small sigh.
"...I am one of the lowest divines there are, actually. My power is weak and insignificant when it comes to the capabilities of others, but simply put, I control...the state of the earth. Clay specifically, my namesake. Not dirt, nor sand, but...clay."
Steve looked at him with a small smile and a slightly sympathetic gaze.
"Hey! That's still something! Besides, if you managed to build all of this…" Steve gestured to the library around them. "...Then trust me when I say that your power isn't insignificant."
Clay returned the smile with a laugh.
"I appreciate the sentiment, but if you ever get the chance to read up about what the other divines can do...then I assure you, this is mere child's play."
With a wave of his hand, a book began to shake around on a nearby shelf before flying over to him, landing in his palm carefully.
Steve looked at the sight with awe, then back up at the other with confusion.
"But if you're the god of Clay, then how can you-"
The other presented the spine of the book to him, running a finger along a small, square plate along its surface, just above the title of the book.
"Every single one of these books has been outfitted with a piece of clay unique to each one. Should I need one, I pick out that piece in particular, and it comes to me. It also comes in handy when one of my students either loses a book or is late to return one."
"That's honestly really cool!" Steve said with wonder in his expression, moving toward a nearby bookcase in order to look upon the various different books there.
Sure enough, each and every book he saw had a small, clay plate fastened to it, neatly displayed in clear view. As his gaze continued to run over the titles of each book, Steve decided to keep himself in conversation with the other.
"So...you have a class on the divines, here?"
"Yes. I find it necessary for humans to know as much as they can about the people who are dedicated to making their world the way that it is. It's essential knowledge."
Steve nodded, gaze falling upon a particular book that was written in that same, strange language that he was barely familiar with.
"If it's not rude for me to ask, why did you choose to do all...well, this, as the god of Clay?"
Clay shrugged behind him, focusing his attention on the bookshelf opposite from the miner.
"I figured that I had to make a name for myself somehow. I always had a love for education and bettering one's self through it, so acquiring knowledge became my focus. The people up in the Aether were not as dedicated as I was to the process, so I took it upon myself to explore and document things for the good of us all. Having my abilities only made it easier to have a place to put it all in."
The founder chuckled before his expression fell.
"You'd be surprised at the number of people willing to let half of this information fall to the depths of history."
Steve looked back up and around the area as he slowly pulled the book out from its place on the shelf.
"Wait, so...are we in the history section?"
Clay shrugged.
"Most of the books within the spiral are here for documentation purposes. Each one holds the history of something, whether it be of civilizations, movements, wars, people, divines…I guess you could say that then, yes..." The founder trailed off as another book flew to his side.
"Wait, history of the divines?" Steve looked at the book that was now in his hands, expression filled with confusion as he tried in a futile effort to translate the cover.
Clay nodded.
"Yes. I spare no expense when it comes to educating mortals about the divines, especially. Nothing should be hidden, in my eyes, so the divines can be judged properly as they would judge mortals below."
As Steve flipped through the pages in front of him absent-mindedly, he suddenly came to a stop as, bizarrely, the pages became blank. Looking back through the previous pages in utter confusion, he flipped ahead further before, even more bizarrely, a short entry appeared on a page, though once he turned that one, he was met with more blank pages.
Steve turned around toward the other with an utterly confused expression.
"Uh...did you check this book before it was put here?"
"Hm?" Clay turned toward him with a raised brow. "What do you mean?"
Steve displayed the book toward him.
"I mean that the majority of these pages are blank! What's up with th-"
The book suddenly flew from his grasp toward the other, who closed the book and moved back toward the shelf behind him. As Steve watched him move silently, a small poke to his shoulder alerted him to another book that had approached him, seemingly identical to the one that was just taken away from him.
"...I have several copies of each book in different languages for convenience." The other explained in an almost monotone voice.
Steve gave a quiet "thank you" before turning his attention to the book in his hands, eyes widening in shock as he read the cover.
Etched into the surface of the book was the name 'Herobrine.'
As he looked back over to Clay, he was surprised to find the other's expression one of slight anger.
With a chuckle, Steve presented the book over to the founder.
"I guess you have some grievances with him, yeah?"
Clay let out an annoyed sigh.
"No, actually. Not at all."
As the other walked past him to another bookshelf, Steve watched with surprise in his gaze as Clay went to look over another book.
"So, you're familiar with him?" Clay asked, not even turning to look at the miner.
Steve shrugged.
"I mean...not as much as I would like to be, but...that's whatever."
"You mean you're in contact with him?"
Realizing that he'd spoken in a way that could've easily revealed his connection with the other, Steve shook his head excessively.
"Nope! I...he's a famous mystery here, isn't he? Shouldn't you know that? I'm just curious about who and what he is, yeah."
Clay shrugged, glancing over at the other with a suspicious glint in his eye as he did so without turning his head.
"Shouldn't you know better than to lie to a god?"
Cursing himself out in his own head, Steve attempted to salvage whatever was left of his own cover.
"I'm not lying! I don't know who he is personally, but I just-"
"-For your information, those who frequent the Overworld were informed not too long ago about a human traveling with him. One who shared his face. Most divines are familiar with him, so we all already know what to look for."
Clay looked at him up and down before giving him a sigh.
"Besides, every divine has a unique magical pulse of energy surrounding them, like the clay plates on my books. I can sense his through the faint trace of soot present on your clothes."
Gesturing to him, Clay finished with a bit of a shrug.
"...It's...it reeks of suppressed chaos. Feels like how a buzzing bee sounds. Not exactly vibrating with energy, but...you get it."
Realizing that the jig was up as he looked at his own body and noticed some faint remnants of the fire that had prevented him from frostbite, Steve let out a defeated sigh.
"...How quickly can you kill me?"
With a bit of a snort, Clay laughed at his remark.
"I'm not gonna hurt you. In fact, I'm not even remotely interested in the hunt for you or Herobrine, at all. Not my line of work, so it's not my problem."
Glancing back over to the book in the miner's hands, Clay scowled.
"In fact, I owe Maxwell no favors, since he's already ruined so much for me."
Curious, Steve turned his gaze back to the book in his hands.
"...Maxwell?"
With a groan of annoyance, Clay buried his head in his hands.
"That idiot ruined everything! I told him to keep his grubby hands out of the records and out of everybody's business so that things would develop naturally so that I could record them properly, but nooooo. That apparently would've been too hard for him!" He complained, rubbing his face a bit in frustration.
"...Records?"
Clay looked up at him slightly with pointed anger in his gaze.
"...Maxwell is a man who, when faced with outcomes he doesn't particularly like, tries to cover them up and bury them within falsehoods in order to rewrite events and create a narrative that suits him. He deliberately changes records, tainting the truth! For now, since he's king and all, I can't do much but follow his orders, but once he's gone, I'll have to make up for everything! It's so tedious!"
Feeling sympathy for the other despite his lack of familiarity with the situation, Steve looked at him with more curiosity.
"...I'm sorry, but...I only have a vague idea of who Maxwell is. Can you explain his deal to me?"
Clay fully lifted his head from his hands, allowing them to fall to his sides. Without words, he began to approach the miner. Clay went ahead and opened the book in the miner's hands to a certain page, where a small diagram had been made. Pointing his finger directly to it, he allowed the miner to find it with his eyes before beginning to speak.
"I introduce to you the basis for our current crisis at hand and the answer to your question. Here, we have the family lineage of Herobrine, son of king Maxwell, ruler of the Aether."
Eyes widening at the information, Steve found himself unable to tear his gaze away from the image, words unable to leave his lips as they jumbled themselves within his mind.
Herobrine was an actual prince. An Aetheren one, at that. Maxwell, the guy he'd been bad-mouthing when confronted by people relaying orders in his name, was his father.
It suddenly dawned on him that he had been dragged into a family dispute.
Clay laughed at his silence.
"Yes, it's a whole conundrum. But yes, that's who Maxwell is, for a start."
As his gaze looked over the information, his eyes focused on a small box right beside Herobrine's, an unfamiliar name held within.
"...Who's this?" Steve pointed to it.
"That's his older brother, actually. My unprofessionalism shows quite a lot in this draft here, you see. Those who are quite familiar with him call him Mo, so I placed that here as his name, silly me."
Steve found his eyes now fixated upon the box with the simple name inside, running over the two individual letters with much interest.
Though this box held only basic information about his place in the family, Steve could only wonder who exactly this 'Mo' was. The very few times he'd been mentioned, it caused Herobrine to act rather...strangely.
"...Does Herobrine not like him, or something?" He asked quietly.
Clay shrugged, his mood quickly changing into an angry one.
"Hell if I know! I wasn't able to gather that information thanks to Maxwell!"
Steve raised a brow.
"What do you mean?"
Clay sighed in frustration.
"Look. The reason why a good majority of this book is blank is because of several, unfortunate reasons."
Pointing further down the page, Clay continued to explain.
"The only reason why the book exists in its current state today is because of how Maxwell decided to intervene in things. At birth, we were certain that Herobrine had been born human. He displayed no magical signature, no traits of the divines, nothing. Because of his mortal status, Maxwell deemed his information unnecessary and unimportant, and thus, prevented all records of the kid from being made and kept."
Clay flipped a few pages as he briefly allowed the miner to read a few. As they came to the first of many blank pages, he paused the miner from looking by slamming his open palm down, though not harshly enough to knock it down as well.
"Well, long story short, at the age of nine, Herobrine went missing. Presumed dead by Maxwell. Story was that he fell from a lower level of the Aether to his ultimate demise."
Clay skipped ahead to the short entry that Steve had found later in the book.
"The thing is, that was the story until he suddenly appeared again one day, years later. Showed up with divine powers, threatened the king, then left. Now, he's the legend mortals are familiar with. Once he was found to be a god, I scrambled to put together a brief record of his life with nothing but the word of his brother to go off by, but before I could ask him personally for his account, Maxwell expelled him from the Aether and began to wage war on him! Spread rumours about him and forced a narrative where he was the only one at fault for the situation at hand."
Clay let out another sound of anger and frustration.
"The blank pages were supposed to hold every, single bit of information about the years we lost with him, but thanks to Maxwell, they'll likely never be filled! He's tried to input his own narrative in there, but I've erased all drafts of his biased lies! That's what I mean when I say that it's his fault. Though this is the most egregious case of him getting involved, it is sadly not the only one."
As Steve slowly closed the book in front of him, Clay took it from his hands.
"When I get the chance, I might just kill him myself. Herobrine wouldn't need to worry about any sort of revenge, whatsoever."
Steve gave a nervous chuckle.
"You're that angry at him?"
"I'm furious. It would've been so easy if he'd just left everything alone, and didn't have the stupid policy about not documenting anything about individual mortals, but no! Now, we have shaky knowledge at best about the greatest threat to his rule that he made himself. I'm supposed to be the information keeper, and he directly interfered with my job!"
Clay walked away to place the book where it had come from with a sigh.
"...Maxwell was a cruel man. No doubt that his behavior and treatment of that child led to the utter mess we have today. I...I pity him, really. I can't really blame Herobrine for acting the way he does today. None of us with any actual knowledge about what occurred can."
Steve approached him slowly.
"Wait, there are some of you that...agree with him? What happened?"
Clay shrugged.
"We don't know what we're agreeing with, but we sympathize with him, nonetheless. No one knows of his intentions, for sure, but the only person who was given even a semblance of a clue was his brother. Whatever the case...quite a small number of us are trying to actively aid him in any way we can, his brother especially included."
Steve blinked as he processed the information.
"...So not everybody's coming down to kill him?...I thought that'd be the case since we didn't really run into anybody so far that's been on the warpath, but..."
Clay chuckled.
"Those of us who want to assist him are coming down here with Maxwell expecting us to find and kill him, but in reality, we just try to find him and give him aid, whether it be a physical good or verbal information. It's pretty clear who wishes to help, and who doesn't. You'll know by whether or not they try to fight you before anything else. Those who wish to harm tend to try and get things over with as soon as possible."
Letting out a quiet "Ah…", Steve focused his attention back on the bookcase in front of them. Looking over at the spine of the book they'd just gone through, Steve examined its title once again, reading Herobrine's name a bit more thoroughly.
"...Say, I know that you didn't get the chance to really look into him, but...I never actually thought about what he's the god of. Does it say? Do you know?"
Clay thought about his words for a moment before he shook his head.
"That's another factor in why he's such a threat. Because of Maxwell's interference, we have no clue of the extent of what powers he actually has. Aethren youth are trained extensively to harness their abilities under careful watch, but he was raised as a human, so nothing was ever recorded of him. He only returned for a short period of time, and when he did, the only power he displayed was Maxwell's, no doubt in a deliberate expression of his abilities. After he left, that's when the multiple reports of his various other powers came into light. We don't know what he can do, and what we should be careful about when dealing with him specifically. Therefore, we don't have a clear idea of what exactly he's the god of. He has a particular preference for using fire, but that's just that: a preference."
Nodding slowly, Steve found himself growing ever-so-curious about the demigod in question.
"...Really? Not even a clue?"
"The only possible agreement we've come to regarding his powers is to refrain from displaying the most powerful kinds of magic to him. Everything else may be used to combat him, but the two techniques he must never witness are the art of the Void, and the art of Blessing. If he were to learn either of those two by example, he'd become unstoppable."
"...Blessing?"
"Only divines can kill other divines, but it must be done so with a holy weapon." Clay shrugged. "...That's basic information about the subject, but to summarize, some divines have the ability to bless items. If they bless weapons in particular, they can receive the ability to slay other Aethren gods. The practice isn't seen all too much these days, but a small number of the divines are armed with holy weapons in order to deal with Herobrine. I'm not sure who though. If he got his hands on that kind of power, it'd be unspeakably bad."
Steve nodded.
"...And I guess that he can't learn anything about using the Void for obvious reasons, yeah?"
"Having a, as far we know, revenge-seeking divine being with the power to erase everything and any memory of its existence walking around freely? Not an ideal situation, but the one who's currently in charge of the Void is doing everything he can to keep it away from Herobrine. In fact, I'm pretty sure he mentioned something about only using his power in emergency situations."
Steve smiled a bit as he realized who the other was talking about.
"...Minos, right?"
Clay looked at him in surprise.
"...You've met him?"
Steve nodded.
"I ran into him, coincidently. He did use his scythe, but...not really in a threatening way, thankfully."
Clay nodded.
"Out of all of us, I believe that he's the most focused and responsible, other than Mo, of course. He doesn't tend to make any unnecessary moves unless we force him to."
Picking out another book, Clay began to read it as he continued speaking to the other.
"You know, since you're here, why not answer something for me."
Steve tilted his head a bit.
"Uh...what exactly?"
Clay glanced at him from the side.
"What exactly is Herobrine aiming for by looking for portals?"
Steve blinked, unsure of how he should proceed with the conversation.
How did Clay know that they were aiming for the portals? How much did he know?
"Uh...I...I don't really know-"
"-For the record, you don't need to play dumb here either. What I know is limited, but from what Minos told me, it could be something we need to look into."
Steve froze, looking down with obvious disappointment in his gaze.
"Minos...said that?...What did he say, exactly?" He looked back up at the other with expectancy.
"He simply relayed the fact that Herobrine had tried to destroy one. For what reason, we're not sure, but...that's all." Staring at the other's expression for a moment, the divine being let out a quick sigh. "Listen...for what it's worth, Minos never mentions anything that could bring fatal harm to Herobrine to just anyone. The only people he reported that information to were the ones who wanted to help Herobrine in the first place, which means just me and Mo. That's all. If the information means anything significant, the only two people who are aware of it besides him are me and Herobrine's brother. Again, Minos is the most responsible and careful out of all of us."
Letting out a mental sigh of relief, Steve folded his hands behind his back as he began to wander about a bit.
"I...It's nothing important, really. Just...doesn't like them."
Clay rolled his eyes.
"...If he's keeping you from saying anything incriminating, I get it. Just bring him back here later on after dark so that I can ask him myself so that you don't have to worry about the consequences."
Steve looked at the other with worry in his expression.
"But he won't-!"
Clay held up a finger.
"Sshh. I'll close off the library tonight so that he may come without fear, and I'll offer him a deal he can't refuse. I promise, on my life as an educator and my devotion to the pursuit of knowledge, that your safety won't be compromised, and that I will not harm you in any way whatsoever. There's something going on in this world that poses a threat to more people than the ones who currently live in it, and right now, the only person who seems to have a remote idea of what's occurring is Herobrine. As much as we need to respect his process and not interfere, I'm afraid that we need to know more info before we can fully cooperate with him, whether he wants our help or not. Also, it'd be nice to know why he's killed so many mortals for reasons we're currently not aware of." Though Clay spat out the last of his words with a bit of anger, he finished with a soft smile.
Nodding, Steve looked up at the other with a small, appreciative smile on his face.
"I...I'll let him know. Hopefully, I can drag him this way, soon enough."
As Clay returned the smile, with a wave of his hand, yet another book came to him, though, this one he grabbed carefully out of the air and held it directly toward Steve.
"Give this to him, when you have the opportunity. I believe it'll help in convincing him to come along."
Nodding, Steve took the book a bit hesitantly, and began to make his way up the staircase. However, he stopped in his tracks, holding the book a bit tighter against his chest.
"W-wait, what are you going to offer him?"
Clay shrugged, though the miner couldn't see him.
"Oh, something of interest to him. Trust me, he'll be pleased with it, in the long run. You just bring him here, and I'll take care of the rest."
As the information came to his ears, Steve hesitantly nodded, giving one last look back to the other before ascending the stairs faster as he promptly left the building.
Looking around, he tried to spot Constiere's familiar bright orange hair, but was met with nothing. With a huff of frustration, he continued to walk toward the city exit, breaking into a short sprint.
Hopefully, he could trust the divine being that had sent him away. Hopefully, he could also trust Constiere to be alright by himself as well.
Approaching the entrance to the cave, Steve briefly stopped to dust himself off and mentally prepare himself before he slowly marched in, book hidden behind his back as he approached the group within. Finding Herobrine's gaze immediately upon him, he slowly came to a stop, a nervous smile on his face as he looked at the other, who was currently leaning against the cavern wall with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"...What happened now?" Herobrine asked, brow raised.
Swinging on his heels momentarily, Steve gathered his words before speaking.
"I...there's been an interesting encounter."
"...With who?..."
Thinking to himself for a moment, Steve then let out a sigh.
"...The founder of this place. He's...an Aethren god, and he wants to meet with you in the library."
Holding out the book for the other to take, Steve watched as Herobrine's gaze narrowed.
"He knew I was here?..."
Steve shrugged.
"Well...news kinda got out that you were with a human that looked like you, so...he saw me, and assumed the rest."
"And just who is this founder, exactly?"
Hesitantly. Steve averted his gaze as he thought back to the other's name.
"I...I think his name was Claymore? Clay? The god of...Clay?"
Surprise suddenly washed over the demigod's features as he slowly got up from his place against the wall and approached the miner. Taking the book in his hands, he looked down and read the cover, his expression soon turning into one of pure confusion. As Steve followed his gaze, he found himself a bit confused as well, though, it was more because of the fact that the title of the book was written in a different language.
"...Him?...What?"
Steve blinked.
"You...do you know him?"
Herobrine briefly looked up at him before turning his expression back downward.
"As a child, I only ever interacted with him on occasion, but...wait, why did he give you this?"
Opening the book slowly, both were rather surprised to find the center of the book hollowed out, with only the edges of the pages remaining. Within the center of the hollowed-out space was a single, gold pendant with a shining, green jewel in the middle, as well as what appeared to be two grey bracelets right beside it, along with a neatly folded note. Taking the note out from its place, Herobrine, with one hand, began to unfold it carefully, taking a moment to read its contents as the miner waited in silence.
Curious, Steve watched the other's expression for any sign of change.
"So...what does it say?..."
Not really expecting an answer, Steve found surprise overwhelming him as Herobrine looked up with what appeared to be genuine hurt on his expression. Or was it regret? Some weird form of thankfulness?
Looking back down at the items, Herobrine gave a little bit of a hum as his expression fell into one of neutrality.
"...I thought it was rather odd for Claymore to give me a book with my own brother's name on it, but…"
Putting the pieces together within his mind, Steve looked down at the items as well.
"Are...are these gifts from him? Your brother?"
Reluctantly, Herobrine nodded.
"...I'll spare you the details about the pendant, but these bands…"
With a quick snap, Andvari came up to him, took the gift book from his hands, and held it, allowing Herobrine to take the pendant and place it around his neck, hiding it underneath his cloak before moving to take the bracelets into his hands. To Steve's surprise, Herobrine took off another pair of bands that were around his wrists, which had been dark-colored enough to match perfectly with his gloves without notice. Placing the new ones around his wrists, he dropped the others into the gifted book before allowing Andvari to depart briefly with a quick wave of his hand.
Noticing that the miner was staring with genuine interest, Herobrine let out a sigh of what seemed to be defeat.
"...My brother knows about the balance shift in this world, so he sent me something to deal with it better."
Surprised by the information, Steve looked at the other with a bit of confusion on his face.
So...he was on good terms with his brother?
Silently debating with himself on whether or not he wanted to continue, Herobrine shrugged in his unheard conversation with himself.
"...Though I hate to admit it, I…" Herobrine, reluctantly, held out his hands toward the miner in order to display the gloves and the new bracelets to him. "...These are known as 'limiter gloves.' They...they help with suppressing magical energy so that it's easier to control."
With a more narrowed gaze, Herobrine carefully watched for Steve's reaction.
"...The fabric helps contain the magic in one place, but the bands help with directing it outward. My old ones were about to blow out and were unable to adjust to the shift properly since I got them so long ago, but...my brother just sent me new ones."
Curious, Steve reached out toward the other's gloves, though, he hesitated in actually touching them, choosing to instead allow his hands to fall back to his side.
"Wait...is that why your magic is so-"
"-No. My magic is off because of the balance shift, but...I kept the gloves on because I'm concerned about what would've happened should I have used my powers in my current state. Especially since my powers are…"
Steve watched with a bit of surprise as the other's expression melted into one of slight embarrassment.
"...I was never trained properly by the divines, so...my powers are rather chaotic. Excessively destructive to both those I want to hurt, and those I don't want to hurt, including myself. I push energy out at full force as a reflex, so if I were to do that with how things are right now…"
"...It'd be really bad?"
Herobrine nodded.
"...Without the proper equipment, I can't guarantee our safety."
As the demigod's features dusted over with a light shade of red, he looked over to Steve with a slightly less intense gaze, silver eyes peeking out from behind the white haze.
"...That was a hard thing for me to admit, but you would've bugged me endlessly had I not relayed the information. Don't bother me further about it."
Nodding, Steve gave the other a small smile.
"...Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me."
Herobrine gave him another brief look before turning away, crossing his arms over his chest as he thought to himself in silence, beginning to pace soon after.
"...He wants a meeting, does he?"
Realizing that their conversation had shifted back over to the other divine being in the area, Steve switched his focus and nodded eagerly.
"Yeah. Said that if we come after dark when he's kicked everybody out of the library, we can go in, just to be safe."
Thinking more to himself, Herobrine closed his eyes as he came to a stop in his pacing. After a few moments however, he let out a small sigh.
"...It could very well be a trap."
Steve shrugged.
"...Yeah."
With a glance downward, Steve let out a small chuckle.
"Would be a weird one, since he gave you something to make you more powerful, though."
Herobrine looked at the bracelets around his gloves with a serious expression.
"...I've been baited before with similar tactics."
Following his gaze, Steve continued.
"...Yeah, but...I don't even know him, and he seems pretty nice. Have you had any encounters with him before that ended up going bad? I mean, to justify him wanting to trap you?"
Herobrine sent an unamused glare in his direction.
"Almost all of the gods that are hunting me down today never once had a foul interaction with me, personally."
Nodding slowly, Steve gave him an apologetic expression.
"S-sorry. But...we haven't had to seriously fight anybody that came after us, right? Apart from the champions, I mean."
"Did you forget about Minos so quickly?"
Steve shook his head.
"I wouldn't call that fighting, but-"
Herobrine held up a hand in order to silence him, looking back down at his gloves for a moment before letting out a small defeated sigh.
"...Though it's in poor taste...I'll go. Now that I have the new bands, I can test to see how well they adapt to the balance shift should the meeting go poorly. You should expect burns if they don't work and I have to take them off in order to do anything."
With a brief sigh of relief, Steve smiled.
"That's good, that's good. Now we just have to wa-"
"-Get Constiere. Then you can relax. I'm worried that he'll get himself into some sort of serious trouble if he doesn't have someone to monitor him at the moment."
With a bit of a laugh, Steve began to walk out of the cave.
"Hey, isn't he on his own a bunch of the time? Why don't you trust him?"
Herobrine rolled his eyes.
"He's capable when he's on his own killing humans. He's less so when trying to blend in with them."
With a briefly surprised look, Steve then began to nervously tap his hands together as he continued to back away out of the cave.
"...He wasn't kidding when he mentioned that he'd probably act like a mob if someone were to come to him, was he?"
Herobrine looked at him unamused.
"...You better start running before he comes back with casualties."
With a brief nod, Steve left the cave in a hurry.
Though it wasn't all too hard to find Constiere, the moment he did, Steve informed the boy of what was to happen, which led to Constiere dragging him around a bit to finish up the search before heading back. As they returned to the cave, they spent a good amount of time explaining exactly what they had discovered further in addition to the earlier information they had already gathered. The rest of the day was spent in preparation for their late-night meeting with the divine being still located within the city, which meant that they spent most of the time making up a plan for if they were to fail at discussing things with the founder and find themselves in a rather tough spot. Eventually, the time came for them to depart, and Herobrine, followed closely by Steve, left the others within the cave.
Upon reaching the gate to the city, as Herobrine took a moment to glance around precautiously, Steve simply walked straight in, leaving the other to figure out for himself that he was in the clear. Getting a quick moment to think to himself, Steve glanced around the entrance to the city as well, slightly confused.
"...Hey, where the hell are the…" He asked a bit quietly, watching as Herobrine began to walk past him with a judgmental gaze.
"If Claymore's been expecting me, he must've disabled the security measures here, I suppose, if that was what you were wondering." Herobrine answered, casting a brief glance in his direction.
"Okay, because when I got here, I got assaulted by a twig to the leg from a 'snow golem' or whatever, and Constiere got chased by an iron one." Steve said, walking up to the other's side.
Herobrine closed his eyes and nodded.
"...Even if one came up to us, I think I'm at the point where I can mask my pulse and make myself seem more human, at least. Unless you punched one of the golems, we wouldn't be in any relative danger."
As Steve let out a quiet "Ah," Herobrine leaned down toward him.
"I don't particularly like this situation," He began, whispering. "...But...any information is good information if we could pull it from him, since we're working with nothing, here."
Steve nodded.
"I hope that he'll at least be nice about it. He told me a lot when I met him."
"...Like what?"
Finding himself hesitating in answering the other in fear for what he'd say, Steve found himself relieved as he realized that they'd finally reached the library.
"Oh wait, we're here!" The miner exclaimed, leading the demigod's attention up toward the massive building.
"...I see that he's managing to copy human architectural designs rather than the Aethren ones, at least."
Stepping into the library again brought a strange sense of ease to the miner as he found the space to be completely empty, save for the individual who was currently standing right in front of the top of the spiral staircase downward. Clay, without a beat, bowed down as he greeted the two with a kind smile upon his face.
"Steve. Herobrine. So glad to meet with you at this hour. Though I've already welcomed you, Steve, I welcome you warmly to the city of Brickston, Herobrine. You are always welcome here."
Herobrine narrowed his gaze a bit at the other's words.
"You wanted a meeting, get it over with already."
Clay shrugged at his words.
"Right to the point, eh? Always brief, always brief."
Shaking his head, Clay motioned for the two to follow him, leading them down the stairway as they followed closely behind.
As the two trailed behind the god, they found their attentions divided elsewhere, looking upon all the books present with curious gazes. Though Steve was more familiar with the place, it nevertheless amused him to turn and find Herobrine sharing that same gaze of wonder and awe that was currently on his own face, though it was rather clear that he was trying to suppress it.
The silence was broken by a quick cough coming from the founder's lips.
"So...to be frank with you, I'm aware of the fact that you're hunting down portals. Minos relayed that information to me and your brother alone. Why?" Clay began.
Herobrine turned his attention back forward in order to scowl at the other.
"None of your-"
"-We just want to help. Now tell me, does it have to do with the shifting dimensional balance?"
Stopping in his tracks in shock, Herobrine looked at the god before him with a widened gaze.
"...How'd you-"
"-Do you break portals for the purpose of fixing that?"
Thinking to himself for a moment as he, as well as Steve, realized that Clay already knew what was going on, Herobrine let out a sigh of defeat.
"...It's the only solution I had for the problem of temporarily fixing the balance. There's another solution to the overall problem, however."
"And you're taking care of that, I assume?"
Herobrine nodded as he began walking once again.
"Since you fools won't."
He narrowed his gaze at Clay.
"...You know I can't have you interfering."
Clay nodded in understanding.
"You know I can't interfere, regardless. Because of Maxwell's stupid orders, and the fact that I'm not magically inclined enough to deal with that kind of problem or you. Besides, I would much rather prefer to not get in the way regardless."
As the three made their way to the lowest point of the spiral, a certain, startling shade of pure white came into view. To Steve and Herobrine's absolute shock, they found what appeared to be a large portal before them on the bottom floor, reinforced by clean, white stone that was seemingly holding it up rather nicely. It was right out in the open, hidden and protected by nothing. Though Steve immediately recognized part of the support structure to be made of diorite, both polished and not, it took him a few more seconds to recognize the other material as quartz instead of possibly concrete, though he couldn't really be certain. Both the portal support structure and the floor were made of mostly quartz.
"Now see, this thing is an eyesore, and I've been looking to replace the bottom floor here since ages ago. Mind taking care of it for me?"
Herobrine turned to look at Clay with deep shock on his expression.
"...W-what? Claymore, did you not even think of hiding this thing from the humans?!"
The other divine being shrugged.
"My students have no need for it, and they're not particularly interested in what lies beyond it, anyways. I tell them what I know, and they naturally wish to avoid it."
"And you? If you use it, why do you...no, why are you letting me near it?"
Clay looked at him with a smirk.
"I don't even use this thing. Maxwell had me place one here so that he could find the place should he need me, but I don't want him coming, anyways. He should know the route by now, so…"
Clearly disturbed by the other's lack of care about the matter, Herobrine let out a small, frustrated sigh as he narrowed his gaze at the other.
"...Clay, why are you doing this?" Herobrine asked, quietly.
Clay took a moment to think to himself before shrugging.
"...I dunno. Why are you going around destroying them?"
Turning his attention back toward the portal before them, Herobrine allowed an expression of sudden sadness to overtake him, much to Steve's surprise as the miner watched events play out before him.
"...You wouldn't understand it."
Clay looked at him with an expression of pity.
"...I don't need to."
Placing a hand onto the demigod's shoulder, Clay raised it again with a small apology as the other flinched at his touch.
"Destroying them is only, as you stated, a temporary fix. Humans outside of the few here will build more out of personal gain and curiosity, and the divines will build more just to disturb the balance more. Caraway explained it, I think it's Maxwell's new strategy to weaken you, I suppose."
Clay narrowed his gaze to himself.
"...Doesn't do a damn thing but risk countless lives, but...life is life, I suppose."
As his expression lit up once again, Clay looked back over to meet with Herobrine's gaze.
"Portal-making is a lost art, so any large ones that may come into existence won't be made anytime soon though, and there's no way in hell that your brother is gonna make anything since he knows vaguely about how they affect you. You're good for now, but your window of time to do whatever you need to do is getting rather limited, I'm afraid."
Letting out a deep sigh, Herobrine contemplated with himself before narrowing his gaze at the other divine being.
"...There's a movement amongst the humans about attaining glory by becoming like the heroes of the early ages. They're going to break the seal, though that's not their intention."
Clay looked down at him with utter shock.
"...Damn, really?"
Herobrine snapped toward him with a look of annoyance.
"We're in a serious life-or-death situation, and that's all you can say about it?!"
Clay held up his hands in defense.
"Lack of judgment, sorry."
The founder thought to himself momentarily.
"...The portals cause only so much disturbance, but I see how getting rid of them helps with things."
Herobrine nodded.
"If I can get my powers back and rid the world of those fools, I can fix things on my own, and that will be that. The longer we take, the more we risk."
Clay looked at him with curiosity.
"...How bad is it? The state of your powers, I mean."
Herobrine glared at him.
"...Mind you, I can still kick your ass."
"Never doubted it."
"...It's...debatable, though. I…" Herobrine paused, struggling to force his words out. "...Tell my brother I appreciate the new bands for the limiters. They...they'll help."
Clay nodded.
"...You know he doesn't blame you, right?"
Grabbing his own wrist as he absent-mindedly twisted it around in his grasp, Herobrine slowly nodded as his gaze became solemn.
"...Hopefully that'll remain the case, in the end."
Beginning to approach the portal, Herobrine looked over its surface as he assessed its current condition.
"...When's the last time you used it?" He asked, running a hand over the frame gently.
Clay shrugged.
"Years ago. I'd say back when I was originally constructing this building, when I first arrived in the area. I thought I'd go for a more...ancient look for my creation before realizing how hard it was to work with Nethren materials. I'm not sure how you manage it, Herobrine."
With a swift punch, Herobrine quickly disposed of the structure, stepping back briskly as it collapsed completely to the ground. Turning to face Clay, he shrugged.
"...It raised me. I feel the pulse of the land and move along with it." He explained, more meekly than what Steve was used to, surprisingly.
Clay shook his head, watching intently as the old portal fell.
"When you get the chance and aren't being chased around, you need to explain to me how your powers work. We're all still rather confused about the matter."
Herobrine glared at him, the usual strength in his voice returning.
"I much rather prefer it that way."
The founder shrugged in response to his words.
"...We'll learn by examination and example, then."
Clapping his hands together, Clay looked back up toward the top of the spiral.
"Well, since that's that, I'll lead you back out and make sure you leave safely enough. Nobody comes around here all that often, but just to be safe, I'll do a brief check for signatures."
As the founder began to lead them back upward, both Herobrine and Steve froze in their tracks, giving each other a brief look before turning back toward Clay with shared confusion.
"Clay." Herobrine called out.
The founder froze, turning around to face him.
"...Yes?"
Herobrine remained silent until he finally collected his words, looking at the other with determination.
"...I'm going to ask you again. Why help?"
Clay left them in pure silence as he thought to himself, gaze filled with jumbled emotions before he let out a drawn-out sigh.
"...Too many parties involved are trying to indulge in their greed while actively bringing about the end of worlds. The old king is deluded. The new king rises in his place despite the current delay in appointment."
The founder looked at both of them with a kinder gaze.
"...Also, despite what he says, I know that you're trying to do good here. Rather unconventional way of doing it, but...you're making more of an effort than he is, so you get a free pass from me."
Clay nodded back over to the staircase, prompting them to start walking once again.
"...The kingdom of Lunarus keeps sending me letters about their plans, and honestly, it's pissing me off that they think they get a free pass just because they're the center kingdom. They want me to nominate new champions to send out in order to search for clues about their little quest."
Steve's eyes lit up in a mixture of horror and disgust at the information.
"...Are you going to do it?"
Clay looked back at him with a bit of anger.
"Hell no! Humans are getting into things that they shouldn't, and my students will not be a part of that. They need someone out here to look for things, but they'll have to send someone themselves."
A smile formed on Clay's face as he mischievously glanced over to them.
"...According to the letters I'm getting, they're only missing two champions. In order to speed things up, they're planning on holding a festival that'll be used to draw champions nearer in order to participate in a competition of some sort. Do with that information as you will."
Herobrine rose a brow at him.
"...And if I happen to kill them because of the information you've given me?"
Clay took a moment to glare at them.
"That had better be a last resort."
"And currently, what do you know about my pattern of action?" Herobrine smirked as the other's expression slightly formed into exasperation.
"...Just...consider different options. Whatever you end up doing, I have to jot it down, so make sure that things aren't too complicated, alright? We can't help you directly, but…Maxwell won't be any the wiser if we leave hints, so to speak." Clay pinched his temples, much to Herobrine's amusement.
"...What if what I was doing was really, really bad? Why would you risk so much to leave these 'hints' in the first place?"
Clay looked down at him with a narrowed gaze, the air around them suddenly becoming rather tense.
"...Because I know that you know better than that. I don't know what's going on in this world, or the extent of the damage that's being done here by the Aether's inaction, but you're...how did your brother put it…" Clay thought to himself for a moment, hand coming up to his chin. "...Well, calculated. Like Minos, I don't expect you to make an unnecessary move that hinders rather than helps."
Looking over to Steve, who flinched in surprise at the sudden attention, Clay raised a brow.
"Now him, on the other hand...I'm not fully aware of his capabilities-"
"-And you don't need to be." Herobrine interrupted, stepping in front of the miner, much to Clay's shock.
With an analytical gaze, the founder slightly smirked at the sight.
"...Huh. The rumours were true, you are protecting the lad."
Herobrine glared at him.
"Only temporarily, for personal gain."
"Only?"
"Don't push it."
Clay shrugged.
"Just joking. Anyways, can you really trust him more than us to help you?"
Herobrine's glare only got more intense.
"It's because he's not any of you that I'm taking him along. Also, I need him for a certain purpose."
"...Would that purpose be interacting with humans, because I thought that you-"
"-Yes. Steven is...great at that, I suppose." Though Herobrine was strong in his presentation, Steve knew very well that the other was lying.
Clay blinked.
"...Oookay. Not usually your style, but...I suppose things change, over time."
Approaching the top of the staircase, Clay waved a hand, and suddenly, another book flew toward him.
"Regardless of that, I believe that this might...well, intrigue you a bit."
Herobrine raised a brow at him before looking at the book.
"...Is this another corpse of a poor book that didn't deserve its fate?"
With a suddenly upset gaze, Clay shook his head.
"How dare you think I'd do such a thing! I only made these fake ones out of empty books so that it wouldn't look that suspicious! They're not valuable pieces of my collection, rest assured!"
As Herobrine continued to look up at him with suspicion, he opened the book to find what appeared to a small compass. Carefully picking it up with slight confusion, however, Herobrine and Steve were surprised to find a light layer of what appeared to be magic surrounding it, the needle within pointing toward a certain direction that didn't seem to be north.
"Now...this compass here may or may not be pointing toward...a certain kingdom...of interest...just in case. I may or may not have been told to give this to you by...well...somebody other than your brother…" Clay said in an elaborate manner, winking as he finished.
With a look of surprise, Herobrine glanced up at the divine as Steve did the same.
"...Minos?" Both asked quietly.
Clay pointed to them excitedly.
"Bingo! Maybe." The other leaned in towards them, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Lunarus is pretty hard to find if you're just using a regular old map, and even harder if you're simply wandering around. Unless you're super close to it, maps that focus more on the coastline won't even bother to have it, unfortunately, and since it's more mainland, you won't find a map with it on there anytime soon until you reach that general area, so Minos had me enchant a compass so that it leads you right to the center of the city. That's just in case you were doing as we suspected, which was simply aimless wandering in search for whatever portals you could find."
Holding the device closely, Herobrine looked down toward his feet as he thought to himself in silence for a moment. Letting out a deep breath, he looked back up at the other, only to slightly bend forward and lower his head once again.
"Thank you, Claymore. Send my appreciation to Minos, as well."
Realizing that the demigod was bowing, Steve quickly did the same. As Clay noticed him, the divine let out a small laugh.
"What's with the formality? Always a rule-follower at heart, aren't you? You too, Steve?"
Herobrine stopped bowing in order to glare at him harshly.
"...Don't. That was my courtesy to you for your help, since I bow to no one." He said sternly, moving to swiftly walk away as he left the miner behind.
As Steve realized that the other had left, he raised his head slightly in surprise as Clay leaned down toward him with a smirk.
"...He's sorting things out. It's been a lifelong process, and that's the most of what I know about it."
Steve turned to look at him as the other met his gaze.
"...Thank you so much for the help, Clay, I-"
The divine being held up a hand and nodded over to the exit of the city.
"I know this may seem redundant, but...please keep an eye on him. Minos spoke fondly enough about you, so rest assured, I already have some trust in you."
With a short sigh, Steve nodded.
"I don't know what you believe a human like me can do entirely, but...I'm trying, really. I'll do my best, okay?"
Clay nodded in approval.
"Then that's all I need to hear. Take care, Steve."
The founder backed away with a kind smile, giving a wave goodbye as the miner slowly came to give one in return as he began to walk off. Heading to the gate, Steve turned away with a small smile on his face.
"Bye, Clay!" The miner said as he exited the gate, heading back to the cave that awaited him.
"See, that wasn't so bad!"
Steve smiled at the demigod as they got back to the cave, clearly more content with the situation at hand than the other.
Herobrine let out a small scoff.
"At least he gave us decent information. That much I can agree on."
Herobrine glanced over to the miner.
"Listen Steven. He was only being nice because he wants to get the chance to fill out his collection. If we survive this, he probably will. He's just another opportunistic Aethren fool."
Though Steve found a small voice in the back of his telling him to respond with "Aren't you one too?," in fear for his life, he held back his tongue.
How would Herobrine react to the news of him being told a bit about his past by the founder? Even if it was nothing much other than who his family was and only a fragment about how he grew up, was that information precious enough to the other to prompt him to retaliate with anger? Though Herobrine was slowly revealing bits of information to him one at a time, he didn't have enough knowledge to piece together into a solid timeline, and besides, the last time the miner tried to press him on his familial relations, he blew up in anger. Would it even be safe to reveal that he had knowledge about the demigod's childhood? Should he keep it to himself?
Remembering the other's reflection of pain that hid just beneath the harsh glow of his eyes, Steve came to a sudden decision.
...
Herobrine should be the one to reveal that sort of information to him. Though he desperately wished to press the other as he did with Malgun and Constiere, he wouldn't. Until Herobrine wished to do such a thing, he wouldn't bother him about it.
Attempting to shift his thoughts away to anything but the demigod standing with him, Steve attempted to shift the conversation.
"So...what're we gonna do now, huh?" Steve asked, waiting patiently for the demigod to respond as he stopped walking once they reached the center of the cave.
Herobrine shrugged.
"...Merry Glade is the remaining large portal that we have knowledge of, currently. It's a bit of a ways away from here, but...it has to be closer to us than the kingdom is, correct?" The demigod said, briefly taking out the compass and holding it within his hand, watching the needle spin.
Steve shrugged.
"...I dunno."
Herobrine looked back up to him with a serious expression.
"Then we go in that direction without stopping, then head for the kingdom."
"What about that appointment festival, though?"
As the mob generals let out some sounds of genuine confusion at his words, Herobrine let out a sigh.
"We can't let that distract us. If they're making appointment plans, so be it."
Steve looked at the other with a worried expression.
"Look, I haven't been to a lot of festivals before, but I know that they typically involve a couple of different villages sometimes, depending on the occasion. How many do you think a kingdom is gonna invite if they're trying to look for these champions in the first place? Don't you think it'd be enough to make sure that a lot of people hear about their announcement about the End?"
Before the demigod could answer his question, the sound of footsteps rushing to them came to their attention.
"Yeah master, what about that festival, or whatever? I don't think the silverfish will be able to do much about that!" Constiere butted in, approaching the two with a concerned expression.
"I'm afraid he's right, sir. We're not sure about their plan of action there, but should they gather the needed champions and use the festival as a launching point..." Andvari added.
"...It'll be a more coordinated attack." Herobrine finished, arms crossing over his chest.
"...I-it's not just some announcement about the End they could be making there, is it?" Steve nervously brought up, voice quiet.
Herobrine nodded slowly.
"They're being more direct with their selection process, I presume. With the goal in mind being collecting those who share your peculiar eye color...there's something else that it means, I suppose."
The demigod looked directly at him.
"Somehow, they've come to the conclusion that your eyes mean something beneficial when it comes to searching for the End realm. I don't know what that is, but regardless…"
The group fell into silence for a moment, before a sigh rang out in the cave, stemming from Malgun as he lifted himself off of the wall.
"...If the festival is soon, and we don't know what they're planning regarding it, shouldn't we head there ourselves? The silverfish are fast, but not fast enough, so whatever they decide to do, we'd hear it first. " The skeleton said.
"Merry Glade is the closest place with a large portal that we need to dispose of. The kingdom is too far away from us to deal with at the moment." Herobrine said, firmly.
Steve thought to himself for a bit before he raised a brow.
"...Didn't you say that back in the desert? Where is that place, anyway?"
Herobrine cast a small glare in his direction.
"...It's at the center. Dead center of the land. We're currently near the edge."
"Then let's get there! Merry Glade is in the same direction, isn't it? So...if we go and see what they're doing at the festival, then we can go right on over to the other place! Easy!" Steve exclaimed, a smile on his face as he presented the idea to the other.
"Ah, yes! Let's take a little vacation to go frolic at the festival, and then pop right on over to say hello to the neighbors! How fun!" Herobrine said, a sarcastically sweet tone lacing his words as his expression matched the miner's momentarily before it faded into neutrality soon after. "Going to the festival may mean giving up the portal to Merry Glade if the big 'announcement' is made at Lunarus."
Andvari thought to himself for a moment before looking down at the demigod.
"...News travels fast, but not that fast. If Lunarus describes their plans, there's no guarantee that the news will reach all neighboring villages and cities too quickly, even if a few villages are invited. If we leave immediately after the festival, or before the festival is actually over, we should get to Merry Glade fast enough." He said.
Herobrine thought to himself for a moment before shaking his head.
"...It's...too much of a risk to leave that portal intact and accessible for any amount of time after the festival."
"Master, think about it! If we get to the festival, you know who might potentially be there?..." Constiere began, trailing off as he waited for the demigod to answer his question, finding the other unable to do so. "...The other champions, sir! If they're there, we can dispose of them, right then and there! Easy-peasy!"
The boy finished as he left Herobrine to think about his words for a bit, body a bit tense as he sorted out his emotions.
"...Not to mention, given the state of your powers right now, combined with the strength of our forces, we may be able to actually eliminate all of the champions at once, if we manage to pinpoint their individual locations beforehand." Malgun added quietly.
"But there still lies a risk of losing access to that portal if the people there put two and two together after getting word of the announcement. It may be better to just take care of Merry Glade first and foremost." Andvari added further, tone filled with concern.
Herobrine let out a hum.
"So...me and Andvari are for heading straight to Merry Glade, while Malgun and Constiere are for heading to Lunarus. We're at a standstill."
Looking up at Steve, Herobrine narrowed his gaze at him.
"Four of us have made a decision, but there's five of us present. Steven, what do you say?"
Herobrine was giving him a choice?
As Steve looked at the other, dumbfounded, he began to think about the possibilities that may occur due to their decision. Turning away to focus his attention on the ground beside him, Steve let out a small hum.
Sure, Merry Glade had the last confirmed location of a portal people could readily access, but Lunarus was finally about to make their move.
…
He didn't want to take the lives of the champions. He didn't even want to ever meet them directly, but…
…
How bad would the consequences be should they leave the champions on their own? How bad would it be if they managed to kill them? Wouldn't it be death regardless?
…
What if they managed to get to Lunarus and locate the champions, but failed in trying to execute them? What would they do if they found themselves vulnerable in that situation?
"Hey, bright-eyes, while we're…" Constiere looked around himself briefly before giving a small shrug. "...Mostly young."
Andvari and Malgun glared at the boy as a smirk crossed his features.
Steve let out a sigh as he looked back up to them.
"If...if we choose to go to Lunarus...what are the chances of us failing?"
Herobrine shrugged.
"Do I look like Caraway to you? Nothing is guaranteed should we choose either location. A risk is posed if we go in either direction since I'm not at full power yet, and thus, we can't be precise. If we go, we'll make an attempt at killing the champions, but should we fail, we'll have a bigger likelihood of becoming a set of targets with a traceable face other than my own, and by extension, yours, Steven. We could be cornered and executed ourselves, actually."
Steve nodded at the information, thinking over his choices once again before taking a deep breath and looking at the other with a determined expression.
"I...while I hate the idea, if there's a chance of ending things more sooner than later, we need to take it and head to Lunarus. If it's too far away, we can go to Merry Glade instead, but even if we're too late, it'll be good to know firsthand the faces of the champions who pose the greatest risk. I think."
Herobrine raised a brow at him.
"...And you're completely sure about this decision?"
Steve shook his head and rose his hands up in defense.
"No! I'm just saying, even if it poses a greater risk, there's a lot of good that can come out of it if we're successful."
Steve paused, looking off to the side momentarily with slight hopelessness in his gaze, much to Herobrine's intrigue.
"...Besides, even if we fail, wouldn't we be screwed anyways if we headed to Merry Glade and focused on the portal there? There would still be several champions all focused on killing us regardless, yeah? The only difference is the location and how much we would know about them and what they're armed with. If I got presented to my village like I did, they'll probably get an even grander introduction to the land."
Herobrine left the other in contemplative silence before slowly nodding.
"...That would be true."
Looking around at the others, Herobrine narrowed his gaze with seriousness.
"...Then I suppose we take Claymore's words for what they are, and head to Lunarus, as quickly as we can. Hopefully there will be no distractions, but...it's the best decision, for now."
As the rest of the group nodded, Herobrine found his gaze landing upon Steve once again, a small sigh leaving his lips as he looked upon the other.
"...Regardless of where we travel, be cautious, Steven."
Hearing his name, Steve looked at the other with a smile.
"I will! It's gonna be a bit dangerous, right?"
"Yes, but...not just from the human side of things."
Walking toward the center of the cave, Herobrine let out a deep sigh as he closed his eyes, allowing the atmosphere to engulf him as he tried to remain somewhat collected.
"...Humans can only affect you when they're right by your feet, but gods, on the other hand, can affect you without even having to be anywhere remotely near you. Some divines work best with longer distances, and since you're fully human and they're aware of your presence, they'll probably attempt to take us down by dealing with you first without having to approach me."
With a worried look, Steve glanced upward at the other.
"...Please tell me you're joking."
With a bit of a smirk, Herobrine shrugged.
"...Just be on your guard, Steven."
Beginning to work on getting Squash ready for the journey ahead, Steve let out a defeated sigh in response to the other's words.
He had been fully expecting for the gods to target him soon enough. It just killed him to think that this would be happening sooner rather than later. Regardless of that, he'd made his decisions, and he'd have to deal with that as it came.
Yeaaaah sorry about the delay T_T I really didn't have much actual time to work on the chapter besides a few times at night when I was blipping in and out of consciousness XD Also, I stumbled upon a situation where I had every story beat that I wanted to include already written, but I was struggling to write the transitions between them Imao. Longer chapters also take more time to shift through and edit, so there was that as well. I know the solution for that is to just like, split up the narrative even more for a single chapter/concept and all, but I don't wanna do that XD I already get scatterbrained enough as it is when I have to switch my focus from one chapter to the next, splitting up a chapter like that won't work for me like it used to!
Anyhooooo, we have Claymore! An old acquaintance of Herobrine's who loves nothing more than the pursuit of knowledge! He loves to both gather it and share it with others! I kinda like him a lot because he tends to look at things from the bigger perspective, lol. I'm lore-dumping on y'all bc from the start, since the concept of Brickston was created, I wanted this to be the chapter to do such a thing in lol. Getting a bit of outside perspective from another Aethren divine about the whole situation was a fun concept to work with!
Aight, Fun facts!:
1.) Claymore originally built the library to hold his accumulated books that he both found and wrote himself. However, with having a giant brick building in the middle of a snowy area, it was bound to stick out to travelers, and, eventually, he encountered his first set of students who had to gain his trust by promising to take good care of both his books and the knowledge they held.
2.) Claymore is friendly with Herobrine's brother and Minos, but isn't really a close friend. He's mostly participating in their schemes because of his own personal beef with the Aether's king lmao.
3.) Despite the above info, he does genuinely care for Herobrine. Their brief interactions happened back when Claymore was an assistant within the Aether's "library," where he and a young Herobrine talked eagerly about different bits of knowledge from time to time.
4.) King Maxwell made a ban on keeping close tabs on humans partially due to their sheer numbers, but that didn't stop Claymore from making an attempt to study some of them for his records, lol.
5.) Limiter gloves are typically used for older divine children who still haven't gotten a decent grasp on their Aethren abilities, but due to Herobrine gaining his gloves at a point where he was still only barely learning about his, he's since ingrained into his brain how to use them improperly in order to use his own abilities. Like, as stated before, he exerts his full energy while allowing the gloves to suppress most of the output.
6.) Claymore was named partially after the weapon, lol. Also, he owns one himself (made of magical clay reinforced with Aethren materials, of course)!
7.) That weird writing device Addley has is one of Claymore's prototypes for a working pen, lol.
8.) Ngl, Brickston was supposed to be like, a lot more invasive of Steve and Constiere's privacy. It was intended to be a whole city of very dedicated, aspiring researchers, but like, I guess it's midterms for them, lol
9.) Claymore almost thought Steve was Herobrine, yeah. Though, the eyes immediately threw him off. Not because they weren't a bright white, but because they seemed to hold a lot less emotional baggage lmao. It's still there, but he ain't drowning in it :/
That's it for now! Leave a review if you have any thoughts!
