Hero's Bane

Chapter 6: Be Prepared for Anything

Herobrine's wicked smile grew as the miner began to physically quiver in fear, the man's hand was visibly trembling even with a sharp weapon in it. The human though- was holding his ground and not making the fatal mistake that many before him have done numerous times, it was both interesting and somewhat irritating. The man was mentally weak and probably wasn't about to play his game but Herobrine could change that, or change up the game entirely. The weak ones were the most amusing to toy with after all.

The powerful entity again moved closer to the miner and raised a hand up to the back of Steve's head, barely an inch from him. Herobrine's eyes glowed brightly and the Endermen swiftly yanked Luna off to the side and away from the strange power the demon emitted.

It was only seconds but Steve could swear that it felt like an eternity with the one and only Herobrine glaring straight through him. He wanted to run, fight, or do anything but just stand there and wait for probable death. His fingers coiled, he lightly shook, beads of sweat rolled down the the sides of his face as he waited anxiously for something to happen.

He soon quickly found that couldn't move, even his trembling had stopped. Steve couldn't force his legs to step forward, they were numb and cold. Even his eyes were forced to remain in place and he couldn't figure out why, his entire body was somehow trapped in a petrified state. He wanted to call out for Luna since he could no longer see or hear her, but no words could escape him, not with a foreign wave of energy hanging in the stale air. He suddenly felt a strange pulse from the back of his head, it stirred and grew and to think Stealth gave him a strong migraine. So many thoughts and images instantly rushed through his mind, those of pain, death, isolation and suffering. He didn't know where they came from but it was thoughts he couldn't simply push aside, thoughts that couldn't control, thought that weren't his.

...

One thought in particular though was a mere image of Steve standing alone in an empty space surrounded by a world of black. He cautiously looked around in fear, sweat beaded his forehead and his breaths were short and rapid. Steve saw himself standing there but without actually being present and he knew something bad was about to happen to his double.

Loud screeching sounds that could only be defined as that of spiders could be heard from every side of him almost instantly. The replica of the miner began to panic as the darkness that bounded him was suddenly lit by the red shining eyes of large deep teal colored arachnids. The man tried to run but several of the eight-legged mobs pounced at him at once and pinned him down. Many more gathered around and they viciously bit and tore at his flesh with their poisonous fangs, Steve was getting brutally mauled alive by cave spiders.

In his mind he tried to fight them off but struggled greatly, he managed to strike one of them in the eyes but it wasn't enough to stop it. It seemed that no matter what he tried to do or even when he landed a few hits that they still overpowered him and continued their ravenous attack. But shortly after the mauling had begun it had come to a stop, something strange was starting to happen.

The spiders had stopped after doing enough damage and then slowly backed away, folding their legs and floating in a recognizable arrangement of that of a square. They began to blur and fade into gray, deforming and reforming into block-like shapes all around him. All of them shifted into small squares and connected together becoming hard and rough like rock. Bedrock, that is what they had transformed into and they had encased the miner in a small prison of indestructible stone.

The clone pulled himself up and tried to punch away at the solid rock despite the graven wounds that covered his body. He pulled himself away from the cold surface and stumbled over to the other side of the darkened room and tried the same method to get out but he couldn't even break a chip off of the enclosure. He vigorously punched and kicked at the walls but only injured himself further, he had failed and went and done more harm to his body. Steve pounded his fist as hard as he could once more, crying out in pain and failure. The man strained to breathe, noticing the air was quickly thinning out. He shortly collapsed down onto his knees from the lack of air and growing weakness, the poison was slowly eroding away his now feeble and broken body.