Chapter 30: God of Imitation
Steve woke up to the sounds of general commotion, drawing a long groan from his lips as he moved to bury his face in the bed beneath him, trying to drown out the noise. Finding himself wildly unsuccessful, he instead turned his head back to look at the door to his room, trying to form a mental image of whatever was happening just outside.
Frantic instructions were being given by various different muffled voices that he could only assume belonged to festival officiants. Several other voices were responding in turn, mostly with questions, which probably meant that these were champions who were talking back. General tones of both excitement and confusion arose in the air, making it seem like whatever that was happening outside was of some relative importance, somehow.
…
Without much fanfare, he turned over in his bed, facing opposite of the door as he tried to drown out the sounds of the outside commotion.
To his general disappointment, a knock on the door caused him to open his eyes into a small glare, which only filled up with annoyance as the sound of keys soon followed, leading to him letting out a mental groan as he heard the door open. In an attempt to save his sanity, the miner closed his eyes again, faking being asleep as the stranger who had broken into his room slowly approached him. Silence followed for a few brief moments, making him a bit more relaxed and at ease, only for that ease to immediately fall away as a hand roughly grabbed his shoulder and promptly yanked him off of the bed, causing him to collapse on the floor with a solid thud.
Back against the wood flooring, Steve looked up in a somewhat dazed manner, finding the presence of an armed guard just above him. Judgemental eyes stared back down at him, though he couldn't find the energy to necessarily care all too much about the other's silent opinion at the moment.
"Get up. It's time for you to be suited up for the festival. You need to look somewhat presentable, as ordered by the High Mistress." The man announced sternly.
"Alright, alright. If I didn't get that after being tossed down here, I get it now, alright? Let me get up, hold on…" Steve said with a tired tone, forcing himself up as he used the bed as a small crutch.
The guard looked at him as he stood up, eyeing him over with a watchful gaze that Steve couldn't help but feel somewhat uneasy under. Giving the man a skeptical look of his own, Steve began to slowly walk out from the room, keeping his hands in his pockets as he shifted his attention soon elsewhere as he took several looks around the place.
It was just as much chaos as he was expecting such a noisy place to be. Folks were running around everywhere, grabbing and leaving things in a state of sheer panic as their time to come on stage and bask in the spotlight was soon approaching. Guards were giving out instructions, answering questions, and trying their best to manage the mess as best they could without allowing the champions to completely fall apart as they prepared themselves eagerly. Some people were excited, others were on the verge of tears, but all the same, it was clear that this festival was something that they'd been looking well forward to, all of their hard work serving as proof for the reason why they deserved to be there in the first place.
For a group of people who were soon going to possibly meet with death itself, everybody was pretty stoked about the matter.
As he too was being called for, Steve found himself somewhat losing focus as his brain tuned out the noise around him, spacing out a bit as the overwhelming loudness of the area became too much for him. Though that was the primary reason for his frozen stature, something else entirely froze him in his tracks as people shifted around him frantically, causing a small air of confusion to surround him.
Something odd resonated within him. It felt like a brief buzz, but whatever it was unnerved him to no end. Looking around himself, nobody else seemed to stop to see what it was either, confusing him even further as he tried to focus on feeling it again, finding himself at quite a bit of a loss.
Attempting to shake the feeling of uneasiness off of him, Steve directed his attention over the railing in front of his room, finding that the other floors within the building were in the same state that his floor currently was in. The endless pounding of feet and voices assaulted his ears, almost driving him to cover them up with his hands. Sure, a little commotion was fine enough, but he was used to little activity within narrow, echoing spaces, not this much activity in this massive, echoing space. Turning toward the exit into the hallway, Steve saw people beginning to make their way there, resulting in him deciding to do the same.
Though he wasn't exactly shoulder-to-shoulder with the others, he was relatively surprised to find that his theory of there being multiple champions to each room had been confirmed, as he ended up counting roughly twenty-eight people walking along with him, all coming from this single floor alone. He also found himself growing a bit curious about how big the other rooms were compared to his own.
Being led through the massive hallways once again, Steve looked around as he tried to mentally map out the building he was going through, even more confused about where they currently were. He didn't bother to do this while being dragged in, which he was beginning to regret immensely, but even as he tried to make up for it, he was growing rather baffled as he tried to piece together the various different turns they were making to get to where they were supposed to be going. The building was either endless (which he wouldn't doubt the possibility of given the existence of gods and such) or incomprehensibly large, like a castle of some sort, or at the very least, a mansion.
…
Was he in a mansion?
The group was led to a giant pair of doors that slowly opened to reveal a large, beautiful garden. Across from where they were was what seemed to be another building connected to the one they were leaving, much to Steve's general shock. Not remembering this route, he realized that they were being taken somewhere new, which didn't help to alleviate his growing anxiety in any sort of capacity whatsoever. Walking through the peaceful garden, Steve allowed the surrounding flowers to calm him down somewhat with their collective scent, though he didn't find his heartbeat slowing in any sense whatsoever. He was briefly reminded of his experience with Joules on the wagon ride to the inner city, momentarily giving him a sense of ease and longing as he wished that the other was there to guide him further, calming his fears despite the situation he was stuck in.
There was no rescue for him at the moment, however. He could only count the minutes down to the very second that he'd be attacked. Hopefully, he'd be able to put up a relatively good fight before succumbing, if his training sessions with Herobrine taught him anything good enough to take with him.
Turning back to look at the building they just left, Steve felt utterly shocked as its full size came into view. Several towers surrounded the building, acting as a protective barrier along with several different sturdy walls that were connected to them. The place they left seemed to be a mere side attraction, however, as he soon found that a larger building was placed dead center in the middle of the towers surrounding them, looming over the entire area they were in. It was intricately designed, carrying a certain commanding presence with it that brought nothing but horror and disbelief into the miner's body.
They weren't in a mansion. They were in a castle.
How did he get in there? What kind of castle is connected to the city like that?
Steve found himself too shocked to think further about the baffling situation, forcing himself to focus more on the festival and whatever going through it could possibly mean for him.
Why were there this many people here to watch the champions?
Steve looked forward as he found what appeared to be the entirety of the Lunarus population standing in the square, cheering and communicating among themselves as the festival was beginning to commence. He stood amongst the other champions, now joined by the rest of the select few who'd been living on the other floors, surrounded by guards who were waiting for further orders. They were behind the center stage that he spotted days earlier along with Joules, causing a feeling of nausea to come to him as he realized that he'd be standing there soon enough.
What was his plan of action? Could he slip away into the crowd, possibly?
…
No, everybody would see him leave.
Could he fight his way to the death, escaping as he was being heavily targeted?
…
There were more people here than strands of hair on his head. He'd be outnumbered quickly. Even if the champions didn't get him, who's to say that the crowd wouldn't join in as well if he was made out to be Herobrine and not who he actually was?
He really had no options. This was it.
With a loud command that he'd missed entirely, Steve soon found his group being pushed along forward, beginning their death march to the stage before them. Cheers began to erupt as his emotions came to a head, almost causing him to freeze in place as he desperately tried to come up with another plan to ensure his survival.
Walking through the crowd as he found himself and the others being cheered on, he found his gaze wandering amongst the various people there, though most of them moved by in a blurry haze. Outside of the protective wall of guards and inner surrounding champions, no one in the crowd stood out to him, all being quite unfamiliar as he found himself growing to feel even more alienated with his emotions. No one broke through the fog of endless new faces.
...
Suddenly, he spotted someone.
Far away in the crowd, Steve found his gaze locking with the light green gaze of a blonde woman standing on her own. Though he didn't actually recognize her in any way whatsoever, he found himself a bit perplexed as she stared directly back at him, gaze filled with something along the lines of annoyance and a bit of scrutiny. No other champion held her gaze except for him, as she followed his movements rather intensively. He suspected for a moment that maybe, perhaps like Joules, she didn't find herself very fond of the champion situation, but the way she looked at him caused a knot in his stomach that said otherwise. She was looking at him in a way that suggested some sort of personal reasoning as if they'd known each other already, and she was upset at the path he'd gone on.
Being shoved along by the guards that had moved up behind him, Steve didn't exactly get all too much time to ponder the woman's presence, finding his gaze being forced upward and him being placed in the crowd that was currently directly in front of the stage above them. They were cut off by a solid wall of guards, protecting them from the actual viewing crowd so that they could pay close attention to the people in front of them.
Before the group of Lunarian champions-to-be stood a small group of royally dressed individuals, all of whom were adorned with shiny pieces of jewelry that seemed to be a bit overkill considering their already obvious status. The only two people that Steve recognized were Lady Iridescence, who stood tall and stoic, and, to his general sense of dread, King Maxwell, who stood right beside her, an eager smile on his face as he looked over the crowd. Everybody else that was currently on the stage seemed to be a part of the royal council, which included the actual king of Lunarus himself, though his presence was greatly outshined by the gods standing beside him.
To Steve's added horror, as Maxwell looked upon the group of champions in front of him, he briefly fixated his attention upon the miner, happy expression faltering for just a brief second before lifting up again, leaving Steve worried about the implications of that look.
The king of Lunarus, a man decorated with the most royal blue robes that the miner had ever seen, walked forward to address the crowd.
"People of Lunarus! Silence, silence!" He outstretched his arms above the crowd, and with a quick wave of hushes, the group was quiet.
"The royal party welcomes you all to our first official Festival of Champions! Now, most of you might be wondering why we've decided to begin such a thing, but that, my friends, is not for me to properly explain."
The king stepped back off to the side, gesturing for Maxwell to take center stage. With the clearing of his throat, the god began to speak.
"It has come to our attention that your world has fallen into great peril! In a realm beyond mortal comprehension, a flying beast lays awakened, threatening to release itself into your world and spread the curse that has befallen its own!"
The crowd erupted in sounds of horror and shock, with a general murmur rising amongst them as they spoke among themselves in hushed voices.
"Is that true?"
"How awful!"
"How can this be?!"
Maxwell smiled at their worried expressions.
"But calm yourselves! For that is why we've brought before you today a solution!"
As the crowd directed their attention back up towards the divine being, Iridescence stepped forward.
"This beast, a great dragon, can be dealt with. That is why we're sending the best of the best in order to deal with it and put a stop to its madness." The woman paused, letting out a small sigh. "However, another obstacle exists as a measure of protection for it. A guardian who exists to protect the beast stands as the primary barrier between your survival and you."
"He is a hellish demon who will stop at nothing to protect the dragon!" The king of Lunarus interjected.
"His name...I can't even bear to have its awfulness on my tongue, but his name is Herobrine! A slayer of all of mankind!" Maxwell announced, causing another wave of horror to spread throughout the crowd.
For a brief moment, the idea arose in Steve's mind that maybe, just maybe, Herobrine was the real villain in the situation. He was responsible for the deaths of many, many humans, so who's to say that he didn't lie to him just to get him on his side?
The look in Maxwell's eyes as he glared at him immediately killed that thought, however.
How could you raise a child and not recognize them? How could you spend who knows how many years watching a kid develop and grow, and yet not be able to tell them apart from a stranger on the street? Has it really been that long since they last saw the demigod in person? Was the other just that good at hiding? Whatever the case was, it wasn't looking so good for him.
"We've created a group of champions to go forth and lead the way into victory for all of mankind! No longer will that dragon, nor Herobrine, pose a threat to our world. Come forth, noble champions!"
With the Lunarian king's command, a group of roughly five people came forward from behind the stage, walking upon it to the sounds of cheers coming from the audience. Each champion wore a blindingly white cloak around themselves, which had the Lunarian crest of moons sewn upon them on their backs.
Maxwell smiled at their appearance.
"This group will lead the charge, but it's in dire need of some more assistance. That's why we've summoned you all here to compete!" He gestured out to the other champions in front of the stage.
"In return for bearing our challenges, the two champions who succeed above the rest will, apart from gain entry into our lovely leading brigade, receive our blessings!" Lady Iridescence added on, waving a hand above the champions before her.
The champions all took a knee in front of the gods, heads bowed as Lady Iridescence moved to one of them at the far right of the line. A guard came and presented her with a long object that was obscured by a pale blue cloth, and as she revealed it, it became clear that this object was, in fact, a sword. Though the miner was at a small distance away from the stage, it was obvious even from his current position that the blade was well-crafted, being held in a white, gold-trimmed sheath adorned with jewels; diamonds in particular.
Holding the blade upward toward the sky in her two hands, the woman began to speak in a loud, booming voice.
"As the goddess of Wealth, I bestow upon you the blessing of prosperity. You will see many victories before you, slaying all who dare to stand against you and your brethren. Use this holy blade to be sure of it, and to carry the wishes of us all with you!"
She handed the blade down to the champion in front of her, smiling as the man took it with awe in his expression.
Steve stood silently, perplexed at the sight.
Was it really this easy to make weapons that could slay a god? Were a few words really what made a weapon special enough to bring unimaginable destruction upon an immortal being? Was he entirely wrong about what he was seeing, and this wasn't what a blessing looked like?
Maxwell went forward in front of the next champion in line, being handed another weapon, this time being a large, equally-as-well-decorated spear.
"As the god of Light, I bestow upon you the blessing of guidance! May your strength light the way before others so that you can find your way to victory!" He said as he handed the spear down to the champion in front of him, allowing her to take it carefully from his grasp.
As Lady Iridescence moved to the next champion in line, she was handed a decorated axe. Taking a moment to collect her thoughts, she gave a brief look over to the miner, smirking a bit as he flinched in fear.
"Well...what do we have here?..." She began, lowering the weapon in her hand to her side.
Maxwell followed her gaze, expression falling.
"...Herobrine…"
Gasps broke out as all attention soon came to the audience in front of the stage, eventually falling upon Steve as he found himself at the end of the gods' scornful gazes. The gods slowly approached the edge of the stage, causing him to step back in horror as he realized that their plan to execute him had finally gone underway.
"You really thought that blending in with our champions would protect you?" Iridescence laughed at him.
"You really had the nerve to do such a foolish thing…" Maxwell added, drawing a blade from his hip as he slowly approached the miner.
Finding that the wall of champions and guards wasn't breaking for him, Steve found himself trapped, fearing for his life. He found himself wishing that the gods would at least have the mercy to end him quickly.
Before another accusing word could escape their lips however, a small chuckle that carried throughout the crowd broke them out of focus.
"My word, what is this?"
A chilling voice rang out from above the crowd, causing everyone who was currently present to look around wildly for the source. Realization came to the faces of the two gods present, causing them to look around wildly as well, finding that the voice didn't come from Steve.
Another laugh erupted from the source of the voice.
"I heard that we were having the gods do something special, yes?...And yet, I didn't get an invitation to participate? How rude!" The voice spoke again, causing Steve's eyes to widen as he recognized who it came from.
King Maxwell let out a small growl of annoyance as his gaze focused upward, locking on the source the disruption had originated from.
"I don't remember sending out an invitation, Herobrine." Came Maxwell's biting tone, which drew a scoff from the demigod's lips.
"Really? I could've sworn that you'd be nice enough to invite the whole Aether!"
Finally, the source of the voice came into view as the Aethren king's gaze directed the crowd's attention upward to the top of a nearby building, where Herobrine made himself known confidently, hands propping up his head as he leaned over the railing there, expression filled with amusement.
Steve found himself shocked at the other's abrupt appearance.
The demigod did not look this rejuvenated the last time he saw him. There were no traces of pain or struggle in the other's expression whatsoever, though his eyes were too bright to really get the full confirmation he needed to be sure of that. His body language gave enough reassurance however, surprising Steve as it seemed to be that the other had been mysteriously healed after his previous encounter with death.
Whatever Joules did to the potion he gave Herobrine, he did it right. He wouldn't doubt the other again.
"Mind if I...put my two cents in? Contribute, so to speak? This all seems rather grand, you know? I can only hold my excitement in for so long." Herobrine said with a slightly mocking tone, clearly reveling in the fact that by simply standing where he was, he was drawing such a vast array of emotions from all parties who were present.
"Only titled gods can-" Maxwell began.
Herobrine waved him off.
"Sure, sure. We have the god of this, and the god of that, and so on, and so on. All of you have your fancy titles and whatnot, but keep in mind, I do as well. So, I'll do my part and keep things brief."
Suddenly, the demigod was gone, disappearing out of existence before reappearing somewhere in the back of the plaza crowd, as made evident by the screams of shock and fear that rang out as the crowd parted in order to get away from him. Herobrine slowly made his way to the front of the stage, commanding all attention as he drew closer to the gods before him, who were looking to be somewhat as deeply nervous and concerned as everybody else there was.
Turning around as he reached the stage, Herobrine looked out into the crowd, finding their fearful expressions somewhat amusing. Stepping closer to a man on the edge of the small circle that had formed around him, he watched with a smirk as the other instinctively backed away from him. Appearing to be studying him for a moment, Herobrine soon after had realization flash across his face, holding up a finger as it looked like he remembered something.
"You know...I think it'd be better for everybody involved if you weren't talking to me, per se…" He said, giving a quick look around as he did so.
Walking behind the man, Herobrine disappeared from the miner's view briefly, only to confuse him immensely as what seemed like an exact copy of the man in the crowd walked out from behind him with a smirk on his face.
"Is this more comfortable for you all?" Herobrine's voice came from the copied stranger's mouth.
Turning to find his body double, the man let out a cry of shock.
"Now?..." Herobrine's voice had disappeared completely, leaving the man's voice in its place.
Steve found himself completely shocked by the display.
Was...was this the other's hidden power?
A laugh left the demigod's lips as he disappeared behind the startled man once again, returning to his original appearance in the blink of an eye.
"I'm joking, I'm joking! You fools don't deserve to know comfort." Herobrine's tone grew darker, his words almost being forced through his teeth as he continued his approach to the stage.
Catching sight of the miner in the champion section of the crowd, Herobrine gave him a brief little smirk before disappearing completely, causing the people who were around him to let out a few cries of shock again. He reappeared right next to Steve, however, grabbing a hold of his arm and mouthing a couple of words to him, his harsh white gaze dimming down slightly as he spoke.
Trust me.
Before Steve could even give the other a nod of understanding, the lurching, sickening feeling of being teleported elsewhere overwhelmed his senses, causing nausea to flood his system. After teleporting, the source of the nausea suddenly switched to the realization that he'd been teleported onto the stage itself.
"I think that I deserve to choose a champion too, don't you think?!" He said with a slightly unnerving laugh following his announcement.
A small murmur broke out amongst the crowd as they soon recognized the resemblance between the two, causing Steve to grow more nervous as he gave a worried glance over to the demigod.
What the heck was he planning?
Herobrine turned to meet his gaze again, giving him what appeared to be a...worried gaze as well?
Was he not even sure of what he was doing?
Herobrine abruptly broke eye contact, looking out into the crowd once again. His gaze grew rather serious as his presence became a commanding one.
"Let all of those present bear witness to my decree!" He announced, watching as the crowd flinched and gave their undivided attention directly to him.
Turning back toward Steve, who was staring at him with utter confusion in his expression, Herobrine looked him directly in the eyes again, suddenly full silver meeting with pure violet.
With a deep sigh, Herobrine closed his eyes, thinking quietly to himself for a moment before opening them with determination, soon after pulling out a diamond blade, one that seemed to be entirely new. Steve briefly spotted a sheath beneath the other's cape that was pure white, lined with gold accents, and adorned with bright, tiny gemstones, which Steve soon recognized as being diamonds placed along with emeralds. It nearly perfectly matched the one that was gifted to the first champion from earlier. The demigod gave the sword a quick swing, which cut through the air and left a trail of what seemed to be fire in its wake, giving off a small, sizzling noise. As he held it up toward the sky, Steve watched with intrigue that soon turned into pure shock as the other slowly lowered himself to kneel before the miner, offering up his blade to him flat against his palms. Looking up to Steve with that same determined expression, Herobrine kept his gaze captured.
With a strong, loud voice, Herobrine made sure that everybody around the two could hear him.
"As the god of Imitation, I give this human the blessing of entry into the End realm. With my blade in his hands, only he will be permitted to enter the cursed place and slay the being within it. Only when he has failed should the blessing be tarnished, and should he fall, I will fall as well."
A rush of surprised gasps went throughout the crowd, all eyes falling upon the miner as he found himself unable to do much but stare in utter shock at the demigod as his words failed to rise from the depths of his mind.
How could he even respond to that?
Before he could even speak to object to the other's words in pure panic, Herobrine mouthed something simple to him.
Take it.
Hesitantly with slightly shaky hands, Steve took the blade from the other's grasp, holding it with building emotions that he couldn't even begin to process.
Looking upon the surface of the diamond blade, Steve caught his shaky reflection, which was currently holding a strong expression of disbelief and fear being accompanied by an even stronger sense of hopelessness. Surprisingly enough, he found himself silently apologizing to that mirror image, soon forcing himself to appear strong instead of whatever his true feelings currently were.
Turning his head back to face the crowd, he saw nothing but a mixture of fear, shock, and anger growing among the people there, causing him to fear for his life as he soon felt himself becoming rather small once again. Before he could make any sort of speech that would possibly cause the crowd to lunge at him, Herobrine stepped in front of him, a smirk finding its way on his face.
"The only way any of you idiots are gonna slay the dragon is by going through me and removing my champion of his status. None of you deserve the glory!"
Hearing a weapon being drawn from right behind them, the two found themselves being approached by one of the pre-selected champions, the one who was given Lady Iridescence's sword.
"If that's your blessing, then allow us to take it!"
Herobrine stepped in front of Steve, blocking the miner from being in the attack path of the other.
"Over our dead bodies."
Without any warning, Steve felt the telltale ugliness that came with Herobrine's silent commands, and only moments after that feeling of dread flooded the systems of everybody present came the sounds of various mobs who were approaching the area, stepping out from the shadows in numbers that Steve didn't even want to think about.
"Come find us when you can actually work that sword of yours, alright?" Herobrine smirked at the champion before them, soon after grabbing Steve's arm tightly and moving to escape off of the stage with him.
Just as the first of many screams from the audience rang out, Herobrine teleported both of them out into what appeared to be the same area that they were initially brought to by the endermen, which was currently completely free of mobs, including the generals who commanded them.
Catching his breath while trying to force the nausea growing within him down as best he could, Steve, with a shaky gaze that suggested oncoming tears, glared at the demigod beside him, who was, thankfully, not in as bad a condition as he was.
"I have several questions, Herobrine!" Steve stated, moving to place himself in front of the other before he could possibly make an escape.
Despite his speed, it appeared as if Herobrine had no intentions of running from him, instead immediately stopping in place without resistance as he dropped the sheath that had once held their newest weapon down to the ground.
Expression neutral, Herobrine spoke.
"...I suppose I owe you quite a few answers, then."
Slightly surprised that the demigod had immediately surrendered, Steve quickly wiped his shock off of his face before resuming his previous angry confrontation.
"Why the hell did you do that?! W-what the actual hell were you thinking, Brine?!" Steve yelled at the other, watching as the demigod's expression remained neutral despite his angered reaction, though his gaze was elsewhere as he turned his head away from the miner.
"...It was the spur of the moment. I saw that you were in distress, so I responded accordingly. What, would you have rather preferred that I left you to be slaughtered upon the stage for crimes that you did not commit?" Herobrine answered in a slightly biting tone.
"You could've told me what you were planning to do! Didn't you have a plan before you found me, or whatever?!"
"...This is a part of that."
Steve looked at him with disbelief.
"You...N-now I got a whole target on my back from everyone in that kingdom, which will soon be everyone on the planet! I thought we were supposed to stay out of the public eye or whatever, I...how is this good for your plan?!"
Herobrine turned to glare at him.
"I…" The demigod's words trailed off as he looked at the miner, his expression turning to one with some semblance of regret hidden in his features.
The two stood in silence as Herobrine appeared to be debating with himself, opening his mouth to say something only to close it soon afterward. Following another minute of pure nothing, Herobrine let out a small sigh.
"...I didn't want to add anything onto your plate considering your championship and duties with us or risk you telling someone about the information too early, but I'm afraid that I have to tell you the truth about my intentions."
Herobrine took another moment of inner debate before continuing.
"Our goal is to prevent humans from getting to the dragon that lies within the End realm, since it plays a very, very integral part in keeping our reality as stable as possible. Unfortunately, between the dragon's life coming to an end and humans attempting to kill it, we don't have that much time to act in order to find a solution that allows the End realm to remain stable without the use of a dragon in the first place."
Steve nodded, thinking to himself for a moment before deciding to come clean as well.
"I...I'm aware of that. The others explained things to me while you were out cold."
Surprise found its way onto Herobrine's features before it was replaced with what appeared to be a bit of genuine hurt.
"...They...they told you?"
Steve nodded, feeling some regret as he told the truth.
"We weren't sure if you were gonna pull through, so they wanted to tell me the truth about everything so that I could at least be on board for finishing where you left off. I...sorry about that."
Taking in the miner's words for a moment, Herobrine found himself with a bag of mixed emotions that ultimately got set off to the side with a brief shake of his head.
"...We'll...we'll talk about that later. If they've told you anything about our plans, then you're aware of the fact that we're only left with so many options, yes?"
Steve nodded.
"Yeah, and we're running out of time. Don't you have like, some secret ace up your sleeve?"
Herobrine nodded slowly.
"...This was phase one of using that ace. A rocky start, sure, but nevertheless, this is the option we're gonna have to put all of our cards on for the time being. I don't know how long we have until the dragon falls apart, and we can't be certain of where exactly all the current champions will be at all points in time."
"...Phase...one?"
Herobrine looked at him with a serious expression, his silver eyes holding traces of deep determination within them.
"I've been debating with myself for long enough, but I'm afraid that I, due to my powers, cannot replace the dragon myself. I'm at a point where I've received a good portion of my abilities back thanks to the potion you gave me, but in their current state, they're rather uncontrollable beyond a couple of spells and such. I've never...well, I've never been too stable with my powers, so adding the burden of keeping the realms together will only prove to be a disaster. With a god out of the way, however…" Herobrine let out a heavy sigh. "...This is my other plan. Out of pride, I wanted to discard it altogether, but my hand has been forced, and we have no better options to put into place that won't take some considerable time we don't have to set up. I...I essentially made the decision to elect my own champion, so to say, I…"
Suddenly, Herobrine's face flushed as he looked at the miner, his gaze struggling to remain focused upon him. More embarrassment had found its way to the other's face, much to the miner's amusement.
"I...I wasn't bluffing when I was up there on the platform. I didn't want the others to know yet until I was certain with myself, but I've decided that...well, if we can figure out the reason why the gods wished to search for champions with your condition, then perhaps we can allow one into the End to slay the dragon and...well, take the glory..."
Utterly stunned, Steve blinked at the other's words.
"...You actually want me to slay the dragon?...You want to keep humans out of the End, but you're gonna let me in to test things out?"
Herobrine shook his head.
"Only if the reason to find purple-eyed champions is valid enough. The gods know how dangerous it is for humans to travel to the End alone. Hell, they know that they can't even handle the Nether that well. There may be a reason to believe that those with your condition possess something akin to a key of some kind; one that may allow them to step into the End relatively unscathed, somehow."
"...How dangerous is it?"
"Didn't...didn't the others tell you?"
"...Tell me what?"
Herobrine let out a quick sigh.
"...Keeping humans away is a hard enough job on its own, but we're not the only ones making sure of that. I'm worried about the champions in particular because it's very, very possible that if they're able to get through the Nether fine enough, they can handle being teleported to the End. If their eyes have anything to do with that level of tolerance, then we have to consider it. That kind of interdimensional travel is potentially fatal to those who aren't used to those levels of magic. Considering that the one man, Raff, was able to make several trips into the Nether and come back out, there's a chance that he's built a tolerance granted to him by whatever caused his eyes to be that way."
Finding himself still rather upset with the information he was being given, Steve let out a slightly disturbed laugh.
"Oh?...So it's...it's very dangerous to travel to the Nether and End, or whatever, and...you're still gonna make me go to the End? Don't...don't I get a choice, Brine? This is my life on the line, here, if my eyes don't actually mean anything, I'm a dead man!" Steve asked, his tone shaking a bit in suppressed anger and evident frustration.
Herobrine turned to look at him with a softer, gentle gaze, one that surprised him enough to briefly drop his displeasurement with the situation at hand.
"...You're the only one I saw in that crowd with any sort of potential whatsoever, Steven. It's...I can say that it's a gut feeling that told me to entrust this responsibility to you. It's...it's unfortunate that I had to place such a large, public target on your back in order to make that clear." He said with an equally as soft tone, appearing somewhat as upset as the miner.
"...How do I have the potential?..." Steve asked quietly.
The demigod shrugged.
"...You've shown me personally that your compassion does not stop where humanity ends. I have a feeling that based on the fact that everybody there didn't hesitate to demonize you, one of their own, nobody else would be suitable enough for the job."
Silence filled the space between them as Steve took in the other's words, coming to terms with the fact that he was now actually being gifted with an opportunity that he initially was trying to find himself.
He didn't want it. He'd already come to terms with the fact that he'd never get the chance to slay the dragon, but now that he had Herobrine's permission to do so, he didn't want it. Nevertheless, he tried to force himself into trusting the other's judgment in the matter.
Steve looked at the demigod for a moment or so before sighing.
"...I hope that you're absolutely sure about this, because we're kinda stuck with everybody knowing that the legendary Herobrine is aiding me. You know that this is gonna draw some kind of bad reaction from people, now that they're well-aware of what we look like, right?"
"My existence has been drawing bad reactions from people since the day I was born. What difference does it make?"
Briefly amused by the other's joke, Steve let out a small whine of frustration.
"Because now someone else has to deal with that! You gave me this...this sword, here!" Steve gestured toward him slightly with the shining diamond blade that was still in his possession, taking a moment to make sure that the other saw it properly. "I don't know what the hell you did to it to make it catch on fire like that, but it's gonna make everybody think that...well, that it's some sort of divine weapon that-"
"-It was like that when I found it. It's enchanted."
Pausing with widened eyes at the other's words, Steve looked at Herobrine with a suddenly curious expression.
"...Enchanted?...Found it?"
Shaking his head after giving the other a few moments to respond, being left in silence, Steve let out a slight huff as he continued.
"I-I don't know what you mean by that, unless you're talking about a blessing or whatever, but the point is, if the champions see this thing, it will only-"
"-You ever wondered where exactly that compass that was gifted to us led to, apart from the center of Lunarus? I did, and seeing that I needed to test myself to find what powers had returned to me, I followed it as I went in to perform phase one. Turns out, Minos apparently had more than one gift waiting for us, and-"
"-Brine! Stop. Trying. To. Change. The. Subject! I'm...I'm mad, and I-"
"-You're upset. I get that. But right now...we need to adapt and move forward, despite how bleak things may look." Herobrine looked up at him, his silver gaze holding what appeared to be genuine feelings of regret within them. "...In my arrogance and my desire to...well, upstage them, so to speak, I...I ended up sacrificing someone that wasn't myself, and for that, I apologize."
...Herobrine was sorry?
Staring at the other's gaze, Steve found the silver of his eyes to be firm in his convictions, shocking the miner as he slowly came to terms with the fact that Herobrine was actually apologizing to him directly. Despite his anger, he found that couldn't help but accept it.
Crossing his arms in front of his chest as he pushed down his feelings of immense frustration, Steve looked away from the demigod, trying to avoid the other's appearance that was slowly beginning to resemble that of a kicked puppy.
"So uh...what's the plan now? I'm your appointee, so..." Steve slightly mumbled his words.
Looking at the other's expression, Herobrine let out a sigh, his own expression falling.
"...Given that the champions are most likely going to be immediately sent out to search for both the portal and us, we're going to go with our original line of action and destroy the portal at Merry Glade before making our way to wherever the End portal actually is. If anything, we're going to have to bet on the champions choosing to search for us, especially since they're likely going to be convinced that killing you will be their only way into the other realm. In short, we need to get to Merry Glade before they do, and hope that they're more focused on us than on the portals and their original quest. That way, we can prevent them from actually getting anywhere."
Steve nodded.
"Okay, but what are we gonna do to get to the End? Shouldn't we use that portal in Merry Glade instead of destroying it? Isn't destroying it gonna be a part of our problems?"
Herobrine looked off to the side, his expression growing rather troubled.
"...Destroying it will be everybody's obstacle, regardless of whether we need it or not. That, and not actually knowing about how the Nether factors into things."
"...What do you mean by that, Brine?"
"...I mean that I'm not sure that people know exactly how important the Nether actually is in the process of getting to the End. Activating the End portal is going to prove to be a whole different challenge on its own, and I don't exactly know how vital going through the Nether is in that equation. Apart from...well, not knowing where the portal is, we...we're at a bit of a loss when it comes to figuring out how to...activate it..."
Steve glared at the other.
"Herobrine! That's kind of an important thing to know! What do you mean that 'we're at a bit of a loss'?!"
Herobrine glared back at him.
"I was never told how to activate the portal, and I've never seen one get activated. Gods don't typically go to the End en masse anyway, so it wasn't vital information! All I know is that there's something we need to retrieve in order to activate the portal, and the humans believe that it may have something to do with the Nether. Did the others inform you of the time that we had to destroy a portal that we were watching?"
Steve nodded, prompting Herobrine to continue.
"We destroyed it in waves. I was away at the time and dealing with an...unfortunate occurrence, but...as we were taking it down, another one got activated, so I instructed the silverfish to relay a message to the mobs nearby wherever that portal was in order to have it dealt with, only to find out that it already had been figured all out. The human that activated it was killed, but reports that returned from the silverfish indicated that something that the human possessed allowed them initial activation. What it was exactly, they weren't certain, but the corpse that was found in the middle of nowhere had a piece of paper on it that mentioned something along the lines of 'eyes.' What kind of eyes, I'm not sure of either, since the paper was heavily damaged by water and blood."
Steve thought to himself deeply, going over the demigod's words carefully as he found himself rather confused on what the other was possibly referring to.
"Do you think they meant...the eyes of the champions?"
Herobrine gave a small shrug.
"As I've gotten the time to think over it, perhaps, but that doesn't exactly explain them going after the endermen. After some consideration, I came to the conclusion that regardless of what reason there could possibly be for their hostility, the endermen and their pearls should continue to be protected, and that any humans who found out about them should be dealt with, which we were already doing. The portal we originally found and destroyed had spaces carved into it that could easily hold a pearl within, but even after placing pearls in it, nothing happened. I'm assuming that the pearls need to be prepared in a way, but with what, I'm not sure. Additional materials that I've managed to gather suggest that something specifically with Nethren origins is what we need, but I haven't been able to find what that may be. I don't wish to kill any endermen we don't have to kill in order to find out, since pearls are too fragile to tamper much with. We still shouldn't give anyone the opportunity to figure it out in the meantime, though."
"...I think they believe that with enough endermen dead, or you dead, the portal will open up on its own? I heard a couple of people speaking about that…"
"We already know that the current majority of them think that the Nether gives them direct access to the End. Some are confused about the endermen, but perhaps they believe that killing them hurts the dragon as well? Whatever it is, we need to figure out how to prepare the pearls for use before anyone else manages to beat us to it. With more champions being recruited for the situation, it's only a matter of time before someone actually does it."
"Can't we have the silverfish lead us to the portal? Don't they know where it is?"
Herobrine shook his head.
"...That's the issue. My mobs didn't kill that human. They only stumbled upon the corpse of the human after the deed had been done. Someone put a note there, talking about the 'eyes' and such, which gave us the confirmation. They know the general area where things happened, but not exactly where the portal lies."
Steve looked at the other in shock.
"...Are there other people on our side?"
"I...I don't know." Herobrine paused. "But whatever the case is, we can at least head that way and figure that out for ourselves after taking care of the portal at Merry Glade."
Nodding at the information, Steve began to walk away from the other before stopping in his tracks and abruptly turning back to face him again.
"...Okay, but I still have a couple of questions!"
"...Like what?"
Steve blinked, thinking to himself for a moment before continuing.
"I...how did you even manage to get into Lunarus? How did you even manage to find me? Your eyes would've freaked everybody out, and-"
"-I just went in there and acted normally. You saw me. I was in the city a day prior in order to scout things out, but after coming back today to get confirmation about the placement of some things, I just happened to find you being led up to the stage. We saw each other."
"...I saw you?" Steve asked in disbelief, not liking the mental image of what the other could've seen as "normal behavior."
Herobrine glared at the miner.
"Don't make me spell it out for you. I may not have looked that familiar to you at all, but that was on purpose. As I told you and every other fool in that place, I'm known as the god of Imitation. I can change my hair at will. Male, female, or otherwise, I can change my physical form to match my needs. Whatever or whoever I see once, I can learn and mimic for my own benefit. I can be anyone."
Trying to think back on when exactly he could've spotted the other, Steve found himself a bit stumped as he tried to force his brain to think, leaving the other in silence for a moment or so.
...
Suddenly, an image popped into his mind, giving him a potential answer as he found himself growing entirely shocked at the idea.
"...Was...was that blonde woman in the crowd...?" He asked, his words trailing off as he looked up to find a light hue of red dusting the demigod's features.
...
"...At the very least, no one suspected me as I made my way in. I was approached, mind you, but nothing particularly noteworthy occurred." Herobrine lowered his voice as if there was somebody around to hear him.
Seeing the other's embarrassment, Steve let out a small chuckle.
"...If it makes you feel better, you were very pretty."
Herobrine scowled at him, which only served to make him even more amused at the situation.
"That does not matter. The point is, my powers have returned in a usable fashion, thanks to whatever your acquaintance in the city did to that potion. If he specializes in medicine that can jumpstart a divine being's body, then it's safe to say that he's a valuable asset. What is his name?"
Hearing the demigod's word choice, Steve found his eyes widening a bit.
"...Joules, why?"
Surprisingly enough, Herobrine let out a small chuckle.
"...I thought it was rather strange that the potion smelt so much of ghast tears, despite their usual potency and the presence of strong amounts of lavender. I suppose that it was only so that the other ingredients would be ignored. Angel's breath was pretty surprising to me, but the other taste in there? I'd know the loving sting of ambrosia from anywhere. Whoever the hell Joules is, he's a madman with good contacts, I'd like to say."
"...Is it too much to ask what those ingredients are?"
Herobrine shook his head.
"It's nothing of too much concern. Angel's breath accelerates healing. Ambrosia...stings. It helps get your system running again by...well, harming it, in a way. Not badly, just...enough to awaken self-healing properties. It's only somewhat beneficial for divine beings though, ambrosia is lethal to humans."
Staring at the miner directly, Herobrine looked at him with an interrogative expression.
"Tell me more about Joules."
Steve's expression filled slightly with worry.
"U-uh. Well, he's...like, a bit taller than us…" Steve demonstrated by holding up his head about a foot above them both. "...He's got dark hair, and...well, pretty intense eyes."
"What do you mean by 'intense,' Steven?"
"They're...really, really black. Like, abnormally black. I couldn't find his pupils."
Herobrine thought to himself silently for a moment, letting out a quiet hum.
"...A divine being, maybe?"
"I'm not entirely sure but I…" Steve trailed off, but after spending a moment or two in silence, realization flashed across the miner's face before a look of absolute horror came after it.
"I left my bag in his house."
"You...what?"
"I...I can't get my bag back right now, can I?"
Herobrine shook his head.
"I'm sure that he'll keep it safe for you in the meantime. Unless you want to get caught without a good escape plan, I recommend keeping your distance for now. We'll provide you with the things you need to survive, rest assured."
With a small sigh of frustration, Steve began to turn away from the other once again.
"I...that's gonna bug me."
"You have no choice. Right now, we just have to get as far away as possible from this area before anyone spots us. We'll meet up with the others later, they're currently helping us with our escape."
Steve looked at him with a curious expression.
"Are...are they gonna kill the champions?"
Herobrine shrugged, looking back at him with a slightly embarrassed gaze.
"If it's possible. Me acting out to rescue you triggered the signal quite early, so they only have so much to work with, at the moment. If they can manage it, it'll be quite the miracle."
Steve looked down with relief, along with some sadness and regret, in his features.
"I...sorry about getting into trouble again." He said quietly.
Herobrine hummed at his apology.
"It's not an issue. They believed that you were me, and you were roped into the situation. It wasn't foreseeable, so I don't place any blame whatsoever on you. I won't ever place any blame on you for something like that, remember? Just keep in mind that the gods aren't fair like that."
Nodding in response, Steve walked forward, waiting for the other to begin properly leading him away from the place to where they needed to go. However, Herobrine simply remained by his side, keeping him some close company as they went along.
...
His thoughts began to haunt him.
If the situation was just that they didn't know where the portal was, he'd be relatively fine, but now that he knew that they didn't know how to get to it any more than the champions did? He was beginning to grow worried about the possibility of the dragon dying on its own before anyone managed to reach it. He was already freaking out about being given the approval to fight it, but the fact that they were currently quite lost didn't help with easing his fears. Between the responsibilities of saving the world, slaying the dragon, and figuring everything out in time, Steve was beginning to consider if he was even emotionally ready to even breathe, finding that every breath he took was a bit shaky, and that every step he took dragged behind him slightly.
He really wasn't all that fit for this hero business.
If you're wondering why I was so excited about getting to this chapter, now you know lol. I wanted to finish it earlier, but brain said no -_- Every time I underestimate my overwhelming desire to leave things to the very last minute, and every time I do it, I wanna scream at myself XD
It's really interesting looking back on the original draft doc that I made for this fic, finding little snippets that I want to include, or plot points that I ended up discarding due to the fact that they'd give the fic an entirely different vibe. If I could show y'all how it looks, I would, but as of right now, there are like, so many scenes I want to build up to in that doc, one of which was Herobrine's little interference during the festival, lol. Like I've said before, I've had the beginning and end of this fic very clear within my mind, but the middle is a doozy to deal with!
I've been staring at the word count for this fic for a hot minute, and honestly speaking, I didn't even notice how much I've written until now T_T I don't have an ideal word count for this fic, just a minimum count for each chapter, so I only write until I feel like a chapter has an ideal ending for me to work with on the next chapter. Because of this, I'm warning y'all right now, this fic will be done when I feel like it's done, sorry in advance XD I just hope I'm not being excessively wordy or redundant, I'm terrible when it comes to reading my stuff through the lens of an audience rather than an author lmao
But aside from that, Hero's got his powers back! What fun! He's also gotten Steve into some really bad trouble too. Definitely gonna have to explain that one when he gets home lmao. It's kinda hard, I knew that I wanted a general sense of urgency to follow the group in some constant form, but making it make sense? I'm building up my own Minecraft lore, and despite having all the facts in mind and written down, I'm still getting confused with myself lmao. Just know that these fools are in for some serious business lol
Now, for some fun facts!:
1.) Herobrine is the god of Imitation! His powers are vast because of his nature; if he's seen something once, he can imitate it to a certain degree. Physical attributes and people are generally easier to imitate and copy, but when it comes to powers and magic and all that jazz, they're a bit harder to copy to the extent that he can perfectly match the source of the ability. He's hella good at disguises, though, and he tends to study a person intently before moving to copy everything about them to a T. Chances are, if Herobrine steals your face, there's no way in hell that your friends or family will ever notice it. Good luck lmao
2.) In addition to the above fact, he's not officially recognized as being the god of Imitation and wasn't until now. Literally, the entire Aether didn't know what they were dealing with, and just tried to deal with him despite their fear of what he could do.
3.) If there's anything that Herobrine truly adores, it's making a fool out of the Aethren gods in front of a human audience lol
4.) Side fact, but ambrosia is a type of rare flower found in the Aether! Located deep within the magical forests there, it's considered so dangerous that even divine beings are instructed to leave them alone if they happen to stumble upon an ambrosia patch. Though it merely feels like a heavy burn when it comes to divine beings touching it, it will actually melt off the skin of any human that manages to touch it. Eating it is a whole other nightmare, too T_T just know that it was very helpful for Herobrine.
5.) Despite his confidence, Herobrine isn't aware of how exactly End portals are activated. He's just as confused as everybody else is, except that he has more resources to work with lol. He knows that the ender pearls are required and that the Nether is important in terms of their preparation, but he doesn't how to prepare them. Just wanted to clear that up just in case!
Anyways, that's it for now! Leave a review if you have any thoughts!
(I was searching back through the rest of this fic to tie together my information properly, but there might be a contradiction somewhere that I may have entirely missed bc my brain is currently very broken lol, if you're confused about anything, I can clear it up!)
