Chapter 32: Nature's Trap
One full training session later, Steve found himself quite exhausted from allowing his godly acquaintance to experiment with him.
His back laid flat against the grassy forest floor, his sword laid sheathed by his side, and his arms were sprawled out away from him as he took deep breaths, keeping his gaze focused up to the sky. Having the demigod switch cleanly and quickly between using fire and ice was bad enough, but somewhere in the mix, he'd resorted to simply throwing large balls of water directly in his face when he could, nearly drowning him without his body being fully submerged. His hair was currently pressed against his forehead dripping wet, though a good couple of strands were slightly singed, having been made victim to a couple of close-calls. Herobrine could say that they were merely accidental, but Steve knew better.
The demigod in question was currently leaning against a tree not too far away from him, tossing a ball of flame in one hand as the other remained crossed against his chest. Though he appeared to be quite nonchalant, it was clear by his slightly heavier breaths that he was rather tired as well, even as he tried to hide any evidence of that being the case.
With a small sigh, Herobrine extinguished the flame, focusing his attention down towards the miner.
"...While we're alone, I have a small question that I've been meaning to ask you." He announced with a quieter tone, almost as if they'd be heard somehow.
Curiously, Steve looked up to the other.
"What?"
"...What happened to you while we were separated? In full?"
Herobrine was checking up on him?
Steve shrugged.
"Nothing much. I met Joules, he gave me the potion and offered me to stay with him, he took me to a client's house, and suddenly, I was in a castle with a bunch of champions and divine beings, Joules disappeared, and the gods found me. I stayed in that place for a couple of days, and then, I was at the festival."
"...You don't know how you got into the castle?"
"Like I said, Joules took me to a client's house, and before I knew it, I was in a castle."
Herobrine thought to himself for a moment before shaking his head slightly, turning his gaze elsewhere.
"...I believe that you must've gotten so panicked that you're forgetting some of the details, there. That, or there's some foul play involved."
Steve looked at him, considering asking him about certain Aethren powers before the other let out a quick sigh.
"I have another question to ask of you as well. Are you hurt, in any way?" Herobrine asked as he turned to look at him with a slightly worried expression, leaving Steve with amusement and slight confusion on his face.
"Are you asking if they hurt me, or-"
"-Any injury. Did they act roughly with you, did I accidentally burn you badly, anything." Herobrine corrected.
"I…" Steve found himself to be momentarily wordless. "Brine, are you okay?"
Herobrine glared slightly at him.
"I'm only asking because that question should've been the first that left my mouth when we originally met back up with each other."
Steve gave the other a gentle smile, which evidently caused the man's gaze to soften up a bit.
"I'm fine. My arms are a bit sore after being dragged around like a criminal, but other than that, I've got nothing else. Nothing too serious, at least."
Silence followed his words for a moment before Herobrine sighed in response, fully crossing his arms in front of his chest.
"...Good. Let's keep it that way."
The sound of leaves and distant forest creatures filled the space between them, causing a sense of peace to wash over Steve, though it didn't seem to have the same effect on Herobrine. His posture was a bit tense, but it was clear that the demigod was trying to make it seem like he wasn't all too bothered by whatever was going on within his mind.
Just seconds after Steve decided to lean back and embrace the ground beneath him once again, Herobrine broke the silence.
"...I think that it'd be best for us to speak with Fiele before heading into Merry Glade." Herobrine abruptly announced, causing Steve to turn his head toward him with widened eyes.
"What? Why? I thought we were in a hurry."
"We are, but…" Herobrine paused, thinking to himself. "...The potion. I already feel its effects waning, and who knows what I'll be left with when it's gone. We need to speak with her before it completely fades, just in case."
Steve began to sit up, looking at the other with a bit of worry.
"When did you notice this?"
"...While we were training." Herobrine admitted quietly, turning away from the miner with embarrassment as even more concern found its way onto his face.
"Brine, we could've stopped then! You're pushing yourself too much too soon, you know that?" Steve exclaimed, looking over the other for any more signs of exhaustion.
"I'm not even pushing myself. I'm using my abilities with caution."
"Switching between three different powers and using them all on me for several minutes at once is 'using your abilities with caution?' Are you sure?" Steve raised a brow at him, earning a sigh from Herobrine.
"It is. Regardless, I'm telling the others, and we're going to be teleporting elsewhere. She's not too far away from where we are, so-"
"-Brine. If that's the case, we shouldn't be tele-"
"-We have to. We need to do this quickly and efficiently. No excuses. Fiele needs to get the point, and frankly, so do you." Herobrine interrupted the miner with a harsh glare, forcing him into silence as he briskly left from the tree he was against and began to head into the forest. Not wanting to lose the other, Steve scrambled to get up as well, following closely behind him as he tried to fight off his own silence.
"Brine, be rational. Be more cautious, we're all still worried about you, you know?" Steve said quietly, hoping that his soft tone would appeal more to the demigod.
"Place your worry elsewhere. I'll do this, then you can all relax. We're facing real power here, and I'd like for us to actually get through things quickly so that we can avoid serious repercussions."
"The quicker we work, the more mistakes we can make, and I think that pushing yourself like this is a big one." Steve said, taking a moment to walk in front of the other in order to meet his gaze.
Herobrine refused to look at him for a solid few seconds before reluctantly allowing silver eyes to meet with vibrant pinkish-purple ones, much to the demigod's general annoyance.
"...Just let me do this, and we'll slow it down, alright?" He asked quietly, looking at Steve with expectation for his answer.
Though Steve didn't necessarily want to allow the other the freedom to exhaust himself without any interference, he, nevertheless, gave a hesitant nod in response, allowing the demigod to leave him.
"All we have to do now is find the others and inform them of the decision. I'll brace myself for the same amount of resistance from them as from you, just to let you know." Herobrine said, leading the other back into a more dense part of the forest.
Steve let out a small sigh.
"Good. At least I know that we have something to unite us with." He said in an almost joking tone, smirking as he watched the demigod scoff in response.
Though they eventually returned to the area where they'd initially split up into different groups, the two found themselves still alone. As Steve began to consider a few different questions to ask, he felt a feeling of dread rise up abruptly within him, forming into a silent command that he knew wasn't for him. Within a few minutes, the demigod and the miner were soon rejoined by their fellow acquaintances, minus Squash. Before Steve could ask the others where she was placed, Constiere briskly approached him, holding his hands up.
"Squash is in a cave being protected by our forces. Not sure if she actually needs the security, but it's just in case, alright?" The boy explained, causing a wave of relief to wash over the miner.
"I'm glad…" Steve said with a sigh. "Hopefully we won't be away for too long."
Andvari shrugged at him as he went to stand by Herobrine.
"I wouldn't bet on that. Sometimes these missions take quite a while. Might I also add that you have to take the time to blend in with the people of Merry Glade and gain their trust?"
"We'll only be coming for her after we take care of the portal and our situation with Fiele." Herobrine explained after a look of confusion appeared on Steve's face.
"...Well, in the meantime, let's get things started. Andvari, let's go set up some communication methods, alright?" Malgun said, motioning for the enderman to come with him.
Before the group could disband once again, Herobrine held a hand in front of the skeleton, halting him in place as all eyes fell quickly on him.
"We have a slight change of plans. More of a reordering, really."
With a bit of confusion at his words, the mob generals waited for his explanation.
"We'll speak with Fiele first. I do not know how long the potion I drank will continue to assist me, but just to be safe, we need to approach her before it has the chance to wear off." Herobrine spoke, casting a glance to the others as he began to walk away.
Constiere approached him as he left.
"Are you actually ready to do this, sir?" He asked a bit quietly.
Herobrine stopped walking, giving the other a shrug without turning to face him.
"The faster we get done with this, the better."
Andvari walked up to the demigod, but before he could protest, Herobrine held up a hand, silencing his future words.
"...Help me teleport everybody a bit closer." Herobrine asked the enderman quietly, earning a look of deep concern from the other.
"...Teleporting around like this will only put you more at severe risk, you know that?" Andvari spoke up, earning a small hum from the man.
"Yes. Severe risk of me going back to the state I was once at before getting stabbed. We have a power boost at the moment, so we might as well take advantage of that while we still can." Herobrine rebutted.
Andvari shook his head.
"...Sir. Please-"
"-You won't be talking me out of this, so either help me with the teleporting or watch me do it all by myself." Herobrine glared up to the other, keeping eye contact as Andvari debated his next set of actions. After a few moments of genuine frustration, Andvari let out a sigh of defeat, turning around in order to walk back to the others.
"...I'll help. Are we heading over to the same place? She hasn't migrated yet?"
Pleased with the enderman's answer, Herobrine nodded.
"She has nowhere else to really go, so of course. Can't hurt to check, at least."
As the two moved back over to the other three that were waiting for further instructions, Herobrine made his way quickly over to Steve, grabbing his arm as the miner braced himself mentally.
"I don't even understand how you can do all of this so much, Brine. I...I got sick of it already, and we haven't even teleported all that much!" Steve whined, earning a small sigh from Herobrine.
"I'm used to it, that's why." Herobrine paused for a moment. "...If it helps, hold your breath for a second. Often, teleporting messes with your breathing, so that may be why you feel sort of sick when you go through it."
Taking note of the suggestion, Steve looked at the other with a slight expression of exasperation.
"It was that easy to deal with this whole time?"
Herobrine shrugged.
"It's not a guaranteed solution, only a potentially helpful one. I do it often myself, but that may be because I'm the one actually teleporting."
Nodding, Steve quickly held his breath as the dreaded feeling of lurching forward came to him, but as quickly as it came, he found that the usual nausea that followed was significantly weaker than it had been before. Finding that the demigod had landed them in front of another large mountain that had a decently-sized cave entrance carved into it, Steve turned to Herobrine with a bit of thankfulness in his gaze.
"I...I appreciate the advice. Thanks, Brine." He said quietly as the other let go of his arm, stepping away in order to teleport elsewhere.
"...Of course." Was all that left Herobrine's mouth before he disappeared from the area, leaving the miner by himself.
Only seconds after the other left, Andvari appeared with Constiere close by Steve, earning a small, startled noise from his lips before he relaxed upon seeing the others.
"So...where's this Fiele, guys?" Steve asked cautiously, earning a bit of a smirk from Constiere, who slowly walked up to him.
"In there. Waiting." The boy pointed directly towards the cave, earning a nervous chuckle from the miner in response.
"I...if she's the queen, then does that mean that there's...uh…"
"A nest of hungry arachnids lying in wait for us? Yes, you'd be right about that, Steve." Andvari answered his question, stepping closer to the other as well.
"What, you afraid of spiders, bright-eyes?" Constiere asked with an elbow to Steve's side.
Steve shook his head, nudging the other right back.
"Of course not! I...ugh, I just don't like the idea of being surrounded by them all at once."
"In all honesty, I agree with that sentiment." Andvari muttered. "They work quickly, and since we're stepping into their nest, we'll no doubt be outnumbered."
"Basically, if we're not careful, we'll just be giving them some free delivery for their next meal. Whatever." Constiere said, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he shrugged haphazardly.
Steve stared at the cave entrance, his body feeling a bit tenser than it had been before.
"...Great. I'm...looking forward to that, I guess…" He said, his voice hesitating as he felt nothing less than uncomfortable about the situation.
Malgun and Herobrine finally rejoined the group, resulting in the conversation being cut short as the skeleton immediately rushed to hold Herobrine up a bit as the man let go of his arm, stumbling in place as he separated from him. After he was stable once again, Herobrine glanced up at the others with an expression of annoyance.
"...What?" He asked in a stern tone, turning his gaze to each of the others' worried faces.
"...This is probably a bad idea." Steve spoke up, watching the other shake off his previous state.
"It's not. Now, let's get this over with, alright?" Herobrine responded, quickly moving to lead the group forward.
The others were led to stand quietly in front of the massive cave, eyes peering deeply into the darkness before them as they found it staring right back at them. Though the sun allowed some level of vision within the cave, it was clear that it went down deeper than what they could currently see, drawing some worry.
Herobrine stepped forward, summoning a flame within his hand that somewhat flickered in existence before growing a bit stronger.
"Keep close to me and focus on your senses and surroundings. We're in their nest, not ours, so keep vigilant." He commanded, beginning to move forward as the mob generals followed behind, with Steve hesitating to place one foot down solidly in front of the other.
Entering the cave, a general sense of anticipation arose amongst the five. Though Herobrine led the way confidently enough, the group couldn't help but feel slightly nervous about the situation at hand. The air around them grew colder the farther they stepped into the cave, and as the entrance grew further and further out of sight, Steve began to feel even more unnerved with the situation they were placing themselves into.
Spiders. He was fine with them in small quantities, but stepping into a space that was supposedly filled with them sent his skin completely crawling. It wasn't like he had that much arachnophobia, but he couldn't say that he could stay in a singular space that housed them for too long without reacting poorly, so he was hoping that their meeting with the so-called 'Spider Queen' would be quick and relatively painless.
Without much warning, the air around them grew somewhat warmer, much to Steve's general confusion. He saw no other heat or light source other than Herobrine's flame, so what was causing the rise in temperature? They were too far from the surface for the sun to actually make a difference too, so what was going on?
Herobrine stopped before them, causing them to pause immediately before they could crash right into him accidentally. Silence remained for a moment or two before Herobrine turned to look back at them, expression blank.
Suddenly, he broke the silence.
"...In all honesty, I have to admit, this was one of my least brightest ideas."
Before they could question the other's words, the sounds of clicking and hissing filled the air around them, and to their absolute horror, the walls around them began to move. The warmth around them only got hotter as the eight-legged monsters got closer, overwhelming them with the element of surprise. They tried to draw closer together, but Herobrine's scattered flames that flew from his hands toward the creatures prevented them from getting too close, though they were thankful for some of the light that the flames gave them. As they found themselves lacking even the mere opportunity to defend themselves, they were trapped within an absurdly large mass of webs, all being ripped from each other and tied up separately as they were pulled against the sticky surface. Despite putting up a decent mental fight against the beasts, the group was rendered powerless as the spiders finished their work, cocooning them with spider silk while thankfully leaving their heads free of the material, sticking them all against a cavern wall. The only thing that provided them with any light was Herobrine's gaze.
Suddenly, the spiders began to scuttle away into the darkness, leading to their attention being focused on a large, black mass making their way slowly towards them. Red, hate-filled eyes appeared within the darkness, staring down at the group with what seemed to be hunger as well, drawing deep concern.
With a smirk growing on his face, Herobrine stared out into the darkness before them, meeting the gaze with eagerness.
"Lady Fiele! Lovely to see you again, how's the sisterhood?" He greeted with a lightened, upbeat tone, teetering on the edge of sarcasm.
The spiders erupted in a wave of angry clicks and hisses, leading to the demigod rolling his eyes at the reaction.
"I know you can speak for yourself. Stop with the theatrics in front of my men and let's start the real conversation, alright?" He said with a more serious tone, dropping his smile slightly.
From the depths of the darkness before them appeared a set of massive, back spider legs as they crawled closer to them. The motion caused a wave of fear to settle into Steve's stomach, paralyzing him in a more forceful way than the literal webs encasing his body did. The legs led up to the equally massive body of a spider, but then led to confusion as the appearance of roughly half of a human body grew out of the spider's, morphing the fuzz of the spider into the half-eaten skin of the human's. Decayed flesh hidden mostly by a finely woven cloak of silk came into view before them, and as sharp, blood-covered claws grasped at the cloak, a couple of pairs of starved, terrifying red eyes gazed down at them with anger. The rest of the woman's face was mostly covered with lengthy, pitch-black messy hair, but the only other thing that could be seen of it was a gaping, torn-up mouth, slightly stained with what appeared to be dried blood.
While the others stared back at the beast before them, Steve found himself unable to do much but look away for the sake of his own sanity.
"I thought I told you to stay away." Came the creature's raspy voice, almost crawling its way over the miner's skin as he tried to calm his own growing sense of panic.
"I thought I told you to think about the possibilities that could arise, should you consider joining my ranks and allowing me access to your spiders." Herobrine quickly responded.
A few clicks left the other's lips.
"A god's flesh, even as one that's as tainted and bitter as yours, can feed the bodies of my sisters for eons. Why do you risk such a fate?"
Herobrine let out a small chuckle.
"Why do you risk me killing you and taking your beloved sisters by force? We all do curious things for the sake of gaining power, don't we?"
The spider beast before him narrowed her gaze at him.
"...What do you desire, Herobrine?"
Herobrine closed his eyes for a moment before beginning to speak, opening them once again to look at the spider with silver eyes.
"Fiele. The state of the world is devolving. It's not long until things collapse due to the foolishness of the humans, you know that, yes?"
Fiele nodded her head slowly.
"How could I not?"
"Yes. In brief terms, I need the aid of your kin. There are several humans going about, risking our reality on a whim in order to gain recognition. My silverfish can only do so much about finding them, I need eyes with fangs to match."
Fiele looked at him with a curious expression, drawing closer and leaning down to match the height level of his gaze.
"You wish to use my sisters in order to find these humans?"
Herobrine nodded.
"Not just any kind of human. These few are recipients of a curse with no known origin. They all have vibrant, purple or pinkish gazes that make them easy to tell apart from the others."
The demigod turned his head toward Steve, finding the miner somehow managing to keep himself quiet despite being in the presence of such a fearsome set of creatures.
"Steven, turn to face Fiele. Eyes open." He commanded, watching as Steve flinched at the harshness of his voice.
Not particularly wanting to burn the image of the woman into his mind, Steve debated following the other's orders for a second before complying, looking back to lock gazes with the spider-fused woman before him. Much to his general discomfort, she leaned in closer to him, examining his gaze for a minute or so before pulling away, turning her attention back toward Herobrine as Steve let out a sigh of relief at her departure from his personal space.
"...I see. I'll...see what I can do."
The spider moved slowly away from them, back turned as she departed, before she stopped suddenly in place. Looking back over her shoulder, Fiele glared at Herobrine.
"I offer you my sisters, but what do you offer me?"
Looking at her with a glare, Herobrine hummed.
"...I could heal you."
A flash of emotion came across the woman's gaze, causing her to turn around almost abruptly, causing Steve to flinch at the unnerving action.
"...You can adjust the flesh?" She asked quietly.
Herobrine nodded.
"I can make it hurt less. Become more solid. More stable."
The spider appeared to debate with herself for a moment before a small, sing-songy hum from the demigod broke her from her focused state.
"I'd recommend coming to a conclusion sooner rather than later. My powers got a boost lately, but I feel my energy waning by the second~" Herobrine announced with a smirk.
Without a word, Fiele took a moment to stare down at him before a large spider approached his feet, crawling upwards in order to begin gnawing away at the silk around his body. Soon enough, the demigod was freed as he dropped down to the ground, and, keeping the silence, he approached the spider queen.
In a silent exchange that baffled the four that still remained against the wall, Herobrine lifted his hands up to where the spider's body met the woman's, stopping before he touched either fuzz or skin. Moving his fingers, he drew forward both before moving it around in a fluid motion, concentrating fully on the action. It wasn't long until the skin melted further into the body below, but from what the others could see, Fiele was pleased with the outcome, looking down at Herobrine with what appeared to be a thankful gaze.
As the demigod backed away from her, spiders rushed up to the other four trapped victims, quickly working at the webs that held them as they began to free them. With a few clicks of her own, Fiele cast her gaze more upwards.
"My spiders will look out for whatever you find concern in. Stay away from my web and I guarantee you, things will remain fine. You came during our hour of hunger, I'm not able to secure your safety." She announced, looking back down toward the demigod.
Herobrine nodded, casting a glance over to the others as they fell to the ground as they were freed, with Steve and Constiere falling a bit less gracefully than the others.
"I know. We'll make haste and leave. Take caution with the humans, they're extra vicious these days." He waved at her, beginning to walk away.
"So are we." Fiele responded, beginning to crawl away as her spiders began to follow her.
"...Indeed." Herobrine spoke quietly as he went back to the group, motioning for them to follow him as he summoned a flame in his hand once again.
Leading the way, Herobrine navigated the others back out of the cave, finding it somewhat amusing how Steve, in particular, was noticeably closer to him than he had been when they initially entered the space. Once the outside sky greeted them, they all let out a collective sigh of relief, all looking to check over each other for any injuries.
A small groan continued the disturbance of silence.
"Sir, with all due respect, how long are you going to wait until you take her leadership away?" Constiere asked, dusting a few webs off of his body. "Every time we see her, she looks worse!"
"I want to remain friendly for as long as I possibly can. If one freely gives their power to me, I'm content with that for now. Our main concern is with the dragon, not the generals." Herobrine explained, doing the same as he picked up several stray webs from his body.
"...I hope you know that you gave me a new phobia, Brine. I really hope you know that." Steve said, his tone filled with evidence of past panic and current tension.
Herobrine chuckled a bit at him as laughter immediately came from Constiere's mouth.
"Technically, it wasn't even of my doing." Herobrine corrected.
"Bright-eyes, welcome to the group. Master, remind me why she looks like that again?" Constiere said, turning toward Herobrine for an answer.
Herobrine left them in silence for a moment, Burning away a few strands of webs before looking back at Constiere.
"The woman attached to the spider is Fiele. The spider underneath her body is the actual queen. They're consuming each other until they're fully one being, but that's pretty much happened already."
Steve raised a brow.
"...Consuming each other? What are you talking about?"
Herobrine shrugged.
"Best choice of words, really. Fiele seems to be winning, though."
Steve let out a quiet "Ah."
Looking off toward the distance, Herobrine let out a small sigh, glancing back to the others with a neutral expression.
"With that out of the way, now we can head to Merry Glade. One more teleporting session, and we should be near there, back where we said we'd enter from." He explained, earning another visible wave of worry from the others before a groan left his lips.
"Say nothing, this is the last one, I promise. I'll need to focus my energy on appearing less suspicious for our journey within, so we'll only do this one last time." Herobrine held up a hand in order to silence the group, but none of them even spoke up.
Without a word, Herobrine slowly walked over to Steve, looking at the others for any silent conversations before dragging him a bit away, holding his arm tightly before teleporting back to their original place in the mountains, strangely enough.
Why didn't they teleport back into the forest? Wasn't the forest literally in a space just a few steps away from the city?
Steve looked at Herobrine, noticing a large wave of exhaustion coming over him as it became apparent that teleporting was beginning to have its previous effects upon the demigod.
"Brine...why don't you let Andvari take the others here? I think we can just...uh, rest for now-"
"-Steven. I can't place that pressure on Andvari. I need to be able to do this. Me." Herobrine rebutted.
Steve looked at the other with a bit of annoyance in his expression.
"Brine, this is what we're worried about. You're jeopardizing yourself, and-"
The miner was interrupted by the sound of Andvari returning, bringing with him both of the remaining mob generals, surprisingly enough. The second the other two left his grasp, however, Andvari immediately raised an exhausted claw to his head, his posture falling slightly before becoming strong once again. That didn't stop Herobrine from rushing to his aid, going straight into looking over the enderman for any injuries before letting out a sigh of relief as he found none.
"Are you okay? Why'd you even try to accomplish that?!" Herobrine asked the other, his voice rather filled with worry.
Andvari stared down at him.
"Because you insist on injuring yourself in the short term, not thinking of the long-term consequences of your actions. You asked me to help you with teleporting, so I did."
Taking in the other's words for a moment, Herobrine nodded a bit sheepishly in response, turning away in order to walk more toward the forest where the glade was being held in. Though the demigod was walking away a bit briskly, the others managed to catch up with him and follow his rhythm after recovering from the teleportation. Quietly, Steve approached him, keeping his voice a bit down as he spoke.
"Brine, he's just looking out-"
"-Until we reach the glade, remain absolutely quiet for me, alright?" Herobrine interrupted with a slightly angered tone.
Not wanting to provoke the man any further, Steve immediately fell into silence, falling back to trail a bit more behind the other.
Standing amongst the trees directly in front of the mass of nature that was the only barrier between them and Merry Glade, the group paused their journey momentarily, focusing most of their attention on Herobrine as he began to explain their plans.
"Alright. To start off, Andvari and Malgun. You two will keep watch for any champions who might stumble upon the area. Constiere, wrap your cloak around your lower body, since it might be best to hide those stains as best you can. Steve, prepare yourself as well. We'll be looking for both the portal itself and any information on what we need in order to activate the End portal specifically." Herobrine explained. "Andi and Malgun, I'll give you two a signal for whenever it's safe to venture in."
As the enderman and the skeleton nodded in response to the other's commands, they began to walk away from the remaining three toward the deeper parts of the forest. Constiere immediately did as Herobrine said to do, removing his cloak as he tightly tied it in place, flipping it over so that the dirty parts weren't all too visible.
Turning toward Constiere and Steve, Herobrine allowed the glow of his eyes to fade away completely, somewhat surprising Steve with his abruptness.
"Let's think of a story to present to any locals that we may encounter." Herobrine said.
Steve curiously looked at him. He was rather surprised that Herobrine was finally going to head into a city alongside him in a more direct fashion, but he wasn't sure about what the other would do in the presence of other humans apart from outright threatening them. Nevertheless, he was still rather excited about the opportunity.
"Shouldn't...shouldn't you disguise yourself, or something?"
Herobrine shrugged.
"I'm trying to decide that for myself. What light should we present ourselves in?"
Constiere raised a brow at him.
"Like, are we a group of travelers, friends, family, something like that?" He asked.
Herobrine nodded.
"Yes. We need to appear non-threatening to these citizens so that they leave us in peace."
The group thought to themselves quietly for a moment, remaining rather silent until Constiere let out a few noises of excitement.
"I know! We...uh...we're traveling together as a group of young scholars, all coming from the same school. I'm tagging along as an underclassman, while you two are upperclassmen brothers-"
"-No." Came Herobrine's quick reply, causing Constiere to immediately pause.
"Why not? You don't have to waste any energy on a full disguise, and plus, it's perfect! If they think we're only students, they'll be less inclined to hurt us, don't you think?" Constiere asked with a playful smile.
Herobrine glared at the boy.
"Constiere, no. For starters, you're assuming that they'd show mercy to children. They're a cult, for all we know, they sacrifice children." Herobrine took a short breath before continuing. "Second, I refuse to call Steven my brother. Even in jest, it's...not something I want to do."
Though Steve took slight offense with the other's words, as he looked at Herobrine's expression, he was relatively surprised to find the other becoming genuinely upset by the boy's suggestion. He didn't exactly know why it was a sore subject, but whatever the case was, he felt slightly bad for the man for a split moment before the offense settled in once again.
"What, am I not worthy?" Steve asked with a slightly joking tone in his voice, earning a scowl from Herobrine.
"...No. You're not. Let's just say we're wandering travelers and be done with it. If they question us, leave the talking to me. Also leave the potential fighting to me, should they get aggressive." Herobrine said, gesturing for the others to follow him as he began to make his way to the city.
Steve and Constiere looked back at each other for a moment before choosing to follow the other, keeping their relative distance away from him.
"...I think he forgot to think of an actual disguise..." Steve spoke up, his voice in a whisper.
"Yeah, unless he's planning something last minute, I think he forgot." The boy responded.
Thinking to himself for a moment, Constiere let out a small sigh.
"Man, I didn't think rosebud would act like that, but here we are, I guess." Constiere muttered quietly.
Steve nodded.
"Still, you could've avoided it. We can just say what we technically are; a bunch of travelers."
"Not the potential saviors of the Overworld?" Constiere turned toward him with a smirk.
"Don't you think that they think that's what they are? Want to risk being challenged?" Steve asked in return.
The two fell into a bit of quiet laughter before it died down, leaving the sound of wind gently blowing against grass and trees in its place once again. Before the lack of conversation could drive either into any sort of uncomfortable mood, Steve spoke up after a few moments of walking in silence.
"...Did you actually know that would happen?"
The boy took a moment to think to himself before looking back at the miner with a curious expression.
"Know what would happen?" Constiere asked in return.
"...That he'd act so...mad about the suggestion."
Constiere shrugged.
"Family is a sore point with him, so in the back of my mind, yes I did. Didn't occur to me when it was coming out of my mouth, so that's on me, I guess."
"...You think it came across as making me seem like I was replacing his actual brother?"
Constiere shrugged again.
"...Can't know for sure, but whatever's the case, it won't be something we'll have to deal with, fellow weary traveler." The boy said with a slightly exaggerated voice as he finished.
Steve laughed a bit.
"You should've either said that first, or said that we were all related."
The boy raised a brow at him.
"Do I look related to you?"
"Adoption. You could always just say it was adoption that got you with us. It's not hard."
Constiere let out a small hum.
"...Yeah, that could've worked better."
Before their conversation could go any further, the two soon found themselves caught up with Herobrine as they stood directly in front of the hidden city, realizing that they now had the slight issue of somehow attempting to find a way inside. Herobrine briefly summoned a flame in his hands before quickly getting rid of it, much to the confusion of the others.
"...Might not be best to burn the whole place down just to get past a few vines." Herobrine muttered as the other two let out hums of agreement.
Constiere stepped forward.
"Then what do we-"
The boy was interrupted by the slight movement of the vines in front of them, swaying slowly back and forth before unfurling in front of them, much to their general awe. Suddenly, the vines pulled fully apart, clearing a path inside. Widened eyes stared into the city, with nobody choosing to move forward before Herobrine decided to snap back into focus with a quick shake of his head, gesturing for the others to walk with him. Upon getting past the seemingly magical pathway inside, the three found themselves in front of a relatively smaller space than what they were expecting for a city. All of the buildings seemed to be modified tents attached to slightly deteriorating wooden structures, except for two, larger buildings that were made from solid combinations of polished stone and sturdy wood. The streets beneath them were made of gravel and stone, though it looked like the stone hadn't been taken care of for quite a while.
Falling back to stand with the others, Herobrine lowered his voice as a couple of residents came into view.
"I'd like to take a guess that whatever we may need lies within one of those two decent buildings over there, or both. Let's try to get inside them, alright?" He said, briefly pointing toward the buildings in question.
Steve and Constiere nodded at his words, somewhat remaining close to him as the first of several citizens came directly toward them. A man dressed in a flowing, highly-decorated robe eventually placed himself directly in front of the three, looking down at them with what seemed to be an arrogant, pompous smile.
"Welcome to the haven known as Merry Glade! Please, you may refer to me as Father. Who might you be? Our peaceful flora rarely allows visitors inside, you know." The man greeted them.
As "Father" waited for their response with a smile that seemed a bit forced, Herobrine straightened out his posture, looking at the man with a neutral expression that hid his true emotions well enough.
"I've...we've been traveling through these lands for weeks now on a personal, educational project. Me and my brothers found this place, and were quite surprised when we realized that there was a whole city in here!" Herobrine spoke with an uncharacteristically upbeat tone, briefly surprising the two behind him in more ways than one as he finished with a smile growing on his face.
"Father" nodded in understanding.
"Well. I believe that you three must be tired then, yes? Are you staying long?"
Herobrine shook his head.
"Nope. We just need a couple of supplies, and we'll be on our way."
The man before them nodded, waving his hand as he began to walk away.
"Allow us to gather some things for your journey. Food, water, whatever you need. In the meantime, take a stroll through our glorious streets, I'm sure that you'll see the appeal and choose to come back sometime later, yes?"
Herobrine nodded even though the man couldn't see him, smiling a bit as he turned toward the others.
"We will!"
Approaching Steve and Constiere, Herobrine let out a small groan of annoyance as the crowd around them dispersed, leaving him with nothing but bewildered faces in front of him. Seeing that the two were evidently itching to bombard him with questions, he began to explain himself, forcing out his words a bit.
"...The suggestion you made was the only thing that came to mind once we were approached." Herobrine explained in a whisper to Constiere.
Steve looked at the demigod with a growing smirk appearing on his face.
"...I thought that you didn't want to be brothers?"
Herobrine glared at him with legitimate anger in his eyes.
"How plausible do you think it seems to them for us to look this alike without being related? How would it look to others if we said that we were merely classmates and nothing more? Saying that we were brothers was the most reasonable option here! I don't think that my powers are strong enough to keep up a disguise for long, especially since I can't feel the energy from the potion that much anymore!" He hastily explained, his face a bit flushed as he spoke.
"...Yeah sir, but me too?" Constiere asked with an equally as mischievous smirk.
Herobrine found himself growing more flustered as the two confronted him shamelessly.
"My...some people in my family have orange hair, it's plausible. And besides, don't think that I couldn't hear you two talking behind me. We weren't that separated, you know. I was only taking note of your suggestions."
Steve and Constiere froze, feeling embarrassed that they'd been found out so easily.
"Brine, I-"
"Sir, I-"
"-Shut it, you two. For now, think of names, quickly. Well, Constiere at least. If we're going to pull this off, we can't raise any suspicions." Herobrine interrupted their apologies, turning around again in order to start walking toward one of the distant, more well-built buildings.
"Why? I kinda like my name." Constiere said, looking up at Herobrine with intrigue.
Herobrine briefly looked back at him before returning his focus up ahead.
"I'm fond of it too, but humans aren't quite familiar with it. The point here is to blend in as much as we can, and that starts with a proper name."
Constiere nodded in understanding, soon after turning his attention toward Steve.
"Got any ideas for me? You've got more recent experiences with humans than I have, in terms of just hanging out with them."
Steve shrugged.
"Something with a 'C' I guess, if you want to stay consistent. Uh...Charlie, maybe?"
Constiere shook his head.
"Nah. Not getting any connection with that one."
"...Cameron? Cole?...Chester?"
Constiere's eyes lit up.
"Chester! That one, actually! Call me Chester!" The boy said excitedly, looking at Steve with eager eyes that he couldn't help but laugh a bit at.
"Alright, Chester. What about you, Brine?" Steve asked, looking up to the demigod with a smile.
Herobrine remained silent for a moment, thinking to himself before pausing his steps forward, causing the others to stop as well.
"...That nickname. Can you stress out the syllables a bit, for me?"
Steve looked at him with confusion.
"...Brine? Like, Briiine?"
Herobrine resumed the silence for another few seconds, soon after nodding to himself.
"Let's see if they're smart enough to make any connections. Refer to me as 'Brian,' for the time being."
Staring at him unamused, Steve let out a small sigh of disappointment.
"That's...okay. Fine."
Nodding as the miner gave his hesitant approval, Herobrine continued to walk.
"You don't need another name. Yours is average enough."
Steve let out a small whine.
"Is it? Really?"
"Yes. You're not getting any nicknames from my end, don't fight me on this."
Letting out a sigh of defeat as Constiere laughed at his expression, Steve continued to follow after the other, finding that they were making their way to one of the two buildings that had stood out to them upon their entry into the area. When they arrived, upon reading a sign that laid just outside the front door, they realized that they'd stumbled upon a library. Though Steve looked at the building with excitement in his gaze, Herobrine let out a small scoff as he approached the front door, opening it for the others to pass through.
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Claymore's library is more impressive. If we can't find anything here, I propose going back there to search for information." Herobrine said, only entering the building and closing the door after the others had already passed through.
Steve looked at him with even more eagerness.
"Really? We'll actually get to hang around that library longer?" He asked.
Staring at his almost childlike expression of excitement with amusement of his own, Herobrine let out a small sigh.
"...It'll benefit us, so sure."
As he walked past the demigod, Steve celebrated quietly to himself.
The room they walked into was rather dark, and surprisingly mostly empty. Walking along the floorboards slowly caused loud, unpleasant creaks to sound out beneath them, but walking on them normally earned a debatably worse sound of constant squeaking, much to their general annoyance. Only a few bookshelves remained, shockingly still well-stocked despite the lack of people present to check them out.
"...The building's completely empty." Herobrine muttered.
"I don't even think the bugs are hanging around this place." Constiere added, looking over the walls with a bit of disgust for the cobwebs that were present on them.
After some silence, Herobrine moved further into the building, glancing around the space as he formed a small mental map on his own.
"So they bother with cleaning up the outside well enough, but they couldn't muster up anything for an interior update?" Herobrine asked, approaching a nearby reading table and wiping his hand along its surface, finding a heavy layer of dust settling upon his glove moments later.
"...What kind of organized, disorganized cult are we dealing with, here?" Constiere asked the demigod, watching him dust his hands off.
Steve walked past them, approaching a bookshelf carefully as he briefly expected for the floor beneath him to abruptly give out.
"Guys, what if we're wrong, and this place doesn't have a cult in it at all? Nobody really seemed all that cultish out there, you know." He spoke up, looking back over to the others as he pulled out a book for himself.
Both Herobrine and Constiere narrowed their gazes at him in disbelief.
"Did you not see 'Father,' or whoever that was?" Herobrine asked, raising a brow.
"I saw him, but...he just looked like an average preacher. An average religious leader." Steve answered with a shrug.
"Dude, that guy was dressed with so much gold and diamonds, everybody else that came up to see us looked like they were dressed in rags dug up from old graves. He's obviously this place's divine being, or whatever." Constiere responded, moving to sit upon the nearby front desk that had greeted them as well.
"A mockery of Aethren blood, to be honest. He's not actually a god, but...it almost angers me to see him parade around like he is one. Almost." Herobrine said, crossing his arms over his chest as he made his way over to the nearby bookshelves as well.
"He fits the profile well enough, doesn't he?" Constiere asked with a small chuckle, drawing one from the demigod as well.
"I'm willing to bet that if any other divine being comes this way, they'll offer him some immortality and a blessed weapon. He fits the look and attitude that well." Herobrine responded, his eyes beginning to trail over the titles of the different books on the bookshelf in front of him.
After the two laughed a bit more, leaving Steve somewhat out of the loop, silence followed briefly. As Steve placed the book he was checking out back on the shelf he'd taken it from, Herobrine let out a small sigh.
"Alright, let's get to business. For obvious reasons, during the duration of our stay, we need to refrain from mentioning the portal specifically. They'd know about the Nether, but knowledge about the End isn't certain." Herobrine began, glancing at the other two briefly as he spoke.
"But we'll need to talk about it, right? If we're looking for information about how to activate it, we'd have to say 'portal' at least once or twice, yeah?" Steve asked in response, watching as Herobrine's brows furrowed in thought.
Suddenly, a snap was heard from off to the side, causing the two to turn toward Constiere.
"I got it! We use codenames!" He announced, causing Steve to smile as Herobrine looked at him with slight confusion. "We call the portal something else, and make up a secret code and stuff in order to talk about it! Easy!"
"That's settled then, but what do we call it?" Steve asked.
Constiere thought to himself for a moment as Steve did also, leaving the group in more silence. It was only broken when they heard a small hum that came from Herobrine, turning their attention toward him.
"...Roundabout. Let's refer to it as the roundabout."
Amused by the other's suggestion, Steve nodded in approval.
"Roundabout sounds cool enough. Alright, so...what do we need to find about the roundabout? Or roundabouts?"
"Anything mentioning either kind of roundabout would be beneficial. Even if it's just a footnote, it can potentially aid us somehow." Herobrine said, watching the others nod.
Silence formed in-between the three briefly before they all shared a bit of a tired expression after taking another quick glance at the amount of books they had to search through.
"...Already, I'm suspecting that this might be rather painful." Herobrine stated quietly, turning away in order to continue looking through the books.
Constiere let out a small, agreeing hum.
"Well, might as well keep ourselves occupied, I guess. Maybe we can just distract ourselves to make this less...terrible?"
Standing up from the desk, Constiere approached Steve, glancing around the building as he took more of it in for himself.
"Hey, since we're dealing with cults, remember when I mentioned that humans caused zombies and skeletons to show up?"
Steve nodded at Constiere's question.
"Well, if our suspicions are anything to go off from, let's just say that these guys aren't too different from them, I think."
"Those idiots were also a cult. Something that had to do with bringing someone specific back, correct?" Herobrine asked the boy, waiting for his confirmation.
Constiere nodded his head.
"The leader's daughter. They found her dead in a ditch somewhere, and, being the idiots they were, they decided to resort to dark magic in order to revive her. Y'know, instead of just letting the poor girl rest."
The boy paused, letting out a brief sigh.
"I just wish I knew how it actually worked. How come it works on the dead, but not entirely the living?" Constiere asked, drawing closer to Steve in order to communicate better.
Herobrine let out a sigh in response to his question.
"I don't know if I'm entirely correct, but this type of magic needs a dead host in order to function. Humans are too...busy for the magic to consume them. Blood flowing, brain working, all of that stuff doesn't allow the magic to take control. A dead human gives a vessel for use."
"...How do some of these things talk, then? I mean, Malgun can speak clearly, but-" Steve asked further.
Herobrine rolled his eyes slightly.
"-I worked on him. That's why he can speak clearly. Sometimes, the magic chooses a host rather quickly after death, just with enough time left for the brain to protect itself. I guess that's why some mobs can actually communicate with our language."
Steve's eyes widened as he looked back at Constiere.
"Like the zombie in Maemond!" He whispered to the other, drawing a quick gasp from him.
"You're right! Like him!"
Herobrine shook his head with a bit of disappointment.
"Shame, though. It was hard enough finding a proper leader for the skeletons; it's upsetting that the one zombie that could string a sentence together was a fool. I wish that he had been reasonable, but...we can't always have what we want, can we?"
The two behind him shook their heads, Steve adding a quiet "Yeah, I know" to his response.
The group paused their shifted conversation as Herobrine went to examine another set of bookshelves, running his hands over a few titles. As he continued to look, his hands stopped moving all of a sudden, causing the others to become confused as he cast a quick glare in their direction.
"Are you two going to stand there, or are you going to help?"
With a salute from Constiere and a brief flinch from Steve, the two left the demigod where he was, turning around to start searching themselves.
Steve approached a smaller bookshelf, eyes trailing over the books slowly.
"Hey, uh...what else are we looking for, exactly?" He called back, glancing over to where the demigod still was.
"Anything that appears to be in a foreign language. Things having to do with the occult. Stuff like that." Herobrine answered, pulling a book out from the shelf in front of him in order to read its contents briefly, before shutting it and placing it right back where it was.
"Wouldn't they like...not have that out in the open, though?" Constiere asked, taking out a book as well.
"If this place contains an actual death cult, they could possibly want the information to be outside, free for anybody to obtain. Otherwise, we'd have to look somewhere else more prominent for help.
"Like...the Elder's house, or something?" Steve asked.
"Precisely." Herobrine answered quickly.
"What are the chances that they'd even have something that mentions the roundabout in there?" Constiere asked, his voice growing a bit quieter.
Herobrine shrugged.
"Depends. Normally I research these places more thoroughly before we head in, but we're in a rush. We need to look for as much information as we can grab before Andvari and Malgun make their appearances."
"Because them being here would be obvious, right?" Steve asked with a bit of a smirk.
"Don't know how you can hide a decaying body and a living nightmare, but yeah, bright-eyes." Constiere responded, laughing a bit.
Pulling out a particularly well-decorated book from a shelf just above his head, Steve tried to search through it, only to find strange art upon its pages, as well as a language that he couldn't read. Closing the book, he leaned away from the shelf before him, looking around for Herobrine.
"Hey, Brine? I found a book that fits our criteria!" He exclaimed, feeling a bit relieved as the other quickly made his way over to him.
Herobrine quickly took the book from his hands, opening it carefully as he began to skim over the pages. After a few moments of leaving the miner there to wait for his response, Herobrine let out a small hum.
"...Not Aethren, not Nethren. It's not in any language that the information we need would originate from." Herobrine finally said, closing the book as he handed it back to the miner.
"What language is it in, then? What does the book say?"
After moving to walk away from the other to continue his search elsewhere, Herobrine looked back at him, shrugging.
"...It's in witch's tongue. It's more of a potion brewing catalog than anything else."
Steve nodded, walking over to the demigod as he tried to keep the conversation going.
"Witch's tongue? Brine, how do you know so many languages, anyways?"
Herobrine let out a small laugh at his question, turning around to face the other slowly as he tapped his finger against his forehead.
"Imitation, remember? I've seen my fair share of places, some of which in other areas far enough from here. Not to mention, the mobs tend to speak separate languages as well. The hisses of a spider are different from the hisses of a creeper, you know. I can adapt and learn rather quickly."
"Ah." Steve responded with a nod, stopping in his tracks as the other left him quietly.
Though he expected for the other to simply continue on without speaking to him further, he was surprised to see the other turn back toward him again, gaze slowly falling on him.
"...If you aren't finding yourself quite that successful over there, might I suggest coming along with me? I could use the extra set of eyes to look over titles I may have simply skimmed over." Herobrine requested, waiting quietly for the miner's response.
Without even thinking about it, Steve nodded eagerly, joining the other by his side as they continued searching over the bookshelves together.
Though their search was rather unfruitful and uneventful, Steve found himself growing somewhat intrigued by his companions' quick exploration of the library they were in. He was taking his time in looking over each and every title, but every time he looked upward, Herobrine and Constiere were both in different locations from where he saw them last, though the demigod made sure to stay somewhat relatively near him in his line of sight. Eventually, the three finished their search with nothing to aid them, leading to an air of defeat surrounding them as they glanced around the library once again.
"That...could've been better." Herobrine said, beginning to make his way to the exit.
Constiere walked in front of Steve, looking at his eyes for a moment before glancing back over to Herobrine.
"At least we know that most likely the portal's gonna be in that other place, somewhere."
Herobrine glanced back at Steve as he opened the door, letting out a small hum.
"...We can also bet that the place is where dear 'Father' lives, so should we go in from the back, if there is one?"
Steve shrugged at his words.
"You want to risk getting caught in order to be bold?" He asked with a small laugh.
Herobrine shrugged in response as well.
"...Back it is."
It didn't take them too long to reach the building in question, but as they drew closer to it, an aroma that resembled several different fancy perfumes came to their senses, causing Constiere to sneeze as Steve covered his nose in response, with Herobrine doing nothing to protect himself.
"...So I'm assuming that he needs attention from all five senses, don't you both think?" Herobrine said, earning nods from the other two in response.
"I can't even bear giving him attention from one, I don't think I can handle this, sir." Constiere said, holding back a sneeze desperately.
As Herobrine led the two around the building, they did, indeed, find a backdoor entrance, though it was unfortunately kept closed by what appeared to be an invasive species of thorny plants that looked back at them menacingly. The thorns gave way to several, beautiful flowers, however, stunning the three briefly with their natural beauty.
"I...well this is a pretty neat defense system, don't you think?" Steve asked with a bit of a smirk, glancing up to Herobrine.
Herobrine let out a brief sigh, closing his eyes as he clasped his hands slowly together in what seemed to be a brief prayer.
"...I humbly apologize for the atrocity I'm about to commit."
Without warning, the demigod summoned a flame and quickly lit the plant on fire, making sure that the flames were well managed before extinguishing them completely with a quick shot of water soon after. Excitement, yet a bit of tiredness, filled his gaze quickly after.
"I'm managing myself quite well, don't you think?" He glanced back to the others, only to find slight disappointment in their gazes as he soon directed his attention back on the burned remains of the plant that was just present.
"...It was kinda pretty." Constiere mumbled, bringing on a sigh from Herobrine in response.
"...Yes. I'm not exactly certain what species it was, but-"
Herobrine interrupted himself, his eyes widening as he glanced at the other two once again with slight disbelief.
"We're here mourning over a flower when we could be getting in and out of the place already. Get inside!" He said with frustration in his voice, quickly moving to open the door as he ushered the two inside as quickly as he could.
The place was filled with various different strong aromas that assaulted their senses in an overwhelming manner, but out of the three of them, only Herobrine was able to walk through the building without protecting his nose, though it was clear that the perfumes being used were bugging him as well. The place was decorated heavily with different curtains of fabric everywhere, separating different spaces into different rooms, all holding various items that the group found no particular interest in. They were currently in a large hall, treading carefully despite the purple, carpeted ground beneath their feet cushioning the sound of their footsteps. It was obvious that the place was better taken care of than the library, and seemingly more important as well, despite the fact that they were finding nothing of relative importance inside of it.
Before they could explore any further, Herobrine laid his hands upon Steve and Constiere's shoulders, holding them both back momentarily as he took a moment to allow the silence to surround them. Not long after, he pulled Steve back a bit further, taking a moment to glance over at the other's eyes intently.
"It's certainly in here, alright. Wouldn't be anywhere near a flammable object if the owner of this place knew what was good for them. There's probably a basement somewhere around here, get searching." Herobrine explained before releasing them, walking away briskly before being stopped by Steve's hand grabbing his wrist abruptly.
Realizing what he did, Steve immediately let the other go, nervously standing in front of him before putting a bit more distance in between them.
"I...Is anyone here? N-near here, even?" He asked, his nerves getting the better of him as he waited for the other to retaliate in response to him intruding on his personal space.
Surprisingly enough, Herobrine simply looked at the other with a more neutral expression, briefly dusting his arm off before doing nothing further.
"...The building is empty. I'd tell you if it wasn't."
Nodding in response to the other's answer, Steve began to briskly walk away, letting out a small sigh of relief as he finally got away from Herobrine. Constiere watched the two of them with intrigue and amusement, laughing a bit to himself as he watched Steve depart.
"Close call, bright-eyes!" He called out, earning a distant groan of frustration from the miner before he went off to begin his own search.
The three searched behind every curtain wall within the floor they were on, ultimately finding nothing of their specific interest. After double-checking, Constiere at least managed to stumble upon what looked like to be a cellar door, which he alerted the other two of almost immediately. It took a minute or two for them to navigate their way past the curtains, but once they did, they found themselves standing in front of the entrance into the separate space, looking at it with intrigue.
"It's locked, but that's not gonna be a problem for us, right sir?" Constiere asked, looking up at Herobrine with a bit of a smirk on his face.
Herobrine motioned for the other to move away from the cellar door, taking a moment to breathe in before kicking at the lock that held the door closed, immediately breaking it open. Steve flinched at the loud sound, flinching again as the lock fell quickly to the ground after loudly bouncing off of the door. His eyes darted around them as the demigod knelt down in order to pry the door open, earning a small chuckle from the man as the cellar door came open.
"Steven, calm yourself. Nobody's near us at the moment. Nobody would've heard that. We're fine. Now, come down here before someone does actually pay a visit." Herobrine said, moving to descend the mini stairway that met them, leading down to the newly-discovered basement.
A deep, unnerving feeling settled in his stomach despite the other's reassuring words, but nevertheless, Steve nodded hesitantly, taking a deep breath before making his way down the stairs after the demigod, with Constiere following close behind him.
The three were met with the sight of mostly darkness, with the only source of light being a lantern that hung barely lit from the middle of the ceiling. However, as Herobrine summoned a flame in order to lead them, they were briefly surprised to find the presence of a black frame dug into the far wall of the basement, clearly in slight disrepair.
Approaching the structure, Herobrine allowed the light from his flame to illuminate the portal frame as he looked over it with a careful, considerate gaze.
With a small hum, he looked back to the others.
"...This one was practically abused. It's sturdy enough to hold a charge, but I wonder how long it'll remain standing should it be lit again."
Steve stared at it with intrigue.
"How many times do you need to use one before it...uh, gets that bad?" He asked curiously.
Constiere drew closer to the portal, looking over it himself before turning back to give the miner a small grin.
"A lot. Probably how the guy got all of his rich-guy stuff up there." The boy nodded upward as Steve let out a small "Ohh..." in response.
"Well, regardless, we should get this over with before we-"
The sound of a door slamming open up above caught their attention, causing them to freeze as Herobrine immediately extinguished the flame in his hand and rushed to the others, pulling them out of the open and into a corner of the room, hidden by a stack of folded fabrics. With a hand suddenly full of water, he threw it at the lantern hanging from the ceiling, thankfully managing to extinguish it as they were plunged into darkness.
Worriedly, Steve tried to force his eyes to adapt to the sudden lack of light.
"I thought you said that we wouldn't be heard!" He whispered harshly, only to find a gloved hand making its way over his mouth in response.
Slowly, Herobrine began to speak, listening carefully to the frantic footsteps that were thundering above them.
"I can't teleport the both of you at once if I'm getting this tired after summoning a tiny flame. I don't think it'll end well. I'm calling Andi, we'll get-"
"Somebody saw them enter, but nobody saw them leave! They have to be in here, somewhere!" Came the voice of "Father," which slightly alarmed the three as they hid within the darkness.
The familiar feeling of dread came and went, drawing a force closer to them without words as the group soon heard a general wave of confusion erupt above them, leading them to the discovery that they were, in fact, not alone with only the supposed leader of the place searching for them. Not too long after the demigod's distress call came the sound of teleportation to their ears, leading them to peek over the towers of fabric to find Andvari's familiar, monstrous purple eyes staring back at them.
"...Would it be foolish to ask what you've all gotten yourselves into?" He asked in a whisper, glancing around as he located the portal briefly before approaching the three.
"Probably. I knew this place had a weird feeling to it." Came another familiar voice, leading to concern arising in the others as they placed the voice with its owner.
"You brought Malgun with you?!" Herobrine asked in a slightly frantic manner.
"I wasn't sure what we were stepping into, so yes. How many people are-"
The enderman was interrupted by the sound of the cellar door opening, leading to him rushing to find a place behind the fabrics along with Malgun before the individuals outside could hear him.
Soon enough, several people made their way down the cellar stairway, the only source of light coming from the room above as they went in. Led by the man known as "Father," they began searching through the room, turning over crates and bags and other belongings as far as the light could reach.
"Father, they're not here. Maybe they escaped-"
The younger individual was halted by a slow raise of the hand as "Father" looked around the room briefly. Before long, he spoke.
"Get a lantern. I know they're still here somewhere. I have fellow children outside waiting for them, they would've alerted us if they were truly gone."
Fear rose up within Steve's body as he listened to the other's darker tone. As it was becoming more evident that they'd be caught in one way or another, he found himself growing somewhat hopeless. Before he could become consumed by his fears, however, he heard the sounds of scuffling fabric as Herobrine briskly left them, approaching the group that'd just walked in without hesitation.
"Hello. Yes. You found me." He announced, his tone rather deadpan as the search group flinched at his sudden appearance.
Completely lacking in the attitude and demeanor that they saw upon entering the city, "Father" looked at the demigod with a narrowed, angered gaze.
"You broke into our precious library."
Herobrine let out a small scoff.
"Precious? The place looks like it belongs in a ghost town, and not only that, but the door was open."
"You disturbed our books!"
"Books are meant to be read, don't you know that?"
"Our knowledge is sacred, don't you know that?" The pompous leader asked, earning a wave of mumbles to erupt from the group behind him.
Herobrine let out another scoff.
"Your knowledge is common. Useless. Fabricated, even. You use it to manipulate these fools as you see fit, all to strengthen their image of you in order to be deified." Herobrine responded, glaring at the man.
Steve cast a glance in the demigod's direction as he listened intently to the other's words.
Was he standing up for the humans?
"You defile our grounds by stepping your unclean feet in our most holy place. How do you expect us to respond?" The man asked again.
Before the demigod could answer the threatening question, a child ran up to "Father", clinging to his leg as he looked up at him with wide, somewhat frightened eyes.
"Father, shouldn't we jail them?" The child asked, almost innocently.
Another voice spoke up from the crowd.
"They broke in! This is more of something that should be answered with death!"
Sounds of general agreement arose from the crowd, leading to the others backing further into the darkness as Steve slowly stood up from behind the fabrics.
Without even thinking twice, he ran out into the open, approaching the group before them as he stood next to Herobrine.
"Your most holy place is your Elder's house?" He asked, unable to think of anything further as he suddenly felt very regretful of his rash actions. Though he felt Herobrine's harsh gaze land upon him, he didn't dare turn toward the other in fear of the other's potential reaction and the further loss of his confidence.
"I-it's not my house!" The leader weakly defended, his tone indicating a lie that wasn't bought by the miner or his acquaintances but was easily taken as fact by the others behind the man, who immediately rushed to his defense.
Backing away at the added aggression, Steve moved a bit more behind Herobrine, who moved slightly more closer to him as a response.
"What are we going to do, Brine?" Steve whispered into the other's ear worriedly, his hand hovering over the handle of his sword as he braced himself for potential retaliation.
Herobrine remained silent for a moment before letting out a slightly frustrated hum.
"...Only one thing to do." Herobrine said, summoning a flame in his hand.
Worried, Steve cast a glance over to the other, complete confusion on his face as he slowly backed away from him. Herobrine briefly looked back, locking gazes with the others in the dark as they assumed he was preparing himself for a confrontation.
"The moment you feel the pulse, you all jump in, alright?" He asked, earning momentary confusion from the others before they all slowly began to nod in understanding. Steve didn't exactly quite follow the other's command.
Without another word, Herobrine threw the flame toward the portal, and to the miner's surprise, the frame lit up in an almost blinding purple hue, a wave of energy washing over them as the portal activated. Staring into a sea of swirling purple, Steve found the world around him completely falling out of focus as he became solely interested in the structure. Before he knew it, a hand grabbed his arm suddenly, and his body felt cold as the natural fabric of reality shifted heavily around him, giving him a hard lurching feeling as the air suddenly grew unbearably hot.
Hi, my name is Galaxy-Forgotten, and I absolutely hate spiders, I did not want to visualize this chapter, thank u T_T I'm still shivering, like...I felt uncomfortable throughout this entire thing, I hate it XD Slightly faster pace this chapter because of that lol
Severe arachnophobia aside, here we are! These guys need a bit of help dealing with the situation, and what better way to do that than by getting some extra pairs of eyes and ears? Not only that, but we got through Merry Glade! Considering how small Merry Glade actually is, I didn't feel like really drawing it out for multiple chapters, so I kept it contained in one.
Fun Fact time before I claw my skin off thinking about these bugs!:
1.) Herobrine, before getting involved in all of this mess, originally intended to kill Fiele as he had done with the other mob generals he seized power from. Only problem was, of course, he wasn't as powerful as he used to be, so his first negative encounter ended with a draw.
2.) There are quite a few banished Aethren beings within the world, though not many have risen to the status that both Fiele and Herobrine achieved. The only other divine being that has gained such immense power is the Warden, lol.
3.) Small backstory about Fiele: She grew up as a weaving god, but disappeared off into the mortal realm out of fear for her future. Discovering tainted human magic, she slowly became obsessed with the idea of transmutation before she got stuck with the spider's curse she suffers from today. At least she got a sweet army out of it, lol
4.) Originally, Constiere's name was supposed to be Chester! He's an older oc of mine, but eventually, I came to call him by his current name, lol
5.) Merry Glade wasn't originally a cult's home! It was initially a place made as an early settlement from a divine being's hands, but after that person left, the place succumbed to the allure of dark magic, which eventually mixed in with the plant life lol. Now they have magic plants and stuff, which is nice and all, but it refuses to let people leave. The people there eventually fell under the control of "Father" at some point, and they've been barely vibing as a result lmao
Anyways, that's it for now! Leave a review if you have any thoughts!
