Chapter 31: Turned Tides


"We botched it!"

Steve and Herobrine found themselves being approached abruptly by a hysterical Constiere, who threw himself at the feet of the demigod as Andvari and Malgun, who watched the scene with glares directed toward the boy, came forward as well.

With an apologetic gaze, Herobrine knelt down to the other.

"That's entirely my fault. I gave the order too early, there was a crisis that needed to be dealt with."

Constiere looked back up at the demigod, then toward the miner right beside him.

"Did bright-eyes get himself into some shit again?!" The boy pointed to Steve, who flinched at the abrupt action.

Herobrine simply stared back at him.

"Not of his own volition. The gods are responsible for this, don't place the blame on him. That's beside the point though, did anything of note occur after I gave the signal?" As Herobrine finished, he glanced up to the others for a response.

Andvari approached them closer, a smile growing on his face.

"We actually do have some quite amazing news to report though, sir."

Malgun let out a small hum from where he was.

"Amazing? Yeah. Concerning? That too."

Constiere let out a small noise of excitement, his previous emotions falling away as they quickly turned into giddiness.

"Two of the champions fell to us!" He announced eagerly, earning a small look of horror from Steve.

Andvari added a quick nod.

"Meaning that we might have some extra time on our hands to handle things at Merry Glade. They'll be searching for replacements in addition to the previous two that they already needed, so we can take advantage of that in the meantime."

A smile grew on Herobrine's face as he took in the information.

"Really? In all that commotion? I'm impressed. I was hoping that we'd either go for all or nothing, but this is a welcome outcome."

Herobrine paused for a moment and stood back up before a mischievous expression appeared on his face.

"Who did you kill? What were their weapons?" He asked, gleefully awaiting the others' responses.

"A sword user and someone with a hammer. It was almost like they didn't even know what they were doing when we fought them!" Constiere responded, laughing a bit as he finished.

Herobrine nodded at the answer, returning to his thoughts once again as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"...They probably didn't expect a monster that looked like a human boy to attack them, nor any of you, honestly..."

The group fell into short silence as the generals and Steve glanced over to the demigod, watching intently as they waited for the other to speak further. With a sigh, Herobrine's expression shifted into one of pure seriousness.

"...We're at a bit of a conundrum if I'm thinking of the correct implications here."

He received nods from all three of the generals.

"They'll be more driven to kill us in an act of revenge." Andvari stated.

"That, and if they're looking for more champions, the word will get out quicker about us." Constiere added on.

Herobrine shook his head at their words.

"No. Only about me. I'm hoping that they'll at least consider Steven as a poor helpless soul in the matter, but I doubt that my wishes will be granted."

The group fell into silence as they were overwhelmed with thought, finding it hard to speak. After a few moments of silence, a small sigh left Herobrine's mouth as he uncrossed his arms and began to walk away, placing them behind his back instead.

"Well, at the very least, we'll be able to get around quite easily now. I can teleport more freely." He said with a smirk in his voice.

The group nervously looked at each other in unspoken conversation as the demigod spoke, culminating in Andvari stepping closer to the other slowly.

"Sir, shouldn't we...well, do you know if you can even make multiple trips like that? Can you really teleport without issue?" Andvari asked cautiously.

Herobrine remained silent for a few seconds.

"...We have to try. We have an edge over those fools right now, and it'd be a real shame if we squandered it trying to tiptoe our way through the issue instead of taking it head-on. I managed to teleport myself and Steven twice in a row, I believe it's safe to assume that I can do it again."

Constiere stepped forward a bit as well, a look of concern growing on his face.

"I know I asked this before after you got better, but should you really be...y'know, doing all of this, master?" Constiere asked. "Sure, we can get around faster, but it has consequences, right? Even if you did heal, there's no guarantee that you'll be safe from the after-effects for too long."

A small hum came from the skeleton behind the two.

"Constiere's right, sir. If you use too much energy too soon, we can get stuck in a tight spot as well." Malgun said, looking down at the boy momentarily as he spoke.

Herobrine let out a small noise of frustration.

"I know that. It…it only concerns me that you all have done your proper part in pushing the plan forward, and yet, I've been holding you back as of late. I want to get things moving again as quickly as possible." He said, turning back toward the others as he expressed a sort of vulnerability, placing a hand over his chest in sincerity.

With worried eyes, Steve approached him slowly.

"That wasn't your fault."

"I decided to use myself as a shield instead of my sword. It is entirely my fault." Herobrine rebutted.

"No, it's not. That...you got stabbed because we got attacked. You couldn't have predicted that you'd get hit that badly." Steve insisted.

"In the split moment that I took to consider my options, I did. It happened. You all had to face the consequences for it. I will not allow you all to pick up the slack when I make foolish decisions any longer."

Walking away from the others, Herobrine sighed, his shoulders drooping for a moment before becoming rigid once again.

"...Apart from talking about my failures and how the mission went, I want to continue moving forward. We need to have a quick chat about...plans."

"Our plans involve going straight to Merry Glade, correct?" Andvari asked the other.

Herobrine nodded.

"Yes, but...before we consider that…"

He turned to face the group.

"You all told Steven about our plans, yes? The underlying ones?"

Shocked, the three generals stared with widened eyes back at him, considering the possibility of lying for a brief moment before defeat appeared on their features.

"...Yes."

"...Yeah."

"...Sorry."

All three of their responses came in hesitant unison, leading to the demigod before them nodding his head.

"...I want to first let you know that it's alright. I forgive you all. You were only trying to look ahead just in case the worst came to fruition, and that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Silence passed between them as relief came to the three generals, somewhat appearing on Steve's face as well.

"...I forgive you, because I hope that you'll find it within yourselves to forgive me." Herobrine finished.

The group looked at each other for a moment before turning their attention back to Herobrine.

"...What do you mean by that?" Andvari asked, his voice a bit quieter.

"Yeah, are...what'd you do?" Constiere asked worriedly.

"Forgive you for what, exactly?" Malgun asked.

With brief inner debate, Herobrine looked up at the three with a somewhat solemn expression.

"I...I told you all that I had a backup plan of my own, yes?"

He received nods.

"I've placed it into action."

Intrigue came to the group.

"What are the full details? Constiere asked.

"Mind explaining them?" Malgun asked as well.

"It'd be nice to finally get in on the idea, sir." Andvari stated.

Herobrine nodded.

"We...Now that I've gone ahead and placed a target directly onto ourselves by making myself well-known to the humans back in that place, we're on a slightly looser time limit, though I have reason to believe that it won't last for long. Because of this, I can only imagine that once the champions grow bored of chasing after us, they'll focus all of their attention on rushing to the End. We need to beat them to it."

Constiere shrugged a bit at his words in confusion.

"We've been trying to do that already. Preventing them from getting to the portal, right?"

Herobrine nodded his head once again.

"Yes, but...I've finally realized what exactly we should do after that point."

The group looked surprised at his words, paying full attention.

"...What do we do, sir?"

"What's gonna happen?"

"What's our next step?"

All three of the mob generals began to flood him with questions, soon after stopping as he held up a hand to silence them.

"...I wanted us to originally defend against the gods once we secured the portal from the humans, but I realized that since they may actually know where it lies, if we find ourselves at the ends of their blades once we get to the portal, we won't last for long. They will dispose of us quickly, and move on as if nothing happened. In their efforts, they'll doom the world if we don't act first."

With a breath of lacking confidence, Herobrine looked toward the others with a worried gaze.

"After we take care of the other champions, I...I want Steven to take care of the dragon. My plan was to let someone take my place in replacing the seal, and so, I've decided to give Steven the permission to do so."

The three mob generals looked at the man with expressions of pure shock, which soon translated over to Steve as they then focused their attention on him.

After a few moments of pure bewilderment, Constiere was the first to speak up.

"...Why?!"

Herobrine briefly glared at him.

"He's the best option we have right now. The champions needed vibrant eyes for a reason, and we need to find out what that reason is. We have a champion right here-" Herobrine gestured over to the miner. "-Who fits the description. He's practically gift-wrapped for us, so let's take advantage of the situation here."

"But what if the humans don't really have a reason to search for those with his eyes?" Andvari asked.

"They have to. There might be a possibility that someone else, someone prominent, noticed the exact same thing we did, and told them about it without really...telling them about it."

"Which is?..." Malgun asked.

Herobrine looked at them, expression serious.

"Their eyes react to the presence of portals. We haven't gotten the chance to check yet, but possibly speaking, his may react to the End portal as much as they do to the Nether ones."

As the generals took in his words, Herobrine took a glance over toward the miner, who stood with somewhat of a nervous posture.

"...There's still a burning question, though. Of all the people to get involved with this nonsense, you think that the gods would've at least told the humans how to get to the portal already. Would've made things easier." Herobrine asked, his voice a bit quiet as he turned away to think to himself.

Pulling together the confidence, Steve decided to step into the conversation.

"They...as much as they don't like us apparently, maybe they knew that if they told a lot of humans where they needed to go, it might've...caused something? Like, maybe they thought that humans would kill each other mercilessly for the chance?"

Herobrine's eyes widened slightly.

"Hmm...yes, maybe. They of all people would also know that too many people within an unstable dimension, all coming in at a single time, would prove disastrous as well, despite there being some strength in numbers."

The demigod thought to himself for a moment before letting out a small hum, looking back toward the others once again.

"It's for control purposes. Giving the champions the answers would deem the divines guilty of not using their supreme powers to deal with the issue earlier. By not mentioning anything about the portal's location, they abstain themselves from any responsibility while also managing to keep the illusion of the threat not coming from their own guilty hands. They're just as helpless as the champions are right now, but the humans don't know that."

"So...they probably know where we're going?" Steve asked, voice still a bit quiet.

Herobrine shrugged.

"Perhaps, but we won't be able to get that out from them. We have just as big of a chance of teaching you all to fly in the air by holding your breath as getting them to spill any information."

Steve raised a brow at the other's words.

"Perhaps? Doesn't every god but you know about the portal's location?"

Herobrine shook his head.

"It's a special task that only a few people are tasked to deal with. Remember Minos?"

Perking up at the sound of the other god's name, Steve nodded.

Herobrine continued to speak.

"Well, he's one of the few chosen to deal with the dragon, because as of right now, all I know is that somehow, the Void is involved in the process. I remember him, quite a number of years ago, mentioning how only some people are allowed to know about the Overworld portal because they didn't want people to abuse it needlessly for personal entertainment. Those things were hand-crafted by the higher gods themselves, and they're very much needed."

Steve continued to look at the other curiously.

"...Didn't you guys destroy one?"

Herobrine waved him off.

"Moving on. My point is that only a few knew about the portal's location, and I'm just assuming that one of those people absolutely has to be the king. If he's not a part of that group, he's a fool."

"...What do we do, then?" Steve asked.

"We get to the portal, we find a way to activate the portal, and we get you in there first. We'll need some assistance, however."

Walking away from the others, Herobrine left them in momentary confusion as he summoned a ball of fire within his hands, staring at the flame in deep thought.

"...It'd be better if I truly held full control over all of the mobs, but I've met some resistance. Now that my powers are back...I believe that it'd be best for us to...pay someone a visit."

A small groan left Constiere's lips as the rest of the group turned to look at him.

"I thought we were done with her right now. Are we really gonna try this again?" He whined, looking back at Herobrine with a bit of an upset expression on his face.

Herobrine rolled his eyes.

"If we want things to go more smoothly, then yes. We have to try reasoning with her while we have the chance. Like we discussed, who knows how long the potion's effects will last on me. While we have my full strength at hand, we need to act intelligently."

Curiously, Steve looked between the others.

"...Who is this we're talking about?"

Andvari glanced down at him as he began to speak.

"We've talked to you about there being other mob generals than us, correct?"

Steve nodded, thinking to himself for a moment before doing so.

"Well, while we work directly under Herobrine, others...choose to work along with him. In an alliance, of some sort."

Malgun walked closer to the miner, stopping right beside him.

"Most of it is voluntary. They saw what happened to the mobs before us and didn't want the same to happen to them. Others aren't so keen on relinquishing power so easily, however."

"Before Herobrine's powers diminished so abruptly, we were in the process of negotiating terms with a person whom we refer to as the 'Spider Queen.'" Andvari explained.

"Fiele is her name, Steven." Herobrine interjected. "The endermen, creepers, and skeletons all follow my commands without question, but the spiders are less inclined to do so. They'll follow along for the most part, but they'll listen to their base instincts first, should my influence be absent from an area. They listen to their queen before me, and we were hoping to fix that before things got too chaotic."

"Spiders can get information that we cannot. We need their assistance, for the most part, in order to better track the champions' movements, correct sir?" Andvari asked the demigod, earning a nod in response.

"I haven't spoken with Fiele in quite a while, but…" Herobrine allowed the flame in his hand to grow a bit. "...I believe that we can work something out."

Glancing off toward the distance, Herobrine allowed the flame in his hand to disappear.

"I know where her web lies. It lies a bit of a distance away from Merry Glade, but it's closer to there than where we are right now. We can make a quick stop and see if we can talk things out with her."

A sigh came from Andvari as the demigod finished.

"Since when were visits with Fiele ever quick?"

Herobrine thought over the other's words for a moment, before letting out a sigh of disappointment.

"...You're right. Merry Glade first, then."

Casting a glance over to Steve, Herobrine drew closer to the other as he began to lead the others forward.

"To start things off, we should look forward to getting our training sessions back on the ground, now that I don't have busted organs and death knocking at my door. I promised to teach you how to fight a god, and now I'm more equipped to do such a thing properly. Not only will you learn to adapt to my style of battle, but given how many times the gods have come after me, I believe that I can mimic their styles enough to a point where should you face them, you won't run into many issues."

Steve initially nodded at him, though his response fell away as he thought about the other's words further.

"...There's one problem with that though, Brine. How am I gonna fight back? You have powers. I don't. " Steve spoke up after a moment or two.

"Neither does Julian, really, and look where that got him." Herobrine gestured to himself, causing Steve to briefly wince at the memory.

"...Right."

Herobrine gave him a somewhat gentle expression.

"You'll be fine. Let's get your beast and get moving. Word travels fast, so we need to be faster."

As the group found their way over to where Squash had been left when they arrived and Steve left, among a few trees and quite a bit of shrubbery, Herobrine looked over to Andvari, gesturing over to Squash as the enderman quickly went to where she was.

"First real test, I believe." He mumbled under his breath, glancing over to Andvari before looking back toward Steve.

"We'll do a bit of teleporting right now. Couldn't hurt to skip out on a day or week's worth of travel, yes?"

He was met with agreement from all three of the others, though Steve was a bit hesitant in his response.

"Didn't you need several other endermen last time to move her?"

Herobrine and Andvari both nodded.

"Yes, but that was before I was given a life-saving potion. Now, with just us two on short notice, we can move her ourselves. I think."

"You think?" Came the responses of the others in unison.

"Can't know until we try, so let's try it. Andvari, lead me."

Before the others could protest, Herobrine and Andvari disappeared in a cloud of floating purple particles with Squash, leaving the three others behind to stare at the scene worriedly. Though silence threatened to consume them, Steve eventually broke it.

"...Do you guys think he's being careless again?" Steve asked, giving quick glances to the others beside him to find them nodding in agreement.

"He's certainly embarrassed that he looked the way he did a bit ago." Malgun said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"...Wounded?" Steve turned to the skeleton.

"Vulnerable." Constiere answered instead, causing Steve's attention to fall upon him.

"...Oh." The miner found himself only able to let the singular word out, switching his attention back upon the empty space in front of them.

How scared was Herobrine when it came to the idea of looking like a target? Sure, it was all he had been doing since the miner was brought along with them, but was the demigod actually terrified of appearing vulnerable to anyone? Even his own minions? What sort of position was he in right now? Was he on some sort of high, and his inner emotions were only fueling it? Was he beginning to spiral, slowly but surely?

Before he could question anything else, Andvari reappeared by himself, much to the general concern of the others. Their fears were slightly calmed when the enderman smiled, however.

"We're placing ourselves in the mountains near the forest that the glade lies in. Herobrine is already there, but Squash is keeping him from coming back at the moment. I'll be taking you all there." Andvari finished with a chuckle, approaching Steve first. "You might need to come first. He's having a bit of trouble."

Nodding in understanding, Steve allowed the enderman to place his claws upon his body, bracing himself for the sensation of teleporting. Before long, the feeling came and went quickly, leaving solid nausea in its place as the miner found himself standing upon hardened, stony mountain ground. As his vision blurred for a second or two, he looked up as he heard the sounds of a scuffle before him, leading him to find the image of Squash and Herobrine, the former pinning the latter against the steep side of the mountain they were next to. Hearing the sound of another being teleporting to them, Herobrine peeked past the ravager to glare at Steve and Andvari.

"A little assistance, please? Before I blast this thing off the face of this planet?"

After stumbling a bit, Steve approached the two briskly as Andvari followed him from close behind, watching as the miner tapped against Squash's back, drawing a growl from her as she turned to glare at the new figure. Seeing that it was Steve, Squash immediately backed away from the demigod she had trapped, moving to nuzzle against the miner as Herobrine glared at her.

"Sometimes, I actually hate our resemblance to one another, you know that?" Herobrine muttered, causing the miner to look up from the ravager he'd begun to pet gently with a raised brow and small smirk.

"Can't you change that? What, with being the 'god of Imitation' and all?" Steve asked in a joking manner.

Herobrine narrowed his gaze at him.

"I'd rather not do that. It takes up energy that we don't need to waste. Besides, I was only joking."

Herobrine began to walk past him, casting another quick glance down at the ravager.

"...Partially."

Approaching the enderman, Herobrine spoke a couple of quiet words to him before looking back at Steve with a neutral expression.

"We'll be right back to fetch Constiere and Malgun. Get that thing to heel, or whatever."

Steve nodded with a small chuckle, earning a quick glare from the demigod before he and Andvari disappeared once again leaving him alone with Squash. After a minute or so, the two returned along with the others, startling Steve a bit with the sound of teleporting before he quickly calmed down once again.

Moving to stand in the middle of the group, Herobrine let out a small sigh, closing his eyes momentarily in what appeared to be slight exhaustion before opening them again to stare at Steve.

"We'll get moving right away. I want to approach the area rather than teleport in there because I want us to get a general sense of the layout. We've never stepped foot in there either, so we wouldn't even know where to properly land."

Steve raised a brow at him as he began to prep Squash to walk, checking her saddle.

"How'd we get to Lunarus, then?"

"The endermen have been everywhere. If they'd never stepped foot in that land, that'd be an anomaly." Andvari answered, stepping away from Constiere, who he'd brought along with him.

"If only they didn't have a chance of killing us every time they have to teleport a living being." Constiere muttered.

"And they're only getting worse as the dragon's state deteriorates. Soon enough, I'd say that they won't even be able to teleport only themselves without freaking out." Malgun added.

Andvari let out a quiet sigh.

"...You're right about that. It's only a matter of time."

Worried, Steve glanced over at the enderman, though Andvari quickly met his gaze with a small smile.

"It's alright. I have little risk of that happening to me. Compared to the others, I'm entirely better off in my state." He reassured the miner, earning a glance from Herobrine, who made his way next to him.

"Not a little risk. No risk." Herobrine corrected him.

Andvari let out a small chuckle.

"There's always a chance, sir." He said in a joking manner, looking down to find that Herobrine wasn't sharing his tone.

Deep concern and slight hurt were on the demigod's features, almost entirely halting Andvari's lightened mood. However, before the enderman could apologize, Herobrine let out a small sigh, turning his head away from the other.

"...Right." Herobrine said, his voice a bit breathy as he sighed his response out.

Moving away from the enderman in order to place himself ahead of the others, Herobrine looked out to the distance.

"We'll make our way forward as quickly as we can. Merry Glade waits for us, and so does its portal." Herobrine announced, immediately beginning to walk away from the others without much fanfare.

Staring at him with slightly worried glances, the others began to follow, with Steve being the last to leave as he decided to simply lead Squash along himself rather than ride her.


The group found themselves completely surrounded by dense, darkened trees, all shaded from the light of the sun by the vast sea of leaves just up above them. As they walked along the forest ground, a strange sort of energy seemed to pulse around them, even seeming to be noticed by Steve as he glanced around nervously, somewhat expecting for one of the trees to suddenly lash out at him somehow.

Suddenly, the group stopped in their tracks as Herobrine halted himself up ahead, holding an arm out so that they could pause.

"Malgun, secure the area. Constiere, tell your forces to keep their distance and abstain from exploding unless it's absolutely necessary to. Stealth will be key, here." He abruptly announced, causing the others to take a moment to process his words before continuing on.

Curiously, as the other two left, Steve looked at the other's back.

"What's wrong?"

Herobrine didn't answer him right away, instead gesturing with his hand for the other to draw nearer. After a moment of hesitation, Steve began to walk toward the other as Herobrine began to lead him past the trees.

Soon enough, the two found themselves within a break between the trees, finding that the forest around them was beginning to thin out considerably. After a few moments of walking past tree after tree, Herobrine halted once again, motioning for the miner to join his side as he then pointed past another set of trees that they had just approached.

"There it is, off in the distance. Merry Glade."

Following the demigod's line of sight, Steve was met with the appearance of a massive wall of vines and leaves, slightly surprising him as he failed to find anything else besides them.

"Uh...where?" He asked, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

Herobrine pointed again at the distant mass of plants.

"There. Beneath the mess is our next destination."

Footsteps drew nearer to the miner, and he soon found himself with the sight of Andvari next to him, leaning down in order to meet him at eye level.

"From the perspective of human eyes and ears, Merry Glade is nothing spectacular. Just a city hidden beneath the protection of nature itself. According to rumours and such from mobs, the place holds a death cult within it."

Fear came across the miner's gaze before a laugh came from the enderman, followed closely by Herobrine's own additional laughter.

"Consider your words more wisely, Andi." Herobrine began, a smile on his face. "I wouldn't say death cult so much as...well, eager citizens. As long as we don't provoke them, I believe that we can make our way to their portal, destroy it, and leave as easily as we came in."

Steve shook off his fearful gaze and turned back to Herobrine.

"...We're all going in?"

Herobrine shrugged.

"In groups, yes. I'd like for us to secure the area first just in case any humans come by, champions mainly. I'll head in with you and Constiere, while Andvari and Malgun make sure things remain quiet out here."

Andvari nodded at the other's instruction.

"Should we also locate Fiele and send a message?"

Herobrine shook his head.

"This is likely a part of her hunting grounds. It won't do anything good for us if we don't speak to her face-to-face after trespassing on her routes."

The enderman nodded again as Steve took in their words.

"So, uhh…" Steve began. "Why us three, then? You, me, and Constiere?"

"Any sort of explosion could potentially lead the Merry Glade population to act irrationally. You know how these cult things go, right? The creepers will stay out of the matter as we head in. Us three will check to see if we can find the portal, as well as any potential information about how to activate the End portal."

"You'd never expect it, but sometimes, these brainwashed individuals often are led to protect certain information that is solely beneficial to their leaders. A way to deify themselves in the eyes of the world would fall under being quite beneficial." Andvari explained.

"W-what kind of cult are they, besides a 'death' one?" Steve asked a bit meekly.

Andvari and Herobrine looked at each other momentarily before shrugging.

"We do not know the god they worship nor the teachings they preach, but whatever the case is, keep your distance. If it's a mortal they obey, things could turn quite foul. Humans are fickle creatures." Herobrine answered as he began to walk back toward the rest of their group, the miner and the enderman following close behind him.

"And what do you mean by that?" Steve asked with an accusatory tone in his voice.

"They'll place all trust and control upon a single being who has what they deem to be ultimate power over them. They desire authority, and when that authority commands them, they'll bend. When that authority molds them into the pawns they wish to play, there will often be little resistance, because of that innate longing for leadership and protection. The only thing that will break them from that authority's hold is either another figure of authority, or death itself. They'll change in any way they can for this authority figure, whether they become symbols of peace or weapons of mass destruction. Humans will change based on the mind that molds them, even if it's not their own."

As Herobrine finished his explanation, Steve raised a brow at him.

"...Are you saying that from experience?"

Herobrine looked back at him with a bit of a smirk.

"I raised an army, not a cult. Though, both could very well be considered the same thing depending on how passionate they are for their causes."

Not exactly liking how the other seemed to be reveling in his expression, Steve shook his emotions off and continued to follow after him.

Eventually, the group came back together again with the missing two generals appearing from the shadows, much to Steve's surprise as they both startled him upon their separate arrivals. Once Malgun finally rejoined them, Herobrine approached Constiere, who stood a bit excitedly in place. Placing a hand upon the boy's shoulder, Herobrine stood in front of the others with a commanding presence, not even noticing the boy's current state of surprise at his action.

"I believe that, for our benefit, we should take some time now to make sure everything is properly secured for the time being until we're fully ready to go into Merry Glade. We should also go over our plans. Me, Constiere, and Steven will be heading directly into the city, while you and Malgun," Herobrine pointed to Andvari and the skeleton. "Will make sure that no human with the champions' gaze enters the area. Keep low, but vigilant."

The others nodded almost immediately, leading to Herobrine turning to look over at Steve as he dropped his hand from Constiere's shoulder.

"We'll rest as a group, but before then, I'd like to give Steven a little...demonstration, if you will." A mischievous look appeared in the demigod's expression momentarily, doing nothing to make Steve feel in any way safe.

Constiere looked up at Herobrine with a curious expression.

"Are you gonna train with him, with your powers back and all?"

Herobrine nodded.

"Might as well see how quickly Steven can adapt to a god's attack pattern."

The demigod glanced at Andvari and Malgun.

"Both of you, take Squash from Steven and place her somewhere out of sight, but easy for us to reach." He looked down at Constiere. "You have a bit of experience with riding her, make certain that she doesn't rush you all and skewer you."

The three mob generals all nodded in acknowledgment of his orders, causing both Herobrine and Steve to feel a bit relieved. Though everyone seemed calm enough, Steve was still a bit nervous about what the demigod was planning to put him through during their upcoming training session.

Looking to find worry upon the miner's features, Herobrine let out a small laugh.

"Don't worry. I, of all people, know how cautious I have to be with you. I won't kill you."

"That's not very reassuring!" Steve rebutted, causing the demigod to laugh a bit more, much to his silent curiosity.

The other's laugh was...light, in a way. It contrasted his firm, rigid nature harshly, but nevertheless, the other's laugh was airy and genuine. He'd heard other laughs come from the demigod's mouth, all loud and somewhat unnerving, but this one was quite different and a bit captivating to listen to. Had he heard Herobrine laugh like this before? If he had, he didn't remember it.

Just as quickly as the laughter came upon Herobrine, it had left, leaving a bit of a more serious appearance in its wake. Herobrine's gaze narrowed as he focused upon the miner, but a bit of a less serious atmosphere remained somewhat in the air. Herobrine left Constiere's side, motioning for Steve to follow him as they went into the protective ring of the forest, finding themselves soon being surrounded more by trees as the mob generals went elsewhere.

Stopping in a space that was only slightly less crowded by nature, Herobrine placed himself in front of Steve.

"As a test, I will be starting off with my style of attacking. I will not be fighting you as a swordsman, but a god. I will then switch around some of my methods based on my memory of the divine beings that I've faced before, and I'll try to adjust my pace so that you can counter me well enough. We'll start relatively slow."

Hesitantly nodding at the other's words, Steve looked at Herobrine with a bit of a determined gaze as he drew his sword. Though he would've appreciated a break, given what they've already been through and their potential future, he was ready to improve his skills as soon as he could.

Herobrine summoned a pair of flames within his hands, looking at Steve as the miner's determined gaze fell as he stared anxiously at the sight. Without a word, Herobrine dimmed the flames a bit, watching even more intently as Steve appeared to be somewhat more relieved. The demigod looked down for a moment as he thought to himself, though soon enough he turned his attention back upward as his expression became one of intrigue.

"Do you remember how Agnes used her flames?" Herobrine asked, eyes somewhat returning to their natural glowing state.

Steve nodded, adding a small chuckle to his words.

"She uh...threw them right at me."

Herobrine let out a sigh of disappointment, though once he saw a look of confusion and offense appear on the miner's face, he immediately went to defend his reaction.

"She often boasts about how great and powerful her flames are, but the flames that come from her hands are anything but those things. Her attack pattern is...well...more like this, in all actuality."

As Herobrine finished his words, he allowed the flames in his hands to rise a bit as he began to throw them in Steve's direction, causing the miner to flinch as he realized that they'd actually begun to fight.

In all honesty, he was expecting...more? As Steve dodged the flames, daring to draw a bit closer to the demigod as he did so, he was expecting the other to chuck them at him at a faster rate, not...whatever snail's pace the other had set at the moment. He was also expecting the other to at least move his feet, as well.

"Hey, aren't you going to...y'know, change locations?" Steve asked in a curious manner, raising a brow at the demigod as he continued to throw flames in his direction.

Herobrine let out another sigh.

"Now you see the problem with some gods' approaches? Each divine being has a set pattern they often follow, and, just like the signature powers they each possess, they all have a unique battle style. This also means that they have unique weaknesses, as well."

"Like?"

"Agnes. She's so confident with the strength of her flames that she doesn't really see much need for moving. She acts like a cannon, unable to move unless someone pushes her. Her weakness is her lack of adaptability; she can only throw flames that are decent enough to cause any damage from a single, fixated spot. Should she start moving, she'd be unable to focus strongly enough to produce anything more potent and even remotely deadly."

Steve's eyes widened at the other's explanation.

"That's...that's why she's training Alex with a dagger! Does she have any weapons other than fire?"

Herobrine nodded, smirking a bit at the miner.

"A dagger? Really? Can't even have people upstaging her in the weapons department, huh?"

Seeing the miner's intrigue, Herobrine let out a small chuckle as he paused his attacks.

"She has a weapon. It's a long, simple sword, though…" Herobrine used his flames to conjure up something that resembled a sword in the air, causing an expression of awe to appear on the miner's face. "It only has a handle. Her flames are forced through an opening in order to become the blade. They're forced to harden into a sharpened edge. Aethren magic is a curious thing."

"Her sword is made of fire?!" Steve asked, looking at the other with almost childlike excitement in his gaze.

Stopping completely to look at Steve's expression, Herobrine left the other in silence for a moment, keeping the fake sword made of flames in the air for a second or two before causing it to simply fizzle out as he slowly dropped his hands back to his sides.

"...Yes. Like my gauntlets, her 'sword' is made of magical properties that channel our magic into something more...useful."

Going back into an attack stance, Herobrine summoned his flames once again as a smile slowly appeared on his face.

"Now, her style is quite stagnant, but mine?"

Herobrine leaped closer to Steve suddenly, almost giving no time for the other to react as he quickly brought up his sword for added defense.

Suddenly, he was regretting stepping any closer to the demigod.

No matter where he stepped, several fireballs were waiting for him, almost managing to singe his clothes. Though he managed to dodge every flame that came his way and used any tree he could to hide behind, he was beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed as the heat slowly grew around him, causing a bit of sweat to appear on his body as he began to slightly panic about being able to counter the other's attacks for long enough to avoid any accidental burns.

Hearing a small laugh coming from the demigod, Steve momentarily turned his gaze upward to focus on the other, before finding his focus almost immediately switching over to a nearby flame.

"Steven. Disperse the flames if they get anywhere near you. Use your sword."

Taking in the other's instructions, Steve gave a quick nod to the other before doing as he said, attempting to swing back at any flame that came a bit too close. As he hit several balls of flame, they immediately separated and fizzled out, much to Steve's amusement. The two settled into a bit of a rhythm, with Steve hitting fireballs eagerly, and Herobrine swinging them at him from several different angles, maneuvering himself around the miner in order to keep him on his toes.

After a while, Herobrine paused his approach, looking at the miner with a bit of a smirk on his face.

"You kept up. Nice footwork." He said, earning a proud smile from Steve as he finished.

Steve began to relax from his attack stance, but before he could fully drop his guard, Herobrine crossed his arms slightly in front of him, uncrossing them just as quickly to release a massive wall of fire that left Steve with little options other than simply jumping out of the way, tumbling to the ground as he did so. Anticipating another attack, Steve quickly got himself back up, only to find Herobrine remaining in place, his hands still outstretched in front of him as he stared down at the miner with a smirk.

"Your reaction time still needs a bit of work, but that was good." He said, his tone a bit more upbeat as a bit of anger grew on the miner's face.

"Hey! You could've seriously burned me there!" Steve yelled at the other, earning a roll of the eyes from the demigod.

"I knew you'd dodge. I don't want you suffering from any burns that you don't need, right now."

"Are you sure about that?!"

"Absolutely."

Before he could argue with the other any further Herobrine dropped his arms to his sides, his smirk falling.

"Moving on. Another power."

Holding up a hand again, Herobrine formed a ball of water in his hands, watching as Steve's expression slowly lost its anger as curiosity soon replaced it.

"Water?..."

Herobrine nodded.

"My powers of imitation aren't limited to physical appearances only. I've shown it to you before, but…"

Steve's eyes slightly widened briefly in realization.

"...So that's why the gods fear you so much…" Steve muttered to himself, though, his words weren't lost to the demigod.

"...They fear what I'm capable of. I'm able to exploit their weaknesses and freely create new ones, but they cannot pinpoint my own." Herobrine responded, looking away briefly as he allowed the water to disappear from sight.

Steve nodded a bit at the other's words.

"I...I've heard. Good for us, I guess?"

Another light, quiet laugh left Herobrine's lips, drawing Steve's attention even closer.

"You could say that, yes. Keeps them out of our way for long enough. It takes a while for them to even draw up the courage to confront me." Herobrine responded in a confident manner.

With a small laugh of his own, Steve placed himself back into an attack stance as water returned to the demigod's palm. Herobrine stood strongly, getting into a bit of an attack stance himself.

"Now, you've never met the god of Waves, and you most likely never will, but…"

As Herobrine swung his arm out to attack, Steve found himself at the end of a small barrage of icicles rather than fluid water, much to his surprise as he dodged out of their way.

"The god of Glaciers loves to check in on me from time to time. People foolishly believe that both of their ice and water powers would counter my flames well enough. They're wrong, of course."

Herobrine launched a few more icicles the other's way, beginning to move from place to place in order to keep the miner vigilant.

Steve raised a slight brow at the other as he moved.

"I thought water countered fire pretty well?"

Herobrine shook his head.

"Not Nethren fire. Typical flames die out at the simplest of challenges, Nethren flames last eternal."

"You draw your power from the Nether?"

"I draw inspiration in the way I use my flames from the Nether. My power is my own." Herobrine corrected.

Finding the other's words interesting, Steve opened his mouth to press further but found himself being interrupted by another barrage of icicles coming his way. He eventually realized that Herobrine was circling around him fast enough to create a solid ring of icicles that quickly came one after the other, causing him to slightly panic and fear more for his safety.

"Brine! A little less...of this, please?!" He asked in a slightly frantic manner, resulting in him swinging wildly at the icicles instead of taking the time to dodge them all.

Despite sending a few more icicles his way, Herobrine eventually slowed his pace back down before stopping entirely, moving to place his hands behind his back as the miner caught his breath.

"I guess we can stop for now. Might've not been much, but…"

Steve shook his head.

"N-no! I didn't mean to stop the training session early, I meant to just...slow the pace, that's all!" He exclaimed, feeling slightly upset by the fact that Herobrine wished to end things so soon.

The demigod looked at him with a bit of confusion on his features.

"...You aren't tired?"

Steve shook his head.

"I just…" Steve paused, thinking over his next set of words carefully before letting out a deep sigh. "...I can't stay that vulnerable for long, Brine. You teaching me these things makes me feel more...capable, you know? Like I can actually learn how to not rely on you guys to bail me out of things so much…."

Herobrine approached the miner slowly, giving him a small look of intrigue.

"I wasn't going to teach you all of what you need to know today. If we start with just a couple of fighting styles, we can build on that later and make sure that you really understand the concept of fighting a god. We'll take a couple of different abilities at a time, alright? This is just as much of a test for me as it is for you."

Though he wanted to protest, Steve instead nodded his head in a somewhat disappointed manner, earning a quick laugh from the demigod in front of him.

"Don't worry, I'll have you begging for your life soon enough." Herobrine said with a (thankfully) joking tone in his voice.

"Please no." Was all Steve could say in response to the other's words.

"With my abilities back and your eagerness, it's only a matter of time until we hit you with several different abilities at once, really."

Sheathing his sword, Steve went to walk past the other, letting out a sigh. A yelp escaped him as Herobrine grabbed his shoulder and drew him back, however.

"We'll stay here until the others are ready to join us. We need to remain quite hidden, so keep your distance away from more open spaces." He instructed, earning a quick nod from the miner.

"A-alright." Steve responded, moving over back to where he was prior, choosing to sit upon the grassy floor as they began their wait. As he relaxed however, he looked back up at the demigod momentarily, finding a small look of confusion on his face.

"I thought you wished to continue our training?" Herobrine asked, leading to a bit of embarrassment appearing on the miner's face.

"O-oh! Right! I thought you said...nevermind." Steve responded as he briskly stood back up, moving a bit away from the other as he drew his sword from its sheath once again.

Their new style of training was invigorating, the miner admitted to himself. Without the barrage of insults or brief confrontations, he actually found himself learning quite a bit more about how to handle himself in a fight. He hoped desperately that this new style was permanent, but given who his teacher was, he couldn't say for certain that would remain the case.

He was ready to learn how to defend himself. He was ready to learn how to defend the others. Primarily, he was ready to learn how to be more efficient so that no one else would get hurt in his place.


Y'all, I got a bit busy with house stuff, sorry for the longer delay!

A bit of a shorter chapter here along with a training session! Had a different idea for this chapter earlier, but decided to push that back a bit and do something else in the meantime. Bc of that, chapter had to be rewritten T_T Also, school may be starting next month for me, but idk, I've been looking around for course materials and school supplies and all that lmao. I don't have a busy weekly schedule rn, but with seven classes all with their own work, idk how this fic will take a hit of any kind when it comes to hw. I'll figure something out, I can work pretty fast when it comes down to things, I just have to keep a decent agenda on me so that I don't forget things lol haha

We'll get to Merry Glade soon enough! Herobrine's testing the extent of the powers he can access, but who's to say that the side-effects of the potion are permanent, lol. At least he has more ways to mess with Steve!

No fun facts this week!

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