Chapter 25: Why We're Here


The air inside of the cave was tense, but the group within it was even tenser.

The mob generals found themselves near the center of the relatively large cavern space as Steve had left Squash to lie down and sleep somewhat near them, close enough to a nearby wall for comfort. They'd left Herobrine next to a far cavern wall, lying in what they hoped was a comfortable position on top of Steve's blankets, as well as whatever else they had to make the demigod feel a bit better, propping his head up using Steve's backpack and jacket as makeshift pillows (with Constiere's cloak included for good measure). The man, at one point, had woken up briefly to curl somewhat into himself, seemingly fighting off any sort of unconsciousness that was coming upon him, only to ultimately fail in his attempt, soon passing out once again. Despite not being awake, the demigod was exerting his force in what could only be described as pure instinct, filling the group with that familiar feeling of supernatural dread, though, it was even more intense than what they had ever experienced before. How he managed to do such a thing was beyond Steve, but nevertheless, as he fought off a wave of nausea that arose from that dreadful effect, he kept his eye upon the other from a distance, sitting close to the entrance of the cave.

Leaving one cave only to have to dodge into another one somewhat amused him, but he was too overwhelmed by the situation at hand to even let out a small laugh at the thought. His fingers lightly tapped against his forearm as he sat, head resting on top of his knees as he hugged them lightly. He was well aware of the fact that they were currently in a very, very vulnerable position, but that didn't really matter as much to him as the question of whether or not he really did all he could to help Herobrine. All he had was a potion of healing on hand, and not much of it. Even if it slowed the bleeding, or stopped it momentarily, having more of it may have helped, though, it was clear that it couldn't do much about the other problems that had appeared as well. The image of that frightening black substance crawling out of the demigod's wound clung to his memory, making him wonder what he should've done to remove it, if he could even do that at all.

Herobrine had effortlessly tended to his wounds, why couldn't he do the same for him?

Finding himself troubled, Steve let out a quiet sigh, moving to bury his face between his arms as he moved them to rest more above his knees. Moments later however, he felt the sensation of a claw resting itself upon his shoulder, leading to him looking up to find Andvari suddenly kneeling next to him, gaze full of sympathetic kindness.

"I can tell you're as distressed as the rest of us are." Andvari paused, taking a moment to glance back at the injured demigod. "I don't wish to lie to you, so I'm just going to say it. We can only hope for the best, here. His body is already going into overdrive to try and fully expel whatever's trying to kill him from the inside, and I'm sure you can feel it, yes?"

With a nod, Steve let out a small chuckle.

"So, it's not the smell of rotting blood here that's making me sick?"

Andvari shook his head.

"It'll pass, one way or another. Either when he's succeeded in surviving the attack, or…" Andvari paused, having visible difficulty with finishing his sentence.

Steve slowly nodded in acknowledgment, his expression growing more troubled soon after.

"...I just want him to tell me why he thought getting stabbed was the best way to deal with the situation." Steve muttered, upset with the other's unfinished thought as well.

Breaking from his momentary silence, Andvari let out a small chuckle.

"For unpredictability. It's his greatest weapon, and it is the one that's gotten him this far in the first place. If he wanted that sword, he'd have to throw a rhythm off somehow in order to get it. At least, until he wakes up and tells you himself, that's what I think he'd do it for."

Nodding, Steve directed his attention directly in front of him.

"...What do we do now? He may actually still die, right? If he doesn't, we're not gonna make it to the festival, are we?"

He was met with silence as Andvari thought to himself silently, finally coming up with a shrug after a few seconds.

"...I'd say let his body do the work. This was a total shock to his system, but if what I've seen is anything to go by, he'll be able to at least crawl and drag himself to Lunarus soon enough, even if we tell him that he needs to heal more."

Steve's eyes lit up a bit in determination.

"Oh no, if he wakes up, he's not walking. He's gonna be using Squash, just to be safe." The miner said firmly, much to Andvari's amusement.

"I doubt he'll openly say he appreciates that, but I'll thank you in advance." Andvari said with a chuckle and a slight bow of the head.

With a troubled expression, Steve directed his attention back to Herobrine, gaze traveling over the other's limp form.

"...Is there anything else I can do for him? Is there anything I should've done?"

Andvari shook his head.

"Mortals can't be expected to look after gods. You did what you thought would help, and that's all that matters."

The enderman began to stand back up, slightly disturbing Steve a bit as he was reminded of just how tall he was. Andvari nodded his head over to where a very troubled Malgun was currently speaking to an equally-as-disturbed Constiere.

"Come. We don't need two compromised individuals to worry over. If you stay too close here, you'll get frostbite, or worse.

After hesitating for a moment, Steve slowly nodded his head in agreement, moving to stand up as well in order to join the others.

Though they didn't necessarily have a method currently to light one, Steve found himself wishing for a fire as the four of them stood and sat in somewhat of a circle. While Constiere and Malgun were on the ground, Andvari remained standing, and Steve was having trouble with deciding which group he'd be joining. After a moment or so he decided to sit, letting out a small sigh once he got himself situated next to Constiere.

Noticing that they'd been joined by a new member, Malgun and Constiere turned to face him, with the former letting out a small chuckle.

"I'm assuming that we're all on the same page here, yes?"

Steve nodded as the enderman beside him let out a sigh.

"If by 'same page', you mean 'getting sick over the idea of a divine being dying,' then yes." Andvari said with a bit of a biting tone.

"Let's drop the tense behavior and try to focus on thinking about what we'll have to do in the meantime. We have two outcomes to think about, and I'm sure you already know that." Malgun said, moving to sit up straighter in a commanding sort of fashion.

"...What to do if master bites the dust, and what to do if he's too injured to lead properly, right?" Constiere asked, albeit rather quietly.

"Because there's no way that he'll be completely fine that soon, right? If he lives?" Steve added.

Malgun nodded.

"Granted, it's a horrible thought, but we know what he wants to do, and if he's unable to lead us, whether by death or great injury, we need to press on regardless. The circumstances are too dire to abandon at this point, and we're dead anyway." The skeleton gave a quick glance over to Steve. "Well, for the most part, anyway."

With a bit of a curious expression, Steve looked up at Malgun.

"We...we're gonna go on without him?"

"Duh! Even if he dies, master wants us to go on and make sure things are on track. We've made too much progress to simply drop everything if we lose somebody, even...even if it was him." Constiere started out with a bit of a snarky tone, only to drop it completely as he finished off with a worried glance toward the demigod in question.

Steve blinked as he looked at the boy, confusion still evident on his face.

"Okay. Hold on. This entire time, I've been following instructions and working with you guys to find portals and stuff, but I'm still kinda confused on the end goal here. You keep saying that we've 'made progress' or whatever, but I don't know what we've made progress towards. I know that we need to keep people from reaching the End place or whatever, and I know that we need to keep them from getting to the dragon specifically, but I don't know why. So...why?" Steve asked, looking somewhat annoyed by the others as they glanced in between each other instead of answering him.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Steve held up his hands as he was met with no answers.

"Look, if you're not gonna explain it in full, just give me a small summary. I don't need a lot of information, just the bare minimum, alright?"

Malgun shook his head.

"That's the thing, he specifically wanted no humans to have that knowledge at hand, so we're supposed to keep it from them. Not even a clue."

Steve raised a brow at the skeleton's words.

"I've been working directly with you guys, and you're still worried about me letting things slip? Really?"

"It's literally the first thing you did after we explained the basics, dude." Constiere responded bluntly, glancing over at Steve with an unimpressed expression.

"I haven't done it since then! C'mon, you can trust me! Honest!"

The three generals looked at each other again in silence as they held their silent conversation, much to Steve's general annoyance. After a few more moments, however, Andvari looked down at him with a slightly troubled expression.

"...I'm certain that he'd rather prefer you not know this, but...there's something to be gained in getting to the End apart from a title, possibly." He said in a hushed manner, as if they were being spied on.

A breathy laugh escaped Constiere's lips as the enderman finished speaking.

"Woah woah, wait. The rule-maker is gonna break the most serious rule we have?" Constiere looked up at him with a raised brow and a smile, earning a groan from the enderman.

Andvari glared at him.

"If the master dies, it'll be up to us to work in tandem in order to fulfill his quest post-mortem. He made a lot of sacrifices to get to this point, and if we're not all on board, it'd be the biggest insult we could ever even make towards him. If he's dead, then why hide if it hinders our cooperation?"

Constiere thought to himself for a moment before shrugging.

"...Go ahead then."

Andvari looked back down at Steve.

"The End is a weakened realm, practically abandoned by the gods. It holds the dragon that we've been speaking about within it. Little is known about the place and the dragon itself, but what's certain is that the dragon acts as both a seal to prevent the energy within End from escaping, and a focal point that prevents the place from collapsing in its current state. However, the dragon does not have conscious thought; it acts solely in rage due to it being created as the manifested spirit of an untimely murdered soul. As it has gone mad, so have all of its inhabitants. All souls are tainted there."

Glancing back around to see if anyone was going to attempt to stop him, Andvari continued.

"It keeps the End alive by instinct alone. If that realm were to collapse, all others would follow. It's as integral to the balance of things as the Aether itself, if you would believe it. The thing is, the dragon is coming to the end of its days due to its inability to control its magic, and the balance shift of this world is hastening that. It grows unstable, and if it were to die without anything or anyone to replace it, all would be lost."

As Steve listened to the other with growing fear becoming apparent on his face, Constiere let out a small groan.

"C'mon, get to the meat of it!" The boy glanced over at Steve, snapping his fingers once to gain the miner's attention. "Look, the thing is, not just anybody or anything can replace it. If a random mortal, like a human, were to go to the End, slay the dragon, and suddenly find themselves becoming an inhibitor, or whatever you call it, they'd die, like, almost immediately. A mortal's body suddenly being flooded with intense, magical energy that they're not used to doesn't really work out all that often. Of course, without anybody to fill in the position after that happens, then...you already know, the place collapses, everybody dies as a result. It needs active management. Yadda yadda."

Andvari glared at the boy.

"I thought you were against telling him."

Constiere glared at him back.

"I'm against you taking fifty years to tell him."

Shaking his head, Andvari crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Our whole mission revolves around preventing that from happening. The original backup plan was to simply have the master kill the dragon himself and become the seal, but…personal ties and other circumstances prevented him from doing such a thing."

"He was already having enough trouble with his own powers. Adding a whole dimension to the mix would've proved disastrous." Malgun said with a disapproving tone as his gaze narrowed.

"Sir, we know that you were against that plan from the beginning, but if you want to avoid having the world end, you have to realize that it's our last resort, I think." Constiere responded to the skeleton's sour expression, earning a somewhat softer glare from the other.

"Besides, no one knows if it's even possible to actually replace the dragon and rule in its place. The lost souls have always been used to keep the End as it currently is, but if this continues, it'll just end up collapsing anyways. He's looking for a solution to that, and being the seal himself is just one of the many possible solutions that we may have. If it manages to work, that is."

Andvari paused, letting out a small sigh before turning his attention back toward Steve.

"In addition to that, you can't simply teleport into the dimension without running the risk of either failing to muster enough energy, or being consumed by the void, or hell, making the magic shift so badly that the dragon gets even more agitated and unstable. Only the endermen know how to manipulate the world enough to get in and out of it freely, and the only other way in is through another portal. However…"

Giving the miner a slightly sheepish look as his words trailed off, the enderman let out a nervous chuckle.

"We...well, humans found the one we usually monitored, so we ended up...well, destroying it. We do know that there at least seems to be another at the very least, but...we're not exactly sure of where it lies."

"Wait, we need to prevent people from getting to the portal, but we don't know where it is?" Steve asked, confused.

"When that kind of portal opens, it's impossible to ignore. It releases a wave of power so strong, even humans are able to feel it from miles away. The other one that we know of has only been activated once in recent years, so we at least have the confirmation that it exists. Given that we weren't able to feel the pulse that occurs when someone enters the portal, it's safe to say that whoever activated it was at least killed by something before doing so. A mob under our control, most likely, since the portal was deactivated somehow after the deed was done." Andvari answered.

Confused, Steve glanced between the three.

"Wait, if that's the case and we're in that much trouble, why didn't Herobrine ask the divines in the first place for help before? If it affects everybody, why not see if they could do anything about it?"

Constiere scoffed.

"One, they hate him. They'll try to kill him before listening to him. He's tried to call for help before, but nobody listened to him. Calling them was the original plan, but when he went to them, they thought he was just trying to manipulate them, or whatever. They can't be reasoned with, so he's given up on that entirely."

"Two, they placed the dragon there in the first place. Even if they listened to him, they'd just put another one there as a replacement, and things will only get worse from there. The master is the only one who believes that the dragon shouldn't be used at all. Or any other dragon, for that matter. The current one apparently is just the corpse of another from previous centuries ago, just with another soul inhabiting the body. He's looking for a more...permanent solution." Malgun added.

"...Three, he hates the fact that they put the dragon there without any regard for the endermen. Because of their actions, the endermen have essentially become less than dogs, even. What was once a grand species has now been reduced to a group of mindless creations under the command of feral tendencies and rage coming from the dragon itself. Any solution from them would most likely result in the endermen getting more hurt." Andvari finished with a solemn expression.

Steve nodded slowly at the information, thinking to himself before posing another question.

"...So, what's the solution then? If he can't be the seal, we can't call for help, and if the dragon is too unstable to leave alone, what do we do?"

He was met with a collective shrug.

"...Our game plan was to keep the humans away from the End until a solution came up. Well, up until he told us what he was planning to do, anyway. Apparently, he has an idea about doing something else, but he refuses to tell us about it. If humans started messing with things before he got the chance to put that plan into action though, we'd all end up dying. We just don't know why they'd want to go through fighting the dragon anyways just for a stupid title…" Constiere said quietly.

Andvari remained silent for a moment before looking at Steve with another sigh.

"...Herobrine spoke with me about the book you received when we split up to look for clues about the temple drawings. The figure there was an individual who participated in the changing of souls in order to keep the End intact. They fought and slew the dragon in order to put a new soul within it. You humans interpreted the language incorrectly, and have come to believe that slaying the dragon just saves everybody, without going into further detail. Humans understand that it poses a threat, but misunderstand where exactly the threat comes from."

"The thing that stumps us though is the question of why everybody is getting eager to slay it now, when nobody but the divines was even able to tell how bad things were getting. They didn't even know that the dragon posed an imminent threat at first, so why now, of all times?" Malgun pointed out.

"The abruptness of it all led us to where we are today. We're still trying to figure out what purpose beyond glory the humans are fighting to kill the dragon for. Could be mere coincidence, but it could also be something more." Andvari continued.

"The fact that people are looking for folks with eyes like yours make things even more suspicious." Constiere added.

"It's an entire mess, but we've been managing it fairly well for a group of mere mobs and their king. We needed to get rid of as many portals as possible to prevent humans from having a means to getting to the End, and we've managed to do that fairly well. Especially thanks to you." Andvari smiled at him.

Constiere looked back over to the miner.

"Yeah. We just wandered around for a bit until master felt a portal pulse or one of the mobs discovered a portal on their own. With you being a slight compass, along with you managing to pull a decent map, we've been going faster than what we usually manage, actually." He said with a small grin.

"We just need to hold out on the hope that nobody slips into the End while we're looking elsewhere." Malgun said, moving to take off his bow and quiver.

Nodding and giving a weak smile back to the others, Steve found himself occupied with his thoughts.

They were the only hope for the protection of all worlds? They were the last resort?This is what he'd been dragged into?! Family drama aside, he'd been forced to be involved in saving the existence of every creature within the world as a whole?

Seeing his troubled thoughts being reflected upon his face, Andari let out a slight chuckle at Steve's expression.

"Either we do something about it, or no one does. It's a massive responsibility, but we're managing it, as I've stated before. Master didn't wish for you to be aware of the circumstances because not only was he concerned about you revealing it to anyone, but he...didn't want you to have a reaction."

Steve looked at the enderman like he was crazy.

"Who wouldn't?! I mean, how shocked were you when you found out?"

Andvari shrugged.

"I was there when he became aware of the situation at hand. I waited for him as he went to get help, and helped him with the initial execution of the earlier stages of his plan. He told me what to do, so I did it. The duty fell upon us alone so fast, so I guess I didn't really have any time to react."

Constiere let out a small hum at the enderman's words.

"He told me and General Malgun the information, and we both had a similar reaction. Suddenly we had stuff to do, so there wasn't any time to get caught up in our feelings, and stuff like that. It was just time to get working."

"It was time to lend master our aid, so we did so without protest." Malgun added.

"If I were you, I'd refrain from thinking about it too much. You begin to sow the seeds of doubt within yourself, and your overall performance suffers as a whole." Andvari advised the miner, giving him a kind smile.

Steve nodded hesitantly, though, he felt the slightest bit of nausea begin to arise within him once again.

"So let me get this straight. Our goal is to protect the dragon from being killed by humans, but also we have to find a way to prevent it from dying of natural causes? Like, from the magical balance or whatever getting too much for it?"

He was met with several nods.

"And in the meantime, we need to find out why humans are trying to kill it? Other than for them to 'save the world' or earn a title?"

Andvari gave him another nod.

"Or at the very least, we need to find who or what gave them that stupid idea. They wouldn't have figured it out on their own, we believe. Not without any physical signs appearing, or somebody in higher places telling them such." Andvari responded with a slight glare.

Thinking to himself momentarily, Steve let out a quick sigh.

"...Are you sure we can't ask for help? I mean…" Steve paused, debating with himself briefly before continuing. "When I...met with the founder of Brickston, another Aethren divine, he said something about cooperating with Herobrine to do whatever he needed to do. Herobrine's brother and Minos want to help as well."

"...Could easily be a trap, and at this point, we can't take that risk. Everyone is an agent that can be used in the Aether, blood ties be damned." Malgun stated, moving to adjust the string of his bow.

"But...his brother?..." Steve said quietly, his voice growing somewhat weaker at the sight of the judgemental facial expressions coming from the others.

"...If he really wished to help, he would've done so without hesitation at an earlier point." Andvari said, expression somewhat troubled.

"He gave Herobrine the new things for his gloves! He sent a warning through Caraway a while back! He...I really think we should try and talk to him, at least. If he can help, in any way, we should-"

"-We can't! Herobrine hasn't directly spoken with him in ages, and we have no means of contacting him. It's hopeless to even try!" Constiere yelled at him, his outburst somewhat startling the miner.

"...Plus, if we try to contact him, and Herobrine's...passed on, there's no way of telling how he'd react to us in particular. Who's to say that he wouldn't blame us for the death? Grief...grief changes people in unpredictable ways." Andvari continued, scolding Constiere with a small glare for his reaction.

With a disappointed expression, Steve let out a small sigh.

"...What's the plan after destroying that last portal, at least? The one in Merry Glade?..." He asked quietly.

"...Taking care of the champions, really. If this world's manufactured 'last line of defense,' and I say that lightly, is taken out despite their preparations and combined strength, it'll most likely have a domino effect that'll lead to others abandoning the cause as a whole. Without the magical interference, if master recovers, it'll be easy to challenge them head-on. However, with the champions out of the way, our concerns would then have to shift focus on the divines…" Andvari explained.

"From then, we'll play defense until an ideal solution arrives, or Lord Herobrine puts his new idea into full effect. That's the plan, if everything works out fine enough." Malgun finished.

Steve raised a brow.

"...Do...do we have a backup plan if something else goes horribly wrong?"

"That was the backup plan. Our original plan...well, master's plan was to hope that the divines would listen to him, but since they didn't, he had to force this plan into effect. After this, we...got nothing, essentially. Nothing except for master to try the whole seal-transfer thing himself, and we don't know if his body will reject the End's magic or not. His secret plan might have to be used as well. Either way, we could be very dead. This is the last stand before everything as we know it falls to pieces." Constiere answered, expression somewhat distant.

Steve nodded at the information, moving to fiddle around his hands in his lap.

He wasn't sure if he was thankful for the information, or if he regretted even asking for it in the first place. Though the demigod's ability to cause sheer dread was still able to be felt well enough within the room, he was certain that the dread he was currently experiencing wasn't caused by that in the slightest.

There were several contradictions that were threatening to spin his head around until he eventually joined Herobrine in going unconscious. He originally had a hunch that protecting the dragon from being challenged was a self-serving action, but he just got the information that saving it was beneficial to others apart from Herobrine himself. He knew that the other hated humans for some unsung reason, but he'd brought back two from the dead, and his quest to protect the dragon would save the rest of humankind as a whole. Was it because the dragon's death meant his as well, and this was all purely self-serving? If so, then why didn't he just let the divines use another soul to heal the dragon? If they had it basically covered, why even get directly involved? Didn't he hate the divines and humans enough to just chance things or leave them as they were? Or did he wish to get involved so that he wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of losing everything anymore? Did he really wish to help instead of allowing things to go on until everything was taken down with him?

Were Malgun's previous words true, and he really did care deeply for the world?

Looking back over at the unconscious demigod, a certain realization crept upon him, though, it really came across like a small brick to the face the more he thought about it.

Why was he so worried about Herobrine's unspoken motivations when it was more than apparent that his actions spoke louder than words? Why question the reason why he'd work to incidentally save all humans, mobs, and other living beings that lived within the different realms when it was clear that he was willing to sacrifice a lot for just a single one? One that he wasn't even remotely close to yet, no less?

Steve felt a small wave of guilt hit him as he replayed the day's previous events within his mind, feeling the same amount of shock and horror as he had felt once it became apparent that Herobrine had sustained a mortal wound that was originally intended for him.

How would he possibly repay that act of selflessness? How could he? At the very least, he could put more effort into helping the other succeed with his plans if it was for an ultimately good cause, but he still felt like that alone was too inadequate to match with what the demigod had done for him without hesitation. If the other died, how could he repay the other for what he tried to accomplish in life?

He owed the demigod more credit and respect. That much he knew for certain, at least.

With a heavy sigh, Steve moved to stand up, finding that his body was growing restless as his thoughts had been as well. Beginning to pace, he kept his focus on the ground in front of him more than anything else.

"...If we're gonna do this, then wouldn't it be good to get moving soon? I...Herobrine can...we can get him comfortable on Squash and keep going so that we don't fall too behind. I mean, how long can we wait here for him to make a full recovery? If he can make a full recovery?"

Looking back toward the others to read their reactions, Steve waited a bit anxiously for their input, not knowing if what he said could be taken as an insult of some kind. Soon enough, the first of nods came from Andvari as he closed his eyes in deep thought.

"...He wouldn't want us to hole ourselves up here for long enough to give the humans any advantage of any kind, even the advantage of time. But...we should at least give him a bit of rest for now until we get going, just to get the confirmation of whether or not we might end up carrying a corpse with us, as morbid as that may seem."

"Yeah. Master usually...checks himself to make sure a body is really dead or not, so the very least we could do for him to make sure that's the case here as well too." Constiere added on, though his words were a bit strained as he appeared to be struggling with the idea as well.

With a nod of his own, Steve turned his attention back on the demigod, waiting to see if there were any signs of life coming from the other. Silence filled the cave once again as he waited, holding his breath.

Herobrine's chest rose in a strained manner. Steve let out the breath he'd been holding.

Moving to cross his arms in front of his chest, Steve felt himself growing a bit concerned once again.

At what point would the other get up again? He, personally, wanted to refuse the idea that this would be how it ended for Herobrine. Granted, he apparently was at his weakest point, but it couldn't have been that easy to dispose of him, right?

"Are you all positive that there's nothing else that we can do to help him?" Steve asked.

Andvari and Malgun shook their heads, while Constiere shrugged.

"I dunno. Want to take him to a human doctor and watch him be pronounced dead on the spot?" The boy asked with a bit of a joking tone in his voice.

"N-no!" Steve froze as he realized that his voice had elevated. "No, we...I was thinking about if we can help him with his wounds anymore, or something like that."

"Divine injuries are strange. Too strange for mortals to comprehend, anyways. It's impossible to tell if our devices and concoctions will actually further help him in the slightest, but…" Andvari trailed off, blankly staring at the ground in front of him before suddenly disappearing from the area in a small cloud of purple particles.

After a few moments of silence, the enderman came back with a small potion in his claw, much to Steve's relief.

"The potion you used earlier stopped the bleeding at least, correct?" Andvari asked.

Steve nodded eagerly.

"Y-yes! I think? Mostly? I didn't have enough to see if it really did anything special, but it didn't take care of the weird...black stuff, I think."

"Dead flesh is what I think it is. Possibly. I'm not willing to confirm it, but at the very least, we should pour some of this on him to see if it helps or not. I didn't think it was necessary, but perhaps it might actually help." Andvari swished the contents of the bottle around before moving closer to the miner, holding it out for the other to take.

"My claws may cause an accident. Would it be troublesome to ask for your assistance?" The enderman asked with a small, fanged smile.

Steve returned the expression.

"Of course. I just pour it in the same place, right?"

"Correct." Andvari nodded his head as the miner took the bottle from his claws, quickly making his way over to the fallen demigod.

Herobrine was barely breathing, but it was apparent that the other was still clinging to life with as strong a grip as he could possibly muster in his unconsciousness. The closer Steve got to his body, the more his stomach seemed to drop, the feeling of dread growing stronger by the second. If this was the other's way of fighting off the pain of the wound, he wasn't sure, but nevertheless, Steve, as carefully as he could, reached out a hand in order to turn him over more in his direction. After taking another second to remove the other's arm from around his body, he began to pour the potion directly into his wound, mouthing small apologies to the demigod as he could only imagine how bad it must've stung despite him being not awake to experience it in full. After emptying the bottle of most of its contents, Steve then took a moment to think to himself before ultimately deciding to pour the rest of the potion in the other's mouth, using his free hand to lift Herobrine's head up enough to do so without much issue. With even more silent apologies, he gave the demigod the rest of the potion, making sure that it didn't fall out of his mouth and instead went down his throat before carefully placing his head back down again where it had been in the first place. Though, he took a brief moment to relocate Constiere's cloak to act as a pillow again for him first.

Moving back to give him space, Steve let out somewhat of a relieved sigh, placing the bottle off to the side before standing back up again in order to put more distance in between the two. Looking back toward Andvari, he gave the enderman a thankful expression.

"I...I hope that helps him a bit. Thank you for running off to grab it, Andvari." The other's name felt somewhat strange on his tongue given how little he'd actually remembered to use it, but nevertheless, he addressed the other with a kind, appreciative tone.

Andvari gave a quick nod in response.

"Anything to assist him and ease your worries."

Moving back toward their little circle, Steve sat down where he'd been earlier, posture only a bit more relaxed as traces of worry were still rather evident on his features. Not long after, he felt a hand clasp his shoulder as he was rattled around a bit, turning his attention toward the creeper-hybrid boy it had come from.

"C'mon. We...we all know he's gonna be alright soon enough, for the most part. We hope, at least. No need to get too worried about him. Somebody's gotta be the stoic, commanding one in the meantime until he gets back in action." Constiere looked around at the others a bit as he lifted his hand from the miner's shoulder, a playful smile forming on his face. "C'mon, who's gonna do it?"

A small chuckle left Steve's lips at the other's suggestion.

"I believe Malgun fits the role pretty well, don't you?"

As Constiere nodded, the skeleton in question appeared to roll the one eye he still had.

"I'm not one to trust when it comes to performing the master's requests without some sort of error. Talk to the perfectionist, I think he'll be a better fit." The skeleton nodded his head over toward Andvari, who raised a brow at him.

"Perfectionist? You know that I slip up sometimes too, correct?"

"Not as much as everybody else here!" Constiere answered with a bit of a laugh. "If anybody's gonna fill master's role, it's you. C'mon, just...y'know, look like you'd snap somebody's neck in a millisecond. Get rid of that small glimmer of hope and joy in your eyes. Get a dramatic cape. Work it. Mean it!"

The boy's words caused laughter to bubble up within Steve, ultimately resulting in a bit of a snort as he found himself unable to mostly contain it. Though it seemed like Andvari was actively trying to hide his laughter as well, he attempted to glare at the other, failing to put any real intent behind it.

"I'm not sure if that's genuine advice, or an insult to our master."

"It's advice! Herobrine has a certain aesthetic that shows off his leadership qualities. If you replace him, you gotta match it somehow." Constiere said, matter-of-factly.

Still trying to shake off his laughter, Steve looked toward the boy with a bit of a raised brow.

"So, what you're saying is if I get a cape and act differently, I can be him? It's that simple?"

Before Constiere had a chance to respond, his eyes trailed up and down the miner before a mischievous grin appeared on his face.

"Hey...you do look like him. Maybe you can be the stoic one!"

Holding up his hands in defense, Steve shook his head with a laugh.

"Nah, I'm...I'm kinda dead inside at certain points, but not enough to be a perfect fit. I think Andvari's the better option, here."

Constiere let out a bit of a scoff as Andvari himself laughed at the miner's refusal.

"C'mon, you have some acting skills. Why not practice with them?" Constiere whined slightly.

"Because anything I'd say would probably get us killed faster?" Steve replied with a bit of a grin on his face.

"We're already at warp speed with the amount of things that Herobrine has said and done already, you can't do any worse." Malgun chimed in, playing around with the string of his bow a bit in order to test it even more.

Somewhat surprised by the other's blunt addition, more laughter escaped the miner's mouth.

"Oh, I bet otherwise! I'm full of surprises that way..."

The miner's words trailed off as a growing scent of smoke came to his senses, leading to confusion appearing on his face as his joking tone died out.

"Wait...what is that?" He asked, looking at the others for an answer.

"What's what?" Constiere asked in return.

"That smell? Smells like...smoke? Fire? I don't know where it-"

Steve's words were interrupted by the smell of smoke slowly melting with that of rotting flesh into one of cooking meat, much to his own nose's general confusion as his brain struggled with settling on either being repulsed or intrigued. Not too soon after, he finally found the others beginning to join in with his confusion as the smell suddenly hit them as well.

"Okay, now I see what you mean, bright-eyes. But yeah, what's-"

"-Wait." Andvari interrupted, slightly raising a claw before sudden realization flooded his gaze. "None of us made a fire."

Though he was initially met with more confusion, a wave of realization came to the group as they realized what exactly he was implying.

Turning back toward the demigod in order to see if the other was correct in his suspicions, the group was rather stunned to find him hunched over on the ground, face buried in one arm while the other was near his body, fire evidently burning bright from his midsection.

"Master, what're you-?!"

Before the enderman could finish, the flames stopped, and Herobrine collapsed sideways against the floor once again, losing consciousness. As the other four rushed to his side, the first thing they noticed was that the hand that was used to produce the flames was gloveless. The second thing they noticed was what appeared to be smoke rising from the other's body. As gently as possible, Andvari went to remove the hand that was wrapped around the other's abdomen, only to lean back somewhat in shock as the others did also.

The wound was smoking. Most of the flesh and fabric around it was severely burned, but, evidently, none of the black substance that had plagued the demigod's body before could be seen. It smelt of seared meat, much to Steve's general disgust, but aside from that, the miner, along with the others, found himself utterly baffled with what had just occurred.

"...He...cauterized the wound…" Steve said in disbelief, quiet as he was still processing the action.

"...Tried to, at least." Constiere added.

A small smile overcame the enderman's face beside him. As Andvari let out a small hum, the focus of the others shifted over to him.

"He's still fighting, at least. Who knows if it will pay off, but…"

"You think that it's going to work?" Malgun asked, turning toward the enderman.

Andvari shrugged.

"Who knows. If it triggers his healing abilities more, maybe it'll help out? That could possibly be what he had in mind."

"That, or he's fully out of his mind. Even more than I am." Constiere said with a bit of a tilted head, somewhat still confused by the other's sudden action.

"Regardless...He's still alive. That much is certain. I think...I think we should think about getting back on the journey." Andvari said, moving to walk toward the entrance of the cave, with the others following him with their eyes.

"Should I get Squash ready?" Steve asked, already moving to get back up on his feet.

Andvari nodded.

"Make sure that she can accommodate him properly. He doesn't exactly need to fall off right now."

Steve nodded as well in response to his answer with a bit of a chuckle.

"That's...that's why I carried him here and not her. Kinda worried about that."

As the remaining two began to stand up as well, Steve made his way over to where he left his ravager, moving to pet her gently in order to wake her up.

"Hey, Squash? We're about to start moving. Don't mind me, okay?" He said in a whisper, which managed to stir the creature awake.

Squash let out a yawn as the miner immediately went to begin creating a proper space to hopefully place the injured demigod on without much difficulty.


Thankfully, the weather wasn't too bad as they left the cave, but it was unfortunately beginning to snow a bit harder once again, much to the group's general dismay.

As Andvari led the group forward, Steve found himself all the way near the back, reins in hand as he led Squash forward, trying to set a slow enough pace so that they had less of a chance to cause the unconscious man on top of her saddle to fall off. He'd wrapped his blankets around the other's shoulders for warmth and placed him in what he hoped was a comfortable enough sleeping position, which was with his body leaned forward and his head placed against the back of the ravager's head. It had been comfortable enough for him, so he hoped that it'd be the same for Herobrine as well.

Trying to distract himself with the scenery, Steve found his thoughts becoming rather fuzzy as he began to try and mentally distance himself from the situation at hand, fighting off the what-ifs that were starting to flood his burdened mind.

What if Herobrine had already succumbed to his wounds, and they were already dragging along a broken corpse? What would happen if the Aethren divines realized that the demigod had finally died? What would the mob generals do without him? What would he do without him?

Before he had the chance to drive himself insane, a small groan caught his attention from behind, breaking his hazy state of mind and leading him to rush to the side of the demigod that it came from.

Herobrine was awake, but it was very evident that he was in immense pain that only got worse with every step the ravager below him took. Realizing this, Steve pulled on the creature's reins a bit until she slowed even more down, allowing the demigod to get more used to her movements as he stirred himself awake.

"...Brine?..." Steve asked quietly, a worried expression on his face.

He received nothing in response. The demigod remained face down.

"...Brine, are...are you okay?" He asked a bit louder, using a hand to lightly poke against the other's shoulder.

Slowly but surely, Herobrine lifted his head up, turning his head slightly toward Steve as the miner immediately dropped his hand back down.

As Steve locked gazes with the other, it was more than clear that his current state of pain could be considered deeper than just the physical kind. Though the glow in his eyes was still somewhat present, his silver gaze was visible and appeared to be tired, heavy, and almost lifeless. If it wasn't for the fact that shaky, troubled breaths were leaving the other, Steve would've been convinced that he was dead.

Slowly blinking, Herobrine's expression turned to one of mixed emotions, primarily pain and desperation.

"...T-talk…" His voice was quiet and broken, strained and shaky.

With a bit of confusion on his features, Steve continued to look at the other.

"...Talk?...About what?..." He asked quietly in return.

"...Talk…J-just...talk…" Herobrine said with an increasingly more panicked tone, somewhat making the miner a bit distressed in response.

"U-uh, okay! Talk...um...talk." Steve nodded his head eagerly, though he was having trouble with thinking of something to talk about.

What could he even say? The request was so abrupt that he didn't even have the time to question even why the other was asking him to talk instead of doing literally anything else. What could he talk about that wouldn't potentially bore or annoy the demigod to the death he'd been trying desperately to escape?

With a heavy sigh, Steve let out a quiet chuckle. Though improv wasn't his strong suit, he'd have to come up with something eventually, right?

"Um...so. Back in my...home village?..." Steve looked back to the other to see if he was even remotely interested, finding that his attention was focused solely on him. "We, uh...we have kind of a weird planning method for the city I think. 'Course, you know that they...left me where I was, but...they like to build things as the need arises for them, mostly without much consideration on where they'll end up. I mean, we have a small kinda-hospital that had a quick clinic, that also functioned as a tiny medical library, built next to it on one side, but a full library with another bookstore in it placed right on the other. S-super weird, right?" Steve asked with a shaky laugh, hoping that the other wasn't too bothered by the topic.

Silence filled the space between them momentarily before a small hum and a slow nod came from the demigod.

"...Y-yes. Very." Herobrine responded. His tone was still rather weak, but he was certainly, strangely enough, paying attention to the miner regardless.

Not knowing if he should continue or not, Steve found himself struggling to pick another topic before the other let out a small, shaky sigh.

"...Go a-ahead…"

The miner let out a small sigh of frustration.

"You picked the least interesting guy to have a conversation with, I'll tell you that. Uh…"

Steve searched through his brain for a moment until another topic came to him.

"Oh! Uh...I-I remember a time, back when I had long hair like yours, when I went down mining without tying it back. It got caught on some rocks as I was going down a small ledge, and I ended up cutting it the moment I got back home. Long hair doesn't really suit me, I guess."

A small silence formed between the two again for a moment as Steve attempted to keep his gaze anywhere but on Herobrine as they continued to travel forward. That silence was broken, however, when a few short breaths indicated that Herobrine was going to speak again.

"...T-this...this...pendant…"

As Steve turned back to face the other, he found his gaze being focused on Herobrine's hand as he held up the strange pendant he'd seen briefly before, now freed from its hiding space.

"I-it...it's from...my family." Herobrine said with a bit stronger of a voice compared to mere seconds earlier.

"Your brother, right?" Steve asked with a curious expression.

"...M-mother."

Steve nearly froze in place.

Was Herobrine...out of it? Did he lose too much blood, and was now entirely speaking to him through total loopiness? His words weren't slurred in the slightest, but the mere mention of his family nevertheless surprised him. When he took that one glance at the other's family lineage, there didn't seem to be any mention of a mother whatsoever, strangely. Maybe he missed it entirely, but from what he saw, there were only three spaces for info in that section, and the ones who were in it consisted of the demigod himself, his brother, and his father.

Of course, maybe he didn't see any mention of this "mother'' because the book was unfinished in its current state. After all, the one who wrote it used a nickname for his brother's short entry into the family tree instead of his actual name. The idea was entirely possible.

"...Mother?..." Steve asked quietly, testing the waters to see if the other was truly sound of mind as he waited for confirmation.

Herobrine gathered the strength to nod slowly.

"...It...helps."

Slightly disappointed with the fact that the other hadn't gone further into detail, yet entirely forgiving of him given his current state, Steve continued on with his questions.

"...With what?"

"...Magic. It...holds it."

Steve's eyes lit up a bit as the other's words came to his ears.

"Is it helping you to heal, at least?"

The miner was met with a small shrug.

Steve gave him a small, somewhat pity-filled smile in return.

"...Well, no matter what it's doing, I really, really hope you get through this, Brine."

Herobrine looked at him with a bit of confusion in his gaze.

"...W-why?"

Steve looked back at him with a similar look of confusion.

"...What, should I not be worried about you, or?..."

As the other remained silent, a small sigh left the miner's lips.

"...I...I'm confused, but...Herobrine, thank you. You didn't need to jump in like that to take the hit, but...thank you so much. I can't even put it into words how much I'm thankful for what you did, but at the same time...Why? Why do it?" Though he didn't want to overwhelm the injured man, Steve continued. "You...you could've just let me get hit, and call it a day. It could've been a real learning experience, sure, but I-"

"-I don't...I-I don't want you to get hurt."

Herobrine's voice was much stronger than it had been, surprising Steve somewhat as the demigod moved to sit up a bit more properly, unfortunately failing and returning to his slouched position.

"I-I don't want any of you...to…"

Steve placed a light hand on the other's shoulder, giving it a small supportive pat.

"Hey...save your energy for healing, and tell us that later. Right now, I...I want to make sure you're gonna be alright. We're heading to the kingdom, so you should have enough time to rest up and get your strength back. No more playing savior for the time being, okay Brine?" Steve said in as quiet and gentle of a voice as he could.

Looking at him with that same, exhausted gaze, Herobrine closed his eyes as he nodded slowly, moving to bury his head within one arm as the other moved to wrap around his body. Steve smiled somewhat at the sight, feeling a bit of joy arise within him as he felt relieved that the other had at least gained some consciousness again. Though they were down a fighter and leader, that didn't bother him too much as he found himself preoccupied with thoughts about how he was gonna fight to make sure that the demigod wouldn't have to rush to save him again.

After all, if they were going to prevent the collapse of all worlds, they might prefer to have someone that knew partially what they were doing to work on managing things, right?


Y'all, I stepped out of the house to pick up some food I ordered and got heat exhaustion, that was fun lmao XD At least I got my chicken lol. Gotta love that summer heat :3

On another side note, guess who finally checked out Everywhere at the End of Time and decided to write part of the fic during it? Lmao it really brings out the emotions, but like, I was writing stuff while listening to Stage 4 onwards beginning the last chapter, so...I got thoroughly disturbed while trying to work on it lmao. Not that much though, because idk if anybody else who has listened to the album has thought about this, but it generally reminds me a LOT about the End tracks (both the boss "theme" for the ender dragon and the track named "The End"), so I don't feel like I got the full intended experience bc I'm pretty used to the sound that comes from both of those T_T Idk, in "The End" specifically, the opening reminds me of Stage 1 of EWATEOT, and the rest fits up nicely with Stage 4 and beyond, with the key-changed Sweden kinda fitting the last five minutes of the album (or the leitmotif of "Heartache"/"It's Just a Burning Memory"). Probably bc all of the static and droning ambiance lol

Back to the fic! Herobrine is...sort of okay for now? Like, getting hit by a god-killing weapon still sucks, but hey, he's riding out the waves lmao. You don't just bounce back from something like that, immortal or not! But more about that later, now Steve knows more about what the hell he's actually supposed to do with the mob squad! I was gonna originally have this chapter be about Andvari's backstory a bit (given that I noticed that I had a pattern of backstory plots happening every five chapters, with Constiere's being ch. 15 and Malgun's being ch. 20), but I decided against it because it really didn't feel like it was time, lol. Pushed me back a bit, but hey, it is what it is haha.

Fun facts (or just fact this time lmao)!:

1.) Typically speaking, the Aethren divines don't personally go to replace the dragon themselves. It's usually a remote venture, which kinda helps to explain why things are getting the way that they are.

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