Hero's Bane

Chapter 4: A Force to be Reckoned With

Steve's lungs desperately sucked in the fresh air as he continued his rapid pace, he had only ran for about a mile's length but it felt as though he'd ran five times that amount. He stumbled down the hillside, jumping down small dirt terraces while trying to keep himself from falling flat on his face. He finally made it out of the woodlands to an open clearing of flat land where Warren and Mark had stopped to catch their breath, both seemed pretty exhausted. Mark was hunched over in fatigue looking far more tried out than Warren, despite his younger age. The bartender just meandered around deeply breathing, checking out his surrounds and probably making sure they are safe and alone.

Steve jogged over to the two then fell over flat on his back in the tall grass, still gasping for air. "Are we there yet?"

"Not-" The old man panted and wiped away sweat from his forehead. "Not quite." He sluggishly dragged his feet over to the miner and looked down at the pathetic excuse for a seemingly healthy man. "But we need to get there quickly. I'll never forgive myself is something happened to her."

"What's her name... Luna I think you said?" Steve slowly leaned up and rubbed his aching knees. "Who is she and why is she at the ravine?"

"She goes there every now and again to get dirty." Mark laughed between breaths.

"No she does not!" Warren strongly glared at the young man, mentally scolding him.

"I meant mining, I've seen her down there picking at coal ores before."

The old man sighed and returned his attention to Steve. "Her name is Lunaris, she a tough and stubborn young lady who seeks to avenge her deceased parents. Herobrine took her mother and father away one night when she was only eight years old and their corpses were found dead and cold on the living room floor of her home the very next day. The poor child had been scarred for life. Ever since then- she had been training and honing on her archery skills, hoping to someday put an arrow between those cruel white eyes. She'll leave the village occasionally to put her skills to the test by fighting Herobrine's mutated mobs."

"Mutated?" Steve questioned nervously, hoping that it didn't seem as bad as it sounded. The idea of a giant Zombie or a supercharged Creeper was a horrifying thought.

"Well not in the physical form but they are as twice as powerful as a normal mob you'd normally find near our village, much more durable and tough; fearless even. The gorge is the gate to Antecedent Element, therefore that place is infested with stronger monsters that can endure far more hits then you can and dish out more damage."

"Yeah, I even hate going there." Mark pulled himself out of his haunch and stretched his back, making an unpleasant popping sound.

The old man returned his gaze to the blonde. "Why did you go there anyways? You already have two iron swords I crafted for you last week."

Mark shrugged. "I was looking for her because we needed help replacing some molding blocks on Darin's roof and I couldn't find anybody else to help. So I assumed she went to the ravine and I decided to go check on her, and there she was; down on one of the ledges loading arrows into the cave spiders at the bottom of the chasm."

Warren sighed disbelief and disappointment, huffing quietly to himself. "She goes against my house rules for such a foolish reason, she's going to get herself killed one day and I'll be the one to blame." He shook his head back and forth. "I wish she wouldn't do this, her quest for revenge is going to put her into an early grave. ... She'll put mine in there as well with all of this stress and worry that continuously weighs on me." ... Warren turned around and walked into another dense forest, this time walking to conserve energy. "Come on we need to continue, we're almost there."