A Glitch of Magic - a Hermitcraft (and third life?) Fanfiction

Chapter 20

'Cub.'

The ex-pharaoh entered Herobrine's home unwillingly, not taking his eyes off the glitch.

'Herobrine. What did you want to talk about?'

'The whole group of players I don't recognise that you've just whitelisted,'

'What's wrong with them? I invited them in so you can take over another world. It's called Third-life. It's quite small, but once we make the other members join our side, it will be deserted.

'Ah, yes. I remember that name somewhere in Scar's memories.'

'You've been looking through his memories?!'

'Sometimes, if I'm bored. Most of them are just of boring buildings.'

Cub glared at Herobrine, but recovered his calm tone. 

'Fine. You know what Third Life is. So... do you appreciate what I've done?'

'I understand it. But you should've asked me first.'

'That's... fair.' Relief filled Cub as he realised he wasn't going to be punished, but thought back to earlier. 

'Keep him distracted long enough for us to free Grian. Cleo, Keralis and Doc are away stopping Pearl from being freed, no one's seen Bdubs in ages, and I'm mostly on your side. Unless I've forgotten anyone, all the bad side will be busy.'

It was Tango's plan, and all Cub had to do was stop Herobrine from seeing. So, in an attempt at that, he continued to speak.

'But... can I... ask something?'

'What?' 

'What do you want to... achieve? What's your final plan?' 

'Take over Minecraft. As it's always been, until I was actually banned. But, since I was already a glitch, a mistake, I couldn't leave. So I planned for ages, and eventually decided to set it in motion.'

'Did you intend to use Scar as your puppet from the start?'

'Pretty early in, I admit.'

'Why? Why him?'  A hint of anger entered Cub's voice. 'Why my best friend?'

'Because he was the most gullible on this server. And most easy to blame. It was so easy to convince everyone that the weird magic turning people into animals was the player already most likely to do that.' 

Every word hurt, almost to the point of physical pain, but Cub pursued the conversation, knowing it would help everyone else.

'What would happen to Scar if you regained your old form?'

'He'd probably die. Permanently.' Herobrine added. 'But I'm not planning on abandoning this form until I'm in control again.'

'Why... Hermitcraft?'

'Because it's large and used to weird stuff happening.' 

'I'm pretty sure Dream's server would fit that criteria just as well. And they already have a three-life system in place.'

'Yeah... but the author doesn't watch anything from the DSMP.'

'That's fair... anyway, what's the next steps from here?' 

'Set up base in Third Life and Evo - that old world that Grian used to have - and move on from there. As you know, we have Control of the Vexlings, and we can use them to cause chaos across a lot of different servers. Then, we take over.'

'That's... very clever.' Cub lied, hands clenched to stop himself from attacking the monster in from of him. The monster with his best friend's face. 

'Whatever happens, Scar, I will protect you. Don't worry.' The words he's spoken before came back to him with vengeance. Herobrine scowled.

'Is everything alright?' 

'I'm fine.' Cub looked back up at him. 

'Are you sure? You certainly don't seem fine.'

'I'm fine.' Cub repeated. 

'Now, I need to see if Pearl's been caught yet.' Herobrine walked towards the door. Cub got in the way.

'How about we check out the Third life world now?' He quickly suggested, trying not to seem too suspicious. Ignoring, Herobrine pushed past, exiting the room. 

Cubfan135 whispered to you: HEROBRINE'S COMING

The message flashed up on Tango's communicator, and he looked up, panicking, at the third lifers, currently digging up the ground beneath the azalea tree they'd planted for easy digging. 

'Herobrine's coming!' Worried glances from the rest of the group, and progress doubled in speed, the ground around Scar's base torn to pieces. They were getting nowhere. Either Grian was wrong, or Herobrine had rendered it impossible to enter. 

'Guys, keep going.' Skizz encouraged. 'But have weapons at the ready. We're not leaving here without a fight.'

'This isn't working!' Snapped back Scott. 'We'll have to give up at some point!'

'I'll distract him if you lot keep going.' Martyn nodded at Joel as he drew a sword.

'I will too. And hopefully Cub is actually on our side.' 

'He is.' Tango confirmed, before catching sight of Herobrine striding over, Cub trying to draw him away a step behind. 'He's here!' 

'Ready?' Joel turned to Martyn, before looking over to where Herobrine had turned the corner. 'Then let's go.' 

With a furious battlecry, he ran towards the glitch. But before he could get there, Cub stepped instinctively between, eyes flashing blue and a pair of vex wings flashing to life from his shoulders. 

'Stay away from Herobrine.' The Vexling hissed, slicing at him. Joel stumbled away. 

'I THOUGHT YOU WERE ON OUR SIDE!' He snarled. 'WHY ARE YOU PROTECTING HIM?!'

'I knew you'd betray us!' Martyn challenged, stabbing at Cub. Blood spilled down the Vexling's arm, and he sent a blast of vex magic back. Seeing exactly what was going to happen, Joel jumped in the way, knocking him and Martyn to the ground and sending the magic harmlessly over their heads. Herobrine hadn't attacked, letting Cub do the dirty work. 

'Blaze!' The Glitch snapped. 'Stop them!' 

After a moment of confusion, Tango broke free of his uncertain trance, blue fire bursting to life around him. He ran at Skizz, the closest Third-lifer to him, dragging his friend away from the mess.

'GET OFF, TRAITOR!' With a furious yell, he twisted out of Tango's grasp, sword in hand and slicing at him. The half-blaze ducked, sending a jet of the same blue flames at Skizz. Badly burnt, he stepped back, coughing, but didn't give up. BigB, Jimmy and Scott still dug up the ground, refusing to believe their search was in vain. 

We're still winning. Skizz convinced himself. It's not all over yet.

Lightning flashed, and his focus shot to where Doc was running out of what seemed to be his temporary home, trident in hand. He threw it into the melee, charging forwards, hands crackling with electricity. 

'Where's Cleo?' Herobrine questioned.

'Unconscious somewhere near Gem's base. False and Pearl put up too good a fight. And... Keralis didn't respawn?'

'I couldn't give everyone respawn powers. There had to be some... sacrifices.'

Scott ran at Doc, sword out, as he was distracted by Herobrine, slicing at him fearless. The creeper sent back a jolt of electricity, knocking him out in an instant.

'SCOTT! NO!' Jimmy dashed over to his unconscious friend, skidding to his knees. 'What did you do to him?!'

'Keep fighting! They can't defeat us!' Skizz yelled as encouragement, just before getting hit with a nasty blow from Tango. The whole world blurred, before everything went black.

Wait... didn't I say something about a break?